--- title: "Rise Reviews 2026. Verified Reviews, Pros & Cons | Capterra" description: "Is Rise the right Payroll solution for you? Explore 155 verified user reviews from people in industries like yours to make a confident choice." source_url: "https://www.capterra.com/p/163570/Rise/reviews/" page_type: "reviews" language: "en" --- Rise 4.2 (155) [View alternatives](https://www.capterra.com/p/163570/Rise/alternatives/) Provider data verified by our Software Research team, and reviews moderated by our Reviews Verification team. [Learn more](https://www.capterra.com/our-story/) * * * Last updated September 16th, 2026 # Reviews of Rise Ease of use 4.3 Customer Service 4.4 ## Pros and Cons in Reviews AC Angel C QCImport and Export, 51 - 200 employeesUsed the software for: More than 2 years. “Well organized system for employee and employers to connect directly with employee profiles, pay changes, time off and reduce data entry and reduce errors and time.“ March 17, 2026 CH Carrie H Executive AssistantFurniture, 51 - 200 employeesUsed the software for: More than 2 years. “Not everyone wants to download an app for their job to their personal phone, and this is where the system is not ideal for my operations.“ June 5, 2026 MR Melany R Bookkeeper Secretary TreasurerEducation Management, 11 - 50 employeesUsed the software for: 6-12 months. “Running payroll reports is quick and the ability to tailor reports for different needs is exceptional and easy for staff to get their own paystubs works very well.“ June 5, 2026 DB Dan B Managing DirectorConstruction, 2 - 10 employeesUsed the software for: 1-2 years. “Reporting interface is a bit outdated and clunky, but we don't use it very often so it doesn't bother us too much.“ June 17, 2026 CH Carrie H Executive AssistantFurniture, 51 - 200 employeesUsed the software for: More than 2 years. “I also appreciate the seamless integration of the Time Off, Scheduling + Time Approval, and Payroll modules.“ June 5, 2026 NB Nicole B OwnerHuman Resources, 2 - 10 employeesUsed the software for: 6-12 months. “Not having the app creates inconveniences, particularly for staff who do not have desk jobs.“ June 17, 2026 JM Jana M Executive DirectorSports, 11 - 50 employeesUsed the software for: More than 2 years. “The customer service ticket system works well and fast and when issues are urgent, the call centere is equally responsive.“ June 17, 2026 MB Mike B ManagerRetail, 11 - 50 employeesUsed the software for: 6-12 months. “Our previous payroll system was overly complicated and stressful to use due to so many steps to generate a payrun.“ September 18, 2025 ## Showing most helpful reviews Showing 1-25 of 155 Reviews Sort by: Most Helpful Rating Company Size Reviewer's Role Length of Use Frequency of Use Jenny T. President Accounting Used the software for: 6-12 months ### "Excellent value, great responsive support with live chat, terrible interface" April 18, 2018 4.0 Simplicity for small Canadian businesses running payroll. Pros The pricing of this product is great, they were offering free payroll for organizations with less than 10 employees at one point, but now it's something that has to be requested. Great value for the services provided and live chat support is convenient. I do recommend this software to minimize the complexity of payroll functions for small businesses. Cons It is not intuitive to use. Setup is very manual, requiring the user to download pdfs, sign them and re-upload. It's not very friendly towards accountants as the client has to create their own account. Creating a payroll run requires multiple steps, and T4 submission is not automatic. One selling feature of this product was that it integrates with QuickBooks or Xero. There is no integration. There is one guy that can create an Excel macro who requires the exact details of your accounting system setup. Review Source Response from Rise April 26, 2018 Hi Jenny, Thank you for taking the time to provide us with this feedback. We're glad that you feel you are getting good value for the services provided and that you would recommend us to other small businesses. Your feedback on the product is valuable and helps us better understand your needs. We are reviewing our payroll software to help streamline the pay run process in future releases and we are also currently building integrations with Quickbooks and Xero. Please feel free to reach out to us anytime if you have more specific comments or suggestions. All the very best, The Rise People Team info@risepeople.com 1-888-393-3483 DB Dan B. Managing Director Construction Used the software for: 1-2 years ### "Excellent payroll, time tracking, and benefits solution for small companies" June 17, 2026 5.0 Our relationship with Rise has grown over time. It started with payroll and has expanded to time off / time tracking and benefits. Overall employees enjoy the platform and it's easy for us to navigate. Pros Excellent value for money. Intuative platform for employees and employers alike. Excellent support staff when questions arise. Cons Reporting interface is a bit outdated and clunky, but we don't use it very often so it doesn't bother us too much. Alternatives considered [ADP Workforce Now](https://www.capterra.com/p/155895/WorkforceNow/) Reason for choosing Rise Better product for a similar price, and Rise was easier to customize to our needs. Switched from [QuickBooks Online](https://www.capterra.com/p/190778/QuickBooks-Online/) Quickbooks was a disaster. Not user friendly, hard to customize, very rigid platform. Review Source PM Pam M. Payroll & Benefits Administrator Insurance Used the software for: 2+ years ### "We've been using Rise for two years now. Overall the software is user friendly and easy to use." April 16, 2018 3.0 I just answered this question in the survey! Pros The adhoc payroll process is a breeze, and very user friendly. ROE's are very quick, we've had a few issues with the addresses that were populated into the ROE's, so check closely before finalizing them. Chat feature is wonderful, and the support staff behind the scenes are always willing to help with issues. Being able to resolve an issue via a chat is wonderful. The chat hours being extended beyond 8 - 5 would be great. Quite often payroll works after hours (especially on Friday), so running into a problem after hours does cause issues. I recently had a situation where I called and got the answering service, and was told I had to call back on Monday. The answering service did pass my message to someone, and I did in the end get a call. It would have been better if the answering service had told me that they would pass my message on to someone, with the hopes that they'd return my call before Monday. Cons We've made several recommendations to Rise regarding things that could make the system a bit more user friendly. The response we've received is that any change would effect every client. Most of the changes we've suggested would probably be 'pain points' for any client using the system. This was a bit disappointing, as GroupHEALTH is a very client focused business, and I felt that Rise was as well. We do anything we can to have a better client experience. Review Source Response from Rise April 26, 2018 Thank you for your feedback, Pam! It's great to hear that the adhoc payroll process is a breeze, ROEs very quick, and the support staff and chat service are helpful. As a result of your feedback, we've made some changes to our support process: if you receive our answering service after hours, they will inform you that they will pass your message on to us immediately if it is an urgent matter and we will address your concern outside of business hours. We also appreciate your feedback on how to make Rise more user friendly. We take all product feedback from customers into consideration and include it when prioritizing new development and features, with our most commonly requested enhancements taking first priority. We look forward to continue working with you - thanks again for this feedback! All the very best, The Rise People Team info@risepeople.com 1-888-393-3483 JJ Jason J. Owner Food & Beverages Used the software for: 2+ years ### "Help Desk at its best!" June 17, 2026 4.0 I've had great experience with the help desk. There are a few times when I can't get things setup as I need and the customer service agents have been very good at helping me get to where I need to be and showing me how to do it myself. Pros Interface is quite intuitive and makes payroll and remittances a breeze. Once you've got your payroll set up properly, making changes as necessary is very straight forward. Cons Pricing has gone up. I've been with Paysavvy/Rise for over a decade and there was a significant bump in the platform a few years ago. I only use the payroll and I'm a small business so the bang for the buck might be better for users that are able to better utilize more of the resources available. Switched from [RUN Powered by ADP](https://www.capterra.com/p/185859/RUN/) Their product was very antiquated and difficult to use. \*\* Don't know which ADP program I used\*\* Review Source TM Tanya M. Firm Manager Legal Services Used the software for: 1-2 years ### "Rise Review " June 18, 2026 5.0 We’ve had a great overall experience using Rise Payroll. It’s a solid all-in-one HR and payroll platform that’s especially well-suited for Canadian businesses. For small to mid-sized teams looking for a reliable and user-friendly payroll solution, Rise delivers well. We definitely recommend. Pros The system handles CRA remittances, T4s, and compliance smoothly, which takes a lot of stress off our team. The interface is clean and easy to use—running payroll and managing employee information is straightforward, even for non-experts. The employee self-service features are also a big plus, as staff can easily access their pay stubs and update their info without going through HR. Customer support has been responsive and helpful whenever we’ve had questions. Value for money is great. Cons The platform could improve in terms of advanced reporting and customization. Reports are a little confusing and I do not particularly like their numbering system for payroll ie: 2026-11 etc. It would be much easier to have them listed by payroll date. Switched from [ADP Workforce Now](https://www.capterra.com/p/155895/WorkforceNow/) Customer service was really lacking and the cost just was not justifying the platform. Review Source ER Elliot R. HR Director Education Management Used the software for: 1-2 years ### "Great HR and Payroll Platform for Growing Business" June 17, 2026 5.0 Overall, I’ve had a very positive experience with Rise and often recommend it to clients looking for a practical Canadian HR and payroll solution. It provides strong value and helps organizations build more efficient, streamlined people processes. Pros As an HR consultant, I appreciate how Rise simplifies payroll, HR, and employee management in one platform. It’s especially valuable for small to mid-sized companies looking to improve processes and reduce administrative workload. Cons There can be a bit of a learning curve during setup, and some reporting/customization features feel limited for more complex organizations. Certain workflows still require manual workarounds. Switched from [Humi by Employment Hero](https://www.capterra.com/p/10033160/Humi-by-Employment-Hero/) Lack of support for issues. The system better met the needs of the organization with the combination of payroll, scheduling, and the HRIS. Review Source PA Penny A. Bookkeeper Hospital & Health Care Used the software for: 6-12 months ### "Excellent Canadian Based Payroll Product with NPI Trained Support" September 24, 2025 5.0 Our implementation process was fantastic; we spent months with ADP working on their implementation and it failed miserably. Rise worked with us to get the implementation done in roughly 2 weeks and every pay we have processed has been easy. Pros The ease of processing payroll and the excellent customer support from a Canadian team certified by the National Payroll Institute, the customizability of the program Cons The time approval module requires missed shifts to be removed, rather than classified to a reason code and kept for reporting purposes Alternatives considered [Ameego](https://www.capterra.com/p/275558/Ameego/)[Payworks](https://www.capterra.com/p/235453/Payworks/) Reason for choosing Rise Canadian based, attractive user interface, features that we were looking for Switched from [ADP Workforce Now](https://www.capterra.com/p/155895/WorkforceNow/) Every payroll was a struggle as implementation did not go well and the system was not calculating vacation correctly and each payroll corrections had to be made for roughly 6 months Review Source LM Leona M. CPHR Information Technology and Services Used the software for: 2+ years ### "My favourite all-in-one platform for HR, payroll, and benefits in Canada" June 9, 2026 5.0 Always fantastic. Great support when I need it. They make compliance and payroll processing quick and easy. It's the top solution I recommend for small and medium sized businesses who want to optimize their HR function. Pros They are a Canadian-based, all-in-one HR, payroll, and benefits solution that is easy to use, quick to setup and implement, and offers a clean, high-quality user experience. Cons The automated employment offer letters. I prefer the functionality of a digital document signing tool over the built in one. Alternatives considered [ADP Workforce Now](https://www.capterra.com/p/155895/WorkforceNow/)[BambooHR](https://www.capterra.com/p/110968/BambooHR/)[Humi by Employment Hero](https://www.capterra.com/p/10033160/Humi-by-Employment-Hero/) Reason for choosing Rise BambooHR doesn't do Canadian payroll, ADP is :/ Review Source SM Stacey M. Owner Retail Used the software for: 2+ years ### "Grateful for the support!" June 18, 2026 4.0 The customer service, when I have an issue, is quick and effective. Wish the chat option was live, however their email support is typically timely. Pros \[sensitive content hidden\] has been so wonderful to work with. Clear in her communication and she has a heart of gold. All of the staff are very efficient and polite. Cons The cost for small businesses under 8 people, especially when we are not using HR tools is a bit high for what we use. Review Source PL Paul L. Partner Legal Services Used the software for: 2+ years ### "Intuitive platform with great support" June 9, 2026 5.0 We have been using Rise for many years now. Throughout this time, we have seen them invest in the platform and working to provide more value for their clients. Pros The platform is very easy to use, the team is always working to develop it and the support team is aways there to resolve any issues we have (including when they are caused by ourselves!) Cons Although the team always resolves our issues, it can sometimes take several days for resolution. A quicker turnaround time would be appreciated, especially with how sensitive employees are to any payroll or benefits hick-ups. Switched from [ADP Workforce Now](https://www.capterra.com/p/155895/WorkforceNow/) Client Service, product features and price Review Source MR Michael R. COO Computer Software Used the software for: 1-2 years ### "Stay Away" February 10, 2022 1.0 Very poor and deeply disappointing. Companies like this give the software industry a bad name. Pros The promises that were made up from but never materialized. Cons Possibly the worst experience I have ever had with a software vendor. Misrepresented and oversold up front. Exceptionally poor support. Alternatives considered [Giraffe](https://www.capterra.com/p/233687/Giraffe/) Reason for choosing Rise We were told there was integration with Netsuite this was actually listed on their website but did not exist. They removed the website reference later. Fortunately we know how to use the Wayback machine. There was no explanation when presented with this information. One of the reasons we chose Rise was that we were told a ATS module would be released shortly - did not arrive in the entire time we used the product. Switched from [ADP Workforce Now](https://www.capterra.com/p/155895/WorkforceNow/) It seems like Rise provided more functionality. Review Source Response from Rise February 16, 2022 Hi Michael, thank you for taking the time to share your feedback. We value your insights in regards to our sales process and our customer service. Please know we have been working hard to help correct and improve our support over the past few months and our entire company is focused on righting the ship to deliver the customer support you deserve and expect. We would love the opportunity to try to make this right, please reach out to me at marketing@risepeople.com so I can follow up directly. MW Mairin W. Owner Health, Wellness and Fitness Used the software for: 2+ years ### "Rise is a good fit for small business owners!" June 9, 2026 5.0 Overall as a service provided Rise has been excellent, and they continue to innovate and improve their suite of services. Pros I switched to Rise (before it was Rise) coming from many years of tedious manual payroll operations for my small business. It was a game changer, and recaptured hours of my time that can be used more productively. Cons I have been with Rise through some early growing pains, but even as a small business owner I am impressed that my concerns have always been taken seriously. Review Source AC Angel C. QC Import and Export Used the software for: 2+ years ### "Worth to try" March 17, 2026 5.0 Perfect for small to mid-size organizations who likes to provide easy to use interface to their employers. Pros This platform provides HR records, payroll, time tracking ad n benefit in one system. Well organized system for employee and employers to connect directly with employee profiles, pay changes, time off and reduce data entry and reduce errors and time. Very user-friendly interface , employees can easily view pay stubs, request time off and update employee information in one page. Cons Since Rise provides easy to use and user friendly interface therefore the application is basic and simple. Limited customization and lacks of advanced factures but work best to small to mid-size companies. Review Source AG ALLAN G. President Warehousing Used the software for: 1-2 years ### "Rise Payroll-helped us move to the "next level" with company growth" September 18, 2025 5.0 We have recently went to a new electronic RF system with our hourly employees. We originally wasted so many resources manually calculating these inputs (and risked the possibility of manual input mistakes). The set up with Rise was simple and they had some wonderful customer service people work with us on navigating the process. They were extremely helpful and patient through this. Very easy company to work with- I would recommend highly. Pros Ease of set up. Company very response to our requests and very easy to navigate our Provincial and Federal tax inputs Cons Nothing comes to mind- It is helpful to have some accounting knowledge when working with the program Review Source CG Candice G. Office Administrator Higher Education Used the software for: 1-2 years ### "Lower Mainland based, quick service" March 28, 2024 5.0 Overall, it's been great. Best software of all the software I use in my day to day life. Unproblematic for what I use it for, which is payroll. Pros I love that Rise is based in the lower mainland. They always have agents that are respectful, kind and efficient. Even when my problem may seem like a pain in the butt, so to speak, they are very patient. This platform seems easy to use and streamlined for my payroll needs. Cons I do wish Rise connected to my accounting software. Review Source LC Leah C. Payroll Specialist Accounting Used the software for: 2+ years ### "Rise is Great!" February 17, 2023 5.0 Pros Rise is so easy to use and has a great user interface. It is so simple to navigate through to system to find what I need. I love the payroll input sheet, it makes it so easy to make changes to payroll, and I can easily view changes to an employees pay without having to submit the entire run. Such a time saver! The Customer Support Team is also amazing, it is always easy to get ahold of them when needed. Cons Sometimes I will notice small glitches in the system, for example a date being in French when I have selected English for the system. Whenever I see something like this, the Customer Support Team is always able to investigate and resolve it quickly. Review Source AH Ashanul H. HR Advisor Human Resources Used the software for: 2+ years ### "About rise" October 26, 2023 5.0 Easy to use. Pros The payroll function is easy to use . And we can easily modify it in the payroll sheet. Cons The HR function is a bit complicated—mostly the part of creating an employee profile. Reason for choosing Rise Easy to use.More convenient and great customer service. Review Source TL Tina L. HR Admin Health, Wellness and Fitness Used the software for: 1-2 years ### "Best cheap option" November 17, 2022 3.0 Support has always been lacking here it can take days to get a response and payroll is time sensitive. I wish they had a call center or live chat available during business hours. This year the system made an error in my pay cycle dates and it got messed up no one at Rise was here to help i had to reach out several times because i had over laps of pay dates on employees pay stubs my dates didnt match up it was a mess. I got very basic email on how to fix it all MYSELF this was a Rise issue not mine i was shocked no one would help fix this. I also made a comment how this would then effect ROE's and possibly T4's throughout the year and it did. All ROE's were incorrect and again took days for Rise to respond how to fix this and it was again left to me to fix their error. Pros This is the best cheap payroll service on the market. Running payroll is simple if everything is set up properly. On boarding employees is simple Cons Support is not great can take days to hear back from support and when its regarding payroll time is of the essence. Running any type of off cycle payroll is extremely painful and never turns out right, taxes are always wrong and way to high. Having salary and hourly paid employees i have to have two different companies and have to run two payrolls each run would be nice if it was all in one payroll run. Reason for choosing Rise Cheapest option- was free when we signed up now we pay per pay run Review Source VR Verified Reviewer Director Information Services Used the software for: 2+ years ### "Everything needed for payroll, stellar customer support" April 10, 2018 4.0 Pros Customer support is far and away the best part of this software. If anything goes wrong they will fix it. Cons The main interface hasn't changed a lot since Paysavvy and is showing its age. When I sign in, automatically create the next payroll if it's due soon, rather than making me click "Create Next Payroll". When I add a new rule or click Save, don't force a refresh of the whole page, but persist as is. When I click Submit, skip the need to "View Results" and go straight to a summary report that has all of the information broken out. I always need the invoice data. Detecting statistical exceptions would be great. For example, I once accidentally entered all of employee's time for a pay period as both regular time and overtime. It would be nice for Rise to point out when an employee's hours are significantly different from their median. Web Service API access to the invoice data in particular is something I've wanted for a while. I have a script that scrapes this data and inserts into my accounting system, because it takes a long time to do by hand. Review Source Response from Rise April 25, 2018 Thank you for your feedback - these are great suggestions. Your feedback is being reviewed by our product team for consideration. If you would like information about our API or would like to discuss access to data, please feel free to reach out to us using the contact details below anytime and we would be happy to help. All the very best, The Rise People Team info@risepeople.com 1-888-393-3483 MA Mike A. Controller Investment Management Used the software for: 2+ years ### "They had potential, but proved to be very poor at what they claim to be great at" April 17, 2018 1.0 I didn't, I only received more costs. Pros I like the platform, it was easy to use and very convenient from anywhere I happened to be. Making changes to payroll on the fly was fairly easy and having support there gave the appearance of having a professional helping along the way. Cons The biggest complaint I have with Rise is that the software itself worked great, but the team behind the software is unfortunately incompetent. There are plenty of staff available to help, but none have the correct training or experience to actually help employers make decisions. On top of that when a mistake is made on their end they do not take ownership of it because "a company this size is unable to absorb a loss like that" is what I was told by the CEO. The blunders made by Rise ended up costing my company a five figure fine with CRA because they were not able to follow properly sent instructions on their intake forms. I have no problems with a smaller company needing to make mistakes in order to learn, but unless you're willing to own those mistakes, learn from them and then improve your systems you will never be sure you do not fall into those same mistakes again. Ultimately we left Rise as staying with a company that treats their clients poorly does not make sense. The costs may be higher with other larger companies, but I can assure you it is money well spent, avoid Rise at all costs. Review Source Response from Rise November 6, 2018 Thank you for your candor in your review of Rise. We're glad that you liked the platform and found it very convenient to use. To clarify, we've ensured that our client service team is PCP certified in order to provide the best possible payroll support to our clients. Unfortunately the review below is not an accurate reflection of the situation. The mistake was not made on our end and we made every effort to ensure that we provided the best support possible throughout this process. We value you as a client and would have very much liked the opportunity to continue our service for you. NK Natasha K. People Operations Manager Information Technology and Services Used the software for: 6-12 months ### "10/10 Customer Service" February 28, 2023 5.0 Pros Firstly, I want to provide a shoutout to the customer service department, in particular \[sensitive content hidden\]. \[sensitive content hidden\] answers my questions in a timely matter, will always help me and provide suggestions on how I can make things better for my employees. \[sensitive content hidden\] is wonderful!Overall, the product is very easy to use and onboard new employees. I like having everything I need in one system. Cons For performance management, I would be nice to have a better way to download results/feedback and have it automatically saved into employee files. Review Source Grace W. Financial Analyst & Payroll Used the software for: 2+ years ### "Ease to use it and it is all I need" April 10, 2018 5.0 It is easy to process the payroll. Time saver. Pros Export input to excel sheet. Import excel to the system. I can generate reports for all departments. The customize functions is very powerful. Cons Sometime the system is too slow. Especially on the rush hours, it is take time to go for next step. on the input sheet for search people, I would prefer more functions to search, for example, employee ID. Review Source Response from Rise April 25, 2018 Thank you for your feedback, Grace. We are glad to hear that you have been having a good experience with report generation and payroll processing. Thank you for your suggestions on improving our search functionality. Your comments have been forwarded to our product team for consideration. If you have any more feedback that you would like to share, please do not hesitate to get in touch using the contact details below. All the very best, The Rise People Team info@risepeople.com 1-888-393-3483 DQ Diana Q. Owner Restaurants Used the software for: 2+ years ### "Rise is the best payroll software " July 12, 2023 5.0 Everything is easy. People are friendly and helpful! Pros Ease to use. Unlike other payroll software, processing payroll thru Rise is easy and smooth. Nothing is tricky. Cons when employee takes vacation, I wish the vacation hours are automatically deducted from the regular hours. Review Source CG Catherine G. HR Director Non-Profit Organization Management Used the software for: 1-2 years ### "RISE are incredibly customer focused. They spent a lot of time getting to know us and our needs." April 18, 2018 4.0 It moved our manual processes to automated for absence tracking, employee file management and access which made we could focus internally on more strategic objectives and allowed us to provide improved customer service to our staff. Pros Ease of interface for employees including employee photos. Ability to track all types of absence. Able to upload employee documents to their employee file which they can access online 24/7 access. Cons Some initial issues with Quebec set up in relation to payroll and benefits which involved our finance staff having to do a lot of work manually which was not anticipated. This has now been resolved. Review Source Response from Rise April 26, 2018 Thank you for your review, Catherine. We're so pleased to hear that Rise helped improve customer service to your staff and free up more of your time so you could focus more on strategic objectives. We also want to apologize for any issues related to the Quebec set up that may have caused you more manual work. We would very much appreciate any more feedback or comments you may have in future. Please feel free to reach out to us anytime using the contact details below. All the very best, The Rise People Team info@risepeople.com 1-888-393-3483 Helen W. Director of Finance and HR Used the software for: 1-2 years ### "So glad we moved to Rise from ADP" April 10, 2018 4.0 Pros Ease of use. When I get questions from staff, I can find the answers quickly. Great to see prior year reports all at my fingertips. Cons Doesn't connect well with Apple systems. So Rise staff need to prepare our journal entries for us. Also doesn't talk to Humanity and when choosing these 2 systems we were told that was something that would be happening. Review Source Similar Products Featured ## Send me user reviews about this product ### Fill out the form and we'll send a list of the top-rated software based on real user reviews directly to your inbox.