Managed Payroll · Compared
Two full HR and payroll suites, neither with a public price list, both aimed at growing small and mid-size companies. Honest referee breakdown of where each one actually differs.
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Contender One
Paycor sells a full human capital management suite: payroll, HR, time, recruiting, and talent development, aimed primarily at small and mid-size employers. Its current headline feature is Paycor WISE, an AI layer built into the platform to surface tasks and answer questions inside tools a company already uses. Paycor removed its public pricing page in 2025; its plans-and-pricing page now routes every visitor through a company-size question to a custom sales quote rather than a rate.
Paycor was acquired by Paychex in a deal that closed April 14, 2025 for approximately $4.1 billion. Paycor continues to operate and sell under its own brand, including its own Paycor Managed Payroll service, where Paycor's team runs payroll on a client's behalf, quoted separately from the standard software. New customers are commonly offered a discount on list pricing for roughly the first six months, a promotion Paycor advertises directly on its own site.
Source: Paycor's plans and pricing page, checked Sept 25, 2026
Contender Two
Paylocity is a full HCM suite as well, historically differentiated by employee-facing tools: a community and recognition feed, modern self-service, and engagement features layered on top of standard payroll and HR. Like Paycor, Paylocity does not publish per-employee pricing; every quote is scoped to company size and modules selected.
Paylocity launched Elevate Solutions, its own managed-services line, on April 21, 2026. Elevate Payroll lets Paylocity's own team run payroll on a client's behalf inside their existing Paylocity account, alongside Elevate HR and Elevate Implementation. Both companies in this comparison now sell a version of managed payroll directly, on top of the self-service software most buyers evaluate first.
Source: Paylocity investor relations, Elevate Solutions launch, checked Sept 25, 2026
Side by Side
| Factor | Paycor | Paylocity |
|---|---|---|
| Payroll model | Self-service software, tiered plans | Self-service software, single suite |
| Pricing visibility | Quote-gated, public pricing page removed in 2025 | Quote-gated, no published rate |
| Who runs payroll (standard plan) | You: enter hours, review, approve each cycle | You: enter hours, review, approve each cycle |
| Vendor-run managed option | Yes, Paycor Managed Payroll, quoted separately | Yes, Elevate Payroll, launched April 2026, quoted separately |
| Signature differentiator | Paycor WISE, an AI assistant layered into the platform | Employee engagement and community tools layered into self-service |
| Ownership | A Paychex company since April 2025 | Independent, publicly traded (PCTY) |
Based on each company's published model, checked Sept 25, 2026. Both require a sales quote for exact pricing on your company.
How to Actually Decide
Lean Paycor. WISE is the platform's current headline feature, built to surface tasks and answer questions inside tools you already use.
Lean Paylocity. Its community feed, recognition tools, and self-service design are built to get employees actually using the platform, not just tolerating it.
Ask for a Paycor Managed Payroll or Paylocity Elevate Payroll quote specifically, not the standard software quote, since both are priced and scoped separately. Or compare either against BEG's flat rate below.
Comparing other platforms too? See ADP vs Paylocity or Paychex vs Paylocity.
The Referee's Close
Paycor and Paylocity used to compete purely as software: tiered HCM suites, quote-gated, aimed at similar company sizes. That is no longer the whole story. Paycor Managed Payroll and Paylocity Elevate Payroll are each vendor's own answer to not wanting to run payroll in-house, and each is quoted and scoped separately from the base software.
If instead you want payroll run for you, inside your existing system, at a flat rate you can see before you talk to anyone, that is BEG managed payroll: $25-$45 PEPM, all-inclusive, every filing and every W-2 handled. No co-employment, no software login for your team, no quote gate.
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Questions
Neither publishes pricing. Both dropped or never offered a public rate card, and each requires a census and a sales conversation for an exact number. Get quotes for the same headcount and modules from both before comparing.
Yes, both launched their own versions: Paycor Managed Payroll, where Paycor staff run payroll on a client's behalf, and Paylocity Elevate Payroll, launched April 2026, where Paylocity's team does the same inside a client's Paylocity account. Both are quoted separately from the base software.
Paycor operates under its own brand and sells its own products, but Paychex completed its acquisition of Paycor on April 14, 2025 for approximately $4.1 billion. The deal does not change how Paycor's software or managed-payroll service is sold today.
Paycor WISE is Paycor's AI layer, built into its HCM platform to surface routine tasks and answer employee and manager questions inside tools they already use. It is Paycor's current headline differentiator against other HCM platforms, including Paylocity.
BEG is not a party to either platform. If what you want is payroll run for you at a flat, published rate instead of a vendor-run tier quoted separately, BEG managed payroll works inside either platform, or on BEG's own isolved system, for $25-$45 PEPM, all-inclusive.
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