Managed Payroll · Compared
Same parent company, two different products built for two different company sizes. RUN keeps small-business payroll simple; Workforce Now is the midmarket HCM suite. Honest referee breakdown, both quote-gated.
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Contender One
ADP RUN is ADP's payroll and basic HR platform aimed squarely at small businesses, typically companies with fewer than 50 employees. It handles core payroll, tax filing, new-hire reporting, and simple HR tasks in an interface built to be usable without a dedicated payroll administrator. Because it is an ADP product, you get the reliability of an established payroll vendor with the option to add HR, time tracking, and benefits modules as you need them.
RUN's tradeoff is depth. Its HR and reporting tools are intentionally lighter than ADP's midmarket products, which is exactly right for a 10-person company and exactly wrong for a 300-person one. Pricing is quote-gated: you talk to ADP sales and get a number based on your headcount and selected modules, so budgeting requires a quote in hand rather than a published rate card.
Contender Two
ADP Workforce Now is built for growing and midsize companies, generally in the roughly 50 to 1,000 employee range, and it is a genuinely different product from RUN rather than a bigger version of it. Workforce Now bundles payroll with deeper HR, talent management, time and attendance, and benefits administration, plus reporting built for organizations that need to slice data by department, location, or job code.
That depth comes with more implementation and more complexity than a small company typically needs. Like RUN, Workforce Now is quote-gated: ADP prices it per company based on headcount, modules selected, and state footprint, and moving between RUN and Workforce Now later still means a project, even though both live inside the same ADP ecosystem.
Side by Side
| Factor | ADP RUN | ADP Workforce Now |
|---|---|---|
| Payroll model | Self-service software, you or staff run payroll | Self-service software, you or staff run payroll |
| Pricing visibility | Quote-gated, sales call required | Quote-gated, sales call required |
| Who runs payroll | Your team, inside the RUN platform | Your team, inside the Workforce Now platform |
| Tax filing responsibility | ADP files on your behalf per its published model | ADP files on your behalf per its published model |
| Ideal company size | Small business, generally under 50 employees | Growing and midsize, generally 50 to 1,000+ employees |
| HR depth | Basic HR tools | Full HCM: talent, benefits admin, advanced reporting |
| Support model | Standard small-business support tiers | Dedicated account structure typical of midmarket ADP |
Based on each product's published positioning at adp.com. Both require a custom quote for pricing.
How to Actually Decide
Lean RUN. It is built for exactly this size, with a lighter setup and a lower learning curve than a full HCM suite you do not need yet.
Lean Workforce Now. Its deeper HR, talent, and reporting tools are built for organizations that need to manage complexity RUN was not designed to handle.
Get both quotes before committing. Ask ADP directly what a RUN-to-Workforce-Now migration actually involves, since staying inside one ecosystem does not guarantee a light lift.
Comparing ADP against a published-pricing rival instead? See Gusto vs OnPay.
The Referee's Close
RUN for small teams, Workforce Now for growing ones, and you will not get a price for either without a sales conversation. That is a completely normal way to buy payroll software. But notice the word: software. Whichever ADP product you pick, someone on your team still runs payroll, checks the tax filings, and manages the account.
If what you actually want is payroll run for you, inside your existing system, that is BEG managed payroll: a flat $25 to $45 per employee per month, all-inclusive, with a $500 monthly minimum, a $10 PEPM benefits add-on if you need it, and a $300 one-time fee for multi-state setup. No sales call and no quote gate: answer a few questions and your estimate appears on screen in about 90 seconds.
See your exact monthly & annual price - no call required
Questions
No. They are two separate ADP platforms built for different company sizes. RUN targets small businesses with a simplified setup, while Workforce Now is ADP's midmarket HCM suite with deeper HR, benefits, and reporting built to handle more complex organizations.
ADP positions Workforce Now as the natural upgrade path from RUN, since both live inside the same ADP ecosystem. In practice this still means a migration project and a new sales conversation, not a simple plan toggle, so budget time for setup either way.
Neither publishes pricing. Both are quote-gated: ADP prices per company based on headcount, states, pay frequency, and add-ons like HR or benefits admin. The only honest way to compare cost is to request quotes for both on the same census.
Workforce Now is built with multi-state and higher-complexity payroll in mind as part of its midmarket positioning. RUN can run multi-state payroll too, but companies with a growing multi-state footprint are the exact profile ADP steers toward Workforce Now.
Both are software you or your team operate inside the ADP ecosystem. If you would rather have payroll run for you, inside a system you do not have to manage, at a flat $25 to $45 per employee per month all-inclusive, that is BEG managed payroll, with an instant on-screen estimate instead of a sales quote.
Ready?
Answer a few questions, get your exact number in about 90 seconds. No call required, no commitment.
See your exact monthly & annual price - no call required
