Paychex vs Toast Payroll

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Our analysts compared Paychex vs Toast Payroll based on data from our 400+ point analysis of Payroll Software, user reviews and our own crowdsourced data from our free software selection platform.

Toast Payroll Software Tool

Product Basics

Paychex provides payment processing, time-keeping and other general human resource software. They offer this to self-employed users, small businesses, medium business and large enterprise ventures. Buyers can choose from various pricing plans and payment options such as direct deposit, real-time transfers and same-day ACH. Most versions have some core HR management and pay processing functionalities.

Based in the cloud, it assists with hiring, onboarding, tax filing, benefits management, business insurance, startup services and more. Users can customize it to meet their specific needs, adding only what they use. This allows administrators to ensure it fits their requirements, whether they be simple or complex.
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Toast Payroll is a cloud-based solution that helps businesses streamline payroll operations and facilitate efficient workforce management. It offers dynamic functionalities like tax compliant updates, employee profiles, time tracking, wage calculations, digital onboarding, automated tip distribution and more.

The product helps users manage workload with the help of timesheets, calculation tools, computation options, regulatory compliance and other business-specific benefits. It offers prompt customer support channels, a self-service platform that helps employees enroll for programs and benefits and real-time information syncs to the company POS to reduce manual operations.
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Product Insights

  • Reduce Errors: Ensure accuracy in payroll processing with the help of a variety of safeguard features, such as sending managers notifications when the system detects potential issues so that these problems are avoided entirely.
  • User Support: Access 24/7 online support to assist with all aspects of processing, and the option for a dedicated specialist that can act as a personal support expert for both payment and tax needs.
  • Convenience: The mobile app enables employers and employees to access the system from any device. By leveraging the cloud, they can start work on a desktop and pick up right where they left off directly from their mobile device, allowing them to complete core tasks from anywhere.
  • Informed Employees: Employees can get information about their time off, upcoming paychecks, benefits information or retirement funds. This saves time from HR and accounting by answering their more pressing questions while also building transparency and trust in the entire process.
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  • Time Savings: Automate payroll calculations and tax filings, freeing up valuable hours for your HR team.
  • Accuracy: Minimize errors with precise, automated calculations, reducing the risk of costly mistakes.
  • Compliance: Stay up-to-date with ever-changing labor laws and tax regulations, ensuring your business remains compliant.
  • Employee Self-Service: Empower employees to access their pay stubs, tax forms, and personal information through a user-friendly portal.
  • Integration: Seamlessly connect with other Toast products and third-party applications, creating a unified system for your business operations.
  • Scalability: Easily manage payroll for a growing workforce, whether you have a small team or multiple locations.
  • Cost Efficiency: Reduce administrative overhead and potential penalties from payroll errors, leading to significant cost savings.
  • Data Security: Protect sensitive employee information with robust security measures and encryption protocols.
  • Real-Time Reporting: Access detailed payroll reports and analytics to make informed business decisions quickly.
  • Employee Satisfaction: Improve employee morale by ensuring timely and accurate paychecks, fostering a positive workplace environment.
  • Customizability: Tailor payroll settings to fit the unique needs of your business, from pay schedules to benefit deductions.
  • Support: Benefit from dedicated customer support to resolve any payroll issues promptly and efficiently.
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  • Products: It has many different products for different applications. Here are the most important:
    • Payroll: The platform offers payment for businesses with one employee, under 10 employees, from 10-49 employees and from 50 to over 1,000 workers. This includes online payroll, taxes, deductions and many tools to generate reports and look at costs.
    • Time and Attendance: The online time and attendance function ties in directly to payroll, saving time when trying to calculate paychecks. In addition to the software, it also offers TrueShift physical time clocks and the InVision iris recognition clocks. Users can track team activity in real time through the manager’s dashboard, and allow employees to record time, approve timecards and check schedules through the employee dashboard.
    • HR: It has a range of HR services and software including employee development, hiring, records administration, compliance, benefits administration, learning management and more.
      • Professional Employer Organization: This is a full-service HR consulting program that helps organizations with liability issues, daily worker problems, risk management, benefits administration and other related issues.
      • Hiring Service: The software can make the hiring process easier with applicant tracking, screening, recruiting and onboarding capabilities. Please note, they don’t have employee leasing, temp staffing or contract staff services.
      • Employee Benefits: Managers and workers alike can get access to health insurance for groups or individuals, financial wellness and retirement planning.
    • Business Insurance: Users can get property and casualty insurance with the help of agents who assist in the selection and implementation process for the new benefits. This includes business owner policies, cyber liability and workers’ compensation.
    • Finances and Payments: Besides payroll, this program also has business loans, expense management, tax administration and processing for payments.
    • Startup Solutions: For new businesses, it offers guides, consulting, advice and more for multiple aspects of the process. They give aid with marketing, the incorporation process, business management and access to free online tools.
  • Payroll and Tax Filing: Process payroll and automatically calculate taxes. Paychex can calculate, file and pay taxes at the federal, state and local level automatically. The platform can calculate hours, doing setup for direct deposit and setting hours per pay period.
  • General Ledger: Synchronize payroll data with integrations offered by Paychex. The system is compatible with a variety of popular accounting systems, including QuickBooks Online and Xero.
  • Reporting and Analytics: Generate custom analytics and reports or choose from over 160 customizable templates to track and visualize relevant data.
  • Learning and Development: Employees can take advantage of online courses to stay educated on relevant topics. Not only does this increase productivity, but it makes employees feel more invested in.
  • Core HR: It gives employee feedback, manages employee training and tracks important documents through the system’s interface.
  • Onboarding: Applicants and new hires can complete new hire documents, such as tax forms, and set up direct deposit directly through the platform.
  • Paycheck Protection Program: Introduced by the CARES Act as a measure for economic stability during the COVID pandemic, the Paycheck Protection Program loans encourage small businesses to keep or rehire workers that have been furloughed. This system offers a quick way to apply for this loan.
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  • POS integration: Sync employee data to the POS system and automate data entry. Check employee timesheets, track employee hours, record tips, monitor wages, onboard new employees and more without manual hassles. 
  • Law-Compliant Operations: Manage job rates, conform to new labor laws, handle payroll taxes and comply with state and federal laws. Meet minimum wage requirements using business protection tools to minimize non-compliance risks. Comply with state and national labor laws using robust tools and HR modules. 
  • Labor Management: Track work hours and add new time entries to manage employee activity. Review breaks, approve timesheets, calculate overtime and record paid leaves with the help of accurate time tracking tools. View open shifts and make accurate payments on a coherent platform. 
  • Online Functionalities: Create employee schedules, access in-depth reports for crucial business insights, manage enrolments and offer plans, simplify HR operations and more on a centralized, time-efficient payroll system. 
  • Self-Service: Allow employees to view and manage benefit plans, make changes, report payroll deductions and more with self-service options. 
  • Reporting: Review team performance, see top-performing employees, identify loopholes, optimize business operations and more using informative reports based on real-time data. Create customized reports and analyze employee performance, HR processes and business finances. 
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Product Ranking

#4

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Payroll Software

#135

among all
Payroll Software

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Analyst Rating Summary

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Analyst Ratings for Functional Requirements Customize This Data Customize This Data

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Benefits Management Dashboard And Reporting Expense Management Mobile Capabilities Payroll And Tax Management Platform Capabilities Security And Compliance Time And Attendance Management 94 100 100 81 90 100 100 91 0 25 50 75 100
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User Sentiment Summary

Great User Sentiment 2800 reviews
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83%
of users recommend this product

Paychex has a 'great' User Satisfaction Rating of 83% when considering 2800 user reviews from 4 recognized software review sites.

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4.5 (24)
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Awards

SelectHub research analysts have evaluated Paychex and concluded it deserves the award for the Best Overall Payroll Software available today and earns best-in-class honors for Expense Management and Platform Capabilities.

Analysts' Pick Award
Expense Management Award
Platform Capabilities Award

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Synopsis of User Ratings and Reviews

User-Friendly UI: A total of 80% of reviewers who mentioned the UI felt it easy to use.
Price Within Budget: Around 50% of reviewers that mentioned price were satisfied with the pricing structure and found that the system was worth it.
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Seamless Integration: Toast Payroll is tightly integrated with the Toast POS system, as well as scheduling software and tip management tools. This is particularly beneficial for restaurants already using the Toast ecosystem, as it streamlines operations and reduces the need for separate systems.
Automated Payroll: The software offers automation features that save time and reduce errors. For example, employee punches from the POS system can be synced directly to payroll, automating the process of calculating hours worked.
User-Friendly Design: Toast Payroll is designed with a user-friendly interface that is generally easy to navigate. The platform also offers ample training resources, making it easier for new users to get up to speed.
Restaurant-Specific Tools: Toast Payroll includes features specifically designed for the restaurant industry, such as tip management and scheduling tools. These features cater to the unique needs of restaurants, simplifying processes like tip allocation and shift management.
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Late Submissions and Missed Deadlines: Around 80% of reviewers that mentioned taxes ran into issues, with around 70% saying they had to pay penalties as a result.
Terrible Customer Service: Clients complained that the customer service was rude, unqualified, ill-informed, unhelpful and had high turnover in almost 70% of reviews that mentioned customer service.
Broken Features: Over 50% of reviews that mentioned the features said they were left wanting. The most common issues were communication problems. Just under 20% of all reviewers complained about errors made by either the solution or the staff.
Late Cancellations: Around 20% of reviewers that discussed price complained that they had canceled the program, but it had kept taking money out of their account.
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High Cost: Toast Payroll's subscription fees are higher than many other payroll software options, and the lack of a free trial makes it difficult to assess its value before committing.
Customer Service Issues: Users frequently report long wait times and unhelpful interactions with Toast Payroll's customer support team, making it difficult to resolve issues promptly.
Compliance Concerns: Some users have reported that Toast Payroll's software does not comply with specific state payroll regulations, potentially leading to legal and financial headaches.
Technical Glitches: Users have encountered technical problems with Toast Payroll, including issues with tip management, payroll syncing, and inaccurate reports, which can disrupt operations and create extra work.
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Paychex incorporates a range of different solutions and is used widely by small, medium and large-sized companies. While around 40% of users were happy with the functionality of the system, the majority expressed dissatisfaction with its tax capabilities, pricing and customer service. Many described it as dishonest and complained especially that they were oversold on its capabilities and that the salespeople used pushy tactics to try and upsell them. Other complaints of the system included making errors, overpaying employees or even miscalculating taxes resulting in serious penalties. Current and former clients greatly disliked the service. The UI was the most positively reviewed element of the platform with around 80% expressing satisfaction with the design and navigation. Around 50% were happy with the pricing structure and a minority of around 30% of users said they had positive experiences with some select customer service members. This disparity in experiences may be in part to the high turnover rate in representatives which is mentioned many times during the reviews. This solution could be appropriate for small and medium-sized businesses. It supports larger enterprises, but buyers should make sure it has the necessary functionality before purchasing.

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Is Toast Payroll the best thing since sliced bread, or does it leave a bad taste in your mouth? User reviews over the last year present a mixed bag. While Toast Payroll shines in its seamless integration with Toast POS, simplifying tasks like syncing employee punches and managing time off, it's not without its pitfalls. Users praise its user-friendly interface and efficiency, particularly those already familiar with Toast POS. This integration is a key differentiator, as one user notes, "I love that in this one app I can do everything that I need to do for human resources." However, several users report compliance issues, especially with California law, and hiccups with W2 processing. Customer service, unfortunately, emerges as a sore point. Unlike the integrated experience with Toast POS, support for Toast Payroll is handled separately, often leading to confusion and delays. One user laments, "Our service hasn't been great from their side....we wait longer than expected on items to happen or to even hear back from team members on certain things." Additionally, discrepancies between Toast POS and Toast Payroll, while seemingly counterintuitive given their close relationship, require meticulous attention to detail. Overall, Toast Payroll is a good fit for businesses already entrenched in the Toast ecosystem, especially those prioritizing ease of use and streamlined operations. However, businesses with intricate payroll needs or those operating in regions with stringent compliance regulations might find Toast Payroll's shortcomings difficult to swallow. For those businesses, exploring alternative solutions might be the best recipe for success.

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