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Rippling for Accountants
What We Like
- Payroll, IT, and HR tools are modular—you can select solutions that you need
- Robust integration options (over 400 apps)
- Partner program includes discounts for clients and accountants
- You need to get its core employee management platform before you can buy other solutions
- Pricing isn’t all transparent
- Purchasing all of its tools can get pricey
Compared to all the providers in this guide, Rippling allows you to provide clients with a wider range of solutions given its modular HR, payroll, benefits, and IT tools. It even has efficient computer devices and apps provisioning and deprovisioning processes, plus Rippling can store your unused computers in its warehouse for safekeeping. However, its partner accountant program isn’t as robust as ADP with its benchmarking perks, Paychex with its CPE webinars, and Patriot Payroll with its wholesale pricing. Aside from a client dashboard, Rippling provides only discounts for you and your clients.
Scoring 3.87 out of 5 in our evaluation, Rippling received ratings of 4 and up in payroll and HR features, reporting capabilities, and ease of use. Many users even like its intuitive interface and the seamless integration between its products. It scored the lowest in pricing because details of its product suite’s monthly fees aren’t all posted on its website, plus it can get pricey if you purchase all of its HR, IT, benefits, and payroll modules.
Rippling for Accountants Pricing
Ripping requires you to purchase its employee management platform first and then add other paid HR, payroll, and IT modules that you want and need. Its pricing details aren’t all transparent—Rippling’s website only shows that monthly fees start at $8 per employee and doesn’t specify whether this is for its employee management platform or one of its modular solutions. However, you can contact Rippling to discuss your requirements and request a quote.
Based on the quote we received, monthly fees for Rippling’s HR, payroll, and IT tools are as follows:
- Core employee management platform: $10 per employee monthly
- Full-service payroll: $8 per employee monthly
- Employee benefits: $6 per employee monthly
- Flex HSA/FSA and commuter benefits: $6 per employee monthly
- HR help desk: $100 per month
- App management: $8 per employee monthly
- Device management: $8 per employee monthly
For Rippling’s partner program, accountants get discounted rates—and your clients can enjoy it too. Note that the client discounts are not only for Rippling’s HR, IT, and benefits administration modules; it also extends to some of the provider’s third-party software partners like Zoom, Expensify, Slack, and Salesforce Essentials.
AccountEdge Pro
AccountEdge Pro is desktop accounting software for small businesses founded in 1989 and has developed new features and enhancements over the years.4 If you need to access your finances on the go or from your smartphone, you can use their cloud-based app or their hosting platform. It’s geared toward small to medium-sized businesses, has a basic version and a pro version, and offers comprehensive accounting solutions full of customizations.
We chose AccountEdge Pro as our best accounting software for experienced accountants because of its robust features and reporting capability. It’s a bit more complex than some of the other software, so this software works best if you’re already familiar with accounting terminology.
AccountEdge Pro’s features include:
- Bank feeds with integration
- Direct deposit
- Inventory management
- Payment processing
- Turn quotes into invoices
- Customer and vendor management
- Full-service payroll
- Free accountant copy
- Data sync with company files
Pricing for AccountEdge Pro is as follows:
- AccountEdge Basic: $149 one-time fee, $199 per year for one user
- AccountEdge Pro: $499 one-time fee, $199 per year, and additional fees for licenses and add-ons such as payroll services, checks, and credit card processing
To find out more about what features are included and how much add-ons cost and to add custom features, it’s best to contact the company directly.
Gusto
The heartily named Gusto is our favorite payroll software for small businesses. Its beautifully designed, full-service payroll system includes plenty of payroll and HR features, including these:
- Automatic local, state, and federal payroll tax filing
- Automatic end-of-year tax-form filing, including W-2s and 1099s
- Automatic state new-hire form filing
- Health benefits administration and workers compensation administration
- Multiple employee benefit options, including HSAs, FSAs, commuter benefits, and college savings plans
- Employee self-service portal for pay stub, direct deposit, and W-2 access
Even better, Gusto includes these features for free when many payroll providers charge extra. For instance, Gusto’s in-house insurance brokers ensure that if you sign up for employee medical insurance and workers compensation insurance through Gusto, you’ll pay the premium only.
In contrast, ADP, which outsources its insurance integrations, charges an extra fee on top of the premium. Ditto Paychex, which does have an in-house insurance team but still charges extra for insurance add-ons. ADP and Paychex also charge extra for end-of-year tax-form filings. Gusto doesn’t.
However, in the last few months, Gusto’s customer service has taken a few hits: for instance, on the review site Trustpilot, Gusto’s rating dropped from nearly four to just 2.4 (yikes!) out of 5 from more than 1.2K reviews.1 In particular, users call out slow response times and payroll errors. Thanks to its expansive employee benefits and built-in free tax filing, Gusto’s still our top payroll solution, but we did lower its star rating to account for its lowering user reviews.
Additionally, while Gusto has more employee add-ons than many other online payroll systems, it’s not a total HR management solution. Our Gusto HR review can tell you more, but if you need more than the most basic HR, you’ll want to look elsewhere—like at Paychex.
Pros
More employee benefit options than most competitors
No extra fee for payroll tax filing
No extra fee for insurance add-ons
Cons
Poor customer service ratings
High monthly per-payee fee
Limited HR management and administration
OnPay
OnPay: OnPay is No. 1 on our Best Small Business Payroll Software of 2021 rating. It offers straightforward pricing that will cost your small business $36, plus $4 per person per month. That fee gets you access to all of OnPay’s features, including unlimited payroll runs, state and federal tax filings, and accounting and time tracking software integrations. OnPay’s customer service will set up your account for you, including adding in your employees’ information and helping you integrate any compatible business software. The payroll software comes with OnPay’s human resources (HR) software that gives you access to tools for onboarding, tracking paid time off (PTO), document storage, and HR auditing. Your company will also have the ability to add and manage employee benefits.
OnPay is also ready to help small businesses in special situations, such as restaurants with minimum wage tip makeup, agricultural workers that need to file Form 943, workers on H-2A visas, and nonprofits and churches that are exempt from federal unemployment taxes (FUTA).
TalentBase
TalentBase is a payroll software for growing businesses across Africa. The solution allows business owners and managers to easily add employee pay, allowances and other statutory deductions onto the platform. You can also remit payment directly from your account into employee bank accounts.
Aside from payroll, Talentbase solution also has some awesome features such as Tax Automation (ability to calculate PAYE tax for all your employees), Expenses Management for all employees and ability to automate your leave management process.
Paychex
Does your business need thorough HR assistance without full-on HR outsourcing? Paychex Flex combines cloud-based payroll management and human resources software for small and midsize businesses that want thorough, affordable HR management.
All Paychex payroll programs include new-hire state reporting, payroll tax filing, and an employee financial wellness program. And with three customizable packages, Paychex is one of the most scalable payroll options on our list. Growing businesses won’t have to look elsewhere for plans that support additional employees—growth is built into Paychex’s model.
Even though Paychex’s cheapest plan has a lower per-employee fee than Gusto, Paychex’s add-on fees can dramatically increase your monthly payroll costs. Unlike Gusto, OnPay, and QuickBooks Payroll, Paychex may charge additional fees for payroll tax administration, time and attendance software integration, accounting software integration, and workers comp and employee benefits administration. With all the extra fees, Paychex is better suited to midsize businesses that care more about built-in scalability than cost.
Patriot
Patriot: Patriot comes in at No. 2 on our Best Payroll Software for Small Businesses rating. It offers the most affordable plan in our payroll software ratings, starting at just $10, plus $4 per payee per month for its Self-Service plan. Small business owners may be attracted to Patriot by the price alone, but even at such a low cost, Patriot offers its users comparable features to most other payroll providers. Patriot will set up your account for you and allow you to process unlimited payroll runs, at any frequency, across multiple office locations. You can integrate payroll with Patriot’s accounting software or QuickBooks, and use Patriot Time and Attendance or TSheets to track your employees’ hours. And Patriot offers an add-on HR service for $6, plus $2 per employee per month.
However, Patriot’s Self-Service plan does not cover your payroll taxes. If you want to automate your local, state, and federal taxes, you will need to get Patriot’s Full Service plan for $30, plus $4 per payee per month.
PrimePayroll
PrimePayroll is an enterprise cloud service for payroll and human resource management. Many small business owners and organizations still face payroll management and HR challenges in the day-to-day administration of their business. In addition, the upfront cost implication of purchasing and setting up legacy payroll systems, together with the required infrastructure setup can be prohibitive and financially be tasking.
PrimePayroll takes care of your payroll and HR administration, giving you the freedom and flexibility required to grow your business. PrimePayroll is safe, efficient and simple to use with zero upfront investments, all from the comfort of your internet-enabled PC or mobile device.
ADP
ADP is the biggest name in the world of PEOs, or professional employer organizations. But if your business isn’t big enough to warrant a PEO, RUN Powered by ADP distills ADP’s decades of HR expertise into an easy online payroll service with thorough HR add-ons.
All of ADP’s payroll system plans include direct deposit, automatic payroll tax filing, and W-2 submissions. It also goes heavy on the HR help. Even the cheapest plan, Core Payroll, includes HR perks like employee onboarding, health care compliance forms, and a regular HR checkup. And if you want more than the HR basics to support your growing team, ADP’s more expensive plans include employee background checks, ZipRecruiter assistance, and dedicated HR assistance.
In contrast to Gusto, OnPay, and QuickBooks Payroll, some of ADP’s basic payroll services cost extra, namely W-2 form filing. So how much does ADP payroll cost? Unfortunately, we don’t know, since ADP doesn’t list its payroll cost online. You have to contact the company directly to get a quote—useful if you want to build a custom package, but less useful if you’d rather not deal with a pushy sales rep.
Conclusion:
If you run a small business, you know that you have to take care of a lot. You have to keep track of your finances, do your taxes and deal with any problems that may arise. And because there are so many small business owners, the government has made it easier for you by offering software programs that can handle both accounting and payroll functions