Rippling vs BambooHR vs Namely

If you work in HR at a mid-market company (50-500 employees), chances are you have received sales outreach from a variety of different HRIS providers.

With everything else going on in your day, you oftentimes don't have the chance to really learn about what each of these solutions can offer, and how they differ.

Adding to that confusion is that there are many new providers in the industry that might not have been around when you last did your research.

To save you the time of researching, demoing and being sold to, we wanted to provide a quick comparison of three prominent platforms for modern mid-market companies: Rippling, BambooHR and Namely.

Rippling

• Founded in 2016
• Headquarters in San Francisco, CA
• ~400 employees
• Ownership: Private / VC-backed ($145M round in August of 2020)

BambooHR

• Founded in 2008
• Headquarters in Lindon, UT
• ~850 employees
• Ownership: Private / VC-backed (undisclosed)
  

Namely

• Founded in 2012
• Headquarters in New York City, NY
• ~320 employees
• Ownership: Private / VC-backed ($60M round in 2018)

Best Front-End Interface

Namely. Namely came to market in 2012 at the same time that Zenefits and BambooHR were proving that a market existed for modern, easy-to-use HR tools. Namely doubled down on ease-of-use making it a priority to build mobile-first. Namely's interface borrows strategies from consumer apps that make it engaging and intuitive. The employee experience in Namely is what modern companies seek to deliver their employees.

Blog: The 8 Best Modern HRIS Systems for Small Businesses

Best Back-End Capabilities

Rippling. While Rippling is primarily an HRIS & payroll tool, in some ways, it is also a single sign-on tool. Many HR tools can digitize the onboading paper work process, but Rippling can go a step further by automatically ordering computers and creating accounts for employees in their various workplace apps. This capability is unique to Rippling and can create more harmonious operations for IT, finance and HR.

See a Demo of BambooHR

Easiest to Implement

BambooHR. BambooHR is an incredibly approachable HRIS system.  Setting up the system and building out workflows doesn't take a systems background or years of HR experience. Companies as small as 5 employees and without a full-time HR manager can still take advantage of BambooHR because of how intuitive and simplified processes are.

Blog: Rippling vs ADP vs Paylocity

Best for Integrations

Rippling. More and more companies are opting for a best-in-class approach to their HR systems. Their recruitment team wants the best ATS and their people operations team wants leading engagement & performance management tools. The key to making this best-in-class approach work is having a core system-of-record that is able to bring all of your 3rd party data together. Rippling is leading the way in terms of how many integration partners they have, and the way their product architecture can support multiple data types

Most Room-to-Grow

Namely. Many companies want to find an all-in-one system that can be a one-stop-shop for their employee lifecycle. Namely offers the most comprehensive platform of these three with modules for: payroll, benefits, time, onboarding, performance and learning. And although Namely doesn't make their own ATS, they can resell JazzHR's ATS to help complete your suite.

Most Cost-Effective

BambooHR. When it comes to finding the most bang-for-your-back, it is hard to beat BambooHR's pricing model. Their standard price point is oftentimes one of the most competitively priced in the market and as businesses grow, the overall costs per employee actually go down. BambooHR is also fairly inexpensive to implement too.

Brightest Future

Rippling. Rippling achieved unicorn status in 2020 when it raised a new round of funding that valued the company worth over $1B. Rippling's headcount and customer base is growing rapidly and their product continues to roll out new enhancements. Just last month, they announced their own time & attendance solution which allows them to provide a comprehensive Core HR suite now.

Best Customer Support

BambooHR. Great customer support can often come at the cost of a great product, since businesses have to choose where and how they deploy their internal resources. Bamboo is the rare exception to this rule. They consistently provide proactive, responsive and caring support even as their customer base has grown.