Free cash flow
Paychex Free cash flow increased by 98.9% to $761.50M in Q4 2025 compared to the prior quarter. Year-over-year, this metric grew by 14.1%, from $667.30M to $761.50M. Over 4 years (FY 2021 to FY 2025), Free cash flow shows an upward trend with a 10.6% CAGR. This is a positive signal — higher values indicate stronger performance for this metric.
Analysis
How to read this metric
An increase suggests strong operational efficiency and the ability to return capital to shareholders or invest in new products, while a decrease may indicate rising capital expenditures or declining profitability.
Detailed definition
Free cash flow represents the cash generated by the company after accounting for cash outflows to support operations and...
Peer comparison
Peer companies in the business services and HCM software space typically maintain high free cash flow conversion rates due to the asset-light nature of their service models.
free_cash_flowHistorical Data
| Q4 '21 | Q1 '22 | Q2 '22 | Q3 '22 | Q4 '22 | Q1 '23 | Q2 '23 | Q3 '23 | Q4 '23 | Q1 '24 | Q2 '24 | Q3 '24 | Q4 '24 | Q1 '25 | Q2 '25 | Q3 '25 | Q4 '25 | Q1 '26 | Q2 '26 | Q3 '26 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Value | $358.20M | $355.20M | $135.60M | $578.20M | $386.90M | $333.70M | $320.10M | $538.00M | $371.40M | $654.30M | $270.60M | $631.00M | $180.40M | $510.50M | $248.00M | $667.30M | $283.30M | $662.50M | $382.80M | $761.50M |
| QoQ Change | — | -0.8% | -61.8% | +326.4% | -33.1% | -13.8% | -4.1% | +68.1% | -31.0% | +76.2% | -58.6% | +133.2% | -71.4% | +183.0% | -51.4% | +169.1% | -57.5% | +133.9% | -42.2% | +98.9% |
| YoY Change | — | — | — | — | +8.0% | -6.1% | +136.1% | -7.0% | -4.0% | +96.1% | -15.5% | +17.3% | -51.4% | -22.0% | -8.4% | +5.8% | +57.0% | +29.8% | +54.4% | +14.1% |
Free cash flow at Other Companies
Frequently Asked Questions
- What is Paychex's free cash flow?
- Paychex (PAYX) reported free cash flow of $761.50M in Q4 2025.
- How has Paychex's free cash flow changed year-over-year?
- Paychex's free cash flow increased by 14.1% year-over-year, from $667.30M to $761.50M.
- What is the long-term trend for Paychex's free cash flow?
- Over 4 years (2021 to 2025), Paychex's free cash flow has grown at a 10.6% compound annual growth rate (CAGR), from $1.14B to $1.71B.
- What does free cash flow mean?
- The cash remaining after a company pays for its operating expenses and capital investments.