Recruit
Let Remote People handle payroll, compliance, and HR admin worldwide so you can focus on building your team.
Paylocity Review Summary
Score 8 out of 10
Currency
USD only
Monthly fees
By custom quote
Payment options
ACH and SWIFT/Wire Transfer
Paylocity, an Illinois-based HR and payroll provider, began in 1997 as a purely domestic payroll service and now offers global payroll, HR, workforce and talent management, benefits, and employee experience solutions.
Paylocity Company Overview
Paylocity is an American HR services provider based in Illinois. It was originally started in 1997 solely as a payroll provider but its services have expanded to include global payroll, human resources, workforce management, talent management, benefits administrations, and employee experience organization. These services are offered through Paylocity’s cloud-based online platform that operates as a complete HRIS or human resources information system and allows companies to easily and effectively manage their human capital.
While it provides many of the same services, Paylocity is not technically a PEO (Professional Employment Organization) in the US. Instead, it brands itself as an all-in-one HCM provider that focuses on payroll and administrative services. While it doesn’t support international employee hiring, you can use Paylocity to run global payroll in countries where you own entities and hire your own employees. Like many competitors in the HR space, Paylocity doesn’t publicly post its prices online for easy comparisons but instead asks companies to request tailored quotes. In this review, we’re going to look deep into this provider’s offerings and reveal its strengths and weaknesses to help you decide if it’s the right partner for your business.
Paylocity Key Features
1. Paylocity Payroll
With a name like Paylocity, it’s no surprise that payroll management is this service provider’s bread and butter. It was started as a payroll service and has continued to expand this service. Its online platform helps businesses manage and automate all steps in the process, including calculating wages and subtracting tax withholdings, deductions, and garnishments. It pays employees by direct deposit and files taxes for its clients and it also manages W-2 forms for employees. Automating these processes helps save clients lots of time, but they can still enter the system to make changes and edit wages and deductions when necessary.
Paylocity runs payroll for employees in all 50 states, working with its experts to keep track of evolving state and federal laws to ensure constant compliance.
- Comprehensive Payroll Automation: Paylocity’s payroll solution automates nearly every aspect of the payroll process, from wage calculation to tax filing, enabling businesses to run payroll with minimal manual intervention. Paylocity’s ability to automate tax calculations and filings significantly reduces human error.
IRS-Registered Reporting Agent: As an IRS-registered reporting agent, Paylocity has the ability to file all necessary tax reports on behalf of its clients. These include federal returns (such as 941 quarterly returns), unemployment tax returns, withholding tax returns, and state and local annual reconciliation. Paylocity’s automation tools and compliance management features help businesses avoid costly mistakes that can arise from manual processes.
Global Payroll Management While many payroll providers focus solely on the U.S., Paylocity goes beyond borders. Paylocity supports payroll in 100+ countries via Blue Marble (acquired 2023), ensuring that international businesses have a unified platform to manage their global workforce. This is especially helpful for companies scaling globally, as they can consolidate their payroll and benefits services into one platform rather than juggling multiple systems across regions.
On-Demand Payment Service: One of Paylocity’s standout features is its On- Demand Payment service, which allows employees to access earned wages before the traditional payday. This service also helps employees avoid payday loans or high-interest credit options, promoting better financial health.
Expense Management: Paylocity simplifies the process of submitting, approving, and reimbursing employee expenses. The expense management system enables employees to easily file their expenses through an integrated system, reducing the burden on HR departments for manual expense tracking.
2. Paylocity Benefits
Paylocity offers a comprehensive benefits administration solution that streamlines both mandatory and flexible benefits management for businesses. From health insurance to 401(k) plans, Paylocity ensures that benefit elections and changes are automatically reflected in employees’ paychecks, reducing administrative burden and minimizing errors.
Beyond the basics, Paylocity allows companies to seamlessly manage COBRA benefits and other flexible contribution plans like flexible spending accounts (FSAs), health savings accounts (HSAs) and transportation accounts. Employees can easily review balances, file claims, and access these features in one central location, alongside their paycheck and time-off information.
The platform’s transparency and ease of use are enhanced with step-by-step enrollment processes, personalized recommendations, and clear cost breakdowns. Paylocity’s notifications help employees stay informed about critical benefit updates, ensuring they take full advantage of their coverage.
Additionally, the platform generates detailed reports on benefits enrollment, deductions, and compliance, making it easier for employers to track their benefits program’s performance. With Paylocity, employees can manage their benefits from any device, providing access and flexibility while simplifying administrative processes for HR teams.
3. Paylocity Compliance
Helps clients manage compliance with local, state, and federal tax and labor laws so they avoid penalties and other negative consequences.
Helps with I-9 employment eligibility verifications, managing Affordable Care Act compliance, and reporting on equal employment opportunity data.
Enables clients to monitor and update employee skills to keep them current.
Paylocity features a learning management system (LMS) with a range of courses, including training in sexual harassment prevention, anti-violence, and cybersecurity.
4. Paylocity Recruitment
Many competitors in this industry avoid providing direct recruitment services, and Paylocity is the same. However, its platform has multiple features to help clients perform their own recruiting.
An ATS or applicant tracking system to facilitate all aspects of recruitment by centralizing tasks and communications so everyone involved has access to clear data.
- The platform also offers help for preparing job descriptions and postings in text and video formats. These postings can then be posted directly to ZipRecruiter, Indeed, and LinkedIn through integrations of these apps with Paylocity, where applicants can apply by scanning prepared QR codes.
- Interviews can be scheduled easily using invites through integrations with Gmail, Outlook, and iCloud calendars to help save time and carefully manage applicant interactions.
5. Paylocity Platform
Like most HR service providers, Paylocity’s entire service offering is centered around its cloud-based platform with extra support service. This platform features a wide range of functions including onboarding, offboarding, time tracking and attendance, PTO, payroll processing and benefits administration.
- Paylocity can link to hundreds of other software applications to help smooth workflows and facilitate data flows. Currently, it offers nearly 350 out-of-the-box integrations with accounting, recruitment, finance, benefits, and communications apps. These include well-known apps like Zoom, ZipRecruiter, Xero, and Gmail which are used by millions of businesses. There’s also an API (application program interface) that can be used to build custom integrations for businesses that use highly specific software.
- Paylocity has a mobile app for iOS and Android devices that employees can use to gain access to services. They can easily self-onboard, clock in and out, share and review schedules, and request time off with this app.
- The Paylocity platform is compliant with SOC 1 and 2 controls and is ISO 27001:2022 certified. These standards demonstrate to clients that Paylocity is serious about protecting their data security and privacy.
6. Paylocity Human Capital Management
In addition to the major services we’ve already looked at, Paylocity’s platform has a great deal more functionality.
- Its time-tracking and attendance features let employees check in and out of work, and their hours of work are automatically inputted into their payroll calculations. Attendance reporting is automated and notifications and warnings can also be sent automatically to employees.
- Paylocity includes a talent management system to help managers build capacity. The platform comes with hundreds of learning and development courses, assessment templates, and compensation management functions.
- Employee experience can also be managed with the platform. It includes employee survey creation, satisfaction tracking, and peer recognition features that can help build company culture. File sharing and communications can also be streamlined within Paylocity using integrations with selected communications apps.
Paylocity Pricing
Paylocity does not publicly release it’s pricing.
Paylocity Reviews
The average scores (as of the time of writing) were:
- Paylocity Capterra = 4.3/5 (932 reviews)
- Paylocity G2 = 4.4/5 (2,777 reviews)
- Paylocity Trustpilot = 1.5/5 (52 reviews)
- Paylocity Glassdoor = 3.8/5 (2,900+ reviews)
Paylocity Pros and Cons
- Pros
Extensive integrations
Paylocity boasts an impressive number of out-of-the-box integrations (300+) with communications, hr, finance, and accounting apps. These integrations smooth workflows and facilitate data sharing across clients’ tech stacks.
Comprehensive platform
Paylocity’s platform is extensive and offers everything that most small and mid-sized businesses need to manage all of their HR functions. Most of them can use this platform as their sole HRIS though large enterprises may need something more powerful.
Global payroll
While many competitors focus their payroll services solely on the US, Paylocity can run payroll for employees in 100+ countries worldwide via its Blue Marble partnership.
- Cons
Fees not posted online
Paylocity, like many competitors, chooses not to divulge its fees directly. Instead, it asks potential clients to write in and request tailored quotes. This is time-consuming and may result in clients being offered more expensive packages than they want or require.
No recruitment service
Paylocity’s platform has a lot of features that support recruitment. However, it doesn’t offer any direct recruiting services to help clients find the talent they need, especially when hiring abroad.
Limited international-contractor support
Unusual for a payroll platform, Paylocity doesn’t support contractor hiring either in the US or internationally. This limits its usefulness for organizations that want to hire different types of workers for different purposes.
Paylocity Unique Selling Point
Paylocity’s unique selling point is the amount of self-service access that employees have to the platform. Whether it’s through Paylocity’s normal employee web portal or the accompanying mobile app, employees can serve themselves (onboarding, check-in/check-out) and access their own information (timesheets, pay stubs, benefits, etc.). This takes a lot of pressure off administrators and gives employees more control.
RemotePeople Score for Paylocity
8.0/10
Our expert score for Paylocity
Our team came to this score by considering the following components in the following weightings:
Payroll features
25%
Benefits admin features
10%
HR features
10%
Compliance features
10%
Platform features
10%
Pricing
20%
User reviews
15%
For each component, Paylocity received the following score:
Payroll features
20/25
Benefits admin features
8/10
HR features
7/10
Compliance features
9/10
Platform features
9/10
Pricing
15/20
User reviews
12/15
Paylocity 2026 Service Update
Paylocity’s 2026 platform enhancements have focused heavily on user experience and compliance. In April 2025, the company upgraded the Employee Voice tool with guided setup features, expanded mobile capabilities, and role-based training modules.
Early in the year, Paylocity also introduced interview self‑scheduling, vendor integrations for pre‑hire assessments, and automated meal-attestation compliance workflows—all helping streamline talent acquisition and adherence to regulations.
Paylocity — Our Take
Paylocity is a good choice for growing small and mid-sized businesses that want to offer professional HR services for their employees. With extra features like time-tracking, performance management, and employee experience on top of comprehensive payroll services, this provider gives smaller organizations an extensive range of services all through one convenient and centralized platform.
To learn more about the top payroll platforms, read our guide to the best payroll platforms in 2026.
Frequently Asked Questions
Paylocity is built primarily for U.S.-based payroll and HR. It can run payroll in 100+ countries through its Blue Marble partnership (acquired in 2023), but global coverage is still less mature than providers purpose-built for international employment. For companies with significant international headcount, a dedicated global payroll platform or an Employer of Record is usually a better fit.
Paylocity does not publish standard pricing. Quotes are custom and depend on company size, selected modules, and implementation scope. Reported ranges from buyer reviews typically fall between $4 and $10 per employee per month for core payroll, plus a base platform fee and one-time implementation costs. Request at least two competing quotes (ADP, Gusto, Rippling) to benchmark your pricing.
Yes. Paylocity offers 300+ pre-built integrations covering major accounting, ERP, time tracking, benefits, and HR tools, including QuickBooks, NetSuite, Xero, Sage Intacct, and Microsoft Dynamics. The Paylocity Marketplace lists certified partner integrations and an open API is available for custom connections.
Paylocity is a single-platform HCM suite aimed at small-to-mid-market U.S. businesses, with strong employee engagement and communications features. ADP operates multiple products across the market, with deeper enterprise, tax, and global payroll capabilities and a larger support footprint. Paylocity generally wins on UX and community-style tools; ADP wins on global scale, compliance depth, and enterprise complexity.
Yes. Paylocity operates a PEO offering (Paylocity PEO) where Paylocity acts as a co-employer for payroll taxes, workers' compensation, and benefits administration. It is available to U.S. employers and is separate from the standard Paylocity HCM subscription. A PEO arrangement can simplify benefits access for small businesses but typically costs more per employee than standalone payroll.
Implementation typically runs 4 to 12 weeks depending on company size, modules purchased, and data migration complexity. Small businesses with a single payroll group can often go live in under 6 weeks; multi-entity or custom-benefit setups usually take 8 to 12 weeks. Paylocity assigns a dedicated implementation specialist who manages the project.
Yes for U.S. contractors — Paylocity can pay 1099 contractors and generate year-end 1099 forms. Support for international contractors is limited; it does not natively handle contractor compliance, localized contracts, or cross-border payments at the same depth as platforms like Deel or Remote. For a U.S. contractor workforce, Paylocity works well. For international contractors, pair it with a specialized provider.
Paylocity is generally rated as user-friendly, with a modern interface and a dedicated mobile app that covers pay stubs, PTO requests, benefits, and its Community social-feed feature. Admin-side configuration can feel complex during initial setup, but day-to-day manager and employee workflows score well in user reviews across G2 and Capterra.
