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Pinpoint vs Paylocity

The best Paylocity alternative for recruitment, when keeping Paylocity for payroll

Paylocity runs payroll and HR for your whole workforce, and its recruiting module is fine when hiring is light. As you scale, hiring needs a platform built for it. Pinpoint is the ATS built for multi-stream hiring: flexible, easy for everyone to adopt, andintegrated to Paylocity, so recruiting gets a purpose-built home while payroll stays put.

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Everything you need to compare Pinpoint vs Paylocity

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Pinpoint
Paylocity
Best fit
Enterprise, mid-market, and high-volume teams that want to do more with less and believe strong adoption, AI, and automation can help them get there, across desk-based and deskless, corporate and volume, early-career and experienced hiring.
US midmarket organizations already standardized on Paylocity for payroll and HR who want recruiting inside the same suite.
Ease of use
An interface designed for ease of use that drives strong adoption across recruiters, hiring managers, and candidates. G2 4.8 out of 5, and a Capterra "Best Ease of Use" award.
The payroll and HR suite is often praised as user-friendly. Some customers report the recruiting module carries a learning curve.
Ability to evolve configuration over time
Deeply configurable. Users adjust automation, workflows, templates, and reporting themselves, at any time, with or without help from Pinpoint's team, as the market and the organization change.
Recruiting, HR, and payroll workflows including multi-step approvals are configurable within the suite, shaped for midmarket hiring inside a payroll-first platform.
Multi-stream hiring
Built for multi-stream hiring in one platform: corporate, frontline, high-volume, early-career, and experienced, across regions, brands, and locations.
Strong focus on multi-site and high volume industries as well as financial services, technology businesses, and church and religious organizations.
All-in-one pre-hire breadth
A comprehensive pre-hire suite across Plan, Attract, Engage, Select, and Onboard. One of few ATSs to include native background checks, one-way video interviews, reference checks, and interview transcription within the suite.
Broad HCM suite (payroll, HR, benefits, time, talent). Recruiting includes job syndication, texting, self-scheduling, native one-way video, and assessments, with background checks via a Checkr integration.
Works alongside your HRIS
Coexists with Paylocity via a live integration. Hired-candidate data flows from Pinpoint into Paylocity, keeping your HR fed from a purpose-built recruiting platform.
Recruiting lives inside the Paylocity suite. Its strength is intra-Paylocity data flow.
AI approach and governance
AI is recruiting-purpose-built, opt-in, transparent, and human-supervised. Your data is never used to train external models. Driven by your input, not your history, backed by ISO/IEC 42001.
Platform-wide AI (AI Assistant, Ignite AI) plus Grayscale automation for high-volume text recruiting, positioned to keep hiring decisions with recruiters and hiring managers.
Workflow automation
Rules-based automation across the whole hiring process (stage moves, task assignment, candidate and hiring-manager communications, approvals, and scheduling triggers), configured by the team, and unique among ATSs in breadth and depth.
Configurable recruiting workflows, and Grayscale adds text-first automation for high-volume candidate engagement. Some customers report the recruiting module lacks broader screening and matching automation.

Why Pinpoint is a strong Paylocity alternative for TA teams being asked to do more with less

Adoption across your whole hiring team
Pinpoint is designed to be intuitive for recruiters, hiring managers, and candidates. That matters more than ever, because when the whole team works in the system, your data is complete and accurate. That's what lets you use automation and AI to drive efficiencies safely, at scale. A recruiting module the whole organization has to learn tends to get routed around, and the data scatters.
A platform that evolves with you
Implementation is the start, not the end. As the market shifts, your organization changes, and Pinpoint delivers new capability, the platform keeps pace, with ongoing support from your named CSM. Every configuration option (workflow, automation, report, template, form) is yours to change whenever you like, with or without Pinpoint's help. Even technical-looking changes are easy for everyday users, while staying deeply flexible.
An end-to-end pre-hire platform
Pinpoint brings more of the pre-hire process together natively: background checks, one-way video, reference checks, interview transcription, and candidate communication. The result is broader native capability, so there are fewer systems to learn and train on, fewer integrations and handoffs, and a full picture of hiring inside the ATS. That makes reporting, automation, and AI easier to scale safely, while delivering a personalized experience for every stakeholder.

Discover whether Pinpoint is the right Paylocity alternative for your organization

See how Pinpoint gives recruiting a purpose-built home: flexible, easy to adopt, and connected to the Paylocity system you already run.

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The top reasons TA teams choose Pinpoint when looking for a Paylocity recruitment module alternative

An all-in-one pre-hire platform
Workflow automation across every shape of hiring
Deep candidate search and AI-powered matching
A strong foundation for AI
A candidate experience that converts

An all-in-one pre-hire platform

Across Plan, Attract, Engage, Select, and Onboard, Pinpoint delivers natively in one platform: background checks, one-way video interviews, reference checks, AI candidate chatbot, and interview transcription. Pinpoint is one of few ATSs to bundle that breadth across the recruitment stack. That means fewer tools to license, integrate, and maintain, and one complete hiring record instead of data scattered across point solutions.

Workflow automation across every shape of hiring

Pinpoint's rules-based automation handles the repetitive work end to end (stage moves, task assignment, candidate and hiring-manager communications, approvals, scheduling), configured by your team with out-of-the-box templates to get you started. It's unique among ATSs in breadth and depth.

Deep candidate search and AI-powered matching

Find, compare, and shortlist candidates fast, with AI Match Score and AI filters that help with screening and organization while showing the reasoning behind every result.

A strong foundation for AI

Pinpoint isn't just another ATS with AI. Pinpoint has invested heavily in creating the conditions under which automation and AI deliver: flexibility, control, and ease of use produce the organization-wide adoption that gives the system a complete and accurate picture of your hiring. AI is only as good as the data underneath it.

A candidate experience that converts

Launch on-brand careers pages fast, in multiple languages, tailored per brand, department, and location, with built-in tools to let your own team update it. Candidates apply without creating an account or password. Run on-brand email and SMS campaigns to keep candidates engaged.

Pinpoint early careers applicant tracking system showing a branded careers site with candidate text updates
Pinpoint capabilities

Where Pinpoint wins

Multi-stream hiring across industries

One platform for corporate, frontline, high-volume, early-career, and experienced hiring, across regions, brands, and locations, instead of one shape of midmarket req-tracking.

Native pre-hire capabilities

Background checks, reference checks, and interview transcription built into the suite, not stitched together from third-party tools around a recruiting module.

Broad, easy-to-adjust automation

Rules-based automation across the whole hiring process, configured by your team.

Works alongside Paylocity

Keep Paylocity as your payroll and HR system of record. Run hiring on Pinpoint and connect the two, so recruiting gets a purpose-built platform without disrupting payroll.

How Pinpoint works alongside Paylocity

Keep Paylocity for everything post-hire and give recruiting a platform built for it. Here's how the two work together.
Keep Paylocity for everything post-hire
This isn't a rip-and-replace. Paylocity stays as your system of record for payroll, HR, benefits, and time. Pinpoint takes on the recruitment process, the part a purpose-built ATS does best, so nothing about how you run payroll has to change.
Connect the two with the existing integration
Pinpoint has a live Paylocity integration. When a candidate is hired, their new-hire data flows from Pinpoint into Paylocity, keeping your payroll system fed from a purpose-built recruitment platform.
Bring your recruitment data to Pinpoint
If you're moving off Paylocity recruiting, Pinpoint migrates your candidate and recruitment data (jobs, applicants with their stage and status, talent pools, resumes, and historic notes), and you choose how much history comes with you.
No hiring freeze, guided the whole way
Switch your recruiting with no hiring freeze. Cut over, or run in parallel so active candidates finish where they are while new applicants start in Pinpoint. A named implementation manager and your named CSM support the move and everything after.
“I've never had this level of service with any other system I've worked with in the past.”
Craig Senecal
Senior Director of Employee Experience, New York Public Library
Hospitality

65%  

reduction in time to hire

Streamlined

casting day coordination

Increased

candidate communication

“With these new tools, we’ve set a good foundation to scale our hiring while maintaining our culture and delivering a really great candidate and employee experience.”
Michael Easton
Head of Employee Value Proposition, citizenM
Read story
Nonprofit

Strengthened

candidate engagement

Increased

candidate trust

Reduced

reliance on paid ads

“Pinpoint has completely changed how we work. We're more efficient, more consistent, and better equipped to give every candidate a great experience.”
Emma Bishop
Resourcing Manager, Blue Cross
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Professional Services

Lower

risk of candidates stalling

Improved

visibility for TA leaders and stakeholders

3,500

employees supported in the states

“I just love that I can manage everything and every role in one place without having to jump between systems.”
Liz Mellor
Head of Talent Acquisition for North America, Davies Group
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Retail

Centralized

visibility on all candidates

100+

locations supported

Strengthened

hiring manager adoption

“It’s been really lovely using Pinpoint to align things a bit more. Across the board now, all of our candidates are getting a more similar experience, and the communication they’re getting is much stronger.”
Adam Barnes
UK&I Retailer, Lush
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Ready for a Paylocity recruitment alternative that fits how you work?

Book a demo to see how Pinpoint brings flexibility, control, and ease of use together in one platform built for multi-stream hiring.
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G2
4.8
Capterra
4.8
SSR
4.8

Paylocity alternative FAQ

Pinpoint is a strong Paylocity alternative for recruiting. It's the ATS built for multi-stream hiring: flexible enough to fit how your whole organization hires, easy enough that recruiters, hiring managers, and candidates actually adopt it, and connected to Paylocity so payroll and HR stay where they are.
Both are capable platforms, but they solve different problems. Paylocity is a payroll and HR suite with recruiting as one module; Pinpoint is a purpose-built ATS. The differences that matter most are ease of use that drives adoption, deeper candidate search and workflow automation, and the complete picture of your recruiting that AI depends on.
Most are being asked to hire more with the same or fewer people, and find the recruiting module's ceiling starts to bite as hiring scales. They want a purpose-built recruitment tool without giving up Paylocity for payroll and HR.
For an organization already on Paylocity, it offers a single vendor and system of record across payroll, HR, benefits, and recruiting, with native data flow into onboarding and payroll. Its Grayscale-powered automation is a strong offering for high-volume, text-first candidate engagement inside an existing Paylocity footprint.
Pinpoint goes deeper than Paylocity on recruitment-focused automation and AI, and has a strong focus on ease of use to drive hiring manager and recruiter adoption.
Yes. Multi-stream hiring is what Pinpoint is built for: corporate and frontline, high-volume and specialist, early-career and experienced, across regions, brands, and locations, in one platform.
Straightforward. You keep Paylocity for payroll and HR. Pinpoint runs an assisted, planned migration of your candidate and hiring data, remaps and tests your integrations before go-live, and needs no hiring freeze. Cut over, or run in parallel while active candidates finish where they are.
Yes. Pinpoint serves enterprise, mid-market, and high-volume teams, with a global client base recruiting in 168 countries and a track record of rollouts for organizations hiring 15,000+ people a year. It supports SSO and SCIM, and holds ISO 27001, ISO 42001, and SOC 2 Type II.
Yes. Pinpoint migrates your candidate and hiring data (jobs, applicants with their stage and status, talent pools, resumes, and historic notes and comments), and you choose how much history to bring. Run the migration yourself with in-platform tools and the API, or use Pinpoint's managed migration service.
No. Switching to Pinpoint needs no hiring freeze. Do a hard cutover, or run Pinpoint in parallel with Paylocity recruiting so active candidates finish in the old system while new applicants from go-live start in Pinpoint.
Yes. Pinpoint has a live Paylocity integration: when a candidate is hired, their new-hire data flows from Pinpoint into Paylocity as a new employee record, so your system of record stays current.
Yes, and that's the recommended setup for most teams. Keep Paylocity as your system of record for payroll, HR, benefits, and time, and run hiring on Pinpoint. The integration passes hired-candidate data into Paylocity, so recruiting gets a purpose-built platform while payroll stays exactly where it is.
Paylocity is primarily an HR and payroll suite that includes a recruiting module with applicant-tracking features: job posting, candidate texting, scheduling, and one-way video. It's not a purpose-built, standalone ATS, which is why teams whose hiring outgrows Paylocity's offering often add a dedicated ATS like Pinpoint alongside it.
Paylocity is a HRIS/HCM suite first, with payroll, HR, benefits, and time at the core, and recruiting offered as one module inside it. A purpose-built ATS like Pinpoint covers the full recruitment process in depth. A common setup is to run both, with Paylocity as the HRIS and Pinpoint as the ATS, connected by an integration.
Paylocity recruiting works well for midmarket hiring for teams that use it for HR and payroll too. Teams with more complex requirements, high volume, or a need for deeper candidate search and automation tend to find a purpose-built ATS like Pinpoint a better fit, while keeping Paylocity for payroll and HR.
For HR and payroll, Paylocity competes with ADP, Paycom, UKG, and Rippling. For recruiting specifically, the strongest alternative is a purpose-built ATS such as Pinpoint, which teams run alongside Paylocity to give hiring a platform built for it, rather than another payroll suite.