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Rippling vs Workday HCM

Rippling7.9/10

Workday HCM5.3/10

Scored in HRIS Software

The short answer

Rippling publishes an entry price of $40 a month plus $8 per employee and serves companies of every size; Workday HCM targets mid-market and enterprise employers and sells by quote, with deployment as a separate fixed-fee package.

By LeadChange Research TeamUpdated Based on 16 sources, most recently checked
Starting price
$40/mo + $8/employee/mo1
Best for
Companies that want HR, payroll, IT and finance apps on one employee database

Choose Rippling if

  • You want a published entry price: $40 a month plus $8 per employee.
  • You also manage identity, access and devices for employees.
  • You want cards, expenses, bill pay and travel in the HR system.
  • You want to be live fast: 1–3 weeks for most small businesses.
Best for
Large and midsize employers that run HR, talent and payroll on one platform

Choose Workday HCM if

  • You run a large organization: Workday targets mid-market and enterprise employers.
  • You need workforce planning, reorganization modeling and dynamic org charts.
  • You report heavily: over 5,000 prebuilt reports and 160+ dashboards.
  • You need HIPAA stated by the vendor.

LeadChange Score: editorial assessment based on public information.

Scorecard

Rippling wins 2Workday HCM wins 03 ties

Rippling vs Workday HCM by dimension
DimensionRipplingWorkday HCM
PricingRippling publishes $40 a month plus $8 per employee for payroll, with each added product priced on top. Workday quotes and sells deployment as separate fixed-fee Launch packages. $40/mo1Partly publishedQuote only
CapabilitiesBoth cover HR, talent and payroll. Rippling adds IT identity and devices, finance tools and an employer of record; Workday adds workforce planning, HR service delivery and reorganization modeling. HR, IT, Finance, Payroll, Custom applications, Global (employer of record, global payroll, global contractors), PEO, Data Cloud, Rippling AI211 of 11 core capabilities8 of 11 core capabilities
IntegrationsRippling lists 650+ integrations with a REST API, webhooks and SCIM provisioning. Workday connects payroll to native and partner systems across 180+ countries. 650+317 documented (vendor says 650+)11 documented
Fit and supportRippling serves small, mid-market and enterprise companies, with free guided implementation through the first payroll for small businesses. Workday serves mid-market and enterprise organizations through Workday or its deployment partners. Small businesses, mid-market companies, enterprises1Small businesses, mid-market companies, enterprisesMid-market companies, enterprises
SecurityBoth state SOC 2 Type II, ISO 27001 and GDPR. Rippling adds SCIM; Workday adds HIPAA. Yes4SOC 2, ISO 27001, GDPRSOC 2, ISO 27001, GDPR

Rippling or Workday HCM: what matters most to you?

We match on verified product facts for this need, never on who pays us.

Key differences

Where Rippling and Workday HCM differ (6)
AttributeRipplingWorkday HCM
Pricing modelBase fee + per employee5Quote only6
Price transparencyPartly published1Quote only6
Best forSmall businesses, mid-market companies, enterprises1Mid-market companies, enterprises6
Founded2016720058
HeadquartersSan Francisco, California, US9Pleasanton, California, US10
OwnershipPrivate11Publicly traded8
Show 6 attributes where they are the same
Where they are the same (6)
AttributeRipplingWorkday HCM
DeploymentCloud4Cloud8
Mobile appsiOS, Android1213
Single sign-on314
SOC 2 Type II415
ISO 27001415
GDPR program415

Analysis by dimension

Pricing. Rippling publishes $40 a month plus $8 per employee for payroll, with each added product priced on top. Workday quotes and sells deployment as separate fixed-fee Launch packages.

Capabilities. Both cover HR, talent and payroll. Rippling adds IT identity and devices, finance tools and an employer of record; Workday adds workforce planning, HR service delivery and reorganization modeling.

Integrations. Rippling lists 650+ integrations with a REST API, webhooks and SCIM provisioning. Workday connects payroll to native and partner systems across 180+ countries.

Fit and support. Rippling serves small, mid-market and enterprise companies, with free guided implementation through the first payroll for small businesses. Workday serves mid-market and enterprise organizations through Workday or its deployment partners.

Security. Both state SOC 2 Type II, ISO 27001 and GDPR. Rippling adds SCIM; Workday adds HIPAA.

Neither one?

BambooHR

BambooHR has the highest LeadChange Score in HRIS Software after excluding these two (9.3/10).

From $250/mo flat up to 25 employees, then $10.25/employee/mo16

BambooHR review

Frequently asked questions

Who does Rippling compete with?

In our HRIS category, Rippling is listed with Workday HCM, BambooHR, HiBob, Paylocity, Paycom and Gusto. Next to Workday, it stands out for IT and finance apps on the same employee graph and a published entry price.

What is Workday’s biggest competitor?

Workday HCM competes with the other large HCM suites: SAP SuccessFactors, Oracle HCM, UKG Pro, Dayforce and ADP Workforce Now sit in the same HCM category of ours. Rippling overlaps with Workday in HR and payroll but also sells to small businesses, which Workday does not target.

Is Rippling cheaper than Workday?

Rippling publishes a payroll entry price of $40 a month plus $8 per employee, with other products on top. Workday quotes every subscription and adds a separate deployment package.

Can a small business use Workday?

Workday targets mid-market and enterprise organizations, so it is less suited to small businesses. Rippling lists small businesses among its segments and sets most of them up in 1–3 weeks.

How long do Rippling and Workday take to implement?

Rippling says 1–3 weeks for most small businesses. Workday deploys through fixed-fee Launch Express or Launch Flex packages, delivered by Workday or a partner.

What AI do Rippling and Workday offer?

Rippling AI answers questions across connected business data and builds dashboards and reports; Workday’s Sana orchestrates agents, including a Payroll Agent that validates pay runs.

Is Rippling or Workday HCM more secure?

Both Rippling and Workday HCM state SOC 2 Type II, ISO 27001, and GDPR. Workday HCM states HIPAA (unverified for Rippling).

How this page was made

  • What it is built from

    40 verified facts, each checked against the vendor's own pages or another primary source, most recently on Nov 9, 2026.

  • Method

    Scored and compared with the LeadChange methodology, version 1.5. Read the methodology

  • Independent review

    Not reviewed yet by our independent reviewer. How we review

  • Hands-on testing

    We have not tested either product hands-on: this page uses public information only.

  • Who made it

    The LeadChange Research Team, following a written research process. No named expert has reviewed this page. About us

  • Independence and errors

    Who pays us never changes a score or a rank. If something here is wrong, tell us and we correct it publicly. Request a correction

Rippling or Workday HCM? Your answer in 3 questions

Your team size, what matters most and your role: see which one fits more of your answers, from verified facts.

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Rippling vs Workday HCM

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Sources

The 16 pages this page's facts come from. The date beside each is our last check of the facts taken from it (the oldest, when they differ). The numbers beside the figures above link here.

Quotes from the sources
  1. Rippling rippling.com/solutions/small-businesses“Rippling's small business plans start at $8 per user per month for payroll. The final cost depends on which other products you add, such as benefits administration, time and attendance, or IT device management.” “Starting at $8 per user per month ... Plus, a $40 per month base fee.”
  2. Rippling rippling.com“Automate busy work with all-in-one HR, including benefits, recruiting, performance, LMS, and more. ... Manage identity, access, and devices ... Control every dollar with corporate cards, expenses, procurement, bill pay, travel, and more. ... Run accurate payroll in minutes for employees and contractors around the world. ... Create custom automations and applications”
  3. Rippling rippling.com/products/it“650+ integrations with your favorite apps” “Single-sign on (SSO)”
  4. Rippling rippling.com/trust/security“Rippling's SOC 2 Type 2 report covers the trust services categories of Security, Confidentiality, and Availability, and is audited annually.” “All data is housed in physically secure, US-based AWS data centers across multiple availability zones.”
  5. Rippling rippling.com/pricing“Rippling's pricing depends on the products you select and the number of employees you have. Most products are priced per employee per month, while some may include a monthly base fee.”
  6. Workday workday.com/en-us/products/human-capital-management/overview.html“Contact Sales” “Request a Demo”
  7. Rippling rippling.com/careers“The groundwork is laid for Rippling… 2016 Parker's basement is unfinished. So is Rippling's first product. But we have started to build.”
  8. Workday workday.com/en-us/company/about-workday/our-story.html“2005 Workday is founded by software visionaries Aneel Bhusri and Dave Duffield as the first true cloud application provider for HR and finance.” “Workday debuted on the Fortune 500 and S&P 500, joining hundreds of our customers.”
  9. Rippling rippling.com/company/press“Based in San Francisco, CA, Rippling has raised $1.8B from Kleiner Perkins, Founders Fund, Sequoia,”
  10. Wikipedia en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Workday,_Inc.“Headquarters Pleasanton, California, US”
  11. Wikipedia en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rippling_(company)“Rippling Type Private Industry”
  12. Rippling (Apple App Store listing) apps.apple.com/us/app/rippling-hr-it-finance/id1231325957“Rippling makes it easy to access your benefits, request time off, submit expenses, view paystubs, share passwords, and more—all from your phone. ... Requires iOS 16.4 or later.”
  13. App Store apps.apple.com/us/app/workday/id316800034“The Workday app provides secure, mobile access to your Workday applications on-the-go.”
  14. Microsoft Learn learn.microsoft.com/en-us/entra/identity/saas-apps/workday-tutorial“Configure Workday for Single sign-on with Microsoft Entra ID”
  15. Workday workday.com/en-us/why-workday/trust/compliance.html“The SOC 2 Type II report is an independent assessment of our control environment performed by a third party.” “Information Security Scope (ISO 27001, 27017, 27018): Adaptive Planning, Analytics and Reporting, Contract Lifecycle Management (CLM) and Contract & Document Intelligence, Financial Management, HiredScore, Human Capital Management, Payroll”
  16. BambooHR bamboohr.com/pricing“For companies with more than 25 employees, our HR software is priced on a per-employee, per-month basis. BambooHR pricing starts at $10.25 USD per employee per month for Core, $17.50 USD per employee per month for Pro, and $25 USD per employee per month for Elite.”

What the LeadChange Score means

A 0–10 editorial assessment built only from verified facts, across six weighted dimensions: capabilities, pricing, integrations, security, fit and support, and data confidence.

Payments, commissions and lead fees are never inputs.