Is ADP or Oyster better?

Neither clearly leads. ADP starts at $29/month and Oyster at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.

Which is cheaper, ADP or Oyster?

Oyster has a free tier; the other does not. Paid plans start at $29/month for ADP and Free for Oyster.

Does ADP or Oyster run on more platforms?

Both run on Web, Ios, Android, so platform support will not decide this one for you.

Can I use Oyster for free?

Yes. Oyster has a free tier, so you can try it without paying. ADP starts at $29/month.

What is ADP best used for?

ADP is most often used for payroll processing and tax filing, hr administration and employee records, time and attendance tracking, benefits administration. Of those, payroll processing and tax filing and hr administration and employee records are not what Oyster is typically brought in for.

What can ADP do that Oyster cannot?

ADP covers Tax services, HR management, Time & attendance, Benefits administration. Oyster covers Global Employment, Benefits, Compliance, Contractor Management. Both handle Payroll, QuickBooks, Web support, Ios support.

Accounting & Finance · head to head

ADP vs Oyster

ADP

Accounting & Finance

Always Designing for People

From: $29/month
Rated: -

Full review Website

Oyster

Payroll & Benefits

Hire globally, compliantly

From: Free
Rated: -

Full review Website

The short version

Only Oyster has a free tier, so it costs nothing to try first.
Each has a real cost: ADP no pricing is published; every quote is custom and driven by employee count and which services are taken; Oyster employer of Record is $699 per employee per month, with the discount tied to annual billing
They diverge on capability: ADP covers Tax services, Oyster covers Global Employment.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which ADP and Oyster actually diverge.

Attributes where ADP and Oyster differ
Attribute	ADP	Oyster
Starting price	$29/month	Free
Free tier	No	Yes
Category	Accounting & Finance	Payroll & Benefits
Founded	1949	2020

Identical on both: pricing model (subscription), platforms (Web, Ios, Android), user rating (Not yet rated).

What each one covers

Drawn from each product's published feature list. An absence here means we hold no record of it - not that the product lacks it.

Only in ADP

Tax services
HR management
Time & attendance
Benefits administration
Sage
Oracle
SOC 1/2
ISO 27001

Only in Oyster

Global Employment
Benefits
Compliance
Contractor Management
Time Off
Expenses
BambooHR
Greenhouse

Both cover

Payroll
QuickBooks
Web support
Ios support
Android support

What people use each for

The jobs each tool is most often brought in to do.

ADP

Payroll processing and tax filingnot Oyster
HR administration and employee recordsnot Oyster
Time and attendance trackingnot Oyster
Benefits administrationnot Oyster
Talent management on the mid-market and enterprise productsnot Oyster

Oyster

Hiring employees abroad without setting up a local legal entitynot ADP
Onboarding and paying international contractorsnot ADP
Getting country specific employment compliance advice for distributed teamsnot ADP

Where each one falls short

Documented limitations, not opinions. Every one is a constraint you would hit in normal use.

ADP

No pricing is published; every quote is custom and driven by employee count and which services are taken
Split into three separate products by company size, RUN for 1 to 49 employees, Workforce Now for 50 and above, and Lyric HCM for enterprise, so growing across a threshold means changing product rather than plan

Oyster

Employer of Record is $699 per employee per month, with the discount tied to annual billing
A refundable deposit is required before an EOR engagement starts
Contractor management is free for 30 days then $29 per contractor per month
HR advisory through People Partner Services is billed at $300 per hour on top of the subscription
A currency conversion fee applies when you pay Oyster in a currency other than the contract currency
Payments are accepted only by direct debit or wire in USD, EUR, GBP or CAD

Pricing, plan by plan

ADP

$29/month

Essential$79/month
- Payroll
- Tax filing
- Direct deposit
Enhanced$139/month
- HR tools
- Background checks
- Job posting

Oyster

Free

Contractor$29/month
- Contractor Payments
- Compliant Contracts
- Invoicing
Employee$599/month
- Global Employment
- Payroll
- Benefits

Which should you pick?

Choose ADP if

You need tax services.
You work on Web, Ios, Android.
You also want hr management.

ADP review

Choose Oyster if

You need global employment.
You want to start without paying.
You work on Web, Ios, Android.
You also want benefits.

Oyster review

Questions people ask

Is ADP or Oyster better?: Neither clearly leads. ADP starts at $29/month and Oyster at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, ADP or Oyster?: Oyster has a free tier; the other does not. Paid plans start at $29/month for ADP and Free for Oyster.
Does ADP or Oyster run on more platforms?: Both run on Web, Ios, Android, so platform support will not decide this one for you.
Can I use Oyster for free?: Yes. Oyster has a free tier, so you can try it without paying. ADP starts at $29/month.
What is ADP best used for?: ADP is most often used for payroll processing and tax filing, hr administration and employee records, time and attendance tracking, benefits administration. Of those, payroll processing and tax filing and hr administration and employee records are not what Oyster is typically brought in for.
What can ADP do that Oyster cannot?: ADP covers Tax services, HR management, Time & attendance, Benefits administration. Oyster covers Global Employment, Benefits, Compliance, Contractor Management. Both handle Payroll, QuickBooks, Web support, Ios support.

ADP vs Oyster

ADP

Oyster

The short version

Where they differ

What each one covers

Only in ADP

Only in Oyster

Both cover

What people use each for

ADP

Oyster

Where each one falls short

ADP

Oyster

Pricing, plan by plan

ADP

Oyster

Which should you pick?

Choose ADP if

Choose Oyster if

Questions people ask

Related pages

More on ADP

More on Oyster

Keep looking

Other head to heads