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: High
Buy if you're a 10-500 person company that wants one battle-tested vendor for payroll, HR, and benefits.
| Compare | ||
|---|---|---|
| Verdict | Depends | Depends |
| Best for | US mid-market (roughly 50-1,000 employees) | Small businesses on RUN (1-49 employees) |
| Who it's not for | Teams under ~25 people . serious overkill | Tiny teams wanting flat, transparent pricing |
| Privacy | Public trust center and vendor risk scores (Rankiteo 762/1000); one 2018 breach notice on record; no public CVEs found.13 | Mature security program with published alerts; two past incidents appear in reviewed sources, no evidence of active breach. |
| Support quality | Recurring complaint threads on Reddit | Unresponsive rep complaints even at $52k/year spend |
| 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 | Small-business users often praise RUN's reliability while Reddit payroll professionals and critics vent about support, pricing, and service quality. |
| Biggest gotcha | Support quality is a recurring complaint theme; nail down SLAs in the contract⁵ | Dedicated reps can go unresponsive after signing; support is the top complaint. |
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
- 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
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
- ADP Reviews . Trustpilottrustpilot.comreview