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Payroll · head to head

ADP Workforce Now vs BlackLine

ADP Workforce Now logo

ADP Workforce Now

Payroll

All-in-one HR, payroll, talent, and benefits

From
$23/employee per month
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite
BlackLine logo

BlackLine

Accounting

Close automation that sits on top of your ERP, covering reconciliations, journals and close task control

From
$29/month
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite

The short version

  • Each has a real cost: ADP Workforce Now pricing not publicly available, making budget comparison difficult; BlackLine it sits on top of the ERP rather than replacing anything, so it is an additional annual platform cost against a general ledger you are already paying for, and the return has to come from reduced close effort and audit findings rather than from retiring another system.
  • They diverge on capability: ADP Workforce Now covers Payroll Processing, BlackLine covers Account reconciliation.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 30 August 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which ADP Workforce Now and BlackLine actually diverge.

Attributes where ADP Workforce Now and BlackLine differ
AttributeADP Workforce NowBlackLine
Starting price$23/employee per month$29/month
Pricing modelUnknownsubscription
PlatformsWeb, MobileWeb
CategoryPayrollAccounting
Founded19492001

Identical on both: free tier (No), 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 Workforce Now

  • Payroll Processing
  • Tax Administration
  • HR Management
  • Benefits Administration
  • Time and Attendance
  • Talent Management
  • QuickBooks
  • Xero

Only in BlackLine

  • Account reconciliation
  • Risk based certification
  • Journal entry management
  • Close task management
  • Transaction matching
  • Intercompany
  • Variance analysis
  • Evidence attachment

What people use each for

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

ADP Workforce Now

  • Processing payroll and tax compliance for 1 in 6 U.S. workersnot BlackLine
  • Managing time tracking and labor cost forecasting across locationsnot BlackLine
  • Coordinating benefits administration and retirement plan compliancenot BlackLine
  • Running distributed hiring workflows for enterprises with global teamsnot BlackLine

BlackLine

  • A listed company whose external auditors have raised findings about reconciliation evidence and reviewer sign offnot ADP Workforce Now
  • A group with dozens of entities where the close depends on someone chasing spreadsheets by email every monthnot ADP Workforce Now
  • A finance team matching very high volumes of bank or payment processor transactions that no longer fit in a workbooknot ADP Workforce Now
  • An organisation trying to shorten a close that runs past working day ten and cannot see where the time goesnot ADP Workforce Now

Where each one falls short

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

ADP Workforce Now

  • Pricing not publicly available, making budget comparison difficult
  • Additional modules increase per-employee cost significantly
  • Requires minimum 50 employees, not suitable for small businesses
  • Setup fees of $2,000 or more for additional modules

BlackLine

  • It sits on top of the ERP rather than replacing anything, so it is an additional annual platform cost against a general ledger you are already paying for, and the return has to come from reduced close effort and audit findings rather than from retiring another system.
  • The capability is split across separately licensed modules, so a reconciliation deployment that later needs journal entry, transaction matching and intercompany turns into three more commercial conversations rather than a configuration change.
  • Implementation runs for months and is normally partner led, because the value depends on how the account inventory, risk ratings, matching rules and ERP data feeds are configured, and a rushed configuration produces a system that certifies bad reconciliations on schedule.
  • The ERP data feeds have to be built and then maintained, so a chart of accounts change, an entity addition or an ERP upgrade turns into remediation work in BlackLine as well, and a broken feed stops the close rather than degrading it.
  • Licensing has a per user element and the close involves preparers, reviewers, controllers and auditors, so a finance function with many occasional reviewers pays for seats belonging to people who touch the system for a few days each month.

Pricing, plan by plan

ADP Workforce Now

$23/employee per month

No published plan breakdown. See the ADP Workforce Now review.

BlackLine

$29/month
  • EnterpriseFree
    • Custom pricing
    • Account reconciliation
    • Task management

Which should you pick?

Choose ADP Workforce Now if

  • You need payroll processing.
  • You work on Web, Mobile.
  • You also want tax administration.
ADP Workforce Now review

Choose BlackLine if

  • You need account reconciliation.
  • You also want risk based certification.
BlackLine review

Questions people ask

Is ADP Workforce Now or BlackLine better?
Neither clearly leads. ADP Workforce Now starts at $23/employee per month and BlackLine at $29/month, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, ADP Workforce Now or BlackLine?
ADP Workforce Now starts at $23/employee per month and BlackLine at $29/month.
Does ADP Workforce Now or BlackLine run on more platforms?
ADP Workforce Now runs on Web, Mobile. BlackLine runs on Web.
What is ADP Workforce Now best used for?
ADP Workforce Now is most often used for processing payroll and tax compliance for 1 in 6 u.s. workers, managing time tracking and labor cost forecasting across locations, coordinating benefits administration and retirement plan compliance, running distributed hiring workflows for enterprises with global teams. Of those, processing payroll and tax compliance for 1 in 6 u.s. workers and managing time tracking and labor cost forecasting across locations are not what BlackLine is typically brought in for.
What can ADP Workforce Now do that BlackLine cannot?
ADP Workforce Now covers Payroll Processing, Tax Administration, HR Management, Benefits Administration. BlackLine covers Account reconciliation, Risk based certification, Journal entry management, Close task management.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

ADP Workforce Now: How much does ADP Workforce Now cost?

ADP Workforce Now pricing starts around $23 to $30 per employee per month as base cost. Additional modules like recruiting cost extra, typically $3 per employee per month plus $2,000 setup fee.

Source
BlackLine: Does BlackLine replace our ERP or general ledger?

No. It reads from the ledger and writes approved journals back. You keep the ERP and pay for BlackLine on top of it.

ADP Workforce Now: What payroll features does ADP Workforce Now include?

ADP Workforce Now includes payroll processing, benefits administration, time and attendance tracking, compliance management, and AI-powered anomaly detection that flags potential payroll errors before processing.

Source
BlackLine: At what size does it make sense?

The case is usually driven by control requirements and entity count rather than revenue. Companies under a control regime like Sarbanes Oxley, or groups with many entities and a long close, get the return. A single entity business with a short close will not.

ADP Workforce Now: Does ADP Workforce Now integrate with other systems?

Yes, ADP Workforce Now integrates with Workday through Flexspring connectors for near-real-time data sharing. Employee benefits, new hire data, and payroll information sync automatically between systems.

Source
BlackLine: How long does implementation take?

Months rather than weeks for the first module, longer for multi entity rollouts across several modules. The elapsed time is dominated by agreeing the account inventory and building the data feeds, not by installing software.

ADP Workforce Now: Who is ADP Workforce Now suitable for?

ADP Workforce Now is built for organizations with 50 or more employees seeking comprehensive payroll and HR management with enterprise-grade features.

Source
BlackLine: Will it shorten our close on its own?

No. It makes the close visible and controlled, which is what exposes where the time goes. Shortening it still requires changing the underlying processes, and companies that skip that step get better documentation of the same slow close.

BlackLine: Can our auditors use it directly?

Yes, giving auditors read access to sample reconciliations and approvals is a common deployment pattern and one of the clearer sources of saved effort during the audit.

BlackLine: What happens if our chart of accounts changes?

The account inventory, risk ratings and feed mappings need updating to match. Treat any significant ERP or chart of accounts change as a BlackLine work package in the same project plan.

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Related pages

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