ADP Workforce Now vs UKG comparison

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ADP Workforce Now

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Nov 3, 2024

UKG and ADP Workforce Now are both competitive in the HR and payroll software category. UKG appears to have an edge in integration and user experience, while ADP Workforce Now stands out in reporting and payroll processing capabilities.

Features: UKG offers strong integration capabilities, customization, and a unified experience across applications that benefit seamless operations. It excels in handling employee data management and payroll integration. ADP Workforce Now is recognized for its powerful BI capabilities and robust payroll processing. The solution provides custom reporting and flexible integration options, satisfying users with its comprehensive reporting tools.

Room for Improvement: UKG users have noted that customer support could be more responsive, especially regarding complex implementations and system integrations. There is also a demand for improved reporting functionalities and support services. ADP Workforce Now needs stronger international capabilities and more intuitive reporting tools. Inconsistencies in technical support and customer services highlight a need for better staff training.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: UKG offers deployment across Private, Hybrid, and Public Clouds, providing flexibility. However, customer service is inconsistent, with delays being common. ADP Workforce Now is deployed on both Public and Private Clouds, known for reliable technical support, but with variable customer service quality. Users appreciate ADP's consistent technical support, while UKG's customer service is seen as comprehensive but requires improvement in certain areas.

Pricing and ROI: UKG's pricing models are often perceived as high but justified by its functionality and configurability. Users see value in integration and global scalability, despite high initial costs. ADP Workforce Now's usage-based pricing can increase with a growing workforce, but its flexible, packaged solutions offer cost efficiency. Both platforms have difficulty in measuring ROI; UKG is noted for cost-saving through process efficiency, while ADP is recognized for productivity gains from better accuracy and reporting capabilities.

To learn more, read our detailed ADP Workforce Now vs. UKG Report (Updated: October 2026).

ADP Workforce Now vs. UKG

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Review summaries and opinions

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:

Categories and Ranking

ADP Workforce Now

Ranking in Benefits Administration

10th

Ranking in Talent Management

23rd

Ranking in Cloud HCM

15th

Ranking in HR Analytics Software

5th

Average Rating

7.6

Reviews Sentiment

7.5

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

UKG

Ranking in Benefits Administration

4th

Ranking in Talent Management

6th

Ranking in Cloud HCM

6th

Ranking in HR Analytics Software

2nd

Average Rating

8.0

Reviews Sentiment

6.7

Number of Reviews

125

Ranking in other categories

Employee Scheduling Software (1st), Employee Time Tracking Software (2nd), Talent Acquisition (6th), AI-Agents for HR (5th)

Mindshare comparison

As of October 2026, in the Cloud HCM category, the mindshare of ADP Workforce Now is 2.1%, up from 1.6% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of UKG is 4.8%, down from 5.6% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Cloud HCM Mindshare Distribution
Product	Mindshare (%)
UKG	4.8%
ADP Workforce Now	2.1%
Other	93.1%

Cloud HCM

Featured Reviews

Vineeth John

Director, People & Culture at a agriculture with 201-500 employees

Custom reporting tool with field grabber, easy modules for recruitment and provides numerous options for integration

The complexity is the key challenge with a tool like ADP because it has all the bells and whistles and all the key features you can possibly think of. If it isn't there, there's always a third-party vendor you can integrate that way. But the only issue is that because it's complex, there needs to be some sort of system, at least on the back end, for the admins to understand what leads to what. We expect AI to improve multiple things with HR processes. The most obvious and common one would be the self-service function for employees, like a chatbot to help with FAQs. We are also building an AI tool that can possibly help managers make better talent management decisions. This tool will pull from the performance management tool, the talent profile, and the reports that we generally have to score employees across all different dimensions.

Read full review

Harish_Mahanta

Works

Streamlined time tracking boosts operational efficiency across multiple regions

The time tracking feature is the most effective for employee management. UKG is used in Europe, the United States, Australia, and East Asian countries for HR activities like payroll. The application is like an ERP, providing comprehensive features for organizations, simplifying their processes, and reducing the need to use multiple software solutions.

Read full review

Quotes from Members

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:

Pros

"In my day-to-day work, attendance tracking would be most important. That's because I have a really diverse group of employees, and I have a subset of younger folks who are struggling with their attendance. So, that's the thing that I'm most involved with currently."

"It is a scalable solution."

"The way that ADP helped us improve our organization is by making the payroll process clean and efficient because if you make a mistake there, you're in big trouble."

"I love the integration of HR, payroll, tax filing, benefits, time and attendance, GL, ACA, employee/manager self-service, reporting and analytics."

"The most valuable feature to me is performance management because we just started using that."

"For small to mid-sized companies, Workforce Now is one of the better products on the market, clean with an easy interface that is simple to maneuver around, stable, and will continue to improve into the future."

"It is hard to go wrong with choosing ADP as a solution for nearly any company."

"The most interesting feature for me on ADP is the custom reporting tool. It's got something called a field grabber, which makes it so much easier to generate your own custom reports simply by pulling tabs from any feature."

More ADP Workforce Now pros

"This is by far the best solution for the price."

"The product's most valuable feature is the ability to establish connectivity between the front and the back end, particularly the single point of data entry, to minimize mistakes."

"The reporting functionality specifically has provided our organization with real-time, customized data, allowing us to make data-driven decisions and build programs based on actual data."

"I believe it was well worth it based on the former HRIS."

"Recruiting BI Talent management"

"I like UKG's integration."

"With their assistance, we've been able to cut down on payroll processing errors, analyze our benefits for accuracy, and eliminate foreseeable issues with effective reporting."

"Employees are able to easily enroll in new benefits online without any assistance."

More UKG pros

Cons

"Support leaves a lot to be desired."

"The workflow is a bit weak."

"The complexity is the key challenge with a tool like ADP ."

"ADP provides a quarterly Error Notification Report that allows you to check for compliance errors based on payments made to employees that quarter. The report only shows employees by their file #; however, the recent ADP upgrade has an "Archive" feature that makes it impossible to search for employees by file number so currently, there is no way to identify the employees listed on the report without calling ADP."

"The ease of developing and creating reports could definitely use some improvement."

"Their “new and improved” message center (where you get notifications and go to approve things like time off) is actually not as easy as it used to be."

"When I'm not working with the implementation team and I'm just talking to customer service or something, they're just not a lot of help. They don't understand how it works. They'll tell you to do something that I know would affect something else. So, it's less about the software and more about just training their folks to a higher level."

"I would like to see the payroll side improved and there are a few kinks that need to be worked out."

More ADP Workforce Now cons

"Customer service is 5/10. Technical support is 5/10."

"Customer Service: 7 - during implementation I believe our consultants were over-worked, so while they were extremely knowledgeable, they were not always accessible."

"We switched from UTM because the reporting feature was HORRIBLE and UTM could not really address our needs and issues."

"I would like to see more functionality in the next release to be able to get hours and dollars per calendar month rather than just by payroll in the Business Intelligence reports."

"The thing which sours my company's experience with UltiPro is the customer experience; being promised items to find out it cannot be delivered at all."

"Since UKG is a SaaS software, other parts of the application or add-on solutions are not the best in class or very configurable."

"This was my first time attending the convention and I was a little dismayed to find out that on the first day of registering that I could only sign up for one hands-on class."

"I would like to see more consideration in the web to sports teams' payroll."

More UKG cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The solution is expensive."

"I know some of what we're currently paying. Most customers would say it's too high, but I don't have a comparison to know that."

"The solution is expensive and everyone complains about the price."

"I give the pricing a seven out of ten."

"The pricing is expensive and I would say it is below average for the value it provides based on the high cost."

"It is expensive."

"The pricing depends on the number of licenses we buy."

"While I am unsure of the licensing cost itself, the total cost of implementation and licensing for a company with over 5000 employees would be around 6,00,000. So, there are additional costs beyond licensing."

"The platform is not affordable but also not the most expensive."

"If you're going for the full suite, it can be fairly pricey."

"UKG's pricing and licensing model involves ongoing expenses based on the number of employees paid. The initial implementation cost is low when UKG implements it directly. However, when partners handle the implementation, it becomes more expensive since partners don't receive the monthly recurring fees."

"I wasn't involved in the pricing part. I'm a user, and I believe it is based on the user count. One thing that is nice about Ultimate is that you can learn how to use the system without additional fees. The learning aspect is the life of a product, and the training was a huge reason why we went with Ultimate. We did have some integration costs. They were a part of the implementation because of the integrations to other systems that we included in our implementation."

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Outsourcing Company

12%

Financial Services Firm

Construction Company

Manufacturing Company

Construction Company

12%

Financial Services Firm

12%

Outsourcing Company

11%

Manufacturing Company

10%

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	6
Midsize Enterprise	3
Large Enterprise	4

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	48
Midsize Enterprise	43
Large Enterprise	48

Questions from the Community

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What needs improvement with UKG?

UKG needs more publicity. It is a productive ERP ( /categories/erp ) application, but many people in the IT market are not aware of it. Greater awareness could increase its adoption.

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What is your primary use case for UKG?

I worked for a healthcare organization and a university. Most organizations use UKG ( /products/ukg-reviews ) to track employee timesheets, capturing accurate swipe-in and swipe-out data. UKG ( /pr...

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What advice do you have for others considering UKG?

Publicity is very important for any software. If people aren't aware of UKG, despite its productivity, they won't use it. Expanding the awareness is essential for greater adoption. Overall, I would...

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Comparisons

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Compared 9% of the time

Dayforce HCM vs ADP Workforce Now

Compared 4% of the time

ADP GlobalView Payroll vs ADP Workforce Now

Compared 3% of the time

SAP SuccessFactors vs ADP Workforce Now

Compared 3% of the time

Sage People vs ADP Workforce Now

Compared 3% of the time

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Workday HCM vs UKG

Compared 13% of the time

SAP SuccessFactors vs UKG

Compared 8% of the time

Dayforce HCM vs UKG

Compared 4% of the time

SAP HCM vs UKG

Compared 4% of the time

Oracle E-Business Suite vs UKG

Compared 2% of the time

More UKG Competitors

Product Reports

ADP Workforce Now

Download ADP Workforce Now product report

Download UKG product report

Also Known As

No data available

UKG Pro, UKG Dimensons, UKG Ready

Overview

ADP Workforce Now is a comprehensive platform offering robust payroll and HR integrations, minimal IT support needs, and seamless management tools, all through an intuitive, customizable interface with mobile access.

ADP Workforce Now facilitates efficient management of payroll and human resources functions with features such as secure cloud storage, custom reporting, performance management, and diverse analytics. Despite having strong integration options through ADP's marketplace and applications, users report limitations in workflow, admin security, and customer support. The absence of international payroll capabilities, complex reporting systems, and insufficient talent management are also noted challenges. There is a demand for better data management, position control, and an enhanced benefits portal.

What are the most important features?

Payroll and HR Integrations: Seamless handling of payroll with solid HR support.
Mobile Access: Enables management on the go through intuitive interfaces.
Customizable Reporting: Generate reports tailored to specific needs.
Secure Cloud Storage: Safeguard sensitive data with secure cloud solutions.
Diverse Analytics Tools: Utilize insightful analytics for informed decision-making.
General Ledger Interface: Streamline financial reporting and analysis.

What benefits or ROI should users look for?

Efficient Payroll Processing: Streamlined management of payroll operations.
Enhanced HR Automation: Simplified HR tasks through automation.
Cost Efficiency: Reduced operational costs with integrated solutions.
Improved Data Security: Strengthened protection for organizational data.

ADP Workforce Now is deployed in cloud-based environments and often integrated with systems like SAP SuccessFactors. Companies rely on it to manage payroll, track time and attendance, and administer benefits. It supports applicant tracking and benefits integration, proving essential for diverse industry applications.

ADP

UKG offers a comprehensive suite for payroll processing, HR management, and business intelligence, integrating seamlessly with systems like PeopleSoft and Workday. Its cloud-based service enhances workforce management across industries with advanced customization and intuitive use.

UKG's extensive features include payroll processing, business intelligence reporting, and self-service options for employees and managers. The platform is designed for ease of integration, providing a user-friendly experience with extensive onboarding tools and robust data management. While UKG excels in configuration and reporting capabilities, it requires improvements in customer support and benefits administration flexibility. Implementation can be complex, and areas such as real-time support and automated processes need refinement.

What are UKG's most valued features?

Payroll Processing: Streamlined for accurate and efficient transactions.
Business Intelligence Reporting: Offers insightful data analytics to inform decision-making.
Employee and Manager Self-service: Empowers users with access to essential tools and information.
Benefits Administration: Manages employee benefits with ease.
Data Integration: Ensures seamless interaction with other systems, enhancing performance.

What benefits should users consider in reviews?

Improved Employee Satisfaction: Cloud-based updates foster an engaging environment.
Streamlined HR Activities: Integrates with existing systems to enhance operation efficiency.
Ease of Use: Users appreciate its intuitive design and customization options.

UKG is leveraged across multiple industries for its robust functionalities in payroll and HR management, supporting recruitment, onboarding, and workforce dynamics. The platform's integration with time management and learning modules supports comprehensive employee management and compliance across global deployments.

Sample Customers

Lawrence and Schiller, The Children's Center, The Kansas City Royals

Tesla, Marriott, Yamaha, Aramark, Feeding America, Samsung, Sony Music, Dave & Buster's, Revlon

ADP Workforce Now vs. UKG