Paylocity
PCTY · Human Resource & Employment Services
$177.19
0.3%Upwork
UPWK · Human Resource & Employment Services
$9.48
1.0%The short version
- Paylocity is the larger business, with $1.8B of revenue in fiscal 2026 against $788M for Upwork, about 2.2 times as much.
- Paylocity grew revenue faster (11.0%, against 2.4%).
- Paylocity kept more of each dollar of sales as operating profit (21.8% operating margin, against 16.4% operating margin).
- Upwork turned more of its sales into free cash flow (30.8% FCF margin, against 28.1% FCF margin).
- Upwork earned a higher return on the capital invested in it (31.0%, against 26.5%).
- Investors pay more for each dollar of Paylocity’s earnings: a P/E of 36.0x against 12.3x for Upwork.
| Latest fiscal year | PCTY · FY26 | UPWK · FY25 |
|---|---|---|
| Size | ||
| Market cap | $9.7B | $1.2B |
| Revenue | $1.8B | $788M |
| Free cash flow | $497M | $242M |
| Net income | $270M | $115M |
| Growth | ||
| Revenue growth | 11.0% | 2.4% |
| 5-year growth | 22.8% | 16.1% |
| Share count change | −3.2% | −1.7% |
| Profitability | ||
| Gross margin | 69.2% | 77.8% |
| Operating margin | 21.8% | 16.4% |
| Net margin | 15.2% | 14.7% |
| FCF margin | 28.1% | 30.8% |
| Return on capital | 26.5% | 31.0% |
| Return on equity | 22.0% | 19.2% |
| Balance sheet | ||
| Net debt | −$191M | −$313M |
| Net debt / EBITDA | −0.4x | −2.0x |
| Dividends and buybacks | $398M | $136M |
| Valuation & quality | ||
| P/E | 36.0x | 12.3x |
| Piotroski F-score | 8 | 6 |
FY17
PCTY $300M
UPWK $203M
FY18
PCTY $378M
UPWK $253M
FY19
PCTY $468M
UPWK $301M
FY20
PCTY $561M
UPWK $374M
FY21
PCTY $636M
UPWK $503M
FY22
PCTY $853M
UPWK $618M
FY23
PCTY $1.2B
UPWK $689M
FY24
PCTY $1.4B
UPWK $769M
FY25
PCTY $1.6B
UPWK $788M
FY26
PCTY $1.8B
UPWK —
PCTY
UPWK
FY17
PCTY 2.4%
UPWK −1.5%
FY18
PCTY 4.2%
UPWK −4.6%
FY19
PCTY 12.0%
UPWK −6.2%
FY20
PCTY 11.8%
UPWK −6.0%
FY21
PCTY 9.1%
UPWK −10.8%
FY22
PCTY 9.9%
UPWK −15.0%
FY23
PCTY 13.2%
UPWK −1.6%
FY24
PCTY 18.5%
UPWK 8.5%
FY25
PCTY 19.1%
UPWK 16.4%
FY26
PCTY 21.8%
UPWK —
PCTY
UPWK
FY17
PCTY $40.6M
UPWK −$5.8M
FY18
PCTY $76.2M
UPWK $10.7M
FY19
PCTY $104M
UPWK −$9.7M
FY20
PCTY $96.1M
UPWK $16.0M
FY21
PCTY $115M
UPWK $9.8M
FY22
PCTY $137M
UPWK $10.3M
FY23
PCTY $261M
UPWK $52.0M
FY24
PCTY $367M
UPWK $150M
FY25
PCTY $405M
UPWK $242M
FY26
PCTY $497M
UPWK —
PCTY
UPWK
FY17
PCTY —
UPWK —
FY18
PCTY —
UPWK −15.5%
FY19
PCTY —
UPWK −10.5%
FY20
PCTY —
UPWK −12.5%
FY21
PCTY 24.3%
UPWK −31.0%
FY22
PCTY 22.7%
UPWK −55.7%
FY23
PCTY 26.8%
UPWK −6.9%
FY24
PCTY 32.8%
UPWK 26.2%
FY25
PCTY 27.4%
UPWK 31.0%
FY26
PCTY 26.5%
UPWK —
PCTY
UPWK
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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.