Paycom vs. ADP: Differences, pros and cons in 2024

Paycom and ADP are powerful cloud-based payroll service providers, each offering comprehensive tools to help small business owners automate payroll, manage employee benefits, pay taxes and stay in compliance with local and federal regulations. Run by ADP is a favorite among small to midsize businesses for its intuitive platform and ease of use. For larger brands looking to scale, Paycom offers a complete online payroll management system that streamlines complex processes and can help businesses save time spent on payroll even as your company grows.

Featured payroll software offers

OnPay

Learn More

Via OnPay’s website

Monthly fee

$40 per month plus $6 per employee

Direct deposit

Yes

SurePayroll

Learn More

Via SurePayroll’s website

Monthly fee

$29.99 per month plus $5 per employee

Direct deposit

Yes

Gusto

Learn More

Via Gusto’s website

Monthly fee

Starting at $40 plus $6 per month per employee

Direct deposit

Yes

Rippling

Learn More

Via Rippling’s website

Monthly fee

$35 per month + $8 per user

Direct deposit

Yes

Paycom vs. ADP side-by-side comparison

	PAYCOM	ADP
Price	Quote-based	Quote-based
Direct deposit	✔	✔
Time tracking	✔	✔
Benefits administration	✔	✔
Automated tax filing and compliance	✔	✔
Employee self-serve portal	✔	✔
Professional employer organization/HR and payroll outsourcing	X	✔
24/7 live support	X	✔

See MoreSee Less

Pricing 

Winner: ADP

Paycom and Run by ADP make it difficult to determine costs for their services. Both are not transparent with their pricing and require business owners to set up a meeting to discuss business size, industry, unique needs and requested add-ons before providing a custom quote. 

While you may not be able to determine the cost of Run by ADP, it does offer three free months of service to companies who sign up for its small business payroll processing, which covers payroll for businesses with one to 49 employees. 

Roll by ADP, another ADP option, may be a better fit for single-owner LLCs, entrepreneurs and startups. Unlike Run by ADP, Roll offers transparent pricing at $29 per month plus $5 per employee. Roll by ADP utilizes a simple mobile platform to run payroll anytime, anywhere. However, the payroll software is lean. Roll by ADP is exclusively a mobile payroll solution, and doesn’t offer PTO tracking, timekeeping or benefits administration tools. 

Employee portal 

Winner: Paycom

Run by ADP and Paycom both give employees access to an employee portal where they can manage their own payroll information, see withholdings and expenses, receive alerts for tasks they need to complete, access tax documents and gain more insight into their paychecks before payroll runs. Both offer strong and comparable solutions for companies of all sizes. 

However, for brands looking to increase transparency and give employees more power, Beti by Paycom puts payroll in the employee’s hands, allowing them to approve their payroll and resolve problems before payroll submission. 

Tax filing and compliance

Winner: Tie

Paycom and ADP both have comprehensive tax-filing solutions that help business owners automate the tax filing process and save time while ensuring compliance. Run by ADP has built-in tax compliance features that deploy AI-powered error detection to help companies avoid costly tax filing errors. Paycom offers a similar all-in-one solution to help businesses with the entire tax filing process, including adherence to state and local tax laws.

Payroll administration

Winner: Tie

Small business owners with simple, straightforward payroll needs will likely prefer Run by ADP. It offers step-by-step screens for processing payroll and allows you to put consistent payrolls on autopilot for a hands-off approach. Run by ADP also introduces an AI security measure that examines payroll patterns to catch and flag errors before processing payroll. 

For midsize, large and growing companies with complex payroll needs, Paycom’s robust customization features won’t disappoint. The system pulls live data on hours worked, approved expenses and compensation changes to run payroll. In this way, payroll can change each month and still be automated. You can even pay employees on unconventional pay periods, such as every day. Paycom also gives employees more control over payroll through its self-service portal, allowing them to approve their payroll. 

Time tracking

Winner: ADP

Paycom and ADP both have time and attendance tracking capabilities that can help business owners manage productivity and control labor costs. Each companies’time-tracking services are similar, including mobile apps to manage time and attendance on the go, automatic data integration between time tracking and other software and compatibility with multi-clock environments. 

However, ADP rises slightly above Paycom with its advanced security features provided by the ADP Time Kiosk app. Such features use biometric technology in the form of facial recognition software to provide an extra layer of security for business owners concerned about time theft. 

Live support

Winner: Tie

ADP offers year-round, 24/7 online support, including live chat. Paycom live phone support is limited to normal business hours, Monday through Friday, from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Eastern time. 

While both Paycom and ADP offer live phone support, many users who left reviews on Trustpilot expressed a slightly higher level of satisfaction with Paycom’s customer service when compared to ADP, even though Paycom’s phone support is limited to normal business hours. 

So, when choosing between ADP and Paycom, it’s up to you to determine if having impeccable customer service is worth waiting for should you face payroll issues on nights and weekends. 

Paycom vs. ADP alternatives

OnPay

OnPay is the best flat-fee service with expert support. Its a moderately priced payroll solution compared to its peers, coming in at a flat $40 per month base price plus $6 per employee. The payroll software provides small business owners access to robust customer support features such as account setup assistance, live support with an expert customer service representative during the week and emergency assistance over the weekend. This makes OnPay a wise and affordable choice for small business owners who want a simple yet effective approach to employee payroll, with built-in payroll-management automation designed to save you time and money while avoiding costly tax mistakes. Further, there are currently 11 third-party integrations that can help you manage accounting, time tracking, retirement, HR and compliance all in one place. 

While transparent fees and phenomenal customer support make OnPay an excellent choice for small startups looking for extra help getting payroll services up and running, it might not be the best fit for brands planning to scale. OnPay’s fixed pricing structure is the same whether you’re a company of ten or 10,000, meaning medium to large-size businesses will still have to pay $6 per employee. ADP and Paycom, on the other hand, both offer custom-quote pricing depending on your business’s size and unique payroll needs, likely providing discounted rates for a large number of employees.

Rippling

For small startups with global ambitions, Rippling has created HR software built to help businesses easily scale from two to over 2,000 employees. However, Paycom and ADP are solutions that may not be as good a fit for growing businesses.

By contrast, Paycom is better suited for established medium to large-size companies with more complex payroll needs. Entrepreneurs and mom-and-pop shops with no plans to scale may find themselves paying for features, benefits and integrations they’ll never use. 

On the other hand, ADP offers a wide range of options depending on your company size, with Roll by ADP coming in as the simplest mobile-based payroll solution for small business owners. However, growing out of Roll by ADP means switching to another solution, such as Run by ADP or ADP Global Payroll. 

Patriot 

For brands on a budget, Patriot software is our go-to payroll service provider. Plans start at $17 per month plus $4 per employee, with a full-service option that includes tax filing for a base price of $37 per month. 

With Patriot, you can add additional features such as time and attendance software and HR support as you grow. No such add-ons exist for Roll by ADP, meaning you would need to upgrade to another offering, such as Run by ADP, to meet the demands of your scaling company. This may not be a desirable change in service because Roll by ADP is the only payroll software provided by ADP that offers transparent pricing online. To learn about the cost of service for other ADP offerings, you’ll need to schedule a meeting with a sales representative to receive a custom quote.

Paycom also lacks transparent pricing and requires a custom quote.

Paycom vs. ADP customer feedback

Winner: Paycom

Paycom fairs better than ADP when it comes to user reviews. On Trustpilot, Paycom averages 4.0 out of five stars with over 260 user reviews. Satisfied users point to Paycom’s excellent customer service and support, robust customization options and the ability for employees to approve their time and checks. Unsatisfied users state issues with software glitches, difficulty of use and withdrawal calculation discrepancies. 

Meanwhile, ADP scores a 1.5 out of five stars on Trustpilot with over 2,200 reviews. Satisfied users praise the software’s payroll transparency, training and onboarding tools, same-day access to funds and ADP payroll card (also known as Wisely by ADP). Displeased users cite poor customer support, with long response times over the phone and via email, as well as errors in tax reporting that resulted in costly penalties and fees. 

Featured payroll software offers

OnPay

Learn More

Via OnPay’s website

Monthly fee

$40 per month plus $6 per employee

Direct deposit

Yes

SurePayroll

Learn More

Via SurePayroll’s website

Monthly fee

$29.99 per month plus $5 per employee

Direct deposit

Yes

Gusto

Learn More

Via Gusto’s website

Monthly fee

Starting at $40 plus $6 per month per employee

Direct deposit

Yes

Rippling

Learn More

Via Rippling’s website

Monthly fee

$35 per month + $8 per user

Direct deposit

Yes

Final verdict 

Winner: ADP

While both Paycom and ADP offer strong payroll solutions, we give a slight edge to ADP. With more payroll software options to fit different-sized businesses, ADP likely has a solution that can meet your business’s needs. 

Who is Paycom best for?

Paycom is best for medium to large-size companies that need a comprehensive payroll solution for more complex needs. Larger businesses will also find Paycom’s higher level of customization and automation — including custom payroll schedules, employee-powered error detection and real-time data syncing — better adapted to support a growing workforce. 

If you’re looking for a payroll service with robust tools that put the power of payroll in the hands of your employees (while mitigating compliance risks, saving you both time and money) then Paycom may be the payroll service for you. 

Who is ADP best for?

ADP offers numerous options to meet the varying needs of different-sized companies. For startups on a budget, Roll by ADP offers an affordable mobile payroll solution with transparent pricing, automatic tax filings and deposits and 24/7 customer support. Small to midsize businesses may prefer Run by ADP, a simple and reliable payroll solution that allows you to put recurring payroll processing needs on autopilot. And businesses with a larger budget may choose to outsource some or all of their payroll and HR needs to ADP.

ADP is a professional employer organization (PEO). PEOs allow you to take a completely hands-off approach to your HR and payroll, including tax reporting and filing, by outsourcing these tasks to them. This hands-off approach is an excellent option for small businesses with little staff to dedicate to HR and payroll.