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If you work in HR at a mid-market company (50-500 employees), chances are you have received sales outreach from a variety of different HRIS providers.
See Personalized HRIS Cost Comparisons
With everything else going on in your day, you oftentimes don't have the chance to really learn about what each of these solutions can offer, and how they differ.
Learn More: Download a Free Vendor Report Comparing Paycom, Paycor and Paylocity including pricing, pros/cons and user reviews
Adding to that confusion is the fact that some of the most well-known vendors in the mid-market space have very similar company names. As someone once put it, "In the mid-market, your options are Fifty Shades of Pay."
To save you the time of researching, demoing and being sold to, we wanted to provide a quick comparison of the three most prominent platforms in the mid-market: Paycom, Paycor and Paylocity.
Paycom
- Founded in 1998
- Headquarters in Oklahoma City, OK
- ~19,000 customers
- ~3,500 employees
Blog: How Much Does Paycom Cost?
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Paycor
- Founded in 1990
- Headquarters in Cincinnati, OH
- ~40,000 customers
- ~2,000 employees
Paylocity
- Founded in 1997
- Headquarters in Schaumburg, IL
- ~20,000 customers
- ~3,100 employees
Best Front-End Interface
Paylocity. In early 2020, Paylocity went through an entire brand overhaul. Not only did they update their logo and website, but they gave their entire HRIS a face lift. Users have reported that the simplified user interface is easier to navigate, more straightforward and provides a more 'modern' feel that employees have grown accustomed to in their private apps.
Best Back-End Capabilities
Paycom. When it comes to automating processes and cutting down on manual re-entry, Paycom stands out. While the other two vendors have grown their product via a combination of internal development and external acquisitions / white-labeling, Paycom has built every module in-house on a single database. With data automatically flowing throughout the system, admins can cut down on the tedious and error-prone tasks of manual re-entering information.
Best for Recruiting
Paycor. Most HRIS companies started off as payroll companies and, over the years, added more HR and talent management functionality. Due to this evolutionary process, most of the recruiting tools that are offered by HRIS platforms were built more recently and don't receive the same level of innovation and engineering resources as other parts of the platform. In general, most recruiting tools you find in an HRIS will meet basic needs but won't have the bells and whistles of standalone ATS/Onboarding tools. The exception to this rule is Paycor, who acquired an ATS company called Newton, in 2015. This acquisition continues to give Paycor a leg up for companies with major recruitment needs.
Best for Core HR
Paycom. When it comes to Core HR (payroll / time / benefits), the best software is the one that can automate data transfer, create continuous, real-time calculations and avert errors before they happen. Paycom's single database architecture is a huge advantage in this area. An honorable mention to Paylocity who gets the strongest reviews for their tax filing support.
Blog: Rippling vs ADP vs Paylocity- The Best Payroll Systems for Growing, Mid-Market Companies
Most Responsive Support
Paycor. Software companies all face the same constraints when it comes to building out their teams. Do you invest in the largest sales team, the largest software development team or the largest support team? In the past year, Paycor has decided to make support their number one investment, as they've grown their main customer support office in Fort Collins, CO significantly. Many clients have recently reported positive satisfaction with the availability of direct support and the speed in which tickets are responded to
Most Scalable
Paycom. While all three companies have a strong presence in the mid-market (50-500 employees), Paycom is the solution that has the strongest track record of up-market success. Paycom has about twice the number of enterprise clients as Paylocity and, in recent years, more and more of their customers are in the 500+ employee space.
Easiest to Implement
Paycor. Smooth implementations oftentimes go hand-in-hand with quality support and Paycor's large investment in customer support has paid dividends in the speed and effectiveness of their implementations. Paylocity can also be implemented fairly quickly. And Paycom provides the most on-site support during implementation.
Blog: How Long Does It Take to Implement a New HRIS
Most Cost-Effective
Paylocity. From a cost standpoint, all three providers tend to fall into a similar band. At year's end, Paylocity's pricing often is the lowest, since many of their services are included in the annual fees. Paycom's fees can climb due to the a la carte nature of their services. Paycor often fits in between the two. Although variance is to be expected with quotes depending on the services needed.
Request a Pricing Comparison of Paycom, Paycor and Paylocity
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