ADP alternatives: payroll with prices you can see

ADP RUN today: the price you are trying to beat

ADP RUN list price

Not publishedAll four packages say Get pricing, Oct 16, 2026

Best estimate

$79 + $4 per employeeTech.co user reports, Jan 2026; not an ADP figure

Notice to cancel

30 days, in writingRUN terms Sec. 12.A

Our score

32/100Rank 9 of 15 payroll providers

ADP sells RUN in four packages (Essential, Enhanced, Complete Payroll and HR+, HR Pro) and prices every one by quote. The two third-party estimates disagree: Tech.co (updated January 7, 2026) reports $79 a month plus $4 per employee from user reports, while a Fit Small Business quote from May 2025, more than a year old, showed $49 base plus $2.50 per employee per weekly pay run. Neither is an ADP price, so treat your own quote as the only real number.

ADP does publish one price. Its separate Roll by ADP app costs $39 a month plus $5 per employee on its pricing page, with tax filing, W-2s, time tracking and live chat included. If you like ADP but hate quote-only billing, price Roll before you leave the company entirely.

For the full ADP breakdown, including what each RUN package adds, see ADP RUN pricing and estimates.

Why people leave ADP

ADP RUN scores well on G2 (4.7 from 6,579 reviews) and badly on Trustpilot (1.2 from 3,126 reviews, a page that covers every ADP product), both seen October 16, 2026. The recent Trustpilot reviews are mostly about service and billing, not the payroll math itself:

The contract adds its own reasons. ADP's RUN terms (effective February 12, 2026) let ADP raise base fees after the first six months with 30 days' notice, auto-renew the agreement on your processing cycle, and cap ADP's total yearly liability at the average charge for one payroll run (Sec. 11.C). Its penalty reimbursement covers interest only when ADP held your tax money past the due date (Sec. 11.A).

ADP alternatives ranked by score

These are the other payroll providers in our October 2026 scores, ranked by total out of 100. ADP itself scores 32, mostly because it publishes no price (0 of 25 on cost) and its exit terms earn 6 of 15. Scores reward published prices, tax guarantees, exit terms, support and complaint records; see how we score payroll providers.

Four sales-led suites sit at the bottom of our scores: Paycom and Paylocity (12 each), isolved and Paycor (10 each). They suit companies outgrowing RUN, not owners trying to get away from quote-only pricing, because none of them publishes a price either.

What 5, 10 and 25 employees pay instead of ADP

Monthly cost on each provider's cheapest plan that files payroll taxes for you, at one pay frequency and one state. The ADP row is an estimate, so the gap you see is only as good as that estimate. Run your own quote against these figures, or price a hire with the employee cost calculator.

Fees the table leaves out

• A second state: Patriot and QuickBooks add $12 a month per state, SurePayroll $9.99. Gusto Simple is single-state, so a multi-state team needs Plus at $80 + $12 per person ($200 a month for 10). OnPay includes extra states.
• Year-end forms: SurePayroll bills W-2s and 1099s at $50 + $5 per form each year ($100 for 10 employees). Square charges $3 per mailed paper form. Patriot files 940, 941, W-2 and W-3 at no added fee.
• Faster pay: Gusto Simple charges $15 a month + $3 per person for next-day direct deposit.
• Employer payroll taxes are the same wherever you run payroll. FICA, FUTA and state unemployment usually cost far more than the software; see how employer payroll taxes work.

The wider picture of software fees, accountant fees and tax costs is in what payroll costs a small business.

The three strongest ADP alternatives

When staying with ADP makes sense

Leaving is not always the cheaper move. ADP is the better fit when:

• You run complex or larger payroll. In a small-business forum thread comparing the three, one reply put ADP ahead for complex payroll or 100+ employees and Paychex ahead on price and support for smaller teams (footballguys.com forum, replies to 2025). The ADP vs Paychex comparison covers that choice.
• You want phone support from the vendor itself. ADP lists phone (1-844-227-5237) and chat and advertises 24/7 support, though it publishes no hours by channel.
• You want state unemployment and garnishment payment handled. The Enhanced package names a State Unemployment Insurance service and a garnishment payment service.
• You may move to a PEO. ADP TotalSource is on the IRS active CPEO list; see the ADP TotalSource review before you switch away from the ADP family.

If you are comparing ADP with an all-in-one HR system instead, read Rippling vs ADP; for bigger HR suites, ADP vs Paylocity.

How to leave ADP in the middle of the year

Most of the damage in a payroll switch comes from filings that fall between the two providers. Plan the move around ADP's notice rule and the quarterly calendar:

1. Give written notice at least 30 days ahead. RUN terms Sec. 12.A require it, and you still owe every invoiced fee (Sec. 12.B). If you took the three-free-months offer, the credits only land on invoices 4 to 6, so leaving early forfeits them.
2. Pick a quarter boundary if you can. The cleanest switch date is January 1, April 1, July 1 or October 1, because each Form 941 then belongs to one provider. Q3 2026's 941 is due November 2, 2026 and Q4's is due February 1, 2027 (IRS due dates). If you switch mid-quarter, the new provider must load every ADP paycheck from that quarter so its 941 shows the full quarter.
3. Export your records before termination. ADP says it may keep reports and tax forms for an unstated period and that Document Vault downloads last a limited time. I-9 access ends on the termination date, so download those first. Pull payroll registers, tax liability reports, filed 941s and state wage reports for every quarter of the year.
4. Load year-to-date wages into the new system. Your EIN does not change, so the Social Security wage base ($184,500 in 2026) and FUTA's $7,000 per employee keep counting from January. Without the prior totals, the new provider over-withholds and overpays.
5. Settle who files the 2026 W-2s. W-2s and W-3 are due February 1, 2027. The usual setup is that the new provider files one full-year W-2 per employee from the loaded totals. Get it in writing that ADP will not also file, or employees receive two conflicting forms.
6. Hand over your state account numbers. ADP's terms already expect you to supply state ID numbers, so you keep the same withholding and unemployment accounts. Give them to the new provider and confirm it will file every quarterly wage report. One business owner reported an unemployment rate that jumped from 0.8% to 12.75% after missed wage reports in a switch (Hacker News, Aug 17, 2026). Check your state's current rate range in 2026 SUTA rates by state.
7. Watch your bank account after the final invoice. Billing after cancellation is one of the most repeated ADP complaints. Keep the written cancellation confirmation and dispute any later debit.