Paychex vs. SurePayroll

Overview
ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price
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
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
PaychexSurePayroll
Editions & Modules
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
No answers on this topic
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
PaychexSurePayroll
Free Trial
NoYes
Free/Freemium Version
NoNo
Premium Consulting/Integration Services
NoNo
Entry-level Setup FeeRequiredNo setup fee
Additional Details
More Pricing Information
Community Pulse
PaychexSurePayroll
Considered Both Products
Paychex
Chose Paychex
SurePayroll is pretty bad, it has a lower monthly fee, but their automation is not up to snuff. Paychex Flex, where you have a designated payroll representative (and mine is competent), does a much better job if there are any regulatory changes or irregularities. I would not …
SurePayroll
Chose SurePayroll
SurePayroll is lower cost than Paychex, but I would recommend using Paychex despite their higher cost because they are more closely in communication with the tax divisions that are administering payroll taxes, and are less likely to make an error in my experience so far.
Features
PaychexSurePayroll
Human Resource Management
Comparison of Human Resource Management features of Product A and Product B
Paychex
7.7
273 Ratings
5% below category average
SurePayroll
-
Ratings
Employee demographic data7.8220 Ratings00 Ratings
Employment history8.0243 Ratings00 Ratings
Job profiles and administration7.8178 Ratings00 Ratings
Workflow for transfers, promotions, pay raises, etc.7.8173 Ratings00 Ratings
Organizational charting8.02 Ratings00 Ratings
Organization and location management7.5159 Ratings00 Ratings
Compliance data (COBRA, OSHA, etc.)6.7146 Ratings00 Ratings
Payroll Management
Comparison of Payroll Management features of Product A and Product B
Paychex
7.7
314 Ratings
5% below category average
SurePayroll
1.4
16 Ratings
142% below category average
Pay calculation7.9296 Ratings2.616 Ratings
Support for external payroll vendors8.01 Ratings1.012 Ratings
Off-cycle/On-Demand payment7.2154 Ratings1.09 Ratings
Benefit plan administration6.9175 Ratings1.27 Ratings
Direct deposit files8.3295 Ratings1.213 Ratings
Salary revision and increment management7.9210 Ratings1.212 Ratings
Reimbursement management7.6119 Ratings1.210 Ratings
Leave and Attendance Management
Comparison of Leave and Attendance Management features of Product A and Product B
Paychex
7.2
159 Ratings
12% below category average
SurePayroll
-
Ratings
Approval workflow7.3113 Ratings00 Ratings
Balance details7.4151 Ratings00 Ratings
Annual carry-forward and encashment6.9119 Ratings00 Ratings
Employee Self Service
Comparison of Employee Self Service features of Product A and Product B
Paychex
7.8
271 Ratings
5% below category average
SurePayroll
-
Ratings
View and generate pay and benefit information7.8249 Ratings00 Ratings
Update personal information7.9261 Ratings00 Ratings
View company policy documentation7.8122 Ratings00 Ratings
View job history7.9185 Ratings00 Ratings
Asset Management
Comparison of Asset Management features of Product A and Product B
Paychex
4.9
43 Ratings
48% below category average
SurePayroll
-
Ratings
Tracking of all physical assets4.943 Ratings00 Ratings
HR Reporting
Comparison of HR Reporting features of Product A and Product B
Paychex
5.8
177 Ratings
26% below category average
SurePayroll
-
Ratings
Report builder6.2147 Ratings00 Ratings
Pre-built reports6.2165 Ratings00 Ratings
Ability to combine HR data with external data5.191 Ratings00 Ratings
Onboarding
Comparison of Onboarding features of Product A and Product B
Paychex
6.6
174 Ratings
19% below category average
SurePayroll
-
Ratings
New hire portal6.9166 Ratings00 Ratings
Manager tracking tools6.3110 Ratings00 Ratings
Recruiting / ATS
Comparison of Recruiting / ATS features of Product A and Product B
Paychex
5.1
70 Ratings
42% below category average
SurePayroll
-
Ratings
Job Requisition Management5.536 Ratings00 Ratings
Company Website Posting5.234 Ratings00 Ratings
Publish to Social Media4.728 Ratings00 Ratings
Job Search Site Posting5.135 Ratings00 Ratings
Duplicate Candidate Prevention4.734 Ratings00 Ratings
Applicant Tracking4.739 Ratings00 Ratings
Notifications and Alerts5.964 Ratings00 Ratings
User Ratings
PaychexSurePayroll
Likelihood to Recommend
6.6
(329 ratings)
1.0
(27 ratings)
Likelihood to Renew
7.1
(48 ratings)
9.0
(1 ratings)
Usability
7.1
(270 ratings)
1.0
(3 ratings)
Availability
5.4
(12 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Performance
7.1
(12 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Support Rating
6.4
(270 ratings)
9.2
(5 ratings)
In-Person Training
4.5
(1 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Online Training
8.3
(4 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Implementation Rating
5.3
(13 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Configurability
5.0
(9 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Contract Terms and Pricing Model
-
(0 ratings)
10.0
(1 ratings)
Ease of integration
9.1
(3 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Product Scalability
5.7
(12 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Professional Services
-
(0 ratings)
9.0
(1 ratings)
Vendor post-sale
5.6
(34 ratings)
9.0
(1 ratings)
Vendor pre-sale
6.1
(35 ratings)
9.0
(1 ratings)
User Testimonials
PaychexSurePayroll
Likelihood to Recommend
Paychex Inc.
Overall we have had a good experience. The unfortunate part of being with them for over 10 years is the change-over in support specialists and sometimes the lack of transparency when that occurs or the lack of personalized communication. However, the ease of use and streamlined services for reporting and recording payroll and onboarding employees is definitely a benefit to the service. Being able to pull reports and review past employees information can be invaluable at times. Knowing I have peace of mind when it comes to tax documentation because someone else is ensuring it is handled and handled correctly is very important
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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
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
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
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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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
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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Paychex, Inc.
Very likely, easy to use, support system in place.
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Usability
Paychex Inc.
I think as both a payroll administrator and an employee who is paid from Paychex, the site is user friendly and easy to find the items I need. The support is knowledgeable and quick to assist as is not always the case with other payroll platforms. The payroll options for checks and templates, gross-up, etc is easy to use and makes changes easy to do.
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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
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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Paychex, Inc.
No answers on this topic
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.
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Paychex, Inc.
No answers on this topic
Support Rating
Paychex Inc.
In our experience, Support is slow to respond. They always eventually resolve issues and answer questions, but it almost always takes time. This has occasionally been a problem for us. However, in the instances where it was a problem, they made it right by processing a payroll overnight (instead of the usual 2 day requirement) in one case, and in another, they processed a separate payroll at no charge.
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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
Paychex Inc.
We did online training only
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Paychex, Inc.
No answers on this topic
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.
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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
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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Paychex, Inc.
No, I can't think of any.
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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.
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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
Paychex Inc.
No answers on this topic
Paychex, Inc.
In retrospect, I wouldn't change anything.
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Scalability
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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Paychex, Inc.
No answers on this topic
Professional Services
Paychex Inc.
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
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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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

Paychex Screenshots

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