2023 ADP RUN Review: Features, Costs, Pros & Cons

ADP RUN Review: ADP is a cloud-based platform that offers payroll and HR products mainly to large enterprises. RUN by ADP is a service specifically designed for startups and small businesses with an employee count of under 50.

ADP RUN features multistate payroll, automatic tax filing, new hire reporting, and onboarding. With its higher tiers, you get advanced employee management tools, HR support features, and access to benefits administration.

On the downside, ADP does not publish costs on its website. While the solution is highly scalable and customizable, the lack of pricing transparency makes it difficult to estimate overall costs unless you contact the company for a quote.

Read this in-depth review of ADP RUN payroll software to know if it is right for your business.

Quick View: Pros & Cons

pros

• Easy to use
• Multi-tiered plans built for scalability
• Customizable plans
• Automatic tax filing
• Payroll debit cards for direct deposit
• Employee self-service portal
• Mobile app
• Comprehensive payroll features offered even with the entry-level plan

cons

• Check-signing services are available only in the higher tiers
• Opaque pricing
• Added costs for benefits administration, year-end reporting, and time-tracking

ADP RUN Review: Deciding Factors

How Does ADP RUN Work?

ADP RUN offers four plans with full-service payroll, tax filing, and built-in compliance features. If you choose its higher tiers, you can expand your platform’s functionalities to include a wide range of HR, employee management, recruitment, and support functions. Since pricing is quote-based, you have to contact a sales representative for a custom quote.

You can avail of promotional offers (such as 3 months free payroll, at the time of this writing) and a live demo through a company representative. Alternatively, you can launch a self-guided demo from the ADP RUN website. The company also provides paid assistance for software setup and implementation.

Once you set up your ADP RUN account, you can start running payroll almost immediately from your dashboard. From the dashboard, you can easily navigate to various payroll features and employee data. You can view employee profiles, edit data, review time cards, set up recurring payments on autopilot, and more.

The system simplifies payroll calculation by automating deductions, filing, and remittance of state and federal payroll taxes. It has built-in tax and compliance tools to automate the end-to-end payroll tax process and ensure compliance with state-wise tax laws, wage and hour laws, new hire reporting, and more.

ADP RUN Review: Pricing and Plans

ADP RUN does not publish its product pricing. Pricing information gleaned from independent websites and ADP RUN user reviews differ vastly, so it is best to contact a sales representative for a custom quote.

Additionally, the company has short-term promotional offers going at various times. This means that you may get highly discounted introductory pricing but cannot expect to pay the same amount year after year.

According to ADP RUN reviews by its long-standing customers, its base pricing is quite affordable, considering the range of payroll features you get with its most basic plan. However, some essential features, such as benefits administration, are charged extra, which adds to the final costs.

ADP RUN offers four packages, as follows:

Essential, which includes –

• Payroll functions, including tax filing, W-2s and 1099s, and payroll delivery
• Multistate payroll
• ‘RUN & DONE’ feature to automate recurring payroll
• Multiple payment options, including direct deposit, checks, and Wisely Direct debit card
• New hire reporting, onboarding, and background checks
• Customizable reports for payroll and HR
• General ledger interface to export payroll data to an accounting platform
• Employee portal
• Desktop and mobile app
• Google Ads setup and management

Enhanced, which includes Essential Plus –

• State Unemployment Insurance (SUI) management
• Labor law posters
• Electronic check signing
• ZipRecruiter for job postings

Complete, which includes Enhanced plus –

• Access to HR HelpDesk
• Employee handbook
• Performance tracking tools
• HR forms, documents, and checklists
• HR training and toolkits

HR Pro, which includes Complete Plus –

• Enhanced HR support from expert HR advisors
• Applicant tracking system
• LMS for training courses
• Sexual harassment prevention training
• Marketing tools and advice
• Legal assistance from Upnetic Legal Services

You can customize your package with paid add-ons, including –

• Health insurance and retirement plans
• Pay-as-you-go workers’ compensation
• Time and attendance tools
• Marketing assistance

ADP RUN Review: Advantages and Disadvantages

Below are the key advantages and drawbacks of ADP RUN Payroll:

Advantages

• Comprehensive payroll features

ADP RUN offers an impressive range of payroll features, even with its entry-level plan. Multistate payroll, automated tax filing, multiple payment options, new hire reporting, and onboarding are all included in the Essential plan.

• Scalability and customizability

ADP RUN packages are designed for scalability. As your business expands, you can scale to the next tier or customize your plan with ADP add-ons and other marketplace products.

Additionally, if your employee count grows beyond 50 and RUN no longer fits your requirements, you can shift to other ADP products, such as Workforce Now, which offers the full suite of HR services, including talent acquisition, training, and performance management.

• Built-in compliance

Besides ensuring compliance with tax regulations and wage laws, ADP RUN’s built-in compliance system also issues automatic updates on regulatory changes across all 50 states.

The software is equipped with smart features such as AI-powered error detection that proves your payroll data and flags potential errors before they happen.

• Mobile app

ADP RUN has an efficient mobile app that enables you to run payroll, add employees, and generate reports on the go.

Disadvantages

• Opaque pricing

ADP’s lack of pricing transparency makes it very difficult to compare costs with other payroll providers or gauge your product’s final costs without speaking with a sales representative.

• Pricey add-ons

Crucial features, including end-of-year reporting, employee benefits, and time-tracking, cost extra and can add substantially to the final price of your customized product.

Customer Reviews

Performance reviews of ADP RUN are largely positive and rate the software highly for its features and efficiency.

However, you do find some negative reviews online about the company’s opaque fee structure, difficulties during setup, and extra charges for setup assistance.

ADP RUN Review: Additional Features

ADP RUN is a popular choice among small business owners because it offers much more than payroll automation. In fact, it ranks among some of the best HR software solutions for small businesses. Here are some of its noteworthy features:

Wisely Direct Debit Card

This prepaid debit card is an optional facility for ADP users. It functions like a digital account and allows users to access their earnings two days before payday, earn cashback rewards, manage savings, and make digital payments.

Hiring and onboarding tools

ADP RUN’s basic plan features new hire reporting, onboarding, and background checks. Its higher tiers include the ZipRecruiter job board, which allows users to post jobs and track applicants from the convenience of their dashboards.

Software integrations

ADP RUN integrates seamlessly not only with ADP’s proprietary software, but also with a wide range of third-party solutions for accounting, benefits administration, POS, learning management, time and attendance, and collaboration. This allows you to expand the platform’s capabilities to fit all your business needs.

HR features

ADP RUN offers a wider range of HR capabilities than most other small business payroll solutions. Its HR solution includes functions that span the complete employee lifecycle, from job posting and hiring to termination.

Is ADP RUN Right for Your Business?

ADP RUN is a good payroll and HR solution for small businesses with up to 49 employees. TrustRadius rates it an overall 8.2/10 for its features and capabilities. Most ADP RUN payroll reviews express satisfaction with its range of features, add-ons, and overall performance. 95% of its users say that it delivers good value for money.

A part of the ADP family, the platform is highly scalable and customizable, since it integrates seamlessly with other ADP products and multiple third-party systems from ADP’s marketplace. Its higher tiers include access to enhanced HR support, marketing tools, and legal assistance from Upnetic, which other payroll providers typically do not offer. 

However, ADP RUN is not among the cheapest payroll solutions on the market, especially if you need some of its add-ons. If you are on a budget or looking for a more streamlined payroll platform, you may consider some of ADP’s competitors, such as Square Payroll or Paychex.

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