Rippling vs. SmartSearch ATS

Overview
ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price
Rippling
Score 9.0 out of 10
N/A
Rippling’s platform for HR, IT, payroll, and spend management automates the entire employee lifecycle, ensures compliance, supports device management, and provides real-time financial visibility from a central dashboard.
$8
per month per user
SmartSearch ATS
Score 6.6 out of 10
N/A
SmartSearch is an enterprise-grade native recruitment platform that unifies applicant tracking, CRM, onboarding, and reporting. Purpose-built for staffing and talent acquisition teams, it automates workflows, improves visibility, and reduces reliance on disconnected recruiting tools.N/A
Pricing
RipplingSmartSearch ATS
Editions & Modules
Recommended
$8.00
starting price per user, per month
No answers on this topic
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
RipplingSmartSearch ATS
Free Trial
NoNo
Free/Freemium Version
NoNo
Premium Consulting/Integration Services
YesNo
Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeNo setup fee
Additional DetailsFor additional pricing details visit the Rippling pricing page.
More Pricing Information
Community Pulse
RipplingSmartSearch ATS
Features
RipplingSmartSearch ATS
Human Resource Management
Comparison of Human Resource Management features of Product A and Product B
Rippling
9.1
1069 Ratings
11% above category average
SmartSearch ATS
-
Ratings
Employee demographic data8.9756 Ratings00 Ratings
Employment history8.9782 Ratings00 Ratings
Job profiles and administration9.2889 Ratings00 Ratings
Workflow for transfers, promotions, pay raises, etc.9.2791 Ratings00 Ratings
Organizational charting9.3927 Ratings00 Ratings
Organization and location management9.2822 Ratings00 Ratings
Compliance data (COBRA, OSHA, etc.)9.0636 Ratings00 Ratings
Payroll Management
Comparison of Payroll Management features of Product A and Product B
Rippling
9.3
1116 Ratings
13% above category average
SmartSearch ATS
-
Ratings
Pay calculation9.41003 Ratings00 Ratings
Off-cycle/On-Demand payment9.0701 Ratings00 Ratings
Benefit plan administration9.0978 Ratings00 Ratings
Direct deposit files9.5982 Ratings00 Ratings
Salary revision and increment management9.4753 Ratings00 Ratings
Reimbursement management9.3657 Ratings00 Ratings
Leave and Attendance Management
Comparison of Leave and Attendance Management features of Product A and Product B
Rippling
9.3
1000 Ratings
13% above category average
SmartSearch ATS
-
Ratings
Approval workflow9.4964 Ratings00 Ratings
Balance details9.3920 Ratings00 Ratings
Annual carry-forward and encashment9.2681 Ratings00 Ratings
Employee Self Service
Comparison of Employee Self Service features of Product A and Product B
Rippling
9.2
1164 Ratings
11% above category average
SmartSearch ATS
-
Ratings
View and generate pay and benefit information9.41102 Ratings00 Ratings
Update personal information9.51150 Ratings00 Ratings
View company policy documentation9.4952 Ratings00 Ratings
Employee recognition8.6635 Ratings00 Ratings
View job history9.1824 Ratings00 Ratings
Asset Management
Comparison of Asset Management features of Product A and Product B
Rippling
8.9
494 Ratings
10% above category average
SmartSearch ATS
-
Ratings
Tracking of all physical assets8.9494 Ratings00 Ratings
HR Reporting
Comparison of HR Reporting features of Product A and Product B
Rippling
9.0
602 Ratings
17% above category average
SmartSearch ATS
-
Ratings
Report builder8.8582 Ratings00 Ratings
Pre-built reports9.1550 Ratings00 Ratings
Ability to combine HR data with external data9.2497 Ratings00 Ratings
Onboarding
Comparison of Onboarding features of Product A and Product B
Rippling
9.4
826 Ratings
16% above category average
SmartSearch ATS
-
Ratings
New hire portal9.5804 Ratings00 Ratings
Manager tracking tools9.3626 Ratings00 Ratings
Performance and Goals
Comparison of Performance and Goals features of Product A and Product B
Rippling
9.1
485 Ratings
12% above category average
SmartSearch ATS
-
Ratings
Corporate goal setting9.2416 Ratings00 Ratings
Individual goal setting9.0446 Ratings00 Ratings
Line-of sight-visibility9.2412 Ratings00 Ratings
Performance tracking9.0440 Ratings00 Ratings
Performance Management
Comparison of Performance Management features of Product A and Product B
Rippling
9.3
557 Ratings
16% above category average
SmartSearch ATS
-
Ratings
Performance plans9.2490 Ratings00 Ratings
Performance improvement plans9.2464 Ratings00 Ratings
Review status tracking9.2495 Ratings00 Ratings
Review reminders9.4523 Ratings00 Ratings
Multiple review frequency9.3454 Ratings00 Ratings
Succession Planning
Comparison of Succession Planning features of Product A and Product B
Rippling
9.1
411 Ratings
15% above category average
SmartSearch ATS
-
Ratings
Create succession plans/pools9.1341 Ratings00 Ratings
Candidate ranking9.2350 Ratings00 Ratings
Candidate search9.2367 Ratings00 Ratings
Candidate development9.0348 Ratings00 Ratings
Recruiting / ATS
Comparison of Recruiting / ATS features of Product A and Product B
Rippling
9.1
469 Ratings
16% above category average
SmartSearch ATS
3.4
17 Ratings
80% below category average
Job Requisition Management9.1373 Ratings3.017 Ratings
Company Website Posting9.1358 Ratings3.017 Ratings
Publish to Social Media9.2315 Ratings1.013 Ratings
Job Search Site Posting9.0326 Ratings1.017 Ratings
Duplicate Candidate Prevention9.1327 Ratings10.016 Ratings
Applicant Tracking8.9359 Ratings3.017 Ratings
Notifications and Alerts9.1440 Ratings5.513 Ratings
Customized Application Form00 Ratings9.016 Ratings
Resume Management00 Ratings1.017 Ratings
Candidate Search00 Ratings3.017 Ratings
Collaboration00 Ratings1.015 Ratings
Task Creation and Delegation00 Ratings1.014 Ratings
Email Templates00 Ratings1.016 Ratings
User Permissions00 Ratings1.016 Ratings
Reporting00 Ratings8.016 Ratings
Best Alternatives
RipplingSmartSearch ATS
Small Businesses
Dayforce Powerpay
Dayforce Powerpay
Score 9.3 out of 10
Breezy HR
Breezy HR
Score 9.2 out of 10
Medium-sized Companies
Paypro Workforce Management
Paypro Workforce Management
Score 9.2 out of 10
Breezy HR
Breezy HR
Score 9.2 out of 10
Enterprises
PeopleStrong
PeopleStrong
Score 10.0 out of 10
PeopleStrong
PeopleStrong
Score 10.0 out of 10
All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
User Ratings
RipplingSmartSearch ATS
Likelihood to Recommend
9.2
(1162 ratings)
6.0
(31 ratings)
Likelihood to Renew
8.9
(20 ratings)
3.0
(18 ratings)
Usability
9.4
(1161 ratings)
8.2
(10 ratings)
Availability
9.1
(4 ratings)
10.0
(2 ratings)
Performance
8.6
(4 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Support Rating
9.2
(877 ratings)
7.4
(8 ratings)
In-Person Training
8.6
(2 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Implementation Rating
7.8
(9 ratings)
6.0
(3 ratings)
Configurability
6.6
(3 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Ease of integration
9.1
(2 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Product Scalability
9.1
(3 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Vendor post-sale
9.1
(2 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Vendor pre-sale
8.6
(2 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
User Testimonials
RipplingSmartSearch ATS
Likelihood to Recommend
Rippling
Considering my past employers used Workday and Kronos, Rippling is miles ahead in terms of a friendly user interface and fast, easy access. For an environment like a fintech, Rippling is definitely the best one considering the need for a fast pace. I think Rippling would be less appropriate for a much older large company like a legacy bank that has built their entire HR systems already off of a different software. Making a transition for a company so large from Workday to Rippling would seem like a bit too much.
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Advanced Personnel Systems (SmartSearch)
I think our environment has stretched SmS and their capabilities (positively) but we have grown together and developed an enormously capable system together that is now very well integrated into our business. For doing applicant tracking, requisition management and offer management that has really been strong. I think we can partner together and build some better analytics and reporting capabilities that would be better suited for our business.
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Pros
Rippling
  • It is really easy to navigate, I barely needed instruction on how to do things in it as it is very intuitive.
  • Ease of workflow mapping, it was easy to have emails auto-generated to our staff regarding their eLearn content or compliance requirements.
  • Onboarding was made much easier with the workflows, auto emails sent at different points in the onboarding process, ensuring everything gets done to prepare the company to accept the new hire and to inform the new hire of what to expect.
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Advanced Personnel Systems (SmartSearch)
  • The search functions are outstanding. It is the reason we originally went with SmartSearch many years ago. The ability to do very simple or complex searches gives the recruiting staff great flexibility in how they look for and narrow down candidates.
  • The hire and onboarding traks allow us to create very specific processes we want our staff to follow to insure a consistent and repeatable result. I can create traks that can be very general or traks that literally provide emails and reminders to all of the players (recruiters, managers, candidates, etc...) every step of the way. This is particularly helpful where we have customers who have extremely stringent contractual guidelines that must be followed.
  • Support. Their customer support is second to none. We always joke that they are our favorite vendor to deal with.... Anytime we have an issue or question. They are there to walk us through it. The training is on target and the staff has always been friendly and more than eager to help make us successful with the tool.
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Cons
Rippling
  • Could clarify what is being asked when creating expense reports.
  • It could make 2FA more intuitive on mobile, such as allowing iPhone users to use Face ID as an alternative if the device is locked.
  • Overall avoid using too much jargon when asking questions.
Read full review
Advanced Personnel Systems (SmartSearch)
  • SmartSearch has a steep learning curve if you want to extensively use the features like automated tasks and the report writer
  • Technical support is spotty and sometimes very frustrating, they don't respond for weeks at a time.
  • SmartSearch user interface is old and has far less ability to customize the interface than other tracking systems
  • SmartSearch has virtually no ability to connect directly with other software and allows now other software to connect in - so no Microsoft Flow, no Zapier, no mail parser, etc. and since Smart Search capabilities are limited, not being able to integrate it with other platforms easily is unfortunate.
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Likelihood to Renew
Rippling
The AI assistant has always been able to direct me to the correct solution to any question i have about Rippling. Payroll is so easy, it takes about 10 minutes to go through the process.
Read full review
Advanced Personnel Systems (SmartSearch)
I believe over the past 30 or so pages (or so it seems), you have every reason for my business to continue as a SmartSearch ATS client and user. The support is off the charts great the few times I need them (generally not even once per year). My business has been a client since 2004. That should say it all.
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Usability
Rippling
The interface is very user-friendly. Everything you do on Rippling is communicated to you via email (for example, when your invoice is approved, when your payment will be received, and any login attempts). There are some things that need work, though, some minor issues with "where some menus are located", but those are minor things that don't spoil the overall experience with the product (but they should be addressed nonetheless).
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Advanced Personnel Systems (SmartSearch)
There are so many facets of SmartSearch, that to know everything about it is nearly impossible. While it is mainly straight forward, there is a lot. After using the program for a while, you become pretty comfortable with the basics and can start adding some of the other features.
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Reliability and Availability
Rippling
I like that the availability in using Rippling at any given time is useful to me. Getting on the site freely when I need gives me security of knowing that I can be in control of viewing health insurance and hours information. I have yet to get any errors in using the Rippling app.
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Advanced Personnel Systems (SmartSearch)
My license for SmartSearch goes back to 2004. It has always been available for me - don't remember a single time it was not available in all of those years.
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Performance
Rippling
Rippling's performance has been great, no errors or glitches yet so far. I am confident that Going from one page to the next and all its complexity usage does not lag or times out, it works effectively and efficiently. While using Rippling and other apps it does not tend to slow it down, works great. No complaints.
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Advanced Personnel Systems (SmartSearch)
No answers on this topic
Support Rating
Rippling
When I did have to reach out to Rippling for assistance I was able to get quick help and my problem resolved in a time efficient manner with out any type of hick up. The customer support team is professional, kind and always available. This makes Rippling more welcoming to use on a daily basis.
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Advanced Personnel Systems (SmartSearch)
Once you get the 1 person on the phone they are very knowledgeable and tend to solve the problem. The issue is there are not enough resources to handle all the clients. Their primary clients are "recruiting firms" and I think that is where most of the their support resources go
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In-Person Training
Rippling
The trainer went slow and and answered our questions.
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Advanced Personnel Systems (SmartSearch)
No answers on this topic
Implementation Rating
Rippling
It's really easy to implement in comparison to other tools or applications. Different key points are easily configured and implemented as per need, having different configurations in systems. Implementation is something which binds the different parameters of an organization in a single row. Implementation of rippling is much easier, quicker, and error free than any other software. I recommend it strongly!
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Advanced Personnel Systems (SmartSearch)
Using the basic functions of SmartSearch is an easy implementation. But consider carefully what your organization needs to really drive placements. Because we only did a basic implementation first, we were caught off guard when later trying to implement more functions and realizing that the capabilities were limited or were difficult to learn and implement and realizing that tech support was not going to be consistent.
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Alternatives Considered
Rippling
We chose Rippling primarily based on cost and feature set available. As a small organization, budget is a high priority. Rippling gave us enterprise-level features at an affordable cost for an early stage start up. We appreciate that we have the opportunity to expand our feature set within Rippling as our business and workforce grow.
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Advanced Personnel Systems (SmartSearch)
Functionally, SmartSearch is not on the same page as ZipRecruiter. ZipRecruiter as a platform is much more geared toward helping applicants and is essentially a glorified resume database. SmartSearch offers so much more in terms of features and abilities, that would not really be appropriate to try and compare the two. Similarly, the overall use of SmartSearch is an apples and oranges comparison to LinkedIn Talent. LinkedIn is great for sourcing and attracting talent, but in terms of tracking candidates all the way through a hiring process and tracking a heavy volume of job orders across a variety of states and locations, the two just don't really compare.
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Scalability
Rippling
I can go on here and see all my hours and pto plus health benefits. I like to have the work handbook handy to refer to legal things. How to work my role within it's limits. Being able to put in my hours and view when they are approved is a huge benefit for me.
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Advanced Personnel Systems (SmartSearch)
No answers on this topic
Return on Investment
Rippling
  • Our HR team used to spend almost three days doing payroll calculations before Rippling. This platform has cut that time down by 75%! Now they can devote the time they would've spent on payroll to other important tasks.
  • Rippling saves employees time by making time-tracking less of a headache.
  • Rippling has so many so many services that it's essentially a one-stop-shop for centralized HR solutions!
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Advanced Personnel Systems (SmartSearch)
  • That's easy - they have helped us grown and make more money. The core element of their technology (e.g. the ability to search for, identify and contact candidates is excellent).
  • They are a business partner and do their very best to help us succeed.
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ScreenShots

Rippling Screenshots

Screenshot of the Rippling Dashboard: Employees' home for their payroll, benefits, documents, devices, expenses, and apps.Screenshot of Rippling Payroll: Runs payroll in 90 seconds. Pays employees and contractors around the world. Automatic tax filing.Screenshot of Rippling Benefits Administration: For the management of employees' Medical, Dental, Vision, 401K, FSA, HSA, and commuter benefits.Screenshot of Rippling Single Sign-On: Employees can access all of their SaaS apps in one click from their Rippling dashboard.Screenshot of Rippling’s Time & Attendance platform. This integrates with the rest of the product suite so that when employees clock in, their approved hours automatically synced with payroll and accounting systems.Screenshot of Rippling Mobile Device Management: To manage employees' computers and devices 100% remotely.