Frontline HCM (Aesop Online) vs. Paychex

Overview
ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price
Frontline HCM (Aesop Online)
Score 7.8 out of 10
N/A
N/AN/A
Paychex
Score 6.9 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
Frontline HCM (Aesop Online)Paychex
Editions & Modules
No answers on this topic
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
Frontline HCM (Aesop Online)Paychex
Free Trial
NoNo
Free/Freemium Version
NoNo
Premium Consulting/Integration Services
NoNo
Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeRequired
Additional Details
More Pricing Information
Community Pulse
Frontline HCM (Aesop Online)Paychex
Features
Frontline HCM (Aesop Online)Paychex
Human Resource Management
Comparison of Human Resource Management features of Product A and Product B
Frontline HCM (Aesop Online)
7.0
5 Ratings
15% below category average
Paychex
6.7
272 Ratings
19% below category average
Employee demographic data6.02 Ratings7.8219 Ratings
Employment history5.01 Ratings8.1242 Ratings
Job profiles and administration6.53 Ratings7.8177 Ratings
Organization and location management8.52 Ratings7.5158 Ratings
Compliance data (COBRA, OSHA, etc.)9.01 Ratings6.8146 Ratings
Workflow for transfers, promotions, pay raises, etc.00 Ratings7.8172 Ratings
Organizational charting00 Ratings1.01 Ratings
Leave and Attendance Management
Comparison of Leave and Attendance Management features of Product A and Product B
Frontline HCM (Aesop Online)
9.6
5 Ratings
16% above category average
Paychex
7.3
159 Ratings
11% below category average
Approval workflow9.05 Ratings7.3113 Ratings
Balance details10.05 Ratings7.5151 Ratings
Annual carry-forward and encashment9.93 Ratings7.0119 Ratings
Employee Self Service
Comparison of Employee Self Service features of Product A and Product B
Frontline HCM (Aesop Online)
6.8
3 Ratings
19% below category average
Paychex
7.8
270 Ratings
5% below category average
Update personal information7.01 Ratings7.9260 Ratings
View company policy documentation6.12 Ratings7.7121 Ratings
View job history7.52 Ratings7.9184 Ratings
View and generate pay and benefit information00 Ratings7.8248 Ratings
HR Reporting
Comparison of HR Reporting features of Product A and Product B
Frontline HCM (Aesop Online)
8.1
4 Ratings
7% above category average
Paychex
5.9
177 Ratings
24% below category average
Report builder7.33 Ratings6.3147 Ratings
Pre-built reports8.94 Ratings6.3165 Ratings
Ability to combine HR data with external data7.92 Ratings5.191 Ratings
Onboarding
Comparison of Onboarding features of Product A and Product B
Frontline HCM (Aesop Online)
8.0
1 Ratings
0% above category average
Paychex
6.4
173 Ratings
22% below category average
New hire portal7.01 Ratings6.7165 Ratings
Manager tracking tools9.01 Ratings6.1109 Ratings
Performance Management
Comparison of Performance Management features of Product A and Product B
Frontline HCM (Aesop Online)
7.0
1 Ratings
12% below category average
Paychex
-
Ratings
Performance plans7.01 Ratings00 Ratings
Succession Planning
Comparison of Succession Planning features of Product A and Product B
Frontline HCM (Aesop Online)
10.0
1 Ratings
24% above category average
Paychex
-
Ratings
Candidate search10.01 Ratings00 Ratings
Payroll Management
Comparison of Payroll Management features of Product A and Product B
Frontline HCM (Aesop Online)
-
Ratings
Paychex
7.7
313 Ratings
5% below category average
Pay calculation00 Ratings8.0295 Ratings
Off-cycle/On-Demand payment00 Ratings7.1153 Ratings
Benefit plan administration00 Ratings6.9174 Ratings
Direct deposit files00 Ratings8.3294 Ratings
Salary revision and increment management00 Ratings8.0209 Ratings
Reimbursement management00 Ratings7.7118 Ratings
Asset Management
Comparison of Asset Management features of Product A and Product B
Frontline HCM (Aesop Online)
-
Ratings
Paychex
5.0
43 Ratings
47% below category average
Tracking of all physical assets00 Ratings5.043 Ratings
Recruiting / ATS
Comparison of Recruiting / ATS features of Product A and Product B
Frontline HCM (Aesop Online)
-
Ratings
Paychex
5.2
70 Ratings
40% below category average
Job Requisition Management00 Ratings5.536 Ratings
Company Website Posting00 Ratings5.334 Ratings
Publish to Social Media00 Ratings4.728 Ratings
Job Search Site Posting00 Ratings5.235 Ratings
Duplicate Candidate Prevention00 Ratings4.834 Ratings
Applicant Tracking00 Ratings4.839 Ratings
Notifications and Alerts00 Ratings5.964 Ratings
Best Alternatives
Frontline HCM (Aesop Online)Paychex
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
Frontline HCM (Aesop Online)Paychex
Likelihood to Recommend
8.1
(16 ratings)
6.2
(321 ratings)
Likelihood to Renew
9.0
(1 ratings)
1.2
(44 ratings)
Usability
9.0
(3 ratings)
6.7
(264 ratings)
Availability
8.0
(1 ratings)
5.6
(12 ratings)
Performance
10.0
(1 ratings)
7.1
(12 ratings)
Support Rating
9.0
(5 ratings)
6.2
(264 ratings)
In-Person Training
10.0
(1 ratings)
4.5
(1 ratings)
Online Training
-
(0 ratings)
8.3
(4 ratings)
Implementation Rating
9.0
(1 ratings)
5.4
(13 ratings)
Configurability
8.0
(1 ratings)
5.0
(9 ratings)
Ease of integration
7.0
(1 ratings)
9.1
(3 ratings)
Product Scalability
10.0
(1 ratings)
6.0
(12 ratings)
Vendor post-sale
9.0
(1 ratings)
2.2
(33 ratings)
Vendor pre-sale
10.0
(1 ratings)
3.2
(34 ratings)
User Testimonials
Frontline HCM (Aesop Online)Paychex
Likelihood to Recommend
Frontline Education
Frontline is well suited for an organization such as a school district where teachers sometimes need to put in for a substitute at the last minute or especially early in the morning. The system also helps with substitutes in picking up the jobs when a teacher puts in an absence.
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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
Frontline Education
  • Easily submission process. Select the day you need to schedule on the listed calendar, mark the type of request, and submit.
  • Works on different digital devices including phones, tablets, and computers.
  • Easily track your balances by looking at your account history.
  • Delete requests you have already submitted.
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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
Frontline Education
  • Teachers cannot cancel their own absence. We have to ask the office staff to do so. This is irritating when an absence must be canceled (Due to a canceled professional development, for example).
  • Sometimes absences go unfilled. It would be great if AESOP could have a roster of qualified substitutes to cover absences.
  • You cannot assign your absence to a particular substitute if you know he or she is available and a good fit for your absence.
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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
Frontline Education
Long time customer with Frontline Absence Management. Product support has been excellent, integrations easy to work with, & suite of products mesh together well.
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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
Frontline Education
While we have had minor issues logging in as our organization has its own login page, the site and its application are very easy to use. So long as members of a group log in through the appropriate page, navigating and using this site is quite easy. With the transition from Aesop to Frontline, the page also seems to have worked through any glitches found with the previous page and its app.
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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
Frontline Education
There have been several times the system was unavailable. When there has been an issue, Frontline HAS NOT notified us....which has been disappointing.
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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
Frontline Education
No issues reported by end users of slow or not loading pages.
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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
Frontline Education
Internal support is provided by EDU Staff based out of Grand Rapids. Whenever I have had an issue they are very responsive to my needs. For instance, there may be conflicts in the amount of money that was listed for the contract. There may be questions about the length of an assignment such as 1/2 day, full day, or early dismissal. The school will sometimes enter the wrong information. Very good IT support, but sometimes you are on hold for 5 to 10 minutes because they do not have enough workers in their Call Center
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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
Frontline Education
Our Implementer/Trainer was a product line expert. He (Connor) walked us through every step with confidence and explained everything in detail. Frontline provided written documentation, cut-n-paste emails to staff, and a test environment for us to play in. We were able to test unique scenarios without actually sending emails, notifications, alerts to staff. This was very useful.
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Paychex Inc.
We did online training only
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Online Training
Frontline Education
No answers on this topic
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
Frontline Education
Our Frontline implementer was an expert in the field & knew the product in & out. We had very little issues going live.
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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
Frontline Education
Frontline seems to be the industry standard for this software in the education industry. I am not familiar with any competitors or what was evaluated prior to implementing Frontline. For it to be the industry standard, I would assume that its cost is fair in relation to competitors and that the onboarding process is simple.
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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
Frontline Education
Our district has approximately 300 substitutes & 1,800 employees. Size has never been an issue with Absence Management. There are other districts much larger using Absence Management with no problems
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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
Frontline Education
  • It's given staff direct access to inputting their absences and secure coverage quicker, whereas before they had to make a call to a person. That person had to secure coverage for the entire district at different levels. Sometimes that person was absent or unable to provide coverage.
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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

Paychex Screenshots

Screenshot of Paychex Payroll DashboardScreenshot of Employee Background ChecksScreenshot of Paychex HR DashboardScreenshot of Paychex Flex Perks