RUN Powered by ADP® vs. Paylocity

Overview
ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price
RUN Powered by ADP®
Score 8.9 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 7.9 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®
Other products we have used or reviewed were okay for large businesses, but were convoluted. We wanted something to fit our small business - clear and to the point.
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®
8.3
379 Ratings
0% above category average
Paylocity
8.3
1555 Ratings
2% above category average
Pay calculation9.4365 Ratings8.61529 Ratings
Support for external payroll vendors8.7111 Ratings8.0778 Ratings
Off-cycle/On-Demand payment9.1272 Ratings8.61210 Ratings
Benefit plan administration7.7169 Ratings7.61061 Ratings
Direct deposit files9.5357 Ratings8.91519 Ratings
Salary revision and increment management8.7282 Ratings8.31237 Ratings
Reimbursement management5.138 Ratings7.6785 Ratings
Human Resource Management
Comparison of Human Resource Management features of Product A and Product B
RUN Powered by ADP®
-
Ratings
Paylocity
7.9
1622 Ratings
3% below category average
Employee demographic data00 Ratings8.31555 Ratings
Employment history00 Ratings8.11506 Ratings
Job profiles and administration00 Ratings7.81401 Ratings
Workflow for transfers, promotions, pay raises, etc.00 Ratings7.71417 Ratings
Organizational charting00 Ratings7.81300 Ratings
Organization and location management00 Ratings8.11274 Ratings
Compliance data (COBRA, OSHA, etc.)00 Ratings7.71101 Ratings
Leave and Attendance Management
Comparison of Leave and Attendance Management features of Product A and Product B
RUN Powered by ADP®
-
Ratings
Paylocity
7.8
1318 Ratings
4% below category average
Approval workflow00 Ratings7.91176 Ratings
Balance details00 Ratings7.61270 Ratings
Annual carry-forward and encashment00 Ratings7.91025 Ratings
Employee Self Service
Comparison of Employee Self Service features of Product A and Product B
RUN Powered by ADP®
-
Ratings
Paylocity
8.4
1561 Ratings
3% above category average
View and generate pay and benefit information00 Ratings8.71527 Ratings
Update personal information00 Ratings8.71556 Ratings
View company policy documentation00 Ratings8.01280 Ratings
Employee recognition00 Ratings8.01160 Ratings
View job history00 Ratings8.51372 Ratings
Asset Management
Comparison of Asset Management features of Product A and Product B
RUN Powered by ADP®
-
Ratings
Paylocity
7.4
508 Ratings
8% below category average
Tracking of all physical assets00 Ratings7.4510 Ratings
HR Reporting
Comparison of HR Reporting features of Product A and Product B
RUN Powered by ADP®
-
Ratings
Paylocity
7.2
1450 Ratings
4% below category average
Report builder00 Ratings7.31400 Ratings
Pre-built reports00 Ratings7.51419 Ratings
Ability to combine HR data with external data00 Ratings6.9940 Ratings
Onboarding
Comparison of Onboarding features of Product A and Product B
RUN Powered by ADP®
-
Ratings
Paylocity
8.1
1360 Ratings
2% above category average
New hire portal00 Ratings8.31358 Ratings
Manager tracking tools00 Ratings7.91112 Ratings
Performance and Goals
Comparison of Performance and Goals features of Product A and Product B
RUN Powered by ADP®
-
Ratings
Paylocity
7.6
777 Ratings
6% below category average
Corporate goal setting00 Ratings7.5626 Ratings
Individual goal setting00 Ratings7.6722 Ratings
Line-of sight-visibility00 Ratings7.4564 Ratings
Performance tracking00 Ratings7.8724 Ratings
Performance Management
Comparison of Performance Management features of Product A and Product B
RUN Powered by ADP®
-
Ratings
Paylocity
7.6
968 Ratings
4% below category average
Performance plans00 Ratings7.4886 Ratings
Performance improvement plans00 Ratings7.2773 Ratings
Review status tracking00 Ratings7.8894 Ratings
Review reminders00 Ratings7.8901 Ratings
Multiple review frequency00 Ratings7.8768 Ratings
Succession Planning
Comparison of Succession Planning features of Product A and Product B
RUN Powered by ADP®
-
Ratings
Paylocity
7.5
534 Ratings
5% below category average
Create succession plans/pools00 Ratings7.4371 Ratings
Candidate ranking00 Ratings7.6434 Ratings
Candidate search00 Ratings7.7490 Ratings
Candidate development00 Ratings7.2403 Ratings
Recruiting / ATS
Comparison of Recruiting / ATS features of Product A and Product B
RUN Powered by ADP®
-
Ratings
Paylocity
8.0
924 Ratings
2% above category average
Job Requisition Management00 Ratings8.1801 Ratings
Company Website Posting00 Ratings8.3826 Ratings
Publish to Social Media00 Ratings7.9650 Ratings
Job Search Site Posting00 Ratings7.9794 Ratings
Duplicate Candidate Prevention00 Ratings7.4692 Ratings
Applicant Tracking00 Ratings8.2857 Ratings
Notifications and Alerts00 Ratings8.0859 Ratings
Best Alternatives
RUN Powered by ADP®Paylocity
Small Businesses
UZIO
UZIO
Score 9.4 out of 10
UZIO
UZIO
Score 9.4 out of 10
Medium-sized Companies
Paypro Workforce Management
Paypro Workforce Management
Score 9.1 out of 10
Paypro Workforce Management
Paypro Workforce Management
Score 9.1 out of 10
Enterprises
Infor Human Resources
Infor Human Resources
Score 7.1 out of 10
PeopleStrong
PeopleStrong
Score 10.0 out of 10
All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
User Ratings
RUN Powered by ADP®Paylocity
Likelihood to Recommend
8.9
(450 ratings)
8.0
(1718 ratings)
Likelihood to Renew
9.3
(43 ratings)
9.2
(180 ratings)
Usability
9.1
(34 ratings)
8.1
(531 ratings)
Availability
9.5
(14 ratings)
8.9
(41 ratings)
Performance
9.7
(14 ratings)
8.4
(39 ratings)
Support Rating
8.5
(47 ratings)
7.6
(167 ratings)
In-Person Training
7.5
(7 ratings)
7.3
(7 ratings)
Online Training
9.0
(6 ratings)
8.3
(35 ratings)
Implementation Rating
9.0
(29 ratings)
6.6
(100 ratings)
Configurability
7.3
(11 ratings)
7.6
(33 ratings)
Contract Terms and Pricing Model
-
(0 ratings)
8.0
(29 ratings)
Ease of integration
10.0
(4 ratings)
7.5
(33 ratings)
Product Scalability
8.4
(15 ratings)
8.3
(40 ratings)
Professional Services
-
(0 ratings)
8.6
(20 ratings)
Vendor post-sale
9.8
(10 ratings)
7.9
(38 ratings)
Vendor pre-sale
9.8
(11 ratings)
8.6
(36 ratings)
User Testimonials
RUN Powered by ADP®Paylocity
Likelihood to Recommend
ADP
Anyone running a service or mobile business would love the ease of clocking in and out with GPS services. Small and medium sized businesses looking to offload some of their accounting and HR functionality would all appreciate it. I helped my brother-in-laws housecleaning business get set up with RUN Powered by ADP®, as well as a friend's dry cleaning company.
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Paylocity
Recordkeeping, filing reports, paying taxes, and having one location for everything is amazing. From recruiting to onboarding, we still need to make changes so we have less paperwork to manage, such as permission to run background checks and drug testing. We will work on this, but when you are busy, it is easy to put this off.
Read full review
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
  • The simpleness of the home screen for employees and the ease of use.
  • The employee profile and the ease of accessing everything related to employees. Centrally located.
  • The Community Page is a great tool for communicating with all employees or a specific group.
Read full review
Cons
ADP
  • I do wish there were additional custom deductions available rather than a limited amount.
  • Sometimes employees have trouble accessing their account after the initial invite has been sent.
  • Sometimes employee accounts get locked due to a reused email if their profile is deleted before they've signed up. Only a call to support can correct it.
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Paylocity
  • It requires me to use either Chrome or Edge so I can use Paylocity. It doesn't support Firefox, which is the browser I was using prior to being forced to switch to Edge so I can use the software and sign my contract.
  • Time entries are not auto saved. This happened once or twice to me in the past year when I was submitting my time entries and a sudden power outage happened, I was halfway and basically, I needed to start from scratch since it does not have auto save.
  • Mobile app is still buggy. It happened to be 3 times that it didn't reliably let me clock in that I had to do it on my work computer - so I had to give it up and use the web version.
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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 gave Paylocity an 8 because it's easy to use once you learn it, and it saves a lot of time by keeping payroll, time tracking, and HR in one place. It has a lot of useful features, but some reports and settings can be confusing, and it takes time to learn everything. Overall, it works well and makes our job easier.
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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
Based on our experience, RUN Powered by ADP® was selected by our small business because our owner was seeking a robust, all-in-one payroll and HR solution that scales with our growth. It allowed us to move away from manual spreadsheets and our less sophisticated payroll systems to ensure accurate tax compliance.
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Paylocity
Paylocity is SO far ahead of Paycor, it's not even funny. Just from the implementation standpoint alone, Paycor was an absolute nightmare. Paylocity had some struggles, but that goes along with any implementation. The experience with Paylocity was LIGHTYEARS ahead of our experience with Paycor, and the system itself is so, so much better.
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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
  • Time savings: Automated payroll and tax filing reduced manual processing by 40%, freeing staff for growth initiatives
  • Cost efficiency: Lowered compliance errors and penalties, saving an estimated $5,000 annually
  • Scalability: Supported onboarding across multiple states, enabling expansion without adding HR headcount
  • Accuracy & trust: Improved employee satisfaction with timely pay and reliable W‑2/1099 delivery
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Paylocity
  • The time savings alone is worth the cost. I went from having to spend 3 - 4 full business days on payroll to about 1.
  • Being able to look all employee data up in one place is a lifesaver and time saver - even outside of the office if I need to access information quickly it is all just a sign in away.
  • It has saved significant time and reduced confusion related to onboarding. Everyone is able to see what stage an employee is at, I do not need to worry about employees potentially working for us illegally thanks to eVerify, and I am always assured that all required documentation for regulatory purposes has been obtained prior to employment beginning.
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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.