Once a company averages 50 full-time-equivalent employees in a calendar year, it becomes an Applicable Large Employer under the ACA and takes on new health-coverage reporting duties (IRS, checked July 10, 2026). That threshold is one reason payroll, HR, benefits, and onboarding decisions carry real stakes, and why this guide evaluates nine platforms, Asure included, on the same six criteria.
The Decision You're Actually Making This Year
You already know you want payroll, HR, benefits, and onboarding running through one system instead of three logins and a spreadsheet reconciling them. The harder question is who operates that system day to day, your own team, or someone else's.
That choice sits underneath every provider on this list, even when the marketing doesn't say so. Some platforms assume your team will self-serve every workflow. Others, structured as a PEO, ask you to become a co-employer to get help running payroll and HR. AsureCentral and AsureWorks approach it differently. AsureCentral is Asure's self-service platform for running payroll, HR, benefits, time tracking, and onboarding in one login. AsureWorks is Asure's managed-service alternative, where Asure specialists handle the day-to-day execution on that same platform. There is no co-employment in AsureWorks, you remain the employer of record, and you keep your own choice of benefits, broker, and retirement partners. That makes Asure, through either AsureCentral or AsureWorks, one legitimate path to weigh alongside the eight other platforms this guide covers next, not an afterthought once everything else has been ruled out.
Key Benchmarks at a Glance
- Cross 50 full-time-equivalent employees, and ACA Applicable Large Employer reporting duties begin under the employer shared responsibility rules (IRS, checked July 10, 2026).
- Publish three per-employee-per-month pricing tiers, Core at $10, Pro at $17, and Elite at $25, with a flat $250 monthly minimum for companies of 25 or fewer employees (BambooHR, accessed July 10, 2026). Payroll itself is sold as a separate, unpriced add-on, and a 15 percent discount applies when bundling payroll with benefits administration for US-based employees.
- Extend payroll processing to more than 140 countries and territories through ADP's Global Payroll add-on, which integrates with Workforce Now for businesses with international staff (ADP, accessed July 10, 2026). That figure describes the global-payroll integration, not a standalone Workforce Now specification.
- Require a sales conversation for pricing, with no public per-employee rate listed on Paycor's own pricing page (Paycor, accessed July 10, 2026).
- Leave G2 or Capterra ratings, review counts, benefits-carrier counts, and implementation-time benchmarks unconfirmed at a primary source for Gusto, ADP, Paycor, Rippling, BambooHR, Paylocity, Namely, and Justworks as of this review. This guide states that gap directly rather than estimating a number.
What All in One Means and How These Platforms Were Evaluated
For this guide, an all-in-one payroll provider is one where payroll processing, core HR records, benefits administration, and employee onboarding automation all run inside a single login, rather than through a separate onboarding tool or a benefits broker portal that requires its own credentials and a manual data sync between systems.
Nine platforms are evaluated here, AsureCentral and AsureWorks together as one entry, plus Gusto, ADP Workforce Now, Paycor, Rippling, BambooHR, Paylocity, Namely, and Justworks, against six criteria:
- Payroll accuracy and compliance: tax filing handling, multi-state support, and compliance responsiveness.
- HR module depth: employee records, org management, and reporting capability.
- Benefits carrier integrations: breadth of benefits administration, self-service enrollment, and ACA compliance support.
- Onboarding automation: e-signature, new-hire task workflows, and day-one readiness.
- Pricing transparency: whether per-employee pricing is public or requires a sales call.
- Implementation time: how long it takes to get payroll live, where a source exists.
Each criterion is rated Strong, Moderate, Limited, or Not publicly disclosed. These labels are qualitative judgments grounded in the public evidence available at the time of writing, not a precise numeric formula, and every "Not publicly disclosed" label reflects an honest gap in available data rather than an estimate. Asure's HR Module Depth is rated Moderate here specifically for core HR workflow depth (performance management, learning, succession planning) rather than for platform breadth, where AsureCentral spans payroll, HR, tax, benefits, recruiting, and time in one connected system.
Overall Comparison Across All Platforms
| Provider | Payroll Accuracy and Compliance | HR Module Depth | Benefits Integrations | Onboarding Automation | Pricing Transparency | Implementation Time |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Asure (AsureCentral or AsureWorks) | Strong | Moderate | Strong | Moderate | Not publicly disclosed | Not publicly disclosed |
| Gusto | Strong | Limited | Moderate | Moderate | Strong | Not publicly disclosed |
| ADP Workforce Now | Strong | Strong | Not publicly disclosed | Moderate | Limited | Limited |
| Paycor | Moderate | Moderate | Not publicly disclosed | Moderate | Limited | Not publicly disclosed |
| Rippling | Moderate | Moderate | Moderate | Strong | Limited | Not publicly disclosed |
| BambooHR | Not publicly disclosed | Strong | Moderate | Moderate | Strong | Not publicly disclosed |
| Paylocity | Not publicly disclosed | Moderate | Moderate | Moderate | Not publicly disclosed | Not publicly disclosed |
| Namely | Not publicly disclosed | Moderate | Not publicly disclosed | Moderate | Not publicly disclosed | Not publicly disclosed |
| Justworks | Not publicly disclosed | Moderate | Strong | Moderate | Not publicly disclosed | Not publicly disclosed |
Platform by Platform Breakdown
1. Asure (AsureCentral and AsureWorks), Best for Employers Who Want to Choose How the Work Gets Done
Best For: Growing SMB and lower-mid-market employers, roughly 10 to 500 employees, that want payroll, HR, benefits, and onboarding on one connected platform, whether they run it themselves or hand routine execution to a managed team.
Delivery Model: AsureCentral is Asure's self-service platform. AsureWorks is Asure's managed-service alternative, running on that same underlying system, so a buyer can start self-managed and move to a managed model later without switching platforms.
Starting Price: Both AsureCentral and AsureWorks are quote-based, requiring a sales conversation rather than listing public per-employee pricing.
Native Onboarding: Yes. AsureCentral consolidates payroll processing, employee records, time tracking, benefits administration, and employee self-service in one login, and onboarding tasks run inside that same environment.
HR and Benefits: AsureCentral's benefits administration tools let employees view, manage, and enroll in benefits, and you keep your own choice of benefits, broker, and retirement partners. Asure HR Compliance support helps employers track ACA reporting obligations as headcount approaches the IRS's 50-full-time-equivalent Applicable Large Employer threshold.
Key Limitation: Neither AsureCentral nor AsureWorks publishes per-employee pricing publicly, so buyers comparing sticker price alone will need a sales conversation before they can benchmark total cost. AsureWorks provides accountable execution, not a guarantee against every compliance outcome, and statutory liability for the work always stays with the employer.
Verdict: For a buyer who wants one platform but hasn't decided who should run it, Asure is one of the few entries on this list where that decision doesn't force a vendor switch later. AsureWorks also functions as a PEO alternative, since the client remains the employer of record and keeps its own choice of benefits, broker, and retirement partners, unlike a co-employment PEO model.
2. Gusto, Best for Small Businesses Wanting Simple Payroll and Benefits
Best For: US small businesses, roughly two to 200 employees, running primarily single-state or lightly multi-state W-2 payroll, often through Gusto's accountant and bookkeeper channel.
Starting Price: Gusto sells tiered subscription plans (Simple, Plus, Premium), each combining a monthly base fee with a per-person fee, plus separate pricing for Contractor Only and Gusto Global, its international-hiring product. Specific current dollar figures could not be independently confirmed on gusto.com this review cycle.
Native Onboarding: Yes, per Gusto's own marketing, though an independent onboarding-automation benchmark was not available this cycle.
HR Module: Gusto's HR tools center on core people records and benefits enrollment rather than deep workforce analytics.
Key Limitation: Gusto is built for day-one simplicity. Buyers with heavier multi-state complexity or compliance-heavy operations often find it strongest early and thinner as the business scales.
Verdict: Gusto rates well on this guide's pricing-transparency and simplicity criteria for straightforward, single-state-leaning payroll and benefits, particularly for buyers who want a tiered, publicly marketed pricing structure rather than a custom quote.
3. ADP Workforce Now, Best for Mid-Market Teams Wanting Broad Compliance Scale
Best For: Employers roughly 50 to 999 employees that want a broad, multi-tier product line spanning RUN to enterprise HCM (adp.com), plus organizations that need international payroll reach through ADP's Global Payroll add-on.
Starting Price: ADP Workforce Now is typically custom-quoted.
Native Onboarding: ADP markets onboarding tools within its Workforce Now tier, though an independent automation-depth score was not confirmed this cycle.
HR Module: ADP's HR tools span employee records, reporting, and compliance workflows across a product line that runs from small-business RUN to enterprise HCM. Its Global Payroll add-on, which integrates with Workforce Now, supports payroll in more than 140 countries and territories, according to ADP's own documentation, though that scope describes the global-payroll integration rather than a native Workforce Now specification.
Key Limitation: ADP's custom-quote pricing model means buyers need a sales conversation before they can benchmark total cost, and rollout timelines vary based on company size and complexity.
Verdict: ADP's advantage is scale and product-line breadth (adp.com) more than pricing transparency or fast rollout.
4. Paycor, Best for Mid-Market Teams Wanting Payroll and HR Analytics Together
Best For: Mid-market employers, roughly 50 to 1,000 employees, looking for a packaged payroll and HR suite with reporting layered in.
Starting Price: Paycor does not publish per-employee-per-month pricing. Its pricing page requires a sales conversation for a custom quote, according to Paycor's own site accessed July 10, 2026.
Native Onboarding: Paycor includes onboarding workflows within its platform, though an independent automation-depth benchmark was not available this cycle.
HR Module: An independent, sourced assessment of Paycor's HR module depth was not available this cycle.
Key Limitation: The lack of public pricing means buyers cannot benchmark total cost without engaging sales.
Verdict: Paycor suits a mid-market buyer prioritizing analytics alongside payroll, provided they're comfortable evaluating cost and support through a direct sales conversation rather than a public price list.
5. Rippling, Best for Fast-Growing Teams Wanting HR, IT, and Payroll in One Record
Best For: SMB and mid-market employers, roughly 25 to 2,000 employees, that want to unify HR, payroll, benefits, and device or app provisioning under one employee record.
Starting Price: Rippling's pricing is modular, built around a required core platform plus add-on modules, and is often quote-based. Specific per-employee-per-month figures could not be independently confirmed this cycle.
Native Onboarding: Yes, spanning HR onboarding and IT provisioning together, according to Rippling's own marketing.
HR Module: Rippling's HR tools are built around one employee record shared across payroll, IT, and device management, with a modular structure that lets employers add capabilities as they grow.
Key Limitation: The modular pricing structure can make total cost difficult to estimate without scoping each module individually.
Verdict: Rippling suits teams that want IT convergence alongside payroll and are prepared to scope modular pricing carefully.
6. BambooHR, Best for HR-First Teams Adding Payroll as a Secondary Need
Best For: Employers that treat people management and HR records as the primary need, with payroll as a secondary, add-on priority.
Starting Price: BambooHR publishes three per-employee-per-month tiers, Core at $10, Pro at $17, and Elite at $25, with a flat $250 monthly minimum for companies of 25 or fewer employees, according to BambooHR's own pricing page accessed July 10, 2026. Payroll itself is sold as a separate add-on whose price is not publicly listed, and a 15 percent discount applies when bundling payroll with benefits administration for US-based employees.
Native Onboarding: BambooHR markets onboarding workflows as a core strength, though an independent automation benchmark was not confirmed this cycle.
HR Module: BambooHR launched as a dedicated HR system before adding payroll, and its core plans center on employee records, org management, and people workflows.
Key Limitation: Payroll is not included in the base HR plans, so a buyer treating payroll as a co-equal priority needs to price the add-on separately. G2 rating, benefits-carrier count, and implementation time were not independently confirmed for BambooHR this cycle.
Verdict: BambooHR is one of the few providers on this list with genuinely public, per-employee pricing for its core HR plans, a real point in its favor for buyers who value pricing transparency, even though payroll pricing stays behind a sales call.
7. Paylocity, Best for Mid-Market Teams Prioritizing Benefits and Employee Engagement
Best For: Mid-market employers, generally 100 to 1,000 employees, where benefits strategy and employee engagement sit alongside payroll as priorities.
Starting Price: Paylocity's pricing is quote-based. Public per-employee rates could not be independently confirmed this cycle.
Native Onboarding: Paylocity markets configurable onboarding workflows, though an independent automation-depth score was not available this cycle.
HR Module: Paylocity is positioned in the market as a mid-market HCM platform with benefits administration and employee engagement tools alongside payroll and core HR.
Key Limitation: G2 rating, benefits-carrier count, and implementation time were not independently confirmed for Paylocity this cycle, and the absence of public pricing means cost comparisons require a sales conversation.
Verdict: Paylocity fits a mid-market buyer whose consolidation priority is benefits and engagement as much as payroll, though buyers should verify current pricing and carrier coverage directly before deciding.
8. Namely, Best for Mid-Market Teams Wanting a Branded Employee Experience
Best For: Mid-market employers, roughly 50 to 500 employees, that prioritize a polished, branded, employee-facing HR experience alongside payroll.
Starting Price: Namely's pricing is quote-based. A current, confirmed public pricing page could not be located for Namely this cycle.
Native Onboarding: Namely markets a branded onboarding portal option, though an independent automation-depth benchmark was not available this cycle.
HR Module: Namely is positioned in the market as an HR-first, mid-market platform built around employee self-service and a branded experience layer.
Key Limitation: G2 rating, benefits-carrier count, implementation time, and payroll-compliance depth for complex multi-state scenarios were not independently confirmed for Namely this cycle; the comparison table above reflects that gap directly rather than an estimate.
Verdict: Namely is worth a look for teams where HR brand and self-service adoption drive the decision, but compliance-heavy payroll needs may call for a more payroll-first evaluation alongside it.
9. Justworks, Best for Small Businesses Wanting PEO-Level Benefits Access
Best For: Small businesses, generally under 100 employees, that want access to large-group benefits rates and are comfortable with a co-employment structure to get there.
Starting Price: Justworks operates on a PEO pricing model. Current per-employee rates could not be independently confirmed this cycle.
Native Onboarding: Justworks markets streamlined onboarding within its PEO model, though an independent automation-depth benchmark was not available this cycle.
HR Module: Justworks bundles payroll, HR administration, and compliance support inside its PEO structure, with benefits access pooled across its client base.
Key Limitation: As a PEO, Justworks becomes a co-employer of record alongside the client. Buyers who want to keep sole employer-of-record status and choose their own benefits, broker, or retirement partners will find that structure fundamentally different from a managed service such as AsureWorks, which involves no co-employment. G2 rating, benefits-carrier count, and implementation time were not independently confirmed for Justworks this cycle.
Verdict: Justworks is the only PEO in this guide, and its case rests on pooled benefits access. Weigh that access against the co-employment tradeoff directly before deciding.
Where Each Platform Shows a Documented Strength
- Support payroll accuracy and compliance most clearly through Gusto, ADP Workforce Now, and Asure, all three rated Strong on this criterion in the comparison table above; Asure's strength here reflects AsureCentral and AsureWorks' native multi-state tax filing, with Asure Payroll Tax Management available as additional specialized infrastructure Asure brings to more complex, higher-volume multi-jurisdiction cases.
- Show the clearest documented HR module depth through BambooHR and ADP Workforce Now, reflecting their histories as a dedicated HRIS and a broad HCM suite, respectively.
- Address benefits carrier integrations most directly through AsureCentral's benefits administration tools and Justworks's pooled PEO benefits access, though the two solve the problem in structurally different ways. One preserves the employer's own broker and carrier choices; the other pools access to group rates through co-employment.
- Rippling and Gusto market onboarding as a core strength, though independent onboarding benchmarks were not available this cycle.
- Publish the only confirmed, public per-employee pricing among the platforms in this guide through BambooHR and Gusto. Most of the rest, including Asure's AsureCentral and AsureWorks, ADP Workforce Now, Paycor, Rippling, Paylocity, and Namely, require a sales conversation to get a quote.
- Leave implementation time unconfirmed across every platform in this guide at a verified primary source this cycle. Treat any vendor or aggregator implementation-time claim as unconfirmed until you see it sourced directly.
How to Choose Based on Your Company Size and Priority
| Company Size | Primary Priority | Consider | Why |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 to 49 employees | Fast, simple payroll and onboarding | Gusto | Publishes tiered pricing publicly and is built for straightforward, single-state-leaning payroll. AsureCentral is also quote-eligible at this size for buyers who want payroll, HR, and benefits in one login rather than a payroll-only tool. |
| Under 100 employees | Large-group benefits access | Justworks | PEO model pools benefits access, if co-employment fits your structure |
| 10 to 250 employees | One platform, undecided who runs it | AsureCentral or AsureWorks | Same underlying platform either way, so choosing self-managed or managed later does not require a switch |
| 25 to 250 employees | HR-first, payroll secondary | BambooHR | Built as a dedicated HR system with payroll and benefits available as add-ons |
| 50 to 500 employees | Growing compliance exposure near the 50-FTE threshold | AsureCentral or AsureWorks with Asure HR Compliance | AsureCentral's benefits administration tools and Asure HR Compliance support help track ACA and broader compliance obligations as headcount grows |
| 50 to 1,000 employees | HR analytics alongside payroll | Paycor | Packaged reporting and analytics layered on core payroll |
| 100 to 1,000 employees | Benefits strategy and employee engagement | Paylocity | Positioned in market around benefits administration and engagement tools |
| 25 to 2,000 employees | IT and HR convergence | Rippling | Unifies device and app provisioning with HR, benefits, and payroll |
| 50 to 999 employees | Multi-state compliance depth and product-line scale | ADP Workforce Now | Broad product-line scale spanning RUN to enterprise HCM, with Global Payroll reaching 140+ countries (adp.com, accessed July 10, 2026) |
Methodology and Sources
This guide draws on two categories of information. The first is independently verified public data: the ACA's 50-full-time-equivalent Applicable Large Employer threshold (irs.gov, checked July 10, 2026), BambooHR's published pricing tiers (bamboohr.com, accessed July 10, 2026), ADP's Global Payroll country coverage (adp.com, accessed July 10, 2026), and Paycor's confirmed absence of public pricing (paycor.com, accessed July 10, 2026). The second is Asure's own qualitative analysis of publicly available vendor marketing and documented product scope, applied consistently across all nine entries and labeled Strong, Moderate, Limited, or Not publicly disclosed rather than scored on a numeric scale. Third-party review sentiment (G2, Capterra, and similar sources) was not used as an input to these labels, for any vendor, since that data could not be independently confirmed at a primary source (see below).
Several figures commonly cited in payroll-provider comparisons could not be confirmed at a primary source during this review and were deliberately omitted rather than estimated: G2 or Capterra scores, review counts, benefits-carrier counts, and vendor-disclosed implementation times for Gusto, ADP, Paycor, Rippling, BambooHR, Paylocity, Namely, and Justworks; specific per-employee-per-month pricing for Gusto, Rippling, Namely, Paylocity, and Justworks; and any aggregate statistic describing how often SMBs using separate payroll and HR tools experience data-sync errors. Definitions for benefits administration, payroll processing, and employee onboarding automation, as used throughout this guide, follow the plain-language descriptions given under each criterion above.
Frequently Asked Questions
What does it mean for a payroll provider to be all in one? For this guide, an all-in-one payroll provider is one where payroll processing, core HR records, benefits enrollment, and new-hire onboarding automation all run inside a single login rather than through a separate onboarding tool or benefits broker portal that requires its own credentials and a manual data sync. AsureCentral, Gusto, ADP Workforce Now, Paycor, Rippling, BambooHR, Paylocity, and Namely all fit this definition to varying degrees; Justworks delivers similar scope through a PEO structure rather than a single-employer platform.
Which payroll providers publish public per-employee pricing without a sales call? Of the platforms in this guide, BambooHR publishes the clearest tiered per-employee-per-month pricing on its own site, Core at $10, Pro at $17, and Elite at $25 (BambooHR, accessed July 10, 2026), and Gusto also markets tiered subscription pricing publicly. ADP Workforce Now, Paycor, Rippling, Paylocity, Namely, Justworks, and Asure's AsureCentral and AsureWorks all require a sales conversation for a specific quote, based on each provider's own pricing page as of this review.
When does ACA compliance reporting start to apply as a company grows? Under the ACA's employer shared responsibility rules, a company becomes an Applicable Large Employer, subject to ACA reporting requirements, once it averages at least 50 full-time employees, including full-time-equivalent employees, in the prior calendar year (IRS, checked July 10, 2026). That threshold is a common trigger point for evaluating benefits-administration and compliance support, including AsureCentral's benefits administration tools and Asure HR Compliance support.
Should I run payroll and HR myself, or have it managed for me? That depends on whether your team has the bandwidth and expertise to own payroll, tax filing, and HR administration day to day, or whether you'd rather keep decision authority while handing off routine execution. Asure supports both paths on one platform: AsureCentral for employers who want to run payroll and HR themselves, and AsureWorks for employers who want Asure specialists to handle the operational work, without the co-employment structure of a PEO.
Is a PEO the same thing as a managed payroll service? No. A PEO, like Justworks, becomes a co-employer of record alongside the client and typically bundles benefits through its own pooled plans. A managed payroll service such as AsureWorks handles day-to-day payroll and HR execution, but the client remains the sole employer of record and keeps its own choice of benefits, broker, and retirement partners.
Your Next Step
If you've made it this far, you've probably already ruled out doing nothing. The remaining question is whether your team runs the new platform, or whether you'd rather have Asure's specialists run it for you while you stay the employer of record. AsureCentral gives you payroll, HR, benefits, time tracking, and onboarding in one login if you want to keep the work in-house. AsureWorks gives you the same platform with Asure specialists handling payroll, tax filing, and day-to-day HR administration if you'd rather redirect that time toward the business, without giving up control over your benefits or your people decisions. See how AsureCentral and AsureWorks compare side by side with the other providers in this guide before you sign anything.
