ADP Workforce Now vs Payroll Engine

ADP Workforce Now is a web and mobile payroll and HR platform presented for organizations with 50–999 and 1,000 or more employees. All packages include real-time payroll processing, tax filing and payment services, and payroll reporting. The platform supports employee records, time off, onboarding, performance management, and time tracking. Employee self-service lets staff find HR answers, view expected pay, request time off, and complete tasks. Onboarding includes digital I-9 processing, electronic signatures, reminders, and employee payment preference setup. Benefits administration is included in Plus and Premium; Premium also includes Workforce Management tools for scheduling, time collection, and time off. Security features include secure cloud storage and role-based access to employee records. Reports can be customized and shared for comparisons across teams, departments, and timelines. Integrations connect the platform with business tools and payroll and carrier systems. Mobile capabilities include benefits enrollment, career sites, and C-suite insights. Pricing is available on request; no free tier or free trial is stated.

Payroll Engine is an open-source framework for embedding payroll processing into larger software platforms. Released under the MIT License, it provides a backend that processes payroll data through a REST API and configurable regulation layers; country regulations are commercial. It supports time-stamped payroll data, recurring and non-recurring payruns, and reports for payslips, legal filings, or data exchange. Its API covers tenant and employee management, payrun jobs, result queries, report output, and backend event webhooks. A browser application manages tenants, employees, regulations, case data, payruns, reports, tasks, and developer logs. The .NET Client SDK includes typed REST clients, test runners, local script tools, and JSON schemas for regulation validation. A built-in test framework supports case validation, payrun assertions, and regression testing. The backend is designed for local or Docker Compose deployment, and a database must be provided separately. API key and OAuth authentication are supported but disabled by default; audit trails are also disabled by default unless configured. The maker says the backend is a service and should not be used on the public Internet.