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screenshot of Squarespace acuity tool in use
Product Reviews

Squarespace Acuity review 2025 | TechRadar

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Appointment scheduling tools streamline the booking process by letting clients pick their own time slots. You avoid the back-and-forth emails and phone calls. These systems sync with your calendar and send automatic reminders.

Having scheduling built into your website builder offers unique advantages. Your clients never leave your site to book appointments. The integration feels seamless and maintains your brand experience throughout. You can customize the booking page to match your website’s design perfectly.

Squarespace’s Acuity Scheduling brings professional appointment management to your website. It handles everything from simple consultations to complex group classes. The tool can work independently, but also integrates smoothly with your Squarespace site.

We tested Acuity against other scheduling solutions to see how it performs. Our review covers pricing accuracy, feature depth, and real-world usability. You’ll discover whether this tool fits your business needs and budget.

    Squarespace subscription options:

  • 12 month plan – $16 per month ($192 total cost)

Squarespace Acuity: Pricing

(Image credit: Squarespace)

Acuity subscriptions are separate from your Squarespace site subscription, meaning you can use Acuity on its own or integrate it with your Squarespace website.

There are three plans to choose from for this product, starting with the Emerging plan. This plan is ideal for start-ups and solo entrepreneurs. It costs $20/mo ($16/mo on annual billing) and offers essential appointment management features like calendar syncing and automatic reminder emails.

Next, the Growing plan at $34/mo ($27/mo for a yearly subscription) supports 2-6 calendars and additional perks like SMS reminders and support for packages, memberships, and subscriptions.

Lastly, the $61/mo ($49/mo annually) Powerhouse plan supports up to 36 calendars and includes advanced features like multiple time zones and custom API and CSS integration. In the end, it’s all about picking the right plan based on the size and complexity of your business.

Although you don’t need a Squarespace website builder subscription to use Acuity, building your website on the platform makes it super easy to integrate your site with the scheduling tool. Check out our Squarespace promo codes page to find the best discounts across the Squarespace range of tools.

Squarespace Acuity: Features

(Image credit: Squarespace)

Acuity offers scheduling features that rival dedicated appointment platforms. You get unlimited appointments, payment processing through Stripe/Square/PayPal, and automated email/SMS reminders. The system handles recurring bookings, group sessions, and custom intake forms seamlessly.

Compared to competitors like Calendly, Acuity actually provides more business-focused features. Calendly excels at simple meeting scheduling, but, Acuity supports subscriptions, memberships, and gift certificates. You can create appointment packages and offer multiple services with different durations.

Other website builders offer basic scheduling, but few match this level of depth. WordPress booking plugins require technical setup and multiple extensions. Wix provides simpler booking widgets without advanced payment or business features.

Acuity’s integration ecosystem includes 40+ apps through Zapier and direct connections to Google Analytics. However, it lacks some team-specific integrations that Calendly offers, like CRM connections to Salesforce or HubSpot. That’s because the focus stays on service-based businesses rather than sales teams.

Squarespace Acuity: Ease of use

(Image credit: Squarespace)

Acuity strikes a good balance between power and simplicity. The setup wizard guides you through essential configurations like time zones, booking intervals, and client permissions. We found the interface intuitive even for non-technical users, though it’s more complex than basic schedulers like Calendly.

Its learning curve sits in the middle range among scheduling tools. Beginners can get basic booking running quickly, but mastering advanced features takes time. The “look busy” feature and buffer time settings show thoughtful design for real-world scheduling challenges.

Client-facing booking pages are clean and straightforward. Your customers can select services, pick times, and complete intake forms without confusion. The mobile experience works well, though some users report the timezone selector is small and easy to miss.

That said, Acuity lacks specific accessibility documentation or WCAG compliance features. While most scheduling tools don’t prioritize accessibility, this could still be a limitation for businesses serving diverse clients. Its interface relies heavily on visual cues and mouse interaction, which may challenge users with disabilities.

Squarespace Acuity: Tools

(Image credit: Squarespace)

Email notifications

Acuity lets you send automated emails to clients about their appointments, packages, and subscriptions. Currently, you can send various notifications to your clients including initial confirmation, reminders, cancellations, follow-ups, package/gift certificate orders, and subscriptions, including payments, renewals, and cancellations.

If you’re on the Growing or Powerhouse plans, you can send text message appointment reminders so your clients don’t miss a booking. Plus, to make sure your team stays on the same page, you can set up internal notifications to keep your staff informed about new, rescheduled, or canceled appointments.

Lastly, to reach out to your clients with promotions, updates, and more, you can also send marketing emails using Squarespace Email Campaigns.

Syncing appointments with third-party calendars

Acuity easily syncs with calendar programs like Google, iCloud, Outlook Office 365, Outlook Exchange, and Outlook.com. Any changes made to your appointments in Acuity, whether canceled, rescheduled, or edited, are automatically reflected in your synced third-party calendar. For instance, Google Calendar updates almost instantly, while Microsoft Calendars may take up to 10 minutes to reflect these changes. Plus, to prevent clients from booking appointments when you’re busy, you can also block off time in Acuity for events on your third-party calendar.

You can even let your staff members see Acuity appointments on their personal calendars by syncing their third-party calendars. To do this, simply add them as a contributor if you’re using a Squarespace account or as a user if you’re logged in with an Acuity account.

Payment processor integrations

Squarespace lets you collect payments for appointments by integrating with popular payment processors like Stripe, Square, and PayPal. Before accepting payments, you must connect at least one of these processors to your Acuity account. However, once connected, you can manage your payment preferences and account settings through the processor’s online portal or mobile app.

Remember, the payment processors used in Acuity are separate from those in Squarespace Commerce, and each comes with its own terms and conditions. For instance, Square’s processing fees differ depending on how the payment is made, while Stripe’s fees vary by country (USA, UK, Ireland, and Australia).

Scheduling blocks

Squarespace Acuity’s Scheduling Blocks let you smoothly integrate your scheduling page into your Squarespace site.

This means your visitors can book appointments directly without leaving the site. Setting up a scheduling block is simple; just edit the page, click “Add Block,” and select “Scheduling.” You can then choose which schedule to display, whether it’s your general schedule or one for a specific calendar, appointment type, or category.

Similarly, you can display a calendar from an Acuity account that is not linked to the Squarespace website as a custom link. Plus, for improved privacy, you can password protect your scheduling page, limiting access to only those with the password.

Squarespace Acuity: Integrations

(Image credit: Squarespace)

Acuity integrates with Google Analytics to help you track how clients interact with your scheduler. With its valuable insights, you can refine your booking process and improve appointment rates.

Getting started is fairly simple. Just sign up for a Google Analytics account and follow the guide available on their site. After setting up the integration, it may take up to 24 hours for statistics to start populating in Google Analytics. Acuity will only send events that occur after the integration is live. When using Google Analytics for conversion tracking, keep in mind that conditions are case-sensitive. For instance, entering “Page_view” instead of “page_view” can stop your goals from tracking properly. So, it’s better to consult Google’s documentation on custom dimensions and metrics for accuracy before you get started.

Further, with the help of API services like Zapier, you can integrate with several third-party apps. Some key integrations include syncing your appointments with personal or business calendars, setting up video conferencing, and connecting with tools for social media, email marketing, accounting, conversion tracking, CRM, or other client engagement applications. These integrations help you to streamline your workflow and enhance your scheduling capabilities.

Squarespace Acuity: My verdict

With its wide range of features, seamless integrations, and flexible pricing plans, Acuity makes it easy to manage scheduling, payments, and client communications all in one place. Whether you just launched your first business or are part of a larger team, you get the tools to improve your booking flow, client engagement, and grow your business efficiently.

But, don’t just take our word for it, it’s always best to try out the features for yourself. So, if you have a website on Squarespace or are currently on a free trial, give Acuity Scheduling a test run and see if it meets your expectations.

If you want to learn more about what Squarespace offers, you can read our full Squarespace review here.



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Vernal Standing Desk 1
Product Reviews

Vernal Standing Desk review | TechRadar

by admin



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Whilst many of the best standing desk brands out there often with several models for different sizes and weight capacities etc. Vernal aims to make the customers life simpler by introducing one frame to do it all at a price of £430 (at time of writing).

With a rated load of 120kg, it should be more than enough to lift anything a regular work from home environment can throw at it.

(Image credit: Future)

Vernal Standing Desk: Unboxing

The desk came as expected in two parts, one large heavy box for the frame and very flat for the desk top.

The frame was well boxed with all parts separated by protective foam, cardboard and plastic. All the assembling accessories were packaged neatly in one box. The screws, tool etc were in a bandolier of plastic, each section marked in size and part number.

All sections of the desk had nice, large and more importantly low tack sticker labels identifying each part. This allowed easy identification of parts and removal of the labels post assembly without leaving that horrible sticky residue.

The desk top was equally well packaged with large rubber like corner protectors. We opted to go with the 120cm x 60cm walnut laminate desk top, the smallest size on offer from Vernal.

You also get a nice, premium feeling beech wood coaster.

(Image credit: Future)

Vernal Standing Desk: Assembly

Assembly of the desk was equally easy. Vernal provided all the tools necessary, namely an M6 Allen Wrench and Phillips Head Screwdriver, so if you have absolutely no tools, you can still put this desk together. We had power tools at out disposal making assembly significantly quicker.

The manual was incredibly clear and easy to follow being like a large book. We start by putting together both the legs, side and mounting brackets together then the desktop. Vernal’s desk tops already have pre threaded metal inserts showing where the mounting brackets are to be screwed in.

This easily done by mounting one set of legs to one side, then sliding the cross bars in before finally sliding the opposite side legs on and screwing it all down. Vernal has also provided the screws as well for non-Vernal desktops along with separate instructions on how to do this.

I chose to put the control panel on the left side and this is where I noted the first issue. The screws appeared to be short, they are only 15mm long. The control panel bracket is quite thick, I measuring the screw against it, I saw that only the tip, about 5mm of it, would bite into the desk.

As expected, on my first try, the screw tore desktop veneer and failed to grip, same thing with the second screw. With no other provided screws, I had to go and rummage in my tool box to get some longer screws.

Once the control panel fiasco was done, it was matter of attaching the control box, connecting all the cables, tidying the underside up before covering it with the decorative cable cover for a neat install and lastly the cable tray hooks.

(Image credit: Future)

The feet are last to go one, before the inaugural flip, they can be positioned center or offset back, the choice/preference is yours. I opted to have it central as I am sure that is how most end users would want it. The desk is then flipped the right way up, to add the finishing touches, two hooks and decorative plates, one on each side.

The last part had me a little concerned, most brands supply all metal parts pre molded or bent to shape. However Vernal has chosen to allow the end user to bend the cable tray themselves along a perforated line.

Whilst I found this easy to do, it did crack the paint on the sheet of metal. I’m not sure how confident others would be doing this for fear of breaking or damaging this part. Hooking on the cable tray is the last part of the assembly save for putting the desk where it needs to go.

(Image credit: Future)

Vernal Standing Desk: In use

Over the past few weeks, the desk was put to the test by me and wife who works exclusively form home. The Vernal standing desk was big upgrade from her smaller Ikea desk, just in terms of real estate.

Vernal claims that this desk should be able to lift 120kgs easily with max load of 160kgs. Sitting all my 100kgs on it I found the desk seem to be slow to raise, and it had to stop a few times under the load of me. However, I did not hold this against the desk as carrying 100kgs is unusual for what is an office desk.

Putting the usual office equipment on it, the Vernal desk had no problem lifting and lowering the load smoothly and quietly.

(Image credit: Future)

The control panel is simple in form yet provides all the needed functions for going up, down and three memory functions. I like that the buttons had to be pushed physically into actuate them as some other tested desk will activate simply by you brushing against the control panel. The panel can be switched between metric and imperial measurements and other settings based on button presses.

(Image credit: Future)

The hooks on either side are a nice feature allowing you to hang handphones or other peripherals off the desk rather than crowding it. Each side of the desk has a Vernal magnetic vanity plate on the legs, ostensibly to hide two screw heads. This is a subjective matter but I would have preferred a more subdued such as black engraved rather than the Silver.

I was initially skeptical about the size of the cable tray as it was so large, however this has proved to be a boon for ease of access from all angles of the desk.

What I wasn’t a fan of were the feet of the desk. The feet, whilst planted firmly on the ground has a “decorative” plate on top that extends beyond the actual feet, this plate is thin and more crucially at toe stubbing level as I found to my detriment.

(Image credit: Future)

Vernal Standing Desk: Final verdict

Overall, the Vernal Standing Desk is a great desk, for the price and simplicity of only having one model puts them ahead. The assembly, large cable tidy tray, head phone hooks and easy to use control panel make this a breeze to own and use.

However, it is sorely let down by the fact that the screws for the control panel are not adequately long enough, some bending is required by the end user and the most egregiously, the toe stubbing feet of the desk.

We’ve listed the best office chairs.



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An image of Name.com's landing page
Product Reviews

Name.com review | TechRadar

by admin



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We spend hours testing every product or service we review, so you can be sure you’re buying the best. Find out more about how we test.

Name.com is best known as a domain registrar, but you might not even know that you’re using it. If you’ve used Wix, you’ll likely have got your domain through name.com without giving it a second thought.

Without giving it a second thought seems to be the ethos of name.com which is especially useful for developers who want to build quickly and seamlessly or the less technical ones that don’t want to mess around with DNS and might require support when things don’t quite go to plan.

Of course, this level of support and innovation doesn’t come at the cheapest price but buying a domain isn’t always about the lowest bottom line.

Of course, name.com is best known as a domain registrar, and for good reason. It offers one of the largest TLD selections of any registrar with over 600 TLDs, so you can rest assured that you’ll find the exact TLD you’re looking for. From popular TLDs like .com and .co.uk to niche and trendy ones like .ai, .lol, and .cool, name.com has everything.

A standard .com domain will cost you $12.99 for the first year (renews at $27.99), plus $4.99/year for name.com’s advanced security tier, which includes WHOIS privacy, SSL certificate, and protection against spam calls and unauthorized transfers or changes.

However, name.com offers some serious first-year discounts if you bundle Titan Email or Google Workspace. This is how it works:

  • If you buy Titan Email (Name.com’s paid email hosting, costs $24 per year), they’ll throw in the domain for free for the first year.
  • If you buy Google Workspace (Google’s email/productivity suite, sold via Name.com, costs $42 per year), you can get the domain for only $0.99 for the first year.
  • If you buy both, the best discount (i.e. the Titan Email one) will be applied, so your domain will still be $0 for the first year.
  • It’s worth noting that both Google Workspace and Titan Email are available at a flat 50% discount with name.com.

(Image credit: Future)

Hosting products: web, cloud, and WordPress

Name.com now offers a decent list of hosting products, ranging from simple web hosting to cloud and one-click install WordPress hosting.

The most basic web hosting plan lets you build a single website and set up 100 email accounts for $6 a month on a 1-year subscription. Note that name.com does not offer multi-year subscriptions for its hosting services. The business plan, which is built for scale, is priced at $13 a month on a 1-year subscription and supports unlimited websites, unlimited email accounts, and unlimited storage.

Every account also includes a free SSL certificate, automated backups every 48 hours, a 99.9% uptime guarantee, and the industry-standard cPanel for easy management. Even better, you’ll get a free domain name for the first year. For example, if you choose a .com domain that usually costs $12.99, it will be free for the first year and then renew at its usual rate from the second year onward.

That said, keep in mind that the privacy bundle for a domain name (around $4.99) is not included in the free package. You’ll have to pay for that separately.

Cloud hosting is also more than decent. Name.com has partnered with DigitalOcean and offers its basic shared Droplets. For a standard 60 GB Droplet, you’ll have to pay $216 a year, and if that wasn’t expensive enough, backups – which are usually free with other providers – will set you back another $72 a year. This is pretty expensive by industry standards.

That said, there are still some strong points on offer: you get global data centers, one-click deployments, and support for popular platforms like WordPress, Ubuntu, Debian, and CentOS. The provider also mentions easy upgrades. However, with cloud hosting, the gold standard is automatic scaling and geo-redundancy. Name.com doesn’t clearly state how many data centers it offers, while other dedicated cloud hosts are more transparent, letting you confirm redundancy before signing up.

Also, this is shared hosting and not managed cloud, so you won’t get managed extras. In fact, the website’s FAQs state directly that you’ll need a base-level understanding of Linux and the command line to take full advantage of this self-managed cloud hosting. So it’s definitely not for everyone.

As for WordPress hosting, name.com offers just a single plan at $29.95 a year. It comes with everything you’d need for a basic website: one-click installation, unlimited storage, unlimited bandwidth, free daily backups, plugin support, and a free Let’s Encrypt SSL certificate. However, if you’re looking for more advanced features like staging environments, automatic updates, or optimized caching, you might be better off elsewhere.

All in all, unless you’re looking into name.com’s hosting products to simply get everything (hosting, domain, site builder) in one place, you’ll be better off with a dedicated web host, as you’re likely to get more features there – and at a better price.

Performance & customer support

The last time we tested name.com, it actually cropped up above-par performance, delivering consistent uptime and impressive speeds.

Our latest tests, though, are still ongoing, and we’ll soon update this page to reflect the most recent findings – so stay tuned.

Name.com’s hosting is aimed more or less at beginners, and that means the company needs to provide the quality support its target audience requires. The company’s knowledgebase is decent enough, with menus and links pointing you to various topics, featured articles highlighting common issues, and there’s a search box to help you track down what you need.

We tried a few test searches. The engine regularly reported finding large numbers of articles, but these cover all name.com products, not just web hosting, so we had to scroll through various domain registration and email hosting articles to find what we needed.

The situation picked up once we located more relevant content. There’s usually not a lot of detail, but most articles cover the core points, with screenshots to point you in the right direction, and some video tutorials if you prefer.

There’s a support team to deal with more complex queries. They’re available via telephone and live chat, only for a limited number of hours (7am to 10pm phone and 12pm to 3am Monday to Friday for phone, 2am to 8pm chat), but there’s 24/7 ticket support if you need it.

Final verdict

Name.com is a fantastic storefront where you can find everything you need to get an online business underway. It offers excellent and affordable domain registration, along with bundled extras like Google Workspace with Gemini and Titan Email with AI-driven features. On top of that, you also get hosting options, including WordPress hosting.

That said, if your main priority is hosting, you’ll likely be better served by a dedicated web host. While name.com has expanded its hosting range, these services still feel more like strong add-ons that complement its core strength: domain registration.



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Rippling Spend website screenshot
Product Reviews

Rippling Spend review | TechRadar

by admin



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We spend hours testing every product or service we review, so you can be sure you’re buying the best. Find out more about how we test.

Rippling Spend is an all-in-one spend management platform designed to streamline how businesses control their spending, which means it’s far more than just an expense or bill tracking tool.

The spend tracking tools are just one part of Rippling’s offering, which already spans other areas like HR, IT and other finance solutions.

Because of this unified approach, it means everything is kept under the Rippling roof which allows companies to simplify their software stacks. While it reduces the interoperability challenges posed by having to use multiple providers, it could result higher costs.

It’s designed primarily for mid-sized and growing businesses, so if you’re a startup with just a few people on the books and minimal spend tracking requirements, it might be too much for you.

Spend is one of Rippling’s newer products, launched in September 2022. Because it ties in with the rest of the platform, it with employee data like roles, departments and locations, for granular controls and approval automation.

Rippling says this helps streamline month-end processes and cut administrative time by up to 75%.

Rippling Spend: Plans and pricing

Rippling has a series of different packages to pick from, but one thing’s consistent across the entire ecosystem – you’ll struggle to find any explicit pricing, because Rippling wants to share this via a consultation.

The principal Rippling Platform offering comes in two flavors – Core and Pro. Both have add-ons like unlimited workflows, custom no-code apps and an API platform with over 600 third-party apps and integrations.

If you’re looking for a standalone spend management solution (without the full Rippling suite), then the Rippling Spend package is the right fit.

It includes tracking and reimbursement across any currency in over 100 countries, expense viewing and reimbursement via payroll, policies, receipt matching and the mobile app.

Again, Rippling does not disclose pricing, but we do know that companies will pay monthly per employee, so they only pay for what they use.

We understand tailoring packages to different sized companies is essential to maximizing value, but by simply not declaring prices to start with could leave many customers looking elsewhere.

(Image credit: Rippling)

Rippling Spend: Features

Rippling’s unified spend management platform includes expense management, corporate cards (physical and digital, with options for up to 1.75% cash back on eligible purchases), bill pay, payroll and travel into a single interface, so it can just about handle any mainstream expense you or your employees can throw at it.

It’s a great fit for bigger companies, because it allows admins to set up custom rules based on employees, such as department, role or location, meaning some processes and even approvals can be complete with automation.

In fact, it’s the automations that Rippling Spend such an easy system to use. For example, you can allow certain employees to book different cabin types on flights, or issue corporate cards to individuals with allocated budgets and spending categories.

It all means finance teams will have fewer requests with the correct setup.

For admins, a handy dashboard offers a consolidated view of live spending across departments, projects and other categories, which can be especially handy in the third sector where grant-led projects require funding to be allocated from different pots.

Another power of Rippling’s is that it integrates well with third-party applications, including over 600 accounting, HR and productivity tools like QuickBooks and Xero.

Finance teams will also love how Rippling Spend integrates bill payments and invoice processing – one less reason to have to jump between different apps.

(Image credit: Rippling)

Rippling Spend: Ease of use

Rippling is a big name in this space, so it should come as no surprise that everything feels very unified and simple across the entire ecosystem.

This consistent UI isn’t just nice to look at and easy to use, but it also helps from a staffing point of view because, if you’re using other tools in the Rippling suite, you’ll have fewer onboarding and training challenges.

It’s as easy to manage Rippling Spend as a finance exec as it is to use it as a worker – and the latter can submit expenses through email, receipt upload or manual entry, which are then automatically routed to the right approvers.

Rippling Spend is at its most powerful on the desktop, but there are mobile apps for on-the-go tracking and claim submissions, which is really handy for keeping tabs on costs during business trips.

It’s one big app – not just spend-tracking – so again, it’s better when a company commits to using the entire Rippling ecosystem.

(Image credit: Rippling)

Rippling Spend: Support

Rippling encourages users to schedule a demo to determine the features they need, and this is where the pricing will be revealed.

In terms of learning resources, the company has its own help center, webinars and documentation to guide users through most processes, but the platform is on the simpler side to use anyway.

Apart from the online chat pop-up, there’s an online form to reach Rippling, but no email address or phone number.

Rippling publishes support times daily to show response times across chat and email, how many customers are converted from chat to call, and more.

(Image credit: Rippling)

Rippling Spend: Final verdict

Rippling Spend is an easy-to-use spend management platform that consolidates corporate cards, expense tracking and bill payments into one integrated platform, as well as all the usual smaller expenses that add up.

Because it forms part of a wider Rippling ecosystem, it means companies can tap into existing knowledge about processes, projects and workers, which can significantly reduce administrative time – Rippling says by 75%.

The interface is about as easy as it gets on the desktop, and a handy complementary mobile app keeps workers connected on the go when they need to out-of-office expenses.

For admins and finance teams, real-time visibility across projects and teams eliminates last-minute surprises, and powerful automations keep things flowing with little human interaction needed – ultimately freeing up workers to product more meaningful work and saving the company time and money.

For mid-sized to larger organizations looking to centralize spend, Rippling Spend is a strong contender, but smaller teams might find just as much value from cheaper, smaller-scale solutions elsewhere.



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Geekom Mini IT12
Product Reviews

Geekom Mini IT12 review | TechRadar

by admin



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We spend hours testing every product or service we review, so you can be sure you’re buying the best. Find out more about how we test.

Editor’s Note

  • Original review date: Jan 2024
  • Update – Sep 2025

Geekom has now released an updated 2025 Edition Mini IT12. The only change compared to the model reviewed below is a switch to the Intel Core i7-1280P CPU, rather than the original Core i7-12650H. The 1280P is still a 12th Gen CPU, but has a slightly higher clock speed and more efficiency cores. It also has a lower base and maximum turbo power, so performance is very similar.

Where it does improve things is the inclusion of Intel Iris Xe Graphics, which is slightly more powerful than the Intel UHD Graphics in the i7-12650H. While both these CPUs were launched back in 2022, they were flagship mobile processors, and still offer punchy performance today.

Included below is a quick spec and benchmark comparison of the CPUs. The Core i7-1280P gives very similar results in typical CPU focused benchmarks, but thanks to the more powerful iGPU, is around 20% faster in graphics related workloads.

While not a huge change, this means the 2025 IT12 is now slightly better value.

  • Geekom Mini IT12 (512GB 16GB RAM) at Amazon for $429

Swipe to scroll horizontallyHeader Cell – Column 0

Geekom Mini IT12 2025 Edition

Geekom Mini IT12 (as originally reviewed)

CPU

Core i7-1280P

Core i7-12650H

Generation

12th gen Alder Lake

12th gen Alder Lake

Launch

Q1’22

Q1’22

Cores / threads

14 cores (6P + 8E) / 20 threads

10 cores (6P + 4E) / 16 threads

Max turbo frequency

4.80 GHz

4.70 GHz

P-core max turbo

4.80 GHz

4.70 GHz

E-core max turbo

3.60 GHz

3.50 GHz

Processor base power

28 W

45 W

Maximum turbo power

64 W

115 W

Integrated graphics

Intel Iris Xe Graphics

Intel UHD Graphics

iGPU execution units

96 EUs

64 EUs

iGPU max dynamic freq

1.45 GHz

1.40 GHz

Swipe to scroll horizontally

Benchmarks

Header Cell – Column 1 Header Cell – Column 2

PCMark 10 – Overall

5862

5253

Geekbench 6 – Multi-core

9551

9386

Geekbench 6 – Single-core

2500

2323

Geekbench 6 – GPU

14731

11065

Fire Strike

4653

3730

Time Spy

1577

1331

Wild Life

12009

9511

CrystalDiskMark Read/Write (MB/s)

5196 / 4747

5096 / 4474

Geekom Mini IT12: 30-second review

Specs

CPU: 12th Gen Intel® Core™ i7-12650H (10 Cores, 16 Threads, 24MB Cache, up to 4.70 GHz)
Graphics: Intel UHD Graphics for 12th Gen Intel Processors
RAM: Dual-channel DDR4-3200 SODIMM, 32GB, expandable up to 64GB
Storage: 1 x M.2 2280 PCIe Gen 4 x4 SSD 1TB onboard, expandable up to 2TB, 1 x M.2 2242 SATA SSD slot, expandable up to 1TB, 1 x 2.5″ SATA HDD (7mm) slot, expandable up to 2TB
Rear Ports: 1x USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-A, 1 x USB 2.0 Type-A, 2 x USB4 Type-C ports, 2 x HDMI 2.0 ports, 1 x 2.5GbE LAN port, 1 x DC jack
Front Ports: 2 x USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-A ports, 1 x SD card reader (side), 1 x 3.5 mm headphone jack, 1 x Power button
Connectivity: Ethernet: Intel 10/100/1000/2500 Mbps RJ45, Wireless LAN: Intel Wi-Fi 6E AX211, Bluetooth Wireless Technology: Bluetooth 5.2
Audio: Not specified
Camera: N/A
Size: 117 x 112 x 49.2 mm
OS Installed: Windows 11 Pro
Accessories: 1 x VESA Mount, 1 x Power Adapter, 1 x HDMI Cable, 1 x User Guide

Considering the size and price, the Geekom Mini IT12 is a high-performing, compact mini PC designed for a range of applications, from office tasks to moderate gaming, with a real focus on creatives using processor-intensive applications such as Adobe Photoshop and DaVinci Resolve. There are several variants of the machine, such as with an i5 or i9 CPU, but in this test, we’re looking at the 12th Gen Intel Core i7-12650H.

The processor ensures that this mini PC packs power. At the same time, the RAM allocation is impressive, with 32GB of dual-channel DDR4-3200 SODIMM, which is expandable up to 64GB, catering well to heavy workloads. Storage is also versatile and generous, featuring a mix of M.2 and SATA SSD slots and a 2.5″ HDD slot, expandable up to 2TB.

We’ve tested many of the best mini PCs, and in our experience, the Mini IT12 also offers a decent volume of connectivity and expansion options. It has a range of ports, including USB 3.2, USB4, HDMI 2.0, and a 2.5GbE LAN port, making it adaptable for various peripherals and network setups. Intel’s Wi-Fi 6E AX211 and Bluetooth 5.2 ensure a fast wireless connection.

While the IT12 lacks a dedicated GPU, the integrated Intel UHD Graphics are good enough for everyday tasks and some gaming; it will also handle light image and video editing up to 4K as long as the edits aren’t to complex.

When it comes to physical size, it measures in at 117 x 112 x 49.2 mm, which makes it easy to position when desk space is tight or if you need it to be portable in say a studio environment. The system arrives pre-installed with Windows 11 Pro, which provides excellent reliability and speed and is ideally suited to professional users.

The Geekom Mini IT12 is a decent all-round mini PC that balances performance, size, and connectivity, which will make it suitable for a wide range of users, from professional office workers to casual gamers and creatives. What makes this small machine stand out, especially for creatives, is the good selection of ports that enable the connection of external control desks and hard drives. There’s the fact that it has a built-in SD card reader so you can directly download images and video to the internal or connected external drives.

Considering the size and price, this is an incredibly powerful machine that will suit creatives looking for a compact computing solution that also offers portability.

Geekom Mini IT12: Price & availability

(Image credit: Ali Jennings)

  • How much does it cost? From $699 / £599 / AU$899
  • When is it out? Available now
  • Where can you get it? Directly from Geekom US, UK and Australia, as well as other online retailers such as Amazon.

The Geekom Mini IT12 12th Gen Intel Core i7 model is currently priced at $699 MSRP (£599 / AU$899) but often has further discounts. However, there’s a promotion available in the US and UK where an extra $30 discount can be applied using the coupon code techradar30 during checkout, saving a bit of extra money. Availability is widespread, including through the official Geekom website and Amazon. Right now, you can save with these exclusive TechRadar offers.

Geekom Mini IT12: Design & build

(Image credit: Ali Jennings)

The Geekom Mini IT12 Mini PC is housed in a stunning metallic green casing made of high-quality plastic that looks and feels as though it should be metal. This gives the machine a feel that is solid and well made, although not quite premium. Measuring in at 117 x 112 x 45.6 mm means that the IT12 will fit almost any work surface, and if there’s no space, then there’s always the VESA mount. The small size and quality build also mean that it’s highly portability, making it a great choice for a variety of settings, from studio work to mobile offices.

The build quality, while not premium, is well made, and the layout of ports and power button is easily accessible, all adding to a generally user-friendly design. One of the nice features about the machine is that the internal components, including RAM slots, M.2 slot, and a 2.5″ HDD drive slot, are easily accessible after removing the base, which is secured with cross-head screws.

As the base is removed, the cooling and ventilation system can be seen, and this has been well integrated into the design. Vents and fans are compactly arranged, helping to ensure that heat is drawn away from the components while keeping noise levels low. Side grills offer additional airflow, further helping to keep the inner workings cool even when the machine is running under load.

Port placement is pretty standard, with two USB Type-A ports on the front and a variety of connections on the back, including two HDMI ports and two USB Type-C ports, which combined will support up to four displays. The inclusion of an SD card slot on the side is a superb additional touch, especially for creative professionals and photographers.

The Mini IT12 is designed with the needs of creatives in mind. It features a powerful 12th Gen processor, 32GB of RAM (expandable to 64GB), and extensive storage options, including an ultra-fast M.2 slot and a 2.5″ HDD slot, allowing for the expansion of up to 5TB of internal storage. These features make it well-suited for demanding applications like Photoshop, Premiere Pro, and DaVinci Resolve.

Geekom Mini IT12: Features

(Image credit: Ali Jennings)

The Geekom Mini IT12 Mini PC offers a set of features that will appeal to content creators or anyone looking for a compact machine that offers more power than a simple office machine. At its core is the 12th Gen Intel Core i7-12650H processor, which, with its multitasking ability, makes it a great choice for more demanding applications such as Premiere Pro or Photoshop. Complementing the processor is Intel UHD Graphics, which, although not a dedicated card, is still decently powerful and capable of handling complex graphics and multiple 4K or one 8K video stream.

Another feature that will really appeal to creatives or any user who needs plenty of expansion options is the huge selection of ports. These include two ultra fast USB4 ports that enable high-speed data transfer as well as the ability to run multiple high-resolution displays. When it comes to networking and connections, the machine features the latest Intel Bluetooth 5.2 and Wi-Fi 6E.

For any machine of this type, especially when it comes to high performance Mini PC’s storage and memory are important, and with dual-channel DDR4-3200 SODIMM expandable up to 64GB and a range of SSD options, including an M.2 2280 PCIe Gen 4 x4 SSD, there are plenty of options for internal upgrades and expansion as and when you need. Of course with high powered machines comes heat, and to help ensure that everything stays cool, the machine has an integral cooling system that features a built-in fan that maintains a balance between performance and thankfully low noise levels.

The Mini IT12 also has the ability to support multiple displays, including one at 8K resolution, making it ideal if you like to split your tool pallets from your workspace or have a separate monitor for admin, web browsing, and email.

Pre-installed comes Windows 11 Pro, which you would expect from a machine pitched at this level, and this also means that you can get up and running in around 10 minutes from the time you unpack and connect the machine to the moment you write your first email.

Geekom Mini IT12: Performance

(Image credit: Ali Jennings)

Benchmarks

Crystal Disk Read: 5096 MB/s
Crystal Disk Write: 4474 MB/s
GeekBench CPU Single: 2323
GeekBench CPU Multi: 9386
GeekBench Compute: 11065
PC Mark: 5253
CineBench CPU Multi: 11560
CineBench CPU Single: 1660
Fire Strike Overall: 3730
Fire Strike Graphics: 4093
Fire Strike Physics: 18843
Fire Strike Combined: 1301
Time Spy Overall: 1331
Time Spy Graphics: 1167
Time Spy CPU: 6670
Wild Life: 9511
Windows Experience: 8.1

The Geekom Mini IT12 Mini PC puts in a decent all-round performance across a variety of applications, from Photoshop to Microsoft Word, making it a great machine for both professional and home use. When it comes to handling creative applications such as Photoshop, Premiere Pro, and DaVinci Resolve, the Mini IT12 absolutely excels. Its high GeekBench Compute and CineBench scores reflect its capability to manage intensive processing tasks, while the impressive Crystal Disk Read and Write speeds show just how fast the SSD is and how that speed ensures fast data handling, which is crucial for video editing and image processing.

During the test, the machine’s ability to handle creative software smoothly and without crashes or glitching is impressive considering the small size. The Intel UHD Graphics, though not a dedicated GPU still puts in an impressive performance for 3D rendering as well as high-resolution cuts in the top video editing software, is more than sufficient for running any of the best graphic design software and video editing tasks in Premiere Pro. This makes the Mini IT12 a great choice for creative professionals who require a balance of performance and price.

When it comes to using the machine for general office work, the Mini IT12 runs all Microsoft Office applications and Google Docs without issue. The real world use of these applications are reflected in the PC Mark score that indicated that typical office applications such as the Microsoft Office Suite will run smoothly, as the bench marks highlight in use you can quickly switch from one application to another without any issue. Working in Microsoft Word, Excel, and PowerPoint are handled with ease by the machine, and there are no worries about this machine’s abilities with any office tasks.

Gaming on the Mini IT12, while not its primary focus, is possible. The test scores from Fire Strike and Time Spy suggest that while it can run graphically demanding games like Cyberpunk 2077 and Red Dead Redemption II although we did find that the quality settings needed to be reduced in order to have smooth game play. The machine is more suited to less graphics-intensive games or older titles, which is highlight by the Wild Life score.

The Geekom Mini IT12 is a well-rounded mini PC with an ability to handle a range of tasks, from creative software to everyday office applications, and for the most part you can also get a pretty decent gaming experience. This makes it a great choice for anyone looking for a compact yet powerful computing solution.

Should you buy the Geekom Mini IT12?

For creative professionals or anyone who needs a PC with a bit of power, the Geekom Mini IT12 is an excellent choice. Its powerful processor, coupled with upgradable and expandable memory and storage options, makes it ideal for applications like Photoshop and Premiere Pro, and any of the best Adobe Premiere Pro alternatives. However, if you’re a hardcore gamer looking for a compact machine to handle the latest high-end games at maximum settings, you might want to look elsewhere and at something with a dedicated graphics card. For general office work, multimedia, and casual gaming, the Mini IT12 offers great value, making it a great purchase for anyone looking for a compact yet capable PC.

Value: Solid performance at a reasonable price. 4/5
Design: Compact, efficient, unobtrusive design. 4/5
Features: Versatile, with comprehensive connectivity and expansion options. 4/5
Performance: Strong in multitasking, moderate in gaming. 4/5
Total: Well-rounded, efficient for professionals and casual users. 4/5

(Image credit: Ali Jennings)

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Product Reviews

Hide.me Free VPN | TechRadar

by admin



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On paper, Hide.me Free boasts an impressive offering – unlimited data, customizable tools, and a truly free VPN that’s more than just a trial. There are a handful of limitations – par for the course for a free VPN – but Hide.me Free’s strong core features and server array are strong counterpoints.

Ultimately, if you’re on the hunt for a free service that has your privacy in mind and will watch your back as you go about your usual browsing, Hide.me Free has the right features and pretty nifty apps.

Features

    Hide.me subscription options:

  • 24 month plan – $2.69 per month ($64.56 total cost)

Hide.me Free gets the VPN basics right – just like its paid counterpart. Users can take their pick of an impressive number of tried-and-tested VPN protocols, including OpenVPN, WireGuard, IKEv2, SSTP, and SoftEtherVPN. We also liked that we could select a “fallback protocol”, which the VPN used if our first choice failed to connect – which it didn’t, incidentally.

However, the availability of these protocols varies depended on the platform we tried, which were Windows, Android, and iOS.

Swipe to scroll horizontally

Platform

WireGuard

OpenVPN

IKEv2

SSTP

SoftEther

Windows

✅

✅

✅

✅

✅

Mac

❌

✅

✅

❌

❌

Android

✅

✅

✅

✅

❌

iOS

✅

✅

✅

❌

❌

IPv6 support
All Hide.me Free apps come with full IPv6 support, setting them apart from other free providers that offer a simple checkbox feature that claims to prevent IPv6 leaks. More often, however, free VPNs typically ignore the issue of IPv6 leaks.

Hide.me Free is the only free service on our list that allows users to connect using IPv4, IPv6, or both. If you’re unfamiliar with IPv6, this won’t matter that much, but if you are – and if your ISP allows you to use IPv6 – Hide.me Free will work with it right out of the box with no risk of IPv6 leaks.

Still, this is way more control than we see even from the likes of our best VPN overall, NordVPN.

Auto-connect
Hide.me Free’s auto-connect tool is one of the best we’ve ever tested, too. Available on desktop apps and Android and iOS, we enabled it with a simple toggle we could further customize it to allow us to select different actions when connecting to unsecured Wi-Fi, secured Wi-Fi, or Ethernet networks.

The options for each are: “Connect or Disconnect”, “Ask what to do”, or “Ignore Network”. This is a nice array of options. So, if security is your primary concern, you could configure the auto-connect tool to ask whether you want Hide.me Free to automatically connect whenever you join an unsecure network – like the free Wi-Fi you find in cafes, airports, and hotels – so you don’t accidentally join a dodgy hotspot that lacks encryption or, in the worst case scenario, is a bogus connection monitored by a data-hungry bad actor. This is especially useful for folks who commute to work or have a vacation on the cards.

Each time the app made one of these automated decisions, it then added the name of the network and the decision it made to a list. That’s better reporting than most VPN apps, which typically expect you to maintain that list yourself or manually add networks to a trusted list as you access them.

Image 1 of 4

(Image credit: Hideme.Free)(Image credit: Hideme.Free)(Image credit: Hideme.Free)(Image credit: Hideme.Free)

Split tunneling
We were glad to see that Hide.me Free offered split tunneling for Windows, Mac, and Android, though the feature is currently missing from iOS. Like the auto-connect tool, Hide.me Free’s split tunneling is highly customizable, allowing users to pick and choose which apps or sites use the VPN tunnel and which don’t.

So, using the split tunneling tool, you could route traffic headed to your streaming app/site of choice through your regular internet connection, and not the encrypted Hide.me Free tunnel.

This will reduce the amount of traffic the VPN has to deal with on its limited data budget and ensure that you can actually enjoy your content without any buffering or lag.

Kill switch
Hide.me Free has a reliable kill switch that we weren’t able to trip any time we tampered with the VPN protocol software to cause it to disconnect. Our real IP address was not leaked at any point during testing, which is a must-have factor for any VPN, and especially impressive for a free service.

The kill switch is available on all platforms, including iOS, unusually. It’s not always easy to find, though – it’s named “Network Protection” in the Android settings, for example.

In addition to a simple on/off toggle, users can also configure a script inside the app that’ll launch whenever the kill switch is triggered (cutting your internet connection) or disabled. You could use this to create an alert warning you that the kill switch was triggered, or forcibly close a process or launch an app.

Why is this useful? Well, imagine that you always leave your VPN on at home, connected to a nearby server. What happens if that connection drops out? Usually, a VPN will display a notification to let you know, but what if you wanted something else to happen?

If your VPN is connected to a local network, you might want to send a notification to other devices connected to it or, to prevent communication across a now unsecured connection, you might want to close some apps and programs. Hide.me Free makes this possible via scripts – a series of commands that give you more control over how the app responds to a kill switch failure.

Other features
Hide.me Free also boasts obfuscation – but we found that it was pretty basic. Still, it might help you establish a secure VPN connection if you live in a privacy-unfriendly country (like China or Russia) where VPNs are routinely sniffed out and blocked. If you’re looking for the most reliable VPN for China, Hide.me Free probably shouldn’t be your first choice, but it may help with less intensive VPN blocking, and we’re glad that the option is there for free users.

The lock setting allows users to lock the VPN app whenever it’s minimized or after a specified number of minutes has passed. It works like a mobile device App Locker: select a PIN and rest assured that, without this PIN, nobody will be able to unlock (and interfere with) your VPN.

It might seem like security overkill, but it ensures that friends, family, and other nosy individuals can’t happen across your device and adjust your VPN settings. You wouldn’t want a sibling to disconnect the VPN while you’re torrenting, right? Network Lock puts a stop to this kind of meddling.

As mentioned earlier, Hide.me Free gives users unlimited data to play with – there are no monthly caps and no hard limits. Admittedly, that’s a huge bonus that means you won’t have to carefully ration out your VPN usage over the month. Hide.me Free does have its hangups, however, that mostly hinge around the differences between its free and premium plans.

Missing features and hangups
Hide.me Free users are limited to a single simultaneous connection. That means only one person, on one device, can use the VPN at any given time. This is pretty much par for the course when it comes to free VPNs, although Windscribe Free is a notable exception to the rule, offering unlimited connections for free and paid users.

Free users won’t find support for port forwarding or SOCKS5 proxy, either. There’s no option for TOR over VPN, and multi-hop is restricted to paid users.

On a more technical note, Hide.me Free also lacks support for downloading OpenVPN or other manual configuration files (like WireGuard keys). This makes it a lot more difficult to use the VPN with a router. Lots of routers work with OpenVPN but, more often than not, they also require a configuration file that tells them exactly how to set up the connection and the IP address of the server they’re trying to access. Without this file, we can’t recommend Hide.me Free as a fully-fledged router VPN.

Features score: 7/10

Server network

We were unable to discern the total number of VPN servers in Hide.me Free’s network but, as free users are restricted to a small subset of locations, this isn’t a huge stumbling block.

Hide.me Free gives users access to servers in 7 countries: Finland, France, Germany, Netherlands, Switzerland, the UK, USA. It is worth noting that Hide.me claims that free users have 8 locations to choose from but, on our Windows testing machine, we only saw the 7 listed above. Singapore is often listed as a free location, but during our testing, we saw it marked as Premium-only.

We took a closer look at the free locations to determine whether the listing in the app matches the likely real location of the server. We’re happy to say that all 7 locations are accurately listed, although the Finnish servermay be in Estonia.

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(Image credit: Hideme.Free)(Image credit: Hideme.Free)

As with other VPNs, Hide.me Free allows users to add servers to a favorites list for easy access and set specific servers as the default, so the VPN automatically connects to them when the big “Connect” button is clicked or tapped. It’s a nice time-saving measure we’re glad to see included.

One notable aspect of Hide.me Free’s server array is that 6 of its 7 locations are based in Europe, with the 7th being in the US. Lots of free VPNs have blank spots on the map, so this isn’t entirely surprising, but today, we find that most top-rated free VPNs have at least one server location in Asia.

For example, Windscribe Free has coverage in Hong Kong, and Proton VPN Free has servers in Japan. Extending the range of the server network benefits everyone, giving folks outside of Europe access to nearby servers, improving their overall browsing experience, and offering people elsewhere the opportunity to location-hop and check out a new region of local content.

Servers score: 6/10

Apps

Hide.me Free is available for Windows, Mac, Android, iOS, and Linux. This is a decent spread, and it’s nice to see that Hide.me doesn’t neglect its Linux userbase. We were also glad to see that Hide.me Free has its very own Firefox, Chrome, and Edge browser extensions, too.

There are also Hide.me Free apps for Apple TV, Android TV, and Amazon Fire TV. We’d like to laud this selection, but it is, unfortunately, irrelevant, as the free version isn’t quick enough to keep up with HD streaming.

Overall, nothing major is missing from Hide.me Free’s app offering, which is impressive for a free service, as are the three browser extensions.

The only hiccup to note is that the missing access to the OpenVPN files means that it’s not going to work as a VPN for your router.

Apps score: 8/10

Ease of use

First things first, we were impressed that Hide.me Free doesn’t require any registration or sign-up to use. We simply downloaded the app from the provider’s website and followed along with an installation wizard. In fact, across all platforms, we didn’t run into any trouble when installing Hide.me Free.

The more we dug into Hide.me Free’s usability, however, the more cracks appeared. We installed Hide.me Free on a device that we’d previously used the paid edition on, and it automatically logged in, presumably because it didn’t remove our old credentials when uninstalling.

The dashboard warned us that our plan had expired and that it was time to upgrade, and there was no obvious “use free version” button – or even a hint that a free version existed.

Eventually, we double-clicked a server location in the location list, and a new “Trial Expired” screen appeared. It gave us the option to “Downgrade to a free plan”. When we hit downgrade, we were finally able to use Hide.me Free.

Of course, most users won’t be affected by this issue as they’ll be installing the app on a device that hasn’t used Hide.me before. Still, if you’re one of the unlucky few who has, it’s an unnecessary hassle. Hide.me could make life way easier by offering a “Downgrade” button to everyone with an expired plan rather than forcing them on a digital goose chase.

(Image credit: Hideme.Free)

We also experienced an odd quirk where, once the app had installed and displayed the “Finished” page, the app launched immediately. Most VPNs wait until you’ve closed the page to do this, so the app appeared before we’d even closed the installer. It’s odd, but it didn’t cause any issues.

Once the Hide.me Free Windows app was up and running, we were greeted by a quick tutorial that introduced us to all the most important sections of the app. If you’re an experienced VPN user, this won’t be all that useful, but anyone on the hunt for a good VPN for beginners will appreciate the easy-to-digest signposting.

Overall, we found Hide.me Free’s Windows app to be rather overcomplicated. It looks more like an operating system desktop than a simple app. The dashboard is designed to be customizable – it can contain all kinds of widgets that users can edit and reposition to suit their needs.

(Image credit: Hideme.Free)

One widget displays the currently-selected location and connect button, another holds the map of Hide.me Free’s locations, and a third contains your account information. There are even widgets listing your favorite servers, streaming servers, account information, a “Privacy Search” button that allows you to make searches from within the app, and a long list of links to Hide.me Free’s social media channels.

It’s a great idea in theory, and we always like to see customization, but it’s also almost entirely unnecessary. We didn’t need the dashboard to constantly tell us that we were using the free version, and we didn’t find ourselves needing immediate access to Hide.me’s X account. Plus, there’s already a link to the map view in the left-hand sidebar, rendering the one in the dashboard redundant.

We didn’t see any massive benefit to the dashboard. If anything, it actually makes the app look worse than the competition because the widgets have fixed sizes, meaning there’s a lot of wasted white space. Compare that to the super-compact Windscribe Free VPN UI which takes up no more room on desktop that it does on mobile.

Still, there are plenty of ways to avoid the dashboard. Clicking the “Locations” option in the sidebar takes you to a simple location list. From here, you can double-click any free location to join a server and, once you’re done, double-click again to disconnect.

When we tried Hide.me Free on iOS, we found that the layout is much more conventional, which was a plus for us. The iOS app is well-designed and works similarly to premium mobile VPNs. Joining a server is as easy as tapping the “Connect” button, and users have the option of selecting “Best location” to choose another free location.

Regardless of the platform we used, Hide.me Free did a good job of underscoring which features are available to free users and which aren’t. We selected the SmartGuard ad blocker, for instance, and the app warned us that our experience was “restricted”.

(Image credit: Hideme.Free)

Digging into Hide.me Free’s advanced tools, we found that they’re organized unusually. Almost every other app we’ve tested puts options like auto-connect and split tunneling in a settings menu, but Hide.me Free lists them (and other significant tools) in their own Features menu. If you’re used to diving into the settings to find these things, you might miss them at first, but it’s nothing a bit of exploration can’t fix.

Hide.me Free’s actual settings menu is nice and easy to parse. It mostly consists of simple on/off options. The technical settings, however, are laid out a little differently across platforms, which can make it difficult to find the specific setting you’re looking to tweak.

Fortunately, Hide.me Free’s menus have a search box – which we found rather unique. It’s a great addition to the mix that makes hunting down tools quick and easy, so long as you know what you’re looking for. So, if you’re searching for a DNS setting but can’t find it, just type “DNS” into the search box, and Hide.me Free will display every setting that includes “DNS”.

During our testing, when we went about our regular browsing, we encountered a lot of CAPTCHA tests. These tests went on for a long time, too, often cornering us into 7 or 8 rounds of selecting the squares containing motorcycles or chimneys. This ground our browsing to a halt – and given that Hide.me Free also throttles speeds, it makes for a less-than-ideal everyday experience.

More CAPTCHAs usually means that the IP addresses on Hide.me’s free servers aren’t as fresh as they might be – either through age or the number of customers on those free servers using them – and that’s not a great sign.

Finally, when we weren’t using Hide.me Free and made a big change to our network configuration (by connecting to a second VPN, for example), the Hide.me Free dashboard would suddenly appear. We hadn’t clicked on it or switched to it – it simply popped up.

We can only assume that the Hide.me Free Windows app thinks it’s solely responsible for our network settings and, if something changes, it’s the app that’ll take charge. It doesn’t matter all that much, however. We simply minimized the dashboard and went about our business as usual. It’s another small interface irritation, however, and it could become seriously frustrating if it happens regularly.

Ease of use score: 5/10

Speed and performance

We put Hide.me Free’s speeds to the test using our 1 Gbps connection and the WireGuard protocol. The service achieved pretty decent results, clocking in at 415 Mbps on our Windows machine and 25 Mbps on Android.

While this isn’t quite as quick as Proton VPN Free and Windscribe Free, both recording 900 Mbps, it’s still more than you need for easy-breezy day-to-day browsing.

How we perform speed tests

(Image credit: Shutterstock)

We test from two different virtual PCs, one in the UK and one in the US, using a 1 Gbps connection. You can find out more in our VPN testing methodology.

It is worth noting that, during the course of our hands-on testing, we did notice inconsistencies in Hide.me Free’s speeds. Initially, our testing machine reported that we had been throttled to a measly 1 Mbps, but subsequent testing proved more fruitful.

It’s uncertain whether this vacillation in results will repeat but, if it does, it could cause issues for free users attempting to use Hide.me Free to stream, torrent, or check out social media feeds – as 1 Mbps just isn’t enough to keep up with resource-intensive activities.

Speed and performance score: 6/10

Unblocking

As part of our real-world tests, we tried streaming Netflix and YouTube, and were successful on both occasions. The only caveat here is that we were forced to reload Netflix before the page loaded fully, and we did experience some buffering when initially tuning in to content. After about five minutes or so, however, the experience settled and remained smooth.

We’d still recommend looking to a paid service for the most reliable access to today’s top streaming platforms (and smaller regional services), but Hide.me Free impressed us by holding its own.

Hide.me Free isn’t our first-choice torrenting VPN, either, despite the fact that all of its free servers appear to support P2P activity. You’re better off with PrivadoVPN or Proton VPN. Hide.me Free also lacks a port forwarding option – you’ll have to subscribe to the paid version to check it out.

Unblocking score: 6/10

Privacy and security

Hide.me Free uses AES-256 and ChaCha20 via WireGuard. There are a lot of protocols to choose from when you open up the app, though we typically recommend WireGuard, thanks to its blend of speed and security. We’re also glad to see that Hide.me Free ditched less secure options, like L2TP, a long time ago.

We also believe that Hide.me Free is geared more towards technical users and folks who want to learn about VPN technology and cybersecurity. This is most visible in the provider’s blog, where the company regularly posts in-depth articles covering essentials like encryption.

Digging into Hide.me Free’s server infrastructure, there was no real technical detail to be found, but the Network page on the provider site claims that: “Our servers are hand-picked, security-hardened and self-maintained… To protect our users’ privacy, we control and run a self-managed VPN network without any involvement of outsiders. Every server stores sensitive cryptographic keys in a temporary storage to minimize attack surface.”

Terms like “hand-picked” and “security-hardened” don’t raise any eyebrows. “Self-maintained” and “self-managed without any involvement of outsiders”, however, does. It seems unlikely or, worse, misleading. Unless Hide.me Free is running its own data centres, others will, at least, have physical access to the servers.

Servers storing keys “in a temporary storage” fit with them being RAM-based. We suspect that, if it’s true, Hide.me Free would simply claim as much. Instead, perhaps the provider means that the keys are stored in a folder of temporary files, which is always emptied when the server closes or starts.

Hide.me Free hasn’t implemented full post-quantum encryption, but it has achieved a degree of quantum resistance with its custom dynamic WireGuard configuration. Currently, Hide.me is working to deliver a better and more complete post-quantum solution.

Hide.me Free generates a random username and an internally-assigned (not public) IP address when users connect to a server. Any data related to their session links solely to that ID. The company says that this means usage data remains anonymous and unconnected to your real, public IP address.

Like a lot of VPNs, Hide.me Free’s apps include crash reporting and related telemetry features which might send app usage and troubleshooting information back to the company. This data is anonymized and not linked to you personally. It helps Hide.me determine if a lot of users are having problems connecting to a certain country – not that you, in particular, are.

Finally, as a cherry on top, Hide.me had its no-logs policy successfully audited in 2024. This is a good foundation to build on, and we’d like to see the service commit to annual audits of its policies, apps, and servers.

Privacy and security score: 6/10

Track record

Hide.me was founded over 13 years ago and is currently based in Labuan, Malaysia, and owned by a Malaysia-based IT security company, eVenture Ltd. The provider also has a second office in Zagreb, Croatia, according to its LinkedIn page.

The VPN makes some impressive claims, including that it was the first BSC VPN to offer IPv6 and WireGuard support, and that it was one of the first services to implement WireGuard in a privacy-friendly way.

In mid-2024, Hide.me published the results of a privacy audit conducted by Securitum. The security consultancy inspected server configurations, interviewed Hide.me staff, reviewed deployment procedures, and more. Hide.me didn’t publish the full report, unfortunately, and instead published a summary of the results. The good news is that the summary still contains plenty of detail.

Overall, the audit was positive with Securitum stating: “As a result of the audit, it was confirmed, that declared by Hide.me no-logs policy is indeed applied, and the audit did not reveal any issues on VPN container that could lead to a compromise of user privacy.”

We’re happy to see Hide.me invest in its transparency, but there’s more that could be done. We’d like to see Hide.me undergo more regular audits of different types (covering the provider’s apps, for example) and publish the full report afterwards.

The only blemish on Hide.me’s record we found was a Mac app bug discovered in 2019. The bug possibly allowed a privilege escalation, a type of exploit that malware could use to acquire extra rights on your system, perhaps infect your device, or cause other issues. This is bad as security vulnerabilities go, but it’s not uncommon; NordVPN had three of these reported in 2018.

Track record score: 7/10

Customer support

A lot of free VPNs don’t offer customer support to their user base. The good news is that Hide.me Free bucks this trend, and customers have access to 24/7 technical support.

There are also community forums. These are a handy resource for folks who prefer to do their own troubleshooting, and other users are generally happy to share their own experiences and ideas that you simply won’t hear from customer support. Unfortunately, these forums aren’t as active as they could be, so you may end up waiting a while for a response.

(Image credit: Hideme.Free)

Hide.me Free’s support site contains a huge number of detailed articles, which is great, but there’s not a lot of material for beginners. The FAQ page warns that “port 25 is blocked for security reasons”, for instance, but doesn’t attempt to explain what port 25 is, why it matters, or why a user should care.

Fortunately, if you have any burning questions or want to clarify your confusion, free users get full access to the Hide.me Free support team. We opened a live chat session, reached position 1 in the queue, and an agent joined us within seconds. When we raised an email ticket, we received a helpful reply in under half an hour, which is impressively quick – and a much faster response time than we’ve seen with many paid VPNs.

Customer support score: 8/10

Pricing and plans

As Hide.me Free is the limited version of the full-fat Hide.me subscription, the plan naturally comes with notable omissions that are only available to paying customers. These include:

  • Access to 91 server locations
  • 10 simultaneous connections
  • Port forwarding
  • SOCKS5 proxy
  • SmartGuard ad, tracker, and malware blocker
  • Bolt “Fast Proxy” technology (speed booster)
  • Multi-hop

A 2-year plan comes in at $2.69 a month – which makes Hide.me’s premium offering one of the more reasonable options on the market. Still, Surfshark has it beat at $1.99 a month and a long list of innovative security-boosting tools. In comparison, Hide.me doesn’t quite stack up.

Pricing and plans score: 5/10

Should you use Hide.me Free?

Hide.me Free does a decent job of holding its own against other free providers on the market, but the truth is that you can get a lot more for nothing elsewhere. The clunky Windows dashboard really lets the service down – other providers do it better.

On the other hand, if you can handle having a single device connection and deal with a few hiccups during setup, Hide.me Free’s customizable tools and features are some of the best on the market.

Being able to use the service without handing over an iota of personal information is an impressive plus, too. So, if you’re looking for a free VPN that’ll have your back during your day-to-day browsing, with an audited no-logs policy, Hide.me Free could be worth investigating.

Overall score: 64/100

Hide.me Free Alternatives



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Product Reviews

Deel review | TechRadar

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Deel is an extensive package that combines all of the tools that best payroll software offers. It includes a dazzling array of the features and functions businesses need on a daily basis, but also proves really useful for building up a more efficient bigger picture of how your company ticks.

More than 35,000 companies already use Deel, which is a pretty new company founded in 2019. It now counts over 4,000 team members on its books, with some pretty major customers like Shopify, Nike and Lego signing up.

Deal CEO and co-founder Alex Bouaziz was even on Forbes’ 30 Under 30 Finance list in 2020, so you know it’s got some good guidance at the helm.

If you’ve got employees to hire and subsequently manage, as well as pay, then Deel packs a sizeable punch.

Inside the Deel software suite there are tools for fast and efficient onboarding, functionality that facilitates paying employees, even on a global scale where it’s needed and lots of HR features. In fact, Deel boasts HR functionality that makes light work of handling employees, no matter where they happen to be located.

Adding to the overall appeal is a dependable level of compliance, with Deel proving able to stay on top of any relevant regulations, irrespective of where your business operates. Deel is well-known for its quick and easy setup processes and ongoing administration benefits, making it suitable to companies of all shapes and sizes.

Deel: Plans and pricing

It seems like more companies hide their pricing than display it, so we’re incredibly grateful that Deel is one of the few remaining providers that actually states its pricing. It’s a big green flag for us.

Payroll software is available in a whole range of flavors depending on the nature of your business, so you’re better off checking Deel’s website to see which package is best suited to your individual needs.

As a guide, Deel Global Payroll comes in at $29 per employee per month, and Deel Contractor Management costs $49/contractor/month. You can also pick the Deel Employer of Record or Contractor of Record plans ($599 and $325 per person per month) for full legal support across 150+ countries.

Deel also has a couple of HR platforms, priced between $15 and $20 per person per month, so if you prefer to keep all your affairs under the same roof, it’s worth considering adding these.

Further add-ons are also available, so if you’re finding that what you need isn’t covered, a quick conversation with the Deel sales team could rectify that.

Remote Payroll offers a flexible choice of plans but costing is best done by calling the sales department (Image credit: Deel)

Deel: Features

Dip into the suite of Deel features and you’ll find that it is divided into four core areas, with onboarding, payroll and mobility being the main players, conveniently supplemented by Deel HR.

A big part of the appeal with Deel is its Employer of Record or EOR service, which streamlines the hiring process for any kind of company.

An added bonus of this setup is that the system works across a wide variety of countries, with upwards of 150 territories included in that list.

It means companies can hire and pay full-time employees or contractors in many jurisdictions without needing company legal entities in each location, which really shows the value of Deel’s software.

This expansive collection of countries are also setup so that company HR personnel have access to any relevant visa information pertaining to specific locations. If you’re regularly onboarding staff on a global basis this makes Deel particularly noteworthy.

This also means that Deel can handle country-specific taxes as well as meeting compliance regulations. Again, the other bonus here is Deel provides around the clock support for complex operations like this.

(Image credit: Deel)

The same goes for the mobility aspect of Deel, with lots of tools for simplifying things like Visa applications, which can normally be a drain on administrative resources.

Everything gets topped off with the benefit of Deel HR, which combines lots of different everyday needs, including dealing with contractors and freelancers, to complete the formidable line-up of features.

You get an excellent people directory, organizational charts and comprehensive personal profiles from this, allowing HR managers to control every aspect of an employees time at any company.

Just like any other respectable software outfit, Deel has high standards when it comes to security, although this is perhaps best investigated with a demo. However, the company says it is committed to GDPR compliance and uses Okta SSO for single-sign on convenience.

Network traffic runs over SSL/HTTPS and is encrypted, while Deel also uses Amazon Web Services for its data storage. Similarly, Deel underlines that its infrastructure is fully SOC2 compliant.

Deel: Ease of use

The onboarding part of the HR procedure is wonderfully seamless and can be done over the course of a few hours.

With personal details and banking information completed, the process can be wrapped up pretty swiftly and we also like the way there’s plenty of help at hand from Deel support staff en route.

One of the aspects of any fully-featured HR and payroll solution that frequently worries staff is just how useable a package it’ll be. Thankfully, Deel has been cleverly designed so that it provides a host of powerful tools within a user-friendly interface that can be managed without fuss using a sizeable selection of dashboard tools.

In fact, Deel like many other sensible software packages comes with a look and feel that makes you want to use it, rather than walk away for a coffee.

There’s a fresh, modern workspace with straightforward menu options at the side of the screen. The use of dynamic graphics mid-stage makes the presentation of data much more enjoyable too, while there’s no compromise on performance.

It is possible to drill down into sub-menus when that’s needed, but the overall impression the interface leaves is that minimal training would need to be given in order to get someone up to speed with the Deel workspace.

Deel is best suited to larger companies who need the most advanced tools, because some features are desktop first and poorly optimized for smaller screens.

There’s also a bit more of a learning curve for complex/international use, so taking the time to set up properly is a worthwhile investment.

Using Deel is made easier thanks to a great interface (Image credit: Deel)

Deel: Support

Support is a key selling point for Deel, which offers 24/7 multilingual support via live chat, email, phone and even video calls. It could just about be as good as it gets, so if having quick access to humans to answer your questions is a must, then Deel deserves high praise.

Deel also recently introduced AI agents for support, with over 50 languages in the bag. Their aim is to reduce response times, which the company has managed to around halve.

The AI agents mostly pull information form the comprehensive knowledge base, which users can access regardless. Here, you’ll find compliance guides, support documentation and tutorials for self-service.

Enterprises and big customers also get their own dedicated customer success and account managers.

You’ll get the usual level of support options from Deel (Image credit: Deel)

Deel: Final verdict

Anyone who wants a well-rounded HRM suite will immediately warm to Deel. Central to the appeal is its powerful core features, which includes its undeniably potent onboarding, payroll and mobility tools.

The way that the software will work across geographical boundaries makes it very useable for companies of all shapes and sizes.

On the whole, we rank Deel highly for bsuinesses that are hiring globally, with strong compliance offered throughout.

The soldi support infrastructure is noteworthy, as is the user interface which does a good job of taming just how much power this software packs.

While the costs will inevitably escalate as your company does, the ease of its integrations and overall performance marks Deel down as one of the stronger players in the payroll and HR software marketplace. It’s very worthy of a demo at the very least.

Smaller businesses should consider alternatives, because Deel primarily targets multinational businesses, and any companies seeking the best in multi usability should also look elsewhere because Deel is best seen as a desktop-first powerhouse.



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Product Reviews

Workable hiring service review | TechRadar

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Workable started as a dedicated recruitment platform and Applicant Tracking System, so it’s got a focused and well-designed range of features, but its latest iteration has seen it take on HR giants for an additional fee.

It’s not the cheapest recruitment solution around, though, so it’s going to have to impress if businesses are going to find room for Workable in their budgets.

Thankfully, its extensive list of features certain back up its pricing, and the relatively affordable HR addition only adds to its strength.

To date, Workable has supported over 30,000 companies and 400 million people, with major companies like PWC, Starling Bank and Ryanair all customers. Operating in over 100 countries, it’s facilitated 2.1 million hires so far.

It operates out of three offices across the US (Boston) and Europe (UK and Greece), so it’s fair to expect Workable to have a good idea of what goes on in each region.

Workable: Plans and pricing

Workable is one of the few companies that charges on a per-company basis, rather than per employee, and that’s likely to be able to factor in its recruitment services – which are extensive.

Standard plans can be paid for monthly (starting at $360), or with an annual commitment (starting at $299) for smaller organizations with 1-20 employees, but pricing goes all the way up to accommodate giants with 1,000+ workers.

The Premier plan is an annual-only subscription, starting at $599 per month – so double the Standard tier.

Texting, video interviews and assessments are covered in Premier, or can be added individually on Standard.

Then, there are the HR platforms. They come in from an extra $50 per month for Standard or $70 per month for Premier, with performance reviews included for higher-tier customers and optional for others.

Apart from those options, which are paid on Standard and included on Premier, the expensive plan also includes SSO login, premium support and custom account onboarding.

Prospective customers can also request a demo or start a free 15-day trial, which is about average. Some offer up to 30 days, but others offer nothing at all.

At the time of writing, no deals beyond annual subscriptions and bundles were available – no limited-time attractions to welcome new customers.

(Image credit: Workable)

Workable: Features

Workable has gone from being a fairly basic recruitment platform so a self-proclaimed all-in-one HR system that’s ready for the future.

That core recruitment and application tracking system remains, with support for job posting to more than 200 jobs boards globally.

It features an integrated page builder with jobs widgets for websites and social media campaign tools, because recruiters need to be across so many more platforms than ever before.

Workable also claims to have access to millions of candidates across multiple talent pools, so recruiters can benefit from both passive candidate sourcing and past candidate resurfacing.

This portion of the software integrates with the likes of LinkedIn and Indeed as well as Zoom and Teams for remote interviews, and as you’d expect from any future-first software, there’s a handy sprinkling of AI that helps with candidate screening.

Artificial intelligence also spans personalized emails, interview questions and salary estimations, among other applications.

Workable’s Boolean contains plenty of search cheat sheets to boost online sourcing (Image credit: Workable)

Then, there’s the HR portion of the software, which is almost like ‘step two’ after the recruitment stage. It handles all the onboarding and keeps relevant HR information like employee records and profiles.

There are also time-related features built-in, like time off, attendance tracking and work scheduling.

Payroll processing with integration to third-party software like Xero is also covered. It’s not just limited to Xero, with more than 270 partners and integrations available on a growing list.

Workable has far too many features highlighted on its website to begin to list here, but browsing its web page not only shows you which tools you can expect, but how they’ll look. The company’s commitment to a clean and fluid design is highly evident, and we think it could be one of the best-looking options in its class, so if you’re used to working with other modern tech startups, then Workable should join your list.

Workable: Ease of use

Workable promises a rapid system setup with teams up and running at max velocity in days thanks to ongoing support from specialists, but don’t worry if you’re coming from a different platform rather than setting up new.

They’ve got you covered here, too, with options to import and migrate existing data.

Less about the features, though, because ease of use needs to cover the structure of the platform, and credit where credit’s due, Workable has designed an incredibly interactive and modern interface.

Many of the functionalities are built with no-code requirements, so it’s easy for non-tech-savvy HR workers to produce great results.

Rather than having multiple tabs open, the integration with third parties and job hosting platforms means everything is built into Workable’s friendly interface, which uses light typefaces, colors and visuals throughout to distinguish elements easily.

As you’d expect, the mobile app looks just as good. While functionality is more limited than the desktop version, it’s handy to have information available at a glance in your pocket, and the simplicity is very much welcome.

On the whole, existing customers seem to be happy with how easy the learning curve is and how thoughtfully and well-designed the platform is.

(Image credit: Workable)

Workable: Support

Workable knows how important simplicity is, which is why is promises a dedicated account manager for personalized assistance and strategic guidance.

That being said, the company claims that 85% of users have never needed to contact its agents, maybe because its software is so easy to work out.

This translates to fast response times across web chat, email or call, which is all handled in-house.

You’ve also got the usual suspects on a self-service learning portal, like guides and articles, video tutorials and courses to strengthen your knowledge, plus virtual training sessions back up everything you need to know.

(Image credit: Workable)

Workable: Final verdict

Workable is a straightforward recruitment tool with a good range of features that deliver a well-balanced approach across the entire recruitment process.

We think it’s a great option for all manner of companies, small and large, who need support with recruitment, onboarding and core HCM functionalities.

For that reason, it’s a worthy addition to growing companies and startups who are hugely focused on people.

Ease of use, fast deployment, built-in integrations and collaborations, and strong tracking are all standout features for Workable, which has become far more advanced compared with the core recruitment platform it used to be.

We’ve also featured the best recruitment platforms, best HR software and best background check services



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Product Reviews

Rippling employee management review | TechRadar

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Rippling is a one-stop software solution that lets businesses manage their HR needs along with providing a series of add-ons that can help improve efficiency.

This particular piece of software, Rippling HCM, is Rippling’s HR software. It does everything it says on the tin, from keeping tabs on worker stats to handling time off and timesheets.

Alongside HR, there are several benefits administration features within this all-in-one platform augmented by payroll and talent management tools.

Adding wider appeal is the way that Rippling lets you expand the feature set to include IT products, with the option for managing employee apps such as Slack and Gmail.

    Rippling Employee Management Platform subscription options:

  • 12 month plan – $8 per month ($96 total cost)

The IT aspect of Rippling gets an extra boost from the ability of the software to handle device management. Employee computers, software and security can all be administered using this innovative software package.

On a practical level, Rippling offers lots of flexibility as you can scale it up to include as many add-ons as you think your business needs, with pricing that adjusts accordingly.

Rippling: Pricing

Rippling is a bit cagey about pricing, which can often be perceived as a red flag.

You can take one of many approaches, beginning with the Rippling Platform. This is an all-in-one solution to workforce, payment and compliance management.

There are Core and Pro tiers, but most functionality is generally covered in the Core option unless you need advanced reporting and custom workflows.

Unlimited workflows, custom apps and Rippling’s API platform to connect with over 600 third-party apps and integrations are three separate add-ons, but like the subscriptions, the company won’t actually disclose how much they are.

Other than that, you can pick different modules within Rippling HCM, IT and Spend, so if your business may be on the smaller side and you need to piece together the important bits that you can afford, this is the way to go.

Of course, once you get to the point that you’ve included most features, you’ll be better off bundling them together into the Rippling Platform subscription.

(Image credit: Rippling)

Rippling: Features

Rippling’s software suite is mostly targeted at larger companies with bigger turnovers – it has a whole range of finance and people-related tools, and as such, costs can climb.

In terms of its HR software, it handles all the core elements that you’d expect from good HR software, like employee onboarding and offboarding, document management, leave and time off tracking, scheduling with support for clocking in and out, and time sheets.\

Its automation tools are particularly strong compared with other similar software, promising to speed up repetitive processes like onboarding.

Rather handily, Rippling HR also has an employee self-service portal, which helps ease the burden on HR teams who can make workers responsible for their own tracking.

The Employee Management Platform sits at the heart of Rippling and comes armed with a variety of tools, while also providing a unified employee database structure. Admins can carry out task management from here, keep tabs on workflow and approvals, perform reporting chores and customize other areas such as fields and alerts along with position management.

(Image credit: Rippling)

Move on through the HR management aspect of Rippling and you’ll find the capacity for carrying out full service payroll too.

In the US, this means federal, state and local tax filing, W2, W4, 1099 and new hire filing are all covered.

In addition, benefits administration chores are covered, with management of medical, dental, vision and 401K areas all capable of being handled. Employees can also be given the option of utilizing online self-service features.

Where Rippling’s software stands out against many others in this space is just how much it has to offer across the whole board. For example, HR and IT can work together on device management for better inventory, access permissions and general device management.

It also works with Rippling’s payroll software for expense management, corporate card issuance, bill paying and more.

Rippling: Ease of use

Everyday employee management tasks are easy to handle thanks to the lean, almost minimalistic interface, which offers speedy performance even when you’re navigating more complex data heavy areas such as running payroll and collating detailed reports.

Rippling also benefits from its easy integration with over 400 different apps, allowing you to add in extra functionality and speed up workflow with very little effort.

Full marks should go to the team who developed the Rippling interface as it’s got a great look and feel – customers often praise its intuitive design.

The overall design is slick, easy to use and feels bang up to date. This makes working with the feature set very easy indeed, with a central dashboard area that lets you dip into core features instantly.

(Image credit: Rippling)

The main menu offers quickfire access to key areas of Rippling, such as people, apps, tasks and reporting, while the central work area offers up a reassuringly straightforward overview of the task in hand.

We also love the single sign on option, which lets users pick from their list of apps in one location. Add it all together and the Rippling user experience proves to be wonderfully fuss free.

Once you’re in, setting up automations take a bit of thinking, but they’ll save you plenty of time in the long run.

The mobile experience seems pretty solid for everyday tasks carried out by workers, but admins will definitely want to access the full desktop version.

Rippling: Support

There are all of the usual support options available to customers of Rippling, with subscribed users being able to log into a dedicated help center.

The support pages also include useful guides, webinars and documentation, so if you’re happy with self-service then you should be able to find the answer in Rippling’s comprehensive library.

You’ll find that the support is basically divided down the middle, with an option for administrators who handle all things Rippling for a company able to get help via the center mentioned above.

Meanwhile, employees who make use of Rippling’s features and functions and who need support are encouraged to contact the designated Rippling administrator at their place of employment.

Getting hold of support could be a bit easier, in our opinion. Th4ere’s an online chat pop-up and a form, but no email address or phone number.

(Image credit: Rippling)

Rippling: Final verdict

Rippling is a great proposition if you’re a business that’s looking to streamline your HR workflow along with other administration tasks. With its slick interface, flexible package options and keen pricing there’s plenty to like about Rippling.

In recent years, we’ve seen plenty of investment into the platform, with genuinely useful improvements like automation and even new tools altogether.

While the costs might start to add up as you add on features, including the likes of the payroll and app management aspects of the software, the resulting increase in productivity looks like it could produce a decent return on your investment.

We think it’s a strong choice for medium to large organizations, or smaller ones that expect to scale. It offers the most value to those who want to centralize administrative tools and have them work with each other without barriers.

The best bit about this arrangement is that you’ll only end up paying for the features that you need, with the provision for adding more easily if you find your business needs them further down the line.

Rippling Employee Management Platform deals



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Product Reviews

Site123 website builder review | TechRadar

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Site123 ranks on our list of the best free website builders and for good reason. The platform is as easy as – well, 123 – making it ideal for those that want to get online quickly such as small businesses or affiliate marketers that want to start driving traffic right away.

However, those looking for more advanced tools may find the platform a little limiting. In this review, we get hands on with Site123, helping you gather all the insight and information you need to decide whether it is the best website builder for you.

As you start exploring, you’re asked to define the main function of your site… (Image credit: Site123)

Click on the service’s welcome page’s ‘Start here’ to grab yourself 250MB of storage, 250MB of bandwidth a month and your first design decision: what type of website do you want to create? You have to choose from one of sixteen options, from Business, to Online Store, Blog, Music, and Creativity, amongst others.

Many options are available to customise the various sections (Image credit: Site123)

    Site123 subscription options:

  • 1 month plan – $0 per month ($0 total cost)

Interface

Once your site is created, you’ll be graced with a large preview of the template Site123 has designed for you. As you’d expect, it’s fully customisable, and you can even delete those pages and start afresh.

Click on some placeholder text to change it. The selection box has a couple of white squares which are used to resize your text, Some basic formatting tools appear above, while more detailed options are presented to the left of the screen. You could for instance select to animate your selection, browse through a list of various styles, or choose from one of hundreds of available fonts.

That part is easy. Others can be frustrating. Click on the ‘gear’ icon for instance. This reveals the various Background Settings of your selected page. You’ll be graced with 25 tiny preview thumbnails of the same image altered in some minor way. It’s impossible to see clearly what each of them offers, and it’s really best to click on them in turn, to see what they look like as they’re implemented in the main preview section of the interface.

Add as many pages as you like…. (Image credit: Site123)

Building pages

Expanding your site is a simple matter of clicking on the Pages menu and choosing to add additional ones. You’ll find a long list of categories, with various templates within each. These include Music, Testimonials, Articles, Events and Blog. Click on the style you’re interested in, and it’ll be automatically added at the bottom of your site.

One thing to bear in mind though: pages aren’t technically pages; they’re more like sections, each added under the other. This means your site is actually one giant scrolling page, and the more sections you add to it, the longer it becomes.

You’re also not limited to a single type of the above pages: you could have multiple blogs, galleries and e-commerce pages within the same website should you so choose. As long as you give them different names, it won’t get too confusing in the navigation menu.

And reorder them with ease (Image credit: Site123)

That menu, locked at the top of the page, just takes you straight to these various sections, but you can also scroll up or down to get to where you want to go. Reordering sections is a simple matter of dragging their handle from the sidebar and repositioning them elsewhere.

However the more you populate your site, the more confusing it can get, especially as you add more posts to your blogs or additional photos in your galleries. Although the customisation invites complexity and numerous sections, we wouldn’t recommend you go too crazy, and limit your design to just a handful of them.

Site123 features

Looking at the blog options, the design will feel familiar to anyone who’s used a word processor. Click on the blog section’s ‘Edit’ button to see all posts already created. You’ll see that a few are already there – examples to show you how the blog looks like and works. Click on them to edit them, or just get rid and start anew. You can add images and videos, include tags and a featured image. It’s all pretty easy and straightforward, enabling you to get started in no time at all.

The ecommerce features are easy to use, customize and make your own (Image credit: Site123)

What stands out the most about Site123 is its ecommerce abilities. While there’s plenty of web builders out there with the ability to create your own store (like Jimdo, Fasthosts, and SimpleSite), not many web hosts have ecommerce options that are so flexible and easy to customise. 

You can add new items, create new categories, highlight the fact some products are new or for sale, etc. The free version of the service only allows your customers to pay by bank transfer, cash on delivery, check, money order, in person, or by phone. The more vital features for an online business, like PayPal, AmazonPay, or Stripe, amongst others, can only be accessed if you upgrade to the ‘Premium’ plan.

Site 123 gives you a free ‘temporary subdomain’ to publish your site to, but it’s as far from memorable as you can get – just a series of random letter and numbers, followed by ‘.site123.me’. If you want a more catchy URL, or if you already have one and would like to link your site to it, you have to pay for the privilege.

Plans and pricing

Site123 pricing and plans

Swipe to scroll horizontally

Plan

Price

Free

$0/month

Premium

$12.80/month

Site123 has two main web hosting plans on their website. They also offer a 14 day money-back guarantee, so you can easily test Site123 to see if it’s right for you. Here’s a quick overview of both of them:  

As its name implies, ’Free’ comes with no charge. This option grants you 250MB of storage, 250MB of bandwidth, and one subdomain. Best if all, there’s no credit card required to sign up for it. This plan works best for those just starting on their online journey. 

‘Premium’ is $12.80 per month. It includes your own domain name (for the first year), 10GB of storage space, 5GB of bandwidth, grants you more advanced ecommerce capabilities, and removes ‘Site123’ branding. This plan is great for small business, entrepreneurs, and freelancers who want more storage space and enjoy having their own domain. 

Site123 review: Final verdict

Overall, Site123 is easy to use. Although somewhat limited, your customisation options are clear and easy to implement. The main preview of your website as you create it and experiment works great, but the layout options don’t favour a complex site with too many sections. If your needs are simple, and want something that looks good with little effort, Site123 is worth checking out. 



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