Paylocity
Workday
| Feature | Paylocity | Workday |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Contact sales | Contact sales |
| Free Plan | ✗ No | ✗ No |
| Rating | 4.3 / 5 | 4.2 / 5 |
| Best For | mid-size-businesses, hr-teams, payroll-managers, growing-companies | large-enterprises, global-companies, hr-departments, finance-teams |
| Founded | 1997 | 2005 |
| Payroll | ✓ | ✓ |
| Benefits Administration | ✓ | ✗ |
| Talent Management | ✓ | ✓ |
| Time Attendance | ✓ | ✗ |
| Hr Analytics | ✓ | ✗ |
| Employee Experience | ✓ | ✗ |
| Hcm | ✗ | ✓ |
| Financial Management | ✗ | ✓ |
| Workforce Planning | ✗ | ✓ |
| Analytics | ✗ | ✓ |
| Learning | ✗ | ✓ |
✓ Paylocity Pros
- Strong payroll processing
- Good employee self-service
- Modern community features
- Comprehensive benefits admin
✗ Paylocity Cons
- Implementation can be lengthy
- Pricing not transparent
- Customer support varies
✓ Workday Pros
- Unified HR and finance in one cloud platform
- Excellent reporting and analytics capabilities
- Regular feature updates with continuous delivery
- Strong compliance and global payroll support
✗ Workday Cons
- Very expensive (enterprise pricing only)
- Long implementation timelines (6-12+ months)
- Complex configuration requires certified consultants
The Verdict
Paylocity is built for mid size businesses and hr teams, with a focus on payroll and benefits-administration. Workday targets large enterprises and global companies and leads with hcm and payroll.
Both tools use custom enterprise pricing — you'll need to contact sales for a quote, which makes direct cost comparison difficult.
Neither tool offers a free plan, so factor the subscription cost into your decision from the start.
Feature-wise, Workday offers broader built-in capabilities (7 features vs 6), while Paylocity takes a more focused approach — which can mean a simpler, faster onboarding experience.
This is a genuinely close comparison. If you can, sign up for both free trials (where available) and run a one-week test with your actual team tasks before deciding.