ADP
Depends
Confidence: High
Buy if you're a 10-500 person company that wants one battle-tested vendor for payroll, HR, and benefits.
New check
Comparison
ADP vs Paylocity
ADP and Paylocity both land on Depends.
Paylocity
Depends
Confidence: Medium
Solid pick if you're a US company with roughly 50-1,000 employees wanting payroll, HR, and talent in one suite.
| Compare | ||
|---|---|---|
| Verdict | Depends | Depends |
| Best for | Small businesses on RUN (1-49 employees) | US mid-market (roughly 50-1,000 employees) |
| Who it's not for | Tiny teams wanting flat, transparent pricing | Teams under ~25 people . serious overkill |
| Privacy | Mature security program with published alerts; two past incidents appear in reviewed sources, no evidence of active breach.12 | Public trust center and vendor risk scores (Rankiteo 762/1000); one 2018 breach notice on record; no public CVEs found. |
| Support quality | Unresponsive rep complaints even at $52k/year spend | Recurring complaint threads on Reddit |
| Public sentiment | Small-business users often praise RUN's reliability while Reddit payroll professionals and critics vent about support, pricing, and service quality.⁵ | Sentiment is mixed: large review bases skew positive while Reddit threads document complaints, a dedicated 'AVOID' post, and difficult comparisons with ADP and Paycor.15 |
| Biggest gotcha | Dedicated reps can go unresponsive after signing; support is the top complaint.³ | Support quality is a recurring complaint theme; nail down SLAs in the contract |
Pick ADP when
- Small businesses on RUN (1-49 employees)
- Mid-market firms needing Workforce Now
- Multi-state, compliance-heavy payroll
- Consolidating payroll, benefits, and retirement
When ADP is not a fit
- Tiny teams wanting flat, transparent pricing
- Anyone who depends on fast, hands-on support
- Buyers who refuse quote-only sales processes
- Solo founders . Roll by ADP or simpler tools fit better
Pick Paylocity when
- US mid-market (roughly 50-1,000 employees)
- Teams consolidating payroll + HR + talent
- Multi-state US payroll
- Replacing legacy payroll (ADP, Paycor)
When Paylocity is not a fit
- Teams under ~25 people . serious overkill
- Buyers wanting self-serve, transparent pricing
- Guess: companies needing non-US/global payroll
- Founders who just need someone to run payroll
Sources
review
- ADP Reviews . Trustpilottrustpilot.comreview
review
- ADP is the worst . r/humanresourcesreddit.comreview
- RUN Powered by ADP Reviews . TrustRadiustrustradius.comreview
review
official
- Roll by ADP pricingrollbyadp.comofficial
- Workforce Now best mid-market software . ADP Media Centermediacenter.adp.comofficial
- ADP Payroll Pricing and Fees . Forbesforbes.comnews
- ADP Pricing: Hidden Costs . Workstreamworkstream.usnews
- Cybercriminals Infiltrate ADP Tax Portal . Fintech Futuresfintechfutures.comsecurity
- Companies using ADP Payroll . Enlyftenlyft.comnews
- Paylocity Reviews on G2g2.comreview