RUN Powered by ADP® vs. Square Payroll

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
Square Payroll
Score 6.1 out of 10
N/A
Square Payroll is a payroll solution for hourly employees, from Square headquartered in San Francisco, California.
$29
per month
Pricing
RUN Powered by ADP®Square Payroll
Editions & Modules
No answers on this topic
Free
$0
per month
Plus
$29
per month
Premium
Custom
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
RUN Powered by ADP®Square Payroll
Free Trial
YesNo
Free/Freemium Version
NoYes
Premium Consulting/Integration Services
NoNo
Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeNo setup fee
Additional Details
More Pricing Information
Community Pulse
RUN Powered by ADP®Square Payroll
Features
RUN Powered by ADP®Square Payroll
Payroll Management
Comparison of Payroll Management features of Product A and Product B
RUN Powered by ADP®
8.4
364 Ratings
2% above category average
Square Payroll
7.8
6 Ratings
6% below category average
Pay calculation9.5352 Ratings8.96 Ratings
Support for external payroll vendors8.6105 Ratings8.65 Ratings
Off-cycle/On-Demand payment9.1258 Ratings4.44 Ratings
Benefit plan administration7.8162 Ratings9.15 Ratings
Direct deposit files9.6343 Ratings7.06 Ratings
Salary revision and increment management8.8269 Ratings8.94 Ratings
Reimbursement management5.138 Ratings7.85 Ratings
Best Alternatives
RUN Powered by ADP®Square Payroll
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
Infor Human Resources
Infor Human Resources
Score 7.1 out of 10
All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
User Ratings
RUN Powered by ADP®Square Payroll
Likelihood to Recommend
9.1
(390 ratings)
4.7
(8 ratings)
Likelihood to Renew
9.2
(35 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Usability
9.0
(24 ratings)
9.0
(1 ratings)
Availability
9.5
(12 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Performance
9.7
(12 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Support Rating
8.4
(36 ratings)
9.0
(1 ratings)
In-Person Training
7.7
(7 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Online Training
9.3
(5 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Implementation Rating
8.9
(20 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Configurability
7.5
(9 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Ease of integration
10.0
(4 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Product Scalability
8.5
(13 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Vendor post-sale
9.7
(8 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Vendor pre-sale
9.7
(9 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
User Testimonials
RUN Powered by ADP®Square Payroll
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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Block, Inc (Square)
Square is an amazing platform to have total control over the payroll of all the employees of a company or a specific sector. This platform has a very good functionality to collect exact information on how long each employee works, that is one of its most outstanding characteristics, because it monitors work schedules and overtime and generates detailed reports on the work time of each employee. Square does not allow to schedule payments, that is one of the main problems, however, I consider that it is a very good option for small and medium-sized companies that are looking for a way to have more exact administrative control over the working hours of all their employees. It is a software that works in the cloud, so all the work information that is collected will remain safe without any risk of loss.
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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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Block, Inc (Square)
  • 1099 contractor payments are easy, and they provide you with the IRS filing as part of the service.
  • Direct deposit/debit from your already connected account to the employee.
  • Reporting and management features are simple yet inclusive.
  • Low cost compared to alternative solutions.
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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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Block, Inc (Square)
  • It's a bit pricey for larger companies at $5 per person paid per month.
  • Has a bit of a learning curve that seems steeper than necessary
  • reports can be confusing at first
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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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Block, Inc (Square)
No answers on this topic
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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Block, Inc (Square)
It could use a mobile-friendly interface. Other than that it's a simple layout and non-cluttered which allows you to get done what you need to get done. No unnecessary dodads or distractions.
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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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Block, Inc (Square)
No answers on this topic
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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Block, Inc (Square)
No answers on this topic
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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Block, Inc (Square)
I think they have quick and helpful customer service reps, however, I give them a 9 because I have had to wait on hold for long periods of time before.
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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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Block, Inc (Square)
No answers on this topic
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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Block, Inc (Square)
No answers on this topic
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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Block, Inc (Square)
No answers on this topic
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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Block, Inc (Square)
I liked patriot, but I found it to be more confusing than Square and took me too much time to setup. I setup Square Payroll in about an hour. I would also say the Square interface made more sense to me. I also like how Square offers more things like benefits, etc. that can be added on.
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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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Block, Inc (Square)
No answers on this topic
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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Block, Inc (Square)
  • Square Payroll has dramatically reduced the time it takes to process payroll.
  • We could have a faster payroll with the Square POS integration for commission, but that is not something we've implemented yet.
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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