Apple Business Essentials vs. Rippling

Overview
ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price
Apple Business Essentials
Score 8.3 out of 10
Mid-Size Companies (51-1,000 employees)
Apple Business Essentials is a subscription service that brings together device management, 24/7 support, and cloud storage. It enables small business to manage every iPhone, iPad, Mac, and Apple TVs throughout the business.
$8.25
per device, per month
Rippling
Score 8.9 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
starting price per user, per month
Pricing
Apple Business EssentialsRippling
Editions & Modules
Fleetsmith Managed
$8.25
per device, per month
Recommended
$8.00
starting price per user, per month
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
Apple Business EssentialsRippling
Free Trial
YesNo
Free/Freemium Version
YesNo
Premium Consulting/Integration Services
NoNo
Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeNo setup fee
Additional DetailsFree unlimited trial for up to 10 devices Device Intelligence free for unlimited devices iOS/tvOS devices free during beta periodFor additional pricing details visit the Rippling pricing page.
More Pricing Information
Community Pulse
Apple Business EssentialsRippling
Considered Both Products
Apple Business Essentials
Chose Apple Business Essentials
Like I mentioned earlier, Fleetsmith's ease of use is better than the others that I've had experience with (e.g. Addigy, JAMF). It's intuitive and it doesn't take a long time to get the basics down. The UI is great and it takes care of most of what I need it to do.
Chose Apple Business Essentials
JAMF Pro is more expensive and is not as user-friendly for organization-wide deployment.
Chose Apple Business Essentials
For the sake of transparency, Fleetsmith is MUCH cheaper which is why we went with it in the first place.
Chose Apple Business Essentials
By far the most intuitive and seamless experience to get set up with pricing that scales for our organization's needs.
Chose Apple Business Essentials
The primary products we checked out were Mosyle, JAMF, and SimpleMDM. In the end it really came down to the simplicity of our needs and the simplicity of Fleetsmith's approach being in tight harmony. We kicked the tires, hard, for about a month and then dove all the way in.
Chose Apple Business Essentials
We have tested Cisco Meraki, but the UI is so chaotic. It is not easy to find the function at one go as we need to take time to explore the navigation. The configured device at times gives a false alert. Device enrolment is not straightforward. The licensing fees are slightly …
Chose Apple Business Essentials
Our decision was made some time ago so I don't remember all the details but we went with Fleetsmith originally on a recommendation.

One major influence was the direct and no-effort integration into our G Suite account for ease of management and tying back to our organisation …
Chose Apple Business Essentials
Figuring out how to package apps for Jamf Now was super complicated. Fleetsmith is like using an app store.
Chose Apple Business Essentials
I view Jamf as the leader for mac. Airwatch does mac and pc. If Fleetsmith worked on PC, I think it would put it over the top.
Chose Apple Business Essentials
Jamf seems much more dependent upon a dedicated IT staff to configure and support it; I chose Fleetsmith because to a much greater extent it “just works” out of the box. To my mind, the value proposition is that it comes as close as possible to eliminate the need for IT staff …
Chose Apple Business Essentials
Fleetsmith is very cost-effective and scales from startup to mid-size business much more easily. Fleetsmith can be setup by a team-member or CEO without needing engineering help, and certainly not a dedicated IT admin.
Chose Apple Business Essentials
I include Samsung Knox as a competitor in this field because you can have a similar setup with any Samsung devices purchased through a reseller as well. We have gone down this route for a few devices that have needed to be Android and the difference between the two platforms is …
Rippling
Chose Rippling
As an end user, it's a great experience, and I haven't used anything that is as integrated and useful as this.
Chose Rippling
Its ease of use, security, user friendly UI helped us a lot
Chose Rippling
Rippling offers more complex features allowing employees to really take control on how they use Rippling. It also has a really simple and clean user interface that is great to use especially for those that do not have strong computer skills. This drives strong employee …
Chose Rippling
My employer selected Rippling over Deel, because it was cheaper, had better support and a better payroll automation system
Chose Rippling
Rippling is the perfect balance between a PEO and a standalone payroll system. They have all the functions, features and support that a company needs, but allows the user (company) the flexibility to utilize the system with control. Other systems were missing this feature, …
Chose Rippling
it helps us scale, we are able to have proper employee benefits and we reduce multiple drives employee workflows.
Chose Rippling
Rippling stands out over others with its faster deployment, modern interface, and all-in-one automation for HR, IT, and payroll—making it ideal for fast-growing companies
Chose Rippling
As I am a fresher. I started using both recently. Both are completely different. But we use Jira for assigning tickets and comments etc. In Rippling we do other things. I like the interface of Jira than Rippling. We can't measure in most scenarios which is better like that. I …
Chose Rippling
Rippling is far superior than those other products. That's why we chose Rippling. The level of integration of multiple functions are limited to most but not for Rippling. This application/platform has proved it's worth with it's efficiency and they truly deliver their purpose. …
Chose Rippling
Rippling has more information and is easier to access.
Chose Rippling
We moved away from ADP WorkforceNow for Rippling, and it's been the best decision the company has made. I have saved hundreds of manual hours annually with this change.
Chose Rippling
Good for the all-in-one activity for tracking. All roles and implementations is good. Rippling enables businesses to manage both people and their access to apps, devices, and systems from one place, streamlining operations and improving security. End-to-end workflows across …
Chose Rippling
Significant more features and a much better mobile application. Rippling's mobile application is a serious win! Our employees love the ability of submitting human resources related tasks through their phone at any time. In addition, Rippling has a significant larger pool of …
Chose Rippling
Rippling has a better user experience, is more easy to use and more comprehensive. This is more related to feelings but with Employee Navigator I felf my data was not being protected because the platform looked very old and outdated. With Rippling the feeling is the opposite …
Chose Rippling
Cost effectiveness is one key that helped us to improvise the company. And all features in a single application URL is best for end users. it may be of different modules but for end users as one is a plus. where onboarding and managing users are tough when company grows year by …
Chose Rippling
Rippling inetrages with more systems
Chose Rippling
This application was horrible. Always had issues and the customer service was always so bad because they took forever to respond to any issue. Payroll was always an issue when we needed to have anything changed or corrected.
Chose Rippling
Dayforce has the option for submitting time cards. Then employees and employers need a separate app for many other functions. Which Rippling as stated previously the app allows you to just use Rippling and have all bases covered .
Chose Rippling
Rippling seems to have a wider range of features than similar products, but some of them are not currently used.
Chose Rippling
Although I did not choose Rippling, I’m glad my company did! It’s the best platform I’ve used by far. It exceeds Workday's capabilities and is easier to use in terms of its user interface. I’d pick Rippling 10 times out of 10 over any HR platform I’ve used before, especially …
Chose Rippling
Rippling is SO MUCH easier than GoCo. I worked for GoCo in the past and worked in technical support. And I saw so many issues every day with how the app worked. I was shocked to onboard with Rippling and have ZERO ISSUES. It was so easy! Highly recommend.
Chose Rippling
Easier to navigate and operate. Interface is more clean and modern. Paycom is full of options and menus everywhere, which makes it harder to operate. Also app integration with Rippling is so much easier.
Chose Rippling
We would love to transfer from our Power Automate Platform for salary increase approvals into Rippling. I think Rippling is better as it does not an expiration date for any approval flows like Power Automate does (30 days). It's also a great platform to consolidate everything …
Chose Rippling
Rippling provides the information in a clearer and more compact form. Unlike its competitor, it does not require the candidate to be aware of updates in the hiring process. Rippling delivers updates in real time, which allows the candidate to be aware of what is happening, thus …
Features
Apple Business EssentialsRippling
Human Resource Management
Comparison of Human Resource Management features of Product A and Product B
Apple Business Essentials
-
Ratings
Rippling
9.2
Ratings
16% above category average
Employee demographic data00 Ratings9.10 Ratings
Employment history00 Ratings8.90 Ratings
Job profiles and administration00 Ratings9.30 Ratings
Workflow for transfers, promotions, pay raises, etc.00 Ratings9.20 Ratings
Organizational charting00 Ratings9.30 Ratings
Organization and location management00 Ratings9.20 Ratings
Compliance data (COBRA, OSHA, etc.)00 Ratings9.30 Ratings
Payroll Management
Comparison of Payroll Management features of Product A and Product B
Apple Business Essentials
-
Ratings
Rippling
9.2
Ratings
14% above category average
Pay calculation00 Ratings9.10 Ratings
Off-cycle/On-Demand payment00 Ratings9.10 Ratings
Benefit plan administration00 Ratings8.80 Ratings
Direct deposit files00 Ratings9.50 Ratings
Salary revision and increment management00 Ratings9.20 Ratings
Reimbursement management00 Ratings9.30 Ratings
Leave and Attendance Management
Comparison of Leave and Attendance Management features of Product A and Product B
Apple Business Essentials
-
Ratings
Rippling
9.2
Ratings
14% above category average
Approval workflow00 Ratings9.20 Ratings
Balance details00 Ratings9.30 Ratings
Annual carry-forward and encashment00 Ratings9.10 Ratings
Employee Self Service
Comparison of Employee Self Service features of Product A and Product B
Apple Business Essentials
-
Ratings
Rippling
9.3
Ratings
14% above category average
View and generate pay and benefit information00 Ratings9.40 Ratings
Update personal information00 Ratings9.30 Ratings
View company policy documentation00 Ratings9.60 Ratings
Employee recognition00 Ratings9.10 Ratings
View job history00 Ratings9.30 Ratings
Asset Management
Comparison of Asset Management features of Product A and Product B
Apple Business Essentials
-
Ratings
Rippling
9.3
Ratings
14% above category average
Tracking of all physical assets00 Ratings9.30 Ratings
HR Reporting
Comparison of HR Reporting features of Product A and Product B
Apple Business Essentials
-
Ratings
Rippling
9.1
Ratings
19% above category average
Report builder00 Ratings9.20 Ratings
Pre-built reports00 Ratings9.10 Ratings
Ability to combine HR data with external data00 Ratings9.10 Ratings
Onboarding
Comparison of Onboarding features of Product A and Product B
Apple Business Essentials
-
Ratings
Rippling
9.3
Ratings
16% above category average
New hire portal00 Ratings9.50 Ratings
Manager tracking tools00 Ratings9.20 Ratings
Performance and Goals
Comparison of Performance and Goals features of Product A and Product B
Apple Business Essentials
-
Ratings
Rippling
9.2
Ratings
15% above category average
Corporate goal setting00 Ratings9.20 Ratings
Individual goal setting00 Ratings9.20 Ratings
Line-of sight-visibility00 Ratings9.30 Ratings
Performance tracking00 Ratings9.30 Ratings
Performance Management
Comparison of Performance Management features of Product A and Product B
Apple Business Essentials
-
Ratings
Rippling
9.3
Ratings
17% above category average
Performance plans00 Ratings9.30 Ratings
Performance improvement plans00 Ratings9.20 Ratings
Review status tracking00 Ratings9.20 Ratings
Review reminders00 Ratings9.40 Ratings
Multiple review frequency00 Ratings9.50 Ratings
Succession Planning
Comparison of Succession Planning features of Product A and Product B
Apple Business Essentials
-
Ratings
Rippling
9.1
Ratings
15% above category average
Create succession plans/pools00 Ratings9.10 Ratings
Candidate ranking00 Ratings9.30 Ratings
Candidate search00 Ratings9.00 Ratings
Candidate development00 Ratings9.00 Ratings
Recruiting / ATS
Comparison of Recruiting / ATS features of Product A and Product B
Apple Business Essentials
-
Ratings
Rippling
9.4
Ratings
19% above category average
Job Requisition Management00 Ratings9.20 Ratings
Company Website Posting00 Ratings9.30 Ratings
Publish to Social Media00 Ratings9.50 Ratings
Job Search Site Posting00 Ratings9.50 Ratings
Duplicate Candidate Prevention00 Ratings9.50 Ratings
Applicant Tracking00 Ratings9.40 Ratings
Notifications and Alerts00 Ratings9.40 Ratings
Best Alternatives
Apple Business EssentialsRippling
Small Businesses
NinjaOne
NinjaOne
Score 9.0 out of 10
Dayforce Powerpay
Dayforce Powerpay
Score 9.5 out of 10
Medium-sized Companies
Cisco Meraki SM
Cisco Meraki SM
Score 9.8 out of 10
Paypro Workforce Management
Paypro Workforce Management
Score 9.7 out of 10
Enterprises
Cisco Meraki SM
Cisco Meraki SM
Score 9.8 out of 10
PeopleStrong
PeopleStrong
Score 9.9 out of 10
All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
User Ratings
Apple Business EssentialsRippling
Likelihood to Recommend
8.1
(0 ratings)
9.1
(0 ratings)
Likelihood to Renew
-
(0 ratings)
9.1
(0 ratings)
Usability
8.5
(0 ratings)
9.2
(0 ratings)
Availability
-
(0 ratings)
9.1
(0 ratings)
Performance
-
(0 ratings)
7.3
(0 ratings)
Support Rating
8.8
(0 ratings)
9.3
(0 ratings)
Implementation Rating
-
(0 ratings)
8.4
(0 ratings)
Configurability
-
(0 ratings)
1.0
(0 ratings)
Ease of integration
-
(0 ratings)
9.1
(0 ratings)
Product Scalability
-
(0 ratings)
9.1
(0 ratings)
User Testimonials
Apple Business EssentialsRippling
Likelihood to Recommend
Fleetsmith is well suited for companies with a lot of Macs, Mac minis, Apple tvs, etc., that are all over the place (different offices, states, countries, floors, remote employees, etc). It makes the management of these central where it would be almost impossible otherwise.
Read full review
I highly recommend Rippling for any company, regardless of its size. Many well-known companies trust it, and if you go onto their LinkedIn page, you will likely find that many of your friends and colleagues are already familiar with them. Along with a highly flexible and easy-to-use UI, many other companies use it, making it feel like a small world. Any company that needs software for expense management and payroll and wants consistency should consider using Rippling.
Read full review
Pros
  • Fleetsmith does a great job of being unobtrusive on managed devices. After initial deployment, one might never know it’s there except when it prompts to enforce a software update.
  • Fleetsmith has sensible defaults and relatively few decisions for the administrator to make; for most applications and configurations, it’s sufficient to enforce a minimum version. For more complex use cases, I suggest falling back on Fleetsmith’s ability to install tools such as Puppet and run arbitrary shell commands.
Read full review
  • I did not expect Live Chat Support and Email Support when we moved to Rippling. Their Support team is quick and very knowledgeable. I have had multiple instances where we have gone back and forth on a situation to come to the correct conclusion, never feeling they were trying to just close the case unsolved.
  • Being able to manage employees from application to separation is huge. Having a built in ATS that we can hire candidates from directly, and immediately have their payroll, benefits and employee profile setup has saved me countless hours for each hire.
  • Rippling allows us to manage retirement plans across the US, Canada and UK with automation and file feeds. Before Rippling I manually managed these in multiple portals, now Rippling does it for me automatically.
Read full review
Cons
  • We were told that this was in the works and it would be implemented at the beginning of the year 2019. That has still not happened and whenever we ask about this functionality we cannot get a good answer.
  • Management of devices that are already in the field—we were told that in order to use Fleetsmith as we would like (pushing apps to devices) we would have to get each device and set them up from a Mac.
  • Integration with Windows.
Read full review
  • It is hard to think of ways that Rippling could improve. The one area that we did have a bit of a slowdown was in the onboarding process. It was not intuitive and we expect to have some learning curve so if I could say anything needs improvement it would be this area.
Read full review
Likelihood to Renew
No answers on this topic
Rippling continues to innovate and amaze me with their new innovations and features. Product feedback is taken seriously so I always give it whenever I can and end up seeing results. Rippling is the new wave of HRIS that cannot compare against others in the industry just due to the fact they are super user friendly!
Read full review
Usability
It's very simple to use. Sometimes a little too simple, so it can be tempting to fiddle around or tweaks settings that might have annoying downstream impacts. But it's easy to rollback or disable changes anyway. My only wish is that each option set should have its own deeper explanation about the impact of the options on real-world users or security concerns.
Read full review
Rippling is a great product that has streamlined our payroll and leave management processes. The interface is intuitive, and it’s very convenient to manage everything in one place. While the initial setup was a bit lengthy and the mobile experience can sometimes be a little slow, overall, it’s been a reliable and effective solution for our needs.
Read full review
Reliability and Availability
No answers on this topic
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.
Read full review
Performance
No answers on this topic
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.
Read full review
Support Rating
Fantastic support. I have had a few queries on how to go about doing things in the best way and the support at Fleetsmith was always very quick to reply and with excellent advice and detail to solve the problem and lead is into our best use of their product.
Read full review
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.
Read full review
In-Person Training
No answers on this topic
The trainer went slow and and answered our questions.
Read full review
Implementation Rating
No answers on this topic
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!
Read full review
Alternatives Considered
I include Samsung Knox as a competitor in this field because you can have a similar setup with any Samsung devices purchased through a reseller as well. We have gone down this route for a few devices that have needed to be Android and the difference between the two platforms is night-and-day. Apple Business Essentials Manager is much easier to use and manage.
Read full review
We switched from Gusto to Rippling and I wish we would've done it years ago. Rippling is so much more robust than Gusto and has made the lives of our HR team and each of our employees so much easier! I'd recommend Rippling over Gusto to every organization without any hesitation
Read full review
Scalability
No answers on this topic
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.
Read full review
Return on Investment
  • Lesser cost for managing device, instead of getting more manpower to do it manually.
  • Lesser security threats (which will cause financial damage) as all devices are configured according the the company security policies, such as firewalls, media management, app security updates.
Read full review
  • Routine things like PTO requests and document uploads now take a few clicks instead of hours of email back‑and‑forth. I’d estimate I spend at least half the time on those tasks compared to before, which frees me up to actually help employees.
  • What used to drag on for days now gets done in a morning - I've just asked them this now. New hires can log in, set up their tools, and start training almost immediately, so they’re productive much sooner.
  • Payroll and benefits errors used to pop up regularly, but now I almost never have to fix things or follow up on missing info. That means less stress for me and for everyone involved.
  • Having everything in one platform cuts out the “where did you send that?” and “who approves this?” questions. It feels like we’ve reduced our back‑and‑forth by at least a third.
Read full review
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.