When you buy through affiliate links in our content, we may earn a commission at no extra cost to you. Learn In this guide, we’ll go over the key features, pricing plans, integration capabilities, and user reviews of Rippling and Gusto, so you can see how the two compare and find out which one is rated the best.
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Rippling vs Gusto At a Glance
| Payroll Software | Rippling | Gusto |
| Starting Price | Custom quote | $40/month + $6/month per employee |
| Free Plan | ❌ | ❌ |
| Tax Filing | • Full Pay Submission (FPS) and Employer Payment Summary (EPS) for UK businesses • Global payroll taxes in 50+ countries |
Federal, state, and local payroll taxes in all 50 U.S. states |
| Employee Benefits Management | Private health insurance and workplace pensions with your own broker or Rippling-referred broker | Health insurance, life insurance, commuter benefits, 401(k) retirement savings |
| Employee Portal | Self-service web portal and benefits manager | Employee profiles and self-service included in every tier |
| Integrations | Github, Greenhouse, Jira, Webhooks, Zendesk, etc. | Freshbooks, QuickBooks, ClickUp, Asana, Dropbox, HubSpot, Notion, etc. |
| General HR | Time tracking and employee benefits | Benefits administration, hiring and onboarding tools, time off reports |
| Customer Support | Email, Live Chat, virtual call | Phone, email, Live Chat |
| Read Review | Rippling Review | Gusto Review |
Rippling vs Gusto Pricing Compared
Here’s a quick comparison between the two platforms’ pricing plans, so you can get a general idea of how much money you’d have to set aside for different tiers:
| Subscription Tier | Rippling | Gusto |
| Free plan | ❌ | ❌ |
| Simple | Custom quote | $40/month + $6/month per employee |
| Plus | Custom quote | $80/month + $12/month per employee |
| Premium | Custom quote | Custom quote |
It’s difficult to compare the pricing plans since Rippling opted for custom pricing for each client. The one thing we do know from their website is that it starts at $8/month per person, so it’s likely to end up being the more expensive option. As always, we would prefer transparent pricing from both providers.
Rippling vs Gusto Ease of Use
Both platforms are incredibly intuitive and easy to use, so you’ll have no trouble processing payroll with either, even if you have absolutely no previous experience.
The reason Gusto has a slight advantage is that it automatically syncs all hours worked, benefits deductions, and other calculations during each payroll run. Additionally, Gusto’s mobile app is better optimized, so it’s easier to run payroll on the go compared to Rippling.
Rippling vs Gusto Key Features
Rippling and Gusto have similar core functionalities that help you streamline payroll, automate tax filing, track hours worked, and manage employee benefits. The only major difference between the two is that Rippling caters to businesses in the UK and enterprises with large international workforce, while Gusto focuses on single-state businesses in the U.S.
Payroll
Rippling offers two distinct payroll solutions — payroll for UK-based businesses and global payroll. The platform supports different pay schedules and off-cycle pay runs, automatically calculates bonuses, overtime, and deductions, and lets you pay both FTEs (full-time employees) and contractors.
Gusto, on the other hand, is geared towards companies in the United States that operate in a single state. The full-service single-state payroll includes unlimited payroll runs, W-2 and 1099-NEC filing, garnishment deductions, payroll reports, and more. What’s best, you can set up a fully automated payroll for salaried employees and have it run on autopilot.
In short, both platforms are excellent, but they have very different use cases. Rippling is ideal for UK businesses and enterprises with a large international workforce, while Gusto is a great choice for single-state U.S.-based companies.
Tax Filing
Rippling automatically calculates and files your taxes for you, both with the HMRC for UK businesses and with local tax agencies for global payroll. It gives you complete peace of mind, letting you focus on other aspects of your business.
Gusto also fully automates federal, state, and local tax filing and pays everything in your stead, in all 50 U.S. states.
Again, the only notable difference between the two platforms is the geographic location of the businesses they cater to.
Time and Attendance
Both Rippling and Gusto offer time and attendance as standalone modules.
Rippling features easy clock-in for all your employees, lets you review and approve hours in seconds, and automatically syncs the time-tracking data with payroll, ensuring accuracy.
Gusto does the same, but it offers additional functionalities like geofencing, which ensures employees are actually on-site and not clocked in by their coworkers. The tool also lets you track time spent on different projects, so you can assess your team’s productivity, track project progress, and make accurate future projections.
Benefits Management
For UK-based businesses, Rippling features built-in benefits administration tools that help allow you to offer private medical, workplace pension, and commuter benefits to your team.
If you opt for the global payroll solution, you’ll be able to tailor benefits to specific countries to attract and retain global top talent.
Gusto comes with built-in benefits administration as well, offering workers’ comp administration, medical, dental, and vision insurance, 401(k) retirement plans, and commuter benefits.
Rippling vs Gusto Integrations
Gusto natively integrates with close to 200 third-party apps. You can easily connect it to a wide variety of accounting, hiring, learning management, performance management, analytics, and general HR tools. The platform also offers an API (Application Programming Interface), so on the off chance that an integration with a tool you’re using isn’t natively supported, you can use the API to build custom integrations.
Rippling’s integration capabilities are even more impressive, with over 500 apps supported. Some of the notable ones include Google Workspace, Slack, Dropbox, Trello, Asana, MailChimp, DocuSign, GitHub, and Indeed. You’ll also have access to the Rippling API for creating custom integrations, so the platform can be connected to virtually any tool you’re using.
Rippling vs Gusto Scalability
Both tools are super flexible and easily scalable. You can pick and choose what features and functionalities you want to have on your account and what add-ons you’d like to include, and can always introduce new ones later down the line.
As for adding new users to the platforms, you can do so directly from your dashboard with both solutions, meaning both Rippling and Gusto can easily support your business’ growth.
Rippling vs Gusto Customer Reviews
Rippling has overwhelmingly positive user reviews across all major third-party software review sites. Users often praise the platform’s ease of use, payroll processing speed, benefits management capabilities, and time-tracking functionalities.
Gusto’s user reviews are a bit more mixed. A ton of users describe Gusto as the best payroll software they’ve ever used and praise its payroll, tax filing, and benefits administration capabilities.
That said, a good number of users also note issues like W-2 errors and emphasize the unresponsiveness of customer support as a major downside.
Conclusion — Rippling vs Gusto: Which One Wins?
The two payroll software solutions have similar core functionalities and are both excellent for processing payroll, automating taxes, and streamlining benefits administration.
The key difference between the two stems from the fact that Rippling focuses on UK businesses and companies that work with international employees and contractors, while Gusto is solely focused on single-state U.S. businesses.
With that in mind, it’s not only difficult to say which platform has the edge, but it also doesn’t make too much sense to directly compare them. The key takeaway is that Rippling and Gusto are both top-tier payroll software solutions, but they are ultimately designed for different markets.
If you’re based in the UK or need to simplify global payroll, Rippling is one of the best payroll solutions on the market.
If you’re a U.S.-based business that operates in a single state, Gusto is a perfect solution for streamlining payroll, automating taxes, and handling employee benefits.
How We Test Payroll Software
Here are the main parameters we take into consideration when testing and reviewing payroll software:
- Pricing — The availability of different pricing tiers, the cost for the platform and per employee, and the price of paid add-ons. We also take the overall value for money the platform offers into consideration.
- Features — All the payroll, tax filing, time tracking, and general HR features and functionalities the platform offers.
- Integrations — The number of available integrations with popular third-party tools, as well as the availability of an API for building custom integrations.
- Automation — Tax filing automation, payroll scheduling, real-time notifications and alerts, and other general HR automations that help cut down on manual administrative work.
- Ease of use — The UI (User Interface), navigation, and overall ease of use of the payroll software.
- Third-Party Reviews — Reviews left by other users on reputable review sites like TrustPilot, G2, GetApp, and Capterra.
How to Choose the Best Payroll Software
Here’s what you should focus on when trying to ascertain whether a particular payroll software solution is the perfect fit for your business:
- Budget — The amount of money you can comfortably invest in a payroll software solution on a monthly basis. Don’t forget to take into account the number of users you’ll have on your account and any paid add-ons you’ll want to have access to.
- Key features — The core features must the platform offer to ensure that all of the unique needs of your business are met.
- Ease of use — The platform should be easy to use and navigate, so you don’t have to spend weeks trying to figure out all of its functionalities and hours processing payroll each month.
- Scalability — Your payroll software should easily scale with your business, so choose a platform that lets you seamlessly add new users to your account and access advanced features and functionalities as the need arises.
- Customer support — It’s always best to opt for a platform whose support team is knowledgeable and quick to respond. Otherwise, you might face a technical issue or discover errors that might take days, if not weeks to resolve.
