ADP Workforce Now vs. Paychex

Overview
ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price
ADP Workforce Now
Score 7.4 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
Paychex
Score 6.7 out of 10
N/A
Paychex Flex, of Paychex' Online Payroll Services, is a cloud-based human resource management and payroll platform. Paychex offers core and specialized services, and scales to meet the needs of small businesses, SMBs, and large enterprises.
$59
per month/+$4 per employee
Pricing
ADP Workforce NowPaychex
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
Paychex Go
$59
per month/+$4 per employee
Paychex Flex Service
Contact sales team
Paychex Flex Enterprise
Contact sales team
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
ADP Workforce NowPaychex
Free Trial
NoNo
Free/Freemium Version
NoNo
Premium Consulting/Integration Services
YesNo
Entry-level Setup FeeRequiredRequired
Additional DetailsPlease contact ADP for a product demo and ask about a hands-on "test drive" of Workforce Now.
More Pricing Information
Community Pulse
ADP Workforce NowPaychex
Considered Both Products
ADP Workforce Now
Chose ADP Workforce Now
ADP Workforce Now has a more robust reporting program, ADP has better hours for customer service, and was much easier to learn. I have used both Paycom and Paychex and both came with little to no training, and was a pain to learn. The reporting was less than desirable. ADP was …
Chose ADP Workforce Now
We stayed with ADP because it was what we were familiar with and were out of time to make a change at this point in the year for implementation before the new year. They also offered us a deal that couldn't be beat by the other companies at this time.
Chose ADP Workforce Now
ADP Workforce Now stacks up pretty well however Paycom seems like it would be a lot easier to navigate and use. All the data is centralized in one platform section making searching and setting up a lot easier. Compared to ADP Workforce Now if you search in one area for data and …
Chose ADP Workforce Now
Our company was with Paycom and while it was very customizable - it required a lot of manual entry / management - often in multiple places within the system. Paycom did not offer the ability to easily scale that we were looking for - they also did not have a clean solution for …
Chose ADP Workforce Now
We had previously used ADP's Run platform and thought it would make for an easier transition. We could not have been more wrong. Pay information was not transferred, we were told we would have access to our reports in Run for a year instead we were locked out after a month. …
Chose ADP Workforce Now
ADP Workforce Now is the best HR Software tool in the market because it offers multiple solutions. Other tools in the market only offer one tool and this one offers it all. This makes our HR departments jobs easier and they save a lot of money only have to purchase one tool …
Chose ADP Workforce Now
not particularly different, except I think the customer service is worse with ADP Workforce Now.
Chose ADP Workforce Now
I have been with the practice for 11 years, never once have I had to deal with issues that ADP has caused. The burden, lack of professionalism and the inability to perform basic, entry level tasks, is mind blowing
Chose ADP Workforce Now
I have exited 3 PEOs now and brought my business to ADP in house. My experience is with TriNet's PEO, Paychex's PEO and ADP Workforce Now. ADP beats both TriNet PEO and Paychex PEO as I couldn't wait to exit from TriNet and Paychex. Workforce Now will eventually be in a …
Chose ADP Workforce Now
We selected ADP due to its value and included capabilities. I find it to be very similar to the majority of the major payroll providers and in hindsight [I] am not sure this is the route we [should] have gone. If you have a robust HR/Payroll team, I think the product is fine, …
Chose ADP Workforce Now
We were a Paychex customer for approximately 14 years prior to reaching out for bids on a new platform. In the last year of our involvement with Paychex, we were moved to a new flex platform that just didn't seem to work for us, and the customer service to get answers or …
Chose ADP Workforce Now
I selected ADP over Paychex with the hope that customer support would be more responsive to my needs. I was wrong.
Chose ADP Workforce Now
ADP Workforce Now has the ability to be an all-in-one HRIS, Payroll system, ATS, and benefits management system without having any continuity issues. Easy to use and logical to use. Things are where you would think they would be without research, more of a common sense-built …
Chose ADP Workforce Now
Many companies say they have seamless integration, provide a wide-array of reporting capabilities to help achieve compliance, company objectives, analytics. In my experience, only WorkForce has been able to say it and bring it to fruition.
Chose ADP Workforce Now
Paychex offered little to no customer service. Paychex was unable to provide us with online timesheets that would fit our accrual and pay profiles. Paychex HR and Payroll did not process in the same module. Extra HR modules needed to be purchased, and those did not flow to …
Chose ADP Workforce Now
ADP [Workforce Now] is definitely much better than these two products. It is more user-friendly and has many more features; however, they are significantly more cost-effective, which is why they were used. ADP has the monopoly.
Paychex
Chose Paychex
I have used both ADP Workforce Now and ADP Run for smaller companies. ADP is a great program and does what it does well but it does not compare to Paychex Flex. When I call Paychex Flex, I'm routed to my account representative immediately. If my rep isn't available, I'm …
Chose Paychex
I did not select Paychex. It was at 2 companies I started with and ended up having them switch out
Chose Paychex
All solutions we have reviewed offer the same solutions, and all have pros/cons. Price is a factor, and we have found slightly less costly solutions, though any cost savings are negated in transition costs.
Chose Paychex
I would choose Paychex every time!!
The customer service is outstanding!
All of the payroll/HRIS systems are similar in content, but Paychex outshines them in service the delivery of what we need.
Chose Paychex
With ADP we didn't feel we had good customer support. The cost is also pretty high compared to Paychex. Though it has some good sides like system speed and custom reporting, it lacks basic customer support and it was very tight with Payroll submission deadlines reaching out to …
Chose Paychex
We had Paychex Flex first and left them for ADP Workforce as we believed at that time we were going to get more functions, capabilities, cost tracking, and options. To be honest, I wish we could go back to Paychex Flex. We process payroll through a cumbersome construction …
Chose Paychex
Most of the reporting is a little easier to find and create in Paychex Flex. Most of the web interfaces for submitting payroll are fairly easy just like Paychex Flex.
Chose Paychex
Paychex Flex was easier to navigate. Our budgeting and PTO tracking flowed better with Paychex Flex, and as a manager, I felt more comfortable with working /with/ my employees instead of them carrying the load on their tracking. Plus, Flex has given us the ability to be more …
Chose Paychex
I was not part of the decision to purchase Paychex Flex. It was good for the company's needs at the time, but when I joined the company we needed software that was more robust for our needs.
Chose Paychex
It’s great that Paychex is one place for all things, however workday in combination with a financial institution for managing 401ks is a cleaner and easier to use system. That being said, we didn’t utilize all the components of Paychex
Features
ADP Workforce NowPaychex
Human Resource Management
Comparison of Human Resource Management features of Product A and Product B
ADP Workforce Now
7.8
1058 Ratings
4% below category average
Paychex
6.6
270 Ratings
21% below category average
Employee demographic data8.4935 Ratings7.8217 Ratings
Employment history8.2974 Ratings8.1241 Ratings
Job profiles and administration8.2924 Ratings7.7175 Ratings
Workflow for transfers, promotions, pay raises, etc.7.6951 Ratings7.6170 Ratings
Organizational charting7.3666 Ratings1.01 Ratings
Organization and location management7.6731 Ratings7.5156 Ratings
Compliance data (COBRA, OSHA, etc.)7.0673 Ratings6.7145 Ratings
Payroll Management
Comparison of Payroll Management features of Product A and Product B
ADP Workforce Now
8.0
1069 Ratings
2% below category average
Paychex
7.6
312 Ratings
7% below category average
Pay calculation8.91030 Ratings8.1294 Ratings
Support for external payroll vendors7.7408 Ratings00 Ratings
Off-cycle/On-Demand payment8.1321 Ratings6.9152 Ratings
Benefit plan administration7.5817 Ratings6.9173 Ratings
Direct deposit files8.91017 Ratings8.3293 Ratings
Salary revision and increment management7.3800 Ratings7.9208 Ratings
Reimbursement management7.5488 Ratings7.6117 Ratings
Leave and Attendance Management
Comparison of Leave and Attendance Management features of Product A and Product B
ADP Workforce Now
7.9
875 Ratings
3% below category average
Paychex
7.3
159 Ratings
11% below category average
Approval workflow7.7797 Ratings7.3113 Ratings
Balance details8.0829 Ratings7.5151 Ratings
Annual carry-forward and encashment8.1673 Ratings7.0119 Ratings
Employee Self Service
Comparison of Employee Self Service features of Product A and Product B
ADP Workforce Now
7.8
1050 Ratings
5% below category average
Paychex
7.8
268 Ratings
5% below category average
View and generate pay and benefit information8.31013 Ratings7.8246 Ratings
Update personal information8.31003 Ratings7.9258 Ratings
View company policy documentation8.0811 Ratings7.6120 Ratings
Employee recognition6.5382 Ratings00 Ratings
View job history7.732 Ratings7.8182 Ratings
Asset Management
Comparison of Asset Management features of Product A and Product B
ADP Workforce Now
6.0
12 Ratings
29% below category average
Paychex
5.1
43 Ratings
45% below category average
Tracking of all physical assets6.012 Ratings5.143 Ratings
HR Reporting
Comparison of HR Reporting features of Product A and Product B
ADP Workforce Now
6.8
974 Ratings
11% below category average
Paychex
6.0
177 Ratings
23% below category average
Report builder7.6957 Ratings6.4147 Ratings
Pre-built reports7.2952 Ratings6.4165 Ratings
Ability to combine HR data with external data5.7569 Ratings5.191 Ratings
Onboarding
Comparison of Onboarding features of Product A and Product B
ADP Workforce Now
7.3
142 Ratings
9% below category average
Paychex
6.2
172 Ratings
25% below category average
New hire portal7.6138 Ratings6.7164 Ratings
Manager tracking tools6.9112 Ratings5.8107 Ratings
Performance and Goals
Comparison of Performance and Goals features of Product A and Product B
ADP Workforce Now
7.0
329 Ratings
14% below category average
Paychex
-
Ratings
Corporate goal setting7.0255 Ratings00 Ratings
Individual goal setting6.8307 Ratings00 Ratings
Line-of sight-visibility6.9252 Ratings00 Ratings
Performance tracking7.1302 Ratings00 Ratings
Performance Management
Comparison of Performance Management features of Product A and Product B
ADP Workforce Now
6.5
426 Ratings
19% below category average
Paychex
-
Ratings
Performance plans6.6383 Ratings00 Ratings
Performance improvement plans6.3328 Ratings00 Ratings
Review status tracking6.1386 Ratings00 Ratings
Review reminders7.0402 Ratings00 Ratings
Multiple review frequency6.5335 Ratings00 Ratings
Succession Planning
Comparison of Succession Planning features of Product A and Product B
ADP Workforce Now
6.0
7 Ratings
26% below category average
Paychex
-
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
5.8
438 Ratings
28% below category average
Paychex
5.2
69 Ratings
38% below category average
Job Requisition Management7.0383 Ratings5.636 Ratings
Company Website Posting6.7374 Ratings5.434 Ratings
Publish to Social Media4.9300 Ratings4.828 Ratings
Job Search Site Posting6.0336 Ratings5.235 Ratings
Duplicate Candidate Prevention2.38 Ratings4.934 Ratings
Applicant Tracking6.8378 Ratings4.939 Ratings
Notifications and Alerts7.0399 Ratings5.663 Ratings
Best Alternatives
ADP Workforce NowPaychex
Small Businesses
Dayforce Powerpay
Dayforce Powerpay
Score 9.3 out of 10
Dayforce Powerpay
Dayforce Powerpay
Score 9.3 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
PeopleStrong
PeopleStrong
Score 10.0 out of 10
PeopleStrong
PeopleStrong
Score 10.0 out of 10
All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
User Ratings
ADP Workforce NowPaychex
Likelihood to Recommend
7.9
(1123 ratings)
6.5
(323 ratings)
Likelihood to Renew
7.7
(83 ratings)
1.3
(44 ratings)
Usability
2.5
(80 ratings)
6.8
(264 ratings)
Availability
7.3
(14 ratings)
5.7
(12 ratings)
Performance
6.4
(13 ratings)
7.1
(12 ratings)
Support Rating
6.5
(494 ratings)
6.4
(265 ratings)
In-Person Training
8.2
(9 ratings)
4.5
(1 ratings)
Online Training
5.8
(17 ratings)
8.3
(4 ratings)
Implementation Rating
1.5
(34 ratings)
5.5
(13 ratings)
Configurability
6.4
(10 ratings)
5.1
(9 ratings)
Ease of integration
6.1
(8 ratings)
9.1
(3 ratings)
Product Scalability
7.8
(785 ratings)
6.3
(12 ratings)
Vendor post-sale
5.2
(8 ratings)
2.4
(33 ratings)
Vendor pre-sale
6.1
(8 ratings)
3.3
(34 ratings)
User Testimonials
ADP Workforce NowPaychex
Likelihood to Recommend
ADP
During COVID, ADP Workforce Now was great about keeping up with changing laws and regulations. They built reports that helped us apply for PPP loans and then later apply for forgiveness. Webinars and other training avenues were well constructed, accurate, and informative. We were all at a loss together and having a partner who ensured the legal side was met was one less worry. They can easily do the day-to-day compliance and regulatory things. COVID highlighted how quickly it could be done.
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Paychex Inc.
It is a fantastic tool for having an all-in-one package. Employees can monitor their pay stubs, monitor their 401 (k) balance, sign up and manage employee benefit programs, and more. The software is easy to access on a computer or smartphone, making it very accessible. From what we've observed, even with a staff ranging from young to old, everyone has been catching on pretty easily.
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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
Paychex Inc.
  • It provides a well account of Retirement Plan Account Information.
  • Alerts are sent to email when there is new information to access.
  • Employee access both online and thru app.
  • Paperless options.
  • Easy and quick access to paystubs and tax forms.
  • Easy employee retirement management.
Read full review
Cons
ADP
  • Customized pre-process payroll reports (Limited on pre-process payroll reports)
  • Labor Allocation (Allocations make payroll reporting very hard to review and find any errors )
  • Recruiting (ATS is very basic)
  • Geofencing (should be able to change shape rather than a circle)
  • Pay Classes (should be able to change at Practitioner level rather than reach out to support)
  • Cookies and Cache have to be cleared on a regular basis
  • Only able to see employee documents/acknowledgements one at a time in the employee file
  • Timecards can only be managed/viewed by 1 person
  • Timeoff emails do not have a link
  • Cost per payroll - not just monthly fee so cost with off cycle payrolls
  • Separate I9 step not needed - during onboarding - 2nd Everify step
  • ADP Workforce Now does not pull in allowances for Houly employees into payroll ONLY Salaried employees
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Paychex Inc.
  • When it comes to audit reports, Paychex Flex could improve on helping clients locate the correct reports for audit purposes more easily
  • When a client receives a discount, it would be helpful if the discount were automatically provided each year, or if the Paychex rep proactively reached out to the client first, versus the client having to call and request that the discount continue.
  • It would be helpful if the invoice was emailed to the client versus the client logging in to access invoices.
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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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Paychex Inc.
Overall I like the features that Paychex Flex offers. I am sure that there are other features that I am unaware of, so I am excited to see if there is more that Flex is capable of to make my job easier. The basic features are really user friendly and easy to access. If there ever is an issue customer service is great
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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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Paychex Inc.
Employee usability is very good and user-friendly. For the most part, the employer usability is good, but for complicated rules and policies, it requires technical assistance, which in our case, was clunky and slow in implementation. Once is place, everything works as it should
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Reliability and Availability
ADP
ADP outages are very rare
Read full review
Paychex Inc.
We have not experienced any difficulties with unplanned outages. Notifications are always made for outages, and they do not effect normal business operations.
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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
Paychex Inc.
Unless there is lag time within the internet, the Paychex Flex website loads exceptional fast, pages load quickly and reports that I need to print or download load quickly. If I need to create a specialized report, once I complete it I receive an e-mail telling me my report is ready to be downloaded. Changing between web pages is fast as well.
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Support Rating
ADP
this is my only down side of ADP, they dont transfer you around a lot (Good) and try to tackle the issue right there, but the english barrier is sometimes a huge brick that stands in the way, and can result in the wrong outcome. There has been times I have asked for someone else as I thought it was getting done wrong, and was still able to get the assistance I needed, just took me explaining it twice
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Paychex Inc.
Chat has been helpful but the person I chat with isn't always able to help me with my questions. Phone support is ok, depending on your payroll specialist. We have a great one currently, but the few before that were never available and did not return calls.
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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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Paychex Inc.
We did online training only
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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.
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Paychex Inc.
It was easy to understand and follow along. I do like the informational videos that we can utilize before we opt to call in for customer service support. It has made a difference since sometimes that resolves the issue I may have had and saved myself a phone call to Paychex support.
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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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Paychex Inc.
Implementation was very smooth. The most cumbersome task was entering the current employees into the system during initial set up, but Paychex staff handled most of that and verified against prior system reports as well as internal reports provided to ensure 100% accuracy.
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Alternatives Considered
ADP
They pale compared to ADP because they each have broken systems that do not flow from beginning to end. Another system is required to support all of the functions needed to process payroll. That puts too much on me, the person, instead of the system. We should work smarter, not harder.
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Paychex Inc.
We still use QB Desktop Pro to maintain a Check Register / Overall Balance for the company, but once having tried QB Payroll Online for about 3 months prior to finding Paychex Flex I can tell you that there's just no comparison. QB online is VERY EXPENSIVE and not so user-friendly. I hated every minute of those 6 payrolls we ran through QB online.
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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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Paychex Inc.
I generally do payroll at the office, however I have had to go remote due to internet issues and also had to take payroll on vacation with me. Very easy to log in wherever you are and manage your TAA and payroll
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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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Paychex Inc.
  • With Paychex Flex we have been able to improve our compliance with required documentation for new/rehires
  • Moving everyone to direct deposit and mobile clock in/out eliminated lines at punching stations and paycheck pickup stations
  • Lost checks is a thing of the past
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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

Paychex Screenshots

Screenshot of Screenshot of Screenshot of