Payscale vs Glassdoor
Updated
Payscale's free data and Glassdoor are both built on pay shared by employees. Payscale asks detailed questions in its online salary survey and shows how experience, skills and certifications change pay. Glassdoor shows salaries at named companies. Use Payscale for your profile, Glassdoor for an employer.
Side by side
| Payscale | Glassdoor | |
|---|---|---|
| Free data from | Its online salary survey, filled in by employees | Salaries shared anonymously by employees |
| Pay shown | Base, bonus and total cash, modeled separately | Full-time annual salary |
| Strength | Pay by experience, skills, certifications, education | Pay by company, next to reviews |
| For employers | Peer: data from the HR systems of 4,500+ organizations, paid | Employer pages |
Which one for you
- What you'd earn with more experience or a new certification: Payscale.
- What a specific employer pays: Glassdoor.
- Where your pay stands for your job in your city: the BLS median, from employers. Salaries by job and city.
The BLS median for accountants in the Chicago area is $82,360 (U.S.: $83,680). Employers report it, so it adds a third view to what employees share on Payscale and Glassdoor.
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Is Payscale or Glassdoor more accurate?
Their free data is the same kind, pay shared by employees, cut differently: Payscale by profile, Glassdoor by company. For a third view from employers, use the BLS median.
Where does Payscale get its data?
From its online salary survey, filled in by employees. Its employer product, Peer, uses payroll data from participating organizations instead.
Sources
- Payscale developer documentation: Jobalyzer data and reports, 2025
- Payscale, compensation data for employers (Peer), read November 9, 2026
- Glassdoor Help Center, What salary information is available on Glassdoor?, read November 9, 2026
- U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, OEWS technical notes for May 2025 estimates, May 15, 2026
- U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025, published May 15, 2026
U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025, www.bls.gov/oes. BLS.gov cannot vouch for the data or analyses derived from these data after the data have been retrieved from BLS.gov.