ADP Workforce Now vs. Paychex

Overview
ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price
ADP Workforce Now
Score 7.5 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 6.8 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.N/A
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 Flex Pro
Custom Pricing
per month/+$4 per employee
HR Pro
Custom Pricing
HR PEO
Custom Pricing
Paychex Flex Select
Custom Pricing
Paychex Flex Enterprise
Custom Pricing
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
1072 Ratings
4% below category average
Paychex
6.7
272 Ratings
19% below category average
Employee demographic data8.4947 Ratings7.8219 Ratings
Employment history8.3988 Ratings8.1242 Ratings
Job profiles and administration8.2938 Ratings7.8177 Ratings
Workflow for transfers, promotions, pay raises, etc.7.5964 Ratings7.8172 Ratings
Organizational charting7.2676 Ratings1.01 Ratings
Organization and location management7.6740 Ratings7.5158 Ratings
Compliance data (COBRA, OSHA, etc.)7.1680 Ratings6.8146 Ratings
Payroll Management
Comparison of Payroll Management features of Product A and Product B
ADP Workforce Now
8.0
1085 Ratings
2% below category average
Paychex
7.7
313 Ratings
5% below category average
Pay calculation8.91045 Ratings8.0295 Ratings
Support for external payroll vendors7.8414 Ratings00 Ratings
Off-cycle/On-Demand payment8.1336 Ratings7.1153 Ratings
Benefit plan administration7.5825 Ratings6.9174 Ratings
Direct deposit files9.01032 Ratings8.3294 Ratings
Salary revision and increment management7.3813 Ratings8.0209 Ratings
Reimbursement management7.5498 Ratings7.7118 Ratings
Leave and Attendance Management
Comparison of Leave and Attendance Management features of Product A and Product B
ADP Workforce Now
8.0
890 Ratings
2% below category average
Paychex
7.3
159 Ratings
11% below category average
Approval workflow7.7810 Ratings7.3113 Ratings
Balance details8.1844 Ratings7.5151 Ratings
Annual carry-forward and encashment8.1686 Ratings7.0119 Ratings
Employee Self Service
Comparison of Employee Self Service features of Product A and Product B
ADP Workforce Now
7.8
1064 Ratings
5% below category average
Paychex
7.8
270 Ratings
5% below category average
View and generate pay and benefit information8.41026 Ratings7.8248 Ratings
Update personal information8.41015 Ratings7.9260 Ratings
View company policy documentation8.0819 Ratings7.7121 Ratings
Employee recognition6.5386 Ratings00 Ratings
View job history7.732 Ratings7.9184 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
5.0
43 Ratings
47% below category average
Tracking of all physical assets6.012 Ratings5.043 Ratings
HR Reporting
Comparison of HR Reporting features of Product A and Product B
ADP Workforce Now
6.8
988 Ratings
10% below category average
Paychex
5.9
177 Ratings
24% below category average
Report builder7.6971 Ratings6.3147 Ratings
Pre-built reports7.2966 Ratings6.3165 Ratings
Ability to combine HR data with external data5.7575 Ratings5.191 Ratings
Onboarding
Comparison of Onboarding features of Product A and Product B
ADP Workforce Now
7.3
150 Ratings
9% below category average
Paychex
6.4
173 Ratings
22% below category average
New hire portal7.6146 Ratings6.7165 Ratings
Manager tracking tools6.9118 Ratings6.1109 Ratings
Performance and Goals
Comparison of Performance and Goals features of Product A and Product B
ADP Workforce Now
6.9
335 Ratings
15% below category average
Paychex
-
Ratings
Corporate goal setting7.0261 Ratings00 Ratings
Individual goal setting6.7313 Ratings00 Ratings
Line-of sight-visibility6.8258 Ratings00 Ratings
Performance tracking7.0308 Ratings00 Ratings
Performance Management
Comparison of Performance Management features of Product A and Product B
ADP Workforce Now
6.5
432 Ratings
19% below category average
Paychex
-
Ratings
Performance plans6.6389 Ratings00 Ratings
Performance improvement plans6.3332 Ratings00 Ratings
Review status tracking6.2392 Ratings00 Ratings
Review reminders7.0408 Ratings00 Ratings
Multiple review frequency6.5341 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
445 Ratings
29% below category average
Paychex
5.2
70 Ratings
40% below category average
Job Requisition Management7.0389 Ratings5.536 Ratings
Company Website Posting6.7381 Ratings5.334 Ratings
Publish to Social Media4.7305 Ratings4.728 Ratings
Job Search Site Posting6.0341 Ratings5.235 Ratings
Duplicate Candidate Prevention2.38 Ratings4.834 Ratings
Applicant Tracking6.8384 Ratings4.839 Ratings
Notifications and Alerts7.0404 Ratings5.964 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 9.1 out of 10
Paypro Workforce Management
Paypro Workforce Management
Score 9.1 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)
6.3
(322 ratings)
Likelihood to Renew
7.8
(83 ratings)
1.2
(44 ratings)
Usability
2.5
(80 ratings)
6.7
(264 ratings)
Availability
7.3
(14 ratings)
5.6
(12 ratings)
Performance
6.4
(13 ratings)
7.1
(12 ratings)
Support Rating
6.4
(494 ratings)
6.2
(264 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)
5.4
(13 ratings)
Configurability
6.4
(10 ratings)
5.0
(9 ratings)
Ease of integration
6.1
(8 ratings)
9.1
(3 ratings)
Product Scalability
7.8
(785 ratings)
6.1
(12 ratings)
Vendor post-sale
5.2
(8 ratings)
2.3
(33 ratings)
Vendor pre-sale
6.1
(8 ratings)
3.2
(34 ratings)
User Testimonials
ADP Workforce NowPaychex
Likelihood to Recommend
ADP
The ease in which you can process payroll and year end (T4s). Ability to maintain payroll - enter upcoming changes (e.g. pay raises for a certain date) ahead of time. While we don't use it in my current company, in past ones the time & attendance integration with timesheets is fabulous. Our company uses a 3rd party scheduling & timesheet platform which also integrates with one click but is a little more work to maintain time off balances within ADP Workforce Now. We use the 3rd party platform (Evolia) for scheduling and timesheets as the management here wanted the ability to see salaried employees on site, have a chat feature, and some self-management on the employee side with the ability to swap shifts.
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Paychex Inc.
Paychex is great option for smaller employers as the site offers perk benefits to employees at no cost to the employer. I don't see anything like this being offered at competitors such as ADP RUN/Total Source, Bamboo, Trinet, Justworks or Gusto. Also, the initial set up is relatively easy and the dedicated support for set up is great along with our regular dedicated payroll support.
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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.
  • I understand logging you out is a security function, but I'd prefer it not to log you out so soon.
  • The training we received for the team's meeting was subpar, in my opinion. Probably better geared for people with little to no computer experience. Very slow pace; we could have easily received all of this from some tutorials in a few minutes.
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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
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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
Kelly La Rosa and Brian McLaughlin have been exceptional partners over the last few years and a tremendous source of support in my role. They are consistently solution‑oriented, highly responsive, and proactive in identifying opportunities to improve our processes. Both regularly brought forward thoughtful recommendations, including suggestions for new ADP products that aligned well with our evolving needs. Their expertise, reliability, and genuine commitment to client success have made a meaningful impact on my work and on our overall experience with ADP.
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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
I also used UltiPro (way back -- it didn't even appear in dropdown). Recommend ADP Workforce Now above all others. Paycor and Paycom were both very clunky. I even helped implement Paycom and could never get it to work how the business needed it to.
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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 several departments that utilize the reporting, utilize the timecards and the system. We also have self service that is nice for all of our employees. This system allows us to designate what each group can see, and what employees can change, or who can clock in and out offsite
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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
Read full review
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 Paychex Payroll DashboardScreenshot of Employee Background ChecksScreenshot of Paychex HR DashboardScreenshot of Paychex Flex Perks