6 Best Paylocity Competitors 2023

	Starter Monthly Pricing	Payroll Included in Plan	Contract	Company Sizes Served
	$200 base fee plus $9 per employee*	✓*	Annual	Small to large (medium optimal)
	Visit Paylocity
	Custom priced	✓	Annual	Small to large (medium/large optimal)
	Visit ADP
	$39 base fee plus $5 per employee	✓	Annual	Solo to large
	Visit Paychex
	$10 per employee	$6 per employee monthly	Month to month	Small to large (medium optimal)
	Visit TriNet Zenefits
	$35 base fee plus $8 per employee	✓*	Month to month	Small to large
	Visit Rippling
	$12 per employee for global payroll   $650 per employee for EoR	✓	Month to month	Small to large (small optimal)
	Visit Papaya Global
	$40 base fee plus $6 per employee	✓	Month to month	Small
	Visit Gusto

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	Starter Monthly Pricing	Payroll Included in Plan	Contract	Company Sizes Served
	$200 base fee plus $9 per employee*	✓*	Annual	Small to large (medium optimal)
	Visit Paylocity
	Custom priced	✓	Annual	Small to large (medium/large optimal)
	Visit ADP
	$39 base fee plus $5 per employee	✓	Annual	Solo to large
	Visit Paychex
	$10 per employee	$6 per employee monthly	Month to month	Small to large (medium optimal)
	Visit TriNet Zenefits
	$35 base fee plus $8 per employee	✓*	Month to month	Small to large
	Visit Rippling
	$12 per employee for global payroll   $650 per employee for EoR	✓	Month to month	Small to large (small optimal)
	Visit Papaya Global
	$40 base fee plus $6 per employee	✓	Month to month	Small
	Visit Gusto

*Pricing is based on a quote we received.

• Payroll: With ADP, you can approve payroll as late as 4:30 p.m. Eastern time the day before and have employees paid the next day (Paychex’s recent changes make it equally fast, but most services take two to four days to post.) Payments can be via paychecks, direct deposits, or a Wisely pay card. It also calculates and files taxes with a liability guarantee.
• Hiring tools: ADP Run’s plans offer excellent HR tools that include two revolving postings on ZipRecruiter, onboarding tools, online courses, and electronic forms and signatures. Some of the other services on our list offer job posting tools (like Gusto) and applicant tracking solutions, such as Rippling, but for an additional fee.
• HR support: ADP has ready-made documents, a handbook wizard, and access to HR experts in each state where you have employees, so you are sure to get advice that applies to the local area. Like TriNet Zenefits, it offers compensation management tools but as an add-on. Its learning management module includes courses for getting and retaining certifications, including instructor-led classroom courses, something we did not see in other HR systems on our list.
• PEO: ADP has over 30 years of experience as a PEO and is one of the biggest in the industry. As a PEO, it acts as the employer in terms of HR, benefits, and payroll processing. You only need to be concerned about tasking your employees and paying for their salaries.

• Paying employees: Paychex has a real-time payments option that lets employers approve payroll and fund direct deposits in less than 15 seconds with near-instant access to pay for employees. No other payroll system does this. Normal direct deposit takes two to four days, which is industry standard. Paychex also offers pay cards and check stuffing services like ADP. It even allows employees to request advances of up to $500 (only Gusto offers a similar service).
• Benefits: In addition to the usual employee benefits you find with most payroll systems—health, dental, health savings account (HSA), 401(k), and more—Paychex offers free financial wellness programs. This includes some tools like you’ll find in Gusto, plus educational courses to help employees meet their financial goals. An employee assistance program is also available to help your workers find solutions to personal problems affecting their work life. This includes limited access to counseling for psychological and financial issues.
• HR functions: Paychex has more than 300 functions for payroll and HR management that you can choose from to create a custom solution. These include everything, from time tracking to a learning module that lets you build your own courses for specialized training. No other HR system on our list (aside from Paylocity) had course creation, although ADP, Rippling, and TriNet Zenefits offer extensive course libraries. It has an applicant tracking system (ATS) and onboarding tools as well.

• Inexpensive HR: If you’ve got payroll handled and only need HR services, Zenefits offers three plans with excellent HR tools. These include onboarding, scheduling, PTO tracking, performance management, and employee well-being and engagement tools (Rippling also offers an HR-only option).
• Marketing opportunity: Like Paychex and ADP, TriNet Zenefits also offers an employee discount program. However, it invites its customers who have online businesses to offer other TriNet users discounts in exchange for being part of the program. It’s an easy way to expand your market base.
• Compensation management: One thing TriNet Zenefits offers with its Growth and Zen plans is compensation management, which analyzes salaries and provides benchmarks. You can get this with Paylocity and some of its competitors, but usually as an add-on.

• Payroll: Rippling offers complete payroll management, including tax filing services and benefits administration. Processing global contractor payments and paying international employees are also easier with Rippling’s global payroll solution which covers more than 100 countries.
• HR tools: Rippling offers an ATS, 90-second employee onboarding, learning and talent management, and more. It has strong tools for compliance with payroll, safety, and labor laws.
• Tech and computer management: Rippling stands out from the rest on our list with its excellent management of computer technology. With the IT module, you can easily assign computers and applications. If you’d prefer to outsource this function, Rippling can handle the entire process for you by providing computers preloaded with the needed software and helping with getting the computers back when an employee leaves your company.
• PEO on/off: While many of the services on our list offer PEO, Rippling is the only one that lets you turn it off and on at will. This is a great tool for seasonal businesses, if you plan on building an HR department but aren’t there yet, or if you lose your HR director suddenly and need a fill-in until you hire a new one.
• Integrations: Rippling is the most integration-friendly HR payroll service we’ve seen. It works with more than 500 apps for accounting, expense management, HR, sales, communication, and productivity. Apps are easy to identify and access right from Rippling’s dashboard as well.

• International payroll: Papaya Global works through in-country partners to provide payroll for your employees wherever they work. It supports payment in local currencies, handles local tax filings, and ensures payroll compliance for more than 160 countries.
• EoR: An EoR is like a PEO on an international scale. Papaya takes full HR and payroll responsibility for your employee; all you need to concentrate on is task management.
• Contractor management: If you only work with contractors, Papaya can handle the payroll and Independent Contractor Compliance administration for you. Gusto also pays international contractors but will not include HR like Papaya does. ADP is a closer competitor to Papaya but does not have a contractor-only plan.
• Immigration services: Papaya sets itself apart not just from those on our list but also from other PEO services in that it offers immigration services. It helps you get work permits for expatriates and employees on short-term international assignments. It can also help you get permits for your employee’s immediate family.

• Ease of use: Gusto is very easy to set up and use. You don’t need a specialized setup like with Paylocity or ADP, and if you’re familiar with running payroll, you can jump in right away. Gusto does lead you through your first payroll, and there are how-to guides and phone, chat, or email support.
• Payroll: Unlike Paychex, you get unlimited payroll runs, making it very cost-effective, and you can automate different pay schedules, such as for hourly or salary workers. Gusto handles new hire reporting and tax filing, even for local taxes. It also files end-of-year forms, which some services like ADP may charge extra for.
• Payment options: You will have to print your own checks; consider ADP or Paychex if you want check stuffing and sending. It does offer a pay card through Gusto Wallet, which also gives your employees financial benefits, like the ability to get an advance on pay. Paylocity offers something similar as does Paychex.
• HR tools: All of Gusto’s packages (except the Contractor Plan) include tools for hiring and onboarding, such as offer letters, onboarding checklists, and document storage. You need the Complete Plan or higher for electronic signatures, org charts, and employee surveys. The highest plan also includes HR reps. Overall, Gusto’s offering is simpler than most of the providers on our list, but most charge more as you add some of these tools.