The two products at a glance
| Product | Who it fits | Who should skip it | Published entry price | Free plan |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| RUN Powered by ADP | Small employers comparing a payroll-led system backed by a broad US HR services organization. | Your team wants a product-led buying process with every requirement confirmed before a sales conversation. | Quote only: no public priceFour packages, each with a “Get pricing” requestVendor pricing page, checked Oct 27, 2026 ↗ | No |
| QuickBooks Workforce | Teams that want payroll evaluated in the context of an existing QuickBooks accounting workflow. | QuickBooks is not your accounting system and portability outside its ecosystem is a primary requirement. | $88/month + $6.50 per employeeWorkforce Payroll + Simple Start planSold bundled with QuickBooks Online; promo of 50% off for 3 months shownVendor pricing page, checked Oct 27, 2026 ↗ | No |
Prices are the entry list prices each vendor publishes on its own US pricing page, read on Oct 27, 2026. They exclude taxes, payment processing unless stated, hardware, add-ons and negotiated discounts; a promotion appears only in the notes, labeled as one. Prices change. No vendor paid for a place or a price in this table.
These two are familiar names to a small-business owner, and in our view they are easy to compare on the wrong axis. RUN Powered by ADP is positioned as payroll-led software for small employers with a broad US HR services organization behind it. QuickBooks Workforce, the payroll offering behind QuickBooks, is positioned for teams that want payroll evaluated inside an existing QuickBooks accounting workflow. One sells backing; the other sells proximity to the books.
Verdict: RUN Powered by ADP, unless the books decide
For an owner of a business with roughly 1 to 50 employees who wants an established services organization accountable for payroll, choose RUN Powered by ADP. On this site's overall order it sits just ahead of QuickBooks Workforce for exactly that reason: backing is a need any small employer can have, while accounting adjacency only helps those already in one ecosystem.
Choose QuickBooks Workforce if your bookkeeper works in QuickBooks every day and you want payroll there. For that business, the adjacency is worth more than the service organization.
Where RUN Powered by ADP wins
Backing. ADP positions RUN with a broad HR services organization behind it. For an owner who does not want to be the final expert on payroll, that is the main purchase. QuickBooks Workforce's published positioning centers on accounting adjacency instead, so ask it directly what support stands behind payroll before assuming either way.
Independence from the ledger. Choosing RUN does not tie payroll to a particular accounting system; confirm which accounting exports are offered for the system you use. If the business later changes bookkeepers or accounting software, payroll can stay where it is.
The cost of that backing is the buying process. Our caveat for RUN is that a team wanting every requirement confirmed before a sales conversation will find the process less suited to it.
Where QuickBooks Workforce wins
One ecosystem. With QuickBooks already holding the accounts, payroll in the same environment means one vendor and one place to start when payroll and the ledger disagree. Ask in a trial what a pay run posts to the books and how a mismatch is corrected.
A bookkeeper's preference. Some small businesses do not choose payroll so much as inherit their bookkeeper's tool. If that tool is QuickBooks, fighting it rarely pays off.
It loses most of its case when QuickBooks is not your accounting system, or when you want the option to leave that ecosystem without also moving payroll.
If you are switching mid-year
Whichever way you move, two systems will hold parts of one year's wages. The SSA publishes employer W-2 filing instructions; read them and get a written answer on which provider prepares year-end forms and how prior pay runs are loaded. That conversation is a better test of either vendor than a demo.
The deciding test
Ask who you will call when a payroll question comes up in December. If the answer is the payroll provider, choose RUN Powered by ADP. If the answer is your bookkeeper, and your bookkeeper lives in QuickBooks, choose QuickBooks Workforce.
Traceable evidence
Sources for this decision
- vendorRUN Powered by ADP official product siteRUN Powered by ADP · checked Aug 5, 2026 · supports: Vendor-published product scope used to verify capabilities relevant to this buyer context: Small employers comparing a payroll-led system backed by a broad US HR services organization.. It does not prove the guide's fit verdict, configured performance, current pricing or compliance.Open source ↗
- vendorQuickBooks Workforce official product siteQuickBooks Workforce · checked Aug 5, 2026 · supports: Vendor-published product scope used to verify capabilities relevant to this buyer context: Teams that want payroll evaluated in the context of an existing QuickBooks accounting workflow.. It does not prove the guide's fit verdict, configured performance, current pricing or compliance.Open source ↗
- regulatorEmployer W-2 Filing Instructions and InformationSocial Security Administration · checked Aug 5, 2026 · supports: SSA employer W-2 filing instructions, electronic filing resources and current submission context; it does not prove payroll data or filings are complete and correct.Open source ↗