We may earn a commission if you buy through links on this page. It never changes a score or a ranking. How we make money
Most buyers should pick BambooHR.
Choose Rippling for workforce management across HR, payroll, IT, and finance, plus custom apps. BambooHR suits teams focused on employee records, hiring, payroll, benefits, and performance. Pricing alone doesn’t settle it: Rippling lists $8 per employee/month but also a monthly base fee whose amount is unpublished. BambooHR starts at $10.25 per employee/month, with flat monthly pricing for teams of 25 or fewer. Both lack a free plan; compare quoted totals and required modules before switching.
01Side by side
| Rippling | BambooHR | |
|---|---|---|
| Starting price | $8/employee/month; monthly base fee unpublished | $10.25/employee/month; Core is $250/month at 25 or fewer |
| Free plan | No free plan listed | No free plan listed |
| Best for | Teams combining HR, payroll, IT, and finance | Teams focused on core HR and employee experience |
| Core strength | Workforce platform spanning HR, payroll, IT, and finance | HR tools for records, hiring, payroll, and performance |
| Learning curve | Review ease-of-use score: 6.5 | Review ease-of-use score: 6.5 |
| Integrations/data | Workforce data across multiple business functions; custom apps | Employee, payroll, time, and benefits data in one HR platform |
| Team/seat costs | Per-employee rate plus an unpublished monthly base fee | Flat Core, Pro, and Elite rates at 25 or fewer employees |
| Support | Review support score: 4.5 | Review support score: 5 |
Rippling Choose Rippling if
- Choose Rippling if you want HR, payroll, IT, and finance together.
- Choose Rippling if workforce data and custom apps matter.
- Choose Rippling if a lower listed starting rate is worth requesting a full quote.
BambooHR Choose BambooHR if
- Choose BambooHR if your priority is a dedicated HR platform.
- Choose BambooHR if you want published flat rates for teams of 25 or fewer.
- Choose BambooHR if performance, hiring, and employee records are central.
02Pricing compared
Rippling lists a starting rate of $8 per employee per month, below BambooHR’s $10.25 Core rate. That gap does not establish which costs less: Rippling also charges a monthly base fee, and the amount is not published. Its listed price is for modular services, while payroll, benefits, IT and other add-ons have no published prices.
BambooHR lists Core at $10.25, Pro at $17.50 and Elite at $25 per employee per month. For companies with 25 or fewer employees, the listed flat monthly rates are $250, $425 and $650, respectively. Payroll and benefits administration are unpriced add-ons; a bundle discount is listed for US employees. Neither product has a free plan, and neither source publishes annual rates. Ask both vendors for a quote covering the same employees and required modules.
03Features and depth
Rippling covers more than HR. Its platform brings HR, payroll, IT and finance together, with tools for benefits, recruiting, performance, learning, global payroll, identity and device management, expenses, procurement and corporate cards. It also offers workforce AI and App Studio for custom applications and automations. The trade-off is modularity: the starting price does not tell you which capabilities are included or what the full stack costs.
BambooHR is more focused on HR operations. Its listed capabilities include employee records and reporting, applicant tracking and onboarding, payroll and time, benefits enrollment, performance management, recognition and compensation planning. Plan limits differ: Core lists five job openings and one compliance training course; Pro lists 25 openings and 15 courses; Elite lists 50 openings and 300-plus courses. Elite also includes two hours of data integrity services and two administrator training sessions per year. Choose by scope: Rippling spans workforce IT and finance, while BambooHR’s published plans emphasize employee and HR processes.
04Ease of use and learning curve
The available review scores put both products at 6.5 for ease of use, so the published evidence does not establish a clear usability winner. Rippling’s wider scope may mean more modules and decisions to configure, but the published material does not quantify setup time or training needs. BambooHR’s plans center on HR tasks, though its Pro and Elite tiers add more functions and limits to evaluate.
Before switching, map your current workflows to the exact modules each vendor would quote. Ask for a migration plan, implementation responsibilities and training details; those specifics are not published in the pricing information here. Compare the quote and onboarding scope, not just the starting rate.
Questions people ask
How many employees are at Rippling?
The published product information does not publish Rippling’s employee headcount. It says the platform supports managing employees and contractors around the world, but that describes the customers’ workforce coverage, not the size of Rippling’s own staff.
What kind of software is BambooHR?
BambooHR is an HR platform for employee records, hiring and onboarding, payroll, time tracking, benefits, performance and compensation. Its listed plans focus on HR and employee-management functions; payroll, benefits administration and time and attendance may carry additional costs.
Does Rippling have an ERP?
The published information does not describe Rippling as an ERP. It presents Rippling as a workforce platform spanning HR, payroll, IT and finance, with tools such as expenses, procurement, bill pay and travel. Check with Rippling whether its finance modules fit your ERP requirements.
What are Rippling competitors?
The published material does not name Rippling’s competitors. BambooHR is the alternative in this comparison, but the two products have different stated scopes: Rippling also covers IT and finance, while BambooHR’s listed capabilities center on HR and employee management.