Rippling Spend is an all-in-one spend management platform designed to streamline how businesses control their spending, which means it’s far more than just an expense or bill tracking tool.
The spend tracking tools are just one part of Rippling’s offering, which already spans other areas like HR, IT and other finance solutions.
Because of this unified approach, it means everything is kept under the Rippling roof which allows companies to simplify their software stacks. While it reduces the interoperability challenges posed by having to use multiple providers, it could result higher costs from weakened competition.
It’s designed primarily for mid-sized and growing businesses, so if you’re a startup with just a few people on the books and minimal spend tracking requirements, it might be too much for you.
Spend is one of Rippling’s newer products, launched in September 2024. Because it ties in with the rest of the platform, it with employee data like roles, departments and locations, for granular controls and approval automation.
Rippling says this helps streamline month-end processes and cut administrative time by up to 75%.
Rippling has a series of different packages to pick from, but one thing’s consistent across the entire ecosystem – you’ll struggle to find any explicit pricing, because Rippling wants to share this via a consultation.
The principle offering Rippling Platform, comes in two flavors – Core and Pro. Both have add-ons like unlimited workflows, custom no-code apps and an API platform with over 600 third-party apps and integrations.
If you’re just going down the Rippling Spend route, the Expense Management package is the one for you.
It includes tracking and reimbursement across any currency in over 100 countries, expense viewing and reimbursement via payroll, policies, receipt matching and the mobile app.
Again, Rippling does not disclose pricing.
We understand tailoring packages to different sized companies is essential to maximizing value, but by simply not declaring prices to start with could leave many customers looking elsewhere.
(Image credit: Rippling)Rippling Spend: FeaturesRippling’s unified spend management platform includes expense management, corporate cards, bill pay, payroll and travel into a single interface, so it can just about handle any mainstream expense you or your employees can throw at it.
It’s a great fit for bigger companies, because it allows admins to set up custom rules based on employees, such as department, role or location, meaning some processes and even approvals can be complete with automation.
In fact, it’s the automations that Rippling Spend such an easy system to use. For example, you can allow certain employees to book different cabin types on flights, or issue corporate cards to individuals with allocated budgets and spending categories.
It all means finance teams will have fewer requests with the correct setup.
For admins, a handy dashboard offers a consolidated view of live spending across departments, projects and other categories, which can be especially handy in the third sector where grant-led projects require funding to be allocated from different pots.
Another power of Rippling’s is that it integrates well with third-party applications, including over 600 accounting, HR and productivity tools like QuickBooks and Xero.
Finance teams will also love how Rippling Spend integrates bill payments and invoice processing – one less reason to have to jump between different apps.
(Image credit: Rippling)Rippling Spend: Ease of useRippling is a big name in this space, so it should come as no surprise that everything feels very unified and simple across the entire ecosystem.
This consistent UI isn’t just nice to look at and easy to use, but it also helps from a staffing point of view because, if you’re using other tools in the Rippling suite, you’ll have fewer onboarding and training challenges.
It’s as easy to manage Rippling Spend as a finance exec as it is to use it as a worker – and the latter can submit expenses through email, receipt upload or manual entry, which are then automatically routed to the right approvers.
Rippling Spend is at its most powerful on the desktop, but there are mobile apps for on-the-go tracking and claim submissions, which is really handy for keeping tabs on costs during business trips.
It’s one big app – not just spend-tracking – so again, it’s better when a company commits to using the entire Rippling ecosystem.
(Image credit: Rippling)Rippling Spend: SupportRippling encourages users to schedule a demo to determine the features they need, and this is where the pricing will be revealed.
In terms of learning resources, the company has its own help center, webinars and documentation to guide users through most processes, but the platform is on the simpler side to use anyway.
Although direct support response times aren’t publicly detailed, user ratings suggest a fairly responsive customer service.
Apart from the online chat pop-up, there’s an online form to reach Rippling, but no email address or phone number.
(Image credit: Rippling)Rippling Spend: Final verdictRippling Spend is an easy-to-use spend management platform that consolidates corporate cards, expense tracking and bill payments into one integrated platform, as well as all the usual smaller expenses that add up.
Because it forms part of a wider Rippling ecosystem, it means companies can tap into existing knowledge about processes, projects and workers, which can significantly reduce administrative time – Rippling says by 75%.
The interface is about as easy as it gets on the desktop, and a handy complementary mobile app keeps workers connected on the go when they need to out-of-office expenses.
For admins and finance teams, real-time visibility across projects and teams eliminates last-minute surprises, and powerful automations keep things flowing with little human interaction needed – ultimately freeing up workers to product more meaningful work and saving the company time and money.
For mid-sized to larger organizations looking to centralize spend, Rippling Spend is a strong contender, but smaller teams might find just as much value from cheaper, smaller-scale solutions elsewhere.
Staffology Payroll is a cloud-based payroll solution designed for UK businesses that appreciate a helping hand from automation, flexibility and full HMRC compliance.
It’s been built from the ground up to work with APIs, so it caters to in-house finance teams and external payroll bureaus with plenty of integrations.
At its core, Staffology is designed to simplify payroll administration without making users have to give up features or full control, and it automates core tasks like pay run calculations, tax submissions and pension enrolments.
Pricing is clear, and is based on the number of payslips processed after an initial fee, which makes it easy for finance departments to budget long-term and factor in seasonal fluctuation or growth.
That said, smaller businesses may find the starting cost high compared with entry-level providers. Especially given that this is the platform designed to pick up users being kicked off IRIS Payroll Basics (IRIS’s free platform for under 10 workers).
Easy-of-use is essential, and support channels are broad, so you shouldn’t have any major headaches getting on board with IRIS’s Staffology Payroll.
Staffology Payroll starts off with a flat fee of £39 per month, and that covers fewer than 20 payslips (one to 19). If you want to generate more, you can go up to 50 for an additional £1.95 per payslip per month.
IRIS will support much larger companies who need 10,000 or more payslips, but that requires a bespoke quote. Presumably, this unlocks more cost-effective pricing.
It’s as simple as that – there are no other hidden costs, which helps IRIS solidify its transparency commitment.
(Image credit: Staffology Payroll by IRIS)Staffology Payroll by IRIS: FeaturesStaffology Payroll is all about making payroll simple, and it starts with smart automation that speeds up repetitive administrative work that doesn’t necessarily need human intervention.
IRIS also uses an API-first design for integration to other platforms like QuickBooks, Sage One and Xero, including pre-built connectors and flexible APIs for custom integrations.
Apart from third-party integrations, Staffology Payroll also integrates with other IRIS products like Staffology HR for time and attendance monitoring, automatically importing hours worked for context.
You don’t have to have full-time employees, either, because Staffology Payroll can handle ad-hoc workers and even calculate their holiday pay, and if you need P11D and Class 1A National Insurance, it covers that too.
Catering to HR and payroll companies who do all of this for you – not just in-house teams – Staffology Payroll by IRIS also offers a white-label payroll solution so that you can rebrand it to match your own logo, colours and company name. Again, API connections keep all the data in check.
(Image credit: Staffology Payroll by IRIS)Staffology Payroll by IRIS: Ease of useOn the whole, Staffology Payroll’s interface has been praised for being simple to navigate and user-friendly, and intuitive setup guides help get you onboarded quickly.
IRIS themselves say they’ve designed a platform that’s simple to use without sacrificing functionality, making the most of dashboards and charts to present information in a a glanceable format.
A well-designed employee portal with mobile access helps to boost on-the-go accessibility.
Customer reviews frequently note the simplistic design, which has realised significant time savings.
(Image credit: Staffology Payroll by IRIS)Staffology Payroll by IRIS: SupportIRIS has a whole host of payroll and HR solutions for companies, recruiters and specialised industries like healthcare and education, so it’s built up a comprehensive help centre with tutorials, self-guidance and updates.
Live training opportunities are offered as well as knowledge base articles.
It’s easy to find a phone number to get in touch with IRIS, which uses a ‘one number’ approach. Behind the system lay three options for sales, customer support and payments/renewals.
Separate email addresses are also available for all of IRIS’s different products, and you can log tickets for further support too.
(Image credit: Staffology Payroll by IRIS)Staffology Payroll by IRIS: Final verdictStaffology Payroll by IRIS is a cloud-first solution designed to meet the demands of modern UK payroll teams who are so frequently short on time. By offering automation options and a user interface that’s so simple to use, IRIS promises to help users save significant time on administrative tasks.
The platform offers a comprehensive suite of features designed to boost efficiency while remaining compliant with HMRC guidance, making it a strong option for mid-sized businesses.
IRIS recommends Staffology Payroll as an alternative to the free IRIS Payroll Basics, which is to be deprecated after the 2025/26 tax year. For those smaller teams, the pricing might put it out of reach, but for larger organisations its transparent pricing and near-infinite scalability are real positives.
Built to support APIs from the ground up, Staffology Payroll offers integration with many popular bookkeeping and HR platforms, including Xero, QuickBooks and IRIS’s own HR ecosystem, which is especially useful for businesses who want to consolidate their systems or at least automate cross-platform workflows.
With pretty strong support spanning real human connections and self-guided help channels, it’s hard to get lose using IRIS’s Staffology Payroll.
In summary, this smart and scalable payroll platform is ideal for slightly larger businesses who want automation, simplicity and control all in one, but for those being pushed away from IRIS Payroll Basics, it might be that little bit too much.
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