Pros & Cons
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- Thorough employee records
- Customizable, voluminous reports
- Straightforward user experience
- Excellent mobile apps
- Easy upgrades to other ADP products
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- Prices aren't public
- Some features incur extra fees
ADP RUN Specs
| 1099s | |
| HR Add-Ons | |
| Mobile Admin Access | App |
| Submits Federal, State, Local, and Payroll Taxes | |
| Time Tracking | |
| W-2s |
ADP, well-known for its global payroll services, also offers highly capable and flexible DIY payroll software under the ADP RUN brand. The service's clean, understandable user interface, customizable reports, and in-depth employee profiles make it an especially compelling product. It also scales particularly well for growing businesses and includes an impressive array of support resources. These attributes, along with numerous enhancements in areas such as onboarding automation, reporting, search, and time sheets, make for an excellent overall experience. ADP RUN is one of the best payroll solutions we've tested, but Gusto edges it out to earn our Editors' Choice award this year because it offers the best combination of payroll processing features and HR tools, along with an intelligent AI feature, in a more accessible user experience.
Pricing: Starts Competitive, But Add-Ons Can Inflate the Cost
Pricing for ADP RUN's payroll and HR tools is reasonable at the Essential level, and multiple other products are available that serve small businesses through enterprises. ADP doesn't publicly post prices, which is somewhat problematic because the company charges extra for some tools and services. A representative confirmed that the entry-level Essential Payroll tier goes for $79 per month, plus $4 per employee per month. That version includes payroll processing and some HR tools. Without any add-ons, that plan is more expensive than Gusto's entry-level Simple tier ($49 per month, plus $6 per employee per month), though Gusto also charges for some add-ons.
OnPay used to be the best value for payroll software, starting at $49 per month, plus $6 per employee per month. However, it now splits off some of its HR tools and added more, charging an additional fee ($15 per month, plus $2 per employee per month) for those capabilities. It's still a good deal, however, especially considering you don't have to worry about hidden charges. Patriot Software Payroll's Full Service tier ($37 per month, plus $5 per employee per month) is one of the least expensive payroll services I tested, but its feature set isn't as deep as ADP RUN’s.
Onboarding and Ease of Use: Thorough and Understandable for All
ADP RUN’s onboarding process accommodates both novice and experienced payroll managers. New automations here allow employees to add driver’s license information and complete I-9s electronically. If you feel confident in your ability to set up the site for your company, you can go through the step-by-step onboarding process and then launch right into a payroll run.
If you are less savvy, you might want to let ADP's payroll experts configure everything at no extra charge. If your business has payroll history in another application, you can import that data in most cases, or at least enter it from pay stubs and reports.
ADP's setup process is easy and understandable in part because of the app's clear navigation tools and professional design. The interface's skillful use of space makes it easy to find your way around and complete your work without inducing feelings of claustrophobia or requiring excessive scrolling. Pages load and refresh quickly, too. The effective use of color, fonts, and graphics contributes to the attractive look, though Gusto still has the edge here.
Help and Support: Accessible Resources on Site and From Live Agents
Beyond the onboarding support, a great deal of help is available throughout the site. A Guide Me feature walks you through the steps for a number of tasks, including running payroll. You can also access context-sensitive guidance throughout the site, FAQs, reference guides, and a voluminous searchable database.
I like ADP RUN's help tools. When you enter words, phrases, or complete questions in the search bar that appears at the top of every page, the site returns relevant links to answers and FAQs. This feature benefits from recent improvements, though it still sometimes takes me to related links within the site rather than providing a direct answer to a question like, “When is my next payroll due?” Some requests, such as those for specific reports, receive more targeted responses. I saw a demo version of AI Assist, which uses AI to support more complex questions, like. “How do I calculate someone’s final paycheck when they are terminated?” This feature is currently in pilot.
Chat support is available weekdays from 7:30 a.m. to 10:00 p.m. Eastern Time, while live payroll support by phone is available 24/7. ADP and Intuit QuickBooks Workforce are the only apps I reviewed that offer the latter.
Employee Records: Better Than Every Competitor
ADP RUN’s worker profile templates are among the best I've seen. Beyond standard details, such as earnings and deductions, employment information, tax withholding, pay stubs, and time tracking, these records include useful information about company property an employee is using, education and skills training they have, and performance management.
The People page has three elements: a to-do list at the top with quick links to common tasks, a list of new workers who need to complete onboarding, and a list of active employees and contractors at the bottom. When you click through to an employee’s dedicated profile page, you see a set of links to all of their employment details.
You can invite new hires to log in and complete part of their records, saving you time and reducing errors. Employees can use these portals via a browser or mobile app to access their benefits plan information, a punch clock, time off requests, and more.
Running Payroll: A Robust Process That Gives You All the Insight You Need
Once you launch a payroll run, you can import ADP time cards if you subscribe to the Time and Attendance add-on (costs vary by business size). Other options include bringing in hours from integrated time-tracking software, such as QuickBooks Time, or using AI to pull data from an Excel spreadsheet or a PDF file. ADP sells both hardware and software (Time Kiosk) components for time punch collection. Otherwise, you can enter hours manually.
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ADP RUN gives you partial control over the columns that appear in the payroll worksheet, just like other payroll processing services. Pay types include bonuses, multiple types of paid time off (such as floating hours or vacation), and regular and overtime pay. The software also supports custom earnings types. It's possible to assign hours by department, job, and location as well. You can hide any columns you don’t need (though some are mandatory).
Keep in mind that you might have to do some horizontal scrolling to see and enter data in all of the available columns. This makes navigation a little awkward if you have a lot of rows because you have to scroll down to the bottom to use the horizontal scroll bar. Handy pop-up menus for each worker give you access to data like job information, earnings, and deductions. You can view and edit background data, as well as add employees and override some entries, before you get to the payroll preview.
The payroll preview shows totals for items such as gross pay, net pay, employer taxes, and other deductions, and you can view each employee's payroll breakdown via a link. ADP RUN’s error-trapping is excellent. If there’s a problem with what you entered (or didn't, such as in the case of a new hire you didn't completely onboard), a pop-up message warns you and allows you to fix the entry. Not every payroll website provides alerts as deep as ADP RUN’s, and these can save you a lot of trouble down the road.
The app displays additional information once you submit a payroll. For example, you can see the total cash required, along with the check and General Ledger posting dates. You also get links to related actions, such as printing checks, reviewing reports, and viewing payroll details for each employee. A table breaks down key payroll numbers, including deductions, gross pay, and taxes. You can set up a group of reports to run automatically. The site can also help you create a General Ledger file and post it to integrated accounting software, such as Intuit QuickBooks Online and Xero, too.
Reports: Far More Options Than Alternatives
ADP RUN offers more reports than any other payroll service in its price range. It’s hard to imagine any collection of related data that its reports don't handle. You can create and customize single reports that cover broad topics, such as Payroll Summary and Time Off, or opt for more targeted, specialized reports, such as Employee Skills, Job Costing Details, and Missed Punches. The software displays these within its interface, though you can also download them as an Excel or PDF document (depending on the report). You can run reports in related Packages using ADP RUN’s suggestions or by creating a custom configuration.
A powerful custom report option lets you build reports across a variety of categories, including Contractor, Employee and Contractor, Human Resources, and Payroll. You select the columns you want from many dozens of options (sometimes) by clicking a link. You can then reorder them, dragging and dropping them into place. You can save the completed formats, view the reports online, or export them in various formats. ADP RUN now provides a preselected collection of reports you often need for various date ranges, such as quarterly.
HR Tools: Exceptional, Especially With Upper Subscription Tiers
If your employee base is large enough to have an HR specialist on staff, you might consider ADP's more advanced RUN Complete or HR Pro packages rather than the Essential or Enhanced levels. The product line’s upper tiers offer extensive HR tools and data, supporting processes such as hiring and performance management. Compliance alerts, guidance, and training are also available. Still, ADP RUN Essential offers a handful of HR tools, including alerts and notifications, background checks, and new-hire onboarding.
ADP is a benefits broker, meaning you can work through the company to manage benefits like medical insurance and retirement plans. The app helps you sign up for the best plans for you and your employees, and handle their administration. You can also bring in benefits and manually set up your company costs and employee withholdings in ADP RUN. In that case, you pay benefits providers directly.
Mobile Experience: Top-Notch Apps That Replicate the Main Site
ADP RUN’s excellent mobile apps (available for Android and iOS) replicate the tools and data on the browser-based site. They feature the same professional, no-nonsense design, though there are some differences because of the smaller screen. For example, you have to open the payroll preview to see an employee’s complete pay information, since the payroll entry page displays only the worker’s name and number of hours worked.
The home page contains links to your current and most recent payroll, as well as your calendar and to-do list. It also has links to common pages. The search bar is available, as is the navigation menu that’s on the desktop version (tap the More button to show it).
From the mobile app, you can access HR tools, create reports (though they’re understandably hard to see), onboard workers, run payroll, and view comprehensive employee records. You can download some forms and reports into related applications, such as Microsoft 365 and Google Drive.
Security: Is ADP RUN Safe to Use?
ADP says it designs and maintains its products and services with controls and procedures to prevent incidents. It claims to implement cutting-edge technology, a dedicated fraud prevention program, and ever-evolving anti-fraud practices. The company embeds multiple layers of protection into its products, processes, and infrastructure to ensure that security remains at the forefront. ADP’s proactive culture and operations include research and testing on evolving threats and continual training in new guidelines and practices. The service supports multi-factor authentication.
Final Thoughts
(Credit: ADP)
ADP RUN
The ADP RUN family of payroll solutions provides access to all the tools you need to compensate workers and stay HR-compliant for companies of any size, even if it's set to grow.