Paychex vs. Paylocity

Overview
ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price
Paychex
Score 5.5 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
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
PaychexPaylocity
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
PaychexPaylocity
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
PaychexPaylocity
Considered Both Products
Paychex

No answer on this topic

Paylocity
Chose Paylocity
I prefer the flexibility of Paylocity to Paychex. (I don't remember Flex or PEO; they might not have had those distinctions when I used them over 10 years ago.) I really like doing payroll all by myself when I have time to do it.
Chose Paylocity
The systems functionalities are very similar, but no matter how great a system may be is good customer care does not represent the program, the reviews will always be poor.
Chose Paylocity
Less expensive and the reports are much better
Chose Paylocity
We used a focus group and voted on the favorite option amongst the group. The group was comprised of leadership and staff across multiple departments and they drove a great deal of insight into how choosing a product was to occur.
Chose Paylocity
There is no comparison. Every single one of these products are hog-poged and they do not encompass the seamless connection between 401k, benefits, cobra administration, employee / manager training and record keeping, performance and PIP, workforce management, etc. All …
Chose Paylocity
I found Paylocity to be far superior to the other vendors because of its responsive, friendly, and consistent customer service. They were also lower in cost and more collaborative, much simpler and less expensive than a PEO.
Chose Paylocity
I would say Paycor most closely compared to Paylocity, but the reason we left Paycor was because, in our experience, the customer service slipped quite a bit and it became difficult to get help on the phone when we needed it. Paylocity has been much better in this area for us.
Chose Paylocity
There is no comparison at all. Paychex just has not come up with the advancements that Paylocity has.
Chose Paylocity
Paylocity has been a good fit with a wide offering that has fit our growing organization well. It is well integrated, and we are able to integrate expenses, and our benefits admin system pretty seemlessly as well as it being easy to push candidates from recruiting to onboarding …
Chose Paylocity
Paylocity is much simpler and easier to teach and use than any of the other platforms that we have used or evaluated. This is especially helpful when dealing with an industry (pet care) where the majority of our managers/users are not tech-savvy. The reporting and UI is much …
Chose Paylocity
We have been using Paylocity since 2018. At the time pricing and customer service was the main reason. The pricing is still very competitive, and even though I feel the Paylocity service has dropped off, it is still better than what I experienced years ago with ADP. Overall, …
Chose Paylocity
N/A Paylocity was the first product I've used in my current payroll processing position. I've briefly used Paychex, but didn't have an administrator role with their product.
Chose Paylocity
Paylocity is better than all of them. I've never been this satisfied with a payroll company.
Chose Paylocity
Paylocity has been easier to set up and utilize than other platforms we have used. It is so easy to have everything located in one place. This makes tracking and assigning information easier. It also allows our employees to be able to access information through one portal and …
Chose Paylocity
We've used Paychex. They used something in Sage before I used it. We use a ADP as well. And I think Sage, I think those three. I've been with the organization for almost seven years and we've been through three different payroll programs I think it was Sage, ADP within a couple …
Chose Paylocity
Was before my time, we've been with Paylocity a very long time.
Chose Paylocity
With all of the other Payroll systems out there, Paylocity does well to stay ahead of the consumer trends and professional needs of HR. Constantly updating and improving the system, to make it an appealing platform for our employees.
Chose Paylocity
I implemented Paylocity due to its advanced technologies.
Chose Paylocity
Paylocity offers the most efficient and user-friendly software that houses all information in one place without compromising security.
Chose Paylocity
Paylocity is the best system I have worked on. Both from an admin and employee side, it is the easiest to navigate, most robust in terms of what it offers, and hands down has the best reporting. We had a lot of problems with a previous platform and tax pay, which ultimately led …
Chose Paylocity
Products have a lot of the same functions, so I believe the key is to pick a product and stick with it - commit to learning how it functions, and train employees to do the same. Flip-flopping between products is the worst you can do.

Your success with a product is also dependent …
Chose Paylocity
The support Paylocity provides to its clients is 10,000 times better than any payroll system I have ever worked with. They ensure that we get what we pay for, and if we haven't utilized a product, our account managers are more than willing to set up additional time to walk us …
Chose Paylocity
Paylocity was much cheaper and appeared to have a much more streamlined approach compared to these other systems. I actually was not at the organization during the Paylocity decision making process, but our major concern was cost and ease of use and Paylocity has not …
Features
PaychexPaylocity
Human Resource Management
Comparison of Human Resource Management features of Product A and Product B
Paychex
7.3
257 Ratings
7% below category average
Paylocity
7.9
1146 Ratings
1% above category average
Employee demographic data7.6206 Ratings8.61088 Ratings
Employment history9.4230 Ratings8.21050 Ratings
Job profiles and administration8.8164 Ratings8.0980 Ratings
Workflow for transfers, promotions, pay raises, etc.8.3161 Ratings7.6993 Ratings
Organizational charting1.01 Ratings7.2923 Ratings
Organization and location management9.0146 Ratings7.9899 Ratings
Compliance data (COBRA, OSHA, etc.)7.1137 Ratings7.6770 Ratings
Payroll Management
Comparison of Payroll Management features of Product A and Product B
Paychex
9.1
299 Ratings
13% above category average
Paylocity
8.2
1115 Ratings
3% above category average
Pay calculation9.6282 Ratings8.71087 Ratings
Off-cycle/On-Demand payment8.0142 Ratings8.6822 Ratings
Benefit plan administration8.6164 Ratings7.6752 Ratings
Direct deposit files9.6281 Ratings9.01084 Ratings
Salary revision and increment management9.1200 Ratings8.1866 Ratings
Reimbursement management9.5111 Ratings8.0543 Ratings
Support for external payroll vendors00 Ratings7.5533 Ratings
Leave and Attendance Management
Comparison of Leave and Attendance Management features of Product A and Product B
Paychex
8.4
151 Ratings
5% above category average
Paylocity
7.5
943 Ratings
6% below category average
Approval workflow8.2107 Ratings7.5841 Ratings
Balance details8.5143 Ratings7.4900 Ratings
Annual carry-forward and encashment8.5117 Ratings7.7709 Ratings
Employee Self Service
Comparison of Employee Self Service features of Product A and Product B
Paychex
8.8
258 Ratings
9% above category average
Paylocity
8.5
1127 Ratings
5% above category average
View and generate pay and benefit information9.1236 Ratings8.61097 Ratings
Update personal information8.6248 Ratings8.81117 Ratings
View company policy documentation9.7114 Ratings8.1899 Ratings
View job history7.9175 Ratings8.5963 Ratings
Employee recognition00 Ratings8.3811 Ratings
Asset Management
Comparison of Asset Management features of Product A and Product B
Paychex
7.5
41 Ratings
7% below category average
Paylocity
7.1
349 Ratings
13% below category average
Tracking of all physical assets7.541 Ratings7.1349 Ratings
HR Reporting
Comparison of HR Reporting features of Product A and Product B
Paychex
7.0
169 Ratings
7% below category average
Paylocity
7.4
1038 Ratings
2% below category average
Report builder7.8139 Ratings7.5993 Ratings
Pre-built reports8.3159 Ratings7.61013 Ratings
Ability to combine HR data with external data5.086 Ratings7.3645 Ratings
Onboarding
Comparison of Onboarding features of Product A and Product B
Paychex
7.0
165 Ratings
12% below category average
Paylocity
8.4
975 Ratings
6% above category average
New hire portal7.8158 Ratings8.5969 Ratings
Manager tracking tools6.3101 Ratings8.2778 Ratings
Recruiting / ATS
Comparison of Recruiting / ATS features of Product A and Product B
Paychex
8.0
61 Ratings
3% above category average
Paylocity
8.0
644 Ratings
3% above category average
Job Requisition Management8.033 Ratings8.0550 Ratings
Company Website Posting9.531 Ratings8.2573 Ratings
Publish to Social Media7.124 Ratings8.0451 Ratings
Job Search Site Posting7.131 Ratings8.0546 Ratings
Duplicate Candidate Prevention8.030 Ratings7.6466 Ratings
Applicant Tracking8.135 Ratings8.2595 Ratings
Notifications and Alerts8.155 Ratings7.9592 Ratings
Performance and Goals
Comparison of Performance and Goals features of Product A and Product B
Paychex
-
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
Paychex
-
Ratings
Paylocity
7.6
678 Ratings
3% 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
Paychex
-
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
Best Alternatives
PaychexPaylocity
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
PaychexPaylocity
Likelihood to Recommend
6.0
(309 ratings)
8.5
(1213 ratings)
Likelihood to Renew
9.0
(42 ratings)
9.0
(118 ratings)
Usability
8.3
(251 ratings)
8.8
(78 ratings)
Availability
7.4
(11 ratings)
9.7
(17 ratings)
Performance
7.4
(11 ratings)
9.6
(17 ratings)
Support Rating
7.5
(256 ratings)
7.9
(105 ratings)
In-Person Training
4.5
(1 ratings)
8.5
(2 ratings)
Online Training
8.3
(4 ratings)
7.8
(15 ratings)
Implementation Rating
6.5
(12 ratings)
8.2
(55 ratings)
Configurability
7.4
(8 ratings)
8.0
(13 ratings)
Contract Terms and Pricing Model
-
(0 ratings)
8.8
(13 ratings)
Ease of integration
9.1
(3 ratings)
8.2
(15 ratings)
Product Scalability
9.1
(11 ratings)
9.2
(16 ratings)
Professional Services
-
(0 ratings)
9.7
(9 ratings)
Vendor post-sale
8.9
(31 ratings)
8.2
(17 ratings)
Vendor pre-sale
9.2
(32 ratings)
8.7
(16 ratings)
User Testimonials
PaychexPaylocity
Likelihood to Recommend
Paychex Inc.
For the most part, Paychex Flex is a very good payroll system and is well suited for a small business. Most basic features are simple and user friendly. For businesses that have hourly employees, its timeclock system is a good feature. For businesses that have a large number of employees and more complicated rules and policies, it might not be as appropriate because of the difficulty to set up for these rules and policies
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
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
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.
Read full review
Cons
Paychex Inc.
  • When it comes to audit reports, Paychex Flex could improve on helping clients locate the correct reports for audit purposes more easily
  • When a client receives a discount, it would be helpful if the discount were automatically provided each year, or if the Paychex rep proactively reached out to the client first, versus the client having to call and request that the discount continue.
  • It would be helpful if the invoice was emailed to the client versus the client logging in to access invoices.
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.
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
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.
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
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.
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
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.
Read full review
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
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
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
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.
Read full review
In-Person Training
Paychex Inc.
We did online training only
Read full review
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.
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
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.
Read full review
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
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.
Read full review
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
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.
Read full review
Contract Terms and Pricing Model
Paychex Inc.
No answers on this topic
Paylocity
I didn't help but I like the pricing
Read full review
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
Read full review
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
Read full review
Professional Services
Paychex Inc.
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
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
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.
Read full review
ScreenShots

Paychex Screenshots

Screenshot of Screenshot of Screenshot of

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.