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.
New check
Comparison
Paylocity vs ADP
Paylocity and ADP both land on Depends.
ADP
Depends
Confidence: Medium
Buy if you have 5-50 employees and want payroll plus tax filing handled end to end.
| Compare | Paylocity | ADP |
|---|---|---|
| Verdict | Depends | Depends |
| Best for | US mid-market (roughly 50-1,000 employees) | Teams of 5-50 wanting payroll + tax filing handled |
| Who it's not for | Teams under ~25 people . serious overkill | Solo founders - Roll, Gusto, or a bookkeeper is cheaper |
| Privacy | Public trust center and vendor risk scores (Rankiteo 762/1000); one 2018 breach notice on record; no public CVEs found.13 | Mature formal security program; past issues were third-party (MOVEit) exposure and tax-portal W-2 fraud. |
| Support quality | Recurring complaint threads on Reddit | Yelp users can't reach customer service |
| Public sentiment | Sentiment is mixed: large review bases skew positive while Reddit threads document complaints, a dedicated 'AVOID' post, and difficult comparisons with ADP and Paycor.¹ | G2 rates ADP 4.4/5 across 12,447 reviews, but Reddit payroll pros and Yelp reviewers repeatedly cite opaque pricing and hard-to-reach support.15 |
| Biggest gotcha | Support quality is a recurring complaint theme; nail down SLAs in the contract⁵ | Quote-based pricing: fees vary by pay frequency, states, and add-ons; expect creep at renewal |
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
Pick ADP when
- Teams of 5-50 wanting payroll + tax filing handled
- Companies adding HR, benefits, or PEO later
- Mid-market firms needing Workforce Now HCM
- Multi-state or franchise payroll
When ADP is not a fit
- Solo founders - Roll, Gusto, or a bookkeeper is cheaper
- Anyone who wants transparent, published pricing
- Teams expecting fast, reachable phone support
- Price-sensitive startups comparing modern tools
Sources
- Paylocity Reviews on G2g2.comreview
review
review
- Paylocity Trustpilot reviewstrustpilot.comreview
review
- PEPM cost thread . r/humanresourcesreddit.comreview
- Paycom to Paylocity . r/Payrollreddit.comreview
news
- Paylocity acquiring Airbase . Yahoo Financeca.finance.yahoo.comnews
- Paylocity Pricing pagepaylocity.comofficial
- Paylocity About Uspaylocity.comofficial
- Paylocity Trust Centertrust.paylocity.comsecurity
- 2018 Notice of Data Breach . CA AGoag.ca.govsecurity
- Paylocity Security Rating . UpGuardupguard.comsecurity
official