How to read the tables
✓ Built in and standard ◐ Partial — possible with extra work, add-ons, or discipline ✗ Not available or not the vendor's job
We do not name competitors. Every column describes a category, and categories vary — a specific product may do better or worse than the category on a given row. Ask them the questions at the bottom of this page.
Comparison 1
vs. spreadsheets
A spreadsheet is fine when you have a handful of employees, one person who understands every formula, and no biometric device. It costs nothing, it is completely flexible, and it is where most payroll knowledge in the Philippines actually lives.
It stops being fine when the person who built it leaves, when a contribution table changes and half the tabs are updated, or when an employee disputes a deduction and nobody can show where the number came from.
| Attribute | Spreadsheet | AppDeep Payroll |
|---|---|---|
| Statutory tables kept currentSSS, PhilHealth, Pag-IBIG, withholding tax | ◐ Whoever owns the file updates the formulas — in every tab that uses them | ✓ Maintained in master data once; every cutoff uses the rates currently in effect |
| DTR to payroll in one system | ✗ Punch logs are exported, cleaned, and re-encoded by hand | ✓ Biometric punch logs are processed into DTR cutoffs, overtime, and payroll in the same system |
| Employee self-service and mobile app | ✗ Requests arrive by chat, email, and paper | ✓ Web portal plus Android/iOS app: 7 request workflows, payslips, DTR, loans, chatbot |
| Approval chains | ✗ Signatures on paper or forwarded messages | ✓ Multi-step approval chain per workflow, with push notifications to approvers |
| Audit trail | ✗ A cell edit leaves no record of who, when, or what it was before | ✓ Every create, update, delete, approve, reject, and login logged with before/after values |
| Data ownership | ✓ The file is yours — and on one laptop | ✓ Your own database on your own dedicated instance, with trash and restore for every record |
| Migration risk | ◐ No migration to do, but no way to prove the file is right either | ✓ Parallel-run guarantee: one full month (two cutoffs) side-by-side, finance signs off on the peso-exact match before go-live |
| Cost model | ✓ Free, apart from the hours it eats every cutoff | ✓ Per employee per month, plus a fixed one-time implementation and migration fee |
| Who does the work | Your payroll officer, every cutoff, by hand | Your team runs the cutoff; the system does the computing and the record-keeping |
Comparison 2
vs. generic cloud payroll SaaS
A per-seat, self-serve cloud payroll subscription is fine when your policies match the vendor's defaults, you are comfortable sharing a multi-tenant database with thousands of other companies, and you have the in-house time to set it up and migrate yourself.
It gets harder when your rules do not fit the template, when you need timekeeping, HR, and recruitment in the same record, or when you want to know exactly where your employee data sits and whose data it sits next to.
| Attribute | Generic cloud payroll SaaS | AppDeep Payroll |
|---|---|---|
| Statutory tables kept current | ✓ Usually maintained by the vendor | ✓ Maintained in master data; rates currently in effect applied per cutoff |
| DTR to payroll in one system | ◐ Often a separate timekeeping module or a third-party integration | ✓ Punch processing, DTR cutoffs, overtime, holidays, and work schedules feed payroll directly |
| Employee self-service and mobile app | ✓ Commonly included, scope varies | ✓ 7 request workflows, payslip and DTR viewers, loans, notifications, AI chatbot on web and mobile |
| Approval chains | ◐ Often single-approver or fixed-depth | ✓ Multi-step chains per workflow; administrator override is logged |
| Audit trail | ◐ Varies by plan; often summary-level | ✓ Before/after values for every change, plus a restore path for deletions |
| Data ownershipown database / own instance | ✗ Shared multi-tenant database; export on request | ✓ Dedicated instance per client — your own database, your own server |
| Migration risk | ◐ Self-serve import; you verify the first cutoff yourself | ✓ We migrate and run one full month (two cutoffs) in parallel; finance signs off on the peso-exact match |
| Cost model | Per seat per month; setup, migration, and support tiers priced separately | Per employee per month, plus a fixed one-time implementation and migration fee. No numbers here on purpose — ask and we will quote |
| Who does the work | You: sign up, configure, import, reconcile, and support your own users | We: assess, migrate, parallel-run, and onboard. Your team runs the cutoffs afterward |
Comparison 3
vs. outsourced payroll bureaus
An outsourced bureau is fine when you want payroll out of the building entirely, you are willing to send timesheets and changes to a third party every cutoff, and you accept that questions get answered on the bureau's schedule.
The trade-off is distance. HR still gathers the attendance, still fields the employee questions, and still owns the compliance risk — the computing happens somewhere else, on data you do not hold.
| Attribute | Outsourced payroll bureau | AppDeep Payroll |
|---|---|---|
| Statutory tables kept current | ✓ The bureau's responsibility | ✓ Maintained in master data; visible to you, not hidden inside a service |
| DTR to payroll in one system | ✗ You send timesheets; the bureau computes from what it receives | ✓ Punch logs, DTR, overtime, and payroll in one place, under your control |
| Employee self-service and mobile app | ◐ Sometimes a payslip portal; requests still go through your HR | ✓ Employees file leave, OT, OB, failure-to-swipe, shutdown, late, and schedule changes from their phone |
| Approval chains | ✗ Outside the bureau's scope | ✓ Multi-step approval chains with notifications, feeding the cutoff directly |
| Audit trail | ◐ The bureau's internal records; you see the outputs | ✓ Full audit log inside your instance, available whenever DOLE or your auditor asks |
| Data ownership | ✗ Your data lives in the bureau's system; switching means asking for it back | ✓ Your own database on your own instance |
| Migration risk | ◐ The bureau reconciles on its side; you trust the result | ✓ Parallel run against your incumbent, line by line, with your finance team in the room |
| Cost model | Per payslip or per employee per cutoff, often with per-request fees for changes and reports | Per employee per month, plus a fixed one-time implementation and migration fee |
| Who does the work | The bureau computes; your HR still collects, chases, and explains | The system computes; your HR reviews, approves, and releases — in-house, with the records to show for it |
The honest summary
Spreadsheets win on flexibility and price at very small headcounts. Bureaus win if you never want to see payroll again. Generic SaaS wins if your policies fit a template. AppDeep Payroll is for companies that want payroll, timekeeping, HR, and recruitment in one system they own — and want proof it computes correctly before they switch.
Before you sign anything
Questions to ask any payroll vendor
Including us. Bring these to every demo.
- Will you run one full month (two cutoffs) in parallel with my current system before I go live, and put the comparison in writing?If the answer is no, you are the one carrying the migration risk.
- Where does my employee data physically live, and whose data is in the same database?"Cloud" is a location, not an answer.
- If I leave, how do I get my data back, in what format, and how long does it take?Ask for the export before you need it.
- How are SSS, PhilHealth, Pag-IBIG, and withholding tax tables updated, and can I see the tables myself?You should be able to open the table and check it against the issuance.
- Does timekeeping feed payroll directly, or do I export and re-import every cutoff?Every manual hop is a place for a wrong number to enter.
- Can I see who changed a salary, a deduction, or an approval, when, and what the value was before?Ask them to show you the log, not describe it.
- How deep can an approval chain go, and can an administrator override it with a record of who did it?Your org chart is not two levels deep. Your approval chains should not be either.
- What does final pay look like — is BIR 2316 generated on the official form?Separations are where payroll errors get expensive.
- What is the full price: per employee, implementation, migration, support, and every add-on I will actually need?Get it as one number on one page.
- Who does the implementation work — you or me?"Self-serve" means your team does the setup, the import, and the first reconciliation.
Our answers, in order: yes, in writing; your own database on your own dedicated instance; a full database export, yours on request; maintained in master data you can open; directly; yes, with before/after values; as deep as you need, with logged overrides; yes, on the official PDF form; per employee per month plus a fixed implementation fee, quoted as one number; we do.