Real-Time Salary Benchmarking Providers: A Modern Solution?

Unlike traditional salary surveys that collect data annually (or even less frequently), these platforms pull information directly from HR and Payroll systems, giving you access to the latest compensation trends in real time.

Why does this matter?

Because in sectors where salaries evolve rapidly - especially for roles in engineering, product, and growth - outdated salary benchmarks can lead to underpaying (and losing) top talent or overpaying and inflating compensation costs unnecessarily.

Real-time salary benchmarking providers didn’t just appear overnight. The demand for more dynamic compensation data has been growing for years, driven by the need for better insights into market trends, equity distribution, and global pay scales.

Traditional surveys, while useful, often fail to capture the rapid shifts in pay that happen in competitive sectors. Enter these modern platforms, built to integrate seamlessly with HR and payroll systems, offering real-time salary intelligence.

Pave has quickly become a leading name in real-time salary benchmarking, particularly for startups and high-growth tech companies. They focus on integrating directly with HR and Payroll systems, offering instant access to compensation data that reflects the latest market shifts.

Founded in 2019 by Matt Schulman (an ex Microsoft and Facebook software engineer), Pave has secured significant venture capital investment, including funding from prominent investors such as Andreessen Horowitz , a large American VC firm.

Their goal is to replace outdated compensation surveys with live, dynamic data that allows businesses to remain competitive in hiring and retention.

Matt's hypothesis was that VPs of People & Finance continued to struggle to manage and communicate the value of stock options to employees. And having experienced this as a software engineer at Facebook, he decided to build an app that would act like a personal financial assistant... and so Pave was launched with a focus employee stock options management for the Tech sector.

✔ Real-time market movements tracking – Stay ahead of compensation trends by tracking salary and equity shifts in real time.

✔ Compensation bands generator – Automate and refine salary bands for different roles and levels.

✔ Career frameworks – Establish structured, scalable career paths for employees.

✔ Merit cycle management – Streamline salary reviews, promotions, and compensation adjustments with built-in planning tools.

• Data Bias: The platform is heavily focused on tech and startup roles, meaning businesses in other industries may not get the most relevant benchmarks.
• Data Contribution Requirement: Companies must share their payroll data to access insights, which can be a hurdle for organisations with strict data privacy concerns.
• Complexity for Smaller Businesses: The platform’s robust features are great for large-scale startups but may be overwhelming for smaller businesses with simple pay structures.

Best suited for:

• American Tech companies and startups that need up-to-date salary and equity insights
• Organisations with equity compensation as a core part of their pay structure
• Companies using modern HR tech stacks and payroll platforms

Watch out for:

• Data is heavily skewed toward tech roles in North America and may lack insights for traditional industries
• Requires companies to contribute their own payroll data to access full benchmarks
• May be overkill for businesses that don’t require real-time salary tracking

Based in Paris and founded a year after Pave, Figures.hr is the European answer to real-time compensation benchmarking, designed specifically for startups and scale-ups. Their platform is built with GDPR compliance in mind, ensuring privacy and security while offering granular salary data for growing companies.

As an HR leader, Virgile Raingeard was frustrated by the lack of reliable data for the compensation market in the start-up/scale-up tech ecosystem. So he decided to tackle the problem by building a real-time compensation benchmarking platform, Figures.

Figures.hr has rapidly gained traction in the European market, particularly among early-stage businesses looking for reliable, compliant compensation data. Their investment rounds have been focused on expanding their European dataset and improving integration with HRIS platforms.

✔ European salary data coverage – Strong focus on salaries across Europe, making it a great choice for companies expanding beyond a single country.

✔ Startup role benchmarks – Compensation insights tailored specifically to early-stage and high-growth businesses.

✔ GDPR compliance built-in – Unlike many US-based platforms, Figures ensures full compliance with European data privacy regulations.

✔ Regular market updates – Salary data is updated frequently, reflecting the latest hiring trends.

• Limited Global Reach: Figures is highly focused on Europe, meaning businesses outside this region may find coverage lacking.
• Growing but Not Fully Mature: Since it’s a newer player, some roles or industries may not have as deep of a dataset as larger competitors.
• Sales, Product and Services Support: Having pulled back their workforce to focus on Western Europe, the in-country support for other territories (such as UK, Northern Europe and Eastern Europe) is slightly light.

Best suited for:

• Western European startups and scale-ups looking for salary benchmarking with a local market focus.
• HR and People Ops teams who need an easy-to-use, GDPR-compliant compensation tool.
• Companies that want regularly updated salary data to keep up with the fast-moving European tech landscape.
• Businesses looking for a platform that balances affordability with sufficient compensation insights.

Watch out for:

• Limited data coverage outside of Europe—if you’re hiring globally, this may not be comprehensive enough.
• Stronger focus on tech and startup roles, meaning traditional industries may find the data less relevant.
• A relatively new platform still growing its dataset, so coverage might not be as extensive as older providers.

Ravio is the latest modern compensation benchmarking platform designed for fast-growing European startups and scale-ups. Started in 2022, it sets itself apart with real-time salary data and a strong focus on equity compensation, making it a great choice for companies navigating fast-moving pay trends.

Compared to competitors like Pave and Figures, Ravio emphasizss peer-group benchmarking, allowing businesses to compare salaries within their direct industry landscape.

It's highly unusual for tech start-ups to go from stealth mode straight to $10m seed round funding, let alone HR tech start-ups. But that's what happened with Ravio.

But when your 3 Co-Founders are Roy Blanga, Merten Wulfert and Raymond Siems it makes sense. Backed by prominent investors and venture funding, Ravio was designed from the ground up to serve the needs of fast-growing companies that require real-time compensation insights.

✔ Real-Time Market Monitoring - Keeps track of compensation trends as they evolve, ensuring companies stay competitive.

✔ Equity Compensation Insights - Offers detailed breakdowns of stock options and other equity components, crucial for startup pay structures.

✔ Custom Peer Groups - Lets businesses benchmark salaries within hand-picked competitor sets for more relevant comparisons.

✔ Compensation Review Tools - Helps HR teams manage pay reviews efficiently, aligning salaries with market trends.

• Limited industry coverage : Ravio is strongest in tech and startups, meaning traditional industries may not get the data depth they need.
• Requires active data sharing: To access Ravio’s data, companies must participate by sharing their own compensation information, which can be a barrier for some businesses.
• Geographic limitations: While Ravio is expanding, its coverage is primarily focused on the UK and European markets, making it less useful for global businesses.

Best suited for:

• Fast-growing European startups and scale-ups looking for real-time compensation benchmarking.
• Companies with equity-heavy pay structures that need insights into stock options and other incentives.
• Businesses looking for peer group benchmarking to compare salaries within their direct industry competitors.
• Companies that prioritise user-friendly data visualisation and easy-to-digest insights.

Watch out for:

• Requires active data sharing, which may be a hurdle for companies hesitant to provide their own salary data.
• Less relevant for businesses outside of tech, fintech, and other high-growth digital industries.
• With only 1,000 tech companies signed up,. coverage is still expanding, so some roles or regions might not be well-represented.

Real-time salary benchmarking platforms are revolutionising how we think about compensation data. They’re especially powerful for tech companies and startups, but might not be the perfect fit for everyone. The key is understanding your needs and matching them to the right provider.

Remember: The best platform is the one that fits your specific needs, budget, and capacity. Don’t get caught up in flashy features you won’t use - focus on what really matters for your compensation strategy.