Netchex vs. ChoicePay HCM: Which HR and Payroll Platform Is Right for Your Business in 2026?

An urgent care clinic in Kernersville adds a second location in Greensboro. A family-owned auto dealership group with sites in North Carolina and South Carolina wants one login instead of two spreadsheets. Both are the kind of client ChoicePay HCM has served for over two decades, and both are exactly who ends up comparing Netchex vs. ChoicePay HCM when the business outgrows a single-office setup.

The two firms start from different places. ChoicePay HCM, based in Kernersville, North Carolina, grew out of a local CPA practice and delivers its services on UKG Ready, a platform UKG builds. Netchex writes its own payroll, time, HR and benefits software and staffs its own support desk.

Last updated: September 2026. ChoicePay HCM information comes from the company’s own website and local press coverage. Netchex figures come from G2 and Netchex’s own customer data.

The Short Version

ChoicePay HCM was started in 2002 by Mark and Jane Sunter, whose family had already run a CPA practice in the Piedmont Triad for two decades before the payroll business began. Son Austin Sunter is also active in the company today, according to Kernersville Magazine. The firm now processes payroll across 30 states, with its heaviest concentration in North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Tennessee and Virginia, and it still keeps every operation in Kernersville rather than outsourcing. That’s a lot of history packed into one family.

Netchex was founded in Louisiana more than 20 years ago for the businesses that keep America running: restaurants, hotels, dealerships, clinics. It’s one company from the code to the phone line. The US-based, FPC-certified support team answers 90% of calls in under a minute, customers rate that service 4.8 out of 5, and Netchex holds an 8.9/10 Quality of Support score on G2.

Company Overview

Netchex vs. ChoicePay HCM on Payroll and Time

ChoicePay’s site lists payroll and tax, time and attendance, HR, and an integrated HCM suite built around a single employee record and common reporting, which it calls a single source of truth. Its time and attendance module covers scheduling, accrual tracking and exception alerts, and connects with Kronos InTouch clocks for punching in. That’s a genuinely tidy setup for a small or midsize employer.

Here’s the catch. ChoicePay sells and services UKG Ready. It doesn’t own the roadmap. When a feature needs to change or a bug needs a fix, that decision sits with UKG, not with the Sunter family.

Netchex writes its own payroll engine and its own time and attendance module, and Scheduler runs in the same system. A shift that runs long on a Saturday flows straight into the next payroll run without crossing from one company’s software into another’s. OneScreen Payroll pulls onboarding, overtime, benefits and taxes into a single view, and most teams finish a run in under 15 minutes.

HR, Benefits and Compliance

ChoicePay’s HCM suite keeps payroll, time and HR on one employee record, per its site, with self-service and a mobile app on top. For a smaller business without a dedicated HR department, not re-keying the same hire three times is worth something.

Netchex takes the same idea further. With its in-house benefits solution, enrollment, ACA tracking, onboarding and hiring through Netchex Recruit share the same record. ACA Central tracks hours and coverage offers across full-time, part-time and seasonal staff, and Netchex files Forms 1094-C and 1095-C. (The IRS reporting rules for applicable large employers explain who has to file.) Netchex also works directly with a client’s CPA and its existing benefits broker, which matters for a business that already has both in place.

Multi-location or multi-EIN operations run from a single login, so a dealership group with sites in two states isn’t stitching together separate systems.

Service and Support

Family-owned service is ChoicePay’s real pitch, and the family says so directly. Austin Sunter described the move to a cloud-based system this way:

With this new system the speed and efficiency has been notched up times ten. It is completely cloud based, so our clients can run it from anywhere.

– Austin Sunter, ChoicePay HCM

That kind of hands-on attention is a genuine strength for a small local firm. It also runs into the same structural limit every UKG Ready reseller does. Support during business hours, listed as 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday through Friday according to public listings, comes from ChoicePay’s own team. But when a problem lives inside UKG Ready itself, the fix has to travel through UKG.

Netchex skips that hand-off entirely. The people who answer the phone work for the company that wrote the code. Ninety percent of calls are picked up in under a minute with first-call resolution, and every customer gets a dedicated Account Manager, not a rotating queue.

Netchex has the best support of any service provider I’ve ever worked with. There aren’t any hoops to jump through with Netchex support.

– Mary Lang, Accounting and Financial Control Director, Atlanta Air Charter

Implementation and Switching

Nobody looks forward to switching payroll providers mid-year. What actually matters is how much of the work lands on your desk.

ChoicePay doesn’t publish an implementation timeline on its site. If you’re comparing providers, ask for one in writing, and ask specifically which steps ChoicePay handles versus which ones wait on UKG.

Netchex implementation is free and project-managed, usually about six weeks, with free data imports and a 96% implementation satisfaction score. One dedicated team carries it from the first data pull to your first live payroll.

Who Each Is Built For

ChoicePay HCM may fit if: you’re a small or midsize business rooted in the Piedmont Triad or the broader Southeast, you like the idea of a family-run firm with two decades of history behind it, and you’re comfortable with UKG Ready running underneath.

Netchex may fit if: you’re expanding across state lines, running hourly or multi-location teams, and want one company accountable for both the platform and the phone call when something goes wrong. For more on the platform question, see our Netchex vs. UKG comparison.

Frequently Asked Questions

Related: 5 Best ChoicePay HCM Alternatives | Netchex vs. UKG comparison | Netchex vs. Kronos

This guide reflects publicly available product information and independent reviewer data (G2, Capterra, Trustpilot, Yelp, Better Business Bureau, Reddit, Software Advice, GetApp) as of 2026. Feature availability may vary by plan. Contact each provider for current details.

Disclaimer: Any product roadmap or future plans provided herein are for informational purposes only. They do not represent a commitment to deliver any material, code, feature, or functionality. Plans may change without notification. The development, release and timing of any features or functionality described remain at the sole discretion of Netchex, its affiliates, and partners. Netchex does not give legal, tax, or accounting advice. You are responsible for ensuring your use of Netchex product meets your individual business and compliance requirements.

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