- Talent Management : Tools for hiring, onboarding, performance tracking, learning, and succession planning, all in one place
- Time & Attendance Tracking : System automates time entries, time-off requests, exception alerts, and ensures fair application of company policies
- Payroll Processing : Unified employee records support real-time pay calculations, handle complex pay scenarios, and ensure accuracy
- Scheduling : Managers get smart scheduling based on demand, skills, preferences, and compliance rules, with employees able to self-service
- Compliance : Built-in tools offer automated alerts and updates to help meet HR, payroll, and labor law requirements
- Reporting & Analytics : Access customizable and AI-guided reports, internal and external benchmarks, and insights for better workforce decisions
- HR Self-Service : Employees can view pay stubs, manage benefits, request time off, and access personal info with ease
- AI-Powered Insights : Features such as guided analysis, scheduling recommendations, fatigue alerts, and chatbot support enrich decision-making and support
UKG
Manage HR, payroll, workforce scheduling, and employee experience.
Updated July 28, 2026
UKG Overview
UKG is a comprehensive human resources and workforce management platform designed to support businesses in handling payroll, HR processes, talent management, and employee scheduling. It combines advanced technology with a focus on employee experience, helping organizations improve efficiency and engagement.
With tools for compliance, reporting, and workforce insights, UKG enables companies to streamline operations, foster productivity, and create a more connected and empowered workplace.
Key Features
Pricing
UKG does not publish rates. Its plans page lists four UKG Ready plans, spells out what each one contains, and puts a “Get pricing” form behind every single one, so the rows below are feature sets rather than prices.
| Plan | What UKG lists | Price |
|---|---|---|
| UKG Ready Start | For organisations with fewer than 200 employees that want a fast implementation. Select capabilities from human resources, payroll and payroll services with SmartCheck, time and basic scheduling, benefits, recruiting and performance, plus Bryte AI, ACA manager, leave, expense tracking and the Great Place To Work Hub. | Get pricing |
| UKG Ready Core | The foundation plan: human resources, payroll and payroll services with SmartCheck, time and basic scheduling, Bryte AI, benefits, ACA manager and people insights. | Get pricing |
| UKG Ready Plus | Everything in Core plus three add-on capabilities you pick from recruiting, performance, learning, leave, scheduling, compensation, document manager, people assist, expense tracking and the Great Place To Work Hub. | Get pricing |
| UKG Ready Advanced | Everything in Core plus six capabilities chosen from that same list. | Get pricing |
| UKG Pro | The enterprise HCM suite, sold through a sales conversation rather than from a plan page. | Get pricing |
Capabilities can be added later without replacing the system, and headcount, workforce complexity, module mix and implementation all sit inside the quote.
Pricing source: https://www.ukg.com/products/ukg-ready/plans
Pros
| Competitor | Pros of UKG |
|---|---|
| ADP Workforce Now | UKG sells HR, payroll, time and scheduling as one workforce platform rather than a set of bolted-together services, and payroll services with SmartCheck are bundled from the foundation plan instead of quoted as a bureau add-on. Its Bryte AI assistant is included from that same plan, so the AI layer is not a separate purchase. |
| Workday HCM | UKG Ready Core is packaged to get a working HR and payroll base live quickly, with human resources, payroll, time and basic scheduling, benefits, ACA manager and people insights all in the entry plan. Capabilities can be added later without replacing the system, so the first deployment does not have to be the final architecture. |
| Rippling | Workforce management is where UKG goes deepest: scheduling, leave and compensation are all pickable capabilities in the Plus and Advanced plans, and UKG Pro extends the same ground for enterprises. That suits shift-based operations in healthcare, retail, hospitality and manufacturing better than a headcount-driven HR tool. |
| Paylocity | The plan structure lets you buy only what you use — Plus adds three chosen capabilities to Core and Advanced adds six, drawn from the same ten-item list. Compliance tooling including the ACA manager sits inside Core rather than behind an upgrade. |
| isolved People Cloud | People insights is part of the entry plan, so reporting and workforce analytics arrive without a separate BI purchase. UKG also publishes exactly what each plan contains, which makes it clear what you are getting before the quote lands even though the price itself is not shown. |
Cons
| Competitor | Cons of UKG |
|---|---|
| ADP Workforce Now | ADP has unmatched payroll scale and global tax-handling experience that UKG cannot always match, and UKG reviewers single out tax and payroll support as a weak spot. Page-level customisation is also limited compared with what long-running payroll bureaus allow. |
| Workday HCM | Workday offers stronger back-end unification for very large, multi-entity enterprises. UKG Ready caps you at three chosen capabilities on Plus and six on Advanced, so a broad rollout means buying the top plan or moving up to UKG Pro, and the fast-implementation Start plan is limited to organisations under 200 employees. |
| Rippling | UKG publishes no rate at all: every plan on the plans page ends in a “Get pricing” form, so there is nothing to budget against up front. Smaller buyers are sometimes handed to a reseller instead of getting a direct quote, which adds a party to the negotiation. |
| Paylocity | Set-up is long and complex outside the Start plan, and reviewers consistently describe a steep learning curve before the suite pays back. Mid-sized teams that want to administer the system themselves tend to find lighter platforms quicker to configure. |
| isolved People Cloud | Support responsiveness is UKG’s most persistent complaint, with tickets reported sitting unanswered and custom report work dragging on. Smaller vendors more often win on turnaround time and implementation speed. |
Reviews
- Trustpilot Review (Rating: 2.3/5 from 47 reviews): Daily use frustrates employees who must enter a passcode and then a code sent to their phone, only to get logged out and have accounts blocked. One company with 650 staff said UKG made promises it “never kept,” took over a year to deliver unfinished Custom Reports, and required support tickets that sat for weeks or months without answers.
- connecteam.com Review: The platform delivers a “one-stop shop for all things HR and payroll” with advanced reporting and analytics, but it demands a steep learning curve and a long, complex set-up process. The reviewer never got a price from UKG directly and was passed to a reseller, Baron Payroll, which quoted a 30-employee company $275–$330 per month for payroll, $150–$180 for time and attendance, plus $500–$600 one-time training per system for UKG Ready rather than UKG Pro.
- Gartner Review (Rating: 4.2/5 from 719 ratings): UKG Pro delivers “amazing reporting” and supports complex organizations with integrated systems that create a centralized data hub across the employee lifecycle. Teams value their UKG Krew Manager as “a great partner,” yet some struggle with limited page customization and challenges around tax and payroll support.
- G2 Review (Rating: 4.3/5 from 2,239 reviews): UKG Pro earns high marks for ease of use, with many highlighting its intuitive design and robust features that simplify complex payroll and HR tasks. Comprehensive training resources help teams manage processes efficiently, though some report slow customer support and mention a learning curve.
