The Rippling alternative built for EU teams
Rippling is a US company subject to the CLOUD Act — your employees' data can be accessed by US authorities regardless of where it's stored. Ascend HR is built on Hetzner (Germany) and operated entirely under EU jurisdiction. And while Rippling is an expensive, complex HR stack, Ascend HR is purpose-built for the employee development lifecycle: structured onboarding, goal setting, peer feedback, and performance reviews. For teams of 15–200. No demo call needed.
Why teams switch from Rippling
Your employee data stays under EU jurisdiction
Rippling is a US company, which means it is subject to the US CLOUD Act. US authorities can compel Rippling to hand over EU employee data regardless of where servers are located. Ascend HR is hosted on Hetzner (Germany) and operated entirely under EU law — no US company can access your data.
Built for employee development, not payroll complexity
Rippling bundles payroll, device management, IT, and HR into one sprawling platform. If your goal is structured onboarding, career goals, peer feedback, and performance reviews, you end up paying for modules you never use. Ascend HR does one thing deeply: supporting employees from pre-boarding through career growth.
Transparent pricing, start today
Rippling requires a sales demo before you can see pricing or start a trial. Ascend HR publishes all pricing publicly and offers a free 14-day trial with no credit card — you can be set up in under 5 minutes.
Feature comparison
See how Ascend HR stacks up against Rippling
Feature | Ascend HR | Rippling |
|---|---|---|
Transparent public pricing | Yes | Quote-based |
Free trial (no credit card) | Yes | Demo required |
Employee pre-boarding portal | Yes | Basic |
Phased onboarding checklists | Yes | Basic |
Built-in buddy / mentor assignment | Yes | No |
Goal tracking | Yes | Add-on |
360 peer feedback | Yes | No |
Wellbeing pulse check-ins | Yes | No |
Performance review cycles | Yes | Add-on |
Hosted on non-US infrastructure (Hetzner) | Yes | AWS (US company) |
Not subject to US CLOUD Act | Yes | No |
Based on publicly available information. Features may vary by plan.
Ready to make the switch?
Start your free 14-day trial - no credit card required. Set up takes less than 5 minutes.