Paycor vs Paylocity: what each costs and which fits

Paycor vs Paylocity at a glance

Paycor

Quote only50% off the first 6 months (base not stated)

Paylocity

Quote only$18 to $22 PEPM estimate, OutSail Jul 2026

Gusto, for scale

$49 + $6per person, published Oct 2026

Payroll score

10 vs 12Paycor vs Paylocity, out of 100

These two sell to the same buyer: a company that has outgrown basic payroll and wants HR, time, benefits and recruiting in one place, set up by an implementation team. The differences you can verify are small: Paycor runs a live discount and powers Deputy's payroll; Paylocity adds global payroll and a community app. Everything about cost and contracts comes from the quote, so this page focuses on what to ask.

Paycor and Paylocity compared

Estimated cost for 25 and 50 employees

Both columns are labeled estimates. Paycor's old $99 plus $5 list price is shown only as a historical reference; Paycor no longer publishes it and your quote may differ. OutSail's Paylocity range comes from mid-market advisory data.

Do not read the gap as Paycor being cheaper. The $99 plus $5 figure was an entry payroll price from before Paycor moved to custom pricing, while OutSail's band covers payroll plus core HR at mid-market companies. Paycor's current offer of 50% off the first six months also has no stated base, so ask what the price is in month seven and in year two.

Whichever you pick, you also owe employer FICA (6.2% Social Security to a $184,500 wage base in 2026, plus 1.45% Medicare), $42 a head in net federal unemployment tax, and state unemployment tax at your assigned rate (2026 SUTA rates). For providers with posted prices, see payroll service costs compared.

Gusto vs Paycor for payroll

If your team is small and single-state, the more useful comparison may be Gusto, which publishes every plan. Gusto scores 69 on our payroll scale against Paycor's 10, mostly because Gusto posts its prices, cancellation steps and tax penalty terms.

Gusto Simple covers one state only; Plus adds multi-state payroll and time tracking. Paycor brings an implementation team and a broader HR suite. See Gusto pricing in full.

Choose Paycor if

• You want a sales-led suite with implementation help and can use a 50% discount in the first six months.
• You already schedule shifts in Deputy, whose payroll Paycor powers.
• You will negotiate and want time, recruiting and benefits administration bundled with payroll.

Choose Paylocity if

• You have or plan staff outside the US: Paylocity lists global payroll in 100+ countries.
• You want an employee community and self-service app as part of the suite.
• You have 20 to 1,000 employees and can budget for an implementation fee.

Contract terms and switching

Neither company publishes a contract length, renewal terms, an implementation fee, a tax filing guarantee, cancellation steps or how long you keep access to W-2s after leaving. A six-month discount suggests you should ask Paycor directly whether a minimum term comes with it. Before you sign either, ask for:

• The term in months, whether it auto-renews, and the notice needed to stop it.
• The full price after any promotion ends, and a cap on yearly increases.
• The implementation fee as a dollar figure, and what happens to it if you leave in year one.
• Who pays penalties and interest if the vendor files a return late or wrong.
• Data export format and access to payroll records and W-2s after cancellation.

Switching between Paycor and Paylocity

• Load year-to-date wages and taxes if you switch midyear, so Social Security withholding stops at $184,500 and W-2s are complete.
• Agree in writing which vendor files each 2026 Form 941 and state wage report; the Q4 2026 941 is due February 1, 2027 (IRS).
• Run one parallel payroll before going live; both are implementation-heavy suites.
• Export time, PTO balances, benefits elections and I-9s from the old system before access ends.
• Keep your own state account numbers active. A missed quarterly wage report can raise your unemployment rate; one Hacker News commenter reports a jump from 0.8% to 12.75% (HN, Aug 17, 2026).

Ratings and complaints

Paycor

Paycor rates 4.0 from 2,018 reviews on G2 and 1.6 from 166 on Trustpilot (seen Oct 16, 2026). We have not catalogued Paycor's complaint themes from dated reviews yet, so none are listed here. The low Trustpilot score is worth checking yourself: sort by most recent and read what went wrong.

Paylocity

On Trustpilot, Paylocity sits at 1.3 across 129 reviews, a little below Paycor; on G2 it is 4.4 across 6,311, a little above (both seen Oct 16, 2026). Our research has not yet tied Paylocity complaints to dated reviews, so we list no themes for either vendor on this page.

Keep comparing

Our full Paycor review and Paylocity pricing and terms review go deeper. Related head-to-heads: Paycom vs Paylocity, ADP vs Paylocity, Rippling vs Paylocity and Paylocity vs Paychex. Scored lists: HR suites with payroll, ranked and payroll services ranked for small business. If benefits are the reason you are shopping, a PEO may fit better; see the best PEO companies and PEO cost per employee.