Rippling vs. Justworks

Justworks is a PEO-first solution built for very small U.S. businesses. It bundles payroll and benefits but doesn’t offer the flexibility companies need as they grow.

Rippling, by contrast, is a complete workforce platform that unifies HR, IT, and Finance. It goes further with:

• The ability to scale on or off a PEO without disruption
• Global payroll and compliance in 185+ countries
• 650+ integrations to connect your stack
• Advanced automation and reporting that go far beyond checklists

Yes. Rippling offers a fully insured PEO, but unlike Justworks it doesn’t lock you in. Companies can: 

• Add or remove PEO services as needs change 
• Keep the same system and employee experience either way 
• Avoid costly transitions when benefits or compliance needs evolve 
• Support both U.S. and international employees, which Justworks cannot

• Size of your business: Does the system support your business size, whether you’re a small business, startup, or enterprise?
• Scalability: Can the system grow with your company and workforce?
• Integration capabilities: Does it connect seamlessly with payroll, accounting, and third-party tools?
• Ease of use: Is it a user-friendly experience for both HR professionals and employees?
• Pricing: Is there transparent and scalable pricing based on features and company size?
• Implementation: What does a typical implementation look like? How long should I expect implementation to take, and will I need to pay for third parties to assist with the implementation?

Rippling provides more than 150 pre-built workflows and a configurable workflow studio that can automate nearly any process across HR, IT, and Finance. For example, promoting an employee can update payroll, adjust benefits eligibility, reassign device policies, and change app access instantly. Justworks, on the other hand, provides only manual checklists and reminder alerts. This makes Rippling far more effective at eliminating repetitive work and reducing errors as companies scale.

Rippling’s reporting is fully customizable and cross-module. Customers can:

• Build custom reports with pivot tables and formula fields.
• Analyze data across HR, IT, and Finance together.
• Track compliance across multiple states or entities.
• Access real-time workforce insights. Justworks relies on preset templates, which work for basic payroll reports but cannot scale for advanced compliance or analytics.

Yes. Rippling is built to handle complexity, with support for:

• Multi-state tax compliance
• Multiple entities and union/hourly rules
• Complex benefits classes and eligibility logic
• Integrations with multiple brokers

Justworks, by comparison, only provides bundled benefits through its PEO—creating limitations for companies that need flexibility or market-rate benefits as they grow.

Justworks is best suited for very small businesses with 1–25 employees that primarily need U.S. payroll and bundled benefits delivered through a PEO. Rippling, on the other hand, is built to serve companies of all sizes — from early-stage startups to enterprises with thousands of employees. Businesses can choose to start on Rippling’s PEO if they want, but unlike Justworks, they won’t face the disruption of switching systems as they grow, since Rippling scales seamlessly with them.

Rippling’s customer base of over 25,000 includes a wide range of industries including hospitality, manufacturing, finance, software, business services, retail, and more; Rippling’s platform is not limited to specific industries.

Yes, Rippling supports global workforces through country-specific, localized HR compliance, global payroll, global employer of record (EOR), and contractor management in 185+ countries.