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ADP Workforce Now vs Personio comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive Summary

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 Cloud HCM
17th
Ranking in HR Analytics Software
5th
Average Rating
7.6
Reviews Sentiment
7.5
Number of Reviews
12
Ranking in other categories
Benefits Administration (10th), Talent Management (25th)
Personio
Ranking in Cloud HCM
18th
Ranking in HR Analytics Software
7th
Average Rating
5.6
Reviews Sentiment
5.0
Number of Reviews
2
Ranking in other categories
Applicant Tracking and Recruiting Software (11th)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of August 2026, in the Cloud HCM category, the mindshare of ADP Workforce Now is 2.2%, up from 1.4% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Personio is 0.9%, up from 0.7% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Cloud HCM Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
ADP Workforce Now2.2%
Personio0.9%
Other96.9%
Cloud HCM
 

Featured Reviews

Vineeth John - PeerSpot reviewer
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.
RT
Global Talent Acquisition Lead at Career Break
Offers strong HR features but recruiting module needs essential improvements
The analytics and reporting aspect in Personio for the recruiting part was below expectations compared to some other applicant tracking systems. It is clunky and cannot be tailored to specific needs. The reporting and analytics for the recruiting part are insufficient. The ability to filter applications based on filtering questions added to applications was missing in recruiting. Other recruiting software performs this function much better. Keyword searches within applicants' resumes in the database within recruiting were not possible. I brought this up with the Personio account manager and was told it was on the development list, but these are essential features for any recruiter. I would advise companies looking for an ATS and considering Personio to get a separate recruiting piece of software that can interface with Personio instead.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"It is hard to go wrong with choosing ADP as a solution for nearly any company."
"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."
"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."
"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."
"Payroll: It is very easy and user-friendly."
"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."
"The platform is on a private cloud that is fully secure with no way for hacker penetration."
"Personio provides an opportunity to set up structure with certain steps, creating a clear interviewing process, which resulted in hiring better candidates faster because having a system in place is better than having none."
"As an HR tool, Personio is really good; it is straightforward adding your organizational structure through it with the accounting codes so you can interface with many accounting modules and payroll modules."
 

Cons

"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."
"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."
"Its benefits portal could be user-friendly."
"The report functionality is not as good as competitive products."
"Support leaves a lot to be desired."
"The ease of developing and creating reports could definitely use some improvement."
"The complexity is the key challenge with a tool like ADP ."
"Personio is not scalable as an ATS, and I struggle to work with it."
"The analytics and reporting aspect in Personio for the recruiting part was below expectations compared to some other applicant tracking systems."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"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."
"I give the pricing a seven out of ten."
"The solution is expensive and everyone complains about the price."
"The solution is expensive."
"It is expensive."
"The pricing is expensive and I would say it is below average for the value it provides based on the high cost."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
9%
Construction Company
9%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Outsourcing Company
6%
Comms Service Provider
21%
Financial Services Firm
14%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Construction Company
9%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business6
Midsize Enterprise3
Large Enterprise4
No data available
 

Questions from the Community

Ask a question
Earn 20 points
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Personio?
I cannot provide information about the setup costs as I am not responsible for the financial aspects.
What needs improvement with Personio?
The screening of candidates in the ATS part is quite complicated. In Greenhouse, you can have a CV of one person on one page at a time, zoomed in immediately for easy screening. In Personio, it req...
What is your primary use case for Personio?
I'm a consultant, so I do in-house recruiting, embedded recruiting for various clients, and one of my clients is using Personio as their ATS, so that's how I work with it. As a recruiter, I primari...
 

Comparisons

 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Lawrence and Schiller, The Children's Center, The Kansas City Royals
Orderbird, HelloFresh, Stylight, TURCK, HolidayCheck, ZenMate, Amorelie, UNU, raisin
Find out what your peers are saying about ADP Workforce Now vs. Personio and other solutions. Updated: June 2026.
908,834 professionals have used our research since 2012.