--- title: Payscale Ascent (formerly Payfactors) Reviews meta_title: 'Payscale Ascent (formerly Payfactors) Reviews 2026: Details, Pricing, & Features | G2' meta_description: Filter 723 reviews by the users' company size, role or industry to find out how Payscale Ascent (formerly Payfactors) works for a business like yours. aggregate_rating: rating_value: 4.3 review_count: 723 scale: '5' date_modified: '2026-08-12' parent_category: name: Talent Management url: https://www.g2.com/categories/talent-management --- # Payscale Ascent (formerly Payfactors) Reviews **Vendor:** Payscale **Category:** [Compensation Management Software](https://www.g2.com/categories/compensation-management) **Average Rating:** 4.3/5.0 **Total Reviews:** 723 ## About Payscale Ascent (formerly Payfactors) Access fresh compensation data and AI-powered workflows — all within a scalable platform that delivers intelligent insights to make confident pay decisions. \* Price with confidence — any job, anywhere, anytime \* Stay ahead with dynamic insights into the market and your organization \* Ensure consistency with job- and grade-based pay ranges \* Maximize survey ROI with centralized management and participation ## Payscale Ascent (formerly Payfactors) Pros & Cons **What users like:** - Users appreciate the **user-friendly platform** of Payscale Ascent, highlighting its convenience and effective market data access. (81 reviews) - Users appreciate the **fantastic customer support** of Payfactors, enhancing their experience with timely and helpful assistance. (53 reviews) - Users value the **extensive market data** from Payscale Ascent, crucial for job pricing and maintaining pay equity. (44 reviews) - Users appreciate the **user-friendly interface** of Payscale Ascent, finding it easy to access and share compensation data. (42 reviews) - Users value the **comprehensive data sources** of Payscale Ascent, enhancing market analyses and supporting strategic decisions. (41 reviews) - Helpful (37 reviews) - Features (34 reviews) - Data Management (33 reviews) - Job Management (32 reviews) - Market Competitiveness (30 reviews) **What users dislike:** - Users find Payscale Ascent **not user-friendly** , with complicated reporting functions and limited HCM system integrations. (25 reviews) - Users note **insufficient data** can limit effective use of Payscale Ascent, hindering accurate compensation analysis. (22 reviews) - Users find the system **not intuitive** , struggling to match job descriptions effectively and navigate new features. (21 reviews) - Users find the **learning curve slow** , making it challenging to fully leverage all available features effectively. (20 reviews) - Users struggle with a **poor interface design** that feels outdated and unintuitive, complicating basic tasks. (18 reviews) - Users find the **difficult learning curve** frustrating, with poor guidance making setup and function use challenging. (17 reviews) - Users feel **limited job information** affects their ability to effectively match positions and customize requirements. (17 reviews) - Data Inaccuracy (16 reviews) - Inadequate Reporting (14 reviews) - Poor Usability (14 reviews) ## Payscale Ascent (formerly Payfactors) Reviews ### 1. Payfactors Review **Rating:** 1.5/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Ian S. | Compensation Analyst, Enterprise (> 1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** December 01, 2025 **What do you like best about Payscale Ascent (formerly Payfactors)?** Peer data and seeing how our competitors using the platform compare **What do you dislike about Payscale Ascent (formerly Payfactors)?** It is intuitive but the platform does not do a great job at explaining how the functions work. The self-guide instructions are terrible, and we reached out to our customer support team for help. They are very helpful, but it would be nice to have the user resources updates. **What problems is Payscale Ascent (formerly Payfactors) solving and how is that benefiting you?** It helps up to analysis market data and be competitive in the local market. **Official Response from Brittany Steinke:** > Hi Ian, Thank you for taking the time to leave a review! It's great to hear that you're seeing value with Peer data and using Payfactors to stay competitive in your market. However, we also take your feedback about the platform and training resources seriously, and want to make sure you feel satisfied with your investment in Payscale. We'd love to connect with you further to understand how we can better improve our Academy experience, training resources, and Knowledge Articles to get you the support that you need. I've notified your CSM and they'll be reaching out to continue the conversation and ensure your concerns are addressed. We appreciate your partnership! ### 2. Transitioning from Payscale to Payfactors **Rating:** 2.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Krista H. | Human Resources Manager, Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** July 16, 2025 **What do you like best about Payscale Ascent (formerly Payfactors)?** I like the homepage, and the layout, and the training resources are pretty solid. They have a step-by-step implementation process and provide guidance along the way. Lori on the education team is awesome, especially if you're struggling with the training. **What do you dislike about Payscale Ascent (formerly Payfactors)?** We're transitioning from Payscale to Payfactors because the Payscale product is no longer available. So far, it seems like Payfactors is way more complicated, and they're many steps to pricing a job whereas Payscale was much more user friendly. Additionally, we just found that Payfactors has no way to organize annual pay increases like Payscale, and that was a huge disappointment, because we won't have the component necessary to facilitate that process. **What problems is Payscale Ascent (formerly Payfactors) solving and how is that benefiting you?** It allows us to benchmark positions to remain competitive and publish job ranges. ### 3. Head of People **Rating:** 1.5/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Stephanie M. | Head of People, Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** January 14, 2025 **What do you like best about Payscale Ascent (formerly Payfactors)?** Payfactos is great at providing comp data on traditional jobs. **What do you dislike about Payscale Ascent (formerly Payfactors)?** The Payfactor implementation team was very hard to work with. We've been with them over a year and still don't have a fully functioning account. Lack of data available for non-traditional jobs. **What problems is Payscale Ascent (formerly Payfactors) solving and how is that benefiting you?** None. It's been a challenging partnership. ### 4. Very little Saginaw, Michigan data **Rating:** 1.5/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Government Administration | Enterprise (> 1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** January 09, 2025 **What do you like best about Payscale Ascent (formerly Payfactors)?** It is great for Health Care positions as the participating organizations are mostly in the Health Industry. **What do you dislike about Payscale Ascent (formerly Payfactors)?** Cannot adjust education nor years of experience **What problems is Payscale Ascent (formerly Payfactors) solving and how is that benefiting you?** Market Data to complete Market Analysis ### 5. I find it harder to use than other pay services. **Rating:** 1.5/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Manufacturing | Enterprise (> 1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** August 30, 2024 **What do you like best about Payscale Ascent (formerly Payfactors)?** It has pay data but is hard to use. Nothing else. **What do you dislike about Payscale Ascent (formerly Payfactors)?** Really hard to use. Not intuitive. I find myself using google searches instead of gong to this tool because of that. **What problems is Payscale Ascent (formerly Payfactors) solving and how is that benefiting you?** It isn't because it is too hard to use. ### 6. Implementation was not great. Platform not as easy to use as Insight. **Rating:** 2.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Hospital & Health Care | Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** August 27, 2024 **What do you like best about Payscale Ascent (formerly Payfactors)?** Not much. Quick Price is the only feature that is intuitive to use. **What do you dislike about Payscale Ascent (formerly Payfactors)?** Not intuitive. Not a great user experience. **What problems is Payscale Ascent (formerly Payfactors) solving and how is that benefiting you?** Compensation Planning ### 7. Not User Friendly **Rating:** 2.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Airlines/Aviation | Enterprise (> 1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** November 17, 2023 **What do you like best about Payscale Ascent (formerly Payfactors)?** Good information when needed for my active reqs. **What do you dislike about Payscale Ascent (formerly Payfactors)?** Not intuitive or user friendly. The site could use improvements **What problems is Payscale Ascent (formerly Payfactors) solving and how is that benefiting you?** need info on salary and Payfactors solves that most of the time ### 8. Payfactor vs Payscale **Rating:** 1.5/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Wholesale | Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** November 27, 2023 **What do you like best about Payscale Ascent (formerly Payfactors)?** Really not much of a fan so far. Lots of toggling to find what I need **What do you dislike about Payscale Ascent (formerly Payfactors)?** Most of it. Too much toggling, wanting to create one annual survey takes too many steps **What problems is Payscale Ascent (formerly Payfactors) solving and how is that benefiting you?** So far it was easier to use the previousl product - much more intuitive ### 9. Associate Director, Employee Experience **Rating:** 1.5/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Marketing and Advertising | Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** August 15, 2023 **What do you like best about Payscale Ascent (formerly Payfactors)?** Its combined with our ADP offering so it was easier to sell in to leadership **What do you dislike about Payscale Ascent (formerly Payfactors)?** Im not sure if this Data is actually relivent to us or the market. It seems so low so Im currious how accurate it is. **What problems is Payscale Ascent (formerly Payfactors) solving and how is that benefiting you?** Trying to solve for looking at market pay **Official Response from Anna Spessard:** > Hello - I am sorry to hear about your experience with Payfactors. Payscale offers a variety of diverse and validated data sources so that you can pick the right mix for your organization's needs. Please surface your data concerns with your CSM, and if there is anything I can do to help, please reach out at anna.spessard@payscale.com and I will work to get you the answers you need! ### 10. HR Director **Rating:** 1.5/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Manufacturing | Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** October 16, 2023 **What do you like best about Payscale Ascent (formerly Payfactors)?** I do not like the system. I can not pick something I like about it. **What do you dislike about Payscale Ascent (formerly Payfactors)?** It is not user friendly.Training is not great.Too many job descriptions to pick from.My direct zip code is not included. So really is not helpful to me at our corporate plant. **What problems is Payscale Ascent (formerly Payfactors) solving and how is that benefiting you?** It is currently not benefiting me. ### 11. Not supported **Rating:** 1.5/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Non-Profit Organization Management | Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** September 20, 2023 **What do you like best about Payscale Ascent (formerly Payfactors)?** It does let me do comparisons; however, the free tool provided by our payroll vendor ADP leaves a lot to be desired. I created a service ticket but had no response. **What do you dislike about Payscale Ascent (formerly Payfactors)?** Provided by payroll vendor not like demo **What problems is Payscale Ascent (formerly Payfactors) solving and how is that benefiting you?** Gives me a basline to see where our pay lands. ### 12. Sr Comp Analyst **Rating:** 1.5/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Education Management | Enterprise (> 1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** October 13, 2021 **What do you like best about Payscale Ascent (formerly Payfactors)?** I have been using PayFactors for four months. It is difficult to navigate and access data. **What do you dislike about Payscale Ascent (formerly Payfactors)?** Difficult to find the market data for jobs. **What problems is Payscale Ascent (formerly Payfactors) solving and how is that benefiting you?** One place for salary surveys **Official Response from Anna Spessard:** > Hello, we are so sorry that you are not able to access the full value of product you purchased. We want to make this right and ensure that you receive a better experience moving forward. Since this is an anonymous review, please email me at anna.spessard@payscale.com and I will connect you with someone who can help sort this out. ### 13. Excellent interface, mediocre accuracy and user-friendliness **Rating:** 2.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Financial Services | Enterprise (> 1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** November 13, 2018 **What do you like best about Payscale Ascent (formerly Payfactors)?** The ease of navigation and the job matching Project feature is very useful. The Data Insights reporting tool also has some interesting capability, and once reports are built, can be quick and reliable. The survey and compensation history is also easily available, so gathering trend data is a simple task. **What do you dislike about Payscale Ascent (formerly Payfactors)?** We have had a considerable amount of issues in getting data loaded accurately, and any nonstandard requests to their service team can be tedious or difficult. Data Insights is also not the most particularly user-friendly reporting tool on the front-end. There are also no options for users to make mass updates on their own. **Recommendations to others considering Payscale Ascent (formerly Payfactors):** There are some growing pains with implementation, but once you're in the system and have confidence in the data, there are a lot of useful features and an ease of use for the majority of the applications. **What problems is Payscale Ascent (formerly Payfactors) solving and how is that benefiting you?** There is potential to house a wide variety of data with PayFactors, and the ability to match jobs and run diverse reports for QA purposes allows us to stay vigilant in keeping accurate data. ### 14. An abundance of data available, if you can match it to your roles/company **Rating:** 1.5/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Marisa G. | Director of Talent, Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** November 26, 2018 **What do you like best about Payscale Ascent (formerly Payfactors)?** Lots of data available, can gain insights **What do you dislike about Payscale Ascent (formerly Payfactors)?** Hard to match their roles with your roles, to make sure you are comparing apples to apples **Recommendations to others considering Payscale Ascent (formerly Payfactors):** Payfactors offers a lot of data - you will need to spend some time classifying/matching your own roles so that they match up with the roles that Payfactors has benchmarked. **What problems is Payscale Ascent (formerly Payfactors) solving and how is that benefiting you?** comp benchmarking. we've realized that we need to offer bonuses if base isn't comparable with others. ### 15. Needs work in customer service **Rating:** 1.5/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Management Consulting | Enterprise (> 1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** November 13, 2018 **What do you like best about Payscale Ascent (formerly Payfactors)?** functionality has not been working much so look of payfactors was nice. **What do you dislike about Payscale Ascent (formerly Payfactors)?** loading of surveys has not been working, support has been spotty and has been slow to make progress **What problems is Payscale Ascent (formerly Payfactors) solving and how is that benefiting you?** trends in market data **Official Response from Elizabeth Hartel:** > Hi! Thanks for taking the time to leave us a review—your feedback means a lot to us. For starters, we're sorry Payfactors' customer service hasn't met your needs. Providing you the support you need to use our system to its full potential is important to us. We can't grow without complete customer satisfaction—that's why we're so dedicated to it. We recommend you reach out to our services team for additional training and our customer success team to discuss the aspects of our product and support that aren't meeting your needs. ### 16. I only use Payfactors wehn I can't find a job title on CompAnalyst **Rating:** 1.5/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Financial Services | Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** November 13, 2018 **What do you like best about Payscale Ascent (formerly Payfactors)?** I find PayFactors very difficult to look up job titles. **What do you dislike about Payscale Ascent (formerly Payfactors)?** I only use PayFactors when I can't find a job title on my other comp database. Your website is too difficult to to just look up jobs......I don't want to create a "project" I just need to look up a job title. I only have payfactors because we can not get out of our contract with you. **What problems is Payscale Ascent (formerly Payfactors) solving and how is that benefiting you?** not much ### 17. Payfactors **Rating:** 1.5/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Laura N. | Enterprise (> 1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** June 06, 2018 **What do you like best about Payscale Ascent (formerly Payfactors)?** The dashboard is very nicely displayed, especially with the tiles. **What do you dislike about Payscale Ascent (formerly Payfactors)?** Not a user friendly site, having experienced others. **Recommendations to others considering Payscale Ascent (formerly Payfactors):** Make it user friendly! **What problems is Payscale Ascent (formerly Payfactors) solving and how is that benefiting you?** Goal is to utilize the system for market pricing. **Official Response from Stacey Sealey:** > Thanks for your review. We appreciate your feedback and are happy to hear that you like the new dashboard! Being user-friendly is very important to us! We've partnered with Tableau to deliver a best-in-class reporting solution — but it does have some challenges. Our services team is here to help with all reporting questions. We also hold (free) monthly training webinars on reporting. You can join these live or watch on-demand as we share insights, tips and answer questions. Or if you prefer, our services team can help via phone or will gladly conduct individual training. Thank you again! ### 18. Comp Review **Rating:** 2.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Financial Services | Enterprise (> 1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** October 26, 2017 **What do you like best about Payscale Ascent (formerly Payfactors)?** the main screen is easy to understand, tiles are clearly label,pulling company data and pricings from Payfactors when it is needed (Company Administration link), quick service of the service tile. **What do you dislike about Payscale Ascent (formerly Payfactors)?** site it very slow, especially the reporting features. The reports are not intuitive and require a lot if knowledge of the site and the system in order to use them. **What problems is Payscale Ascent (formerly Payfactors) solving and how is that benefiting you?** None really. As of yet, we do not use Payfactors to the full potential because of the difficulties of the reporting tools. ## Payscale Ascent (formerly Payfactors) Discussions - [Does it include more than just salary?](https://www.g2.com/discussions/what-s-included) - 2 comments, 2 upvotes - [How frequently do you roll out new Payfactors product features?](https://www.g2.com/discussions/new-features-7a0cde50-fb80-4725-a1d4-4d68c3818fe2) - 2 comments, 1 upvote - [How granular does your data get?](https://www.g2.com/discussions/the-data) - 2 comments, 1 upvote - [How do you do it?](https://www.g2.com/discussions/how-it-works-141a9d97-de9e-41b0-bb4e-960cb159f134) - 1 comment, 1 upvote - [What does Payfactors do?](https://www.g2.com/discussions/about-us-b981a137-d3d6-4ece-b0fd-df5ec579798a) - 1 comment, 1 upvote - [View Payscale Ascent (formerly Payfactors) pricing details and edition comparison](https://www.g2.com/products/payscale-ascent-formerly-payfactors/reviews?filters%5Bnps_score%5D%5B%5D=2§ion=pricing&secure%5Bexpires_at%5D=2026-08-13+13%3A05%3A36+-0500&secure%5Bsession_id%5D=8c334e2d-a5b9-4879-8b8b-bc1f51a51dde&secure%5Btoken%5D=ec4a8b1b776aaaf8b86145962b5c0edcffe3d0f1252225981a3ce09819b50062&format=llm_user) ## Payscale Ascent (formerly Payfactors) Integrations - [ADP Workforce Now](https://www.g2.com/products/adp-workforce-now/reviews) - [Paylocity](https://www.g2.com/products/paylocity/reviews) - [UKG Pro](https://www.g2.com/products/ukg-pro/reviews) - [Workday Compensation](https://www.g2.com/products/workday-compensation/reviews) - [Workday HCM](https://www.g2.com/products/workday-hcm/reviews) - [WTW Embark](https://www.g2.com/products/wtw-embark/reviews) ## Payscale Ascent (formerly Payfactors) Features **Basics** - Performance - Ad hoc Reporting **Platform** - Reward Structuring - Workflow Automation - Compensation History - Performance Management Integration - Embedded Analytics - Reporting Capabilities - Compensation Data Management - Internationalization - Bonus Management - Real-Time Data - Reporting/Analytics - Benefits Management - Commission Management - Incentive Management - Payroll Management - Budget Management - Workflow Management - Compliance Management - Performance Management - Document Management - Employee Management **Basic Features** - High level regression analysis - Dashboard **Generative AI** - Generative AI **Generative AI** - AI Text Generation **Core Features - Salary Benchmarking Software** - Dashboard - Industry Benchmarking - Hierarchy - Activity Dashboard **Platform - Compensation Planning** - Compensation Budgeting - Merit Cycle Planning - Pay Transparency - Automated Compliance - Reward Structuring - Compensation History - Succession Planning - Salary Planning **Additional Functionality** - Onboarding - Individual Development Plans - Career Development - Approval Process Control - Customizable Branding - AI Copilot - Reminders - Customizable Templates - Employee Profiles - Employee Engagement - Learning & Development - API **Content** - Automation - Content Creation **Risk Mitigation** - Budgeting **Benchmarking and Equity - Compensation Management** - Benchmarking Data - Pay Equity - Salary Bands **Auditing - Salary Benchmarking Software** - Reporting **Additional Features - Compensation Planning** - Reporting Capabilities - Workflow Automation - Integrations **Additional Functionality** - Approval Process Control - Duplicate Detection - AI Copilot - Customizable Reports - Role-Based Permissions - Employee Onboarding - Alerts/Notifications - Data Import/Export - Reminders - Customizable Templates - Compensation Statements - Goal Setting/Tracking - Automated Receipt Matching - Organizational Charting - Market Data Analysis - Employee Reward Programs - Employee Portal - Compensation Plan Modeling - Employee Database - Audit Trail **Additional Functionality** - Approval Process Control - Duplicate Detection - AI Copilot - Customizable Reports - Role-Based Permissions - Employee Onboarding - Alerts/Notifications - Data Import/Export - Reminders - Customizable Templates - Compensation Statements - Goal Setting/Tracking - Automated Receipt Matching - Organizational Charting - Market Data Analysis - Employee Reward Programs - Employee Portal - Compensation Plan Modeling - Employee Database - Audit Trail **Logistics** - Integrations & APIs - User, Role and Access Management **Advanced Features - Salary Benchmarking Software** - Structure - Salary Survey - AI - Generative AI **Additional Functionality** - Approval Process Control - Duplicate Detection - AI Copilot - Customizable Reports - Role-Based Permissions - Employee Onboarding - Alerts/Notifications - Data Import/Export - Reminders - Customizable Templates - Compensation Statements - Goal Setting/Tracking - Automated Receipt Matching - Organizational Charting - Market Data Analysis - Employee Reward Programs - Employee Portal - Compensation Plan Modeling - Employee Database - Audit Trail **Additional Functionality** - Customizable Reports - Succession Planning - Data Import/Export - 360 Degree Feedback - Single Sign On - Customizable Templates - SSL Security - Job Scoring - AI Copilot - Customizable Forms - Individual Development Plans - Customizable Branding - For Job Analysts - Benchmarking - Skills Assessment - Talent Acquisition - Generative AI - Multi-Language - Document Templates - Job Comparison - Reporting & Statistics - Access Controls/Permissions - Status Tracking - Factor-based Evaluation - Electronic Signature - Match & Merge - Secure Data Storage **Platform** - Customization - Integration APIs - Internationalization - User, Role, and Access Management - Activity Dashboard - Activity Dashboard - Mobile Access - Activity Dashboard - Training Management - Goal Management - Feedback Management - Action Management - Mobile Access - Activity Dashboard - Benefits Dashboard - Activity Dashboard - Feedback Management - Performance Management - Recruitment Management - Compliance Management - Training Management - Calendar Management - Employee Management - Orientation Workflow Management - Task Management - HR Management - Help Desk Management - Mobile Access - Payroll Management - Document Management - Job Description Management - Social Media Integration - Mobile Access - Activity Dashboard - Third-Party Integrations - Assessment Management - Social Media Integration - Activity Dashboard - Mobile Access - Third-Party Integration - Initiative Management - Workflow Management - Community Management - Employee Referral Management - Candidate Management - Workflow Management - Communication Management - Advertising Management - Application Management - Email Management - Job Management - Discount Management - Pipeline Management - File Management - Job Management - Data Storage Management - Compensation Management - Employee Management - Job Application Management - HR Management - Competency Management - Performance Management - Compliance Management - Job Description Management - Evaluation Management - User Management - Role-Based Permissions - Third-Party Integrations ## Top Payscale Ascent (formerly Payfactors) Alternatives - [Salary.com](https://www.g2.com/products/salary-com-salary-com/reviews) - 4.4/5.0 (1,079 reviews) - [Paycom](https://www.g2.com/products/paycom/reviews) - 4.5/5.0 (4,740 reviews) - [Workday HCM](https://www.g2.com/products/workday-hcm/reviews) - 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