Payroll software empowers business owners, HR departments and accounting teams to tackle employee pay in-house. The right software can streamline tedious tasks like tax filing, which in turn frees up time to spend on other aspects of business management.
Gusto is the best payroll software solution for many small businesses because of its thorough automation, comprehensive payroll tools and optional employee benefits with built-in administration. But if Gusto isn’t the best fit for you, we have seven other payroll solutions for you to consider. Below, we’ll weigh their features, strengths and weaknesses.
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Every payroll software on our list can be used to determine paycheck amounts, automate employee payments, generate payroll reports and calculate payroll taxes. All of our top payroll services also include unlimited payroll runs, meaning users can run payroll an unlimited number of times per month without incurring an extra fee.
The top payroll management systems differ in terms of starting price, app availability, third-party integrations (especially accounting software integration), time tracking and employee benefits administration.
| Feature | Starting base price | Starting per-payee price | Free trial | General ledger integration | Learn more |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Gusto | $40/mo. | $6/payee | No | Yes | |
| ADP | Custom quote | Custom quote | Up to 3 mos. | Yes | |
| Rippling | Custom quote | $8/payee | No | Yes | |
| OnPay | $40/mo. | $6/payee | 30 days | Yes | |
| Papaya | N/A | $12/payee | Unlisted | Yes | |
| Paychex | $39/mo. | $5/payee | No | Add’tl fee | |
| SurePayroll | $19.99/mo. | $4/payee | Up to 6 mos. | Yes | |
| QuickBooks Payroll | $45/mo. | $5/payee | 30 days | Yes |
Data accurate and verified as of 6/15/2023.
The best payroll software for most businesses isn’t necessarily the best payroll software for your business. As you weigh your options, consider what level of customer support you need, whether you need a scalable product and how many employees you hope to eventually add to your company.
Perhaps most importantly, make sure the payroll software you choose can support your business’s size. Several of the payroll software we review below is geared toward small and midsize businesses, though some (like ADP and Rippling) can support large enterprises as well. To learn more about payroll software specific to your business’s size, see the following reviews:
Gusto’s modern payroll and HR platform offers payroll processing, employee benefits administration and talent management solutions. As one of the most popular small-business payroll providers, Gusto integrates with dozens of popular third-party applications, including accounting solutions like QuickBooks Online and Xero.
Along with third-party integrations, Gusto’s payroll service also has built-in time tracking and project tracking features for higher-priced plans. These capabilities enable users to quickly track team hours and process time off requests and approvals. Workers can track their time by logging their hours on a computer or through Gusto’s employee mobile time-tracking app, which uses geolocation to verify hours.
Gusto offers three pricing tiers:
If you pay contractors only, Gusto’s contractor plan costs $6 per contractor paid per month for six months, then $35 per month plus the per-contractor fee after that. Gusto also has an international contractor payment plan that lets businesses pay independent contractors in 95+ countries.
Learn more about Gusto by reading our in-depth Gusto payroll software review.
With ADP’s main payroll product for small and midsize businesses, RUN Powered by ADP, business owners can run payroll automatically and pay employees using multiple pay methods. Every plan comes with HR tools like new-hire reporting, onboarding assistance, background checks and built-in time and attendance.
ADP’s other payroll products include its PEO ADP TotalSource, ADP Workforce Now for midsize and larger businesses and ADP Global Payroll for multi-country companies and enterprises. If you’re interested in a cheaper product, Roll by ADP is an ADP-backed payroll app for the smallest of small businesses. It starts at $29 a month plus $5 per employee.
ADP doesn’t list the base prices for any of its payroll solutions online, including RUN Powered by ADP. Interested parties must contact ADP directly for a quote.
Many of ADP’s plans and products can be completely customized, and you can also request a customized demo when deciding whether or not to purchase ADP.
Learn more about ADP in our thorough ADP Workforce Now review.
Rippling’s full-service payroll solution has excellent built-in compliance support and HR tools, which makes it a solid alternative to software that focus more on payroll than they do on HR (for instance, Gusto). Its payroll plan includes workers’ compensation insurance administration, customizable reports and excellent compliance oversight. Most notably, Rippling lets businesses build custom automations, including custom policies for syncing payroll data with your general ledger.
Rippling’s other HR products include time and attendance software, benefits administration, applicant tracking and learning management. Companies can also add Rippling’s IT and finance software to its HR and payroll plan, creating a customizable package that grows with companies as they scale from startups to international enterprises.
Rippling charges $8 per employee per month on top of a standard monthly base fee. However, Rippling doesn’t list its base price online (though the site previously listed its starting price at $35 per month). Plus, each additional module costs an extra per-employee or per-month charge, which can cause package prices to add up quickly.
Dig deeper into Rippling’s features by reading our Rippling payroll review.
OnPay’s payroll software program helps businesses in all industries pay employees, offer benefits, deposit taxes and get solid HR assistance. Along with its general payroll services, OnPay also offers industry-specific payroll services tailor-made for more niche companies. For instance, OnPay’s bar and restaurant payroll solution includes features for processing tipped wages, employee onboarding and time-tracking software integrations.
All of OnPay’s payroll plans include an impressive amount of HR features (especially when compared to similar HR payroll solutions like Gusto). Features like compliance auditing and HR library access give small and midsize businesses access to HR tools they’d typically have to pay extra for. OnPay’s stellar payroll features include wage garnishment and free multi-state payroll — two services most of the other top payroll systems charge extra for.
OnPay payroll has just one plan that includes all of its payroll and HR features. It costs $40 per month as a base fee plus $6 per month per employee.
Learn more about OnPay’s payroll system by reading our comprehensive OnPay review.
Papaya Global is one of the best payroll software programs for international businesses. Its global payroll services let employers pay workers in 12 local currency systems in more than 160 countries. Papaya can deposit paychecks directly into employees’ bank accounts, and it can also make third-party payments on your behalf to entities like the IRS or legally mandated pension accounts around the world.
Businesses that currently use a payroll provider other than Papaya and don’t want to switch can still take advantage of Papaya’s international payroll services by paying for its payroll platform license, which costs $3 a month per employee. Plus, Papaya has a global benefits package that helps businesses offer global health insurance and provide localized benefits.
In contrast to most global payroll system providers, Papaya Global lists its starting prices upfront:
Learn more about whether Papaya Global will work for you by reading our in-depth Papaya review.
Paychex’s all-in-one payroll software solution includes HR and payroll tools with optional add-on employee benefits. Unlike single-plan solutions (such as Square Payroll or OnPay), Paychex has four payroll plans that are designed for startups, enterprises and everything in between.
While Paychex has more or less the same full-service payroll features as Gusto, it has a more robust set of HR features. In contrast to Paychex’s professional employer organization service, its payroll and HR software isn’t a total HR solution. However, each Paychex plan has far more HR tools and support than any of Gusto’s plans, including access to a comprehensive HR library, optional financial wellness benefits for employees and access to labor posters.
Paychex offers three different pricing tiers for its HR solutions:
Learn more about Paychex by reading our in-depth Paychex software review.
SurePayroll is both the cheapest payroll provider on our list of best payroll software as well as one of the cheapest payroll providers overall. Its lower price point doesn’t prevent SurePayroll from offering extensive payroll features — in some cases, more features than its paid payroll competitors. For instance, both SurePayroll plans include new-hire reporting, free two-day direct deposit and access to HR features like labor law compliance posters.
Businesses can also use SurePayroll to find 401(k) retirement plans for employees as well as health insurance and workers’ compensation insurance. SurePayroll also offers optional hiring tools like pre-employment screening and background checks.
SurePayroll has two plans, both with transparent pricing:
SurePayroll also has a handful of optional add-on costs. For example, multi-state tax filing costs an extra $9.99 per state.
Find out if SurePayroll is a good fit for you by reading our SurePayroll review.
QuickBooks Payroll integrates naturally with QuickBooks Online, Intuit’s leading cloud-based accounting software used by thousands of companies globally. Since Intuit’s cloud-based products were built specifically for non-accountant business owners, those who already manage their finances through QuickBooks Online should enjoy a relatively low learning curve if they add QuickBooks Payroll.
Although QuickBooks Payroll has a relatively high starting base price, its per-employee fee is notably low. As a result, regardless of its higher base price, QuickBooks Payroll is cheaper for small and midsize businesses with five or more employees compared to similar payroll programs like Gusto, ADP and OnPay.
Unlike some of its top competitors, QuickBooks Online Payroll lists its prices clearly and upfront:
New customers can choose between receiving 50% off QuickBooks’ base price for their first three months of service or signing up for a free trial of QuickBooks’ payroll software.
Learn more about QuickBooks Payroll by reading our QuickBooks Payroll review.
Regardless of the software brand or type of payroll solution, all payroll software should calculate your employees’ paycheck amounts. Along with gross paycheck amounts, the software should also calculate deduction amounts for payroll taxes, healthcare premiums, retirement and other employee benefits, wage garnishments and optional deductions (like employee contributions to charitable funds).
From there, though, payroll software systems differ drastically in terms of their pricing and features. As you dive into the best payroll software companies listed above, consider which of the following features you need to effectively process payroll and how much you’re willing (and able) to pay for more expensive, comprehensive software.
Full-service payroll software, such as that offered by OnPay and QuickBooks Payroll, withholds payroll taxes on the employer’s behalf and remits those taxes to the IRS and other tax institutions on a regular basis. In contrast, self-service software will calculate tax amounts on your behalf but leaves the actual tax remittance up to you.
Self-service payroll software is cheaper than full-service software in terms of both per-payee pricing and monthly base costs. However, it saves businesses less time than full-service software, which often includes an autopilot feature for employers who want to run payroll without lifting a finger.
Most payroll software should include basic reporting features, starting with payroll reports that can be used to sync payroll expenses with your general ledger. Most should also include payroll tax withholding reports, employee paycheck reports, state unemployment tax reports and workers’ compensation insurance reporting.
More comprehensive software includes customizable reports with more in-depth analyses. For instance, payroll solutions like ADP and Paychex Flex include thorough human resource and benefits reports with impressive insights into payroll expenses and business growth.
All payroll software should offer direct deposit as a primary employee pay option. However, the best payroll companies offer at least one other employee pay method, such as paper checks or app-based pay options like Gusto’s Wallet App or Square’s Cash App.
At the end of each year, businesses must distribute tax form 1099 to contractors and W-2 to employees, plus file a copy of each tax form with the federal government. Nearly all payroll providers charge an additional fee to print and mail physical copies of each tax form, but most include electronic tax form access and distribution at no additional cost. (Paychex, which charges extra for W-2 and 1099 form preparation, is one notable exception.)
Payroll — especially payroll taxes — are heavily regulated by the federal government. Violations, accidental or not, can result in fines and more. As a result, the best payroll software includes thorough compliance management features that help you meet your legal obligations and avoid penalties for mistakes relating to tax law updates, wage garnishment orders and allocation rules.
Most payroll software integrates with third-party business apps like accounting software, HR products and time-tracking options. If you use cloud-based software to perform most business tasks, prioritize payroll software that automatically syncs with your favorite apps to keep all of them up to date on payroll expenses and employee data. Otherwise, you’ll spend more time entering data by hand.
To choose the right payroll software for your business, we recommend asking yourself several key questions that can guide your ultimate decision:
While in-depth comparative reviews like ours can help you make informed decisions about which payroll software is right for you, the best way to find your ideal payroll software is to test it for yourself. Many payroll software providers offer a free trial (or free account setup), and those that don’t will usually offer free, customized demos that walk you through every aspect of the software.
If you’re a new business owner processing payroll for the first time, we strongly recommend speaking with an accountant to better understand your payroll responsibilities, including and especially your payroll tax obligations. An accountant can also point you toward the best payroll software from an accounting point of view, which could also impact your final software decision.
To review the best payroll software for businesses, we set up free accounts with payroll providers whenever possible to test the software for ourselves. When creating a free account wasn’t an option, we viewed demos and watched product reviews from customers detailing their experience with the software.
In all cases, we read product spec sheets, thoroughly reviewed each company’s website and reviewed verified user reviews on trustworthy third-party sites.
After conducting this initial research, we used a proprietary in-house algorithm to calculate star ratings for each brand, determine their use cases and rank each brand according to its score.
Payroll software is a (typically cloud-based) tool businesses use to pay their employees. Payroll software calculates paycheck amounts for both hourly and salaried employees, including gross paycheck amounts, payroll tax amounts and other paycheck deductions.
Most payroll software automatically deposits employees’ net pay via direct deposit and includes features like payroll reports, optional HR features (like employee benefits administration) and time-tracking solutions for hourly employees who clock in and out.
Payroll software removes the need for business owners to calculate paycheck amounts by hand. It also simplifies record-keeping processes and helps businesses stay legally compliant with tax and labor laws.
Payroll software is good for any business owner who wants to save time on processing payroll and reduce the possibility of making a critical error with an employee’s paycheck amount or payroll taxes. Businesses in any industry and of any size can benefit from streamlining their payroll processes with payroll software.
Most payroll products charge a monthly base fee along with a per-employee fee, though some payroll providers like Gusto and Square Payroll waive their base fees for business owners that pay only contractors. Most entry-level software plans charge around $20 a month as a self-service base fee and up to $45 a month as a full-service base fee. Per-employee fees for entry-level plans can range from $4 per employee to $10 per employee.
There are also free payroll software options, like Payroll4Free, which offers free payroll for businesses with up to 25 employees. Alternatively, businesses can use spreadsheet software like Excel (which costs a monthly fee) or Google Sheets (which is free) to calculate payroll by hand.
However, these more affordable payroll-processing methods aren’t feasible for businesses with dozens of employees. They’re also less ideal for businesses that want to save time on payroll while reducing the possibility of human error.
Gusto is generally considered the best payroll software for most small and midsize businesses. It syncs with dozens of third-party products, includes both HR and payroll features and offers thorough automation for businesses that want to minimize the time they spend on payroll each month.
At the same time, Gusto isn’t the best payroll product for all businesses. As you try to decide which payroll software is right for you, consider factors like pricing, scalability, features, customer support and third-party integrations.
