RUN Powered by ADP® vs. Paylocity

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
Paylocity
Score 8.2 out of 10
N/A
Paylocity provides 24/7 access to your online payroll and human resource data management. Paylocity offers highly customizable payroll functionality, as well as HR, benefits administration, and time and talent management programs.N/A
Pricing
RUN Powered by ADP®Paylocity
Editions & Modules
No answers on this topic
No answers on this topic
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
RUN Powered by ADP®Paylocity
Free Trial
YesNo
Free/Freemium Version
NoNo
Premium Consulting/Integration Services
NoYes
Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeNo setup fee
Additional Details
More Pricing Information
Community Pulse
RUN Powered by ADP®Paylocity
Considered Both Products
RUN Powered by ADP®
Chose RUN Powered by ADP®
I selected RUN Powered by ADP® because not only were the employees very straightforward and informative when I was inquiring about their service but the price was reasonable as well. I felt that Paylocity was being a little sneaky when it came to how billing would be handled. I …
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.
Chose RUN Powered by ADP®
Paychex and Paylocity may be slightly less expensive, but do not compare to RUN Powered by ADP® in practicality, function, ease, etc. QB is a nightmare. It's a no brainer to move to RUN Powered by ADP®.
Chose RUN Powered by ADP®
We switched from RUN Powered by ADP® to Toast and then switched back to RUN Powered by ADP® a year later. This was before Toast purchased the company stratex but at the time the other company had some major issues with the tax filing. But this was also in 2020 when COVID …
Chose RUN Powered by ADP®
I selected RUN Powered by ADP after a detailed demonstration from one of the executives in the franchise team. It seemed to do what I needed it to do and I was not happy with the payroll providers at other companies I had worked for before. So I went with ADP right from the …
Chose RUN Powered by ADP®
The cost was about the same but ADP had a much better HR function and online background checks and ZipRecruiter. We also like the ability to easily add the ADP 401k product although we have not done so yet. As an accountant, I appreciate the "GL Company View" report that has …
Chose RUN Powered by ADP®
I did not select ADP, it was the system in place when I started. We are moving away from ADP as it is not robust enough for our needs.
Paylocity
Chose Paylocity
ADP was not user-friendly at all. It was quite confusing just to process payroll, much less reports. We had an HR clerk steal over $50k by adding direct deposits to her payroll, and ADP never alerted anyone. When called about this, they claimed it is not their responsibility.
Chose Paylocity
Out of all the other HRIS systems I have used, I spend way less time doing my job with Paylocity. Paycom has so many pages to weed through to do anything or find information, Paychex Flex was underwhelming at best, and ADP Workforce Now had too many segmented features that it …
Chose Paylocity
ADP had limited tools and couldn't manage a single payroll run with multiple pay periods. Paylocity solved that issue and eliminated our need for a 3rd party recognition platform
Chose Paylocity
ADP did not allow for a streamlined process like I wanted. It was much more user friendly for payroll processing though and there were less errors.
Features
RUN Powered by ADP®Paylocity
Payroll Management
Comparison of Payroll Management features of Product A and Product B
RUN Powered by ADP®
8.4
365 Ratings
2% above category average
Paylocity
8.3
1415 Ratings
2% above category average
Pay calculation9.5353 Ratings8.71382 Ratings
Support for external payroll vendors8.6106 Ratings7.8699 Ratings
Off-cycle/On-Demand payment9.1259 Ratings8.71079 Ratings
Benefit plan administration7.8162 Ratings7.6957 Ratings
Direct deposit files9.6344 Ratings8.91376 Ratings
Salary revision and increment management8.8270 Ratings8.21113 Ratings
Reimbursement management5.138 Ratings7.9703 Ratings
Human Resource Management
Comparison of Human Resource Management features of Product A and Product B
RUN Powered by ADP®
-
Ratings
Paylocity
7.9
1477 Ratings
2% below category average
Employee demographic data00 Ratings8.41407 Ratings
Employment history00 Ratings8.21360 Ratings
Job profiles and administration00 Ratings7.91267 Ratings
Workflow for transfers, promotions, pay raises, etc.00 Ratings7.71279 Ratings
Organizational charting00 Ratings7.41179 Ratings
Organization and location management00 Ratings8.01159 Ratings
Compliance data (COBRA, OSHA, etc.)00 Ratings7.5988 Ratings
Leave and Attendance Management
Comparison of Leave and Attendance Management features of Product A and Product B
RUN Powered by ADP®
-
Ratings
Paylocity
7.6
1197 Ratings
7% below category average
Approval workflow00 Ratings7.71065 Ratings
Balance details00 Ratings7.41144 Ratings
Annual carry-forward and encashment00 Ratings7.7914 Ratings
Employee Self Service
Comparison of Employee Self Service features of Product A and Product B
RUN Powered by ADP®
-
Ratings
Paylocity
8.4
1423 Ratings
2% above category average
View and generate pay and benefit information00 Ratings8.61387 Ratings
Update personal information00 Ratings8.71411 Ratings
View company policy documentation00 Ratings8.11151 Ratings
Employee recognition00 Ratings8.21047 Ratings
View job history00 Ratings8.51239 Ratings
Asset Management
Comparison of Asset Management features of Product A and Product B
RUN Powered by ADP®
-
Ratings
Paylocity
7.4
459 Ratings
7% below category average
Tracking of all physical assets00 Ratings7.4459 Ratings
HR Reporting
Comparison of HR Reporting features of Product A and Product B
RUN Powered by ADP®
-
Ratings
Paylocity
7.3
1317 Ratings
3% below category average
Report builder00 Ratings7.31264 Ratings
Pre-built reports00 Ratings7.51283 Ratings
Ability to combine HR data with external data00 Ratings7.2841 Ratings
Onboarding
Comparison of Onboarding features of Product A and Product B
RUN Powered by ADP®
-
Ratings
Paylocity
8.2
1235 Ratings
3% above category average
New hire portal00 Ratings8.31225 Ratings
Manager tracking tools00 Ratings8.1995 Ratings
Performance and Goals
Comparison of Performance and Goals features of Product A and Product B
RUN Powered by ADP®
-
Ratings
Paylocity
7.8
701 Ratings
3% below category average
Corporate goal setting00 Ratings7.6561 Ratings
Individual goal setting00 Ratings7.8647 Ratings
Line-of sight-visibility00 Ratings7.7501 Ratings
Performance tracking00 Ratings7.9656 Ratings
Performance Management
Comparison of Performance Management features of Product A and Product B
RUN Powered by ADP®
-
Ratings
Paylocity
7.6
877 Ratings
4% below category average
Performance plans00 Ratings7.4800 Ratings
Performance improvement plans00 Ratings7.4694 Ratings
Review status tracking00 Ratings7.7807 Ratings
Review reminders00 Ratings7.8814 Ratings
Multiple review frequency00 Ratings7.7689 Ratings
Succession Planning
Comparison of Succession Planning features of Product A and Product B
RUN Powered by ADP®
-
Ratings
Paylocity
7.6
471 Ratings
3% below category average
Create succession plans/pools00 Ratings7.3323 Ratings
Candidate ranking00 Ratings7.5381 Ratings
Candidate search00 Ratings8.0427 Ratings
Candidate development00 Ratings7.6350 Ratings
Recruiting / ATS
Comparison of Recruiting / ATS features of Product A and Product B
RUN Powered by ADP®
-
Ratings
Paylocity
8.0
829 Ratings
4% above category average
Job Requisition Management00 Ratings8.1712 Ratings
Company Website Posting00 Ratings8.2741 Ratings
Publish to Social Media00 Ratings8.0577 Ratings
Job Search Site Posting00 Ratings8.1709 Ratings
Duplicate Candidate Prevention00 Ratings7.6610 Ratings
Applicant Tracking00 Ratings8.2768 Ratings
Notifications and Alerts00 Ratings7.9766 Ratings
Best Alternatives
RUN Powered by ADP®Paylocity
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 9.2 out of 10
Paypro Workforce Management
Paypro Workforce Management
Score 9.2 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®Paylocity
Likelihood to Recommend
9.1
(390 ratings)
8.4
(1475 ratings)
Likelihood to Renew
9.2
(35 ratings)
8.8
(166 ratings)
Usability
9.0
(24 ratings)
8.3
(281 ratings)
Availability
9.5
(12 ratings)
8.9
(35 ratings)
Performance
9.7
(12 ratings)
8.4
(34 ratings)
Support Rating
8.4
(36 ratings)
7.1
(148 ratings)
In-Person Training
7.7
(7 ratings)
8.1
(6 ratings)
Online Training
9.3
(5 ratings)
7.9
(29 ratings)
Implementation Rating
8.9
(20 ratings)
7.1
(92 ratings)
Configurability
7.5
(9 ratings)
7.0
(25 ratings)
Contract Terms and Pricing Model
-
(0 ratings)
8.3
(24 ratings)
Ease of integration
10.0
(4 ratings)
7.2
(28 ratings)
Product Scalability
8.5
(13 ratings)
8.2
(34 ratings)
Professional Services
-
(0 ratings)
8.6
(18 ratings)
Vendor post-sale
9.7
(8 ratings)
7.4
(34 ratings)
Vendor pre-sale
9.7
(9 ratings)
8.4
(31 ratings)
User Testimonials
RUN Powered by ADP®Paylocity
Likelihood to Recommend
ADP
It is a very simple payroll processing platform. I would recommend the platform to any small business looking to outsource the process. Its pay-per-person policy also makes it adaptable to businesses with minimal employee counts. I think it may not be as useful for employers who have consistent hourly employees that do not fluctuate as often.
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Paylocity
Paylocity makes record keeping and payroll so simple. The times are able to be imported from time keeping saving tons of time and frustration. Going from manual entries to a more automated system has saved so much time. Whether a company is small or large or there are multiple companies that you take care of the system will work for you.
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Pros
ADP
  • Payroll runs are consistent, timely, and error‑free, even when handling multiple pay rates, deductions, or changes. Direct deposits process smoothly and predictably.
  • RUN Powered by ADP® manages federal, state, and local tax withholding, filings, and payments without requiring manual oversight. This significantly reduces compliance risk and administrative workload.
  • Common actions—running payroll, adding new employees, updating pay rates—are straightforward and guided, which helps prevent mistakes.
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Paylocity
  • Payroll is made pretty easy. I love that we have the ability to log into payroll, we just upload the information from commissions, things like that where there are exceptions to a regular payroll run. It may make it very easy to do that, just a quick upload. Additionally, when we're in the payroll grid, it gives us the ability to just make quick changes to people's pay or their tax schedule, tax withholdings, things like that without having to go through a lot of different screens. It's just very easy to access just for the click of a button. Love that.
  • We talked about performance reviews, talked about payroll with benefits administration, it allows us to utilize EDI feeds with our benefit vendors so it creates a seamless, but we just enter the information into Paylocity and then it seamlessly provides that information to our vendors. That's been really helpful. And adjusting benefits is also very easy within Paylocity. I love the recent edition of compensation analysis information, so I'm able to go into the compensation module and look for jobs that are similar to a job title at our company. I can enter the job description, I give them what state that the person or the job is in, and it pops out compensation data. It gives me different options, so titles that might be similar. So if there's not something that's an exact fit, I'm able to find something really, really close. It's been a huge upgrade because before that I was having to use a different vendor and paying $400 per job and now it's significantly less expensive to Paylocity and I'm still getting great quality data. It's been very helpful.
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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.
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Paylocity
  • I'd like to see a forum in which users could discuss the platform, raise both questions and concerns. I feel that changes are done without enough input from users.
  • Improving hold time recently with customer service.
  • Accuracy of new 'graphic' payroll report - the new report is not complete when payroll is done, so it is unusable from my perspective. I rely on the preprocess payroll register. This is one of those 'improvements' that have not been positive in my experience.
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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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Paylocity
There are several technical issues we have experienced this past year with the employee onboarding process that we are still waiting to have resolved. Overall our experience with Paylocity has been positive, and we love how user-friendly and easy to navigate the system is. It has made all of our HR processes much more streamlined and efficient.
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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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Paylocity
I love Paylocity. As I have stated before I love the user friendliness of the system. I have used more than four different payroll systems during my career, and I have found Paylocity to be the most user friendly of all the systems I have used. I was able to catch on within two days of my training. The system has a lot of features I use on a daily basis and over the years I have not had a desire to change systems.
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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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Paylocity
Over the last 3 years, we've only had one major service issue that rendered Airbase unusable for us for about 24 hours. That said, they navigated the SVB bank crisis very well and made sure funds were available during that time.
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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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Paylocity
We had some minor hiccups throughout the year but they have all been fixable. Paylocity integrates well with our 401k provider, Principal, and our benefits, OneDigital. It makes it simple to house everything and have it all connected. It doesn't slow anything down to have Principal integrated. It makes it more efficient
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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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Paylocity
It is very hard to get answers to your questions, you cannot speak to someone without days of requesting assistance or answers and then eventually can get a call back and then it is usually resolved fairly quickly. But NOT easy to get that help.
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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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Paylocity
I didn't have in-person training, but I'm sure it was just as great as any other training/assistance Paylocity provides. Paylocity customer service is always available. You never have to be on hold and their answers are always accurate and timely. Documents in the help section are helpful as well. My in-person training was conducted y one of our employees who was involved in the initial set-up and training of all employees. She was excellent.
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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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Paylocity
Our rep was very thorough and made sure we fully understood the software before turning us loose alone. Paylocity was very good to do periodic check ins to ensure we understood the features and answered any questions we had. The training reps are very well trained and are very patient with clients.
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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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Paylocity
Implementation was a bit bumpy and Paylocity team not always available for next steps and/or questions. I feel like Paylocity could have done a better job in their fact finding as far as what we were currently doing, our payroll policies and needs, etc. so that we would have run into less issues as we moved forward.
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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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Paylocity
There is no comparison. Paylocity offers so much more to its clients. Their pricing is unbeatable and they provide a much bigger variety of features and customization. I had to use 6 different platforms to cover all necessary areas for our business, when I am now solely using Paylocity for everything.
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Contract Terms and Pricing Model
ADP
No answers on this topic
Paylocity
Everyone wants a good deal of course. We thought we did ok and felt you still made your money also
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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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Paylocity
We have gone from a medium sized company to a larger company with no issues whatsoever with Paylocity being able to keep up or do what we need it to do for the size of our needs. In fact, it does more than we even use at this juncture
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Professional Services
ADP
No answers on this topic
Paylocity
Some are knowledgable others not as much and sometimes instead of helping you fix the issue will just give you some directions and expect you to try to figure it out yourself. Also, when your Account Manager needs to escliate the issue to another group, it can take a long time for them to get to your issue and there's no commuication.
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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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Paylocity
  • Paylocity has helped us with recruitment by streamlining the process and making it efficient. It is saving me time.
  • Paylocity has also helped us with compensation so we can create a fair and robust compensation plan.
  • I also like using the data insights feature, which helps me keep track of over time, payroll and benefits costs, and retention numbers. This also saves me time as it is all in one place.
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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

Paylocity Screenshots

Screenshot of a view of real-time employee data and performance metrics used to uncover and analyze trends. This creates an impactful understanding of the business, increase retention, understand labor costs, and plan for changes.Screenshot of where to automate manual processes with Paylocity's self-serve automation engine, Workflows. Users can implement routines for time-consuming manual tasks.Screenshot of where to manage and comply with employment law. Paylocity's HR Compliance solution helps users to stay on track and view important employee compliance items, from Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO), healthcare, and compensation.Screenshot of how Paylocity Recruiting can automate hiring processes. amplify outreach, showcase a company's culture, and build stronger candidate connections to swiftly fill positions.Screenshot of recognition and rewards in Paylocity.