Switching from Rippling to Hire with Columbus
Rippling is bought as an HR and IT system first, with EOR attached. If you are paying platform pricing mainly to employ a handful of people abroad, the EOR line is the one to isolate and re-price.
Rippling makes sense if the HR, IT and device management side is genuinely doing work for you, not just the employment seats. This page is the other side of that decision: what the numbers look like, and what you need to check before moving anyone.
Rippling vs Hire with Columbus
Published list prices, per employee
Rippling
Columbus- Countries
- 185+ with Columbus
- Contractors
- $45 / month
- G2 rating
- 4.8 (3,200 reviews)
- Rippling
- San Francisco, United States · founded 2016
- Columbus terms
- Month to month
Rippling positions itself as: One platform for HR, IT, and Finance.
What to check before you move anyone
Moving employer of record provider is an employment change for every person involved, not a software migration. The list below is what to work through with your current provider and your new one. It is general guidance on how these transitions work, not legal advice for a specific country, and the answers differ per jurisdiction.
Notice on your current agreement
Read the termination clause in your Rippling contract before you talk to anyone. Notice periods, minimum terms and any per employee offboarding conditions decide your earliest realistic move date, not the new provider.
Employee consent and communication
Every affected person changes legal employer, so each one has to agree to the move and sign a new local contract. Plan the conversation before the paperwork. Nobody should learn about it from a document request.
Transfer route per country
Depending on local law the move is either a transfer between employers with continuity preserved, or a termination and rehire. This is country specific and it changes seniority, accrued leave and notice entitlements. Confirm the route per country before you commit to a date.
Benefits and leave continuity
Check accrued but untaken leave, pension or provident fund contributions, and any insurance that sits with the current provider. Ask which of these carry over, which get paid out, and whether there is a waiting period on the new cover.
Payroll cutover alignment
Line the switch up with a payroll cycle boundary so nobody gets paid twice or not at all. Agree in writing who runs the final cycle, who files the closing tax and social contributions, and who issues year end documents.
The full cost of both sides
Compare the all in monthly figure, not the headline. That means the employment fee plus any FX spread, deposits, setup or offboarding charges on either side. Columbus is a flat fee from $179 per employee per month with no setup fees and no hidden costs.
What the move is worth
Based on published list prices: $450 per employee per month for Rippling, from $179 per employee per month with Columbus. Your own rate depends on the countries you hire in, so treat this as the starting point of the conversation rather than a quote.
| Employees | Rippling / year | Columbus from / year | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $5,400 | from $2,148 | $3,252 |
| 5 | $27,000 | from $10,740 | $16,260 |
| 10 | $54,000 | from $21,480 | $32,520 |
| 25 | $135,000 | from $53,700 | $81,300 |
List price against list price, employment fee only. Salaries, employer contributions and country specific costs sit outside this table on both sides.
What the Columbus side looks like
Keep reading before you decide
The full feature and pricing comparison, side by side.
Every provider worth shortlisting, not just Columbus.
What is in the fee from $179, and what is not.
Total cost of employing per country, salary and contributions included.
Switching from Rippling: common questions
Hire with Columbus starts from $179 per employee per month, against a Rippling list price of $450 per employee per month. That is a difference of $271 per employee per month, or about 60% off the list price. There are no setup fees and no migration fees on the Columbus side. Any cost on the way out comes from your existing Rippling agreement, so read its termination terms first.
Yes. Their legal employer changes, so each person signs a new local employment contract and has to consent to the move. Nothing happens automatically in the background, and no provider can move someone without their agreement.
It depends on the country and on whether the move runs as a transfer between employers or as a termination and rehire. Some jurisdictions preserve continuity of service, others treat it as a fresh start with accrued leave paid out. Confirm the route for each country you employ in before you set a date, and get the answer in writing from both providers.
The honest answer is that your current notice period sets the floor, not the new provider. Read the termination clause in your Rippling agreement, then work backwards from the first payroll cycle you can cleanly land on. We can start the Columbus side in parallel so there is no gap in employment.
Month to month. There are no setup fees, no onboarding costs, no contract termination fees and no hidden charges. You can scale up or down as your needs change.
Thinking about leaving Rippling?
Send us your current setup and countries. We will tell you what the move looks like, what it would cost from $179 per employee per month, and where the friction is going to be. No commitment.
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