Paylocity vs Paychex: quote-only payroll compared

Paylocity vs Paychex at a glance

Published price

NeitherBoth quote only, checked Oct 16, 2026

Best estimate

$18 to $22 vs none currentPaylocity per employee per month (OutSail, Jul 2026)

Live promotion

None vs up to 6 free monthsPaychex, one-year agreement, ends Oct 31, 2026

Payroll score

12 vs 25Paylocity vs Paychex, out of 100

Both sell through sales teams, and both are built to grow with you, but toward different ends. Paylocity is an HR suite aimed at midsize companies (its site sorts buyers into 1 to 99, 100 to 499 and 500+ employees), with payroll, time, benefits, recruiting and an employee community app on one platform. Paychex starts smaller: payroll packages for very small businesses with an assigned payroll specialist, then HR, 401(k) and a PEO as you grow.

Our full write-ups: Paylocity review and Paychex pricing estimates.

Side-by-side: price, terms and support

Vendor facts are from paylocity.com and paychex.com, checked October 16, 2026. Estimates are third-party, dated and labeled; neither vendor has confirmed them. Scores follow our scoring method, and both are low mainly because both publish so little: no prices, no cancellation terms and no penalty guarantee.

What a quote might look like

Paylocity is the only one of the two with a recent, specific estimate. The table applies OutSail's July 2026 ranges to three team sizes. These are estimates for planning a budget, not Paylocity prices.

For Paychex, there is no current-plan estimate we trust. Costbench reports a median of about $10,800 a year, but from only four buyer reports, so it tells you little. What we do know:

• The promotion. If you start payroll in October 2026, payroll fees are waived through April 2027, up to six months. You still pay setup, delivery, NSF and premium processing fees, and 401(k) and Time and Attendance charges. Leave within the one-year agreement and Paychex "will be entitled to recover the value of any free months".
• Add-on fees are the common complaint. Recent reviewers describe "a charge for just about everything including when they submit payroll" (Trustpilot, October 5, 2026), a $2,340 setup charge plus $160 a month (November 2025), and over $1,800 to close an unused 401(k) plan (ConsumerAffairs, 2025).

Payroll taxes come on top of either bill. A 50-person team at $50,000 each owes 50 x $50,000 x 7.65% = $191,250 a year in employer Social Security and Medicare alone. See payroll service costs compared and run your numbers in the employee cost calculator.

Get these answers in writing before you sign

Because neither company publishes its terms, the quote is the contract. Ask both for:

1. The full price build: per employee per month or per pay run, base fee, and every add-on you will use (time, benefits, HR, 401(k)).
2. One-time fees: setup or implementation, data migration, year-end W-2 and 1099 fees, delivery and off-cycle fees.
3. Renewal: how much the price can rise at renewal and with how much notice.
4. Term and exit: contract length, auto-renewal, notice to cancel, early termination fees, and how long you keep access to reports and W-2s after you leave.
5. Tax errors: who pays penalties and interest if the provider files late or wrong. Neither publishes a guarantee.
6. New states: who registers state withholding and unemployment accounts. Paychex says you do; Paylocity does not say.

Choose Paylocity if

• You have roughly 20 to 1,000 employees and want payroll, HR, time, benefits and recruiting in one suite.
• Employee self-service and engagement matter: Paylocity's community app is part of the platform.
• You pay people abroad and want global payroll (100+ countries) in the same system.
• You will budget for implementation, which one advisory firm puts at 10% to 20% of first-year spend.

Choose Paychex if

• You are a small business that wants an assigned payroll specialist and phone, chat and email support.
• You expect to add HR services, a 401(k) or a PEO later from the same company.
• You can sign by October 31, 2026, stay the full year, and want up to six months of free payroll fees.
• You will register your own state tax accounts, or pay for Paychex's Middesk service.

Switching and exit

Neither publishes cancellation terms, so read your service agreement for the notice period and any early termination fee before you set a switch date. Paychex reviewers describe getting a cancellation confirmation and then, a while later, another bill (Trustpilot, October 13, 2026). Send notice in writing and watch your bank account for the next few months.

1. Download payroll registers, quarterly Forms 941, state wage reports, W-2s and benefit deduction history before access ends. A competitor's guide says Paychex prints and ships W-2s to former clients rather than giving online access.
2. Switch at a quarter or year end where possible. Mid-year, load year-to-date wages so the $184,500 Social Security wage base and $7,000 FUTA wage base carry over.
3. Agree in writing who files the last quarter and the year's W-2s.
4. If you are on the Paychex promotion, leaving inside the year means repaying the free months.
5. Move 401(k) and benefit deductions on the same date as payroll, or contributions can be missed.

If you are leaving Paychex, our Paychex alternatives page lists providers with posted prices and self-serve cancellation.

Documented complaints

Paychex

• Fees for almost every action and price jumps after sales calls (Trustpilot, October 5, 2026; ConsumerAffairs, August 2025: about $57 to almost $400 a month).
• Billing that continues after cancellation (Trustpilot, October 13, 2026; ConsumerAffairs: bills 3 and 9 months after canceling).
• Add-ons turned on without approval, such as "Paychex activated the 401(k) plan on their own" (ConsumerAffairs, May 2, 2025).
• Tax filing errors leading to an IRS notice and unpaid interest (Trustpilot, October 6, 2026).

Sources: Paychex on Trustpilot, 1.7 from 858 reviews across all products, and ConsumerAffairs, page 3 (seen October 16, 2026). G2 rates Paychex 4.1 from 1,748.

Paylocity

We did not research Paylocity complaint patterns in this pass, so we list none. Its Trustpilot score is 1.3 from 129 reviews, while G2 shows 4.4 from 6,311 (seen October 16, 2026). Read the recent low-star reviews on both before you sign.

Other comparisons

Paylocity is also compared with Paycom, Paycor, ADP and Rippling. Paychex appears in ADP vs Paychex and Gusto vs Paychex. For larger teams, see HCM software options; for everyone, our payroll rankings.