How we make this list: we compare pricing pages, product documentation and public user reviews. Ratings come from G2, Capterra or Trustpilot, with the date we checked them.
Key takeaways
- Published-price leaders: Patriot Full Service ($37/month + $5 per worker paid), OnPay ($49/month + $6 per worker) and Gusto Simple ($49/month + $6 per person), all with tax filing included.
- On QuickBooks Online already? QuickBooks Payroll Core ($50/month + $6.50 per employee) keeps payroll in the same ledger, but the accounting subscription is extra.
- ADP RUN, Paychex Flex and Rippling publish no payroll prices: budget a sales conversation and get every fee in writing before comparing.
- Paying workers in more than one country? Deel (US payroll from $19 per worker per month) is built for that; the domestic specialists are not.
Quick comparison
| Tool | Best for | Starting price | Free plan |
|---|
 Gusto | US small businesses with straightforward payroll that want full-service filing without a sales call | $49/month + $6/person/month (Simple plan) | No (no free trial advertised) |
 Rippling | Fast-growing companies that want HR, IT and payroll triggered from one employee record | See website (modular, quote-based) | No (no free trial confirmed) |
 ADP RUN | Businesses that expect to grow past 50 employees and want one vendor from startup to enterprise | See website (all plans custom-quoted) | No (trial promotions reported by reviewers, unverified) |
 Paychex Flex | Small businesses that want a dedicated payroll expert rather than a pure self-serve app | See website (custom quote only) | No (no free trial advertised) |
 QuickBooks Payroll | Businesses already committed to QuickBooks Online accounting | $50/month + $6.50/employee/month (Core plan) | No (promotional discounts instead) |
 OnPay | Small businesses that want full-service payroll with honest single-plan pricing | $49/month + $6/worker/month (Payroll Essentials) | First month free (no permanent free plan) |
 Patriot Software | Budget-conscious small businesses with simple payroll that still want real tax filing | $37/month + $5/worker paid/month (Full Service plan) | 30-day trial |
 Deel | Startups and remote-first companies paying people in more than one country | About $19/worker/month (US Payroll) | No (Deel HR is free under 200 employees) |
Is your product missing or out of date?
We review this list regularly. Vendors can request a listing, send updated pricing or ask about featured placement.
The best employee payroll software
Run payroll for 10 people and the quotes on this list range from $87 a month to a sales call with no number attached, for products that all claim to do the same thing. The spread comes from three places: the per-employee fee that compounds with headcount, which tier includes tax filing, and whether the vendor publishes prices at all. The eight services below cover the realistic market for US employee payroll, from the cheapest published full-service plan to the global platforms.
Prices are from the vendors' own pricing pages, checked in October 2026. Where a vendor publishes no prices, the price column says so instead of repeating a third-party estimate as fact.
#1
Gusto
Best for: US small businesses with straightforward payroll that want full-service filing without a sales call
Visit gusto.com
Starting price$49/month + $6/person/month (Simple plan)
Free planNo (no free trial advertised)
Gusto is the default pick for small businesses that want payroll handled without talking to sales. Simple at $49 plus $6 per person covers unlimited runs, tax filing and W-2 and 1099 generation. A 10-person team pays $109 a month, and most teams run their first payroll within 48 hours of signing up.
The honest catch is the tier ladder. Multi-state payroll needs Plus at $80 plus $12 per person, and time tracking, PTO policies and next-day direct deposit sit there too. Beyond roughly 50 employees or complex multi-state situations, buyers tend to outgrow Gusto toward Rippling or ADP. For straightforward domestic payroll, the transparency is the product.
What we like- Transparent published pricing with unlimited runs and automatic tax filing on all plans
- Best-in-class onboarding and employee self-service
- AutoPilot can run payroll automatically
Watch out for- Simple is single-state only, so multi-state employers step up to Plus at $80 plus $12 per person
- The $49 base fee stings for a two-person payroll
#2
Rippling
Best for: Fast-growing companies that want HR, IT and payroll triggered from one employee record
Visit rippling.com
Starting priceSee website (modular, quote-based)
Free planNo (no free trial confirmed)
Rippling is the everything platform that does payroll. A new hire's payroll, benefits, laptop and app access all flow from one workflow because HR, IT and payroll share a single record. Rippling's own blog puts the core platform start around $8 per employee per month, with payroll as a separate module on top.
The price of that depth is a sales process and a per-module bill that lands well above any headline figure. Implementation takes weeks, not days, because it involves mapping workflows, permissions and approval chains. If you just need payroll, the specialists below are cheaper and simpler; if you are building an HR and IT stack, Rippling is the strongest foundation here.
What we like- One employee record drives HR, payroll, benefits, IT and spend, so onboarding triggers everything together
- 600+ native integrations with real workflow automation
- Global payroll and EOR in the same platform
Watch out for- Quote-only pricing, and the headline per-module figure understates the total once the required platform base stacks up
- Heavier implementation than Gusto
#3
ADP RUN
Best for: Businesses that expect to grow past 50 employees and want one vendor from startup to enterprise
Visit adp.com
Starting priceSee website (all plans custom-quoted)
Free planNo (trial promotions reported by reviewers, unverified)
ADP RUN is the compliance-first pick. RUN serves businesses with 1 to 49 employees, and because ADP also sells Workforce Now, TotalSource PEO and enterprise payroll, you never outgrow the vendor. Tax filing comes with penalty guarantees, and the HR help desk at higher tiers covers situations software alone cannot.
The commercial reality is opacity. ADP publishes no RUN prices; customer-reported figures put Essential around $79 a month plus $4 per employee, but ADP never confirms them. Reviewers report add-on fees for time tracking and GL sync, annual contracts, and 3 to 5 days to first payroll. Get the full fee schedule in writing before signing.
What we like- Deepest compliance coverage of any small-business payroll provider, with multi-state edge cases handled automatically
- Scales from RUN to Workforce Now and Vantage without switching vendors
- Background checks and HR resources bundled on plans where competitors charge extra
Watch out for- Quote-only pricing with reported add-on fees and annual contracts
- Slower, more complex onboarding than modern competitors
#4
Paychex Flex
Best for: Small businesses that want a dedicated payroll expert rather than a pure self-serve app
Visit paychex.com
Starting priceSee website (custom quote only)
Free planNo (no free trial advertised)
Paychex Flex sells the human touch: a named payroll specialist assigned to your account instead of a rotating support queue. The platform bundles payroll with benefits, time tracking and retirement add-ons, plus a PEO option, so it scales from tiny teams upward.
Like ADP, Paychex publishes no prices in 2026, so every figure online is an estimate and every buyer talks to sales. Reported starting points sit near $39 a month plus $5 per employee, but the final quote moves with add-ons and contract terms. Benchmark any quote against Gusto's or OnPay's published prices before committing.
What we like- Named, dedicated payroll specialist on small-business plans, the signature reviewers cite most
- Modular HR add-ons let small firms build toward a full HCM
- Strong multi-state and compliance support
Watch out for- Quote-only pricing, and first quotes typically rise once state unemployment and HR modules are added
- Annual contracts are common and onboarding is slower than self-serve rivals
Starting price$50/month + $6.50/employee/month (Core plan)
Free planNo (promotional discounts instead)
QuickBooks Payroll makes sense for one reason: your books already live in QuickBooks Online, and payroll entries sync straight into the ledger. After Intuit's July 2026 restructure, Core runs $50 plus $6.50 per employee, Premium $88 plus $10, and Elite $134 plus $12. Intuit frequently discounts the base fee 50 percent for the first three months, so never pay the first price you see.
The honest catch is tier math. Core's missing features push most real businesses to Premium, and the QuickBooks Online subscription underneath adds to the bill. If you are not on QuickBooks already, there is no reason to start here; if you are, the single-ledger workflow is genuinely convenient.
What we like- Native payroll inside QuickBooks Online, so wages, taxes and liabilities post to the books automatically
- Same-day direct deposit and time tracking on Premium
- Tax penalty protection on Elite
Watch out for- Core lacks time tracking and same-day deposit, so most hourly-workforce businesses land on Premium at $88 base
- It is an add-on to a paid QBO subscription, so total cost exceeds the payroll sticker price
#6
OnPay
Best for: Small businesses that want full-service payroll with honest single-plan pricing
Visit onpay.com
Starting price$49/month + $6/worker/month (Payroll Essentials)
Free planFirst month free (no permanent free plan)
OnPay's appeal is the absence of decisions. Payroll Essentials at $49 plus $6 per worker includes everything: unlimited runs, all tax filings, multistate payroll, onboarding and PTO. A 10-person team pays $109 a month with no tier puzzles. Bundles add Time Tracking plus HR at $70 plus $10 per worker, or HR plus Compliance plus live HR support at $120 plus $7.
The honest catch is ecosystem size: teams needing deep HR workflows or hundreds of integrations will feel the gap next to Gusto or Rippling. Setup is low effort with free expert migration, and the first month is free. For a US small business that wants payroll handled at a published price, this is the simplest quote on the list.
What we like- One transparent plan with unlimited runs, multistate filing, onboarding and PTO tools included
- Multistate payroll in all 50 states at no extra charge
- Free expert setup and migration with strong support reputation
Watch out for- Smaller native integration catalog than Gusto or Rippling
- HR and time-tracking modules are paid add-ons
#7
Patriot Software
Best for: Budget-conscious small businesses with simple payroll that still want real tax filing
Visit patriotsoftware.com
Starting price$37/month + $5/worker paid/month (Full Service plan)
Free plan30-day trial
Patriot is the budget pick. Full Service at $37 plus $5 per worker paid covers federal, state and local tax filing plus year-end forms. A 10-employee company pays $87 a month. The clever part: you are charged only for workers actually paid, so seasonal teams pay the base fee alone in quiet months.
Know which tier you are buying. Basic at $17 plus $4 per worker is not full-service, so budget for the $37 tier. Time and attendance and HR add-ons run $6 plus $2 per worker each. Reporting and integrations are thinner than Gusto's, but for simple payroll at the lowest published price, nothing here beats it.
What we like- Cheapest full-service payroll with published pricing
- Pay-per-worker-paid billing means seasonal staff cost nothing in off months
- US-based support with a tax-filing reliability guarantee on Full Service
Watch out for- The cheaper Basic tier at $17 leaves tax filing to you, so real value starts at $37
- Multi-state costs $12 per month per additional state and the HR module is basic
#8
Deel
Best for: Startups and remote-first companies paying people in more than one country
Visit deel.com
Starting priceAbout $19/worker/month (US Payroll)
Free planNo (Deel HR is free under 200 employees)
Deel fits teams that hire across borders. US Payroll starts around $19 per worker per month, Global Payroll around $29 plus a $1,000 one-time implementation per entity, Contractor Management at $49 per contractor per month, and EOR at $599. One dashboard covers a contractor in one country and an EOR employee in another, with published prices where competitors quote.
The fit warning matters. A purely US team gets a better payroll product and price from Gusto or OnPay, because Deel's domestic payroll is newer and thinner. But for remote-first companies, the global coverage without setting up entities is the reason to buy.
What we like- Published per-worker pricing, unusual for global payroll
- One platform covers US payroll, global payroll, contractors, EOR and immigration across 150+ countries
- 24/7 support with compliance monitoring built in
Watch out for- US payroll is the newer, thinner product versus Gusto or Rippling
- Domestic-only teams pay for global machinery they do not use
- EOR at $599 per worker per month is expensive long-term versus a local entity at scale
The per-employee math that decides your bill
Every published-price service here charges a base fee plus a per-worker fee, and the per-worker fee is where small quotes become big bills. A 10-person team costs $87 a month on Patriot Full Service, $109 on Gusto Simple and OnPay, $115 on QuickBooks Core before the accounting subscription, and roughly $199 on Deel's US payroll. At 25 employees the ranking shifts, because $5 to $12 per worker per month compounds fast.
Then add what the base price excludes. Year-end W-2 and 1099 filing is included at Gusto, OnPay and Patriot. Multi-state payroll costs nothing extra at OnPay, $12 per additional state at Patriot, and a tier jump at Gusto. Direct deposit speed varies from same-day to four days. Model your headcount, your states and your pay frequency, then compare totals, not base fees.
How we chose
We started with the categories buyers search: employee payroll software, small business payroll software, payroll service and HR payroll software. For each candidate we opened the vendor's own pricing page, checked plans against public reviews on G2 and Capterra and practitioner discussion on Reddit, and compared features, tax filing coverage and company-size fit. Where a price could not be verified on the vendor's page we wrote "See website" rather than guessing.
Full-service vs. self-service: know which one you are buying
The cheapest tier on most of these platforms is not full-service payroll. Patriot Basic at $17 a month leaves the tax filings to you, which defeats the purpose for most buyers. The full-service tier is the real product: the vendor calculates, files and pays your federal, state and local payroll taxes, and handles year-end forms.
When comparing full-service plans, check three things. First, the tax penalty guarantee: ADP and QuickBooks Elite put money behind their filings; most others do not. Second, what "full service" excludes: contractor payments, multi-state registration and year-end forms are the usual gaps. Third, who does the setup: OnPay and Patriot include assisted setup free, while ADP and Paychex run it as a paid add-on on lower tiers. The cheapest full-service quote is usually the right starting point; the cheapest overall quote usually is not.
Frequently asked questions
How much does payroll software cost for a small business?
For 10 employees on published prices, expect $87 to $199 a month: Patriot Full Service ($87), Gusto Simple and OnPay ($109 each), QuickBooks Core ($115 before the accounting subscription), Deel US payroll (about $199). ADP RUN, Paychex Flex and Rippling are custom-quoted and usually cost more at small headcounts.
What is the difference between full-service and self-service payroll?
Full-service means the vendor calculates, files and pays your payroll taxes and handles year-end forms. Self-service plans calculate paychecks but leave the filings to you. The gap is usually $15 to $20 a month in base fee. Unless you enjoy tax forms, buy full-service.
Which payroll software is best for a team in multiple states?
OnPay includes multistate payroll at no extra charge on its single plan. Gusto requires Plus and above. Patriot charges $12 a month per additional state. ADP and Paychex handle multi-state well but quote the price. If you have employees in three or more states, price that line item specifically before choosing.
Can I pay international workers with these tools?
Only Deel on this list is built for it, covering contractors, EOR and global payroll across 150+ countries with published per-worker prices. Rippling offers global payroll too. Gusto, OnPay, Patriot and QuickBooks Payroll are US-centric; ADP handles international through its enterprise products.
Do I need HR software too, or is payroll enough?
Payroll covers paying people and filing taxes. If you also need time tracking, PTO, benefits or onboarding, look at Gusto Plus, Rippling, or OnPay with its add-on bundles. Businesses under 10 employees usually do fine with payroll plus a separate time tracker.
Can I switch payroll providers mid-year?
Yes, and the transparent vendors make it easy: OnPay and Patriot include free migration, and most competitors offer guided onboarding. The switching risk is lowest on month-to-month plans with no contracts (Gusto, OnPay, Patriot). Avoid switching in December if you can: year-end filings are cleaner when one provider handles the full year.
Sources we checked (10)
- https://gusto.com/pricing
- https://www.rippling.com/pricing
- https://www.adp.com
- https://www.paychex.com
- https://quickbooks.intuit.com/payroll
- https://onpay.com/payroll-software/costs-pricing
- https://www.patriotsoftware.com/payroll/pricing
- https://www.deel.com/pricing
- https://www.g2.com/categories/payroll
- https://www.capterra.com/payroll-software/
Is your product missing or out of date?
We review this list regularly. Vendors can request a listing, send updated pricing or ask about featured placement.
Shihab Mia · Founder, Rankite
Shihab has 5+ years in B2B and SaaS SEO. He writes Rankite's software buying guides from pricing pages, documentation and public user reviews. More about Shihab.