ADP Payroll review

ADP sells payroll and HR solutions for small, midsized, and large businesses. Its lineup also includes time and attendance, workforce management, benefits administration, and talent services, though availability varies by product and business size.

For small businesses, RUN Powered by ADP has four listed options: Essential Payroll, Enhanced Payroll, Complete Payroll & HR+, and HR Pro Payroll & HR. Roll by ADP is another small-business option, described as chat-based payroll. For midsized businesses, Workforce Now offers Select, Plus, and Premium plans. ADP also lists solutions for large businesses.

The range is broader than payroll alone: the product listings include HR services across business sizes, time and attendance for small and midsized businesses, and workforce management for large businesses. Benefits and talent services are listed for midsized and large businesses. The available details describe product categories, but don’t establish that every feature is included in every plan.

ADP’s clearest strength is range. The product lineup covers payroll for small, midsized, and large businesses, with HR solutions across those sizes as well. That gives buyers a way to compare products within one vendor as their workforce needs change, rather than assuming a small-business payroll plan will cover larger-company requirements.

The plan structure also identifies different starting points. RUN lists four options for businesses with 1–49 employees, from Essential Payroll to HR Pro Payroll & HR. Workforce Now lists Select, Plus, and Premium for businesses with 50 or more employees. ADP’s solution listings also name time and attendance, benefits administration, talent acquisition, performance management, and workforce management, though some appear as add-ons rather than included features.

For buyers who want a published entry price, Roll is the exception: the pricing information lists a $39 monthly base price plus $5 per employee, with three months free. That gives small businesses at least one visible price to compare, while the other listed products require a quote.

Price transparency is the main drawback. According to our pricing check, monthly and annual rates are not published for RUN or Workforce Now, and no annual rate is listed for Roll. The $39 base price and $5 per employee apply to Roll, not to the other ADP plans. Several features—including time and attendance, benefits administration, talent acquisition, and performance management—are listed as add-ons, so buyers should confirm what a quote includes before comparing it with another provider.

The employee ranges also mark a practical boundary: RUN is listed for 1–49 employees, while Workforce Now starts at 50+. The published pricing information does not show how ADP handles a business approaching that cutoff or what a transition costs.

Onboarding is another concern raised in user discussions. One Reddit poster described spreadsheet-heavy setup and said they were charged £3,500 after missing a 30-day cancellation window. Other commenters disputed or contextualized parts of that account, and another said implementation took substantial work but the system met their needs. These reports are anecdotes, not a measure of typical service, but they make it sensible to ask about implementation help, contract terms, and cancellation deadlines before signing.

ADP’s only listed public starting price is Roll: $39 per month plus $5 per employee, with three months free. The $39 is a base price, not the full bill once employees are added. No annual rate is published for Roll.

For RUN Powered by ADP, the pricing page does not publish prices for Essential, Enhanced, Complete Payroll & HR+, or HR Pro Payroll & HR. Those plans are listed for businesses with 1–49 employees. Workforce Now’s Select, Plus, and Premium plans are listed for businesses with 50 or more employees, but their prices and annual rates are also not published. So there’s no public price comparison—or calculable price jump—between those tiers.

Check add-on costs before comparing quotes. The listed extras include time and attendance, retirement services, workers’ compensation, health insurance, benefits administration, talent acquisition, and performance management. Several appear as add-ons rather than included features. Ask for a written quote that separates the base fee, per-employee charges, add-ons, and post-promotion pricing; the three free months apply to Roll, not necessarily the other products.

Treat a move to ADP as a records-and-process project, not just a software signup. Before switching, confirm who will transfer employee and payroll records, what historical data ADP needs, and how payroll dates will be handled during the change. The published product details don’t publish migration timelines, export formats, contract terms, or cancellation rules, so get those answers in writing before committing.

The user reports summarized in the review source flag difficult onboarding, but don’t explain how common it is or identify a specific cause. We don’t have enough Reddit material here to name a reliable pattern of why customers leave. Nor do the published sources establish whether ADP makes data export difficult or creates lock-in. Ask for a sample export, supported file formats, and the steps and fees for ending service. If you’re leaving, reconcile payroll records and confirm you can retrieve the history you need before closing the account; unresolved records are a stated reason to avoid ADP, not a documented ADP migration rule.