Featured Partners
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1
Justworks
Benefits Administration
Yes
Contractor Payments
Yes
Base Price
$50/month + $8/user
2
SurePayroll
Benefits Administration
Yes
Contractor Payments
Yes
Base Price
$29.99/mo plus $5 per employee
3
OnPay
Benefits administration
Yes
Contractor payments
Yes
Base monthly price
$40 per month + $6 per user
4
Rippling
Benefits administration
Yes
Contractor Payments
Yes
Base Price
$35 per month + $8 per user
5
Gusto
Benefits administration
Yes
Contractor payments
Yes
Base monthly price
$40 per month plus $6 per user
Best Payroll Services of 2024
- OnPay: Best overall all-in-one payroll and HR solution
- Gusto: Best for contractor payroll
- Justworks: Best for professional employer organization (PEO) services
- Paychex Flex: Best for simplicity
- ADP RUN: Best for payroll tax compliance
- TriNet: Best for employer of record (EOR)
- Wave Payroll: Best for solopreneurs and contractors
- Paycor: Best for growing enterprises
- Rippling: Best for payroll automations
Why You Can Trust Forbes Advisor Small Business
The Forbes Advisor Small Business team is committed to bringing you unbiased rankings and information with full editorial independence. We use product data, first-person testing, strategic methodologies and expert insights to inform all of our content so we can guide you in making the best decisions for your business journey.
Read More: How We Evaluate Payroll Services
- 23 payroll providers evaluated
- 34 scoring criteria applied to each provider
- Five weighted scoring categories
- 782 data points collected
- Five levels of fact-checking
Compare Top Payroll Services
Best All-in-One Payroll and HR Solution
OnPay
On OnPay's Website
$40 plus $6 per employee
No
Yes
Editor's Take
OnPay is a straightforward, all-in-one payroll and HR solution for small businesses. It comes with just one competitive price—$40 plus $6 per employee per month—that includes all services. It offers payroll tools for W-2 and 1099 workers and automatic tax payments and filing (with an error-free guarantee) and more.
Lisa Lindsey, PHR, SHRM-CP, our advisory board member, shared her thoughts on OnPay: “Any system that combines functions is always a win for a small business. In addition, OnPay is affordable and doesn’t require being locked into a long-term contract, making this system an adaptable and cost-effective choice.”
Key Features
- Unlimited payroll runs: OnPay includes as many unlimited payroll runs per month as you wish.
- Various pay schedules and rates: OnPay enables various pay schedules and rates for part-time, full-time and U.S.-based contract workers, so it’s capable of handling complex payroll structures.
- Payment methods: You also have the freedom to choose how you pay your employees, whether via direct deposit, paper checks or prepaid debit cards. Additionally, you may opt for pay-as-you-go workers’ comp plans and avoid large upfront payments.
- Automated tax filing with error-free guarantee: OnPay automates much of the tax process. It automatically deducts what’s necessary, and at the end of the tax year, it files taxes for your company. Tax documents are available to employees in the portal. You can easily view previous years’ tax filings under the “filings” tab of the main menu.
- Onboarding tools:OnPay allows you to send onboarding documents—such as offer letters—from the app. In turn, employees can complete some onboarding tasks themselves, such as e-signing documents and setting up direct deposit. It also gives you a platform to create and assign onboarding tasks so everyone knows their part.
- Paid time off management:OnPay’s PTO management tools include the ability to create customized accrual policies and receive time-off requests from employees from within the software. Approved PTO requests automatically sync with OnPay’s payroll software to reduce manual tasks and errors come payday.
- After-hire tasks:OnPay helps you by reporting new hires to your state as required and offering audits and guidance on workers’ compensation, employee training and employee benefits.
Pricing
There are plan tiers with OnPay—you pay one base monthly rate and then a flat fee per person per month. The base rate is $40 per month, and then you pay $6 per person per month, so, for a company with 100 employees, OnPay would cost $640 per month. As you lose or gain employees, the price adjusts to reflect the new user number.
Reputation
OnPay has an average rating of 4.8 from nearly 300 user reviews on G2. On Capterra, users give it an average score of 4.9 from over 400 reviews. Common themes in positive reviews include ease of use and satisfaction with customer service.
In my experience, some parts of OnPay were easy to use while others were not. Customizing the dashboard and viewing employee benefits was easy, while payroll and onboarding posed some challenges. I discuss my specific obstacles with payroll in the next section.
I was impressed with OnPay’s customer service, particularly over the phone. While it took longer to hear back through the chat function, I was able to reach someone in just a few minutes over the phone. The OnPay representative provided a clear answer to my question and asked if I needed anything else. I felt like the company was genuinely interested in helping me rather than selling anything.
Our Experience
To conduct my test-drive of OnPay’s platform, I used the Google Chrome browser on a Windows laptop and an Android mobile device.
OnPay’s interface is clean and straightforward, making it easy to navigate. After logging in, I landed at the user dashboard that includes at-a-glance information, such as team members, upcoming payroll runs, recent runs and whatever other tiles I chose to have displayed on my main dashboard. Both the main dashboard and the HR dashboard were easy to customize.
Payroll information is front and center on your dashboard when you log in to your account. I like the easy, three-step process to run payroll but found it difficult to get around the warnings. Also, time off data doesn’t necessarily sync with payroll or an employee’s time off information in their profile.
Here’s what I mean: When you’re ready to process payroll, you simply click “Start Run.” The system takes you to a screen to review all paychecks to submit. Little orange icons indicate something that needs your attention. However, I found it difficult to figure out how to resolve these warnings.
For instance, one employee needed vacation time approved. However, the system showed it had already been approved. Seeing this conflicting information was confusing. When I asked a customer service representative about this, they said that this simply shows that the vacation time is already included in the payroll run. Yet, at other times, when clicking on the time-off icon next to an employee’s name, the system would show “Approve & Include.” Then it was easy to click that button and get rid of the warning.
In addition, sometimes you have to choose whom to include in the payroll run. For example, when running biweekly payroll, not all employees were selected, so you have to be sure to check that all the right people are included for each payroll run. Or, you can click on the “select all” checkbox to include everyone.
Once payroll is submitted, you receive an email confirmation to confirm a completed payroll run.
Who Should Use It?
OnPay caters to small businesses that need a full-featured payroll and HR solution with a straightforward and affordable pricing structure.
Learn more: Read the full OnPay review.
Pros & Cons
- Straightforward, comprehensive pricing
- Employee and U.S.-based contractor payroll
- HR and benefits included
- Easily customizable dashboard
- No free trial
- Plans aren’t customizable
- Trouble with payroll and time-off syncing
Expert Scores
Decision Factor | Score | Expert Take |
---|---|---|
Features | OnPay offers all the features we look for in a small business payroll service, including a self-service portal, payroll analytics, direct deposit, tax support, automations and unlimited payroll runs. But, it doesn’t stop there; it also offers integrations, contractor payments and even multistate payroll. | |
Value for the Money | At a price point of $40 plus $6 per employee per month, I believe OnPay is a good deal for small businesses. This plan includes all OnPay features. However, there’s no option to pay a lesser amount for fewer features, nor is there a free version, both options that many small businesses rely on as they endure the growing pains of early business operations. | |
Popularity | Across user review sites such as G2 and Capterra, OnPay earns between 4.6 and 4.9 out of 5 stars. However, it doesn’t have as many user reviews as some competitors, numbering in the hundreds, not the thousands. While users say they are satisfied with the software overall, many say the setup process can be tedious and requires support from a representative. | |
Ease of Use | In my testing, I learned that OnPay offers an intuitive interface with key features (such as reporting) available on the initial dashboard, which can be customized based on a business’s needs. However, when attempting to run payroll, I found its excessive warnings glitchy and confusing. |
Best for Contractor Payroll
Gusto
On Gusto's Website
$40 plus $6 per person
Yes
Yes
Editor's Take
Gusto is designed with dynamic startups and small businesses in mind, and it specifically targets the solutions these types of companies need that weren’t previously available on other platforms, such as payroll on AutoPilot, contractor payments, automated employee time tracking and the versatile Gusto Wallet app.
The platform provides automated, full-service through its AutoPilot payroll software for both employees and contractors—and even offers a low-cost contractor-only plan. It facilitates employee benefits including health care, employee financial wellness, retirement plans and more.
Gusto includes features that might appeal particularly to modern startup workers, including automated charitable donations. Plus Gusto’s Wallet app gives employees greater control of and access to their money.
Key Features
Key features you can expect with Gusto include its automated payroll and tax filing for employees and contractors; the Gusto Wallet app for employees and employee time tracking tools for remote, on-premises and field employees.
- Automated, Full-Service Payroll for Employees and Contractors. The platform provides an automated, full-service payroll through its AutoPilot payroll software for both employees and contractors—and even offers a low-cost contractor-only plan. You can even auto-pay employees and contractors across the globe in their own currencies without worrying about labor compliance violations. Gusto takes care of all of it through a global team of local experts who support local employees in over 75 countries.
Lisa Lindsey, PHR, SHRM-CP, our advisory board member, also noted how easy Gusto is to use: “Gusto makes it easy to pay all of your people, whether they are employees or contractors. New joiners receive an invitation to set themselves up in the system and once that is done and verified, you are able to set your payroll and forget it. Busy solopreneurs can find real value in using a system like this.”
- Automated Tax Filing. Gusto offers tools to help you store and organize employees’ I-9 and W-2 forms. Gusto then calculates your payroll taxes, deducts them and pays and files tax documents with the correct government entities. It operates in all 50 U.S. states, so you can register your company using Gusto in any state where you do business.
- Gusto Wallet App. Gusto Wallet is a payment system that allows employees to receive their pay within the app or via a Gusto debit card. It gives employees greater control of their money by, for example, enabling them to split up their paychecks into various accounts as they wish or receive their pay up to two days earlier than a bank-based direct deposit. Within the app, employees also receive pay insights that show month-over-month income patterns. And, it includes other features employees would find convenient to have at their fingertips, such as tools to request time off and view their tax documents.
- Time Tracking. Team members can use a web browser or the Gusto Wallet app to clock in and out of work on their Android or Apple mobile devices. Geofencing ensures employees are where they need to be when clocking in on their mobile devices. Or, employers can turn a tablet into a time clock for on-premises attendance and time-tracking. And, if a team member accidentally clocks in or forgets to clock out, they can manually correct their hours for always-correct payroll runs.
Pricing
Gusto offers three plans for companies looking to manage payroll for both full-time employees and contractors.
- Simple: The Simple plan is $40 per month, plus $6 per employee per month. It’s ideal for startups and small businesses that operate in one state and just need to cover basic HR functions. It offers single-state payroll services, an employee self-service portal, Gusto-brokered health insurance and payroll and time-off requests.
- Plus: Gusto’s Plus package costs $80 per month, plus $12 per employee per month. This plan is a great choice if you need to run multistate payroll and desire more dedicated support to manage HR effectively. Next-day direct deposit is also available in this plan in addition to PTO management and policies, project tracking, a time kiosk, workforce costing and reporting and team management tools.
- Premium: Gusto’s top tier offers the most support and automation to keep HR running efficiently for your small to midsized business. The pricing is customized to your specific needs. The biggest payroll draw in this plan is that Gusto sets up your account for you and migrates your payroll data from your current software provider, which gets you started with the software more quickly and easily. It also offers compliance alerts and an R&D tax credit discount.
- Contractor Only plan: For companies that only manage contractor payments domestically or abroad, Gusto has a Contractor Only plan that costs $6 per month per person. It offers four-day direct deposit, unlimited contractor payments within the U.S., yearly 1099-NECs and the option to add an international contractor payments add-on.
Reputation
Gusto enjoys favorable user reviews. It boasts a score of 4.5 from 1,900 reviews on G2 and a score of 4.7 from over 3,800 reviews on Capterra. Users mostly mention Gusto’s easy-to-use interface, which we can attest to, given our hands-on experience with its payroll process and its excellent customer service.
Our Experience
I tested Gusto’s Simple plan features using the Google Chrome browser on a Windows laptop and the Gusto Wallet app on an Android mobile device. Our ability to test the features was limited, as they required entering real bank account information and signing into external accounts.
I found the process of setting up a payroll schedule pretty easy. You simply choose a schedule—Gusto automatically suggests one for you—and confirm state tax details based on where employees are located.
When running payroll manually, Gusto takes you through three steps. First, you check hours and earnings for all employees. The next step prompts you to enter any paid time off that employees took during the pay period. This is also where you can approve or deny pending time-off requests. From there, Gusto lets you preview the payroll run in the third step before submitting payroll. Upon submitting, Gusto confirms that you’ve successfully submitted payroll.
For contractor payments, whether domestic or international, the pay rates and pay amounts don’t automatically populate as they do with W-2 workers, so it’s a bit more time-consuming, as you have to enter this information manually. Otherwise, it’s quite simple. Just click “submit,” and that’s it.
It was easy to manually add an employee or independent contractor by entering their name, email address and other crucial information. The platform offers a checkbox option to invite the added employee or contractor to fill out the rest of the information themselves. Though this process was straightforward, manually entering several people could get tedious for companies with high hiring volumes.
Based on what I was able to play with in the platform, Gusto guides you through payroll and benefits management in a way that makes these processes less overwhelming. You can be sure you’re completing tasks in the right order without missing a step.
However, I noticed that payroll and adding new team members, in particular, require a lot of manual data entry upfront. In addition, customization of reporting, templates and the dashboard is limited.
Who Should Use It?
Gusto is made for startups and growing small businesses with a mix of employee- and contractor-based workforces. It is best for businesses that expect to eventually expand across state lines or even globally using a workforce with a mix of contractors and employees.
Learn more: Read the full Gusto review.
Pros & Cons
- Easy employee payroll
- Automatic tax filing and compliance guidance
- Integrated free checking and high-yield savings accounts with paycheck advance for employees
- Transparent pricing
- Per-person pricing gets costly at scale
- No invoicing or accounts receivable features
- Contractor payroll is more cumbersome
- Limited mobile app availability
Expert Scores
Decision Factor | Score | Expert Take |
---|---|---|
Features | Gusto offers a premium product with robust payroll features. It not only allows automated and unlimited payroll runs within the U.S. but international payroll for both employees and contractors. I only brought my rating down a smidge because you must use an integration to access a ledger report using Gusto. | |
Value for the Money | Gusto starts at $40 per month, plus $6 per user per month, for more features than many competitively priced competitors offer. Still, this price is only for tax support and payroll in one state. You must double that price to access multistate payroll. In addition, there’s no time tracking in the first tier and Gusto doesn’t offer a free tier. | |
Popularity | Gusto has thousands of reviews across sites such as G2 and Capterra. Its average user rating is 4.7, as users love Gusto’s complete offering across payroll and HR and its easy-to-navigate interface. However, they wish there were more pricing tier choices and they experience frequent glitches with logging in. Some also say there is a learning curve, given Gusto’s extensive feature offering. | |
Ease of Use | I found Gusto to be quite easy to navigate and use. It walked me through setting up and running payroll and benefits management. I also found adding employees to be easy, especially given that employees can input their own information. However, some tasks, such as setting up international payments, involve more manual tasks than I prefer or expected. |
Best for Professional Employer Organization (PEO) Services
Justworks
On Justworks' Website
$8 per user per month + $50 monthly base fee
Yes
Yes
Editor's Take
Justworks is a professional employer organization (PEO) that appeals to remote teams. The company engages client companies in a co-employment relationship, serving as an employer of record for your employees.
The co-employment relationship also means Justworks takes on some legal employer liabilities so you don’t have to, which isn’t the case for software-based payroll services. In exchange, you hand over control of some key employer processes, such as workers compensation.
Lisa Lindsey, PHR, SHRM-CP, an HR professional with over 20 years of experience, adds: “Justworks is great for helping small businesses offer benefits to its employees, something most small businesses are not able to do easily or inexpensively, which is a great attraction and retention tool.”
Key Features
Justworks’ standout feature is its professional employer organization (PEO) services, allowing businesses to outsource some HR and payroll tasks. Here is a closer look at this service.
Professional Employer Organization Services
Justworks is a professional employer organization designed for remote teams. The company engages user companies in a co-employment relationship so it can handle HR and payroll on your behalf. For example, it will handle the following payroll processes and tasks for you:
- Off-cycle payments
- Vendor and contractor payments
- Employer payroll tax filings
- W-2 and 1099 filings
- Payroll reporting
- Worker time tracking
Pricing
Justworks offers two PEO plans, plus a couple of add-ons to expand your chosen plan’s functionality. Here are your choices.
Basic
This plan is $59 per employee per month and offers:
- Full payroll management for all employees in 27 states
- The ability to pay up to 30 employees or contractors
- HR consulting
- 24/7 support
- Commuter benefits
- Time tracking
- PTO management
- An applicant tracking system
- Employee onboarding
- HR consulting
- An employee mobile app
Plus
This plan is $99 per employee per month and includes:
- Everything in the Basic plan
- The ability to pay up to 200 W-2 employees in multiple states
- Medical insurance
- HSA/FSA accounts
- Health advocacy services
- One Medical (in locations where it is available)
- COBRA administration
- A company benefits overview for prospective hires or new employees
Add-Ons
Justworks offers two add-ons that can be used alongside both the Basic and Plus plans:
- Justworks Time Tracking: This add-on is an additional $8 per employee per month and includes geofencing capabilities, shift management tools, overtime and break rules, time tracking, payroll and time tracking reporting and payroll syncing.
- Justworks International Contractor Payments: This add-on is $39 per contractor per month and offers onboarding and payment services for contract workers in over 30 countries.
At a starting PEO service price of $59 per employee per month, its monthly per-employee fee looks high at first glance, but it could be well below the cost of an HR hire and goes lower the more employees you have.
Reputation
Justworks earns 4.6 out of five stars on G2 from 458 user reviews. In addition, it earns 4.6 stars from 718 user reviews on Capterra. Users say the service is easy to set up and use for both employers and employees and is easily scalable as a company grows. They do wish that Justworks offered more in the way of integrations with popular accounting and other software and some express the need for more customizable platform features.
Who Should Use It?
PEOs like Justworks are a good fit for small businesses with complex hiring and potential business liability—for example, if you hire international employees or have a lot of turnover. It is also great for small businesses without in-house payroll or HR departments.
Learn more: Read the full Justworks review.
Pros & Cons
- Hand over 100% of your HR duties
- Smooth employee self-service interface
- PEO (co-employment) relationship gives you tools to reduce liability as an employer
- High cost compared to software-based solutions
- PEO (co-employment) relationship reduces your control over HR policies
- Tax support in only 27 U.S. states
Expert Scores
Decision Factor | Score | Expert Take |
---|---|---|
Features | Justworks is a PEO, offering businesses the option to hand off all their payroll and HR responsibilities to a team of experts, a huge relief for many small businesses with limited staff. However, payroll is only available in 27 states and you must pay more for time tracking tools. | |
Value for the Money | Compared to other payroll services and software, Justworks is quite expensive at $59 per employee per month. You must also pay more for international contractor payments ($39 per contractor per month) and time tracking tools ($8 per employee per month). Many small businesses cannot afford this hefty price tag. | |
Popularity | Across G2 and Capterra, Justworks earns a 4.6 star rating from users. While users feel tremendous relief outsourcing their HR and payroll needs into the hands of an experienced team, the expense can be a bit much for their small business budgets. | |
Ease of Use | There’s nothing easier than handing some business responsibilities to a capable team of experts. That’s what Justworks’ PEO allows small businesses to do. And, it offers a 24/7 team of HR consultants who go above and beyond to resolve customer issues quickly and completely. |
Best for Simplicity
Paychex Flex
On Paychex's Website
Paychex is currently offering a 3-month free trial
Paychex is currently servicing ~740,000 Businesses
$39 per month plus $5 per employee per month
Yes
Yes
Editor's Take
Paychex is a payroll and HR service provider for businesses of all sizes. Paychex Flex is its simplified payroll platform designed for small businesses with fewer than 50 employees.
The platform offers an easy-to-use basic payroll processing platform to pay employees and contractors, but no HR and benefits administration in its basic Essentials plan. You must upgrade for these complementary features. It strips away the complex features of the broader Paychex platform to stand out as a provider of easy employee payroll.
However, Paychex Flex does integrate with other Paychex products and offers higher-tiered plans to meet your payroll and HR needs, as well as with third-party accounting systems to automatically keep your bookkeeping updated with payroll data.
Lisa Lindsey, PHR, SHRM-CP, our advisory board member, also likes Paychex Flex: “Paychex Flex is another great option for small startups that intend to grow over time. The system is customizable with lots of robust features.”
Key Features
Paychex Flex offers bare-bones features to help you manage your payroll runs, such as automated tax filings, payments and calculations; a self-service mobile app for employees; and customizable payroll reporting.
- Automated Tax Calculations, Payments and Filings. When you sign up to process your payroll using Paychex Flex, you also access the platform’s Taxpay service. With this service, Paychex Flex calculates, pays and files your taxes with government agencies as necessary to keep you compliant with tax law. In addition, Paychex Flex looks for tax credits that may save your company funding each year, such as the employee retention tax credit, and even helps you file amended returns to claim past credits.
- Paychex Flex App. This app is available for both employees and employers who use Paychex Flex. Employers can use the app to enter and run payroll, access employees’ payroll data and view payroll reports. In turn, employees use the app to access and update their personal data and tax documentation. The app also offers Touch ID and Face ID authentication to ensure only authorized access.
- Payroll Reporting. Using Paychex Flex, you can access the Paychex Preview Preprocessing Report, which allows you to review your payroll before it runs to remove any errors. You can also create custom reports, such as reports showing your cash requirements, job costing, tax deposit notices, W-2s and more in real time.
Pricing
Paychex Flex starts at $39 per month plus $5 per employee per month. It offers three plans, including its Essentials, Select and Pro plans. However, its Select and Pro plans require a custom quote for pricing details. Here is an overview of the features each plan offers:
Essentials
The Essentials plan starts at $39 per month plus $5 per employee. It services businesses with up to 19 employees and offers:
- Payroll processing for W-2 and 1099 workers
- Tax filing and administration
- Direct deposit, pay cards and on-site check printing options
- An employee self-serve mobile app
- Financial wellness and cash flow assistance for employees
- Employee onboarding tools
- Analytics and reporting
- 24/7 customer support
Select
The Select plan requires a custom quote to learn pricing details. It offers all the features included in the Essentials plan, plus:
- An employee training and development system
- Online payroll processing and tax filing tools
- 24/7 dedicated support
- One-on-one support to handle all business needs
- An HR library with key HR documents
- Labor posters
Pro
The Pro plan also requires a custom quote to learn about pricing. It is a full-service payroll and HR plan that offers all the features included in the Select plan, plus:
- Full-service account setup, payroll management and tax filing services with dedicated specialist or online options
- A full HR software
- An employee handbook builder
- A personal HR consultation
- Pay garnishment services
- General ledger services
- Pre-employment screening
- State unemployment insurance services
- Workers’ compensation payment services
- General ledger integrations
Add-On Options
For an additional cost, you can further customize plans with add-ons. Available add-ons with features not already included in any of the plans include:
- Job costing and labor distribution
- Time and attendance tracking and reporting
- General ledger integrations
- Voice assistant integrations
- Paychex integrations
- Retirement services
- Business insurance
- Employee benefits
- Document management
- Performance management
- Recruiting and applicant tracking
- Job posting website integrations
- Paycheck preview and approval tools
Reputation
Paychex Flex earns a 4.2 out of five stars on G2 with 1,485 user reviews and a 4.1 out of five stars on Capterra with 1,547 user reviews. Users say the platform is easy to use both on the employer and employee end. They also praise Paychex Flex’s customer support for being responsive, patient, supportive and knowledgeable.
However, they say that they sometimes experience frustrating glitches within the system, such as being locked out of their accounts, updates during which users cannot access their accounts and the inability to access some features.
Our Experience
In my testing, I found that Paychex Flex offers a clean interface. Interface designers clearly worked hard to ensure that data is not overwhelming but is at your fingertips at all times in intuitive-to-find locations.
For example, you will find a company directory on the upper right-hand corner of the software that includes a list of all employees. Simply click on a name to see all of their payroll information, such as their gross and net pay, deductions, pay period and preferred payment method.
Detailed analytics are also offered in color-coded pie and bar charts for a straightforward interpretation of data. When I clicked on an element of the pie chart, a screen popped up to show more granular data regarding the broader data point represented in the graph.
The employee app offers a robust self-serve interface that is efficient and not overwhelming. The initial dashboard offers key summary information and links, such as time-off and sick-day calculations, paycheck stub links, a task list and a time tracker.
Employees can then use a left-hand menu to find more detailed information, such as their health benefits options and performance reviews. Simple forms and digital signing tools allow employees to complete documents and reviews in a fully digital format, even on a small screen.
Who Should Use It?
Paychex Flex is made specifically for small businesses that need a quick and simple payroll system. It’s stripped down for businesses that just need easy payroll, with flexibility to add on services as you grow.
Learn more: Read the full Paychex Flex review.
Pros & Cons
- Easy employee payroll
- The ability to pay 1099 and W-2 workers
- 24/7 customer support
- Customizable plans
- An employee self-serve mobile app
- Extra fee for payroll tax filing
- Extra fee for W-2 and 1099 filing
- No HR features in basic plan
- Little pricing transparency
Expert Scores
Decision Factor | Score | Expert Take |
---|---|---|
Features | Paychex Flex offers essential features for most small businesses to run their payroll, including automatic payroll runs and tax calculations, payments and filings. However, it doesn’t offer unlimited payroll runs. Still, small businesses are unlikely to run payroll several times a month as most stick to one or two times. In addition, it doesn’t offer international payroll, another feature most small businesses won’t need. | |
Value for the Money | While Paychex Flex is reasonably priced at $39 per month, plus $5 per user per month, it makes users pay more for many features. For example, time tracking is more and requires a custom quote. And, you must pay for add-ons in the first two tiers, including for general ledger reports, garnishments and paycheck preview and approval tools. In the end, to create a custom product, Paychex Flex can be pricey. | |
Popularity | Paychex Flex earns a 4.2 rating on G2 with 1,486 reviews and a 4.1 rating on Capterra with 1,548 user reviews. Users say that customer support is siloed and, therefore, confusing and tedious to access. Many report that syncing data between features can be challenging, adding more manual work to their workloads. | |
Ease of Use | Paychex Flex’s customer support is siloed across features and products, meaning it can be difficult to access help when needed. Moreover, customers say the ability to sync data between features can be tedious or not possible at all, leaving users to input data multiple times. However, the user interface is clean and easy to navigate. |
Best for Payroll Tax Compliance
ADP RUN
On ADP's Website
$79+ per month plus $4 per employee per month
Yes
Yes
Editor's Take
ADP is the largest and one of the most trusted payroll providers in the world. RUN is its small business solution and a good place to start if you’re a small business expecting to grow into a large enterprise. ADP RUN is a simple payroll and benefits administration platform with room to grow into enterprise plans with the main ADP platform.
Its standout feature is its tax compliance support. RUN by ADP automatically calculates, deposits and files all taxes for you. It also sends W-2 and 1099 forms to your respective workers each year. It even keeps track of payroll law changes by state and adjusts your withholdings and payments accordingly to ensure you are in compliance. And, if the IRS has any questions and sends you an inquiry, RUN by ADP will handle this communication on your behalf.
In addition, ADP RUN offers all the features you’d expect in a payroll service. It has tiered plans with payroll by direct deposit, a self-service employee platform, new hire onboarding and optional benefits administration for additional fees. More advanced plans include a robust HR platform, including an employee handbook, document management, training programs and employee toolkits.
Lisa Lindsey, PHR, SHRM-CP, our advisory board member, added her thoughts on ADP RUN: “ADP has been around for a long time and is a well-known name in payroll and a favorite for many financial folks because of their robust reporting features.”
Key Features
RUN by ADP offers advanced features for automated payroll processing, tax payments and filing and time tracking. Here is a closer look at each of these key features.
- Payroll AutoPilot. RUN by ADP offers full-service payroll, allowing you several options to pay employees, including by check, direct deposit or pay card and processed by phone, web or mobile app. If you opt for paper checks, they will be delivered to your company before payday. You can also set recurring payroll runs on AutoPilot for a hands-off approach or set up off-cycle payroll runs when needed. RUN by ADP offers 24/7 payroll support from ADP experts in case you run into any issues paying your employees.
- Automated Tax Payments and Filings. The software automates your tax calculations and deductions. From there, it pays your taxes for you and even creates and sends W-2 and 1099 forms to your employees and contractors automatically. Because the system keeps up with tax laws and regulations in all 50 U.S. states, the system automatically helps you stay compliant and flags any errors that need your attention. And, if the IRS contacts you with inquiries about your filings or payments, RUN will handle those communications for you. Unlike some competitors on this list that make you pay for for multi-state services, RUN by ADP offers multi-jurisdictional payments. When you pay employees in different states, RUN by ADP handles all the tax filings for you in each respective state.
- Time Tracking. Available as an add-on in the RUN by ADP’s payroll plans, the software offers time and attendance tracking with advanced features. Employees can clock in using their mobile devices, computers or an on-premise kiosk. They can also request time off and monitor their requests for approval. Further, biometric and geo-fencing features ensure the right person is clocking in or out at the right time and location. It even offers geo-pinning to mark the exact employee location when clocking in or out.Employees can track time by job or department and switch between them when necessary. These hours are then synced to the RUN by ADP payroll software for accurate tracking and payments based on time worked by project. This feature is great for companies that perform work for clients, as labor costs can be easily separated and billed to the client upon project completion.
Pricing
RUN by ADP has four small business plans for up to 49 employees. The most basic plan offers payroll tools, while subsequent plans offer more in-depth HR tools. All plans require a custom quote to learn about pricing details. You can do so by clicking “get pricing” on the RUN by ADP pricing page and filling out the questionnaire as prompted.
Essentials Payroll
The Essentials Payroll plan is the most basic plan RUN by ADP offers and it is for companies that need basic payroll tools. It includes the following payroll features, plus some basic HR features:
- Payroll runs processed via computer, mobile app or phone
- Direct deposit
- Payroll reporting
- A general ledger
- W-2 and 1099 forms
- Tax calculations, payments and filings done for you according to current state and federal laws
- Multi-company and multi-jurisdiction management
- The Wisely Direct Debit card to pay employees
- Employee access
Enhanced Payroll
The Enhanced RUN by ADP plan offers more HR features, such as access to ZipRecruiter for hiring. In terms of payroll-specific tools, it includes everything in the Essentials Payroll plan, plus:
- Job costing
- Check signing security
Complete Payroll and HR Plus
This plan adds more HR features while offering all the payroll tools of the first two plans. Added HR features include:
- HR helpdesk
- An employee handbook wizard
- HR forms and documents
- HR training
- An HR toolkit
HR Pro Payroll and HR
This plan offers a comprehensive toolkit of HR and payroll features. In addition to the tools offered in all other plans, it adds:
- Enhanced HR and helpdesk support
- An applicant tracking system
- A learning management system
- Sexual harassment prevention training
Reputation
RUN by ADP has a 4.5 rating on Capterra and G2 with a total of 2,075 user reviews. Users love that the software has lots of self-service and automation features to save companies time and money. However, customer service is often unresponsive and they wish the time keeping app were included in RUN by ADP’s plans.
Our Experience
I accessed the guided demo to learn more about this product. The dashboard felt cluttered when I landed, but it did offer many tools that I needed at my fingertips. By clicking “run payroll” from the dashboard, I completed a payroll run in just a few clicks.
On the “payroll” page, I viewed a spreadsheet of payments earned by employees. I could then fill in any missing data as needed. From there, I clicked “next” and was taken to a page that flagged all issues that may hinder a successful payroll run. I could click “resolve exceptions” to work out these issues before running payroll.
From this screen, I was also given the option to import time tracking data from ADP’s time and attendance add-on or another time keeping software. When I clicked “next,” I accessed an overview of payroll as it currently stood, including who would be paid, when, and how much they’d be paid broken down into gross pay, taxes, deductions, net pay and employer taxes. From there, I clicked “approve” to run payroll. A confirmation page prompted me to approve the run once again.
Once payroll was run, the software summarized how much was paid out and when. I was also asked if I wanted a reminder of when payroll should be run again. Overall, this process was self-explanatory and required no learning curve.
Adding employees to the system was an easy process. I simply clicked “add employee” from the header menu. From there, I could either send the employee an invite to input their own information (which I could then review for accuracy and approve) or manually enter the data myself.
I found the invite option to be more labor-intensive than I would like; I still had to enter the employee’s full name, Social Security number (twice to confirm accuracy), phone number, date of birth, hire date and more. It would have been far easier to just input a name and have an email be sent to the employee to do all of this work, leaving me to only approve its accuracy.
Overall, though the interface is cluttered, everything I needed was easy to find. Nothing I experienced was particularly confusing, but some tasks were a bit more labor-intensive than I preferred.
Who Should Use It?
ADP RUN is a good choice for businesses that need highly supported payroll tax compliance features in payroll software. It’s designed for companies with fewer than 50 employees, but is a good fit if you expect to grow beyond that because you could upgrade to ADP Workforce now or ADP’s enterprise platform. Read more about the top ADP competitors.
Learn more: Read the full ADP Run review.
Pros & Cons
- Easy employee payroll
- Automatic tax filing and reports
- Add-on for time and attendance tracking
- Customizable reporting
- Six months free payroll
- Requires an additional product to track time and attendance
- Somewhat cluttered interface
- No pricing transparency
- Pricing quotes are hard to get
- No free version
Expert Scores
Decision Factor | Score | Expert Take |
---|---|---|
Features | RUN by ADP has all the basic features you need to run payroll within the United States, including across multiple states. I was disappointed to see that it does not offer international payroll tools. However, everything it does offer is automated, including payroll runs and tax calculations, deposits and payments. You can rely on its tax calculations and support across states because it tracks and applies changing laws and regulations. It does not offer unlimited payroll runs, though, despite its multi-location and multi-company payroll support. | |
Value for the Money | RUN by ADP is pricey compared to others on our list, with base pricing starting at $79 per month for only up to 49 employees and an add-on payment required for employee time tracking. It also does not offer a free version. It does, however, offer a healthy six-month free trial period for the small business plans. | |
Popularity | RUN by ADP is well regarded by payroll software users. It has a 4.5-star rating on Capterra with 775 reviews and a 4.5-star rating on G2 with over 1,300 reviews. Users love that the self-service and automation features save time. They also love that the software has almost no learning curve. They say that customer service can be very difficult to get hold of, with hours-long waiting times. They also feel that the time-keeping app is expensive and often clunky when used in conjunction with the payroll software. | |
Ease of Use | I found RUN by ADP to be very easy to use and agree with most users that it does not come with a learning curve. However, I brought down the ease-of-use rating from five stars to 4.8 because the interface is quite crowded and many users say it takes several hours to access customer support. |
Best for Controlling Payroll Costs
TriNet
On TriNet's Website
$16 per employee per month
Yes
Yes
Editor's Take
TriNet is a professional employer organization (PEO) offering the option of payroll and HR outsourcing. Your company leases employees to TriNet—TriNet becomes an employer of record—and it takes care of HR and payroll for you.
It also offers plenty of features that help you understand and control your payroll costs. They include:
- Benchmarking tools that keep you from overpaying employees even while offering competitive pay rates to attract top talent
- Time tracking tools that alert you if an employee is working overtime or approaching the need to do so
- Compliance management tools that help you follow state labor laws to avoid payroll non-compliance penalties
- Payroll error detection tools to keep you from paying more than you owe
- Warnings and alerts for unauthorized off-site employee clock-ins
- Reporting that predicts operational needs so you can compile schedules to reduce the need for overtime pay
Features
TriNet’s standout features include automated tax and filing support, unlimited payroll runs, a mobile app and time and attendance tracking. Here is a look at each of them.
Automated Taxes and Filing
TriNet can handle all payroll tax administration for you, offering the option to outsource your payroll function to its PEO service. When you do, its team of HR experts not only manage your payroll and tax administration for you but is available to your company for consulting and problem resolution.
When you hire a new employee, its team of tax experts notifies the correct state entity as required by law. The platform also calculates, withholds and remits payments, then files your taxes on the federal, state and local level. Then, it prepares and delivers W-2 forms to your employees when needed. Finally, for employees, it will manage your unemployment taxes and claims on your behalf.
For managing contract employees, the platform auto-generates Form 1099 when needed and grants contractors self-serve access to key tax documents. It also allows you to customize how you pay contracts with multiple pay options.
TriNet helps small businesses save money by looking for tax credits for each company. For example, it allows you to input tax credit information into the payroll system and then prepares forms 8974 and 941 for you to claim those credits.
Unlimited Payroll Runs
Offered as an add-on in HR plans, TriNet’s payroll processing system has advanced payroll management features. They include:
- Unlimited automated payroll runs
- Direct deposit payments
- The ability to manage multiple pay schedules and rates
- Contractor payment processing
- Tips reporting
- General ledger reporting
- Garnishments support
Through TriNet’s PEO, you can outsource all of your HR and payroll functions or you can choose which functions you want to outsource and which you’d like to keep in-house.
Mobile App
The TriNet mobile app offers convenient features for both employers and their employees. Employers and permissioned personnel can view employee profiles, hire and termination data, benefits and payroll information and access reporting. They can also search a knowledge base for answers to their questions or open a support case or live chat session to access TriNet customer support.
Employees access the mobile app to view their paychecks, review and manage their benefits and access their tax documents. In addition, they can track their vacation days and request time off using the mobile app. Finally, as an added perk, employees can use the app to access TriNet-offered discounts on technology, groceries and other products.
Time and Attendance Tracking
TriNet’s time and attendance tracking tools provide companies with the ability to meticulously monitor worked hours, allowing them to effectively control payroll expenses. These savings may take the form of minimizing excessive costs, such as unapproved overtime, or avoiding compliance penalties. To this end, with TriNet time and attendance tools, you can:
- Create a clear work schedule for employers and employees to know who is working when (and who is not)
- Allow employees to clock in and out
- Track employees clock-in times to ensure compliance with schedules and control costs
- Access a reporting dashboard that displays metrics such as which employees are approaching overtime
- Schedule employee rest and meal breaks to remain compliant with labor laws and avoid related penalties
- View timecard errors to ensure accurate payroll processing
- Receive alerts and warnings pertaining to unauthorized offsite clock-ins to avoid overpaying employees
Pricing
TriNet offers three plans ranging from $8 per employee per month to $33 per user per month when billed monthly. However, unlike many competitors on this list, only the most expensive plan offers payroll features. To access payroll features in the first two tiers, you have to first purchase the core plan and then pay $6 per employee per month more to access the payroll add-on. When I contacted customer support, I was told that this payroll add-on is typically only sold as an add-on and not as a standalone product.
Essentials
The Essentials plan is a basic HR platform costing $10 per employee per month when paid monthly and $8 per employee per month when billed annually. It includes:
- Access to the TriNet payroll processing add-on
- Automated employee onboarding
- Employee management tools
- Employee time-off tracking tools
- Employee scheduling tools
- An employer and employee mobile app
- An analytics dashboard
- Access to over 50 pre-built integration options such as G-suite, Slack, Zapier, Asana and Salesforce
Growth
TriNet’s Growth plan is $20 per employee per month when billed monthly and $16 per employee per month when billed annually. This plan offers tools for ensuring you are paying your employees fairly without overpaying them, allowing you to save costs while attracting top talent. It includes everything in the Essentials plan, plus:
- People analytics
- Custom and workforce salary benchmarking visibility
- Comparison salary data
- Employee performance management tools
Zen
The Zen plan is $33 per user per month when billed monthly and $27 per user per month when billed annually. While the Essentials and Growth plans require you to pay more to access the payroll add-on, this plan includes TriNet’s payroll processing system. Here is an overview of the inclusions in this plan:
- Customizable, filterable and anonymized employee engagement surveys
- A team communication platform with a company feed, a task manager and the option to create department-specific communication feeds
- TriNet’s payroll software with unlimited and automated payroll runs and tax management and filing tools
Add-Ons
While the above plans are TriNet’s core small business plans, it offers add-on options as a way to customize the plans to your needs. Its add-on options include:
- Payroll processing for $6 per employee per month
- Benefits administration for $5 per employee per month or free when you go through a TriNet-preferred benefits broker
- Recruiting and applicant tracking software through JazzHR starting at $35 per month
- TriNet HR and payroll processing advisory services for $8 per employee per month
Dylan Cleppe, co-founder and CEO of OneStop Northwest LLC, uses TriNet’s benefits administration for his business: “One aspect of TriNet that I found particularly beneficial is its comprehensive approach to benefits management. For a small business like mine, being able to offer competitive benefits is crucial for attracting and retaining top talent. TriNet provides a streamlined platform where I can manage payroll, HR tasks and employee benefits all in one place, which not only saves time but also reduces the potential for errors.”
Reputation
TriNet has a 3.8 and 4.0 star review on Capterra and G2 respectively, with 649 user reviews total. Users say the software is extremely easy to use and has comprehensive features. They also say TriNet’s customer support is responsive (responding within just minutes of inquiry submission) and knowledgeable. However, they do not like that the platform experiences frequent reporting glitches and they wish it offered more integration options.
Who Should Use It?
PEOs like TriNet are a good fit for small businesses with complex hiring and potential business liability—for example, if you hire international employees or have a lot of turnover. It is also a great option for companies that need tools to pay employees fairly while keeping payroll costs to a minimum.
Learn more: Read the full TriNet review.
Pros & Cons
- Payroll cost control tools
- Hands-off payroll and HR
- PEO (co-employment) relationship reduces your liability as an employer
- Responsive and knowledgeable customer support
- Robust time and attendance tracking tools to control payroll costs
- Expensive per-employee monthly rate compared to software-based payroll offerings
- PEO (co-employment) relationship reduces your control over HR policies
Expert Scores
Decision Factor | Score | Expert Take |
---|---|---|
Features | TriNet offers an extremely robust feature set that spans PEO, HR and payroll services. In terms of features we look for to support small business payroll, it offers all of them, including automated unlimited payroll runs, contractor and employee payments, automated tax administration international payroll, time and attendance tracking and even extras like salary benchmarking and a mobile app for employers and employees to manage payroll. However, the most affordable plans only offer payroll as an add-on, meaning you have to pay more to access payroll features, a fact that brings my expert feature score down from a five-star rating to a 4.5-star rating. | |
Value for the Money | As I’ve touched on, TriNet’s payroll features are expensive. To access them, you must first purchase a core HR plan, which costs between $8 and $33 per user per month. However, at $33 per user per month, only the most expensive plan lists payroll features as an inclusion. If you opt for one of the more affordable plans, you must also purchase the payroll add-on plan, which is an extra $6 per employee per month. Just 25 employees would be $350 a month for TriNet’s payroll tools. However, given its PEO features, this is quite reasonable when compared to some other PEO service pricing. If you just want payroll features, however, it is pricey. | |
Popularity | TriNet earns 3.8 out of five stars with 41 reviews on Capterra and four out of five stars with 608 reviews on G2. This, in addition to its comparatively few user reviews, is why I awarded TriNet a 3.8-star rating for popularity. | |
Ease of Use | TriNet is very intuitive to use. In addition, it offers comprehensive support from a team of knowledgeable experts who are dedicated to resolving all customer inquiries quickly and completely. When I contacted customer support, I found this popular user opinion to be accurate. This level of customer support adds to TriNet’s ease of use. However, glitches in reporting can make the TriNet software frustrating to use at times, which is why I awarded Trinet a 4.5-star rating for ease of use. |
Best for Seasonal Businesses
Wave Payroll
3.9
Our ratings take into account a product's cost, features, ease of use, customer service and other category-specific attributes. All ratings are determined solely by our editorial team.
Base monthly price
$16 per month
Automated payroll
No
Tax services
Yes, in 14 states
Learn More
Read Forbes' Review
$16 per month
No
Yes, in 14 states
Editor's Take
Toronto-based Wave is a relatively new player in small business financial services, and it’s making its name by building a user-friendly and affordable platform that addresses the unique needs of freelancers, contractors and small business owners.
Payroll is Wave’s latest feature. It comes to the platform along with accounting, invoicing and payment processing for small businesses—replacing a laundry list of tools for many entrepreneurs.
Through Wave Payroll, you can pay employees and contractors via direct deposit and automatically generate W-2 and 1099 forms for tax season. It takes care of payroll tax payment and filing in 14 states (and growing), and offers a self-service employee portal for easy access to tax documents and banking and contact updates.
In addition, if you own a seasonal business and only need payroll software during parts of the year, you can deactivate your subscription for off-seasons and avoid paying Wave during that time. Then, when your business season kicks back in, simply reactivate your subscription and account. This capability, coupled with its contract payment options, makes Wave an ideal option for seasonal businesses such as garden centers and landscaping companies.
Lisa Lindsey, PHR, SHRM-CP, our advisory board member, appreciates that you can use the system with its accounting software: “Wave’s payroll system integrates with its free accounting system, making it a good choice for businesses that handle all of their finance processes internally.”
Wave doesn’t offer benefits administration, a major drawback, but its recent purchases of companies across the financial sector and its 2019 acquisition by H&R Block promise more capabilities and features to come.
Features
Wave Payroll’s standout features include employee and contractor payroll tools, tax services, an employee self-service portal and invoicing tools. Here is a closer look at each of them.
- Employee and Contractor Payroll. Using Wave Payroll, you can pay both employees and independent contractors with one click come payday. Once you’ve paid your employees, you can access a report of all payroll expenses broken down by employee. The platform also generates W-2 and 1099 forms, so they’re always at your fingertips. And if you own a seasonal business where you only have to pay contractors or employees during certain times of the year, you can pause your payroll subscription during off-seasons to avoid paying the base monthly rate.
- Tax Services. Wave Payroll offers tax payment and filing services in 14 states and is continually adding more states. Using this service, you can automate your payment and filing of state and federal payroll taxes. Its current tax service states include:Arizona, California, Florida,Georgia,Illinois,Indiana,Minnesota,New York,North Carolina,Tennessee,Texas, Virginia,Washington, Wisconsin. In states where Wave Payroll does not offer tax filing and payment services, the software indicates what paperwork you must file on the state and federal level and how much you need to pay from each payroll run.
- Self-Service Portal. Wave Payroll offers employees a self-service portal that allows them to access their pay stubs and W-2 forms without HR involvement. They can also use the platform to update their contact and banking information.
- Invoicing. To send an invoice, you must only send an invoicing email using the Wave “pay now” button. Wave offers a mobile app that makes paying invoices easy from anywhere. Clients can pay using a credit card or Apple Pay from the email and funds will arrive in your account in two business days. Once you’ve sent an invoice or received a payment, the data is automatically recorded in your accounting records for effortless reporting and tax filing.The Wave invoicing Starter plan is free, offers unlimited invoices and can be used in conjunction with Wave Payroll without an extra expense. However, to accept credit card or ACH/EFT payments, you must pay:
- 2.9% plus $0.60 per Visa, Mastercard or Discover transaction
- 3.4% plus $0.60 per Amex transaction
- 1% of your invoice amount per ACH/EFT transaction
Pricing
Wave offers two plans based on the state in which you operate your business. If you operate in one of the 14 states in which Wave offers tax services, you will pay a higher base monthly rate to take advantage of these services. All other states must remit payment and file their taxes themselves and so will pay a lower monthly base rate for Wave’s payroll solution. Both plans come with a 30-day free trial.
Tax Service States
Most businesses using Wave Payroll will need to pay a $20 monthly base fee, plus $6 per active employee or contractor paid per month to use Wave’s payroll solution. This is because Wave does not offer tax payment and filing services in 37 U.S. states (see next plan for states that are excluded from this plan.). Payroll tools offered in this plan include:
- Employee and independent contractor payments
- An employee self-service portal
- Direct deposit payments
- Workers’ compensation
- Accounting records
- Tax filing documents for employees and contractors
- Payroll expense reporting
- Leave time tracking and accruals
- Integrations with Wave Accounting, Invoicing and Payments
- Live chat customer support Monday through Friday
- Email support
- The ability to pause your subscription during off-seasons
Self-Serve States
In addition to all the features in the Tax Service plan, Wave offers automated payroll tax services in 14 U.S. states. If your business operates in any of these states, you must choose this plan. The Self-Serve States plan costs $40 per month plus $6 per contractor paid and active employee. It offers automatic calculations, remittance and filing of payroll taxes. The states in which this plan applies are: Arizona, California, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Minnesota, New York, North Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, Washington, Wisconsin.
Reputation
Wave Payroll earns four out of five stars on Capterra with 61 reviews and 4.1 out of five stars on G2 with 31 user ratings. Users like that the software is extremely easy to use and set up, is affordable and has free features such as invoicing.
However, they say that the software does not offer enough customization options, nor does it offer detailed reporting to meet their needs. They also say its customer support is unhelpful; the chat bot does not offer relevant solutions and when they email customer support, it often doesn’t, either. They say the limited features the platform offers makes it a good option for companies with five to 10 employees but no more.
Our Experience
I tested Wave Payroll on a Mac computer and a Safari browser. Signing up for the free trial was simple, taking only a couple of minutes. I simply had to input my name, email address and phone number. I was sent a code to my phone to verify my identity. After inputting the code, I was asked simple questions about how I wanted to use the account, such as if I wanted to invoice clients or run payroll.
Once set up, the account brought me to an initial reporting dashboard. The dashboard had a handful of reports and optional action items but didn’t feel cluttered or overwhelming. Reports I could access right away included a cash flow analysis for my business, a list of outstanding invoices, bills my company owes, an income and expense statement by fiscal year and an expense breakdown pie chart with percentages for each expense category.
Adding an employee could not have been simpler in my case, though there was more manual data entry than I preferred. I clicked “add an employee” from the initial dashboard and was taken to a form to fill in information on my employee. Information I had to enter included the employee’s full name and Social Security number, their home address, a work location, the type of wage they would receive (salary or hourly, for example), their email address and how I wanted to pay them (direct deposit, for example).
Since I was given the option to send them an invite to input their own information, I would have preferred to only input about half of this data before sending the invite. However, I only had to click a box and click “submit” to send an invite to my employee. Still, the process did not require any technical knowledge and each step was intuitive to complete.
Some features I wish were better include its automation options, customization options and chat support. There are almost no automation options and you cannot customize the dashboard at all. Reporting also did not offer customization options. In addition, when I contacted the chat support to ask if I had missed any customization options, I was given irrelevant responses and prompted to contact customer support via email. All in all, the chat support feature was unhelpful.
In addition, when trying to access tax services, I was simply upsold by a partner company that wanted $500 plus $150 to do my taxes. In other screens, I was prompted to buy more products from Wave Payroll. I would have preferred to be contacted some other way to be asked to buy more products from Wave or its partners.
Who Should Use It?
Wave is a unique fit for microbusinesses and solopreneurs who pay a small team heavy in contractors and part-timers, and frequently invoice clients or customers for online payment. And, with the ability to pause the subscription, it is great for service companies such as landscapers who hire contractors often and endure off-seasons.
Learn more: Read the full Wave Payroll review.
Pros & Cons
- One platform for payroll, accounting and invoicing
- Clean user interface for employers and employees
- Easy payroll for employees and contractors
- An option to pause your subscription during off-seasons
- No benefits administration
- Automatic payroll taxes only available in 14 state
- Limited customer support
- Almost no customization options
Expert Scores
Decision Factor | Score | Expert Take |
---|---|---|
Features | Wave is a very basic payroll software suitable for small teams. As such, it does not have the features you’d expect to scale payroll processes, such as automated payroll processing or employee time keeping. It also lacks many payroll features most companies will at least eventually need, such as garnishment support and advanced reporting. However, it does offer free tools that can be very helpful to small businesses, such as free and unlimited invoicing, the ability to accept credit cards, contractor payment processing and the ability to pause your subscription during off-seasons. With such a basic offering but enough to get started with payroll processing, I gave Wave Payroll a three-star expert rating on payroll features. | |
Value for the Money | Wave Payroll is one of the most affordable solutions on our list. Its Basic subscription starts at $20 a month plus $6 per active employee or paid contractor. However, if you live in one of the 14 states where Wave offers tax services, that base monthly price doubles, making it on par with most of the small business payroll services on this list. However, it has less features than many providers on this list, which is why I awarded Wave Payroll a 4.6-star rating instead of a five-star rating. | |
Popularity | Compared to many competitors, Wave Payroll does not have many reviews on popular technology review sites such as G2 and Capterra. It only has 61 reviews on Capterra and 31 on G2. However, it consistently earns about a 4-star review on such sites. When coupled together, these factors lent to my 3.8-star rating in our popularity expert score category for Wave Payroll. | |
Ease of Use | Wave Payroll could not be easier to use. It requires no learning curve in my experience and many users agree. Even when filling out simple, seemingly self-explanatory forms on the platform, instructions are provided. However, in our experience and those of its users, Wave does not provide quality customer support. Its chat support feature is a bot that does not offer relevant or helpful information. Instead, you are prompted to send an email and users say response times are not prompt and agents aren’t knowledgeable. Because of this customer support experience and the platform’s intuitive user experience, I awarded Wave a 4.5-star rating for ease of use. |
Best for Growing Enterprises
Paycor
On Paycor's Website
$99 plus $5 per employee
Yes
Yes
Editor's Take
Paycor is a full-service HR platform that supports companies from recruiting to termination.
It offers an employee portal online and through the Paycor mobile app, so employees can access pay stubs, documents, time-off requests, performance evaluations and employee development all from their phones.
You can add on benefits administration for an extra fee and let employees manage and enroll in benefits through the self-service portal, as well.
Lisa Lindsey, PHR, SHRM-CP, our advisory board member, also likes the full-service aspect of Paycor: “Growing companies can find value in the full suite of HR tools in addition to payroll processing.”
Key Features
Key Paycor features include its payroll processing tools, tax compliance services, mobile wallet (complete with a self-serve mobile portal) and expense tracking and reimbursement tools. Here is a closer look at each.
- Payroll Processing. Paycor offers automated payroll processing with the option to pay using direct deposit, check (either in-person or online) or card payments. When running payroll, it allows you to take into account wage garnishments and time-off requests. You can also integrate the payroll feature with Paycor’s time and attendance tool to track employee hours and pay them accurately. In addition, it offers a couple of unique features. First, its Paycor Visa card offers an alternative avenue to pay employees. It also offers an OnDemand Pay option that allows you to pay employees early as needed.
- Tax Compliance Services. Paycor offers hands-off tax filing services with W-2 and 1099 processing. It also offers constant tax-compliance guidance, alerts and warnings (if, for example, you entered an invalid tax ID number) and tax setup guidance for each employee you add to the system based on their work and home addresses.
- Mobile Wallet and Self-Serve App. Using Paycor’s mobile wallet, employees can access their wages from the app and even use up to 50% of their earned wages before payday. It also offers a Paycor Visa card where employees can receive direct deposit payments up to two days sooner than a direct deposit into a personal bank account. In addition, the wallet comes with tools to help employees manage their finances, access discounts and their bills. Finally, as with most mobile payroll apps, employees can view their earnings, deductions and tax withholdings using the wallet.
- Expense Tracking and Reimbursement. An ideal tool for remote employees who have travel, Wi-Fi bills or office supply expenses, Paycor’s mobile app offers expense tracking and reimbursement tools. Employees can enter expenses from the app, where managers can then approve them. From there, approved reimbursements are automatically calculated and paid as part of Paycor’s payroll processes. Other relevant expense tracking and reimbursement tools within the app include: expense reporting, receipt capture, mileage tracking, alerts, and customizable categories (such as airfare or meals).
Pricing
Paycor offers four payroll plans, including its Basic, Essential, Core and Complete plans. Pricing for them is not publicly available. You must request a quote to get pricing details. However, you can expect a 50% discount for the first six months of your chosen plan subscription as part of Paycor’s current promotion. Here is a look at the features offered in each plan:
Basic
The Basic plan offers features you need to pay employees and manage tax compliance. Its payroll processing features include:
- Automated pay runs
- Basic tax services
- Wage garnishments
- Pay options
- Off-cycle pay runs
- Check stuffing
- Online check stubs
- Online payroll reporting
- Local and state tax filing and payments
Essential
Paycor’s Essential plan offers new hire productivity tools in addition to payroll and tax compliance features, such as:
- All the features listed in the Basic plan
- Reporting options and a report builder
- A general ledger report
- A month-end accounting package
- Onboarding
- 401(k) processing
- Paycor recruit and hire
- Basic Analytics
- An HR support center
Core
The Core plan offers all the features in the Basic and Essential plans, plus:
- An HR platform
- Employee engagement tools
Complete
Finally, Paycor’s most feature-rich plan is its Complete plan. It offers the features of the first three tiers plus the following tools:
- Employee career management
- Employee compensation planning
- Talent development
Reputation
Paycor has a 4.4 rating on Capterra with over 2,700 reviews. However, it only has a 3.9 rating on G2 with five user reviews. Users say the software’s customer support representatives are friendly but sometimes slow to respond. They also say the software is pricey compared to other payroll software options. However, they like that the platform is easy to use, offers guided setup and training and all the basic features most businesses need to manage their payroll and HR needs.
Our Experience
I tested Paycor using a Mac laptop computer. Paycor offers a testing account with sandbox data, and I found the system interface to be clean and intuitive to navigate. All features are clearly listed in the right-hand menu.
Reviewing and managing payroll was a familiar process because of its intuitive grid or spreadsheet-like layout. For those who have managed payroll through Excel or Google Sheets, this system will make sense to you.
I could process payroll in two clicks. To change pay rates or correct time worked, I only had to click on a cell to input the new data point. Filters along the top of the spreadsheet allowed me to easily add or remove columns of information I needed, such as bonuses, holidays, paid time off, overtime premium and overtime hours. Once I’ve reviewed the pay run, I simply had to click “approve payroll” to run my payroll for that pay period.
The reporting feature is robust and customizable. Paycor offers a report builder tool that allows you to select a report you want to run, then customize it by selecting available options. For example, you can choose from a selection of onboarding, time, payroll, HR or security reports. Once I chose my report, it offered a list of columns I could include or exclude. I simply had to check the corresponding boxes to add or remove columns, such as:
- Full name
- Pay rate
- Manager
- Current annual hours
- Benefit base salary
- Work location
I could also use filters to group data by department or pay type, for example.
The home also had a familiar newsletter-like layout. It offered easy customizations by allowing me to add or remove modules. For example, when I signed into my account, I clicked “customize homepage” from the top menu and was presented with a list of available modules. From there, I clicked the corresponding X or “activate” link next to a module to add or remove it from my homepage. I could choose from the following modules to include:
- My team
- My paycheck
- Leader insights
- Time insights
- My notifications
- Tasks
- Onboarding
- Tax documents creation status
Overall, in my experience, Paycor’s user experience required no learning curve. Task workflows were self-explanatory and required minimal effort on my part. However, the system seemed a bit glitchy. It kept signing me out and requiring me to sign back in in the middle of tasks. This was a minimal disturbance but still a disturbance that cost me time and effort to handle.
Who Should Use It?
Paycor offers plans for businesses of all sizes, but the software is best for medium and large businesses with more complex HR needs than smaller companies.
Learn more: Read the full Paycor review.
Pros & Cons
- Robust mobile app with mobile wallet and debit card
- Time and attendance tracking
- Expense tracking and reimbursements
- Automated tax filings and payments
- Two-click payroll runs
- High cost relative to competitors
- No pricing transparency
- Clunky employee portal interface
- Glitchy sign-in/sign-out process
Expert Scores
Decision Factor | Score | Expert Take |
---|---|---|
Features | Paycor offers all the features we look for in a domestic payroll software, including automated payroll runs, time and attendance tools, a self-serve portal, automated tax filings and payments, direct deposit options and wage garnishment management tools. It also offers some extra features, such as tax compliance alerts and setup guidance by location. However, unlike some competitors, it does not offer international payroll tools, which is why I awarded it a 4.8-star rating rather than a 5-star rating. | |
Value for the Money | Paycor is difficult to assess in terms of pricing. It offers no public pricing details on its website, though it does at least offer information on what is included in each plan. Its free trial is also not usable by most businesses. Its included sandbox data makes it a great testing tool but not a usable free trial. However, it does currently offer a 50% discount on plan pricing for the first six months to try the software. | |
Popularity | Paycor has a 4.4-star rating on Capterra with 2,764 reviews and a 3.9-star rating on G2 with five user reviews. Users say the software offers great customer support once you get them on the phone; however, you speak to a different person every time you call and response times vary significantly, making the customer support experience frustrating at times. However, users like that the payroll software is easy to use, integrates seamlessly with other tools (such as time and attendance and HR tools), and comes with guided and thorough setup assistance. Due to its sparse presence on popular review sites and customers’ ratings, I’ve awarded Paycor 4.0 stars for popularity. | |
Ease of Use | In my experience testing Paycor, the software offers a familiar interface and requires little to no learning curve. However, it can be somewhat glitchy. It repeatedly signed me out throughout the testing process, which did affect how easy the software was to use. For this reason, I’ve awarded Paycor 4.0 stars for ease of use. |
Best for Payroll Automations
Rippling
On Rippling's website
$8 per month per user
Yes
Yes
Editor's Take
Rippling offers all the tools you’d expect in a small business payroll software, including automated payroll, tax filing support, direct deposit payments and reporting. And, notably, it makes running and managing payroll extra intuitive by offering automations that ripple across the system so all parts of the software, from its IT and Financial Cloud to its HR and payroll features, are always in sync.
Lisa Lindsey, PHR, SHRM-CP, our advisory board member, sees a lot of value in Rippling: ”Rippling is an exciting product for startups where a single person is often performing the HR, finance and IT functions. These functions are intertwined, and the simplicity of a single system to manage the overlapping tasks is heaven-sent.”
Key Features
Rippling stands out with its automated payroll tools. True to its name, one change in the payroll system creates an automated ripple effect, updating all aspects of payroll that are impacted. For example, if an employee moves to begin a new role after being promoted, the hiring manager may change that employee’s compensation. This change initiates changes in tax withholdings, tax filings, payroll calculations, healthcare deductions and more, all without the manager having to lift a finger.
Here are some standout features included in Rippling’s automated payroll features:
- Automated payroll in 50 states and internationally
- Garnishments
- Time tracking sync with payroll
- Direct deposit or check options for employees
- Job costing and multiple pay rate management
- W-2, W-4, 1099 and new hire filing
- Updates to compliance laws
- 90-second payroll runs
Pricing
To access Rippling payroll, you must subscribe to two of the Rippling modules, including its Unity and HR modules. The Unity module is responsible for uniting any other modules you select into the core Rippling platform, including its IT Cloud, Finance Cloud and HR Cloud. Specifically, its HR Cloud offers domestic and global payroll services. In the end, this means you must pay for two modules for each employee to get started with Rippling payroll tools, including its:
- Unity Core tier license: This system is $8 per month per employee. It offers a unified workforce directory, workflow automations, analytics, approval management, groups and permissions, document management and custom fields and mapping.
- HR Cloud: Rippling’s HR Cloudcloud must be used in conjunction with its Unity platform. It is $8 per employee per month and offers employee onboarding and offboarding tools, global payroll, benefits management, learning management, talent recruiting tools, time and attendance and optional professional employer organization (PEO) services. With its PEO services, you can opt to have Rippling handle your HR processes.
Reputation
Rippling earns a 4.8 star rating on G2 with 2,2802,800 user reviews and a 4.9 rating on Capterra with more than 3,000 user reviews. Its users praise the platform for its user-friendliness and clean user interface. They say the Rippling customer support is overall responsive and helpful and they haven’t experienced an overly steep learning curve with the platform. Any time they have a question, they rarely have to reach out for live support because Rippling’s troubleshooting articles help them easily resolve the issue themselves.
However, they report that there are a lot of features to consider when setting up the platform. Adding helpful features such as the IT or workflow modules can get pricey. In addition, there may be a lot of features small businesses may not need.
Our Experience
In my experience, setting up automations was as intuitive as possible, given the large ripple effect each automation produces. I had to first set up people groups within the platform, including their permission levels and other specifications. Once I did so, it was easy to add people to those groups with just a few clicks and trust the system to update their access levels, applicable policies, tax filing workflows, hierarchical protocols, communication channels and devices.
Running payroll happens using a simple spreadsheet interface. I could change payment details, approve payments and run payroll right from the spreadsheet. The spreadsheet automatically calculates all related expenses, including:
- Employer and employee taxes
- Overtime
- Blended rates
- Salaries and hourly rates
- Hours worked
- Deductions
- Overtime
Any systems that must sync to derive this data, such as time clock software or systems, happen automatically, so I didn’t have to worry about any of those processes.
Who Should Use It?
Rippling is best for small businesses that hire talent internationally and need an automated way to handle payroll runs, compliance and tax filings across the globe. It is also best for growing businesses that need automation tools to scale their payroll and compliance efforts as they grow.
Learn more: Read the full Rippling review.
Pros & Cons
- Easy to use
- Lots of automations
- Global payroll
- Automated tax filings
- Pricey compared to some competitors
- Lots of features may be overwhelming for small businesses
Expert Scores
Decision Factor | Score | Expert Take |
---|---|---|
Features | Rippling offers all the core tools we look for in a payroll service: an employee portal, tax filing support, automated payroll runs, direct deposit and reporting. With each feature, it takes the capabilities to the extreme, offering a truly intuitive and automated experience to keep labor costs down and efficiencies high across all business departments and systems. | |
Value for the Money | While Rippling’s payroll tools start at $8 per month per user, you must purchase it as an add-on to its Unity module, which is an additional $8 per user per month. Adding other features you might want costs even more. These fees add up and can become cost-prohibitive for many small businesses. | |
Popularity | Rippling earns an overall excellent star rating on user review platforms such as G2 and Capterra, along with thousands of reviews. Users say it is user-friendly and has all the features they need and more. But, the robust feature set comes with a learning curve and some technical glitches, knocking my rating down from 5 to 4.8. | |
Ease of Use | While Rippling offers an intuitive, modern interface, it has far more features than the typical small business would need, creating a sometimes frustrating navigation experience for less tech-savvy employees and earning it a 4.5 rating rather than a 5-five star rating from me. |
Methodology
To determine the best payroll services for small businesses, Forbes Advisor researched the industry and analyzed 23 different companies and their plans. We then scored these contenders across 34 metrics in five categories weighted to favor features that small business owners find valuable in a payroll provider. Here’s a breakdown of the categories we used to rank the providers that made the top of the list.
Decision Factor | Scoring Weight | Description |
---|---|---|
Expert Score | 10% | Our in-house experts assign each provider a score according to the breadth and depth of features, the provider’s value for the price, the provider’s reputation and level of dominance in the payroll services market and its ease of use. |
Pricing | 20% | For pricing, we considered whether a service offers a free trial, as well as the affordability of its lowest and highest price tiers. Companies that offer upfront pricing received higher ratings here than those that require filling out a lead capture form or making a call to a sales department for a quote. |
Service and Support | 15% | We considered the range of support options available from each provider (for example, via chat, phone, email or knowledge base). The more support venues, the better. |
General Features | 35% | We prioritized these essential payroll features for each provider: self-service employee portal; payroll reporting and analytics; ledger reporting; tax filing, payments and compliance support; and the availability of free direct deposit and automated and unlimited payroll. |
Additional Features | 20% | We also took into account the features that some, but not all, payroll providers offer that give them an edge, including but not limited to integration with benefits administration and time tracking software, the ability to process independent contractor payments (domestically and internationally) and international employee payroll availability. |
Read More:How We Evaluate Payroll Services
What Are Payroll Services?
Payroll refers to the total compensation a company pays employees for their work. Payroll also refers to the process of calculating employees’ net pay and initiating payment to them. Whether you have one employee or 100, you’ll need to process payroll to ensure they get paid correctly and that proper records are kept.
How Does a Payroll Service Work?
Although each has a unique design with varied features, most online payroll services work basically the same way. They typically include a cloud-based portal for both employers and employees. Employers—or your accountant, bookkeeper or HR employee—set up benefits and salaries for employees and, on some platforms, contractors.
When you hire a new worker, you can invite them to self-onboard through the employee portal, so you’ll easily gather their W-4 or W-9 form and contact information, and they can sign up for relevant benefits.
Some payroll services offer automated payroll, so you can set worker pay and employees can track their time (if necessary) and the service runs payroll on schedule. The services let workers enter direct deposit information, and you connect a business bank account on the employer end, so payroll runs without you having to print and deliver checks.
If payroll isn’t automated, you have to run it manually on schedule a couple of days before payday, entering worker pay amounts and scheduling paydays.
Many online payroll services include features that help you administer benefits in the same platform, as well as integrations for accounting software. Many offer workers the option to get a payment card, so they can receive money before payday and use the card directly to make purchases.
Some payroll services are part of comprehensive HR platforms that include not only pay and benefits but also employee development, education and coaching programs.
How To Use a Payroll Service
How your team uses an online payroll system will vary depending on the size of your team, the expertise of your employees and the system you use. Most services come with excellent sales and customer service reps who can help you get set up and answer questions you have along the way.
A basic payroll solution helps you pay employees and, on some platforms, contractors. Use it to facilitate direct deposit as well as to manage payroll checks, taxes and reporting.
Most payroll services also include benefits administration, so you can use the platform to set up paid time off, retirement plans, insurance and other benefits for employees and integrate benefits with payroll.
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How To Choose a Payroll Service
The best payroll services offer core capabilities, ample software integrations and other key features that may or may not match your company’s current size and payroll needs.
Ask an expert
How do I find the best payroll service?
Lisa Lindsey
Forbes Business Advisory Board Member
Alana Rudder
Staff Reviewer
Rachel Williams
Small Business Editor
You want to ensure that you have a reliable professional preview your system implementation to ensure that your payroll is set up completely and in a way that positions you to grow effectively. Additionally, make sure you have support with processing the first few payrolls via your new system to identify and fix any errors.
Lisa Lindsey
Forbes Business Advisory Board Member
Start by pinpointing your biggest payroll challenges. For example, is your biggest challenge time? If so, choose a payroll software with automation features such as autopilot payroll runs and automated tax filing. Or, are payroll labor costs mounting up? Then, look for a software with a free version or one with enough features to replace some of your labor needs, such as a PEO that will handle your payroll management.
Alana Rudder
Staff Reviewer
Look for a service that offers essential features like accurate payroll processing, tax compliance and employee self-service options. Make sure it aligns with your business’s growth plans. For example, maybe you have only a handful of employees now but want to grow in the future and will need more bells and whistles.
Rachel Williams
Small Business Editor
Essential Features
These features make payroll tools a step up from running payroll manually with a spreadsheet.
- Variety of payment methods: Payroll software should provide a range of ways to pay your employees, whether through paper checks, direct deposit or via prepaid debit card.
- Payroll tax filing and payment: Payroll software and services should automatically prepare, file and pay taxes based on where your employees live. This feature is all the more important for companies that hire employees in multiple U.S. states and in other countries.
- Unlimited payroll runs: If you have employees and contractors that get paid on different schedules, you’ll want a payroll solution that allows unlimited payroll runs for flexibility.
- Self-service: An advantage of payroll software and services is that they provide an online portal for HR staff, payroll administrators and employees to view and sometimes make changes to payroll-related data.
- Basic reports: Payroll software runs a variety of reports on company-wide or individual levels for metrics such as total compensation, deductions or taxes paid in a given quarter or tax year.
- Automatic compliance updates: Payroll software and services stay up to date with the latest payroll and tax regulations, so you don’t have to.
- Mobile access: HR staff, payroll administrators and employees should be able to access payroll tools on the go. Employees especially should have access to their pay history and pay stubs through the mobile app.
Software Integrations
The payroll software you use should integrate with QuickBooks or whichever accounting software you use to keep an accurate record of payroll history in the event of an audit. Payroll software should also integrate with benefits administration software for accurate deductions and with time tracking software.
Other Important Considerations
To further evaluate your payroll needs, answer these ten questions about your business and its payroll system.
- What is the size of my business? Christine Stolpe, CPP, president and CEO of Wages Creek Consulting, notes this as a key factor that small businesses must consider when choosing a payroll platform so that they don’t outgrow the system too quickly. When considering outsourcing payroll, you don’t need to think about the size of your business in terms of its turnover or number of customers. You need to take into account just two things: how many employees do you have currently and how many more are you likely to add in the near one to two years?
- What types of employees do I have? You can have both regular employees and independent contractors on your payroll. Additionally, you might pay your employees a fixed monthly salary, hourly wages or a base wage plus commissions or tips. Payment structure and taxation requirements for each of them differ and you need to know these numbers to evaluate your payroll needs. If you have only independent contractors, you might be able to meet your needs using an online payroll system, which is usually cheaper.
- How do I pay my employees? Do you need to make direct deposits or handle check payments? Do you need to make international payments via platforms like Stripe and PayPal? Think about how you will get money from your bank account to your employees and make it as painless as possible.
- How often do I pay my employees? Do you pay all your employees at one time, or do you have different schedules for different categories? For instance, you might be paying them weekly or biweekly. In the case of independent contractors, you might be paying them anytime they invoice you. The payroll system should be able to handle these payouts in addition to off-cycle payments like expense reimbursements, bonuses, commissions, etc.
- Are all employees based out of the same location? If you have employees spread across different states or around the globe, you will need to meet more regulations. With hybrid and remote work becoming commonplace as a result of the pandemic, you must consider if you might have people working from different locations in the future.
- Who is responsible for processing payroll? If you have a dedicated person or team for processing payroll, you will likely be able to manage with a DIY payroll solution, which could be cheaper. Otherwise, you should consider investing in an outsourced payroll service even if it is more expensive. This will help ensure that payments are processed accurately and on time.Lisa Lindsey, PHR, SHRM-CP, an HR professional with over 20 years of experience, says, “In either case, you want to ensure that you have a reliable professional preview your system implementation to ensure that your payroll is set up completely and in a way that positions you to grow effectively. Additionally, make sure you have support with processing the first few payrolls via your new system to identify and fix any errors.”
- What are my local/state payroll laws? The payroll laws depend upon the locality, state and countries where your employees reside. You must know what city, state, federal or international payroll laws you need to comply with. If you’re not sure, contact a payroll professional in your area to get some guidance.
- How do I want payroll taxes handled? Payroll taxes can get complex and tedious as your business grows. You need to decide if you want the new payroll solution to handle taxes or not. If the answer is yes, look closely at the cost for year-end calculations because that usually comes with an extra price tag. If you don’t, make sure to hire a reliable tax professional to handle this process for you.
- What deductions do I need to plan for? Before disbursing payments, you need to withhold deductions for taxes, such as income tax and Social Security tax; wage garnishments, such as unpaid loans, alimony, and child support; and benefits, such as health insurance.
- What is my budget? Cost is an important factor when choosing a payroll company. You must have an estimate in mind that you are willing to pay monthly or annually to meet your payroll needs. This will help ensure that you don’t overextend yourself when you are tempted to pay extra for à la carte features.
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How Much Do Payroll Services Cost?
“Cost is always an issue for small business but a cheap system costs more in bad press when the payroll system fails and employees go unpaid,” Stolpe says. “Remember that employees are the greatest resource and the expectation is that they will be paid timely and accurately.”
Besides a fixed monthly cost, online payroll services often charge per transaction or employee payment. This implies that the larger the number of employees, the greater the transaction fee. If you are planning to expand your workforce, carefully consider how your payroll service cost will change while you are growing. Most payroll providers have a tiered payment structure to cater to businesses of different sizes. Evaluate which tier would be least expensive for you in the long run before signing up.
You might need to opt for paid add-ons to ensure you have all the “must have” features in your payroll service. Be mindful of how much they cost. If you can squeeze some “good to have” features as well, do so but don’t overextend yourself.
To sum up, these are some of the costs you need to look at before you make a final decision:
- Base subscription fee
- Setup and support fees
- Taxes and compliance fees
- Per-employee fees
- Add-on fees
Forbes Advisor deputy editor Lauren Holznienkemper contributed to this article.
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Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
What are payroll services?
Payroll refers to the total compensation a company pays employees for their work. Payroll also refers to the process of calculating employees’ net pay and initiating payment to them. Whether you have one employee or 100, you’ll need to process payroll to ensure they get paid correctly and that proper records are kept.
What is the best payroll company?
The best payroll software for your company depends on your business size and needs. Top payroll services for small businesses include OnPay, Gusto and ADP RUN. Traditional companies offer customizable plans to fit your needs while platforms tailored for startups offer straightforward pricing and all-inclusive packages you can get up and running in minutes.
What type of HR features should a payroll system have?
A payroll system should have these features:
- Data sync with time tracking, benefits administration and employee data
- A variety of payment methods, including direct deposit and prepaid debit cards
- Payroll tax filing and payment
- Unlimited payroll runs
- Self-service
- Basic payroll reports
- Automatic compliance updates
- Mobile access
What are the benefits of payroll software?
The benefits of payroll software are payroll accuracy, timeliness and compliance. Plus, due to automations, payroll software saves HR staff time.
How do you set up payroll?
Here’s how to get your payroll started:
- Set a pay cycle
- Collect employee information and tax documents
- Calculate gross pay
- Determine net pay
- Initiate payment
- Pay taxes and keep records of payment
What is a PEO payroll service?
A PEO payroll service is a co-employer that manages your employee data and other core HR activities for your company, including payroll. It’s essentially a way to outsource your payroll.
How long does payroll take to process?
It typically takes five business days between finalizing internal payroll processes and employees receiving the check in their bank account through direct deposit. It takes longer if employees receive mailed checks.