RUN Powered by ADP® vs. Paylocity

Overview
ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price
RUN Powered by ADP®
Score 9.4 out of 10
Small Businesses (1-50 employees)
The RUN Powered by ADP® cloud-based solution is used to pay employees. It also includes HR and hiring tools, as well as benefits, helping small businesses grow and manage their teams.N/A
Paylocity
Score 8.4 out of 10
N/A
Paylocity provides 24/7 access to your online payroll and human resource data management. Paylocity offers highly customizable payroll functionality, as well as HR, benefits administration, and time and talent management programs.N/A
Pricing
RUN Powered by ADP®Paylocity
Editions & Modules
No answers on this topic
No answers on this topic
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
RUN Powered by ADP®Paylocity
Free Trial
YesNo
Free/Freemium Version
NoNo
Premium Consulting/Integration Services
NoYes
Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeNo setup fee
Additional Details
More Pricing Information
Community Pulse
RUN Powered by ADP®Paylocity
Considered Both Products
RUN Powered by ADP®
Chose RUN Powered by ADP®
The cost was about the same but ADP had a much better HR function and online background checks and ZipRecruiter. We also like the ability to easily add the ADP 401k product although we have not done so yet. As an accountant, I appreciate the "GL Company View" report that has …
Chose RUN Powered by ADP®
I did not select ADP, it was the system in place when I started. We are moving away from ADP as it is not robust enough for our needs.
Paylocity
Chose Paylocity
ADP was not user-friendly at all. It was quite confusing just to process payroll, much less reports. We had an HR clerk steal over $50k by adding direct deposits to her payroll, and ADP never alerted anyone. When called about this, they claimed it is not their responsibility.
Chose Paylocity
Out of all the other HRIS systems I have used, I spend way less time doing my job with Paylocity. Paycom has so many pages to weed through to do anything or find information, Paychex Flex was underwhelming at best, and ADP Workforce Now had too many segmented features that it …
Chose Paylocity
ADP had limited tools and couldn't manage a single payroll run with multiple pay periods. Paylocity solved that issue and eliminated our need for a 3rd party recognition platform
Chose Paylocity
ADP did not allow for a streamlined process like I wanted. It was much more user friendly for payroll processing though and there were less errors.
Features
RUN Powered by ADP®Paylocity
Payroll Management
Comparison of Payroll Management features of Product A and Product B
RUN Powered by ADP®
8.0
261 Ratings
3% below category average
Paylocity
8.2
1115 Ratings
3% above category average
Pay calculation9.1252 Ratings8.61087 Ratings
Support for external payroll vendors7.276 Ratings7.5533 Ratings
Off-cycle/On-Demand payment9.3175 Ratings8.6822 Ratings
Benefit plan administration6.8111 Ratings7.6752 Ratings
Direct deposit files9.4245 Ratings9.01084 Ratings
Salary revision and increment management9.5186 Ratings8.1866 Ratings
Reimbursement management5.138 Ratings8.0543 Ratings
Human Resource Management
Comparison of Human Resource Management features of Product A and Product B
RUN Powered by ADP®
-
Ratings
Paylocity
7.9
1146 Ratings
1% above category average
Employee demographic data00 Ratings8.61088 Ratings
Employment history00 Ratings8.21050 Ratings
Job profiles and administration00 Ratings8.0980 Ratings
Workflow for transfers, promotions, pay raises, etc.00 Ratings7.6993 Ratings
Organizational charting00 Ratings7.2923 Ratings
Organization and location management00 Ratings7.9899 Ratings
Compliance data (COBRA, OSHA, etc.)00 Ratings7.6770 Ratings
Leave and Attendance Management
Comparison of Leave and Attendance Management features of Product A and Product B
RUN Powered by ADP®
-
Ratings
Paylocity
7.5
943 Ratings
6% below category average
Approval workflow00 Ratings7.5841 Ratings
Balance details00 Ratings7.4900 Ratings
Annual carry-forward and encashment00 Ratings7.7709 Ratings
Employee Self Service
Comparison of Employee Self Service features of Product A and Product B
RUN Powered by ADP®
-
Ratings
Paylocity
8.5
1127 Ratings
5% above category average
View and generate pay and benefit information00 Ratings8.61097 Ratings
Update personal information00 Ratings8.81117 Ratings
View company policy documentation00 Ratings8.1899 Ratings
Employee recognition00 Ratings8.3811 Ratings
View job history00 Ratings8.5963 Ratings
Asset Management
Comparison of Asset Management features of Product A and Product B
RUN Powered by ADP®
-
Ratings
Paylocity
7.1
349 Ratings
13% below category average
Tracking of all physical assets00 Ratings7.1349 Ratings
HR Reporting
Comparison of HR Reporting features of Product A and Product B
RUN Powered by ADP®
-
Ratings
Paylocity
7.4
1038 Ratings
1% below category average
Report builder00 Ratings7.5993 Ratings
Pre-built reports00 Ratings7.61013 Ratings
Ability to combine HR data with external data00 Ratings7.3645 Ratings
Onboarding
Comparison of Onboarding features of Product A and Product B
RUN Powered by ADP®
-
Ratings
Paylocity
8.4
975 Ratings
6% above category average
New hire portal00 Ratings8.5969 Ratings
Manager tracking tools00 Ratings8.2778 Ratings
Performance and Goals
Comparison of Performance and Goals features of Product A and Product B
RUN Powered by ADP®
-
Ratings
Paylocity
7.8
536 Ratings
2% below category average
Corporate goal setting00 Ratings7.9422 Ratings
Individual goal setting00 Ratings7.7493 Ratings
Line-of sight-visibility00 Ratings7.8371 Ratings
Performance tracking00 Ratings7.8499 Ratings
Performance Management
Comparison of Performance Management features of Product A and Product B
RUN Powered by ADP®
-
Ratings
Paylocity
7.5
678 Ratings
4% below category average
Performance plans00 Ratings7.5614 Ratings
Performance improvement plans00 Ratings7.5526 Ratings
Review status tracking00 Ratings7.5625 Ratings
Review reminders00 Ratings7.7629 Ratings
Multiple review frequency00 Ratings7.6526 Ratings
Succession Planning
Comparison of Succession Planning features of Product A and Product B
RUN Powered by ADP®
-
Ratings
Paylocity
7.3
352 Ratings
7% below category average
Create succession plans/pools00 Ratings6.7235 Ratings
Candidate ranking00 Ratings7.2289 Ratings
Candidate search00 Ratings8.0322 Ratings
Candidate development00 Ratings7.5261 Ratings
Recruiting / ATS
Comparison of Recruiting / ATS features of Product A and Product B
RUN Powered by ADP®
-
Ratings
Paylocity
8.0
644 Ratings
3% above category average
Job Requisition Management00 Ratings8.0550 Ratings
Company Website Posting00 Ratings8.2573 Ratings
Publish to Social Media00 Ratings8.0451 Ratings
Job Search Site Posting00 Ratings7.9546 Ratings
Duplicate Candidate Prevention00 Ratings7.6466 Ratings
Applicant Tracking00 Ratings8.2595 Ratings
Notifications and Alerts00 Ratings7.9592 Ratings
Best Alternatives
RUN Powered by ADP®Paylocity
Small Businesses
Dayforce Powerpay
Dayforce Powerpay
Score 9.5 out of 10
Dayforce Powerpay
Dayforce Powerpay
Score 9.5 out of 10
Medium-sized Companies
Paypro Workforce Management
Paypro Workforce Management
Score 9.7 out of 10
Paypro Workforce Management
Paypro Workforce Management
Score 9.7 out of 10
Enterprises
Infor Human Resources
Infor Human Resources
Score 7.1 out of 10
PeopleStrong
PeopleStrong
Score 9.9 out of 10
All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
User Ratings
RUN Powered by ADP®Paylocity
Likelihood to Recommend
9.0
(328 ratings)
8.5
(1213 ratings)
Likelihood to Renew
9.9
(21 ratings)
9.0
(118 ratings)
Usability
9.9
(12 ratings)
8.8
(78 ratings)
Availability
9.1
(7 ratings)
9.8
(17 ratings)
Performance
8.7
(7 ratings)
9.6
(17 ratings)
Support Rating
9.1
(24 ratings)
7.9
(105 ratings)
In-Person Training
9.6
(2 ratings)
8.5
(2 ratings)
Online Training
9.6
(2 ratings)
7.7
(15 ratings)
Implementation Rating
9.9
(10 ratings)
8.2
(55 ratings)
Configurability
8.7
(4 ratings)
8.0
(13 ratings)
Contract Terms and Pricing Model
-
(0 ratings)
8.8
(13 ratings)
Ease of integration
9.1
(1 ratings)
8.2
(15 ratings)
Product Scalability
9.1
(8 ratings)
9.3
(16 ratings)
Professional Services
-
(0 ratings)
9.7
(9 ratings)
Vendor post-sale
9.4
(3 ratings)
8.2
(17 ratings)
Vendor pre-sale
9.1
(4 ratings)
8.7
(16 ratings)
User Testimonials
RUN Powered by ADP®Paylocity
Likelihood to Recommend
ADP
ADP offers a wide range of options beyond just running payroll. We appreciate the flexibility to select options that best suit our company, such as having Workers' Compensation administered through ADP. During the COVID pandemic, our payroll experts and legal team proved invaluable in navigating special pay circumstances. We have also accessed the HR application to navigate and seek advice on how to administer situations that could be tricky. I would say less appropriate would be putting all our eggs in one basket when it comes to employee benefits - we have a dedicated broker team that we have used for nearly 30 years, and we carry our own HSA and POP insurance, and circumstances when we carry compliant coverage from other sources do not translate to our file with ADP.
Read full review
Paylocity
Paylocity appears to be well-suited for startups to large businesses. As with any product, finding the right price point for the services provided is the challenge. Always remember that one small company that would really appreciate the "benefits essentials" or some other part of the platform but can't afford them right now, may be the ones to get you that large company through word of mouth...IF they had been able to experience that part of the product and refer it to others.
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Pros
ADP
  • Ease of use of the platform for reporting payroll.
  • Ease of use for employees via the ADP App.
  • Ease of integration of both PayRoll & 401K services.
  • Storage of reports for 3 years.
  • Accuracy of quarterly filings for State Fund collections via payroll.
  • Hours of operation for support are adequate.
  • Additional available services are helpful.
Read full review
Paylocity
  • Payroll is made pretty easy. I love that we have the ability to log into payroll, we just upload the information from commissions, things like that where there are exceptions to a regular payroll run. It may make it very easy to do that, just a quick upload. Additionally, when we're in the payroll grid, it gives us the ability to just make quick changes to people's pay or their tax schedule, tax withholdings, things like that without having to go through a lot of different screens. It's just very easy to access just for the click of a button. Love that.
  • We talked about performance reviews, talked about payroll with benefits administration, it allows us to utilize EDI feeds with our benefit vendors so it creates a seamless, but we just enter the information into Paylocity and then it seamlessly provides that information to our vendors. That's been really helpful. And adjusting benefits is also very easy within Paylocity. I love the recent edition of compensation analysis information, so I'm able to go into the compensation module and look for jobs that are similar to a job title at our company. I can enter the job description, I give them what state that the person or the job is in, and it pops out compensation data. It gives me different options, so titles that might be similar. So if there's not something that's an exact fit, I'm able to find something really, really close. It's been a huge upgrade because before that I was having to use a different vendor and paying $400 per job and now it's significantly less expensive to Paylocity and I'm still getting great quality data. It's been very helpful.
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Cons
ADP
  • I would like to see a change in the payroll processing so that when you have to save for later, you don't have to reenter all the information you have already entered.
  • Make it easier for the employees to track their used vacation and PTO hours.
Read full review
Paylocity
  • We have had lots of year end issues specifically with Partners W2's.
  • We had an accrual issue that was causing 2 additional vacation/sick accruals per year.
  • When updating accruals- the paperwork to do so is confusing at times. I feel there is little support to assist you in filling the paperwork correctly to reflect what you need the accrual to actually do.
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Likelihood to Renew
ADP
It is much better than the payroll system I used previously. The integrations that RUN has for on-boarding new hires are very convenient when they work properly. It saves a tremendous amount of time being able to email a link to new employees that allows them to enter much of their own demographic information. Payroll feature alerts me when someone's pay is significantly less or more than usual.
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Paylocity
There are several technical issues we have experienced this past year with the employee onboarding process that we are still waiting to have resolved. Overall our experience with Paylocity has been positive, and we love how user-friendly and easy to navigate the system is. It has made all of our HR processes much more streamlined and efficient.
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Usability
ADP
I have been using this system for years and they have actually made it easier and easier. The system is always making great upgrades that don't necessarily require any additional information or training. I love when I log in and see a new feature or button that I get to use to make my life easier!
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Paylocity
I would give it that overall rating because we implemented in 2023 and so although that may feel like a lot of time, it still is, we still have a lot to learn and so I'm optimistic that as we learn more that rating will increase.
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Reliability and Availability
ADP
I don't think I have ever encountered error codes or 404 error screens when trying to access RUN ADP. I run payroll for the company every other week and I have had no issues accessing the website, everything saves and updates when it's needed. Our employees use the app on their phones and they have not had any issues either other than just a basic update of the app occasionally
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Paylocity
Over the last 3 years, we've only had one major service issue that rendered Airbase unusable for us for about 24 hours. That said, they navigated the SVB bank crisis very well and made sure funds were available during that time.
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Performance
ADP
ADP Run loads a bit slowly at times, once I put in my credentials. However, that said, I think my perception of the time it takes is impacted by our "instant gratification" expectation of being able to get into everything quickly.
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Paylocity
We had some minor hiccups throughout the year but they have all been fixable. Paylocity integrates well with our 401k provider, Principal, and our benefits, OneDigital. It makes it simple to house everything and have it all connected. It doesn't slow anything down to have Principal integrated. It makes it more efficient
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Support Rating
ADP
I appreciated having that issue finally take care of. it was extremely disheartening to see the issue had not been resolved. I also had my employees looking to me and thinking I was not trying to resolve the issue so it reflected poorly on my character. I do not know if i was because of a miscommunication, but nonetheless I was happy it was taken care of
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Paylocity
It is very hard to get answers to your questions, you cannot speak to someone without days of requesting assistance or answers and then eventually can get a call back and then it is usually resolved fairly quickly. But NOT easy to get that help.
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In-Person Training
ADP
they helped up with the 1st payroll after that we were fine - it is very user friendly- they wanted to be sure everything had imported correctly.
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Paylocity
I didn't have in-person training, but I'm sure it was just as great as any other training/assistance Paylocity provides. Paylocity customer service is always available. You never have to be on hold and their answers are always accurate and timely. Documents in the help section are helpful as well. My in-person training was conducted y one of our employees who was involved in the initial set-up and training of all employees. She was excellent.
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Online Training
ADP
Our rep was on a zoom with us and one other person from RUN ADP showing us the layout and how to access everything. we mainly use it for payroll and reports so any questions we had they both were insightful and able to help us navigate the site. The training process was a success and we have had any issues since using.
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Paylocity
The training was live online, but was with a group of other companies. We did not receive any personalized training with our team. Whenever we would ask for training, we would be sent a peak article link or a video. It felt like the reps we dealt with didn't know the answer to the questions.
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Implementation Rating
ADP
Make sure there's plenty of time between payrolls for the implementation and be sure to test all the manually inputted fields.
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Paylocity
Implementation was a bit bumpy and Paylocity team not always available for next steps and/or questions. I feel like Paylocity could have done a better job in their fact finding as far as what we were currently doing, our payroll policies and needs, etc. so that we would have run into less issues as we moved forward.
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Alternatives Considered
ADP
I have looked at both of these products and they both have great services but the support I have received from ADP really keeps me here. My rep is amazing and I honestly have not seen anything on another platform that would make me change at this time.
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Paylocity
We went through demos five years ago and we evaluated ADP and UKG in the past, and we used Paycor previously. In the past, I've used ADP and Kronos when it was still Kronos at other companies. So several different ones. One of the main reasons was that it was all one platform and you didn't have to log into other platforms for it to communicate with each other. Payroll talks to time that talks back to payroll and you don't have to log into anything separate. The reporting was also really easy and you didn't have to have a master's degree to do it.
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Contract Terms and Pricing Model
ADP
No answers on this topic
Paylocity
I didn't help but I like the pricing
Read full review
Scalability
ADP
Every summer, we hire three new college interns who have to be entered into the system. They can enter their information themselves, which takes a load off me. The onboarding is quite straightforward, and today's college kids are techy enough to be able to understand it.
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Paylocity
We have gone from a medium sized company to a larger company with no issues whatsoever with Paylocity being able to keep up or do what we need it to do for the size of our needs. In fact, it does more than we even use at this juncture
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Professional Services
ADP
No answers on this topic
Paylocity
They are thorough, care about quality and success, take the time needed to implement properly, answer questions, build data feeds. A professional, caring, very skilled team there.
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Return on Investment
ADP
  • The costs add up with all the services such as running payroll, adding timekeeping, running background checks, and mailing w-2's.
  • We save money on background checks because the first two are free.
  • We lower risk of employee time, penalties, and lawsuits by allowing RUN Powered by ADP® to handle so much of the payroll such as calculations and tax reporting.
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Paylocity
  • So when I first found Paylocity back in 2013 and was pitching it to the senior leadership company, my PowerPoint presentation, our return on investment was reducing errors in time and labor. We did paper time sheets back in the day back in 2007, 2008. So we were always running paper time sheets, Microsoft Excel or other standalone products, printing them out and hand keying them into a payroll system. So my ROI to our company was to save money and time on data entry and also to better manage the taxes. So we pay for the tax service, we're in 27 states having to manage that. Previously we were responsible for knowing what every state tax codes were, what every state tax compliance rules were. So with Paylocity we signed up for a tax service and that has been a huge return on investment.
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ScreenShots

RUN Powered by ADP® Screenshots

Screenshot of the RUN Dashboard with the business' key info front-and-centerScreenshot of the payroll interfaceScreenshot of access to payroll reports and liability amountsScreenshot of the RUN Powered by ADP mobile app, used to process payroll on the goScreenshot of the ADP mobile app, where employees can access their historical payroll statements and year-end tax documents

Paylocity Screenshots

Screenshot of a view of real-time employee data and performance metrics used to uncover and analyze trends. This creates an impactful understanding of the business, increase retention, understand labor costs, and plan for changes.Screenshot of where to automate manual processes with Paylocity's self-serve automation engine, Workflows. Users can implement routines for time-consuming manual tasks.Screenshot of where to manage and comply with employment law. Paylocity's HR Compliance solution helps users to stay on track and view important employee compliance items, from Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO), healthcare, and compensation.Screenshot of how Paylocity Recruiting can automate hiring processes. amplify outreach, showcase a company's culture, and build stronger candidate connections to swiftly fill positions.Screenshot of recognition and rewards in Paylocity.