Core HR vs Paychex Flex

What users are saying about

Score 9.6 out of 10

Based on 5 reviews and ratings

Score 7.7 out of 10

Based on 317 reviews and ratings

Feature Set Ratings

Core HR ranks higher in 8 feature sets: Human Resource Management, Payroll Management, Leave and Attendance Management, Employee Self Service, Asset Management, HR Reporting, Onboarding, Recruiting / ATS

Human Resource Management

9.3

Core HR

93%

7.1

Paychex Flex

71%

Core HR ranks higher in 7/7 features

Employee demographic data

9.0

90%

3 Ratings

8.6

86%

124 Ratings

Employment history

10.0

100%

3 Ratings

8.2

82%

139 Ratings

Job profiles and administration

9.5

95%

3 Ratings

8.2

82%

95 Ratings

Workflow for transfers, promotions, pay raises, etc.

10.0

100%

3 Ratings

7.9

79%

97 Ratings

Organizational charting

9.0

90%

3 Ratings

1.0

10%

1 Rating

Organization and location management

9.0

90%

3 Ratings

7.8

78%

93 Ratings

Compliance data (COBRA, OSHA, etc.)

8.5

85%

3 Ratings

7.9

79%

91 Ratings

Payroll Management

9.4

Core HR

94%

8.2

Paychex Flex

82%

Core HR ranks higher in 6/7 features

Pay calculation

10.0

100%

3 Ratings

8.7

87%

171 Ratings

Support for external payroll vendors

9.0

90%

2 Ratings

N/A

0 Ratings

Off-cycle/On-Demand payment

10.0

100%

1 Rating

7.4

74%

82 Ratings

Benefit plan administration

9.5

95%

3 Ratings

8.2

82%

103 Ratings

Direct deposit files

8.0

80%

3 Ratings

8.8

88%

168 Ratings

Salary revision and increment management

10.0

100%

3 Ratings

8.4

84%

121 Ratings

Reimbursement management

9.5

95%

3 Ratings

7.4

74%

68 Ratings

Leave and Attendance Management

8.8

Core HR

88%

7.9

Paychex Flex

79%

Core HR ranks higher in 2/3 features

Approval workflow

9.0

90%

3 Ratings

7.9

79%

71 Ratings

Balance details

7.5

75%

3 Ratings

7.9

79%

89 Ratings

Annual carry-forward and encashment

10.0

100%

3 Ratings

8.0

80%

74 Ratings

Employee Self Service

9.2

Core HR

92%

8.2

Paychex Flex

82%

Core HR ranks higher in 4/5 features

View and generate pay and benefit information

7.5

75%

2 Ratings

8.4

84%

145 Ratings

Update personal information

10.0

100%

3 Ratings

8.5

85%

151 Ratings

View company policy documentation

9.5

95%

2 Ratings

7.8

78%

69 Ratings

Employee recognition

9.0

90%

3 Ratings

N/A

0 Ratings

View job history

10.0

100%

3 Ratings

8.1

81%

100 Ratings

Asset Management

9.0

Core HR

90%

7.9

Paychex Flex

79%

Core HR ranks higher in 1/1 features

Tracking of all physical assets

9.0

90%

2 Ratings

7.9

79%

27 Ratings

HR Reporting

9.0

Core HR

90%

7.5

Paychex Flex

75%

Core HR ranks higher in 3/3 features

Report builder

9.5

95%

3 Ratings

7.4

74%

95 Ratings

Pre-built reports

9.0

90%

3 Ratings

7.8

78%

104 Ratings

Ability to combine HR data with external data

8.5

85%

2 Ratings

7.2

72%

59 Ratings

Onboarding

9.3

Core HR

93%

8.1

Paychex Flex

81%

Core HR ranks higher in 2/2 features

New hire portal

9.0

90%

3 Ratings

8.3

83%

93 Ratings

Manager tracking tools

9.5

95%

3 Ratings

8.0

80%

64 Ratings

Performance and Goals

9.4

Core HR

94%

Paychex Flex

Feature Set Not Supported

N/A

Core HR ranks higher in 4/4 features

Corporate goal setting

9.5

95%

2 Ratings

N/A

0 Ratings

Individual goal setting

10.0

100%

2 Ratings

N/A

0 Ratings

Line-of sight-visibility

9.0

90%

2 Ratings

N/A

0 Ratings

Performance tracking

9.0

90%

2 Ratings

N/A

0 Ratings

Performance Management

8.7

Core HR

87%

Paychex Flex

Feature Set Not Supported

N/A

Core HR ranks higher in 5/5 features

Performance plans

7.5

75%

3 Ratings

N/A

0 Ratings

Performance improvement plans

9.5

95%

3 Ratings

N/A

0 Ratings

Review status tracking

9.5

95%

3 Ratings

N/A

0 Ratings

Review reminders

9.0

90%

3 Ratings

N/A

0 Ratings

Multiple review frequency

8.0

80%

2 Ratings

N/A

0 Ratings

Succession Planning

8.5

Core HR

85%

Paychex Flex

Feature Set Not Supported

N/A

Core HR ranks higher in 4/4 features

Create succession plans/pools

8.5

85%

2 Ratings

N/A

0 Ratings

Candidate ranking

8.5

85%

2 Ratings

N/A

0 Ratings

Candidate search

7.5

75%

2 Ratings

N/A

0 Ratings

Candidate development

9.5

95%

2 Ratings

N/A

0 Ratings

Recruiting / ATS

9.2

Core HR

92%

7.4

Paychex Flex

74%

Core HR ranks higher in 7/7 features

Job Requisition Management

9.0

90%

3 Ratings

7.2

72%

25 Ratings

Company Website Posting

10.0

100%

2 Ratings

7.5

75%

24 Ratings

Publish to Social Media

8.0

80%

2 Ratings

7.5

75%

18 Ratings

Job Search Site Posting

9.5

95%

2 Ratings

7.2

72%

24 Ratings

Duplicate Candidate Prevention

8.5

85%

2 Ratings

7.2

72%

20 Ratings

Applicant Tracking

9.5

95%

3 Ratings

7.3

73%

24 Ratings

Notifications and Alerts

10.0

100%

3 Ratings

7.6

76%

38 Ratings

Attribute Ratings

Core HR is rated higher in 1 area: Likelihood to Recommend

Core HR

95%

3 Ratings

8.0

Paychex Flex

80%

185 Ratings

Core HR

N/A

0 Ratings

7.8

Paychex Flex

78%

15 Ratings

Core HR

N/A

0 Ratings

8.2

Paychex Flex

82%

131 Ratings

Core HR

N/A

0 Ratings

8.9

Paychex Flex

89%

6 Ratings

Core HR

N/A

0 Ratings

8.8

Paychex Flex

88%

6 Ratings

Core HR

N/A

0 Ratings

8.1

Paychex Flex

81%

160 Ratings

Core HR

N/A

0 Ratings

8.2

Paychex Flex

82%

1 Rating

Core HR

N/A

0 Ratings

8.6

Paychex Flex

86%

8 Ratings

Core HR

N/A

0 Ratings

8.2

Paychex Flex

82%

6 Ratings

Pros

Functioning is very easy and very much clear to the new users as well.
Detailed payroll structure of your compensation.
Salary slip is available for all the previous months as well.
Claiming of different allowances like phone bill, internet bill, shift allowance etc are very simple.
We can easily track the time and attendance.

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Mohammad Equbal

Technical Associate

SEARS Holding IndiaInformation Technology & Services, 1001-5000 employees

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Paychex Flex does an exemplary job with handling Payroll. Our organization has full-time employee's as well as contractor's and we never have an issue with payroll.
Insurance renewal process is painless.
Another plus to using Paychex Flex is the customer support. Questions and/or inquiries are handled promptly and in a timely manner.

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Verified User

Administrative Assistant in Other

Education Management Company, 1-10 employees

View all 186 answers on this topic

Cons

I would love the ability for reviews to be deleted.

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Genevieve (Genni) Lum Cheong-Brown

HRIS Manager

ePlus inc.Information Technology and Services, 1001-5000 employees

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It's difficult to update user emails and user phone numbers after they have been set
The performance management system could use some quality of life improvements like viewing previous reviews while completing a new review or allowing a manager to view the self-review of an employee while completing the manager review.
For the issues and incidents section, it would be great if system admins could submit a new case like a workplace injury or near-miss without having to tag an employee in the case. Sometimes we just want to add the information into Flex for recordkeeping purposes and for generating 300A forms at the end of the year.

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Verified User

Administrator in Human Resources

Real Estate Company, 51-200 employees

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Pricing Details

General

Free Trial

—

Free/Freemium Version

—

Premium Consulting/Integration Services

—

Entry-level set up fee?

Required

Starting Price

—

Core HR Editions & Modules

—

Additional Pricing Details

—

General

Free Trial

—

Free/Freemium Version

—

Premium Consulting/Integration Services

—

Entry-level set up fee?

Required

Starting Price

Paychex Flex Editions & Modules

Edition

Paychex Go	$59¹
Paychex Flex Service	Contact sales team
Paychex Flex Enterprise	Contact sales team

per month/+$4 per employee
none

Additional Pricing Details

—

Likelihood to Renew

No score

No answers yet

No answers on this topic

Paychex Flex 7.8

Based on 15 answers

overall we have had good experience. when problems occur paychex is quick to resolve the problems; however when encountering recurring problems and issues it doesn't matter how quickly they are resolved they should re-occur. Paychex will price match competitor's quotes.

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Rhonda Rader

Tax Accountant

Markovitz DuganAccounting, 11-50 employees

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Usability

No score

No answers yet

No answers on this topic

Paychex Flex 8.2

Based on 131 answers

Paychex Flex has possibly added electronic onboarding since we stopped using the system. This option would bring my rating up to a 8 or 9 for Paychex Flex. The ability to have employees enter their info, read and ackowledge company policies versus hand writing paper applications that are often times not legible, has been more effecient for us with the hiring process

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Heather Bala

Human Resources Administrator

Positive Energy NY LLCConstruction, 51-200 employees

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Reliability and Availability

No score

No answers yet

No answers on this topic

Paychex Flex 8.9

Based on 6 answers

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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Verified User

Manager in Other

Accounting Company, 1-10 employees

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Performance

No score

No answers yet

No answers on this topic

Paychex Flex 8.8

Based on 6 answers

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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Verified User

Director in Finance and Accounting

Electrical & Electronic Manufacturing Company, 11-50 employees

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Support Rating

No score

No answers yet

No answers on this topic

Paychex Flex 8.1

Based on 160 answers

Paychex Flex has been having longer than normal wait times, but I do think that it is a covid-related/staffing issue as it's only been happening in the past 2 months (November, December, January 2022). Once I do have a representative on the line, they are helpful, knowledgeable, and friendly. The support level is fairly basic at the representative level. For anything more complex, an HR specialist would need to be brought in.

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Lonnie deMarco

HR Operations Advisor / Fractional HR / Talent Aquisition

PrivateNon-profit Organization Management, 11-50 employees

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Online Training

No score

No answers yet

No answers on this topic

Paychex Flex 8.2

Based on 1 answer

They were very patient and answered all of my questions.

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Sarah Heller

Accounting

Cameo Fabricators Inc.Oil & Energy, 11-50 employees

View all 1 answers on this topic

Implementation Rating

No score

No answers yet

No answers on this topic

Paychex Flex 8.6

Based on 8 answers

Just make sure you have your in-house data collected and organized before you start. It would be helpful to put together a questionnaire to solicit all of the needed information.

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Joey Riso

President

DESERT FLORAL INCRetail, 1-10 employees

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Alternatives Considered

The previous software I used was so limited in various core HR functions. On the other hand Core HR meets up our almost every requirement. And the very most reason to switch into Core HR is it has a free trail version for the users. That gives you much flexibility to check everything out properly

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Muhammad Sadequl Islam

Senior Executive, HR & Administration

Biopharma LimitedPharmaceuticals, 501-1000 employees

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Paychex Flex is hands-down an easier way to manage payroll. I found QuickBooks Online to be somewhat confusing about when and where to file what form, and it was definitely more tedious than the easy flow of using Paychex Flex.

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Luann Honerkamp

Executive Director

Visions of Hope Training ProgramNon-profit Organization Management, 1-10 employees

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Scalability

No score

No answers yet

No answers on this topic

Paychex Flex 8.2

Based on 6 answers

Employees can log in at home and get up to date information on their FSA balance and any medical bill reimbursements they may have uploaded. At renewal time they have the ability to make changes to their FSA or for new employees star the enrollment.

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Verified User

Director in Finance and Accounting

Electrical & Electronic Manufacturing Company, 11-50 employees

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Return on Investment

We can see our all details here like salary statement.
Payroll information(complete breakup of you compensation).
Claim different allowances with this tool and track it as well.
Track your time and attendance here.
We can modify the shift plan here and change the WOs but it will go for approval to your manager.
The process of changing the WOs, regularization is little difficult.

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Mohammad Equbal

Technical Associate

SEARS Holding IndiaInformation Technology & Services, 1001-5000 employees

View all 3 answers on this topic

Using Paychex Flex has been a great timesaver for me - I can print out timesheets that help keep me focused on all the employee's time and accurate reporting.
The payroll journals are very easy to read and make cash management a very simple process.
Employees love that they can go online and see their paychecks and payroll information, thereby leaving me to do more important tasks.

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Terry Capaldi

Accounting Manager

Kitchens by Charles WeilerConstruction, 11-50 employees

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Screenshots

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See All (3) Paychex Flex Screenshots