Zenefits’ comprehensive people management platform combines payroll with crucial HR features. It’s ideal for small and midsize businesses that want to tackle every HR task — from benefits and payroll to onboarding and compliance — on one streamlined system instead of using different tools for each process.
SEE: Choosing a payroll service: A guide for business leaders (TechRepublic Premium)
However, Zenefits (also known as Trinet Zenefits) isn’t the right HR/payroll software pick for every business. Whether you’re looking for a less expensive alternative or you’d prefer a payroll-focused system to a total HR management solution, there are plenty of software options available. We review six of those Zenefits alternatives below.
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| Vendor | Automatic tax withholding and remittance | Direct deposit | Time and attendance | International payroll | Starting monthly price |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Zenefits | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | $8 per employee |
| Rippling | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | $8 per employee |
| Gusto | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes (contractors only) | $40 plus $6 per employee |
| Papaya Global | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | $12 per employee |
| Justworks | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | $59 per employee |
| Paychex | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes (through a third party) | $39 plus $5 per employee |
| BambooHR | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes (through a third party) | Contact for quote |
Rippling was founded by Zenefits’ former CEO, Parker Conrad, so the two platforms have fairly similar features. Like Zenefits, Rippling’s people management solution is an all-in-one platform that lets you manage payroll, benefits, HR, hiring and time tracking.
Unlike Zenefits, Rippling also includes remote device management, financial services like employee expense management and inventory management. Rippling’s tech features make it ideal for businesses that rely heavily on technology, especially companies managing a global workforce. In contrast to Zenefits, which is specific to the United States, Rippling offers global payroll processing, employee management, device management and benefits options.
Learn more about Rippling by reading our comprehensive Rippling review.
Most Rippling modules cost a monthly per-employee fee, though some also include a monthly base price. For instance, Rippling’s payroll pricing starts at $8 per month per user on top of a monthly base fee for Rippling’s software platform, Rippling Unity.
Rippling Unity’s pricing isn’t listed online. Additionally, since Rippling’s plans are entirely customizable, interested customers must request a custom quote.
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Papaya Global’s comprehensive platform includes payroll, payments and global HR features that can be used to manage and pay employees in more than 160 countries. The software automates most aspects of hiring, from onboarding to benefits selection. Its workflows, payments, benefits and payroll runs can all be tailored to each employee’s location.
Papaya is one of the more flexible workforce — and, depending on what you use it for, one of the cheapest — management systems. For instance, if you don’t want to use Papaya as your payroll provider, integrating your current provider with Papaya’s platform costs $3 per employee per month. As with Rippling, businesses can build customized plan packages that include only the Papaya tools they need and none of the tools they don’t.
Learn more about Papaya Global by reading our Papaya Global review.
Each of Papaya’s services comes at a monthly and/or per-employee fee. Naturally, the more Papaya services you opt into, the higher your monthly cost.
Justworks is a PEO, or professional employer organization. Unlike a payroll or HR software company such as Gusto, Justworks doesn’t just provide you with the software to run payroll in house. Instead, Justworks shares ownership of your company, leaving the business management side up to you while taking workforce management off your plate.
As a PEO, Justworks assumes responsibility for remitting payroll taxes, managing employee benefits and automatically paying your employees through direct deposit. Justworks can pay and manage both hourly and salaried workers. However, its overtime alerts for both employers and employees, app-based time and attendance tracking, scheduling features, and location-tracking features make it even more valuable for businesses with hourly workers who clock in and out at specific locations.
Learn more about Justworks by reading our Justworks review.
Justworks has two plans: Basic and Plus. While both plans include workers’ compensation insurance and 401(k) plans for employees, only the Plus plan includes health insurance benefits.
Paychex has a range of payroll and HR solutions, including comprehensive PEO services and three tiers of full-service payroll software plans. Paychex Flex is Paychex’s primary software product and, much like Gusto, it combines automatic payroll processing services with the most common HR tools for small and midsize businesses.
Paychex’s main feature is its fully automated payroll service. Like any other full-service payroll system, Paychex calculates employee paychecks, deducts taxes and other withholding amounts, pays employees, and remits taxes and other deductions to the correct entities. Payroll runs can be set to autopilot and scheduled in advance. The company also offers more HR features than competitors like Gusto, including access to a comprehensive HR library with every plan.
Learn more about Paychex by reading our Paychex Flex review.
BambooHR has many of the same HR and payroll features as Justworks, but it’s an in-house software system like Zenefits rather than an outsourced PEO like Justworks. While the software includes automated full-service payroll, its main focus is on facilitating HR tasks like recruiting candidates, onboarding new hires, gathering employee feedback, managing time and attendance, and offboarding employees once they leave.
Although it was created specifically for small businesses, BambooHR can also accommodate medium-sized businesses. However, BambooHR’s primary focus is HR — not payroll. While you can definitely use the platform to run payroll and track employee hours, BambooHR is a better fit for small and midsize businesses looking for software that focuses on providing a solid employee experience.
To learn more about BambooHR, read our BambooHR review.
BambooHR doesn’t list prices for either of its two plans online. You can request a quote immediately, or you can sign up for a seven-day free trial with limited features.
Zenefits is worth it for businesses that want all-in-one HR and payroll management on one fully integrated platform. If you’d rather not search for individual payroll, time tracking, benefits administration and HR tools that may or may not integrate with each other, using Zenefits’ streamlined system will save you time and effort.
On the other hand, you should consider a Zenefits competitor if you want global payroll management, payroll-first software or customizable HR plans with more robust financial and tech support features.
Zenefits has three base HR plans and several add-on modules, most of which cost a monthly per-employee fee. All three HR base plans include onboarding, time tracking, employee scheduling, reporting, and mobile app access for both employers and employees.
You can also pick and choose which modules to add on top of your HR base plan:
Whether or not you should choose Zenefits or a Zenefits alternative depends in large part on your business’s size, HR expectations and specific payroll needs.
Start by assessing the above options using our payroll services comparison tool, which can help you pinpoint exactly which payroll and HR features you’re looking for in your software system.
If you want payroll-first software and consider HR tools to be perks rather than necessities, Gusto or Paychex could be less complicated and less expensive for you than Zenefits. If international payroll and benefits management is a must for you, Rippling and Papaya are both better picks than Zenefits. And if your small business values employee feedback and company culture tools more than comprehensive payroll or total workforce management, BambooHR could meet your expectations better than any other provider on our list.
To write our review and evaluate each Zenefits competitor’s strengths and weaknesses, we looked at sites that compile aggregate data based on verified user reviews, such as Trustpilot and Gartner Peer Insights. We also reviewed demos on vendor sites, test-drove the software when possible, and scoured each site to evaluate its features, customer service, user-friendliness, prices and scalability.
To learn more about our approach to writing reviews and evaluating software, see our payroll review methodology page.
