Paycom and ADP Run are two popular payroll and HR software solutions that go beyond providing basic services to include onboarding, recruiting, benefits, and background check options. ADP Run boasts scalable plans and add-on features that grow with your business, while Paycom has a wide range of features in one system, allowing you to streamline and automate your HR functions. Although youll find similarities between the two, some differences may make one a better option for you.
- Paycom : Best for midsize and large businesses that want to set up multiple HR services under one system
- ADP Run : Best for smaller businesses and companies planning to scale their number of employees (including internationally); provides plan options to adapt as your business needs change
If you find neither Paycom nor ADP Run suitable for your needs and want a platform that also has IT solutions, we recommend the following:
- Rippling : Best for small and midsize businesses needing a strong employee management system and IT management tools, especially those with remote employees or international contractors
Paycom vs ADP Run Quick Comparison
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| Visit Paycom | Visit ADP Run | |
| Best for | Medium to large businesses that need a wide range of HR services in one platform | Smaller and expanding businesses (including internationally) needing scalable HR tools and support |
| Pricing* | Base fee (custom) + $4$6 per employee/paycheck** | From $40$220+ per pay run + $3$4.50 per employee** |
| Initial setup fee | ||
| Pay options | Direct deposit and paper check | Direct deposit, paper check, pay card |
| Self-service portal for managers and employees | iOS and Android | iOS and Android |
| Payroll tax management |
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| Time and attendance | Available as add-on | |
| Talent acquisition | ||
| HR support | ||
| Software integration | Limited | QuickBooks, Xero, Wave, ClockShark, TSheets, Homebase, Sage Intacct, Deputy, Aloha, Toast, etc. |
| PEO Services | ||
| International payroll and HR services | Very limited, 9 countries | 140+ countries |
| Customer support | Live online and phone support (MF: 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.); Dedicated specialist included | Live chat tech support (MF: 7:30 a.m. to 10 p.m., Eastern time); live payroll support 24/7 |
| User Reviews | G2: 4.2 out of 5 from 955+ reviews Capterra: 4.3 out of 5 from 675+ reviews | G2: 4.6 out of 5 from 905+ reviews on G2 Capterra: 4.5 out of 5 from 710+ reviews |
| Read our Paycom Review | Read our ADP Run Review |
*Based on quotes we received.
**Pricing can vary depending on the payroll frequencythe more often you pay employees, the greater the base cost fee.
Takeaway: We find ADP Run to be an excellent solution for small businesses needing only payroll because of its robust features. Also, if you have a growing company that may have changing HR and payroll needs in the near future, ADP is the solution for you. You get access to robust HR support, employee benefit options, international payroll plus professional employer organization (PEO) options, and multiple third-party integration partners. ADP manages payroll for nearly 800,000 small businesses .
For medium and large businessesthose with more than 50 employeesor those wanting to house all HR and payroll services under one system, Paycom is the right choice. It has a full suite of integrated tools that make the service worth the money. You also get a dedicated specialist to make setting up and managing each feature easy.
Both providers have the following features:
- Full-service payroll
- Files and pays federal, state, and local taxes
- Year-end tax reports (W-2s/1099s)
- Direct deposit and manual check capabilities
- PTO management
- Benefits management, including health insurance
- New hire reporting
- Online employee setup and accounts
- Manage deductions and garnishments
- Talent acquisition (job posting and background checks) and talent management (training) tools
- Reports and analytics
Still not sure you have found the best payroll software for your company? Take our short quiz, and well point you to the best payroll software for your business.
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If youre considering changing payroll providers, check out our guide to switching payroll solutions for some expert tips before you do.
When to Choose ADP vs Paycom
- ADP Run
- Paycom
| PROS | CONS |
|---|---|
| Multiple product plan options | HR tools are only available for premium plans |
| International corporation that grows with you | Need higher plans for state unemployment support |
| Seamless integration with third-party solutions | Time and attendance and benefit plans (workers compensation, retirement) are add-ons |
We recommend ADP Run for smaller and growing businesses, as it offers product plans that scale in features and tools, meaning itll be easy to upgrade when youre ready. It can even take you international, with payroll options in 140+ countries. It also offers a PEO optionPaycom doesntthat allows you to outsource many of your HR duties, qualify for large-group employee benefits, and keep you in line with laws and regulations. This is a great option when youre growing significantly but arent yet ready, financially or otherwise, to bring HR completely in-house.
Visit ADP
| PROS | CONS |
|---|---|
| Software directs employees to check and approve their payroll | Pricing is not transparent |
| Automated payroll and tax filing with an extensive line of integrated HR tools | No free trial |
| Dedicated support specialist for all customers | Does not integrate well with third-party software |
We recommend Paycom for medium to large businesses (50+ employees) because you dont get the systems full value unless youre actually using the different integrated features. With Paycom, you get payroll, HR management, time and labor management, talent acquisition, and management in one software. Plus, you get a dedicated specialist to make setting up and managing each feature easy. Paycoms payroll processing software, Beti, also makes pay runs easier for your payroll manager by directing employees to review and correct errors before submitting payroll rather than putting it all on the manager.
Visit Paycom
Still unsure whether ADP Run or Paycom is a good fit?
See our other top recommendations in our guide to the best HR payroll software .
Best Pricing: ADP Runs
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| Paycom | ADP Run | |
| Pricing (excluding base fee)* | $4$6 per employee/paycheck* | $3$4.50 per employee |
| Initial setup fee (1540 employees) | $500$1,200 | $200, often waived for new customers |
| Plans | None; Custom | Four plan options w/add-ons |
| Year-end reports (W-2 and 1099) | Additional fees | Additional fees |
*Based on a quote we received.
Both Paycom and ADP require you to call for a quote. However, ADPs website does list the different plans it offers, what tools each includes, and add-on options, which can give you a better idea of what you want before you call.
Meanwhile, to get pricing for Paycom, you have to request a demo to discuss your needs. You will then receive a custom quote fit for your requirements. And, since it does not have tiered plans, it is difficult to gauge the specific features in its most affordable package.
Since we need to establish which option is best for small business owners, we compared the two on pricing for 15 employees:
- Paycom pricing: We received a quote of $500 for 15 employees for setup, training, and implementation. Pay runs cost $4$6 per employee, per paycheck, and additional costs for other features like filing W-2s. Paycoms other solutions and services, like time and attendance, also incur extra fees.
- ADP Run pricing: For Essential Payroll, we were quoted $40$75 per pay run + $3 per employee. Base fee pricing depends on how often you do payroll. For weekly, its $40, $65 for biweekly, and $75 for monthly payroll. For 15 employees, this means $205/month for weekly pay runs, $175/month for biweekly, and $120/month for monthly. For more premium plans, there is an initial setup fee, but the rep waived it in our quote. There are additional costs for add-ons like time and attendance. (For pricing on higher-tier plans, check out our ADP Run review .)
Based on the quotes presented, ADP is cheaper than Paycom for the same number of employees.
If you have plans to expand your business not only in the US but in multiple countries, ADP Workforce Now is a solution for your growing payroll and advanced HR requirements. You may choose from four plan options: Payroll Essentials, HR Plus, Hiring Advantage, and Performance Plus. Moreover, since ADP has a strong presence in 140 countries, it will be able to provide you with localized international expertise if needed.
Best Payroll Features: ADP Run
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| Paycom | ADP Run | |
| Payroll processing | Mobile app and phone; enables employees to run own payroll | Mobile app and phone |
| Employee self-service portal | ||
| Payment options | Direct deposit, checks via Paycoms bank account | Direct deposit, checks, Wisely Pay card |
| Tax management | Automatic filing and payment | Automatic filing and payment |
| W-2/1099 year-end reporting | ||
| Other payroll services |
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Both ADP Run and Paycom have similar payroll and tax management features. They even have self-service portals to let employees view their pay stubs, deductions, pay history, and other documents. However, ADP has more payroll services to offer overall.
- ADP Run Payroll Features
- Paycom Payroll Features
Aside from running payroll online or on a mobile application, ADP allows processing by phone. Employees can also opt to be paid via Wisely Pay, a pay card. In addition, it has paycheck fraud protection in place and supports multiple jobs, pay rates, and pay schedules that are well-suited for different industries like education, nonprofit, and construction.
ADP supports several key tracking functions, such as recording billable hours for professional services, monitoring paid or volunteer tasks, and billing resources against specific grants. This is especially beneficial for budget forecasting in educational institutions. It also allows restaurant, manufacturing, retail, and healthcare managers to create and control shift schedule allocations to prevent staffing gaps. A restaurant or retail stores POS system can also connect with ADP to capture time worked and process restaurant tips accurately.
ADPs payroll software is intuitive and easy to use, although users say the mobile app is not great. (Source: ADP demo)
Paycom does not offer a pay card, but it does have Paycom Pay, which allows you to issue live checks using a Paycom bank account to help you lower bank charges and reduce general ledger transactions. For expense management, the provider makes it possible to upload or email photos of receipts for reimbursement and automatic expense parsing. You can also customize your expense accounts, categories, and policies to fit your organizations needs.
One area where Paycom exceeds ADP in payroll ease is with its new program, Beti. Launched in 2021, Beti lets your employees manage their own payrollmanagers only need to do a final check before submitting. Beti does automated checks beforehand to ensure the payroll is correct and directs employees to fix errors and verify their paycheck.
Paycoms Beti takes a lot of the error checking and approval duties off the managers plate. (Source: Paycom)
If youre primarily looking for help with payroll and want to consider providers other than ADP or Paycom, check out the other top payroll services we recommend .
Best HR Features & Employee Benefits: ADP Run
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| Paycom | ADP Run | |
| Time and attendance | Available as an add-on or integration | |
| Recruiting tools | ZipRecruiter job posting (higher plans) | |
| Talent management tools | Available as add-on | |
| Learning management system | Available as add-on | |
| Employee self-service portal | ||
| Benefits administration | ||
| HR management | ||
| PEO services |
With both Paycom and ADP Run, you can take advantage of new hire reporting and online onboarding for new employees. The providers also offer access to expert professionals for any HR or payroll compliance advice. However, despite offering similar HR functionalities, ADP Run has an edge over Paycom due to its PEO services offering.
- ADP Run HR Features & Benefits
- Paycom HR Features & Benefits
ADP Run has different HR management tools that can be purchased individually or included in more expensive plans. Also, its benefits administration tools allow you to connect with other tools youre already using, like payroll or HR software. However, the fact that so many tools are add-ons has been a source of complaint among users.
All ADP Run plans except Essentials offer two revolving job posts on ZipRecruiter and state new hire reporting. All plans have background checks and new hire onboarding, which are a big help when growing your business.
ADP Run helps your company gain access to small group health insurance, pay-as-you-go workers compensation plans, and retirement plans as an add-on for its premium plans. Your employees can also access discounts from brand-name products and retailers. If you are interested in focusing on your companys business expansion and gaining more support, then you might want to look at ADPs HR outsourcing services or partner with its PEO.
If you choose to use its outsourcing PEO services, ADP will operate as an extension of your HR staff and handle hiring, engagement, employee issues, payroll, benefits, compensation, talent, compliance, and more. Additionally, as a PEO, your company can gain better benefit options (health, dental, vision, life insurance, retirement plans). It can also significantly reduce employer risks and legal liability, as well as improve business processes due to sound professional advice on how to handle payroll, HR, benefits, and compliance.
To learn more about ADPs features, check out our ADP Run review ; otherwise, check out our review of ADP TotalSource to find out more about its PEO offering.
Paycom, while more expensive, includes more in its plans. Its HR tools are more focused on process automation and document management. It has self-service benefits tools, where employees can access their plans anytime and calculate take-home pay after deductions. Paycom also has helpful features, including manager self-service portals, COBRA benefits administration, 401(k) reporting, and surveys.
Paycom has some advanced HR features similar to what ADP offers, like background checking and tools designed to retain top talent while controlling employee compensation, like performance and position management and compensation budgeting.
Paycoms learning management system (LMS) customizes training based on your companys needs and performance goals. It allows HR managers to assign any number of employees to complete mobile-friendly training and development opportunities, including certifications that are useful to workers in different industries, like education. (You need to purchase this extra if you use ADP.)
For time and attendance, Paycom has its own calendar and time management program. Managers can view their staff calendars, control and forecast labor, and stop time theft and buddy punching with Paycoms geotracking, biometric time clocks, and secure, online timecards. These features are especially useful for those working in the healthcare, manufacturing, and restaurant industries. (ADP offers time tracking, plus scheduling for larger businesses, but it is an add-on.)
Like ADP, Paycom is conscientious when it comes to federal and state employment laws compliance. Hence, to reduce the risk of audits and penalties, it runs a database with complete and accurate employee information and monitors legislation changes. Moreover, it offers compliance reports consistent with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA), Affordable Care Act (ACA), and more.
You can learn more about Paycoms rich feature set in our Paycom review.
Best for Integrations: ADP Run
For third-party software integrations, ADP has a more robust selection than Paycom. Unlike Paycomwhich only has in-house time-tracking, benefits, and HR management programsADP can integrate with third-party accounting, time tracking, POS, ERP, learning, recruiting, and onboarding solutions.
- ADP integrations: Wave, Xero, QuickBooks, Workday, Sage Intacct, Oracle, TSheets, Homebase, ZipRecruiter, Jobvite, Grovo, Litmos, Flock, Employee Navigator, PayActiv, LifeMart, Slack, MS Teams, Clover, Revel, Toast, and more.
- Paycom: Paycom does not list integrations as readily as ADP and offers feweralthough we found integrations to Harri, TimeCardPlus, and several industry-specific tools like Restaurant365. However, based on its features, you may not need to integrate with other tools.
Best for Ease of Use & Customer Support: Paycom
When considering ADP vs Paycoms ease of use and customer support, Paycom wins due to its on-site training and minimal client support complaints.
Most ADP Run and Paycom users mentioned that both systems are easy to use and navigate. Paycom provides phone support and a dedicated payroll specialist for its clients. A no-cost on-site training for you and your employees is also available for midsize and enterprise clients. ADP, on the other hand, provides online training and 24/7 phone and email support for both payroll and HR services. It also provides you with a team of capable payroll and tax professionals for your troubleshooting or advisory needs.
User Reviews
- Paycom: Users on third-party review sites G2 and Capterra rated it 4.2 and 4.3 stars, respectively. Reviewers highlighted the ease of use, intuitive interface, and hands-on customer support as Paycoms top features. Meanwhile, some experienced login problems and occasional software glitches. Others added that it is more expensive than other providers. Paycoms mobile app has 4.7 out of 5 stars in the Apple Store from ~743k reviews and 4.7 out of 5 stars on Google Play from 55k+ reviews.
- ADP Run: Reviews published on G2 and Capterra show that ADP has 4.6 and 4.5 stars, respectively. Users find ADP Run easy to set up and navigate. Some like that it tracks time accurately, and its mobile application allows them to view their pay stubs without any glitch. On the other hand, there are mixed reviews about its customer supportwherein some users noted that its support team isnt responsive enough, while others said that they received good service. On the Apple Store , it received 2.3 out of 5 stars and 2.6 out of 5 stars on Google Play for the manager app, while the employee app, ADP Mobile, earned 4.6 out of 5 on Google Play and 4.7 out of 5 on the Apple Store .
How We Evaluated Paycom vs ADP Run
To compare the differences between Paycom and ADP Run, we assessed the payroll solutions and services they offer to determine the types of employers they work best with. In short, we considered:
- Pricing: We love pricing transparency so that you can make decisions beforehand, but premium services and plans usually require you to schedule a demo for pricing details. Setup fees are common with HR Payroll providers like these two, so we anticipated that. ADP fared best for transparency of plans, if not pricing.
- Payroll features: Automatic payroll runs, payroll tax filing, 1099 form preparation, manual check capabilities, two-day direct deposits, and employee and contractor payroll servicesincluding a penalty-free guaranteeare preferred. ADP offers more, but we did like Paycoms Beti for taking some of the grunt work off managers plates.
- Ease of use: A provider should be user-friendly and intuitive, with a customizable platform. Its also helpful if it seamlessly integrates with common third-party systems (like QuickBooks, Homebase, When I Work, and TSheets). Free setup, how-to guides, live phone support, and quick resolution of client issues are also appreciated. Both are good, but Paycom took the lead for ease of usealthough ADP Run did have more integrations.
- HR features: A provider should give users access to an expert for any advice on compliance issues. A platform should also offer new hire state reporting, online onboarding, and a self-service portal. Employee benefits, such as health insurance and workers compensation, are also important for businesses needing HR support. Here again, we chose ADP, primarily because of its PEO.
- Popularity: We looked at the reviews that real users left on popular third-party sites like G2 and Capterra and tallied the ratings. Both services are highly regarded by their users, although ADPs mobile apps leave much room for improvement.
Bottom Line
Choosing the right payroll solution is not easy since you have so many options to choose from. As youre deciding between Paycom vs ADP Run, you should assess how many employees you have (and plan to have in the future) and the additional features that you will need for recruitment, talent management, HR support, and benefits management.
If you have a midsize to large business and are focused on hiring and retaining the best talent, then consider Paycom . However, if you are planning to expand your businessnot only in the US but overseas ADP Run is the option for you. Not only does it offer tiered plans, but you can choose to outsource its payroll and HR services or become a PEO partner to enjoy more benefits while taking care of the more profitable aspects of your business.
How much does Paycom com cost
This being said, Zenefits breaks down the pricing for all three of its plans on its website, with the Essentials plan starting at $10 per month per employee . If you want to add payroll capabilities to your Zenefits software, you can do this as well – for an additional fee of $6 per employee per month.
How much does Paycom cost for a small business
They charges companies on a per paycheck basis. When converted to a Per Employee Per Month fee, a Paycom subscription can cost anywhere from $22-31 PEPM, depending on the size of your company and the modules included in your scope.
Is ADP the same as Paycom
Paycom is an enterprise-level solution, designed to work with larger businesses that have advanced payroll and HR needs. In contrast, ADP is much more approachable for small- to medium-size businesses that want to streamline their payroll and HR processes. Quote-based pricing. Quote-based pricing.
Is Paycom legit
“Paycom is a company that you can count on to be professional, reliable and trustworthy .