Is ADP or Paychex Flex better?

Neither clearly leads. ADP starts at $29/month and Paychex Flex at $39/month, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.

Which is cheaper, ADP or Paychex Flex?

ADP starts at $29/month and Paychex Flex at $39/month.

Does ADP or Paychex Flex run on more platforms?

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

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 Paychex Flex is typically brought in for.

What can ADP do that Paychex Flex cannot?

ADP covers Payroll, Tax services, HR management, Time & attendance. Paychex Flex covers Payroll Processing, Tax Administration, HR Services, Benefits Administration. Both handle QuickBooks, Sage, Web support, Ios support.

Accounting & Finance · head to head

ADP vs Paychex Flex

ADP

Accounting & Finance

Always Designing for People

From: $29/month
Rated: -

Full review Website

Paychex Flex

Payroll & Benefits

Payroll and HR solutions that grow with you

From: $39/month
Rated: -

Full review Website

The short version

Each has a real cost: ADP no pricing is published; every quote is custom and driven by employee count and which services are taken; Paychex Flex paychex publishes no rate card for Paychex Flex: the payroll page names the Select, Pro and Enterprise packages but gives no per employee fee, no base monthly fee and no setup fee
They diverge on capability: ADP covers Payroll, Paychex Flex covers Payroll Processing.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which ADP and Paychex Flex actually diverge.

Attributes where ADP and Paychex Flex differ
Attribute	ADP	Paychex Flex
Starting price	$29/month	$39/month
Pricing model	subscription	quote
Category	Accounting & Finance	Payroll & Benefits
Founded	1949	1971

Identical on both: free tier (No), 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

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

Only in Paychex Flex

Payroll Processing
Tax Administration
HR Services
Benefits Administration
Time and Attendance
Retirement Services
Xero
Microsoft 365

Both cover

QuickBooks
Sage
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 Paychex Flex
HR administration and employee recordsnot Paychex Flex
Time and attendance trackingnot Paychex Flex
Benefits administrationnot Paychex Flex
Talent management on the mid-market and enterprise productsnot Paychex Flex

Paychex Flex

Running payroll and filing payroll taxes for small and mid sized US businessesnot ADP
Combining payroll with benefits administration and HR services from one vendornot ADP
Handling multi state payroll compliance and year end tax formsnot 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

Paychex Flex

Paychex publishes no rate card for Paychex Flex: the payroll page names the Select, Pro and Enterprise packages but gives no per employee fee, no base monthly fee and no setup fee
Pricing is obtained only by requesting a quote or calling sales
Product capability is split across three packages, so features are tied to a tier whose price is not disclosed

Pricing, plan by plan

ADP

$29/month

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

Paychex Flex

$39/month

Essentials$39/month
- Payroll Processing
- Tax Services
- Direct Deposit
Select$undefined/month
- All Essentials features
- HR Administration
- Onboarding

Which should you pick?

Choose ADP if

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

ADP review

Choose Paychex Flex if

You need payroll processing.
You work on Web, Ios, Android.
You also want tax administration.

Paychex Flex review

Questions people ask

Is ADP or Paychex Flex better?: Neither clearly leads. ADP starts at $29/month and Paychex Flex at $39/month, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, ADP or Paychex Flex?: ADP starts at $29/month and Paychex Flex at $39/month.
Does ADP or Paychex Flex run on more platforms?: Both run on Web, Ios, Android, so platform support will not decide this one for you.
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 Paychex Flex is typically brought in for.
What can ADP do that Paychex Flex cannot?: ADP covers Payroll, Tax services, HR management, Time & attendance. Paychex Flex covers Payroll Processing, Tax Administration, HR Services, Benefits Administration. Both handle QuickBooks, Sage, Web support, Ios support.

ADP vs Paychex Flex

ADP

Paychex Flex

The short version

Where they differ

What each one covers

Only in ADP

Only in Paychex Flex

Both cover

What people use each for

ADP

Paychex Flex

Where each one falls short

ADP

Paychex Flex

Pricing, plan by plan

ADP

Paychex Flex

Which should you pick?

Choose ADP if

Choose Paychex Flex if

Questions people ask

Related pages

More on ADP

More on Paychex Flex

Keep looking

Other head to heads