Paychex Flex vs. UKG Pro

Overview
ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price
Paychex Flex
Score 6.6 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
UKG Pro
Score 8.0 out of 10
N/A
UKG delivers cloud-based HCM solutions including UKG Pro that help businesses simplify payroll computations, accelerate talent acquisition, manage time and attendance, and support proactive, strategic talent management on a global level.N/A
Pricing
Paychex FlexUKG Pro
Editions & Modules
Paychex Go
$59
per month/+$4 per employee
Paychex Flex Service
Contact sales team
Paychex Flex Enterprise
Contact sales team
No answers on this topic
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
Paychex FlexUKG Pro
Free Trial
NoNo
Free/Freemium Version
NoNo
Premium Consulting/Integration Services
NoYes
Entry-level Setup FeeRequiredNo setup fee
Additional Details
More Pricing Information
Community Pulse
Paychex FlexUKG Pro
Considered Both Products
Paychex Flex
Chose Paychex Flex
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.
UKG Pro
Chose UKG Pro
UKG Pro is much more user friendly than both previous HRIS and payroll systems I've used in the past. The others are less streamlined and include multiple more steps to complete a task than UKG Pro does.
Chose UKG Pro
Better quality, more robust, more customization. With many of these other systems, you get a pre-packaged, cookie-cutter system that often lacks the ability to custom-tailor the system to meet your company needs. Not the case with UKG Pro.
Chose UKG Pro
The three most important factors that lead us to UltiPro:
Product Implementation - UltiPro provided a dedicated implementation team. All team members were very knowledgeable, extremely patient, and provided great feedback.
Cost - price negotiation was a key element. UltiPro …
Chose UKG Pro
UKG had all the modules we were looking for, was highly configurable, and looked like it could grow with our business. Did not realize how much of the heavy lifting was needed on our part for implementation and ongoing. UKG does have its quirks and some workarounds are needed …
Chose UKG Pro

UKG is more robust and each system works with the other. When we used Paychex, their platforms didn't work well together and it was difficult to get help on each because the trainers were not cross-trained on each.

Chose UKG Pro
UKG is more integrated and easier to support. It's also more robust in the level of options available for services.
Chose UKG Pro
UKG Pro is a robust platform comparable to ADP TotalSource and Optimum Solutions. Both ADP and Optimum had better custom reporting capabilities that were more user friendly than the UKG Pro product. One other area that I think ADP and Optimum did better in is benefit …
Chose UKG Pro
We felt that the service was going to be a huge improvement from what we were dealing with prior. The capability of the system and the things that we can customize and track was definitely more than what we saw with the other systems we were looking at and currently used. The …
Chose UKG Pro
UltiPro is more cost effective and allows more flexibility in customization. The report writer is a lot more user friendly too.
Chose UKG Pro
UltiPro is the best product on the market. Other vendors only have a fraction of the functionality. Other vendors do not have anywhere near the support team that UltiPro has.
Chose UKG Pro
Hands down UltiPro is the best HRIS system around. With ADP, half the time you need a rep to give you your data. I can't imagine why an organization would pay for a vendor to not release your own data! Good ADP reps are few and far between. I spent a majority of my time with …
Top Pros
Top Cons
Features
Paychex FlexUKG Pro
Human Resource Management
Comparison of Human Resource Management features of Product A and Product B
Paychex Flex
6.7
247 Ratings
16% below category average
UKG Pro
8.4
803 Ratings
7% above category average
Employee demographic data8.0197 Ratings8.8731 Ratings
Employment history8.1220 Ratings8.7762 Ratings
Job profiles and administration6.8155 Ratings8.7733 Ratings
Workflow for transfers, promotions, pay raises, etc.7.3154 Ratings8.3721 Ratings
Organizational charting1.01 Ratings7.8643 Ratings
Organization and location management7.9138 Ratings8.2656 Ratings
Compliance data (COBRA, OSHA, etc.)7.5132 Ratings8.1517 Ratings
Payroll Management
Comparison of Payroll Management features of Product A and Product B
Paychex Flex
8.5
288 Ratings
6% above category average
UKG Pro
8.6
746 Ratings
7% above category average
Pay calculation9.0271 Ratings9.0709 Ratings
Off-cycle/On-Demand payment9.1136 Ratings8.8231 Ratings
Benefit plan administration7.2156 Ratings8.1643 Ratings
Direct deposit files9.2270 Ratings9.3702 Ratings
Salary revision and increment management8.5193 Ratings8.8573 Ratings
Reimbursement management7.9105 Ratings8.057 Ratings
Support for external payroll vendors00 Ratings8.2336 Ratings
Leave and Attendance Management
Comparison of Leave and Attendance Management features of Product A and Product B
Paychex Flex
7.0
144 Ratings
14% below category average
UKG Pro
8.4
563 Ratings
4% above category average
Approval workflow6.3102 Ratings8.8504 Ratings
Balance details7.5136 Ratings8.4529 Ratings
Annual carry-forward and encashment7.3110 Ratings8.1434 Ratings
Employee Self Service
Comparison of Employee Self Service features of Product A and Product B
Paychex Flex
8.5
249 Ratings
5% above category average
UKG Pro
8.5
798 Ratings
5% above category average
View and generate pay and benefit information8.6228 Ratings8.8769 Ratings
Update personal information9.0239 Ratings8.9776 Ratings
View company policy documentation7.7111 Ratings8.5564 Ratings
View job history8.7168 Ratings8.9759 Ratings
Employee recognition00 Ratings7.4287 Ratings
Asset Management
Comparison of Asset Management features of Product A and Product B
Paychex Flex
7.8
40 Ratings
1% above category average
UKG Pro
8.5
189 Ratings
9% above category average
Tracking of all physical assets7.840 Ratings8.5189 Ratings
HR Reporting
Comparison of HR Reporting features of Product A and Product B
Paychex Flex
6.1
164 Ratings
22% below category average
UKG Pro
7.7
734 Ratings
1% above category average
Report builder5.7134 Ratings7.7714 Ratings
Pre-built reports6.8154 Ratings7.9724 Ratings
Ability to combine HR data with external data5.683 Ratings7.6495 Ratings
Onboarding
Comparison of Onboarding features of Product A and Product B
Paychex Flex
8.0
158 Ratings
0% below category average
UKG Pro
8.6
557 Ratings
7% above category average
New hire portal8.0151 Ratings8.6554 Ratings
Manager tracking tools7.9100 Ratings8.7444 Ratings
Recruiting / ATS
Comparison of Recruiting / ATS features of Product A and Product B
Paychex Flex
8.5
59 Ratings
9% above category average
UKG Pro
8.5
456 Ratings
9% above category average
Job Requisition Management9.732 Ratings8.8434 Ratings
Company Website Posting9.730 Ratings9.1422 Ratings
Publish to Social Media6.823 Ratings8.7333 Ratings
Job Search Site Posting6.730 Ratings8.8390 Ratings
Duplicate Candidate Prevention6.828 Ratings7.1323 Ratings
Applicant Tracking9.633 Ratings8.6421 Ratings
Notifications and Alerts9.853 Ratings8.4388 Ratings
Performance and Goals
Comparison of Performance and Goals features of Product A and Product B
Paychex Flex
-
Ratings
UKG Pro
7.9
377 Ratings
3% below category average
Corporate goal setting00 Ratings8.1293 Ratings
Individual goal setting00 Ratings7.7359 Ratings
Line-of sight-visibility00 Ratings7.9251 Ratings
Performance tracking00 Ratings7.8333 Ratings
Performance Management
Comparison of Performance Management features of Product A and Product B
Paychex Flex
-
Ratings
UKG Pro
8.1
465 Ratings
2% above category average
Performance plans00 Ratings7.8415 Ratings
Performance improvement plans00 Ratings7.7326 Ratings
Review status tracking00 Ratings8.3436 Ratings
Review reminders00 Ratings8.3397 Ratings
Multiple review frequency00 Ratings8.3337 Ratings
Succession Planning
Comparison of Succession Planning features of Product A and Product B
Paychex Flex
-
Ratings
UKG Pro
8.5
187 Ratings
7% above category average
Create succession plans/pools00 Ratings8.5155 Ratings
Candidate ranking00 Ratings8.4164 Ratings
Candidate search00 Ratings8.5163 Ratings
Candidate development00 Ratings8.5152 Ratings
Best Alternatives
Paychex FlexUKG Pro
Small Businesses
Patriot Software
Patriot Software
Score 9.0 out of 10
Patriot Software
Patriot Software
Score 9.0 out of 10
Medium-sized Companies
Paypro Workforce Management
Paypro Workforce Management
Score 9.5 out of 10
Paypro Workforce Management
Paypro Workforce Management
Score 9.5 out of 10
Enterprises
Infor Human Resources
Infor Human Resources
Score 7.3 out of 10
Infor Human Resources
Infor Human Resources
Score 7.3 out of 10
All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
User Ratings
Paychex FlexUKG Pro
Likelihood to Recommend
7.7
(298 ratings)
8.3
(928 ratings)
Likelihood to Renew
8.9
(42 ratings)
8.8
(194 ratings)
Usability
8.0
(240 ratings)
8.5
(188 ratings)
Availability
9.3
(10 ratings)
10.0
(74 ratings)
Performance
9.1
(10 ratings)
9.5
(331 ratings)
Support Rating
7.7
(245 ratings)
6.4
(492 ratings)
In-Person Training
4.5
(1 ratings)
9.6
(87 ratings)
Online Training
7.0
(4 ratings)
9.1
(202 ratings)
Implementation Rating
9.4
(11 ratings)
9.9
(86 ratings)
Configurability
7.6
(8 ratings)
9.9
(76 ratings)
Ease of integration
9.1
(3 ratings)
9.9
(65 ratings)
Product Scalability
9.3
(10 ratings)
9.4
(93 ratings)
Vendor post-sale
8.9
(31 ratings)
7.9
(55 ratings)
Vendor pre-sale
9.2
(32 ratings)
9.9
(48 ratings)
User Testimonials
Paychex FlexUKG Pro
Likelihood to Recommend
Paychex, Inc.
In my experience, Paychex Flex is well suited for small to medium sized businesses. It has been helpful in streamlining the onboarding process and it is easy to update and maintain employee profiles and records. It has worked will in a non-profit environment where there is clergy pay and housing, which can get quite complicated. I cannot think of a scenario where it would be less appropriate.
Read full review
UKG
UKG did well when we had issues with employees working for both agencies. We called the Rapid Response Team, and they fixed those issues on their back end. Another example is with the Amended W-2 form; they gave us instructions to do it ourselves, but it was not working, and need to make phone calls to get help.
Read full review
Pros
Paychex, Inc.
  • I like I can enter payroll and if I need to leave the program, I can resume at a later time and my information is saved.
  • I like the analytics & reports features.
  • I like how all my employees have easy access to their portal.
Read full review
UKG
  • UKG has an amazing support team to reach out to if assistance is needed
  • All add-ons of UKG Pro integrate seamlessly making it a powerful software program
  • UKG Pro is very configurable to meet the specific needs of companies
  • It is easy to use and navigate
  • The mobile app is loved by all employees and provides on-demand access
  • The Ultimate Community is amazing!! On-demand information on all products and how they are used. Connect with other companies that use UKG Pro and learn from each other.
  • The Learning Centre is also amazing!! Learning right at your fingertips anytime, anywhere.
Read full review
Cons
Paychex, Inc.
  • Reporting writing is difficult to figure out
  • Employee turnover inside Paychex was a problem, until we were assigned to Neil Williams - since that time it has settled down
  • Pressure to convert personal connection with payroll advisor to using automated service
Read full review
UKG
  • As UKG is aware, the support for customers needs some improvement. As the recent changes to the staffing/support hierarchy take effect, I hope to see some relief to the current frustrations.
  • As the UKG Pro products evolve, they need to become more integrated and less segmented. Having to purchase multiple products that then need to coordinate for processing leads to issues.
  • As users, we have a lot of options for self-service and customization, but some simple fixes still require assistance from UKG support. Give us the power to help ourselves whenever possible.
Read full review
Likelihood to Renew
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
Read full review
UKG
We are overall happy with UltiPro and it works well for our organization and we have plans to expand our usage of it even more so we will definitely be continuing with the product. We are thinking of adding the functionality for training and recruiting as well, which is an add-on product
Read full review
Usability
Paychex, Inc.
Some things could be streamlined. For example, we could do custom options for the "add items" tab which has so many options that we never use. "Medical Pay" could be something that the system remembers for the applicable employees. Salaried employees' salaries should definitely be auto-filled. Overall the system works well but I think it could be improved to be easier to use and read.
Read full review
UKG
Mobile App: Really easy to use and its nice to have an HR software that actually has an mobile application to be able to enter time and to take care of everything with. Web App: The system is relatively easy to use with maybe a little training at the beginning if you have used another system. But the site is really easy to use and a lot better having everything under one roof
Read full review
Reliability and Availability
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.
Read full review
UKG
I've found Ultipro to be completely reliable. Outages are typically planned to occur on weekends and only once did I have connections issues connecting Citrix to the server where our environment was housed, but within the hour connection was restored. I think that's a pretty good track record, considering I've used the suite daily for over three years. Especially when processing payroll--say the internet goes down in the middle of you performing a task... Ultipro is able to recognize that a connection error occurred and quickly restores the process that was running, avoiding lost productivity.
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Performance
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.
Read full review
UKG
Normally UKG Pro loads quickly. We had been having major issues with reports running in a timely manner but recently they broke out our virtual server to another instance where is wasn't sharing resources and that seems to have helped reporting run more efficiently.
Read full review
Support Rating
Paychex, Inc.
Our dedicated representative is one of the main reasons we are sticking with Paychex Flex. If it were not for this person, other platforms could provide the same/similar functionality. It is the ability to speak with someone that understands our business and is willing to get questions answered in a timely fashion that keeps us with Paychex Flex.
Read full review
UKG
Support is quick to respond and helpful when you don't understand how to use or implement their response. They are great at following up and checking in as well as escalating cases when they are more urgent and need more attention.
Read full review
In-Person Training
Paychex, Inc.
We did online training only
Read full review
UKG
I've been to a few in-person (hands on) training sessions and it is very similar to the online classes. You have the same reference material to look back on after the training. So regardless of in person training or online you really get the same thing.
Read full review
Online Training
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.
Read full review
UKG
Most of the online training was very generic (to be expected) but we had specific requirements for configuration that could have been better addressed with more individual sessions earlier on from our project team. However, we did finally begin booking training sessions with our implementation team which were recorded, and so provided additional information for how to correctly configure and test the system.
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Implementation Rating
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.
Read full review
UKG
Make sure you have all of your tax account information with all the states you are registered in available and that you are knowledgeable about the filing status, frequency, etc. We had some unique challenges with our state unemployment tax set up that I was not aware of and needed to be addressed prior to going live. Working with the state unemployment office can be a challenge.
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Alternatives Considered
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.
Read full review
UKG
My experience with HRIS systems is limited to UKG Pro. It is the only HRIS I have worked with. I have worked with other systems that perform the tasks of some of its models and have found that when used with the various modules the overall experience with UKG is great. The ability to have all of the modules on the same platform makes the integration between UKG Pro and the modules great!
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Scalability
Paychex, Inc.
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.
Read full review
UKG
Read full review
Return on Investment
Paychex, Inc.
  • I do not believe we have saved anything additionally. The time we've had to spend to get things to hopefully work is sad. This is the reason we've had to turn off all extra "products" of Paychex Flex. Time and Attendance is horrible. Benefits management is horrible. The user experience is horrible.
  • One thing I do not understand is why are updates for states, cities, counties, school districts, etc. not automatically updated? Should we not get a big red flag if we have an employee living/working, being paid in CA, but they aren't set up for CA sick time? If it is required to be on the paycheck stub to show the balance of the sick time, why would we not be notified that we are out of compliance?
Read full review
UKG
  • We have increased our HR activities to 85% through UKG. OSHA and Leave need to be pulled in
  • Reduced from a 1000 pieces of pay statements to @ 10 per pay roll through Direct deposit and cash pay cards.
  • Onboarding signoffs have improved audit records for signed job descriptions, i-9 forms, hand book sign off and policy sign off
Read full review
ScreenShots

Paychex Flex Screenshots

Screenshot of Screenshot of Screenshot of

UKG Pro Screenshots

Screenshot of UKG Pro People CenterScreenshot of UKG Pro PayrollScreenshot of UKG Pro Mobile AppScreenshot of UKG Pro RecruitingScreenshot of UKG Pro Employee Voice