HUBS vs PCTY Comparison: AI Score, Valuation, Performance and Upside
Compare HubSpot's inbound marketing and CRM suite against Paylocity's mid-market payroll and HR software growth.
Use this HubSpot vs Paylocity comparison to evaluate the key differences across valuation, growth, profitability, and risk before making an investment decision.
PCTY holds the edge across 4 of 5 key metrics in this comparison. PCTY has delivered stronger 1-year price return (-12.51% vs -47.62%), though HUBS has the better forward P/E setup (15.70x vs 15.96x for PCTY). On fundamentals, HUBS is growing revenue faster (19.80%), while PCTY maintains the higher operating margin (19.06%) — a classic growth-versus-profitability split. Analyst consensus implies meaningfully more upside for PCTY (+11.25%) than for HUBS (-7.67%).
Human Wall Street analysts' price targets, typically implying a ~12-month view — a separate signal from this site's own AI Prediction Signal further down the page, which is a 5-/30-day machine-learning forecast based on price history alone.
| Metric | HUBS | PCTY |
|---|---|---|
| AI scorei | 42.7 | 46.2 |
| AI ranki | #896 | #710 |
| Latest closei | $247.60 | $152.25 |
| 1M returni | -1.04% | +3.00% |
| 6M returni | -15.05% | +31.26% |
| 1Y returni | -47.62% | -12.51% |
How much would $10,000 be worth today if invested at the start of each period, with all dividends reinvested?
| Period | HUBS | PCTY |
|---|---|---|
| 1Y ago | $5.33K (-46.7%) started 2025-09-04 | $8.67K (-13.3%) started 2025-09-04 |
| 5Y ago | $3.6K (-64.0%) started 2021-09-07 | $5.64K (-43.6%) started 2021-09-07 |
| 10Y ago | $43.1K (+331.0%) started 2016-09-06 | $33.58K (+235.8%) started 2016-09-06 |
Hypothetical — past performance does not guarantee future results.
| Metric | HUBS | PCTY |
|---|---|---|
| Market capi | $13.34B | $8.56B |
| Trailing P/Ei | 92.44 | 31.42 |
| Forward P/Ei | 15.70 | 15.96 |
| Price/Salesi | 11.26 | N/A |
| EV/Revenuei | 3.45 | 4.59 |
| Analyst targeti | $240.69 | $172.00 |
| Target upsidei | -7.67% | +11.25% |
| Metric | HUBS | PCTY |
|---|---|---|
| Revenue growthi | 19.80% | 11.00% |
| Earnings growthi | 968.10% | 27.60% |
| EPS growthi | +968.10% | +27.60% |
| FCF margini | +19.33% | +20.32% |
| Operating margini | 4.87% | 19.06% |
| Profit margini | 4.26% | 15.23% |
| ROIC proxyi | 7.89% | 21.97% |
| Return on equityi | 7.89% | 21.97% |
| Dividend yieldi | N/A | N/A |
| Betai | 1.17 | 0.43 |
| Debt/equityi | 14.30 | 10.89 |
| Current ratioi | 1.38 | 1.09 |
| Quick ratioi | 1.11 | 0.09 |
Over the past year, HUBS and PCTY have moved moderately in the same direction (correlation of 0.60), based on daily returns.
Lower drawdown and smaller single-period drops generally indicate a smoother ride, though they do not guarantee lower future risk.
| Period | Metric | HUBS | PCTY |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1Y | Growthi | -46.67% | -13.27% |
| CAGRi | -46.72% | -13.29% | |
| Volatilityi | 72.42% | 40.74% | |
| Sharpe ratioi | -0.56 | -0.26 | |
| Sortino ratioi | -0.75 | -0.37 | |
| Max drawdowni | 67.44% | 45.83% | |
| Current drawdowni | 52.66% | 13.27% | |
| Avg drawdowni | 41.79% | 25.02% | |
| Ulcer Indexi | 46.40% | 27.92% | |
| Max daily dropi | 19.10% | 7.24% | |
| Max wkly dropi | 27.02% | 17.99% | |
| 5Y | Growthi | -63.96% | -43.64% |
| CAGRi | -18.49% | -10.85% | |
| Volatilityi | 57.28% | 41.09% | |
| Sharpe ratioi | -0.15 | -0.18 | |
| Sortino ratioi | -0.21 | -0.26 | |
| Max drawdowni | 80.02% | 68.90% | |
| Current drawdowni | 70.94% | 50.20% | |
| Avg drawdowni | 44.15% | 40.50% | |
| Ulcer Indexi | 48.22% | 42.72% | |
| Max daily dropi | 19.10% | 15.48% | |
| Max wkly dropi | 27.02% | 23.23% | |
| 10Y | Growthi | +330.98% | +235.80% |
| CAGRi | +15.74% | +12.89% | |
| Volatilityi | 51.98% | 42.01% | |
| Sharpe ratioi | 0.46 | 0.39 | |
| Sortino ratioi | 0.65 | 0.56 | |
| Max drawdowni | 80.02% | 68.90% | |
| Current drawdowni | 70.94% | 50.20% | |
| Avg drawdowni | 26.47% | 25.39% | |
| Ulcer Indexi | 35.16% | 31.86% | |
| Max daily dropi | 19.10% | 15.48% | |
| Max wkly dropi | 28.86% | 28.04% |
| Category | HUBS | PCTY |
|---|---|---|
| Company | HUBS | PCTY |
| Sector | Technology | Technology |
| Industry | Software - Application | Software - Application |
| Core business | HubSpot, Inc., together with its subsidiaries, provides a cloud-based customer relationship management (CRM) platform for businesses in the Americas, Europe, and the Asia Pacific. | Paylocity Holding Corporation provides cloud-based human capital management, finance, and IT software solutions in the United States. |
Want deeper AI forecasts?
This comparison page is public and free forever. Subscribers can unlock saved watchlists, full AI rankings, detailed forecasts, and interactive analysis tools.
Full valuation workup with AI Score, Monte Carlo forecast, and bull/bear case — free preview, premium data from $3.99.