Whether you’re a small business or a large enterprise, keeping your employees happy with a streamlined payroll process should be a top priority. We’ve outlined a list of options that includes product details on free payroll software from the vendors.
Making sure you pay your employees in full and on time is a non-negotiable ingredient to a high-functioning team, which makes choosing payroll software for your small business a weighty decision.
Gusto Payroll
Our pick for the best payroll that offers up the fullest package—for the most reasonable price—is Gusto. Gusto is a payroll, benefits, and HR platform that is available to small businesses starting at just $45 a month ($39 as a base price and then an additional $4 per person per month for their least expensive plan.) Gusto also has a new option for contractor-only employers, who simply pay the $6/employee rate and no base price.
No matter which of the versions of Gusto you go for, you’ll get access to full-service payroll. The more you level up, though, the more features you’ll gain access to through this payroll software. Every one of the Gusto plans comes with the features included in the Core plan:
- Full-service payroll software
- Employee self-service and profiles
- Health benefits administration
- Workers’ comp administration
- Customer support
- PTO tracking
Square
You might associate Square with the portable square-shaped credit card reader, but this company has grown to include full-service payroll software as well. Like Gusto, Square’s services are customizable so you can adapt the plan to suit your company’s needs. The software can accommodate full-time employees as well as part-time workers and freelance contractors, paying both hourly rates and monthly salaries. It can also manage health benefits, which employees can see when they log in to their own Square accounts.
Rippling
Rippling makes it easy to manage your company’s Payroll, Benefits, HR, and IT—all in one, modern platform. It brings all of your employee systems and data together, and helps automate your busy work. Take onboarding, for example. With Rippling, you can just click a button, and in 90 seconds set up a new hires’ payroll, health insurance, 401K, work computer, and third-party apps — like Slack, Zoom, and Office 365 — 100% online and paperlessly. And that’s just one reason why Rippling is The #1 Rated HR & IT Software.
BambooHR
Payroll goes hand in hand with HR, so it’s worth looking at HR software when seeking your payment solutions. BambooHR covers all your bases, providing a separate payroll platform to sync with its main talent management software. This makes it super easy to onboard new employees, tracking hours right from the start. Additional features include staff databases, applicant tracking, time-off tracking, and digital signatures.
Patriot Payroll
Another option that’s made it onto our list of the best payroll software for small businesses is Patriot Software Payroll. Patriot Payroll software comes in two versions, both of which could serve small businesses wonderfully, depending on their needs and preferences. Plus, you can add on two bonus features to your Patriot Payroll software—time and attendance tracking and HR software—for small monthly fees.
The Basic version of Patriot Payroll software comes with a base cost of just $10 a month and an employee cost of $4 per month per employee you add to your payroll. For this price, you’ll be able to access the following payroll capabilities:
- Payroll setup and support
- Paycheck or direct deposit payments
- Flexible payment schedules
Your other Patriot option is their Full Service payroll software. With this option, you’ll have to pay a base cost of $30 per month, plus $4 per month per employee. For this extra $20 a month, you’ll gain access to all features of Basic Patriot Payroll, along with this list of additional features:
- W-2s and W-3s filed for you
- Federal taxes filed and deposited for you
- State taxes filed and deposited for you
- Local taxes filed and deposited for you
ADP Payroll
Advanced Data Processing, also known as ADP, is a huge name in the business software world, so you’ve probably heard of them before. They offer a plan called ADP Run that can be used by small businesses. There are four plans to choose from with ADP Run called the Essential, Enhanced, Complete, and HR Pro plans. No prices are available for the plans online so you’ll have to ask ADP for a quote if you’re interested, but the plan details are available.
Every plan comes with the following features:
- Payroll via the computer, tablet, mobile app, or phone call
- Direct Deposit
- Payroll Delivery
- Reporting
- General Ledger Interface
- New-Hire Reporting
- W-2s and 1099s
- Tax Filing
- ADP Employee Access
- New Hire Onboarding
- Employee Discounts
As you move up the more expensive plans the main features you get in addition to the payroll you’re already getting in the Essential plan have to do with human resources management and tools. If you’re simply looking for a payroll plan then the most basic plan, the Essential plan, or the most popular plan, the Enhanced plan, will do the trick. This is a great option for business owners on the go because you can use it on your phone in the mobile app, on a tablet, on a computer, or even call in to run your payroll.
Zenefits
Another HR platform that includes comprehensive small business payroll software is Zenefits. It builds time-off tracking, hour tracking, salary upgrades, and benefits into a single one-size-fits-all platform. If your HR and payroll departments are intertwined, it makes it much easier to avoid making double entries. For example, your HR administrator only needs to input a salary change once for it to sync with payroll. As with other software on this list, there are multiple subscription packages to choose from, each with its own features.
Wave Payroll
You may know Wave already thanks to the fact that they offer some pretty good free software for accounting and invoicing. They also offer payroll software, you do have to pay for it, but if you’re in the market for accounting software too it could be a great time to try both, thankfully they sync seamlessly.
The cost of Wave Payroll will vary depending on the state you’re in because in some states they can offer you tax services while in others, they can’t. In those states with tax services the cost is $35 per month, plus $6 per active employee or independent contractor you pay. In states where taxes are considered “self-service” the base price will be $20.
The features are the same no matter what state you’re in though:
- 100% payroll accuracy
- Unlimited free direct deposits
- Self-service check printing
- Payroll reminders in your email
- Customer support
- Employee holds
- Tax filing where applicable
- Pay stubs and tax forms for employees
Conclusion
Each option has its own pros and cons, but at the end of the day, you’ll need to think primarily about how much help you’ll need with your taxes and payroll setup, and balance that with how much you’re willing to pay every month for your payroll software.
Don’t forget to allow for the additional monthly cost that each of your payrolled employees—and future payrolled employees—will mean for your payroll software. As your small business grows, so will your payroll software expenses.