ADP Workforce Now vs. APS Payroll

Overview
ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price
ADP Workforce Now
Score 7.7 out of 10
Mid-Size Companies (51-1,000 employees)
ADP Workforce Now is a cloud-based HR platform for mid-sized businesses. It features customizable modules of various HR services that businesses can tailor to their specific needs, as well as regulatory monitoring and alerts to help businesses remain compliant.N/A
APS Payroll
Score 5.5 out of 10
Mid-Size Companies (51-1,000 employees)
APS is a national workforce management and cloud-based HR solution provider. The platform includes core HR, payroll, time and attendance (including manager and employee self-service), compliance tools, and onboarding.N/A
Pricing
ADP Workforce NowAPS Payroll
Editions & Modules
Essential
Contact sales team
Enhanced
Contact sales team
Complete
Contact sales team
HR Pro
Contact sales team
Payroll Essentials
Contact sales team
HR Plus
Contact sales team
Hiring Advantage
Contact sales team
Performance Plus
Contact sales team
No answers on this topic
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
ADP Workforce NowAPS Payroll
Free Trial
NoNo
Free/Freemium Version
NoNo
Premium Consulting/Integration Services
YesYes
Entry-level Setup FeeRequiredRequired
Additional DetailsPlease contact ADP for a product demo and ask about a hands-on "test drive" of Workforce Now.The Payroll solution is offered as a standalone service, but additional solutions must be used in conjunction with the Payroll solution.
More Pricing Information
Community Pulse
ADP Workforce NowAPS Payroll
Considered Both Products
ADP Workforce Now
Chose ADP Workforce Now
We were looking at these vendors as options to change from ADP. They are still on a mainframe structure, while most competitors are on a cloud-based system.
Chose ADP Workforce Now
APS is not compatible with PayScale. We also reviewed PayNW and whilst it was compatible with PayScale, there was an additional cost for every new hire, garnishment, and requisition created.
APS Payroll
Chose APS Payroll
They both have their good points and negative points, overall I think ADP is a better with recruitment platforms and onboarding. But APS had some good features as well.
Chose APS Payroll
APS Online is a much simpler system to use for end users and administrators, processing is quicker (immediate), and integration between the various modules is seamless. In the past, HRB talked to Payroll module, Payroll module talked to Etime, however HRB didn't talk to Etime …
Chose APS Payroll
We were previously with ADP and while the functionality improved when we moved to the Workforce Now version, we still wanted an improved and more economical solution for integrating payroll and HR with benefits management. APS Online offers that.
Chose APS Payroll
APS has been the easiest to work with hands down. Our accounting software is Great Plains, but the payroll module was insufficient. APS has provided us an export compatible with Great Plains.
Chose APS Payroll

We had used ADP for years and had always struggled with their customer service. With over 20 locations (20+ W2s, quarterly filings, etc) we had a lot of questions. We would have to call and sit on hold for long periods of time to talk to someone who couldn't always answer our …

Features
ADP Workforce NowAPS Payroll
Human Resource Management
Comparison of Human Resource Management features of Product A and Product B
ADP Workforce Now
7.7
1042 Ratings
3% below category average
APS Payroll
-
Ratings
Employee demographic data8.0920 Ratings00 Ratings
Employment history7.9957 Ratings00 Ratings
Job profiles and administration8.1907 Ratings00 Ratings
Workflow for transfers, promotions, pay raises, etc.7.7935 Ratings00 Ratings
Organizational charting7.5654 Ratings00 Ratings
Organization and location management7.9717 Ratings00 Ratings
Compliance data (COBRA, OSHA, etc.)6.8661 Ratings00 Ratings
Payroll Management
Comparison of Payroll Management features of Product A and Product B
ADP Workforce Now
7.6
1054 Ratings
5% below category average
APS Payroll
9.1
34 Ratings
10% above category average
Pay calculation8.41015 Ratings10.033 Ratings
Support for external payroll vendors6.8397 Ratings8.013 Ratings
Off-cycle/On-Demand payment7.4306 Ratings10.04 Ratings
Benefit plan administration7.7805 Ratings8.023 Ratings
Direct deposit files8.21002 Ratings10.033 Ratings
Salary revision and increment management7.5784 Ratings8.625 Ratings
Reimbursement management7.6478 Ratings8.913 Ratings
Leave and Attendance Management
Comparison of Leave and Attendance Management features of Product A and Product B
ADP Workforce Now
7.6
860 Ratings
6% below category average
APS Payroll
-
Ratings
Approval workflow7.7782 Ratings00 Ratings
Balance details7.4813 Ratings00 Ratings
Annual carry-forward and encashment7.9660 Ratings00 Ratings
Employee Self Service
Comparison of Employee Self Service features of Product A and Product B
ADP Workforce Now
7.6
1034 Ratings
6% below category average
APS Payroll
-
Ratings
View and generate pay and benefit information7.9997 Ratings00 Ratings
Update personal information7.8986 Ratings00 Ratings
View company policy documentation7.8796 Ratings00 Ratings
Employee recognition6.7373 Ratings00 Ratings
View job history7.732 Ratings00 Ratings
Asset Management
Comparison of Asset Management features of Product A and Product B
ADP Workforce Now
6.0
12 Ratings
28% below category average
APS Payroll
-
Ratings
Tracking of all physical assets6.012 Ratings00 Ratings
HR Reporting
Comparison of HR Reporting features of Product A and Product B
ADP Workforce Now
6.7
958 Ratings
12% below category average
APS Payroll
-
Ratings
Report builder7.4941 Ratings00 Ratings
Pre-built reports7.0937 Ratings00 Ratings
Ability to combine HR data with external data5.5558 Ratings00 Ratings
Onboarding
Comparison of Onboarding features of Product A and Product B
ADP Workforce Now
7.0
129 Ratings
13% below category average
APS Payroll
-
Ratings
New hire portal7.3125 Ratings00 Ratings
Manager tracking tools6.7101 Ratings00 Ratings
Performance and Goals
Comparison of Performance and Goals features of Product A and Product B
ADP Workforce Now
7.6
319 Ratings
6% below category average
APS Payroll
-
Ratings
Corporate goal setting7.5247 Ratings00 Ratings
Individual goal setting7.7298 Ratings00 Ratings
Line-of sight-visibility7.7244 Ratings00 Ratings
Performance tracking7.6292 Ratings00 Ratings
Performance Management
Comparison of Performance Management features of Product A and Product B
ADP Workforce Now
6.5
413 Ratings
20% below category average
APS Payroll
-
Ratings
Performance plans6.8370 Ratings00 Ratings
Performance improvement plans6.4318 Ratings00 Ratings
Review status tracking5.9374 Ratings00 Ratings
Review reminders6.8389 Ratings00 Ratings
Multiple review frequency6.5323 Ratings00 Ratings
Succession Planning
Comparison of Succession Planning features of Product A and Product B
ADP Workforce Now
6.0
7 Ratings
25% below category average
APS Payroll
-
Ratings
Create succession plans/pools5.86 Ratings00 Ratings
Candidate ranking5.86 Ratings00 Ratings
Candidate search6.37 Ratings00 Ratings
Candidate development6.26 Ratings00 Ratings
Recruiting / ATS
Comparison of Recruiting / ATS features of Product A and Product B
ADP Workforce Now
6.6
427 Ratings
16% below category average
APS Payroll
-
Ratings
Job Requisition Management7.5372 Ratings00 Ratings
Company Website Posting7.7363 Ratings00 Ratings
Publish to Social Media6.9292 Ratings00 Ratings
Job Search Site Posting6.8325 Ratings00 Ratings
Duplicate Candidate Prevention2.38 Ratings00 Ratings
Applicant Tracking7.0367 Ratings00 Ratings
Notifications and Alerts8.3388 Ratings00 Ratings
Best Alternatives
ADP Workforce NowAPS 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 9.7 out of 10
Paypro Workforce Management
Paypro Workforce Management
Score 9.7 out of 10
Enterprises
PeopleStrong
PeopleStrong
Score 9.6 out of 10
Infor Human Resources
Infor Human Resources
Score 7.1 out of 10
All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
User Ratings
ADP Workforce NowAPS Payroll
Likelihood to Recommend
7.8
(1109 ratings)
5.5
(37 ratings)
Likelihood to Renew
7.3
(83 ratings)
9.7
(6 ratings)
Usability
3.6
(80 ratings)
10.0
(5 ratings)
Availability
7.3
(14 ratings)
9.0
(1 ratings)
Performance
6.4
(13 ratings)
9.0
(1 ratings)
Support Rating
7.0
(480 ratings)
6.8
(5 ratings)
In-Person Training
8.2
(9 ratings)
9.0
(1 ratings)
Online Training
5.8
(17 ratings)
9.0
(1 ratings)
Implementation Rating
1.7
(34 ratings)
8.7
(4 ratings)
Configurability
6.4
(10 ratings)
8.0
(1 ratings)
Ease of integration
6.1
(8 ratings)
8.0
(1 ratings)
Product Scalability
7.3
(770 ratings)
9.0
(1 ratings)
Vendor post-sale
5.2
(8 ratings)
9.0
(1 ratings)
Vendor pre-sale
6.1
(8 ratings)
9.0
(1 ratings)
User Testimonials
ADP Workforce NowAPS Payroll
Likelihood to Recommend
ADP
It is well suited for companies that have over 50 employees working in multiple departments and should be allocated in specific ways. It can help get all their information from the beginning point of interviews to the end in which a check is produced, allowing the employee to update their information and add their direct deposit.
Read full review
APS Payroll
APS Payroll is an easy to use payroll system, and integrates well with some things such as the APS Hire feature, which handles onboarding, and the eSelfServe timeclock feature. It exports well to Quickbooks, but is only ok with NetSuite. (It works but is a completely manual process and takes a lot of setup.) Our tax registration and filing has been fine and we're always apprised of any tax discrepancies such as small Unemployment overages/underages when filed compared to what was withheld.
Read full review
Pros
ADP
  • HRIS that is personalized for the employee and addresses DE&I needs.
  • Payroll, of course! The system addresses all needs, such as deductions, additional pay, premium OT, and shift differentials.
  • Onboarding is an excellent way to stay in compliance and have all documents completed.
  • Tax and Banking and resolution to any issues.
Read full review
APS Payroll
  • It's fast and intuitive. Our previous contractors were ADP and Paychex and neither were intuitive. Our payroll runs have less errors now than with previous vendors. Payroll prep time is down from 5 hours with ADP to 2 hours with APS for the HR Manager.
  • The limiters are great. I'm always afraid of that error that no one caught. Let's assume that you add a $200 limiter to overtime. Any time that a staff member is about to receive more than $200 in overtime for that pay period, a red flag goes up for the HR manager to double check.
  • We have 3 programs in public schools that block certain ports. APS has a 2nd feature using GPS so that staff can only check in for their shift while they are in the designated GPS range. Great for someone who has to report to a remote location. Just add the GPS coordinates and they can't check until they get to the project.
Read full review
Cons
ADP
  • I would like it if better communication was sent out about new product updates. Sometimes, I go into a screen and things are different and I have to relearn it on the fly.
  • Editing the mobile app - I would like it if what is shown on the desktop version was automatically on the app. WAY more of my employees use the app, but I put the most important information on the desktop version because it is easier to update.
Read full review
APS Payroll
  • Reporting - We have six different business units and the reporting is separate for all three. Most reporting I do requires information from all business units so am running six reports and then copying and pasting to get the report I need.
  • Multi-state taxes - We have a number of employees who live in New York and work in New Jersey. APS OnLine is designed to accommodate one state withholding so ability to have "worked in" state and "lived in" state taxes withheld went away. This was a shortfall.
  • The Carrier connection setup took much longer than expected. After a year, we are still having some issues with some items transferring over to the GL.
  • The CA overtime calculation does not calculate after 8 hours per day, only on the 40 per week so we override each week.
  • Reporting - when running Benefit reports, it recognizes employees who formerly carried the plan but may have dropped it. To get around this, we have to delete off the employee's record so the history is not readily available.
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Likelihood to Renew
ADP
Due to the lack of support from the sales and service center we are looking at other options outside of ADP. Again it is a good system, it just lacks the support it deserves from the company employees. It is just unimaginable that you will need to reach out to a service provider several times for the same issue and not get it resolved.
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APS Payroll
I have been using the system for over a year now and feel more comfortable with the functionality of it. I have just recently implemented the benefit administration portion.
Read full review
Usability
ADP
I would give it a 10 however I do not like when ADP does facelifts in Workforce Now which does not add any value other than having to relearn navigation. I am also not a big fan of being forced to refer to the Bridge. We have Google which gives the same results. If I understood the answer I would not contact our Account Rep.
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APS Payroll
The APS Payroll software is very easy to use, and it is easy to train new employees on it. The APS Payroll support team is very helpful and response time is quick. It is easy to enter/change employee information, adjust salaries and benefits, etc. New features have also been added that makes it even better, such as being able to set up your own income/deduction items.
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Reliability and Availability
ADP
ADP outages are very rare
Read full review
APS Payroll
I haven't had any outages
Read full review
Performance
ADP
Overall, I think the functionality of the program works pretty well. Sometimes, certain browsers do not work well for the policy function of ADP, but that is the only issue thus far
Read full review
APS Payroll
Very quick
Read full review
Support Rating
ADP
I have contacted support multiple times and have always been happy with the results. ADP's support staff is always helpful and makes easy work of solving problems. I love my Payroll Account Manager, as well as my Enhanced Time Account Manager.
Read full review
APS Payroll
I had to learn APS on my own, and the support team held my hand. They are still there when I have an occasional question. Anytime I need support, I can call my rep or send an email and help is on the way, without failure. The support team is awesome
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In-Person Training
ADP
In-person training was pretty good - I think this significantly depends on the trainer. Our trainer was really good and showed what ADP can do - but I know that all trainers are not the same - and this truly makes such as difference. Overall, our training went pretty well.
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APS Payroll
Even if it wasn't in-person on location, we felt like we had our trainer in the room with us.
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Online Training
ADP
At the time training was not as expansive as it is now. If it could go wrong it did for me so the process was difficult and lengthy. I needed to have more in person walkthroughs of things to ensure the transition was done correctly. Not sure what else I can say, we were part of the initial move to Workforce Now when it was introduced.
Read full review
APS Payroll
We had great webinars.
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Implementation Rating
ADP
Either assign more than one specialist to the implementation process, or assign less clients to the implementation specialist. The process requires attention to detail and the ability to test and re-test as well as verify the information. It also requires a lot of back and forth between the client ant the implementation specialist, so they need to be readily available during the whole implementation process.
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APS Payroll
It would have been helpful to understand the phases of the implementation up front so I could have prepared differently for enrollments, billing, and transfer of information to payroll. At the end of the day, I'm happy with the selection and the system and anticipate I will like it better as we go along. We have done a number of other system implementations in the past few years, and this has been pretty painless, however, I've had a few surprises.
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Alternatives Considered
ADP
Although this SAS takes longer to perform the everyday functions related to payroll and HR data input, the difference in this software and our previous software is like night and day. We were on a very old server platform and had too many issues with continuous need for backup.
Read full review
APS Payroll
We had used ADP for years and had always struggled with their customer service. With over 20 locations (20+ W2s, quarterly filings, etc) we had a lot of questions. We would have to call and sit on hold for long periods of time to talk to someone who couldn't always answer our questions. Then we would get different answers from different people or have to re-explain our issue. It was a major time suck for my employees and they dreaded having to call all of the time. For us - the final straws for us to switch providers were: +Numerous year end filings with incorrect names and addresses (they couldn't keep our 20+ locations separate even though our paperwork was completed correctly) +Incorrect SUI rates for several locations that resulted in tens of thousands of dollars in overpayments which was a lot of money for small hotels. We had sent in numerous requests for them to fix this but it never happened +Lack of care - even though we were having all of these issues, nobody would work with us to get them all resolved and make sure to remedy the situation. We had to seek out a manager to get them resolved but even after this, we still had more issues. Overall - DON'T stick with ADP or even think about switching to them. They might be able to slash prices but their poor customer service and lack of care will cost you in the end. It's not worth it. APS does everything ADP had the capability of but we don't have the errors or headaches we did before. I am really looking forward to this year end!
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Scalability
ADP
We have been able to grow with ADP from just a few hundred employees to over 10,000 so it's actually very scalable for payroll usage. We do not use the benefits and onboarding offerings for most of our employees but they are built to scale easily enough for when our corporate team has over 1,000 FTE.
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APS Payroll
I've never had a problem with the system nor in finding the right information.
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Return on Investment
ADP
  • ADP WorkforceNow has provided a positive ROI for our company. It has saved me countless hours in the time I used to spend preparing reports, managing benefits, and annual enrollment, recruitment tracking, and much more.
  • The integration with Payscale has allowed our company to take every position in our organization and benchmark it to industries and job titles. This has allowed us to be more competitive on recruitment and retention.
  • We have used the new DE&I dashboard to provide valuable information on the landscape of our workforce, as well as areas of our organization that may not be as diverse.
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APS Payroll
  • We were able to transition quickly and continue to successfully hire and onboard new hires for several Clubs that opened within weeks of moving to APS.
  • We do struggle a bit with the ease of reporting simply because our locations are all under separate EIN and that can make it difficult to easily combine data queried under custom reports, so the volume of reporting that I might wish to be able to push through weekly in order to help address 'real time' trends is not always available.
  • The lack of effective dating for position and wage changes does mean that HR and available APS data is not 'real time' accurate and that HR does need to return to the system to update changes well after-the-fact, which is not ideal.
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ScreenShots

ADP Workforce Now Screenshots

Screenshot of ADP Workforce Now: a simple and complete human capital management solutionScreenshot of Benchmarking by ADP DataCloud: an application with an extensive data set ... available to ADP Workforce Now clientsScreenshot of ADP Workforce Now clients can equip their employees with the ADP Mobile self-service app

APS Payroll Screenshots

Screenshot of workforce planningScreenshot of expense management