ADP SmartCompliance vs. Payroll by Wave

Overview
ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price
ADP SmartCompliance
Score 8.4 out of 10
N/A
ADP SmartCompliance is a tax and regulatory compliance platform for midsize or larger companies using an ERP or non-ADP platform for HR and HRMS services.N/A
Payroll by Wave
Score 10.0 out of 10
N/A
Wave Accounting headquartered in Toronto now offers Payroll by Wave, a payroll app for small businesses.N/A
Pricing
ADP SmartCompliancePayroll by Wave
Editions & Modules
No answers on this topic
No answers on this topic
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
ADP SmartCompliancePayroll by Wave
Free Trial
NoNo
Free/Freemium Version
NoNo
Premium Consulting/Integration Services
YesNo
Entry-level Setup FeeRequiredNo setup fee
Additional DetailsPricing varies based upon modules deployed and features enabled.
More Pricing Information
Community Pulse
ADP SmartCompliancePayroll by Wave
Features
ADP SmartCompliancePayroll by Wave
Type of tax
Comparison of Type of tax features of Product A and Product B
ADP SmartCompliance
7.3
24 Ratings
6% below category average
Payroll by Wave
-
Ratings
Sales and Use Taxes6.816 Ratings00 Ratings
Cross-border Taxes7.415 Ratings00 Ratings
VAT / GST Taxes7.74 Ratings00 Ratings
Energy and Fuel Taxes7.44 Ratings00 Ratings
Tax Reporting & Compliance
Comparison of Tax Reporting & Compliance features of Product A and Product B
ADP SmartCompliance
7.4
82 Ratings
6% below category average
Payroll by Wave
-
Ratings
Geolocation for Tax Assessment6.627 Ratings00 Ratings
3rd-Party Software Integrations6.650 Ratings00 Ratings
Tax Data Reporting7.879 Ratings00 Ratings
Compliance Administration Management8.069 Ratings00 Ratings
Tax Exemption Processing8.435 Ratings00 Ratings
Tax Document Management7.471 Ratings00 Ratings
Complex Tax Scenario Management6.852 Ratings00 Ratings
Payroll Management
Comparison of Payroll Management features of Product A and Product B
ADP SmartCompliance
-
Ratings
Payroll by Wave
9.4
5 Ratings
13% above category average
Pay calculation00 Ratings10.05 Ratings
Support for external payroll vendors00 Ratings9.03 Ratings
Off-cycle/On-Demand payment00 Ratings9.03 Ratings
Benefit plan administration00 Ratings9.01 Ratings
Direct deposit files00 Ratings9.05 Ratings
Salary revision and increment management00 Ratings9.55 Ratings
Reimbursement management00 Ratings10.02 Ratings
Best Alternatives
ADP SmartCompliancePayroll by Wave
Small Businesses
TaxJar
TaxJar
Score 8.0 out of 10
Dayforce Powerpay
Dayforce Powerpay
Score 9.3 out of 10
Medium-sized Companies
Lappa
Lappa
Score 9.0 out of 10
Paypro Workforce Management
Paypro Workforce Management
Score 9.1 out of 10
Enterprises
Vertex
Vertex
Score 8.5 out of 10
Infor Human Resources
Infor Human Resources
Score 7.1 out of 10
All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
User Ratings
ADP SmartCompliancePayroll by Wave
Likelihood to Recommend
8.7
(165 ratings)
10.0
(6 ratings)
Likelihood to Renew
7.1
(39 ratings)
10.0
(1 ratings)
Usability
7.2
(45 ratings)
10.0
(1 ratings)
Availability
7.1
(16 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Performance
6.9
(16 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Support Rating
6.6
(44 ratings)
8.9
(2 ratings)
In-Person Training
8.7
(6 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Online Training
8.0
(11 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Implementation Rating
5.4
(31 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Configurability
7.6
(14 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Ease of integration
6.6
(12 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Product Scalability
7.0
(15 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Vendor post-sale
7.7
(12 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Vendor pre-sale
8.5
(10 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
User Testimonials
ADP SmartCompliancePayroll by Wave
Likelihood to Recommend
ADP
ADP SmartCompliance reduces a great deal of the strain on our department by easily remaining compliant. Particularly with several state and federal demands, payroll compliance can quickly become a struggle; ADP helps us keep all requests and court paperwork in one place. I appreciate how it automates reporting, garnishments, and tax returns to free us from constant concern over missing deadlines or making calculation mistakes. Knowing that things are being correctly handled gives peace of mind, saves time, and lowers double work. With everything being tracked and recorded, it helps reduce back-and-forth while handling notices.
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Wave
Great for small business payroll needs. Reports and taxes are taken care of, everything is automated and once you're set up it's literally just a matter of minutes to run payroll each time. You also get email reminders which is helpful. There are premium features available for companies with larger/more robust needs, and I would definitely recommend looking into this software if you are searching for a user friendly payroll solution
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Pros
ADP
  • Allows you to submit for tax jurisdiction setup
  • Has a dashboard to indicate if any tax filings for the quarter are at risk and what the problem might be
  • Has a great layout of all your payroll processing invoices
  • Allows you to download copies of the tax filings ADP does on your behalf
  • Allows you to submit tax notices directly within the site
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Wave
  • An intuitive, clear UI helps you know where everything is, what options are at your disposal. Calendars and timelines show that Wave really thought out how to provide you with useful tool.
  • Pay day can be automated and straightforward.
  • Wave onboarding provides guidance at what information to input next until you are all set up.
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Cons
ADP
  • Local Tax Help - Mainly PA employees. I wish there was an easier way to see that we have the employees setup correctly.
  • Tickets not in emails - What I mean is that they have a ticket system so that you can talk to your account manager, but there is no easy way to then pull up those tickets like you would if it were in emails. Sometimes we want to see how we handled something before and it gets tricky.
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Wave
  • Implement an employee time clock option through a separate link which automatically applies to the weekly time sheets.
  • Option to further customize payroll statements
  • Add a per employee payroll dashboard with the option to review rolling, quarterly, and weekly snapshot. Info to include gross pay, employer paid tax, employee paid tax, etc...
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Likelihood to Renew
ADP
ADP displays value continuously by automating compliance processes, reducing risk, and saving time. It ensures that tax filings are accurate, efficient notice management, and seamless integration with payroll systems, which minimizes penalties and manual work. The platforms reliability and strong support make it essential for maintaining compliance within our company and department
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Wave
No answers on this topic
Usability
ADP
For the most part, one can get in and learn how to navigate the system by just clicking on one of the suject areas. If you have a good clientrepresentative, they will inform you of new features/functionality and give you a quick demo. This is helpful for one to go back in and navigate to learn how it works and usefulness.
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Wave
Very simple & straightforward system to learn and when time is always of the essence the efficiency is much appreciated
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Reliability and Availability
ADP
Availability is good, with only one or two instances of not being able to access the system at all which were quickly fixed. Some features do not work correctly from time to time, such as the "Help" function or the "Sync" function.
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Wave
No answers on this topic
Performance
ADP
If ADP is having issues, they communicate the problem within the solution once you log in. They also communicate that the issue will be fixed promptly. Reports run efficiently and in a reasonable amount of time. Also, the reports allow for various reporting types to be produced like a PDF or a Microsoft Excel file.
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Wave
No answers on this topic
Support Rating
ADP
As mentioned in the last comment, everyone and everything has been great. However sometimes you get one person that I feel can bring a score down and the current dedicated tax representative I have I do not feel is very supportive.
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Wave
Quick response times, personalized service. They offer in-depth videos and guides for helping to get set up. Any time I have a question about taxes or reporting, they answer quickly and give comprehensive answers. Members of the team with whom I've interacted have been courteous, friendly, and helpful. Overall, great support.
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In-Person Training
ADP
Exceptional Training Services Received during and after our Build . The teams of ADP Professionals assisted on a daily basis with tight deadlines and testing, each day , each Qtr. and annual processes including setting up local and State agencies for the 50 State we are reporting since our Workday go live 4/1/23. The process was seamless.
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Wave
No answers on this topic
Online Training
ADP
Online training give us more flexible on timing. We always have a pack schedule and not able to attend training in person. Online training with recording is a good source for us especially we can review it again and again. The down side is we are unable ask question in person
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Wave
No answers on this topic
Implementation Rating
ADP
I wasn't too hands on with integration portion of this product so I can't completely give an honest answer to that. I have been told that the training improves alot for each individual as they go through the process and it improves success. These individuals are able to do alot more than me in regards to implementation.
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Wave
No answers on this topic
Alternatives Considered
ADP
We reviewed MasterTax and Ceridian before selecting ADP's Employment Tax four years ago. ADP SmartCompliance was selected because it was thought that this solution would save us time and resources. We have since revisited MasterTax and have looked at Asure as well. These companies offer more control and require more manual intervention before returns are filed and payments made as a tradeoff.
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Wave
First is the cost. Since QuickBooks removed the inhouse solution and moved everything to the cloud, the cost for a small business is prohibited. Wave is reasonable in cost. Support for QB isn't great they are always trying to upsell and commit. Wave support in comparison is 100% better, and most of the answers are in their manual
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Scalability
ADP
ADP has the ability to scale across departments. This was found to be true when we rolled out the wage payment solution. ADP users are able to view their pay stubs on their phones and/or computers. This wage payment portal offers W2 storage and paystub storage for access at any time by an employee.
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Wave
No answers on this topic
Return on Investment
ADP
  • we were able to outsource our garnishments, so that the bulk task it handled by someone else.
  • we have been able to process tickets quicker for missing deposits can we can see if the payment was sent back from the bank.
  • we are able to fund our final pay payments more efficiently and quicker
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Wave
  • Peace of mind that all the payroll tax-related stuff is taken care of accurately and on time.
  • Easy to use interface saves time and helps ensure I am paid on time.
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ScreenShots

ADP SmartCompliance Screenshots

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