Namely vs. Paylocity

Overview
ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price
Namely
Score 7.5 out of 10
N/A
Namely is an end-to-end HR, benefits, and payroll solution for mid-sized businesses. The cloud-based platform can be used to manage the entire HR process.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
NamelyPaylocity
Editions & Modules
No answers on this topic
No answers on this topic
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
NamelyPaylocity
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
NamelyPaylocity
Considered Both Products
Namely
Chose Namely
Paylocity was outdated and customer support was not helpful. The platform wasn't user friendly for administration or employees. Every small improvement was a big cost impact and the platform provided little to no flexibility in customization.
Chose Namely
I have only demoed with Paylocity (never used) but it seems superior to Namely in my opinion as far as time, HRIS, and payroll all communicating.

I demoed a couple others that I would not move away from Namely in favor of. I would say Namely is middle of the pack. They do …
Chose Namely
The reason I continued to choose Namely at multiple employers is due to the continuity of employee experience. And the features have continued to grow since I initially onboarded in 2014. Also, through the years, I have had terrific benefits teams. The customer service has been …
Chose Namely
BambooHR has eNPS, which is pretty helpful and allows us to send pulse surveys to employees to get an understanding of how they are doing. Namely doesn't have anything like that.
Chose Namely
We're currently evaluating alternatives, but there appear to be only features to gain no matter where we look.
Chose Namely
We chose Namely over these other products 2 years ago based on competitive pricing, better UX and all in one offering (Benefits, Payroll, Time, HRIS).
Chose Namely
I selected Namely because it offered the most functions and integration that I was looking for at the time (two years ago). It was not the most affordable option, but worth the extra features.
Chose Namely
Namely is a for sure improvement in capability, time commitment and ease of use over the systems I have used in the past. I would prefer not to share other systems I looked at while assessing Namely. The reasons for not choosing other platforms had to do with price or not …
Paylocity
Chose Paylocity
Paylocity is hands down a better system to use than anything Asure has to offer.
Features
NamelyPaylocity
Human Resource Management
Comparison of Human Resource Management features of Product A and Product B
Namely
7.0
143 Ratings
12% below category average
Paylocity
7.9
1146 Ratings
1% above category average
Employee demographic data7.7132 Ratings8.61088 Ratings
Employment history7.9138 Ratings8.21050 Ratings
Job profiles and administration7.130 Ratings8.0980 Ratings
Workflow for transfers, promotions, pay raises, etc.7.0132 Ratings7.6993 Ratings
Organizational charting4.6134 Ratings7.2923 Ratings
Organization and location management6.3129 Ratings7.9899 Ratings
Compliance data (COBRA, OSHA, etc.)8.382 Ratings7.6770 Ratings
Payroll Management
Comparison of Payroll Management features of Product A and Product B
Namely
6.9
127 Ratings
14% below category average
Paylocity
8.2
1115 Ratings
3% above category average
Pay calculation9.0111 Ratings8.61087 Ratings
Support for external payroll vendors5.553 Ratings7.5533 Ratings
Off-cycle/On-Demand payment6.057 Ratings8.6822 Ratings
Benefit plan administration8.1109 Ratings7.6752 Ratings
Direct deposit files8.9113 Ratings9.01084 Ratings
Salary revision and increment management4.1100 Ratings8.1866 Ratings
Reimbursement management6.657 Ratings8.0543 Ratings
Leave and Attendance Management
Comparison of Leave and Attendance Management features of Product A and Product B
Namely
7.4
124 Ratings
8% below category average
Paylocity
7.5
943 Ratings
6% below category average
Approval workflow6.5121 Ratings7.5841 Ratings
Balance details7.1116 Ratings7.4900 Ratings
Annual carry-forward and encashment8.595 Ratings7.7709 Ratings
Employee Self Service
Comparison of Employee Self Service features of Product A and Product B
Namely
8.3
141 Ratings
3% above category average
Paylocity
8.5
1127 Ratings
5% above category average
View and generate pay and benefit information8.5129 Ratings8.61097 Ratings
Update personal information9.1140 Ratings8.81117 Ratings
View company policy documentation7.5127 Ratings8.1899 Ratings
Employee recognition7.8116 Ratings8.3811 Ratings
View job history8.4134 Ratings8.5963 Ratings
Asset Management
Comparison of Asset Management features of Product A and Product B
Namely
5.9
53 Ratings
31% below category average
Paylocity
7.1
349 Ratings
13% below category average
Tracking of all physical assets5.953 Ratings7.1349 Ratings
HR Reporting
Comparison of HR Reporting features of Product A and Product B
Namely
8.2
121 Ratings
9% above category average
Paylocity
7.4
1038 Ratings
1% below category average
Report builder8.5117 Ratings7.5993 Ratings
Pre-built reports8.5112 Ratings7.61013 Ratings
Ability to combine HR data with external data7.574 Ratings7.3645 Ratings
Onboarding
Comparison of Onboarding features of Product A and Product B
Namely
6.7
116 Ratings
17% below category average
Paylocity
8.4
975 Ratings
6% above category average
New hire portal8.7110 Ratings8.5969 Ratings
Manager tracking tools4.885 Ratings8.2778 Ratings
Performance and Goals
Comparison of Performance and Goals features of Product A and Product B
Namely
4.1
96 Ratings
64% below category average
Paylocity
7.8
536 Ratings
2% below category average
Corporate goal setting6.086 Ratings7.9422 Ratings
Individual goal setting3.194 Ratings7.7493 Ratings
Line-of sight-visibility3.172 Ratings7.8371 Ratings
Performance tracking4.189 Ratings7.8499 Ratings
Performance Management
Comparison of Performance Management features of Product A and Product B
Namely
5.9
107 Ratings
28% below category average
Paylocity
7.5
678 Ratings
4% below category average
Performance plans4.696 Ratings7.5614 Ratings
Performance improvement plans2.268 Ratings7.5526 Ratings
Review status tracking7.695 Ratings7.5625 Ratings
Review reminders7.698 Ratings7.7629 Ratings
Multiple review frequency7.485 Ratings7.6526 Ratings
Succession Planning
Comparison of Succession Planning features of Product A and Product B
Namely
5.9
21 Ratings
28% below category average
Paylocity
7.3
352 Ratings
7% below category average
Candidate search5.921 Ratings8.0322 Ratings
Create succession plans/pools00 Ratings6.7235 Ratings
Candidate ranking00 Ratings7.2289 Ratings
Candidate development00 Ratings7.5261 Ratings
Recruiting / ATS
Comparison of Recruiting / ATS features of Product A and Product B
Namely
8.8
6 Ratings
13% above category average
Paylocity
8.0
644 Ratings
3% above category average
Job Requisition Management8.95 Ratings8.0550 Ratings
Company Website Posting8.85 Ratings8.2573 Ratings
Publish to Social Media8.85 Ratings8.0451 Ratings
Job Search Site Posting8.95 Ratings7.9546 Ratings
Duplicate Candidate Prevention8.85 Ratings7.6466 Ratings
Applicant Tracking8.95 Ratings8.2595 Ratings
Notifications and Alerts8.66 Ratings7.9592 Ratings
Best Alternatives
NamelyPaylocity
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
PeopleStrong
PeopleStrong
Score 9.9 out of 10
PeopleStrong
PeopleStrong
Score 9.9 out of 10
All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
User Ratings
NamelyPaylocity
Likelihood to Recommend
7.9
(145 ratings)
8.5
(1213 ratings)
Likelihood to Renew
9.9
(9 ratings)
9.0
(118 ratings)
Usability
8.4
(71 ratings)
8.8
(78 ratings)
Availability
10.0
(1 ratings)
9.8
(17 ratings)
Performance
10.0
(1 ratings)
9.6
(17 ratings)
Support Rating
8.0
(27 ratings)
7.9
(105 ratings)
In-Person Training
-
(0 ratings)
8.5
(2 ratings)
Online Training
-
(0 ratings)
7.8
(15 ratings)
Implementation Rating
5.5
(85 ratings)
8.2
(55 ratings)
Configurability
9.0
(1 ratings)
8.0
(13 ratings)
Contract Terms and Pricing Model
-
(0 ratings)
8.8
(13 ratings)
Ease of integration
8.0
(1 ratings)
8.2
(15 ratings)
Product Scalability
8.0
(1 ratings)
9.3
(16 ratings)
Professional Services
-
(0 ratings)
9.7
(9 ratings)
Vendor post-sale
9.0
(1 ratings)
8.2
(17 ratings)
Vendor pre-sale
9.0
(1 ratings)
8.7
(16 ratings)
User Testimonials
NamelyPaylocity
Likelihood to Recommend
Namely
Namely is aesthetically very pleasing and navigates like other social media platforms which can be appealing to potentially a remote workforce who interacts more online than in person. Unfortunately, it did not serve our population well as we are primarily manufacturing where people are not as interested in utilizing the HRIS for interactions when they would rather connect in person.
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.
Read full review
Pros
Namely
  • Namely has helped with our COVID sick leave response. It has made a major difference both with the weekly payroll and the 941 tax filing
  • Keeping track of our multiple PTO plans. Thank goodness for Namely, I have shredded my old PTO spreadsheets.
  • Employees like the convenience of the cell phone app. As a payroll administrator, I like the Geo Tracking tool where I can see where some are when the clock is in or out.
  • The flexibility inside of the payroll system both as you are finalizing an employee profile and when you are processing payroll is a major advantage.
  • The reports I get out of Namely in Excel format work well for me.
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
Namely
  • Limits to custom reporting
  • No direct feed for Ohio Workers Comp (now a manual process on our end)
  • No option to place an employee on Leave of Absence and exclude them from payroll while they are "inactive"
  • No option to suppress certain deductions for certain pay types (i.e. allow 401K for commissions but block remaining deductions - also now a manual process to uncheck the suppress box for 401K for each commission check)
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
Namely
Administrators and employees love Namely. It is very easy to use and streamlined. Employees stay engaged with news feed updates and enjoy all the self service options. The time cards are very easy to access and clocking in and out for non-exempt employees is a breeze. Namely is part of our family.
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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
Namely
It is very simple to use for myself, the HR team, and our employees. I find the payroll process very user-friendly. Reporting is simple to navigate and produce the required information requested. I know our employees enjoy the self-service feature and use it on a regular basis, which saves me time.
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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
Namely
No answers on this topic
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
Namely
No answers on this topic
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
Namely
Namely platform has pretty good support: knowledgeable and relatively fast response times. Namely Payroll and Namely Benefits are very much depending on the quality of the support agent or CSM: we have had knowledgeable and attentive ones, but also ones that have provided erroneous information or failed to respond to urgent asks in a timely manner
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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
Namely
No answers on this topic
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
Namely
No answers on this topic
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
Namely
Implementation was a bit complicated and our company had to carry most of the weight. It often felt like our implementation manager was giving us extra work that she did not want to do herself. It also took much longer than expected - I believe almost 2 months. I believe our company carried a bit too much of the weight.
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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
Namely
The reason I continued to choose Namely at multiple employers is due to the continuity of employee experience. And the features have continued to grow since I initially onboarded in 2014. Also, through the years, I have had terrific benefits teams. The customer service has been the worst part of the experience outside of the benefits team.
Read full review
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
Namely
No answers on this topic
Paylocity
I didn't help but I like the pricing
Read full review
Scalability
Namely
No answers on this topic
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
Namely
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.
Read full review
Return on Investment
Namely
  • We were able to transition to a fully digital onboarding process which saved us hours in time per new hire and made the process smoother for the new hire.
  • Namely is our first HRIS and has helped the HR department to find data and information quickly.
  • Namely helped us digitize our performance management process which the company undergoes on an annual basis.
Read full review
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

Namely Screenshots

Screenshot of the Namely employee dashboard. This creates a central hub to access payroll and benefits info, share announcements, celebrate milestones, and navigate everything HR, from a desk or on the go.Screenshot of Namely Payroll, which is backed by automation and built-in compliance.Screenshot of the Onboarding interface, for new hires.Screenshot of the Applicant Tracking interface, which supports processes from job posting to onboarding with tools for hiring teams and candidates.Screenshot of the Benefits Administration interface, which supports open enrollment, plan changes, and employee elections.Screenshot of the Workforce Management interface. From here, viewers can track time, manage schedules, and handle complex workforce needs.

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.