ADP vs QuickBooks Workforce vs Justworks

Ten payroll, HR and PEO plans side by side: ADP RUN, Workforce Now and TotalSource; QuickBooks Workforce Payroll, Premium and Elite; and Justworks Payroll, PEO Basic, PEO Plus and EOR. Tick the plans you want to see and hide the rest.

Choosing payroll for your business or a client?

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Quick picks:

Included in the plan price Extra cost add-on, higher tier, or billed separately No not offered on this plan Ask vendor quote-based, varies, or not published

Quick fit guide

Payroll only, already on QBO, under ~25 staff: QuickBooks Workforce Payroll or Justworks Payroll. Justworks is cheaper per head ($8 vs $13+ once you need HR/time features) and includes basic timecards and PTO.
Payroll plus light HR in QBO: QuickBooks Premium or Elite (Elite adds a personal HR advisor and $25K tax penalty protection).
Wants big-company benefits and shared compliance: a PEO. Justworks PEO Plus publishes its price; ADP TotalSource is quote-only.
50+ employees, wants to keep employer of record and an internal HR team: ADP Workforce Now.
Hiring outside the US with no entity: Justworks EOR. ADP offers EOR only through partners.

Reading the prices

QuickBooks prices are standalone list prices before the current 50%-off-for-3-months promotion. Bundles with QBO accounting are priced differently.
PEO fees don't include health premiums, workers' comp in some states, or SUI, which are billed on top.
The ADP RUN and TotalSource numbers are estimates from reviewers and sales reps. Get a written quote before comparing them with anything.

Naming changes in 2026

Intuit rebranded QuickBooks Online Payroll as QuickBooks Workforce. Core is now Workforce Payroll; Premium and Elite kept their names but gained HR and time features. Older articles that quote Core pricing ($50 + $6.50 per employee) are out of date.

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Payroll and HR apps such as Justworks are part of our Power-ups program. Each Power-up you activate through our referral links counts toward a perk tier with School of Bookkeeping, from a QuickAnswers trial at Tier 1 up to tutoring and team-wide QuickAnswers at Tier 6+.

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