Paychex Review
If you have a small or medium-sized business and you're looking for payroll and a suite of additional HR and other business services, Paychex could be a great choice.
Paychex
Total Rating | 4.1 |
---|---|
Pricing2.2 | |
Ease Of Use4.4 | |
Features4.6 | |
Customer Service3.8 | |
User Reviews3.9 |
Payroll Processing Time
Two days (faster costs extra)Pricing
Starts at $39/month + $5/employeeBusiness Size
Self-employed contractors to enterprises with 1,000+ employeesPaychex At A Glance
- Paychex is payroll software designed to provide businesses with HR support, tax support, benefits administration, and payroll solutions.
- With an easy-to-use interface, onboarding support, and strong reporting features, Paychex is a solid option for businesses looking to manage multiple areas of their payroll and HR duties in a single platform.
- Although the company doesn’t publish its pricing online, Paychex offers different service packages to accommodate small to enterprise-sized businesses across various industries, depending on the business’s payroll needs.
Pros
- Easy to use
- Scalable
- Good customer support
- Built-in onboarding and HR
- Valid in all 50 states
Cons
- Non-transparent pricing
- Has many extra fees
Table of Contents
What Is Paychex?
Paychex is a cloud-based payroll and HR software that provides payroll, HR, benefits administration, business insurance, retirement plans, health care, and more for small to enterprise-sized businesses. Paychex also offers Paychex ERTC services to help qualified businesses claim the employee retention credit.
Paychex’s most impressive features include strong employee management tools, direct deposit, 100+ reports, two-day payroll processing, and employee onboarding support.
The downsides are limited information about the software’s security and numerous user complaints about unfiled taxes.
Paychex Pricing
Pricing2.2 |
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Software Plans 2.6 |
Pricing Transparency 1.8 |
Pricing Customization 2.1 |
Paychex’s low 2.2/5 star rating was driven down by its lack of full pricing transparency, free trial, and limited pricing customization options. Compared to similar solutions, such as Gusto or QuickBooks Online Payroll, we think Paychex’s starting pricing plan is affordable, but very limited by its employee cap.
Paychex only advertises pricing for its Paychex Flex Essentials plan online, which starts at $39/month + $5 per employee and supports paying up to nine employees.
Contact Paychex directly for pricing details on other plans.
Paychex’s base plan’s pricing is consistent with plans offered by other payroll software on the market. However, Paychex charges per payroll run, including off-cycle runs.
Fortunately, there are no contracts with Paychex, so you can cancel your plan anytime.
Paychex Flex Essentials
Paychex Flex Essentials costs $39/month +$5 per employee and includes:
- Direct deposit
- Check-printing
- Free mobile app
- Employee self-service
- Reports
- General ledger service
- Garnishments (only available for this plan and Flex Pro)
- Payroll tax support
- W-2s
- 1099s (extra cost)
- New-hire reporting
- Workers’ compensation insurance
- Compliance posters
- HR resource library and forms
- Financial wellness programs
- Tax credit services
- Employee paycards
- Employee assistance program (only available for this plan)
Paychex Flex Select
Paychex Flex Select’s pricing is unpublished. The plan includes everything from Flex Essentials, plus:
- Dedicated payroll specialist
- Paper checks, check-signing, or check logo services
- eLearning platform access
Paychex Flex Pro
Paychex Flex Pro’s pricing is not published. The plan includes everything from Flex Select, plus:
- Accounting software integrations
- State unemployment insurance services
- Onboarding tools
- Pre-employment screening
- Employee handbook tool
Paychex Flex Enterprise
Paychex Flex Enterprise’s pricing is not published. The plan includes everything from Flex Pro, plus:
- Custom analytics and reporting
- HR administration
- Online employee training
- Employee handbook resources
- Onboarding essential tools
- Custom analytic tools
- Professional support setting up SUI and workers’ compensation
Extra Paychex Costs & Fees
Paychex Extra Costs | Price |
---|---|
Time Tracking | Variable |
Employee Benefits | Variable |
HR Packages | Variable |
Hiring Services | Variable |
Online Marketing | Variable |
Business Insurance | Variable |
Financing | Variable |
Expense Management | Variable |
Payment Processing | Variable |
Tax Services | Variable |
Professional Employment Organization (PEO) Services | Variable |
Paychex offers an incredible number of services, such as time tracking, business insurance, hiring services, payment processing, and more. Most of these services will integrate directly with your payroll dashboard, so you can manage many areas of your business in a single spot.
Unfortunately, Paychex’s extra costs and fees for these services get into nickel-and-dime-ing territory compared to other similar payroll software options. That said, the modular approach to business solutions allows larger businesses with sizable budgets to pay for only the services they need.
Is Paychex Easy To Use?
Ease Of Use4.4 |
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Set Up 3.5 |
Software Reliability 4.0 |
Everyday Use 5.0 |
Integrations 5.0 |
With a 4.4/5 star rating, Paychex earned good marks in the ease of use category. The software performed well when rated for its everyday use, integrations, and reliability, but lost marks due to first time set up limitations that could make the process a little cumbersome and some customer complaints about glitching.
Paychex’s UI is generally well-organized, contributing to the software’s ease of use. Each major feature has its own place on the sidebar for easy access, and all Flex plans include a designated support specialist to help if you get stuck.
On higher plan tiers, Paychex handles the entire implementation process for you. The Paychex team will enter all of your data for you and get your account set up correctly, so you can be ready to run your first payroll within a few days or weeks, depending on the size of your business.
Paychex is cloud-based, so no downloads or installation is required.
Paychex Features
Features4.6 |
---|
Payroll Processing 4.0 |
Employee Management & PTO 5.0 |
Time Tracking 5.0 |
Payroll Tax Support 4.5 |
Reporting & Tax Forms 5.0 |
Onboarding & HR 5.0 |
Benefits Administration 4.4 |
Niche Features 5.0 |
Paychex scored an impressive 4.6/5 star rating in the features category, as the software boasts payroll processing essentials, HR solutions, and time tracking features all in one.
Additional charges for faster payroll processing and multistate payroll caused the software’s rating to drop. Further, the lack of a DIY tax plan, automated payroll processing, and some limits to benefits broker management rounded out the software’s dropped points.
Ultimately, Paychex offers a robust suite of payroll features and solutions that is consistent with similar payroll software solutions.
Compared to other payroll software, Paychex is most similar to ADP with its comprehensive feature set and extensive HR support. Check out our ADP vs. Paychex comparison for a breakdown of the differences between the two software options.
In addition to payroll features, Paychex also now offers one of the best employee retention credit funding services to help your small business file for the ERC credit on your tax return.
Paychex Customer Service
Customer Service3.8 |
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Personal Support 3.7 |
Self-Service 3.8 |
Paychex’s 3.8/5 star rating in the customer service category reflects the software’s wealth of customer support options, especially its 24/7 live support. Access to Paychex’s knowledgebase is limited to its users, but from what we could find, the content was helpful enough.
However, Paychex’s customer service rating was lowered by its limited training and support for its software, though it does offer plenty of HR training options. Mixed reviews about Paychex’s customer service also reduced its ratings.
Fortunately, each Paychex payroll plan includes 24/7 support by phone and chat.
Customers with the Flex Select plan and up are assigned a dedicated payroll specialist, making it easy and convenient to get answers to payroll-specific questions. Here’s a more in-depth look at Paychex’s customer service options:
Paychex Support | Availability |
---|---|
Phone Support | |
Email Support | |
Support Tickets | |
Live Chat | |
Dedicated Support Representative | Flex Select plan & up |
Knowledge Base or Help Center | |
Videos & Tutorials | |
Company Blog | |
Social Media |
The inability to contact a payroll specialist is usually a pain point cited by customers using other software solutions, so Paychex gets a big win in the customer service category.
Paychex Integrations
Paychex offers many additional services but still has plenty of third-party integration options. You can connect your Paychex payroll services to 270+ software solutions, including QuickBooks Online, Xero, Sage Intacct, SimplyHired, and many more.
There is also API available for developers.
Paychex Reviews
User Reviews3.9 |
---|
Customer Feedback 4.0 |
Review Site Aggregate 3.8 |
Paychex’s 3.9/5 user review rating was driven by thousands of user reviews, the majority of which were positive. However, there were a good number of negative reviews that lowered the software’s overall rating. Paychex receives an average of 3.8/5 stars across user review sites.
While it’s important to take negative reviews with a grain of salt (considering the role of negativity bias), there are enough recurring complaints about significant issues, such as unauthorized payments, payroll inaccuracies, and missed tax filings, to take note of them before purchasing the software.
Negative Paychex Reviews & Complaints
- Unauthorized payment withdrawals
- Missed tax filings
- Payroll inaccuracies
- Expensive
Positive Paychex Reviews
- Good customer support
- Easy to use
- Strong payroll features and tax support
- Time-saving
- Convenient mobile app
Is Paychex Secure?
Paychex employs strong security tools to keep your data safe. While the company doesn’t give much more detail about its security measures, it does provide a detailed privacy policy. The company does not share or sell personal information.
- Data encryption
- Malware detection and prevention
- Firewalls
- Multifactor authentication
- Restricted access to confidential information
- SOC reports
Final Verdict Of Paychex
Paychex Review Summary | |
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Pricing | Starting at $35/month + $5/employee |
Choose If You Need |
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Paychex offers strong payroll features, including customizable employee management, preprocessing payroll reports, and automatic payroll tax filing. Built-in HR and onboarding set the service apart. The software is well-organized, offers 24/7 customer support, receives many positive customer reviews, and — best of all — Paychex takes care of the entire setup process, so you don’t have to worry. However, it’s difficult to say if the service is worth it for small business owners without knowing exactly how much Paychex costs.
Paychex could be a great choice if you have a small or medium-sized business and you’re looking for payroll and a suite of additional HR and other business services. Contact Paychex directly for a quote and a demo of the software.
If pricing is a concern and you need payroll software that won’t break the bank, check out our picks for the best free payroll software for an in-depth look at the top free payroll software options on the market.
Payroll Software Review Methodology
We research, evaluate, and test each payroll software app that we review at Merchant Maverick, placing special emphasis on key characteristics to generate granular ratings.
Our exhaustive, 76-point rubric guides the star rating of each payroll provider we review, examining pricing, ease of use, features, customer service, and user reviews. Each section is weighted differently.
- Pricing (10% of the overall rating)
- Ease of Use (20% of the overall rating)
- Features (40% of the overall rating)
- Customer Service (20% of the overall rating)
- User Reviews (10% of the overall rating)
When rating payroll software, we are looking for very specific qualities. The speed and cost of payroll runs and the availability of tax filing services are given high weight, as are the quality and availability of accounting, time-tracking, HR integrations, and user onboarding services. We also look for the presence of client and employee portals, benefits administration, PTO and time management tools, and many more vital features.
Learn more about how we rate payroll software providers.
The Merchant Maverick Seal of Approval 🏆
Paychex
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After hours of in-depth research and evaluation, we can confidently recommend this brand to our readers. Get started today and see Paychex for yourself.
The Merchant Maverick Seal of Approval 🏆
Paychex
|
---|
After hours of in-depth research and evaluation, we can confidently recommend this brand to our readers. Get started today and see Paychex for yourself.