Paychex vs Upwork
Add, change or remove companies; up to four.
The short version
- Paychex is the larger business, with $6.5B of revenue in fiscal 2026 against $788M for Upwork, about 8.3 times as much.
- Paychex grew revenue faster (16.9%, against 2.4%).
- Paychex kept more of each dollar of sales as operating profit (38.6% operating margin, against 16.4%).
- Paychex turned more of its sales into free cash flow (35.7% FCF margin, against 30.8%).
- Upwork earned a higher return on the capital invested in it (31.0%, against 26.2%).
- Investors pay more for each dollar of Paychex’s earnings: a P/E of 23.4x against 12.3x for Upwork.
| Latest fiscal year | PAYX · FY26 | UPWK · FY25 |
|---|---|---|
| Size | ||
| Market cap | $42.1B | $1.2B |
| Revenue | $6.5B | $788M |
| Free cash flow | $2.3B | $242M |
| Net income | $1.8B | $115M |
| Growth | ||
| Revenue growth | 16.9% | 2.4% |
| 5-year growth | 9.9% | 16.1% |
| Share count change | −0.6% | −1.7% |
| Profitability | ||
| Gross margin | 74.3% | 77.8% |
| Operating margin | 38.6% | 16.4% |
| Net margin | 27.0% | 14.7% |
| FCF margin | 35.7% | 30.8% |
| Return on capital | 26.2% | 31.0% |
| Return on equity | 44.8% | 19.2% |
| Balance sheet | ||
| Net debt | $3.4B | −$313M |
| Net debt / EBITDA | 1.2x | −2.0x |
| Dividends and buybacks | $2.2B | $136M |
| Valuation & quality | ||
| P/E | 23.4x | 12.3x |
| Piotroski F-score | 6 | 6 |
Revenue
FY17
PAYX $3.2B
UPWK $203M
FY18
PAYX $3.4B
UPWK $253M
FY19
PAYX $3.8B
UPWK $301M
FY20
PAYX $4.0B
UPWK $374M
FY21
PAYX $4.1B
UPWK $503M
FY22
PAYX $4.6B
UPWK $618M
FY23
PAYX $5.0B
UPWK $689M
FY24
PAYX $5.3B
UPWK $769M
FY25
PAYX $5.6B
UPWK $788M
FY26
PAYX $6.5B
UPWK —
PAYX
UPWK
Operating margin
FY17
PAYX 39.8%
UPWK −1.5%
FY18
PAYX 38.2%
UPWK −4.6%
FY19
PAYX 36.4%
UPWK −6.2%
FY20
PAYX 36.2%
UPWK −6.0%
FY21
PAYX 36.0%
UPWK −10.8%
FY22
PAYX 39.9%
UPWK −15.0%
FY23
PAYX 40.6%
UPWK −1.6%
FY24
PAYX 41.2%
UPWK 8.5%
FY25
PAYX 39.6%
UPWK 16.4%
FY26
PAYX 38.6%
UPWK —
PAYX
UPWK
Free cash flow
FY17
PAYX $866M
UPWK −$5.8M
FY18
PAYX $1.1B
UPWK $10.7M
FY19
PAYX $1.1B
UPWK −$9.7M
FY20
PAYX $1.3B
UPWK $16.0M
FY21
PAYX $1.1B
UPWK $9.8M
FY22
PAYX $1.5B
UPWK $10.3M
FY23
PAYX $1.6B
UPWK $52.0M
FY24
PAYX $1.7B
UPWK $150M
FY25
PAYX $1.7B
UPWK $242M
FY26
PAYX $2.3B
UPWK —
PAYX
UPWK
Return on capital
FY17
PAYX —
UPWK —
FY18
PAYX —
UPWK −15.5%
FY19
PAYX —
UPWK −10.5%
FY20
PAYX 41.7%
UPWK −12.5%
FY21
PAYX 41.6%
UPWK −31.0%
FY22
PAYX 52.1%
UPWK −55.7%
FY23
PAYX 57.5%
UPWK −6.9%
FY24
PAYX 56.9%
UPWK 26.2%
FY25
PAYX 31.9%
UPWK 31.0%
FY26
PAYX 26.2%
UPWK —
PAYX
UPWK
Each company's latest fiscal year; fiscal years end in different months. The best value in each row is highlighted where higher (or lower) is clearly better. Not investment advice.