Paylocity pricing and review: estimated costs and the terms to ask for

Paylocity pricing at a glance

Published price

Quote onlypricing form, checked Oct 16, 2026

Core payroll and HR

$18 to $22 per employee per monthOutSail estimate, Jul 2026

Implementation

10% to 20% of first-year spendOutSail estimate

Our scores

12/100 payroll, 23/100 HR13th of 15 in payroll

Paylocity is a payroll and HR suite for companies from small to large: its site sorts buyers into 1 to 99, 100 to 499 and 500+ employees. It covers payroll, HR, time, benefits, recruiting, an employee community app and global payroll in 100+ countries. Its pricing page says only "Get the solution that matches your needs and is priced for your budget," followed by a form. Low scores here mean little is published, not that the software is poor; see our scoring method. We did not test Paylocity.

What Paylocity charges: the dated estimate

OutSail's figures come from mid-market buyers it advises, so a 5-person company may be quoted differently, and the estimate does not say whether a monthly base fee or per-run fees apply. Treat it as a benchmark for your quote, not a price.

Estimated Paylocity cost for 5, 10 and 25 employees

For full HCM at 25 employees, the same math gives 12 × $650 to 12 × $825 = $7,800 to $9,900 a year, plus $780 to $1,980 to implement: $8,580 to $11,880 in year one.

Against published suites: 10 employees on Gusto Plus cost $80 + (10 × $12) = $200 a month and on Gusto Premium $180 + (10 × $22) = $400, with no implementation fee listed (checked October 16, 2026). OnPay payroll plus its HR add-on is $144. The Paylocity core estimate of $180 to $220 sits close to Gusto Plus. See HR and payroll software prices and payroll service costs.

What to get in writing from Paylocity

1. The per-employee monthly rate for each module, and whether a base fee or per-pay-run charge applies.
2. The implementation fee as a dollar figure, not a percentage, and what it includes.
3. Year-end charges for W-2s and 1099s.
4. The term length, auto-renewal and the most your price can rise at renewal.
5. The tax filing terms: who pays penalties and interest when a filing is late or wrong.
6. Notice to leave, any early termination fee and how long you keep access to W-2s and reports.

Put two or three quote-only suites through the same list. Our comparisons do this with the published facts: Paycom vs Paylocity, Paycor vs Paylocity, ADP vs Paylocity and Paylocity vs Paychex.

Payroll taxes and multi-state

Paylocity lists "Accurate, on-time tax filings" as a feature and has a multi-state payroll page, but no guarantee terms are published on the pages in our research. We could not find whether it pays penalties and interest from its own errors, whether it registers new state tax accounts, or what notice it requires.

Contract and leaving Paylocity

Paylocity does not publish its contract term, renewal, cancellation process or record access after you leave. With implementation estimated at 10% to 20% of first-year spend and paid up front, leaving in the first year costs more than the monthly rate alone suggests. Before you sign, get the notice period and a fixed post-contract window for admin and employee access to W-2s and pay stubs.

If you leave mid-year, agree who files the current quarter's Form 941 and state wage reports and who issues the year's W-2s (due February 1, 2027 for 2026). A missed wage report after a switch moved one owner's state unemployment rate from 0.8% to 12.75% (Hacker News, August 2026).

Paylocity support

Paylocity has separate support pages for administrators and employees and an in-app knowledge base. It does not publish phone or chat hours on the pages we checked. Ask whether you get a named account contact after go-live and what the response time is on a payroll day.

Paylocity reviews

Paylocity has 4.4 out of 5 from 6,311 reviews on G2 but 1.3 out of 5 from 129 reviews on Trustpilot (both seen October 16, 2026). That 3.1-point gap is among the largest in our research, with ADP RUN (4.7 vs 1.2) and QuickBooks (4.4 vs 1.1 for all of Intuit). The Trustpilot reviews we read across payroll providers are mostly billing, cancellation and support disputes.

We have not yet read individual Paylocity reviews to document recurring complaints, so we describe no pattern. With a 1.3 Trustpilot score, ask for two references from clients your size and in your states.

How we score Paylocity

Paylocity scores 12 out of 100 in payroll, 13th of 15. It ties Paycom on points and ranks just behind it on our complaint tiebreak, ahead of isolved and Paycor (10). In HR software it scores 23, tied with Paycor, behind Gusto (61), Justworks (59), BambooHR (54) and Rippling (30).

Who Paylocity fits, and who should pick something else

Pick something else if:

• You have under 20 people: published payroll-only plans at $87 to $109 a month for 10 employees (Patriot, Wave, OnPay, Gusto Simple) cost less than the $180 low end of the Paylocity payroll and HR estimate, with fewer HR tools. See best payroll for small business and OnPay.
• You want HR tools at a published price: Gusto Plus or Premium (Gusto pricing).
• You want employees to approve their own pay: Paycom.
• You want vendor-led implementation and a promo on the first six months: Paycor.
• You buy through a local payroll bureau: isolved.

Larger employers should also read enterprise payroll software.

More reviews

If the Paylocity estimate looks high for your size, the small business reviews below publish their prices; OnPay vs Gusto and Gusto vs SurePayroll compare them directly.

• ADP vs PaylocityADP RUN's estimated $79 + $4 and free-months offer against Paylocity's per-employee suite pricing.
• OnPay reviewOne flat price for any number of states, the HR add-on math and a 30-day written exit.
• Paycom reviewQuote only: a dated per-run estimate, the implementation fee and the terms to get in writing.
• Paycom vs PaylocityTwo quote-only HR suites: dated third-party price estimates, first-year math and the terms neither publishes.
• Paycor reviewQuote only with a 50% off offer, the old $99 + $5 list price and the Deputy route.
• Paycor vs PaylocityTwo quote-only HR suites compared on dated estimates, unpublished terms and a Gusto price check.
• Paylocity vs PaychexTwo quote-only providers: dated estimates, the October 2026 Paychex promo, and what to get in writing.
• SurePayroll reviewTwo base prices on one page, $50 + $5 per W-2 and the terms you should get in writing.
• Wave Payroll review$100 a month for 10 in any state, a pay-first guarantee and records that vanish at month end.
• isolved reviewNo prices or terms published; how reseller sales work and what a quote must beat.