APS vs. SurePayroll

Overview
ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price
APS
Score 5.8 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
SurePayroll
Score 2.3 out of 10
N/A
SurePayroll offers an online payroll service that lets small business owners run payroll anywhere, anytime. The vendor automatically pays and files federal, state and local payroll taxes.N/A
Pricing
APSSurePayroll
Editions & Modules
No answers on this topic
No answers on this topic
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
APSSurePayroll
Free Trial
NoYes
Free/Freemium Version
NoNo
Premium Consulting/Integration Services
YesNo
Entry-level Setup FeeOptionalNo setup fee
Additional DetailsThe 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
APSSurePayroll
Features
APSSurePayroll
Payroll Management
Comparison of Payroll Management features of Product A and Product B
APS
9.1
34 Ratings
10% above category average
SurePayroll
1.4
16 Ratings
142% below category average
Pay calculation10.033 Ratings2.616 Ratings
Support for external payroll vendors8.013 Ratings1.012 Ratings
Off-cycle/On-Demand payment10.04 Ratings1.09 Ratings
Benefit plan administration8.023 Ratings1.27 Ratings
Direct deposit files10.033 Ratings1.213 Ratings
Salary revision and increment management8.925 Ratings1.212 Ratings
Reimbursement management8.913 Ratings1.210 Ratings
Best Alternatives
APSSurePayroll
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
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
APSSurePayroll
Likelihood to Recommend
8.3
(37 ratings)
1.0
(27 ratings)
Likelihood to Renew
9.7
(6 ratings)
9.0
(1 ratings)
Usability
10.0
(5 ratings)
1.0
(3 ratings)
Availability
9.0
(1 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Performance
9.0
(1 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Support Rating
6.8
(5 ratings)
9.2
(5 ratings)
In-Person Training
9.0
(1 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Online Training
9.0
(1 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Implementation Rating
8.7
(4 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Configurability
8.0
(1 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Contract Terms and Pricing Model
-
(0 ratings)
10.0
(1 ratings)
Ease of integration
8.0
(1 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Product Scalability
9.0
(1 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Professional Services
-
(0 ratings)
9.0
(1 ratings)
Vendor post-sale
9.0
(1 ratings)
9.0
(1 ratings)
Vendor pre-sale
9.0
(1 ratings)
9.0
(1 ratings)
User Testimonials
APSSurePayroll
Likelihood to Recommend
APS
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.
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Paychex, Inc.
We use SurePayroll to make monthly payrolls in our company, as well as to close the month and year with all the income and expenses and most importantly to make tax payments. The application is perfect for making payrolls when the personnel adapted for it is not in the head office, SurePayroll has an application for mobiles that allows to make these operations remotely. The application is perfect when you want to make immediate payments, at the time of loading the payroll to the system, it proceeds to automatically perform transactions for each employee entered without any error.
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Pros
APS
  • 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.
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Paychex, Inc.
  • Super easy interface - honestly running payroll couldn't be easier on their site.
  • Incredible customer service - VERY knowledgeable, professional and friendly. They will walk you through anything you need to do on the site and understand payroll, tax and benefit issues.
  • Tax filing and payments and year-end paperwork for 1099 contractors and W-2s. They make it so easy.
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Cons
APS
  • 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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Paychex, Inc.
  • My chief complaint is the software sometimes requires me to have a code sent to my phone before I can continue with some process. That in itself is fine. The problem is the check box that lets SurePayroll remember the computer doesn't actually do that. I select that check box every time, but the software doesn't remember me or my computer.
  • Fees have creeped higher every year over the last two or three years. I feel like I'm nitpicking here, though. What I spend for the service is reasonably priced for the amount of headaches it prevents.
  • I have a case where an employee is sometimes salaried and sometimes contract. There's not a way to handle that without terminating him when he needs to switch.
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Likelihood to Renew
APS
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.
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Paychex, Inc.
Very likely, easy to use, support system in place.
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Usability
APS
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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Paychex, Inc.
It's a poor user interface. It feels like the interface is twenty years old. If you make a mistake with payroll in their terrible UI, and try to correct it 15 seconds later, they want to charge you $39 to correct your mistake. Overall, a very poor experience in terms of user interface.
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Reliability and Availability
APS
I haven't had any outages
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Paychex, Inc.
No answers on this topic
Performance
APS
Very quick
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Paychex, Inc.
No answers on this topic
Support Rating
APS
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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Paychex, Inc.
SurePayroll was great when we had questions or needed support, ie. if we messed up with a payroll, needed to submit tax documents or get documents. The ease of communication between us and the organization was great and they made it easy for users to call in with support requests.
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In-Person Training
APS
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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Paychex, Inc.
No answers on this topic
Online Training
APS
We had great webinars.
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Paychex, Inc.
They were awesome. They knew the system very well and could help me very much.
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Implementation Rating
APS
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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Paychex, Inc.
No, I can't think of any.
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Alternatives Considered
APS
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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Paychex, Inc.
SurePayroll offers a comparable service at a better rate. They are better designed for small companies who need to save money any way they can. Their fees are more appropriate than ADP but the service offerings are just as good.
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Contract Terms and Pricing Model
APS
No answers on this topic
Paychex, Inc.
In retrospect, I wouldn't change anything.
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Scalability
APS
I've never had a problem with the system nor in finding the right information.
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Paychex, Inc.
No answers on this topic
Professional Services
APS
No answers on this topic
Paychex, Inc.
We were able to calculate different hourly numbers when we completed Certified Payroll for professional services.
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Return on Investment
APS
  • 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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Paychex, Inc.
  • SurePayroll helps us process payroll quickly and effortlessly 97% of the time.
  • On the rare occasion when there is an issue SurePayroll needs to address, it can take hours and hours of time over many months to get that issue resolved. Through the process, SurePayroll employees have always been professional and courteous in their communication.
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ScreenShots

APS Screenshots

Screenshot of workforce planningScreenshot of expense management