Paychex vs. SurePayroll

Overview
ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price
Paychex
Score 5.3 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
SurePayroll
Score 3.8 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 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
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
Features
PaychexSurePayroll
Human Resource Management
Comparison of Human Resource Management features of Product A and Product B
Paychex
7.3
Ratings
7% below category average
SurePayroll
-
Ratings
Employee demographic data7.40 Ratings00 Ratings
Employment history9.40 Ratings00 Ratings
Job profiles and administration8.90 Ratings00 Ratings
Workflow for transfers, promotions, pay raises, etc.8.50 Ratings00 Ratings
Organizational charting1.00 Ratings00 Ratings
Organization and location management9.10 Ratings00 Ratings
Compliance data (COBRA, OSHA, etc.)6.70 Ratings00 Ratings
Payroll Management
Comparison of Payroll Management features of Product A and Product B
Paychex
9.2
Ratings
14% above category average
SurePayroll
1.4
Ratings
142% below category average
Pay calculation9.70 Ratings2.60 Ratings
Off-cycle/On-Demand payment8.20 Ratings1.00 Ratings
Benefit plan administration8.80 Ratings1.20 Ratings
Direct deposit files9.70 Ratings1.20 Ratings
Salary revision and increment management9.20 Ratings1.20 Ratings
Reimbursement management9.60 Ratings1.20 Ratings
Support for external payroll vendors00 Ratings1.00 Ratings
Leave and Attendance Management
Comparison of Leave and Attendance Management features of Product A and Product B
Paychex
8.6
Ratings
7% above category average
SurePayroll
-
Ratings
Approval workflow8.40 Ratings00 Ratings
Balance details8.70 Ratings00 Ratings
Annual carry-forward and encashment8.50 Ratings00 Ratings
Employee Self Service
Comparison of Employee Self Service features of Product A and Product B
Paychex
8.8
Ratings
9% above category average
SurePayroll
-
Ratings
View and generate pay and benefit information9.10 Ratings00 Ratings
Update personal information8.50 Ratings00 Ratings
View company policy documentation9.80 Ratings00 Ratings
View job history7.60 Ratings00 Ratings
Asset Management
Comparison of Asset Management features of Product A and Product B
Paychex
7.5
Ratings
7% below category average
SurePayroll
-
Ratings
Tracking of all physical assets7.50 Ratings00 Ratings
HR Reporting
Comparison of HR Reporting features of Product A and Product B
Paychex
7.0
Ratings
7% below category average
SurePayroll
-
Ratings
Report builder7.90 Ratings00 Ratings
Pre-built reports8.20 Ratings00 Ratings
Ability to combine HR data with external data5.00 Ratings00 Ratings
Onboarding
Comparison of Onboarding features of Product A and Product B
Paychex
7.0
Ratings
12% below category average
SurePayroll
-
Ratings
New hire portal7.60 Ratings00 Ratings
Manager tracking tools6.30 Ratings00 Ratings
Recruiting / ATS
Comparison of Recruiting / ATS features of Product A and Product B
Paychex
7.9
Ratings
2% above category average
SurePayroll
-
Ratings
Job Requisition Management7.80 Ratings00 Ratings
Company Website Posting9.40 Ratings00 Ratings
Publish to Social Media7.20 Ratings00 Ratings
Job Search Site Posting7.10 Ratings00 Ratings
Duplicate Candidate Prevention8.00 Ratings00 Ratings
Applicant Tracking8.10 Ratings00 Ratings
Notifications and Alerts8.10 Ratings00 Ratings
Best Alternatives
PaychexSurePayroll
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
Infor Human Resources
Infor Human Resources
Score 7.1 out of 10
All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
User Ratings
PaychexSurePayroll
Likelihood to Recommend
5.5
(0 ratings)
1.0
(0 ratings)
Likelihood to Renew
9.0
(0 ratings)
9.0
(0 ratings)
Usability
8.3
(0 ratings)
1.0
(0 ratings)
Availability
7.4
(0 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Performance
7.3
(0 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Support Rating
7.3
(0 ratings)
9.2
(0 ratings)
In-Person Training
4.5
(0 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Online Training
8.3
(0 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Implementation Rating
6.5
(0 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Configurability
7.4
(0 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Ease of integration
9.1
(0 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Product Scalability
9.1
(0 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Vendor post-sale
8.9
(0 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Vendor pre-sale
9.2
(0 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
User Testimonials
PaychexSurePayroll
Likelihood to Recommend
It's better for larger businesses (50+) with various types of pay structures. Employees need to be comfortable with technology to take advantage of the self-service features. I've struggled with the default in the state tax section; extra steps must be taken when an employee lives in a different state than they work, and we don't know where they live until after completing their profile. So we have to go into the system and make the corrections, then notify the employee to go in and complete the state-specific withholding forms and follow up to confirm they do so.
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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
  • 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.
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  • 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
  • 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.
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  • 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
there are a lot of competitors on the market such as BambooHR and Insperity. Paychex need to make significant improvement on their offline customer service in order to compete with the other guys. Everything is online now and timely response to customer's questions is vital. Customers won't enjoy being put on hold for 45 mins every time they have a question regarding their HSA problems
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The service works well and the price is worth it.
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Usability
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.
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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
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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No answers on this topic
Performance
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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No answers on this topic
Support Rating
Neil Williams makes this entire system work - without our direct contact with our professional advisor - this would be just like any other platform and the relationship would not have the dimension that is has. Using chat or phone support with a new person every time you need support wastes time, as generally the person you are talking to does not have an intimate knowledge of our company. By having an assigned professional representative that knows our companies, this provides a level of confidence of caring coming from the Paychex side.
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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
We did online training only
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No answers on this topic
Online Training
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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They were awesome. They knew the system very well and could help me very much.
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Implementation Rating
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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No, I can't think of any.
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Alternatives Considered
In addition to the ones listed above, we also used BenePay, a local payroll company. We found Paychex Flex priced in the middle, with ADP the most expensive and too complicated, with many features that were unnecessary for us. We found that Paychex Flex's features and reporting to be sized right for our size (around 30 employees). Paychex Flex also offered a very reasonable service to apply for the ERTC
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I was not part of the committee that selected SurePayroll so I am unsure about why SurePayroll was selected. I do know our Board and Executive Director looked for a platform that was cost-efficient and helped us achieve the goals of our organization without taking up too much time, so that is why we decided on this platform.
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Scalability
Employees can log in at home and get up to date information on their FSA balance and any medical bill reimbursements they may have uploaded. At renewal time they have the ability to make changes to their FSA or for new employees star the enrollment.
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No answers on this topic
Return on Investment
  • 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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  • SurePayroll has made my life so much easier. Prior to using a payroll service and trying to do it myself, I was charged fees by the government for failure to file correctly or on time. Having it done professionally and correctly eases stress.
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ScreenShots

Paychex Screenshots

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