The verdict
ADP takes it, 4–2 on rounds.
There's no universal winner — Justworks is the sharper, more transparent choice for a small business that specifically wants a PEO, while ADP is the platform for a business that needs infrastructure beyond co-employment alone, so match the tool to what you're actually buying.
Choose ADP if…
- • Your industry is excluded from Justworks' PEO eligibility
- • You need infrastructure that scales well past 200 employees
Choose Justworks if…
- • You're a small business or startup wanting published PEO pricing
- • You want fast, self-serve onboarding into co-employment
Round by round
- Round 1Pricing & TransparencyJustworks winsADP4/10
~$79/mo + ~$4/employee (est.)
RUN Essential — TotalSource PEO pricing not published at all
- Automatic tax filing included even at the entry tier
- No published pricing anywhere, including for its PEO
- Well-documented complaints about hidden/add-on fees
Source: ADP pricing analyst estimates
Justworks9/10$59/employee/mo (Basic, <50 employees)
Published PEO pricing — unusual in this category
- Publishes exact PEO per-employee pricing, rare among competitors
- Month-to-month, no long-term PEO lock-in
- PEO Plus with full benefits runs $99/employee/mo, expensive at scale
Source: Justworks pricing data
Justworks tells you the real per-employee PEO price up front; ADP won't quote TotalSource without a sales call.
- Round 2Core Payroll & Tax FilingADP winsADP8/10
Automated filing at massive scale
- Processes payroll for roughly 1 in 6 US workers
- Decades of compliance track record at massive scale
- Multi-local-jurisdiction handling reported as inconsistent
Justworks7/10All 50 states, no separate filing tier
Tax filing and workers' comp bundled into every plan
- Automatic filing bundled into every PEO plan, not tiered
- Smaller-scale, newer operation than ADP's decades of volume
Source: Justworks product data
Both file automatically across all 50 states; ADP's sheer scale and tenure give it the edge on proven reliability.
- Round 3PEO Depth & Benefits AccessADP winsADP8/10
700,000+ worksite employees
TotalSource PEO network scale for group-rate negotiation
- Deep, established co-employment PEO network
- Non-PEO product ladder available if co-employment isn't wanted
- Advanced HR tools often require paid add-ons
Source: ADP TotalSource data
Justworks7/10Aetna, UnitedHealthcare, Kaiser access
Plus Talkspace mental health and Kindbody fertility benefits
- Named large-group carrier access (Aetna, UnitedHealthcare, Kaiser)
- Modern benefit categories: mental health, fertility
- PEO is the only product — no non-co-employment alternative
Source: Justworks PEO Plus data
ADP's PEO network scale runs deeper and comes with more product flexibility; Justworks counters with more modern, named benefit categories.
- Round 4Ease of Use & SetupJustworks winsADP5/10
Quote-only, no self-serve signup
- Strong day-to-day service once fully onboarded
- No self-serve signup — every account starts with a sales call
- Scores only 7.6/10 on G2 setup-ease versus Justworks' 9.3
Justworks8/109.3/10 G2 setup ease, 2-3 week onboarding
- 9.3/10 G2 setup-ease score, well above ADP Workforce Now's 7.6
- Dedicated onboarding manager, typical 2-3 week setup
- Requires co-employment enrollment, not just a software signup
Justworks scores meaningfully higher on setup ease by G2's own head-to-head measure against ADP.
- Round 5Industry EligibilityADP winsADP7/10
No blanket industry exclusion
RUN/Workforce Now available even where TotalSource underwriting is tighter
- Non-PEO products available even for harder-to-underwrite industries
- TotalSource PEO underwriting can still be selective by risk profile
Source: ADP product data
Justworks3/10Cannabis, gambling, adult entertainment excluded
Also excludes household employment and agriculture
- Clear, published eligibility rules rather than case-by-case underwriting
- Several high-risk industries excluded from PEO/Payroll eligibility entirely
- Underwriting/eligibility review required before joining at all
Source: Justworks eligibility requirements
ADP's broader product line gives higher-risk industries somewhere to go; Justworks turns them away outright.
- Round 6Customer Support & TrustADP winsADP6/10
4.1-4.6 G2/Capterra vs ~1.2-1.4 Trustpilot
- 4.1-4.6/5 on G2/Capterra from a large enterprise reviewer base
- Trustpilot ~1.2-1.4/5 across 3,000+ reviews
Justworks5/104.6 G2/Capterra vs 1.7-1.9 Trustpilot ('Poor')
- 4.6/5 on both G2 and Capterra
- Trustpilot rated 'Poor' at 1.7-1.9/5
- Reports of 7-10 week delays on compliance document requests
Both split hard between B2B and consumer review sites; ADP's Trustpilot floor is marginally less severe than Justworks'.
Which one is for you?
Small business or startup wanting published PEO pricing
→ Justworks · Justworks posts exact per-employee PEO pricing, rare in the category
Team wanting fast, self-serve PEO onboarding
→ Justworks · 9.3/10 G2 setup-ease score, 2-3 week onboarding
Business in a high-risk industry Justworks excludes
→ ADP · ADP's broader product line has no blanket exclusion list
Business planning to scale well past 200 employees
→ ADP · TotalSource's 700,000+ worksite-employee network and non-PEO ladder
Side by side
- RUN Essential estimated near $79/mo + $4/employee
- Automatic tax filing included on every RUN tier
- Decades of compliance scale — pays 1 in 6 US workers
- ADP TotalSource is a full co-employment PEO, distinct product
- Every tier's price is published, no sales call
- Per-employee price drops at 50+ headcount
- Filing included on every plan across all 50 states
- Covers the core business apps most teams already use
- No published, self-serve pricing anywhere
- Reported termination fees up to ~50% of remaining contract value
- Reviewers report inconsistent handling of multiple local jurisdictions
- Background checks and HR support center locked behind higher RUN tiers
- PEO pricing runs well above QuickBooks for small teams
- No dollar-figure penalty-protection guarantee
- Not a native, same-vendor connection like QuickBooks Payroll
- Plus tier gets expensive once benefits premiums layer on top