RUN Powered by ADP® vs. BambooHR®

Overview
ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price
RUN Powered by ADP®
Score 9.1 out of 10
Small Businesses (1-50 employees)
The RUN Powered by ADP® cloud-based solution is used to pay employees. It also includes HR and hiring tools, as well as benefits, helping small businesses grow and manage their teams.N/A
BambooHR®
Score 8.2 out of 10
N/A
BambooHR is an cloud-based human resources solution that provides onboarding, payroll, and benefits management. It also offers automated time-off management and employee self-service.
$250
per month (minimum price for 25 employees or fewer)
Pricing
RUN Powered by ADP®BambooHR®
Editions & Modules
No answers on this topic
Core
$10
per month per user
Pro
Contact Sales
per month
Elite
Contact Sales
per month
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
RUN Powered by ADP®BambooHR®
Free Trial
YesYes
Free/Freemium Version
NoNo
Premium Consulting/Integration Services
NoYes
Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeOptional
Additional Details
More Pricing Information
Community Pulse
RUN Powered by ADP®BambooHR®
Considered Both Products
RUN Powered by ADP®
Chose RUN Powered by ADP®
We switched from RUN Powered by ADP® to Paylocity as we think it is more feature rich with document management, automatic onboarding with a work flow that we design and meets our needs and automatic I-9 reporting.
BambooHR®
Chose BambooHR®
When reviewing which HRIS to go with, BambooHR came out on top for a few reasons. One was the cost compared to others and what you get for that cost. It saved the company money versus what we had, including Lever, ADP, Calamari, etc., and condensed it into one system. Next, the …
Chose BambooHR®
Although there are many products in the marketplace, there is no perfect system. BambooHR is the most economical HRIS for a small business, start-up, or business that has never had HR software. BambooHR was selected for its affordable functionality. However, if they continue …
Features
RUN Powered by ADP®BambooHR®
Payroll Management
Comparison of Payroll Management features of Product A and Product B
RUN Powered by ADP®
8.4
360 Ratings
2% above category average
BambooHR®
7.5
168 Ratings
8% below category average
Pay calculation9.5349 Ratings8.2123 Ratings
Support for external payroll vendors8.6104 Ratings6.892 Ratings
Off-cycle/On-Demand payment9.1254 Ratings7.392 Ratings
Benefit plan administration7.8161 Ratings6.8129 Ratings
Direct deposit files9.6339 Ratings8.3126 Ratings
Salary revision and increment management8.8266 Ratings8.0137 Ratings
Reimbursement management5.138 Ratings7.381 Ratings
Human Resource Management
Comparison of Human Resource Management features of Product A and Product B
RUN Powered by ADP®
-
Ratings
BambooHR®
7.8
249 Ratings
4% below category average
Employee demographic data00 Ratings8.3224 Ratings
Employment history00 Ratings8.2229 Ratings
Job profiles and administration00 Ratings8.0223 Ratings
Workflow for transfers, promotions, pay raises, etc.00 Ratings7.7213 Ratings
Organizational charting00 Ratings7.3230 Ratings
Organization and location management00 Ratings8.0220 Ratings
Compliance data (COBRA, OSHA, etc.)00 Ratings7.3130 Ratings
Leave and Attendance Management
Comparison of Leave and Attendance Management features of Product A and Product B
RUN Powered by ADP®
-
Ratings
BambooHR®
8.6
215 Ratings
5% above category average
Approval workflow00 Ratings8.3209 Ratings
Balance details00 Ratings8.2200 Ratings
Annual carry-forward and encashment00 Ratings9.1129 Ratings
Employee Self Service
Comparison of Employee Self Service features of Product A and Product B
RUN Powered by ADP®
-
Ratings
BambooHR®
8.5
242 Ratings
4% above category average
View and generate pay and benefit information00 Ratings8.6162 Ratings
Update personal information00 Ratings8.8238 Ratings
View company policy documentation00 Ratings8.3210 Ratings
Employee recognition00 Ratings8.1154 Ratings
View job history00 Ratings8.7228 Ratings
Asset Management
Comparison of Asset Management features of Product A and Product B
RUN Powered by ADP®
-
Ratings
BambooHR®
8.8
74 Ratings
10% above category average
Tracking of all physical assets00 Ratings8.874 Ratings
HR Reporting
Comparison of HR Reporting features of Product A and Product B
RUN Powered by ADP®
-
Ratings
BambooHR®
7.1
206 Ratings
6% below category average
Report builder00 Ratings7.3199 Ratings
Pre-built reports00 Ratings7.4198 Ratings
Ability to combine HR data with external data00 Ratings6.6142 Ratings
Onboarding
Comparison of Onboarding features of Product A and Product B
RUN Powered by ADP®
-
Ratings
BambooHR®
8.1
207 Ratings
1% above category average
New hire portal00 Ratings8.3199 Ratings
Manager tracking tools00 Ratings7.8186 Ratings
Performance and Goals
Comparison of Performance and Goals features of Product A and Product B
RUN Powered by ADP®
-
Ratings
BambooHR®
7.8
138 Ratings
3% below category average
Corporate goal setting00 Ratings7.099 Ratings
Individual goal setting00 Ratings7.8132 Ratings
Line-of sight-visibility00 Ratings8.969 Ratings
Performance tracking00 Ratings7.5126 Ratings
Performance Management
Comparison of Performance Management features of Product A and Product B
RUN Powered by ADP®
-
Ratings
BambooHR®
7.7
155 Ratings
3% below category average
Performance plans00 Ratings7.2141 Ratings
Performance improvement plans00 Ratings7.2119 Ratings
Review status tracking00 Ratings8.497 Ratings
Review reminders00 Ratings8.1101 Ratings
Multiple review frequency00 Ratings7.7134 Ratings
Succession Planning
Comparison of Succession Planning features of Product A and Product B
RUN Powered by ADP®
-
Ratings
BambooHR®
8.7
81 Ratings
11% above category average
Create succession plans/pools00 Ratings8.246 Ratings
Candidate ranking00 Ratings8.867 Ratings
Candidate search00 Ratings8.768 Ratings
Candidate development00 Ratings9.059 Ratings
Recruiting / ATS
Comparison of Recruiting / ATS features of Product A and Product B
RUN Powered by ADP®
-
Ratings
BambooHR®
8.0
176 Ratings
4% above category average
Job Requisition Management00 Ratings8.1134 Ratings
Company Website Posting00 Ratings7.7144 Ratings
Publish to Social Media00 Ratings9.191 Ratings
Job Search Site Posting00 Ratings7.4140 Ratings
Duplicate Candidate Prevention00 Ratings7.488 Ratings
Applicant Tracking00 Ratings8.3160 Ratings
Notifications and Alerts00 Ratings8.3167 Ratings
Best Alternatives
RUN Powered by ADP®BambooHR®
Small Businesses
Dayforce Powerpay
Dayforce Powerpay
Score 9.4 out of 10
Dayforce Powerpay
Dayforce Powerpay
Score 9.4 out of 10
Medium-sized Companies
Paypro Workforce Management
Paypro Workforce Management
Score 9.7 out of 10
Paypro Workforce Management
Paypro Workforce Management
Score 9.7 out of 10
Enterprises
Infor Human Resources
Infor Human Resources
Score 7.1 out of 10
PeopleStrong
PeopleStrong
Score 9.9 out of 10
All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
User Ratings
RUN Powered by ADP®BambooHR®
Likelihood to Recommend
9.1
(390 ratings)
8.2
(245 ratings)
Likelihood to Renew
9.2
(35 ratings)
9.7
(17 ratings)
Usability
9.0
(24 ratings)
8.6
(173 ratings)
Availability
9.5
(12 ratings)
9.3
(5 ratings)
Performance
9.6
(12 ratings)
8.7
(5 ratings)
Support Rating
8.4
(36 ratings)
8.1
(137 ratings)
In-Person Training
7.7
(7 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Online Training
9.3
(5 ratings)
9.2
(4 ratings)
Implementation Rating
8.9
(20 ratings)
8.6
(6 ratings)
Configurability
7.5
(9 ratings)
8.6
(4 ratings)
Contract Terms and Pricing Model
-
(0 ratings)
8.4
(3 ratings)
Ease of integration
10.0
(4 ratings)
9.6
(2 ratings)
Product Scalability
8.5
(13 ratings)
8.9
(5 ratings)
Professional Services
-
(0 ratings)
9.2
(2 ratings)
Vendor post-sale
9.7
(8 ratings)
8.9
(4 ratings)
Vendor pre-sale
9.7
(9 ratings)
9.1
(4 ratings)
User Testimonials
RUN Powered by ADP®BambooHR®
Likelihood to Recommend
ADP
RUN Powered by ADP has proven very flexible with creating a salary for certain hourly staff who have repeating hours so hours do not have to be input each payroll. Also, some staff earn pto like full time staff though they do not work full time. Creating these categories, inputting and tracking is easy. Separating the hours worked from the pto area would make things more clear.
Read full review
BambooHR
It works very well for submitting PTO requests and identifying information around personnel matters. I love being able to quickly see how long someone has worked for the company or whether there are upcoming birthdays so I can send a personal note. There are analytics and charts around organizational segmentation that are less valuable for a smaller company like ours.
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Pros
ADP
  • Payroll - special categories, pay circumstances, and tracking.
  • Onboarding - the ease of getting your team in the know.
  • Workers Compensation - not having to do the reconciliation!
  • State specific mandatory training for our staff - done through the APP!
  • Record keeping - tracking PLAWA, Vacations.
  • The many ways you can stay connected - the Podcasts, Advisory Circle, and webinars are fabulous.
Read full review
BambooHR
  • Recruiting- communications are easy for both the internal team and candidates
  • Onboarding- the onboarding tasks are great. I love being able to attach documents as well as delay sending out tasks
  • Communication- the employee community is a great tool to keep our communications clean and organized. I love that we now have insight as to who has viewed the comms
Read full review
Cons
ADP
  • When processing bonuses, it would be nice to have a NET pay selection, in addition to the GROSS pay selection.
  • I receive WAY too many emails asking me to purchase additional services, including some that we already have through ADP.
  • I receive(d) daily requests for our Section 125 Compliance documentation, which I sent over four times to each different individual who requested them. ADP "mentioned" they'd charge us $350 for this compliance plan, even though we have it and proved it by submitting the "required submission" of the policy multiple times. It's very frustrating, and it causes me to worry about (A), the validity of the request and (B) ADP's recordkeeping, since they can't keep up with the document I've sent multiple times.
Read full review
BambooHR
  • I feel like BambooHR is rolling out a lot of updates all at one time, which is awesome, but I could see somebody who's maybe not as tech savvy, feeling like it's a lot of information at one time. I think the support area of the website has thorough walkthroughs, but sometimes the search functions don't really take you to exactly what you're asking about.
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Likelihood to Renew
ADP
It is much better than the payroll system I used previously. The integrations that RUN has for on-boarding new hires are very convenient when they work properly. It saves a tremendous amount of time being able to email a link to new employees that allows them to enter much of their own demographic information. Payroll feature alerts me when someone's pay is significantly less or more than usual.
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BambooHR
There's nothing wrong with this platform. I would recommend it to any business starting with more than 10 employees. I will continue to use the program for as long as I need to, hoping they continue being tremendous and finding other ways to incorporate more technology.
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Usability
ADP
I have been using this system for years and they have actually made it easier and easier. The system is always making great upgrades that don't necessarily require any additional information or training. I love when I log in and see a new feature or button that I get to use to make my life easier!
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BambooHR
It's clear and well appointed with prompts on where to go for each category of information it holds. The user has limited access based on a need to know/job related basis. It has a clear help option with the ability to chat, email or read documentation on how to do something.
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Reliability and Availability
ADP
We've had very little issue with RUN availability, only a couple times there were outages when least expected which occurred on our actual payroll due date
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BambooHR
Yes, there is a huge team in the back of the online platform or it looks like it because I have never been left without an answer when I have a question or waiting from a response on my chat .... There must be a huge team, this is so great and I always seem to have someone that is very knowledgeable too. So many times in the past I had to leave with customer service that would connect you with someone else because of the expertise, here everyone seems to be some kind of an expert in the HR function.
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Performance
ADP
ADP Run loads a bit slowly at times, once I put in my credentials. However, that said, I think my perception of the time it takes is impacted by our "instant gratification" expectation of being able to get into everything quickly.
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BambooHR
I love BambooHR. Reports are easy to run and download and it usually covers any types of requests I get from the management team. You get excel or .csv downloads/reports and it is fast and simple, not too crowded so it is easy to read through. We don't integrate the tool yet but again, soon we will. we just did not had the time to utilize it yet but that's the plan.
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Support Rating
ADP
I appreciated having that issue finally take care of. it was extremely disheartening to see the issue had not been resolved. I also had my employees looking to me and thinking I was not trying to resolve the issue so it reflected poorly on my character. I do not know if i was because of a miscommunication, but nonetheless I was happy it was taken care of
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BambooHR
I have used their support team over a dozen times. They have chat agents available throughout the day. They have support ticket submissions. They have their own resources website with different programs to learn BambooHR®. They also have onboarding support.
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In-Person Training
ADP
they helped up with the 1st payroll after that we were fine - it is very user friendly- they wanted to be sure everything had imported correctly.
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BambooHR
I didn't have in-person training besides teaching my managers how to use the program. However, I couldn't omit this question (maybe a system glitch).
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Online Training
ADP
very easy to learn i think it took maybe one payroll to have it down and we were up and running
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BambooHR
Overall this training was great and our implementation specialist was wonderful and very helpful. We felt really prepared once our training was completed, But we could get additional help immediately even when we were live. The continuation Support heros after implementation are wonderful and you can always get a LIVE person each time you call into their office.
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Implementation Rating
ADP
Make sure there's plenty of time between payrolls for the implementation and be sure to test all the manually inputted fields.
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BambooHR
We implemented bambooHR in Fall, 2023 then implemented Payroll 1/1/24. A vital piece of information was not known or missed in that we are exempt from State Unemployment Tax and have a Reimbursement Set-up, so bambooHR did not send Payroll Reports to the State. Those reports need to be sent regardless if we are exempt or not.
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Alternatives Considered
ADP
RUN Powered by ADP® is stronger than QuickBooks Online for payroll and HR because it offers advanced HR tools (job postings, compliance support, employee handbooks), friendly, extended hours live support, and integration with numerous platforms. QuickBooks focuses mainly on payroll/accounting, while ADP provides broader HR capabilities, scalability, and compliance expertise along with extensive training.
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BambooHR
At my previous employer, I evaluated over 20 HRIS platforms before choosing and implementing BambooHR® (in 2019). I love it! The continuous improvements are promising and I actually feel like product feedback is reviewed and, at times, implemented. With BambooHR®, it truly comes down to what you are looking for. If I was solely doing performance management and career ladders, BambooHR® probably wouldn't be a fit. However, it does an overall great job at most things, and is a good quality product.
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Contract Terms and Pricing Model
ADP
No answers on this topic
BambooHR
Since my organization has dropped with employees, I always find ways to reduce costs. I thought there would be a cheaper option, but I was glad that my package included a lot for the price, and downgrading would cost more. The rep could have let me downgraded and taken me to a higher package. I am thankful that didn't happen.
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Scalability
ADP
Every summer, we hire three new college interns who have to be entered into the system. They can enter their information themselves, which takes a load off me. The onboarding is quite straightforward, and today's college kids are techy enough to be able to understand it.
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BambooHR
There is so much you can do with this platform, it is incredible and so welcoming. We don't utilize it 100% yet just because we are growing and the HR team has not been able to concentrate on other areas offered to us but but we will soon. Which is also why we got the product, specifically because what BambooHR can do to help us meet our growing business needs.
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Professional Services
ADP
No answers on this topic
BambooHR
VERY professional!
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Return on Investment
ADP
  • I will say ADP in general is not cheap, I think the cost to implement and use RUN Powered by ADP® is higher than some of the other products out there
  • I like the fact that RUN Powered by ADP® can handle payroll deductions for other vendors easily (401k, Insurance plans)
  • Wish we would use RUN Powered by ADP® more when it comes to job costing - trying to determine if a job we are managing is profitable or not
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BambooHR
  • Time Savings: Automating onboarding, payroll, and employee record management has cut HR admin time by up to 30%, allowing teams to focus on strategic initiatives instead of paperwork.
  • Improved Onboarding: Streamlined workflows have cut onboarding time by nearly 50%, ensuring new hires are productive faster, reducing turnover risk in the critical first months.
  • - Enhanced Informational Clarity: Centralized employee data means fewer errors and faster access to essential information, reducing compliance risks and increasing accuracy in reporting.
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ScreenShots

RUN Powered by ADP® Screenshots

Screenshot of the RUN Dashboard with the business' key info front-and-centerScreenshot of the payroll interfaceScreenshot of access to payroll reports and liability amountsScreenshot of the RUN Powered by ADP mobile app, used to process payroll on the goScreenshot of the ADP mobile app, where employees can access their historical payroll statements and year-end tax documents

BambooHR® Screenshots

Screenshot of the Job Info tabScreenshot of Onboarding TasksScreenshot of a New Hire PacketScreenshot of an Employee Performance ReportScreenshot of Employee Satisfaction (eNPS®)Screenshot of Open Enrollment