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 and midsize businesses thanks to 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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Data accurate and verified as of 4/23/2024.
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**Starting price for businesses with 101+ global employees. Price decreases to $20/employee with 501+ employees and $15/employee with 1,001+ employees.
Our star rating: 4.6 out of 5
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. Managers can easily 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.
Why we chose Gusto: If you don’t have any prior experience with payroll software and aren’t sure where to start, Gusto is absolutely our top recommendation.
Few online payroll providers can compare with Gusto’s automations, features and overall user friendliness. Plus, it integrates seamlessly with the most popular third-party business apps and takes the hassle out of payroll processing, including payroll taxes and benefits deductions.
Gusto has three business payroll plans:
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 120+ countries. Pricing is country-specific.
Finally, Gusto recently added international payroll in the form of an employer of record service. Contact Gusto for more information.
Top integrations: FreshBooks, QuickBooks Online, Sage Intacct, Xero, ZipBooks, QuickBooks Desktop and Bookkeeper360.
Learn more about Gusto by reading our in-depth Gusto payroll software review.
Our star rating: 4.4 out of 5
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.
Why we chose ADP: Whether you’re looking for a simplistic app-based payroll solution or fully featured enterprise-level program, ADP has a payroll product for you. Its extremely versatile products are diverse enough to accommodate businesses of all sizes and in plenty of industries.
For instance, ADP TotalSource is a PEO for small businesses that want to offload hiring and payroll responsibilities. Roll by ADP is a chat-based app for businesses with fewer than five employees. ADP Workforce Now is an HCM solution for midsize businesses while ADP GlobalView Payroll helps businesses pay employees in 40+ countries.
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.
Top integrations: QuickBooks Online, Wave Accounting, Xero, SAP, Sage, Workday, 7shifts, ZipRecruiter, HiBob and Microsoft Teams.
Learn more about ADP in our thorough RUN Powered by ADP review.
Our star rating: 4.3 out of 5
Rippling’s full-service payroll solution has excellent built-in compliance support and HR tools, which makes it a solid alternative to software like Gusto that focus more on payroll than on HR. 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.
Why we chose Rippling: If saving time while ensuring accuracy is your top payroll priority, we recommend Rippling payroll. The software’s thorough automations ensure processing payroll takes no more than a few minutes at most.
Rippling is currently offering a one-month free subscription for TechRepublic readers. Visit Rippling’s site to get started.
Rippling charges $8 per employee per month on top of a standard monthly base fee. Rippling doesn’t list its base price online, though the site previously listed its starting price at $35 per month.
Contact Rippling to request a custom quote.
Top integrations: QuickBooks Online, Xero, Sage and Oracle NetSuite.
Dig deeper into Rippling’s features by reading our Rippling payroll review.
Our star rating: 4.7 out of 5
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.
Why we chose OnPay: 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.
Top integrations: Xero, QuickBooks Online, QuickBooks Time and Magnify.
Learn more about OnPay’s payroll system by reading our comprehensive OnPay review.
SEE: The 9 Most Common Payroll Mistakes and Ways to Avoid Them (TechRepublic)
Our star rating: 4.2 out of 5
Why we chose Papaya Global: For fast, budget-friendly global payroll processing, it’s hard to do better than Papaya. Its contractor payroll plans start at just $2 per contractor per month, or you can also choose Papaya’s employer of record service for comprehensive employee hiring in 160+ countries.
Papaya offers a variety of international payroll services tailored toward businesses with diverse budgets and workforce needs:
Top integrations: NetSuite, Workday, Expensify, BambooHR, Namely and HiBob
Learn more about whether Papaya Global will work for you by reading our in-depth Papaya review.
Our star rating: 4 out of 5
Paychex’s all-in-one payroll software solution includes HR and payroll tools with optional add-on employee benefits. Unlike single-plan solutions like Square Payroll or OnPay, Paychex has four payroll plans that are designed for startups, enterprises and everything in between.
Why we chose Paychex: 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 has three different pricing tiers for its HR/payroll solutions, but all of them require a custom quote:
Top integrations: BambooHR, Greenhouse, Indeed, NetSuite, SAP, Sage Intacct, QuickBooks Online, Workday and Xero.
Learn more about Paychex by reading our in-depth Paychex software review.
Our star rating: 4.7 out of 5
SurePayroll by Paychex 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 by Paychex from offering extensive payroll features — in some cases, more features than its paid payroll competitors. For instance, both SurePayroll by Paychex plans include new-hire reporting, free two-day direct deposit and access to HR features like labor law compliance posters.
SEE: What Payroll Documents Do You Need to Pay Employees? (TechRepublic)
Businesses can also use SurePayroll by Paychex to find 401(k) retirement plans for employees as well as health insurance and workers’ compensation insurance. SurePayroll by Paychex also offers optional hiring tools like pre-employment screening and background checks.
Why we chose SurePayroll by Paychex: SurePayroll by Paychex is hands-down the most affordable payroll solution with the most essential payroll features. It offers the best value for the price and includes more features at no additional cost than providers like Paychex include in their base plan — for instance, free two-day direct deposit, HR advisor access and free year-end tax form filing.
SurePayroll by Paychex has two payroll plans:
With the first plan, SurePayroll by Paychex calculates your payroll taxes but leaves the filing up to you. With the second plan, SurePayroll also withholds and remits your payroll taxes on your behalf.
SurePayroll by Paychex doesn’t have many additional fees, though you can pay an extra filing fee of $9.99 for multi-state payroll tax filing.
Top integrations: Xero, QuickBooks Online, BuddyPunch, Homebase and Less Accounting.
Find out if SurePayroll by Paychex is a good fit for you by reading our SurePayroll by Paychex review.
Our star rating: 4.1 out of 5
QuickBooks Payroll integrates natively 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.
Why we chose QuickBooks Payroll: If you’re new to payroll, it’s easy to be overwhelmed by the new processes and legal requirements. But if you already use QuickBooks Online for bookkeeping, adding QuickBooks Payroll ensures you don’t have to get used to an entirely new, confusing interface while you’re learning how to do payroll.
Top integrations: QuickBooks Online.
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.
Bambee is a payroll software and service company with modules to support small-business needs, like onboarding and compliance training tracking. Bambee differentiates itself from others in our roundup by emphasizing the personalized support it provides for your business, including crafting company-specific policies in line with federal, state and local labor laws.
You also receive a dedicated HR manager that allows you to offload or share responsibility for common HR processes, like terminations, disciplinary actions, onboarding, and employee incident investigations. When it comes to payroll, the HR manager works with you to craft compliant pay practices for your domestic employees, including pay rates, pay schedules and approval workflows.
Why we chose Bambee: Bambee is an excellent option for companies new to payroll processing and unsure of the compliance aspects involved in the process. Its dedicated HR manager keeps you up to date with changing regulations, including state and local minimum wage rates and paid leave time. Its simple platform also makes it easy to input and finalize payroll while automatically handling all payroll tax filings and deposits on your behalf.
Although Bambee does not offer quite the liability protection of payroll PEO or EOR vendors like Rippling, it does assist with employee classification. This limits the chance you incorrectly categorize employees as contractors or salaried employees and deny them their rights to minimum wage, overtime pay and benefits. This is a huge plus if your small business plans to move away from freelancer work to hiring and paying full-time, in-house employees.
Bambee starts at $99 per month, and prices increase as your headcount grows. Its guided payroll is an add-on, meaning you must pay an additional amount on top of your Bambee subscription fee. Bambee does not reveal pricing for its payroll add-on, so you must contact it directly for a quote.
You can review its price tiers and feature sets in the table below.
| 0 employees | 1–4 employees | 5–19 employees | 20–49 employees | 50–70 employees | 71+ employees | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Price | $99/mo. | $299/mo. | $399/mo. | $499/mo. | $1,299/mo. | Contact sales |
| One-time setup fee | $0 | $500 | $500 | $1,500 | $2,000 | Contact sales |
| HR manager access | No (Bambee HR platform access only) | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Number of core HR policies supported | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | Custom |
| Number of custom HR policies supported | 2 | 2 | 4 | 8 | 12 | Custom |
| Number of job descriptions | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 5 | Custom |
| Support mediums | Chat and email | Chat, email and phone | Chat, email and phone | Chat, email and phone | Chat, email and phone | Chat, email and phone |
Top integrations: Bambee doesn’t have any notable integrations at this time.
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. Our algorithm breaks down as follows:
Our expert’s insight and hands-on experience accounts for the final 10% of our score. Learn more about how we choose the software we review and what criteria we use to evaluate products by reading our payroll review methodology piece.
To find the right payroll software for your company, you need to first evaluate which payroll features are essential to your day-to-day business operations. Make sure to consider third-party integrations, automatic payroll processing and tax remittance, compliance checks, HR tools, employee self-service features, wage garnishment and optional employee benefits.
It’s also crucial to consider the price. As you’re budgeting for payroll software, look at not just the monthly fixed base price you’ll pay to use the software but the per-employee fee, which will change over time as you gain employees.
Most importantly, sign up for free trials and request free software demos before fully committing to any payroll product for the long term.
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 services can help business owners who want 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.
Kaynak: https://www.techrepublic.com/article/best-payroll-software/
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