TrustRadius: an HG Insights company

Save this comparison

Save this comparison

Add Product

Recommended Comparisons

    Overview
    ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price

    Renaissance Star Assessments

    Score9.4 out of 10
    N/AStar Assessments are a suite of assessments for reading, math, and early literacy, in both English and Spanish, boasting users among over 30,000 schools. Star Assessments helps educators to gain accurate insights into student learning, growth, and achievement—so they can help all learners reach their full potential. The full Star Assessment suite includes the computer-adaptive Star Reading (K–12), Star Math (K–12), and Star Early Literacy (pre-K–3) assessments; a formative assessment tool, Star…N/A

    SurePayroll By Paychex

    Score2.1 out of 10
    N/ASurePayroll 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.

    $29

    per month

    Pricing
    Renaissance Star AssessmentsSurePayroll By Paychex
    Editions & Modules
    No answers on this topic
    No answers on this topic
    Offerings
    Pricing Offerings
    Renaissance Star AssessmentsSurePayroll By Paychex
    Free Trial
    NoYes
    Free/Freemium Version
    NoNo
    Premium Consulting/Integration Services
    NoNo
    Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeNo setup fee
    Additional Details——
    More Pricing Information
    Community Pulse
    Renaissance Star AssessmentsSurePayroll By Paychex
    Considered Both Products
    Renaissance Learning
    No answer on this topic
    Paychex Inc.
    No answer on this topic
    Key User Insights
    Would buy again
    98%
    Would buy again
    48 Answers
    38%
    Would buy again
    6 Answers
    Delivers good value for the price
    100%
    Delivers good value for the price
    37 Answers
    44%
    Delivers good value for the price
    7 Answers
    Happy with the feature set
    94%
    Happy with the feature set
    46 Answers
    44%
    Happy with the feature set
    7 Answers
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    97%
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    30 Answers
    38%
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    6 Answers
    Implementation went as expected
    90%
    Implementation went as expected
    37 Answers
    56%
    Implementation went as expected
    9 Answers
    Features
    Renaissance Star AssessmentsSurePayroll By Paychex
    Payroll Management
    Comparison of Payroll Management features of Renaissance Star Assessments and SurePayroll By Paychex
    Feature
    Renaissance Star Assessments
    -
    Ratings
    SurePayroll By Paychex
    1.4
    16 Ratings
    142% below category average
    Pay calculation00 Ratings2.516 Ratings
    Support for external payroll vendors00 Ratings1.012 Ratings
    Off-cycle/On-Demand payment00 Ratings1.09 Ratings
    Benefit plan administration00 Ratings1.27 Ratings
    Direct deposit files00 Ratings1.213 Ratings
    Salary revision and increment management00 Ratings1.212 Ratings
    Reimbursement management00 Ratings1.210 Ratings
    Best Alternatives
    Renaissance Star AssessmentsSurePayroll By Paychex
    Small Businesses
    Renaissance Accelerated Reader
    Score9.9 out of 10
    Patriot Payroll
    Score8.6 out of 10
    Medium-sized Companies
    Renaissance Accelerated Reader
    Score9.9 out of 10
    APS
    Score5.7 out of 10
    Enterprises
    Renaissance Accelerated Reader
    Score9.9 out of 10
    ADP Streamline Payroll
    Score6.1 out of 10
    All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
    User Ratings
    Renaissance Star AssessmentsSurePayroll By Paychex
    Likelihood to Recommend
    9.4
    (71 ratings)
    1.0
    (27 ratings)
    Likelihood to Renew
    9.1
    (9 ratings)
    9.0
    (1 ratings)
    Usability
    9.2
    (9 ratings)
    1.0
    (3 ratings)
    Availability
    8.2
    (2 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Performance
    8.2
    (2 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Support Rating
    9.1
    (15 ratings)
    9.2
    (5 ratings)
    Online Training
    7.3
    (1 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Implementation Rating
    8.2
    (4 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Configurability
    9.1
    (2 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Contract Terms and Pricing Model
    -
    (0 ratings)
    10.0
    (1 ratings)
    Ease of integration
    8.8
    (3 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Product Scalability
    8.2
    (2 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Professional Services
    -
    (0 ratings)
    9.0
    (1 ratings)
    Vendor post-sale
    8.2
    (2 ratings)
    9.0
    (1 ratings)
    Vendor pre-sale
    8.2
    (2 ratings)
    9.0
    (1 ratings)
    User Testimonials
    Renaissance Star AssessmentsSurePayroll By Paychex
    Likelihood to Recommend
    Renaissance Learning
    Renaissance Star Assessments are great for students who already know English and know how to use a device, especially a tablet. The children can listen to the question, choose an answer, then move on to the next question. These assessments are less appropriate for students learning English as a second language. Since the questions are in English, and most students primarily speak another language, they do not understand the questions and get many of them wrong. As a result, they score low and it appears as if the child has not been learning when in fact the low score is due to a language barrier. I think there should also be some type of block to choosing an answer until after the question is presented because some children like to press answers before the question is finished and then try to move on. I think having the answers be unclickable before the question is finished would be a benefit for the children to pay more attention to the question.
    Read full review
    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.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Pros
    Renaissance Learning
    • Renaissance Star Assessments gives me a look at each student as an overall reader.
    • Renaissance Star Assessments shows me the areas of which my students are struggling.
    • Renaissance Star Assessments is linked with Nearpod, so I can assign lessons based on what each student needs.
    • Star CBM helps me see whether my students' fluency is improving or not.
    Incentivized
    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.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Cons
    Renaissance Learning
    • The graphs for each subject are not consistently the same. (ie. some graphs are by 5s and some are by 50s.) It's very confusing to read them.
    • The questions are not rigorous enough for state standards.
    • Different reports will show data that does not align. If 'state' is chosen, then all reports should show the same data. The Parent Report will show the child in 'green', but every sub-skill is in 'red'. That is super confusing for parents and teachers.
    • All reports should be based on the same score, but they are not. It is like comparing apples to oranges on the same child.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    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.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Likelihood to Renew
    Renaissance Learning
    Star Assessments and Renaissance is the best educational products at this time. They are found worldwide, easy to use and informational for districts teachers and families. Information will follow a student if they change districts and give previous information to new districts and teachers
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Paychex Inc.
    Very likely, easy to use, support system in place.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Usability
    Renaissance Learning
    It is very user friendly and intuitive. I have had minimal training on the system and was able to access many of the features. I was able to easily create student accounts and set up testing for our students. I was able to find appropriate reports that provide the right data for our team and our parents.
    Read full review
    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.
    Read full review
    Reliability and Availability
    Renaissance Learning
    It’s wonderful
    Read full review
    Paychex Inc.
    No answers on this topic
    Performance
    Renaissance Learning
    I absolutely love this program
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Paychex Inc.
    No answers on this topic
    Support Rating
    Renaissance Learning
    I have been very happy with the support. By phone or email I have found the support very good and they get back to me quickly. This survey however is wa6 overdone, expecting me to come up with 50 words on each question. It becomes very repetitive and very laborious.
    Read full review
    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.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Online Training
    Renaissance Learning
    I just feel this way.
    Read full review
    Paychex Inc.
    They were awesome. They knew the system very well and could help me very much.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Implementation Rating
    Renaissance Learning
    When presenters show us how to use the program they need to have a full class size of data. During training, there were only 5 or 6 sample students. Classes are more like 25 and that makes the training more realistic to have similar data to what we will use.
    Read full review
    Paychex Inc.
    No, I can't think of any.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Alternatives Considered
    Renaissance Learning
    Renaissance Star Math Assessment provided a proven data collection tool. This was also being used at the lower grades in our district, so it made sense to continue with its use to provide a more reliable and accurate picture of our students entering the middle school. The continuation of the data trail should continue to help their overall growth.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    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.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Contract Terms and Pricing Model
    Renaissance Learning
    No answers on this topic
    Paychex Inc.
    In retrospect, I wouldn't change anything.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Scalability
    Renaissance Learning
    Great overall program with lots of advice in implementation
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Paychex Inc.
    No answers on this topic
    Professional Services
    Renaissance Learning
    No answers on this topic
    Paychex Inc.
    We were able to calculate different hourly numbers when we completed Certified Payroll for professional services.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Return on Investment
    Renaissance Learning
    • It has positively impacted student time to learn by reducing testing times and allowing more time for instruction
    • The reduced testing time also positively impacted our schools by freeing the computer labs and making the planning and creation of testing schedules easier. This has allowed more computer lab use for education and learning.
    • It has negatively impacted the time and effort required by support staff, administrators, and some teachers by requiring more time spent on looking up results or going to multiple spots and manually combining results because a larger group couldn't easily be made.
    • Another negative impact on our district is that it has also taxed those few educators with more technical ability and data knowledge moreso than other programs. The need to create/summarize/write programs to deal with full, raw data export files since the smaller, more specific reports and summaries are not downloadable into a format that can be manipulated easily (pdf only, not csv exports), and to constantly back up data exports and to have to search through them when the State wants results on past students etc.
    Read full review
    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.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    ScreenShots