{ "data": { "a": { "slug": "paychex", "name": "Paychex", "vendor": "Paychex, Inc.", "vendorUrl": "https://www.paychex.com", "kind": "http-api", "category": "payroll", "summary": "Paychex's REST API reads and updates company, worker and pay data in Paychex Flex, a US payroll and HR service. Clients create an app inside their Flex account. Software partners apply to Paychex for a sandbox and production credentials.", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/paychex", "markdownUrl": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/paychex.md", "slimMarkdownUrl": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/paychex.min.md", "jsonUrl": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/paychex.json", "license": "Proprietary service. Public use is under the Paychex User Terms of Use. Partner terms aren't published", "transports": [ "http" ], "packages": [], "auth": "oauth", "authNotes": "Graded on the Paychex API for Paychex Flex. Access is by OAuth 2.0 client credentials. A key and secret go in the form body of POST `/auth/oauth/v2/token` and return a Bearer token that lasts 60 minutes, with no refresh token. A Paychex client with a Super Admin or Security Admin role creates an app inside Flex and chooses its access levels. A software partner fills in a questionnaire, is reviewed by the Corporate Partnerships Team, builds in a sandbox Paychex issues, demos the integration and then receives a production key and secret limited to the verbs and endpoints requested. Each client approves a partner app in Flex before its data is reachable.", "pricing": "paid", "pricingNotes": "No price is published for the API or for Paychex payroll. The Request Pricing button on paychex.com/payroll leads to the sales contact form, and the developer centre states no fee. The API reaches only companies with a paid Paychex Flex account, and the Payroll API needs online payroll added by a Paychex representative. The partner sandbox is issued after Paychex approves the partnership, so there is no way to start without Paychex's agreement (checked 2026-10-08).", "priceSummary": "Paid", "where": "local", "x402": { "level": "no", "evidence": "No x402, MPP or L402 in the developer centre pages or the OpenAPI definition (checked 2026-10-08).", "endpoints": [] }, "toolCount": null, "popularity": { "githubStars": null, "npmWeekly": null, "pypiWeekly": null, "asOf": "2026-10-08" }, "docsUrl": "https://developer.paychex.com/documentation", "openapi": "https://developer.paychex.com/sites/default/files/apidocument/openapi-merge-develop.210-public.json", "capabilities": [ "payroll.employees", "hr.employees", "hr.onboarding", "hr.documents", "hr.org" ], "tags": [ "hosted", "payroll", "hr", "oauth", "openapi", "partner-approval", "sandbox", "webhooks", "sales-led", "soc2", "iso27001" ], "lastRelease": "2026-08-20", "graded": true, "anchor": { "graded": true, "score": 44.8, "grade": "E", "agentReady": false, "rank": 777, "ranked": true, "rankOf": 842, "categoryRank": 9, "methodology": "0.4", "run": "2026-10-01", "scores": { "ergonomics": 54, "maintenance": 26, "payments": 0, "reliability": 41, "schema": 66, "security": 58, "transparency": 54 }, "pending": [ "performance", "tasks" ], "assessment": { "confidence": "medium", "date": "2026-10-08" }, "negative": 0, "verdict": "A public OpenAPI 3.0.3 definition covers 110 operations, and payroll entries stay unprocessed until a person submits the payroll in Flex. Partner credentials and the sandbox follow approval by Paychex, no price is published, and no status page, SLA or SDK was found in the reviewed pages.", "bestFor": "A software partner with shared customers on Paychex Flex that needs to sync workers, pay rates, direct deposits and tax setup, or to send hours and earnings into pay entry.", "strengths": [ "One public OpenAPI 3.0.3 file describes 110 operations and 147 schemas, with named request and response examples for most of them", "Checks are created as unprocessed entries. The docs say the client or a Paychex service provider must review and submit the payroll", "A client admin approves each partner app inside Paychex Flex before any company data is reachable, and a delete endpoint removes the link", "Errors return a `code`, `description` and `resolution`, and every response carries an `x-payx-txid` for support", "Published limit of 10,000 requests a minute per partner, with `X-RateLimit-*` headers and `Retry-After` on 429" ], "weaknesses": [ "Partner access needs a questionnaire, review by the Corporate Partnerships Team, a demo and final approval. The sandbox is issued only after approval", "No price is published for the API or for Paychex payroll. The pricing button leads to a sales contact form", "No status page, incident history or SLA was found, and the User Terms of Use give no availability guarantee", "Paging works on three endpoints only, and on the worker list it can't be combined with filters", "No SDK, llms.txt or dated changelog was found. The News page holds two notices", "The User Terms of Use bar automated access to Paychex sites and applications unless Paychex approves it, and allow suspension without notice" ], "agentNotes": [ "POST `grant_type=client_credentials` with the key and secret in the form body to `/auth/oauth/v2/token`. Tokens last 60 minutes and there is no refresh token, so request a new one", "Call GET `/companies` first. Worker and payroll paths need a `companyId` or `workerId` the app has been granted", "Send `offset` and `limit` on GET `/companies/{companyId}/workers`, 50 at most, and resend the `ETag` between pages. The unpaged form is withdrawn on 24 February 2027", "Creating a check doesn't pay anyone. A person must review and submit the payroll in Paychex Flex", "Send a unique `X-payx-client-correlationId` per request and keep the `x-payx-txid` from the response. Support asks for it", "On 423 the client is locked by another user or process. Wait and retry" ], "metrics": { "kind": "remote", "measured": false }, "reviewCount": 0, "avgRating": 0, "history": [ { "basis": "public evidence", "confidence": "medium", "grade": "E", "methodology": "0.4", "pending": [ "performance", "tasks" ], "run": "2026-10-01", "runLabel": "October 2026 research run", "score": 44.8 } ], "editorialScores": { "ergonomics": 54, "maintenance": 26, "payments": 0, "reliability": 41, "schema": 66, "security": 58, "transparency": 39 }, "provenanceScore": 69 }, "connect": { "http": "curl --location 'https://api.paychex.com/auth/oauth/v2/token' \\\n--header 'Content-Type: application/x-www-form-urlencoded' \\\n--data-urlencode 'grant_type=client_credentials' \\\n--data-urlencode 'client_id=CLIENT_ID' \\\n--data-urlencode 'client_secret=CLIENT_SECRET'" }, "letme": { "capability": "https://letme.dev/payroll.employees", "tool": "https://letme.dev/paychex" }, "area": "domain-data", "provenance": { "legalEntity": "Paychex, Inc.", "domain": "paychex.com", "domainRegistered": "1991-06-10", "endpointOnVendorDomain": true, "terms": "https://www.paychex.com/corporate/terms", "privacy": "https://www.paychex.com/corporate/security/privacy", "statusPage": "", "changelog": "https://developer.paychex.com/news", "securityTxt": "none", "checked": "2026-10-08", "notes": [ "The privacy policy (last updated 1 June 2026) names Paychex, Inc., 911 Panorama Trail South, Rochester, NY 14625.", "The terms link is the Paychex User Terms of Use, effective 1 June 2026, which govern Paychex's websites, software applications, mobile applications and services. No API-specific terms are published. The partner agreement and the Third-Party Terms of Use a client accepts in Flex weren't found in public.", "API calls go to https://api.paychex.com. An unauthenticated GET `/companies` answered 401 with error code API-103.", "www.paychex.com/.well-known/security.txt, www.paychex.com/security.txt and developer.paychex.com/.well-known/security.txt return 404. Vulnerability reports go through a form at paychex.com/corporate/security/responsible-disclosure run with Bugcrowd.", "No status page was found on the developer centre or the security page, and status.paychex.com didn't resolve.", "The changelog link is the developer centre's News page, which holds two notices and no dated list of changes.", "RDAP for paychex.com gives a registration date of 1991-06-10." ], "score": 69 }, "pageJsonUrl": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/paychex.json" }, "answer": "Paychex scores 44.8 (E) on agent readiness against Worklio's 38.6 (E), and leads in 5 of 7 scored categories. Worklio leads on schema \u0026 documentation and payments \u0026 pricing.", "b": { "slug": "worklio", "name": "Worklio", "vendor": "Worklio, Inc.", "vendorUrl": "https://www.worklio.com", "kind": "http-api", "category": "payroll", "summary": "Embedded US payroll from Worklio, Inc. for software platforms, PEOs and payroll bureaus. A partner's backend creates companies and workers, runs payroll in steps and reads tax forms through a REST API, with white-label screens as an alternative.", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/worklio", "markdownUrl": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/worklio.md", "slimMarkdownUrl": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/worklio.min.md", "jsonUrl": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/worklio.json", "license": "Proprietary service. The public Terms of Use date from 2014 and the partner agreement isn't public. The front-end library sits in a private repository", "transports": [ "http" ], "remoteUrl": "https://api.worklio.com", "packages": [], "auth": "oauth", "authNotes": "Every call takes a bearer JWT from `POST https://api.worklio.com/connect/token`. In the sandbox a developer registers at apiweb.worklio.com/RegisterDeveloper and uses the password grant with the account's username and password, scope `api`, and a client secret the docs print and describe as shared by all sandbox users. Tokens last 24 hours. Browser apps use an OpenID Connect redirect flow through `@worklio/sdk`, which isn't published and is requested from support. Production credentials, single sign-on and allowed origins are set up by Worklio. A System user has full rights over every company it created. This is embedded-payroll partner access, with no route into an employer's payroll account elsewhere.", "pricing": "paid", "pricingNotes": "A partner's price is set in its agreement and isn't public. The partner pages publish retail list prices per person per month ($10 for Full-Service Payroll, $81 for all 19 modules) and call them illustrative, not a quote, with base, setup and per-use fees excluded. The sandbox is self-serve after developer registration, so an agent's owner can start without a contract. Whether registration asks for a card was not read, because apiweb.worklio.com disallows crawlers (checked 2026-10-09).", "priceSummary": "Paid", "where": "hosted", "x402": { "level": "no", "evidence": "No x402, MPP or L402 in the docs index, the reference pages read or the website (checked 2026-10-09).", "endpoints": [] }, "toolCount": null, "popularity": { "githubStars": null, "npmWeekly": null, "pypiWeekly": null, "asOf": "2026-10-09" }, "docsUrl": "https://apidocs.worklio.com/docs/overview", "llmsTxt": "https://apidocs.worklio.com/llms.txt", "capabilities": [ "payroll.run", "payroll.embedded", "payroll.employees", "payroll.tax-filing", "payroll.contractors" ], "tags": [ "hosted", "closed-source", "oauth", "openapi", "llms-txt", "webhooks", "sandbox", "partner-access", "soc2", "iso27001" ], "lastRelease": "2026-06-30", "graded": true, "anchor": { "graded": true, "score": 38.6, "grade": "E", "agentReady": false, "rank": 812, "ranked": true, "rankOf": 842, "categoryRank": 10, "methodology": "0.4", "run": "2026-10-01", "scores": { "ergonomics": 44, "maintenance": 25, "payments": 25, "reliability": 25, "schema": 71, "security": 48, "transparency": 48 }, "pending": [ "performance", "tasks" ], "assessment": { "confidence": "medium", "date": "2026-10-09" }, "negative": -3, "negativeNotes": [ "30 June 2026. The changelog entry that announces the reworked Time-Off Requests API says the older `timeoffrequests` routes were replaced by hyphenated routes and tells integrators to update, in the same note and with no earlier notice found. Whether partners were told privately is unknown, so the smallest deduction applies (-3). https://apidocs.worklio.com/changelog/v1-api-updates" ], "verdict": "Worklio documents 853 REST operations with an OpenAPI fragment on every reference page, and a developer can register for the sandbox without a sales call. No rate limits or public SDK were found, the status page is password protected, and the payroll guide tells callers to treat an HTTP 500 as the signal to finalise.", "bestFor": "A software platform, PEO or payroll bureau that wants to sell US payroll under its own brand and can sign a partner agreement, with Worklio handling tax filing and money movement.", "strengths": [ "853 documented operations across 17 API groups, each reference page carrying an OpenAPI 3.0.4 fragment, plus llms.txt and a Markdown copy of every docs page", "Sandbox access is self-serve. A developer registers, uses a shared sandbox client secret printed in the docs and gets a bearer token", "A payroll run moves through steps with next, previous, discard, lock and finalise calls, and starting a scheduled run twice returns the same run", "Every operation states which user levels may call it (System, Admin, ClientAdmin, Employee, or anonymous with a link token)", "The security page claims SOC 2 Type 2, ISO 27001, ISO 27018 and ISO 9001, with third-party penetration testing" ], "weaknesses": [ "No rate limits, 429 handling or idempotency keys were found in the reviewed documentation", "status.worklio.com asks for a password, so no public incident history exists", "The Run Payroll guide says the `next` call answers HTTP 500 with an untranslated message when a run is ready to finalise", "No public SDK. `@worklio/sdk` and the component library sit in a private repository granted through support", "The public Terms of Use are dated 21 December 2014 and describe a small-business HR site. The partner agreement and production prices aren't public" ], "agentNotes": [ "Send `api-version: 2.0` on `/wep` calls. The reference marks the header as required", "Get a token from `POST https://api.worklio.com/connect/token` with the password grant and scope `api`. It lasts 24 hours, so fetch a new one daily", "Run payroll as start, `next` until it answers 500 with \"Next step operation is not allowed\", then `finalize`. Don't treat that 500 as a failure", "Don't retry bonus, off-cycle, void or termination payroll starts blindly. The reference says those calls are not idempotent", "Most `/wep` list endpoints return the whole result set. Paging, `filter` and `sort` work only under `/api/public`, and a `DataToken` expires after 60 seconds" ], "metrics": { "kind": "remote", "measured": false }, "reviewCount": 0, "avgRating": 0, "history": [ { "basis": "public evidence", "confidence": "medium", "grade": "E", "methodology": "0.4", "pending": [ "performance", "tasks" ], "run": "2026-10-01", "runLabel": "October 2026 research run", "score": 38.6 } ], "editorialScores": { "ergonomics": 44, "maintenance": 25, "payments": 25, "reliability": 25, "schema": 71, "security": 48, "transparency": 28 }, "provenanceScore": 67 }, "connect": { "http": "curl -s -X POST \"https://api.worklio.com/connect/token\" \\\n -H \"accept: application/json\" \\\n -H \"content-type: application/x-www-form-urlencoded\" \\\n --data-urlencode \"grant_type=password\" \\\n --data-urlencode \"username=$WORKLIO_USERNAME\" \\\n --data-urlencode \"password=$WORKLIO_PASSWORD\" \\\n --data-urlencode \"scope=api\" \\\n --data-urlencode \"client_id=wep_resourceowner.public.api\" \\\n --data-urlencode \"client_secret=$WORKLIO_CLIENT_SECRET\"" }, "letme": { "capability": "https://letme.dev/payroll.run", "tool": "https://letme.dev/worklio" }, "area": "domain-data", "provenance": { "legalEntity": "Worklio, Inc.", "domain": "worklio.com", "domainRegistered": "2015-03-10", "endpointOnVendorDomain": true, "terms": "", "privacy": "https://www.worklio.com/privacy", "statusPage": "", "changelog": "https://apidocs.worklio.com/changelog", "securityTxt": "none", "checked": "2026-10-09", "notes": [ "The site footer reads \"© 2026 Worklio, Inc.\". The about page says Worklio LLC was established in 2017. No postal address was found on the pages read.", "No terms link is given. The only public terms are the Terms of Use at www.worklio.com/terms, last updated 21 December 2014, which describe an HR site for small businesses and predate the embedded API. The partner agreement that governs API use isn't public.", "www.worklio.com/privacy embeds a policy hosted at www.iubenda.com/privacy-policy/25719508. iubenda's robots.txt disallows that path, so the policy text was not read.", "status.worklio.com exists (an UptimeRobot page) and answers \"This status page is password protected\", so it is not recorded as a public status page.", "www.worklio.com/.well-known/security.txt returns 404.", "The changelog holds two entries, both dated 30 June 2026.", "RDAP for worklio.com gives a registration date of 2015-03-10." ], "score": 67 }, "pageJsonUrl": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/worklio.json", "live": { "slug": "worklio", "probe": { "target": "https://api.worklio.com", "method": "get", "lastAt": "2026-10-09T09:27:10.766818456Z", "lastOk": true, "lastStatus": 403, "lastMs": 504, "lastNote": "asks for credentials", "authRequired": true, "uptime24h": 100, "uptime30d": 100, "p50ms24h": 468, "p95ms24h": 504, "samples24h": 20, "samples30d": 20, "days": [ { "date": "2026-10-09", "probes": 20, "ok": 20 } ] }, "updatedAt": "2026-10-09T09:27:10.766818456Z" } }, "facts": [ { "a": "HTTP API", "b": "HTTP API", "name": "Kind" }, { "a": "Paychex, Inc.", "b": "Worklio, Inc.", "name": "Vendor" }, { "a": "no (local only)", "b": "https://api.worklio.com", "name": "Hosted endpoint" }, { "a": "HTTP", "b": "HTTP", "name": "Transports" }, { "a": "OAuth", "b": "OAuth", "name": "Auth" }, { "a": "Paid", "b": "Paid", "name": "Pricing" }, { "a": "no", "b": "no", "name": "x402" }, { "a": "Proprietary service. Public use is under the Paychex User Terms of Use. Partner terms aren't published", "b": "Proprietary service. The public Terms of Use date from 2014 and the partner agreement isn't public. The front-end library sits in a private repository", "name": "Licence" }, { "a": "no", "b": "no", "name": "Read-only variant documented" }, { "a": "no", "b": "yes", "name": "llms.txt" }, { "a": "2026-08-20", "b": "2026-06-30", "name": "Last release" }, { "a": "no date given", "b": "no document linked", "name": "Terms last updated" }, { "a": "2026-06-01", "b": "couldn't be read", "name": "Privacy policy last updated" }, { "a": "yes", "b": "", "name": "Customer content may train models" }, { "a": "yes", "b": "", "name": "Terms restrict automated access" }, { "a": "not found in the text", "b": "", "name": "Terms restrict benchmarking" }, { "a": "yes", "b": "", "name": "Terms or service can change without notice" }, { "a": "yes", "b": "", "name": "Arbitration or class-action waiver" } ], "faq": [ { "answer": "Paychex scores 44.8 (E) on agent readiness against Worklio's 38.6 (E), and leads in 5 of 7 scored categories. Worklio leads on schema \u0026 documentation and payments \u0026 pricing.", "question": "Which is better for AI agents, Paychex or Worklio?" }, { "answer": "Both use an OAuth sign-in.", "question": "Do Paychex and Worklio need an API key?" }, { "answer": "No hosted endpoint is listed for Paychex. Worklio has a hosted endpoint at https://api.worklio.com.", "question": "Can an agent call Paychex and Worklio without installing anything?" } ], "goodFor": [ { "aheadOn": [ "Reliability, 41 against 25", "Agent ergonomics, 54 against 44", "Security \u0026 auth, 58 against 48", "Transparency \u0026 trust, 54 against 48" ], "also": [ "No incidents deducted, where Worklio loses 3 points for them" ], "goodFor": "A software partner with shared customers on Paychex Flex that needs to sync workers, pay rates, direct deposits and tax setup, or to send hours and earnings into pay entry.", "slug": "paychex", "watchFor": "Partner access needs a questionnaire, review by the Corporate Partnerships Team, a demo and final approval. The sandbox is issued only after approval" }, { "aheadOn": [ "Schema \u0026 documentation, 71 against 66", "Payments \u0026 pricing, 25 against 0" ], "also": [ "A hosted endpoint, with nothing to install" ], "goodFor": "A software platform, PEO or payroll bureau that wants to sell US payroll under its own brand and can sign a partner agreement, with Worklio handling tax filing and money movement.", "slug": "worklio", "watchFor": "No rate limits, 429 handling or idempotency keys were found in the reviewed documentation" } ], "job": { "capability": "payroll.employees", "name": "Payroll employees" }, "others": [ { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/argyle-vs-paychex.json", "title": "Argyle vs Paychex", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/argyle-vs-paychex" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/argyle-vs-worklio.json", "title": "Argyle vs Worklio", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/argyle-vs-worklio" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/check-payroll-vs-paychex.json", "title": "Check vs Paychex", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/check-payroll-vs-paychex" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/employment-hero-vs-paychex.json", "title": "Employment Hero Payroll vs Paychex", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/employment-hero-vs-paychex" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/everee-vs-paychex.json", "title": "Everee vs Paychex", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/everee-vs-paychex" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/finch-vs-paychex.json", "title": "Finch vs Paychex", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/finch-vs-paychex" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/finch-vs-worklio.json", "title": "Finch vs Worklio", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/finch-vs-worklio" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/gusto-vs-paychex.json", "title": "Gusto vs Paychex", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/gusto-vs-paychex" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/paychex-vs-salsa.json", "title": "Paychex vs Salsa", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/paychex-vs-salsa" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/paychex-vs-zeal.json", "title": "Paychex vs Zeal", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/paychex-vs-zeal" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/check-payroll-vs-worklio.json", "title": "Check vs Worklio", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/check-payroll-vs-worklio" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/employment-hero-vs-worklio.json", "title": "Employment Hero Payroll vs Worklio", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/employment-hero-vs-worklio" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/everee-vs-worklio.json", "title": "Everee vs Worklio", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/everee-vs-worklio" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/gusto-vs-worklio.json", "title": "Gusto vs Worklio", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/gusto-vs-worklio" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/salsa-vs-worklio.json", "title": "Salsa vs Worklio", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/salsa-vs-worklio" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/worklio-vs-zeal.json", "title": "Worklio vs Zeal", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/worklio-vs-zeal" } ], "scores": [ { "by": 16, "edge": "paychex", "key": "reliability", "name": "Reliability", "paychex": 41, "weight": 16, "worklio": 25 }, { "key": "performance", "name": "Performance", "pending": true, "weight": 10 }, { "by": 5, "edge": "worklio", "key": "schema", "name": "Schema \u0026 documentation", "paychex": 66, "weight": 13, "worklio": 71 }, { "by": 10, "edge": "paychex", "key": "ergonomics", "name": "Agent ergonomics", "paychex": 54, "weight": 13, "worklio": 44 }, { "by": 10, "edge": "paychex", "key": "security", "name": "Security \u0026 auth", "paychex": 58, "weight": 14, "worklio": 48 }, { "by": 25, "edge": "worklio", "key": "payments", "name": "Payments \u0026 pricing", "paychex": 0, "weight": 10, "worklio": 25 }, { "key": "tasks", "name": "Task success", "pending": true, "weight": 10 }, { "by": 1, "edge": "paychex", "key": "maintenance", "name": "Maintenance \u0026 community", "paychex": 26, "weight": 7, "worklio": 25 }, { "by": 6, "edge": "paychex", "key": "transparency", "name": "Transparency \u0026 trust", "paychex": 54, "weight": 7, "worklio": 48 } ], "summary": "Paychex scores 44.8 (E) on agent readiness against Worklio's 38.6 (E), and leads in 5 of 7 scored categories. Worklio leads on schema \u0026 documentation and payments \u0026 pricing. Both do payroll employees.", "verdicts": { "paychex": "A public OpenAPI 3.0.3 definition covers 110 operations, and payroll entries stay unprocessed until a person submits the payroll in Flex. Partner credentials and the sandbox follow approval by Paychex, no price is published, and no status page, SLA or SDK was found in the reviewed pages.", "worklio": "Worklio documents 853 REST operations with an OpenAPI fragment on every reference page, and a developer can register for the sandbox without a sales call. No rate limits or public SDK were found, the status page is password protected, and the payroll guide tells callers to treat an HTTP 500 as the signal to finalise." } }, "kind": "anchor.page", "links": { "api": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/index.json", "html": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/paychex-vs-worklio", "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/paychex-vs-worklio.json", "llms": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/llms.txt", "markdown": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/paychex-vs-worklio.md", "slim": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/paychex-vs-worklio.min.md" }, "markdown": "Paychex scores 44.8 (E) on agent readiness against Worklio's 38.6 (E), and leads in 5 of 7 scored categories. Worklio leads on schema \u0026 documentation and payments \u0026 pricing. Both do payroll employees.\n\n- Paychex: grade E, 44.8/100, rank #777 of 842. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/paychex.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/paychex.json\n- Worklio: grade E, 38.6/100, rank #812 of 842. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/worklio.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/worklio.json\n\n## Which one, for what\n\n### Paychex (E)\n\nGood for: A software partner with shared customers on Paychex Flex that needs to sync workers, pay rates, direct deposits and tax setup, or to send hours and earnings into pay entry.\n\nAhead on:\n- Reliability, 41 against 25\n- Agent ergonomics, 54 against 44\n- Security \u0026 auth, 58 against 48\n- Transparency \u0026 trust, 54 against 48\n\nAlso in its favour:\n- No incidents deducted, where Worklio loses 3 points for them\n\nWatch for: Partner access needs a questionnaire, review by the Corporate Partnerships Team, a demo and final approval. The sandbox is issued only after approval\n\n### Worklio (E)\n\nGood for: A software platform, PEO or payroll bureau that wants to sell US payroll under its own brand and can sign a partner agreement, with Worklio handling tax filing and money movement.\n\nAhead on:\n- Schema \u0026 documentation, 71 against 66\n- Payments \u0026 pricing, 25 against 0\n\nAlso in its favour:\n- A hosted endpoint, with nothing to install\n\nWatch for: No rate limits, 429 handling or idempotency keys were found in the reviewed documentation\n\n\n## Score by category\n\n| Category | Weight | Paychex | Worklio | Edge |\n| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |\n| Reliability | 16% (20 this run) | 41 | 25 | Paychex +16 |\n| Performance | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |\n| Schema \u0026 documentation | 13% (16.2 this run) | 66 | 71 | Worklio +5 |\n| Agent ergonomics | 13% (16.2 this run) | 54 | 44 | Paychex +10 |\n| Security \u0026 auth | 14% (17.5 this run) | 58 | 48 | Paychex +10 |\n| Payments \u0026 pricing | 10% (12.5 this run) | 0 | 25 | Worklio +25 |\n| Task success | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |\n| Maintenance \u0026 community | 7% (8.8 this run) | 26 | 25 | Paychex +1 |\n| Transparency \u0026 trust | 7% (8.8 this run) | 54 | 48 | Paychex +6 |\n| Negative events | ≤15 | 0 | -3 | |\n| **Total** | | **44.8 · E** | **38.6 · E** | |\n\n## Facts side by side\n\n| Fact | Paychex | Worklio |\n| --- | --- | --- |\n| Kind | HTTP API | HTTP API |\n| Vendor | Paychex, Inc. | Worklio, Inc. |\n| Hosted endpoint | no (local only) | `https://api.worklio.com` |\n| Transports | HTTP | HTTP |\n| Auth | OAuth | OAuth |\n| Pricing | Paid | Paid |\n| x402 | no | no |\n| Licence | Proprietary service. Public use is under the Paychex User Terms of Use. Partner terms aren't published | Proprietary service. The public Terms of Use date from 2014 and the partner agreement isn't public. The front-end library sits in a private repository |\n| Read-only variant documented | no | no |\n| llms.txt | no | yes |\n| Last release | 2026-08-20 | 2026-06-30 |\n| Terms last updated | no date given | no document linked |\n| Privacy policy last updated | 2026-06-01 | couldn't be read |\n| Customer content may train models | yes | |\n| Terms restrict automated access | yes | |\n| Terms restrict benchmarking | not found in the text | |\n| Terms or service can change without notice | yes | |\n| Arbitration or class-action waiver | yes | |\n\n## Verdicts\n\n**Paychex.** A public OpenAPI 3.0.3 definition covers 110 operations, and payroll entries stay unprocessed until a person submits the payroll in Flex. Partner credentials and the sandbox follow approval by Paychex, no price is published, and no status page, SLA or SDK was found in the reviewed pages.\n\n**Worklio.** Worklio documents 853 REST operations with an OpenAPI fragment on every reference page, and a developer can register for the sandbox without a sales call. No rate limits or public SDK were found, the status page is password protected, and the payroll guide tells callers to treat an HTTP 500 as the signal to finalise.\n\n## Before you call either\n\n### Paychex\n\n1. POST `grant_type=client_credentials` with the key and secret in the form body to `/auth/oauth/v2/token`. Tokens last 60 minutes and there is no refresh token, so request a new one\n2. Call GET `/companies` first. Worker and payroll paths need a `companyId` or `workerId` the app has been granted\n3. Send `offset` and `limit` on GET `/companies/{companyId}/workers`, 50 at most, and resend the `ETag` between pages. The unpaged form is withdrawn on 24 February 2027\n4. Creating a check doesn't pay anyone. A person must review and submit the payroll in Paychex Flex\n5. Send a unique `X-payx-client-correlationId` per request and keep the `x-payx-txid` from the response. Support asks for it\n6. On 423 the client is locked by another user or process. Wait and retry\n\n### Worklio\n\n1. Send `api-version: 2.0` on `/wep` calls. The reference marks the header as required\n2. Get a token from `POST https://api.worklio.com/connect/token` with the password grant and scope `api`. It lasts 24 hours, so fetch a new one daily\n3. Run payroll as start, `next` until it answers 500 with \"Next step operation is not allowed\", then `finalize`. Don't treat that 500 as a failure\n4. Don't retry bonus, off-cycle, void or termination payroll starts blindly. The reference says those calls are not idempotent\n5. Most `/wep` list endpoints return the whole result set. Paging, `filter` and `sort` work only under `/api/public`, and a `DataToken` expires after 60 seconds\n\n## Questions\n\n### Which is better for AI agents, Paychex or Worklio?\n\nPaychex scores 44.8 (E) on agent readiness against Worklio's 38.6 (E), and leads in 5 of 7 scored categories. Worklio leads on schema \u0026 documentation and payments \u0026 pricing.\n\n### Do Paychex and Worklio need an API key?\n\nBoth use an OAuth sign-in.\n\n### Can an agent call Paychex and Worklio without installing anything?\n\nNo hosted endpoint is listed for Paychex. Worklio has a hosted endpoint at https://api.worklio.com.\n\n\n## For agents\n\n- This comparison as JSON: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/paychex-vs-worklio.json, and with the fewest tokens: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/paychex-vs-worklio.min.md\n- Over MCP at https://www.anchorterminal.com/mcp (no key): `compare_tools {\"a\": \"paychex\", \"b\": \"worklio\"}`. From a terminal: `anchor compare paychex worklio`\n- Each listing in full: https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/paychex.json and https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/worklio.json\n\n## Other comparisons with Paychex or Worklio\n\n- [Argyle vs Paychex](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/argyle-vs-paychex.md)\n- [Argyle vs Worklio](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/argyle-vs-worklio.md)\n- [Check vs Paychex](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/check-payroll-vs-paychex.md)\n- [Employment Hero Payroll vs Paychex](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/employment-hero-vs-paychex.md)\n- [Everee vs Paychex](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/everee-vs-paychex.md)\n- [Finch vs Paychex](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/finch-vs-paychex.md)\n- [Finch vs Worklio](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/finch-vs-worklio.md)\n- [Gusto vs Paychex](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/gusto-vs-paychex.md)\n- [Paychex vs Salsa](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/paychex-vs-salsa.md)\n- [Paychex vs Zeal](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/paychex-vs-zeal.md)\n- [Check vs Worklio](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/check-payroll-vs-worklio.md)\n- [Employment Hero Payroll vs Worklio](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/employment-hero-vs-worklio.md)\n- [Everee vs Worklio](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/everee-vs-worklio.md)\n- [Gusto vs Worklio](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/gusto-vs-worklio.md)\n- [Salsa vs Worklio](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/salsa-vs-worklio.md)\n- [Worklio vs Zeal](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/worklio-vs-zeal.md)\n", "meta": { "attribution": "Anchor Terminal (https://www.anchorterminal.com)", "docs": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/docs/", "generatedAt": "2026-10-09", "license": "CC-BY-4.0", "method": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/benchmark/", "methodology": "0.4", "openapi": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/openapi.json", "preview": false, "run": "2026-10-01", "runLabel": "October 2026 research run" }, "page": { "breadcrumbs": [ { "name": "Home", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/" }, { "name": "Compare", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/" }, { "name": "Paychex vs Worklio", "url": "" } ], "description": "Paychex scores 44.8 (E) on agent readiness against Worklio's 38.6 (E), and leads in 5 of 7 scored categories. Worklio leads on schema \u0026 documentation and payments \u0026 pricing. Both do payroll employees. Category scores, facts, verdicts and agent notes side by side.", "facts": [ "Paychex E 44.8", "Worklio E 38.6", "scores" ], "h1": "Paychex vs Worklio", "image": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/assets/og/compare-paychex-vs-worklio.png", "path": "/compare/paychex-vs-worklio", "published": "2026-10-01", "section": "tools", "title": "Paychex vs Worklio for AI agents, E 44.8 vs E 38.6 | Anchor Terminal", "toc": null, "updated": "2026-10-09", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/paychex-vs-worklio" }, "tokens": { "markdown": 2200, "slim": 730 }, "version": 1 }