Paychex
PAYX · Human Resource & Employment Services
$118.04
0.6%Paylocity
PCTY · Human Resource & Employment Services
$177.19
0.3%The short version
- Paychex is the larger business, with $6.5B of revenue in fiscal 2026 against $1.8B for Paylocity, about 3.7 times as much.
- Paychex grew revenue faster (16.9%, against 11.0%).
- Paychex kept more of each dollar of sales as operating profit (38.6% operating margin, against 21.8% operating margin).
- Paychex turned more of its sales into free cash flow (35.7% FCF margin, against 28.1% FCF margin).
- Investors pay more for each dollar of Paylocity’s earnings: a P/E of 36.0x against 23.4x for Paychex.
| Latest fiscal year | PAYX · FY26 | PCTY · FY26 |
|---|---|---|
| Size | ||
| Market cap | $42.1B | $9.7B |
| Revenue | $6.5B | $1.8B |
| Free cash flow | $2.3B | $497M |
| Net income | $1.8B | $270M |
| Growth | ||
| Revenue growth | 16.9% | 11.0% |
| 5-year growth | 9.9% | 22.8% |
| Share count change | −0.6% | −3.2% |
| Profitability | ||
| Gross margin | 74.3% | 69.2% |
| Operating margin | 38.6% | 21.8% |
| Net margin | 27.0% | 15.2% |
| FCF margin | 35.7% | 28.1% |
| Return on capital | 26.2% | 26.5% |
| Return on equity | 44.8% | 22.0% |
| Balance sheet | ||
| Net debt | $3.4B | −$191M |
| Net debt / EBITDA | 1.2x | −0.4x |
| Dividends and buybacks | $2.2B | $398M |
| Valuation & quality | ||
| P/E | 23.4x | 36.0x |
| Piotroski F-score | 6 | 8 |
FY17
PAYX $3.2B
PCTY $300M
FY18
PAYX $3.4B
PCTY $378M
FY19
PAYX $3.8B
PCTY $468M
FY20
PAYX $4.0B
PCTY $561M
FY21
PAYX $4.1B
PCTY $636M
FY22
PAYX $4.6B
PCTY $853M
FY23
PAYX $5.0B
PCTY $1.2B
FY24
PAYX $5.3B
PCTY $1.4B
FY25
PAYX $5.6B
PCTY $1.6B
FY26
PAYX $6.5B
PCTY $1.8B
PAYX
PCTY
FY17
PAYX 39.8%
PCTY 2.4%
FY18
PAYX 38.2%
PCTY 4.2%
FY19
PAYX 36.4%
PCTY 12.0%
FY20
PAYX 36.2%
PCTY 11.8%
FY21
PAYX 36.0%
PCTY 9.1%
FY22
PAYX 39.9%
PCTY 9.9%
FY23
PAYX 40.6%
PCTY 13.2%
FY24
PAYX 41.2%
PCTY 18.5%
FY25
PAYX 39.6%
PCTY 19.1%
FY26
PAYX 38.6%
PCTY 21.8%
PAYX
PCTY
FY17
PAYX $866M
PCTY $40.6M
FY18
PAYX $1.1B
PCTY $76.2M
FY19
PAYX $1.1B
PCTY $104M
FY20
PAYX $1.3B
PCTY $96.1M
FY21
PAYX $1.1B
PCTY $115M
FY22
PAYX $1.5B
PCTY $137M
FY23
PAYX $1.6B
PCTY $261M
FY24
PAYX $1.7B
PCTY $367M
FY25
PAYX $1.7B
PCTY $405M
FY26
PAYX $2.3B
PCTY $497M
PAYX
PCTY
FY17
PAYX —
PCTY —
FY18
PAYX —
PCTY —
FY19
PAYX —
PCTY —
FY20
PAYX 41.7%
PCTY —
FY21
PAYX 41.6%
PCTY 24.3%
FY22
PAYX 52.1%
PCTY 22.7%
FY23
PAYX 57.5%
PCTY 26.8%
FY24
PAYX 56.9%
PCTY 32.8%
FY25
PAYX 31.9%
PCTY 27.4%
FY26
PAYX 26.2%
PCTY 26.5%
PAYX
PCTY
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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.