Competitive Comparison Matrix
Empower partners to confidently compete against major payroll platforms with strategic insights.
Competitive Comparison Matrix
🎯 Goal:
Help partners develop a confident and customized approach to selling against ADP, Paychex, Gusto, and QuickBooks Payroll by understanding their own positioning and the market’s perception of their competitors.
🧩 Exercise: Positioning Against the Big Four
Ask your leadership or GTM team the following:
🔍 Understanding Your Position
- What are our payroll product’s top 3 strengths when selling to our ideal customer (e.g., contractors, hospitality, field services)?
- Which types of customers are we winning against each of these competitors today?
- What do our customers say they liked most after switching to us?
- Which of our integrations (e.g., time tracking, scheduling, HR) give us a unique advantage?
❌ Spotting Gaps
- Where do we lose to these competitors? Why?
- Are there product limitations or compliance gaps we should acknowledge and reframe?
📊 Competitive Research Tactics
- Have we reviewed G2 pages and top complaints for each competitor this year?
- Can we ask 3–5 recently won clients who switched from a competitor why they left?
- Are our sales reps regularly logging “lost to competitor” data in the CRM?
- Do we know which competitors are the biggest threats in our core vertical(s)?
⚔️ Part 2: Universal Competitive Battle Cards
These cards are designed to help all Check partners confidently position themselves against the four main legacy and tech-first payroll platforms.
🔹 Gusto
Market Position: Tech-forward and SMB-friendly, but often generalized.
Ideal Customers: Companies under 50 employees, especially startups.
Weakness | Check Partner Strength |
One-size-fits-all design with limited configurability for niche industries | Check partners build industry-specific workflows (e.g., restaurants, field services, home contractors) |
Limited phone support, especially during critical times like tax season | Personalized onboarding and dedicated support common among Check partners |
Mid-market scalability issues (poor handling of complex orgs or pay runs) | Customization for vertical needs: tip pooling, certified payroll, job costing |
Rigid UI and limited white-glove service | High-touch service, flexible deployment for specific customer base |
Poor integrations outside their own HR suite | Deep integration with existing vertical tools (e.g., time tracking, scheduling) |
Messaging Hook: “Unlike Gusto’s off-the-shelf design, we built our payroll product to serve [your vertical] with real people to support you when it matters most.”
🔹 ADP (RUN)
Market Position: Legacy player with deep compliance and multi-state reach.
Ideal Customers: Mid-size companies, often legacy users from PEOs or bundled HR.
Weakness | Check Partner Strength |
Poor support and inconsistent customer experience (G2 complaint theme) | Streamlined support model with quick response times and implementation help |
Difficult to get pricing transparency, frequent surprise fees | Transparent pricing shown on most partner pages (e.g., Homebase, Hourly) |
Complicated user interface, especially for non-HR professionals | Simple UI designed for non-payroll pros, often with vertical-specific flows |
Long setup times and slow implementation for small teams | Quick go-live timelines—often in under a week |
Lack of ownership in support (handoffs between teams) | Single point-of-contact support models often used by Check partners |
Messaging Hook: “ADP may work for giant companies, but you deserve better service and less red tape—without paying for what you don’t use.”
🔹 Paychex
Market Position: Strong compliance reputation, especially with brokers, but aging tech and high cost.
Ideal Customers: Compliance-focused SMBs, often accountant-influenced.
Weakness | Check Partner Strength |
Outdated UI and mobile tools (frequent G2 complaint) | Sleek, mobile-first platforms built with today’s workers in mind |
Pricing surprises and vague cost structure | Transparent monthly pricing on landing pages |
Rigid systems for emerging industries | Flexibility to support newer industries or hourly workforce needs |
Slow innovation and product updates | Check partners ship fast and build to solve for their customer base directly |
Fragmented tools—separate login portals for admins and employees | Unified user experience for managers and employees alike |
Messaging Hook: “If you’ve outgrown Paychex’s legacy approach, we offer a modern system that’s built for today’s workforce—and tomorrow’s growth.”
🔹 QuickBooks Payroll
Market Position: Easy for DIY users, tightly integrated with QuickBooks accounting.
Ideal Customers: 1–10 employee companies and DIY business owners.
Weakness | Check Partner Strength |
Support is non-personal and tier-gated (only top plans get help with local taxes) | Real people, even for your smallest payroll question—even local filings |
Poor multi-state handling and complex pay rules | Designed to grow with your business—even if you scale to 50+ employees |
Can’t handle industries with job costing, shift differentials, or tips | Built-in job costing, tip allocation, or construction integrations available |
Hard to reach support when issues arise (frequent G2 theme) | Human-first service with concierge setup and proactive error catching |
Not scalable beyond very small business stage | Check partners offer feature sets that grow with the business—no migration needed later |
Messaging Hook: “QuickBooks works… until it doesn’t. We help you graduate to real payroll that still talks to your books but actually supports your growth.”
If you want more customized help, please let your Check team know!
Last updated on September 23, 2025