Payroll is one of the critical business processes that can affect your small business. It is likely that your core strategy also involves payroll at some part. You wouldn’t be able to keep your business open without paying your employees on time. Payroll management has become so important for all types of businesses.
Payroll is one of the most time-consuming tasks for small business owners. When you are running a startup, every hour spent on payroll is an hour that could be better spent on your core business. That’s where online payroll services come in handy. They help you get rid of the time-consuming aspects of payroll by automating the whole system.
Gusto
Gusto comes close to proving that in the world of online payroll software, you really can have it all—from a beautiful, user-friendly interface to a full spectrum of employee benefits. All of Gusto’s plans include these crucial features:
- Unlimited payroll runs in all 50 states
- Automated payroll tax filings
- Direct deposit
- PTO policy creation
- W-2 employee and 1099 contractor management
- Employee pay stubs and tax forms
- Workers compensation administration
- Health insurance add-ons (in 36 states only)
While Gusto doesn’t offer total HR administration, it does include personalized HR help with its priciest plan, Gusto Concierge. If you don’t have enough employees to merit a complete HR department and you’d rather not outsource to a bookkeeper or PEO, the Concierge plan could be a good fit—as long as you’re okay with the high (comparatively, for software) starting price.
However, Gusto’s ratings on the review site Trustpilot have dropped in a big way over the last year, largely because of poor customer service and (worse) tax errors that Gusto won’t resolve.1 We’re keeping an eye on Gusto’s customer service, and if things don’t get better soon, we’ll have to reconsider Gusto’s place on our rankings.
Strengths
- Automatic payroll tax administration
- Unlimited payroll runs
- Thorough employee benefits
Weaknesses
- Dropping customer service reviews
- No customer service available on weekends
Intuit Payroll
Looking for the barebones when it comes to payroll services? Or do you want a fully-automated, everything-but-the-kitchen-sink payroll service instead? No matter where you fall on that spectrum, Intuit Payroll has an option for you.
Intuit Basic, for $20/month plus $2 per employee/month, will run your payroll instantly and calculate your taxes (but won’t go as far as filing those taxes for you). Their most popular package is called Enhanced, $31.20/month, which adds tax form completion, filing, and payment on top of that. And finally, their Full-Service option will run payroll entirely, transfer data from other payroll services, and guarantee its accuracy — for just $79/month.
So depending on how much time and energy inputting payroll takes for you, any of these plans could help out. And if you’re in need of other human resources services, too, Intuit also offers workers’ compensation and compliance assistance. There’s a reason they’ve been voted America’s #1 payroll service, after all.
OnPay
OnPay is The Blueprint’s number one choice for payroll services for small businesses with good reason. Though designed for small businesses, OnPay can scale up nicely to suit mid-size businesses as well.
Featuring easy system navigation, OnPay offers industry-specific features for restaurants and other businesses that need to account for employee tips.
OnPay’s plan also includes unlimited payroll runs, complete mobile accessibility from any device, direct deposit, and multistate payroll capability, as well as employee onboarding and self-service capability.
No separate mobile app is needed, as the application is designed to work on any platform and the application easily pays both employees and contractors, producing both W-2s and 1099s at year-end.
In addition to complete payroll processing, OnPay offers comprehensive HR resources including employee offer letters, PTO approvals, compliance tools, and a variety of HR templates that can be used in various situations.
OnPay offers excellent integration options with a variety of third-party accounting and timesheet/timekeeping applications, and their support team is trained by the American Payroll Association.
OnPay offers a single plan, with pricing for the plan currently running $36/month, plus a $4 per employee fee. All features, including HR and complete support options, are included in the price.
Payroll Mate
Payroll Mate from Real Business Solutions offers an affordably priced payroll application ideally suited for small businesses that prefer an on-premise application. Payroll Mate can only be used on Windows operating systems and does not offer online access, though the product can be hosted on a remote server if desired.
Payroll Mate is designed for businesses with less than 75 employees and is also a good option for accountants that process payroll for their clients. A good choice for small businesses with multiple locations, Payroll Mate also supports multiple pay frequencies, unlimited payroll runs, and multistate payroll.
The application also completes all required tax forms but does not handle filing or tax remittance.
A new employee wizard is available to guide you through the process of entering a new employee, with an easily navigated tax setup page available as well. Direct deposit is available in Payroll Mate, though it’s priced separately.
Payroll Mate is best suited for those comfortable enough to file their own tax forms. The application runs $139/year and includes all related tax tables, while the Direct Deposit module is available for $95 annually.
Paychex Flex
Paychex Flex is designed for businesses of any size and has three plans to choose from Paychex Go, for up to 10 employees; Select, for between 10 and 49 employees, and Enterprise for larger businesses.
All plans offer new-hire reporting, 24/7 support, automated employment, and income verification, pay cards, and multistate payroll capability, as well as complete tax reporting and remittance.
Paychex Flex offers easy system navigation from the user dashboard, which displays current payroll information while offering easy access to system functions. The software includes direct deposit and has an employee portal where pay stubs, tax forms, and vacation and sick balances can be accessed. Paychex Flex processes both W-2s and 1099s at an additional fee, with other features such as a Workers’ Compensation report, General Ledger Service, and State Unemployment Insurance only available in the higher-priced plans.
Paychex Go, designed for up to 10 employees, starts at $59/month, with a $4 fee per employee assessed as well. Pricing for both Paychex Flex Select and Paychex Flex Enterprise are available directly from the company upon request, with an option to request pricing available on the Paychex Flex website.
Most of the features in the more expensive plans are available as an add-on option, with pricing available directly from Paychex Flex. You’ll also pay more if you add additional features, such as Time and Attendance, HR, and Employee Benefits Administration.
ADP Run
ADP is the most experienced payroll service option on our list. They service businesses of all sizes so they are equipped to handle a small business or they can handle hundreds of employees without a problem. That’s why we chose ADP Run as our best payroll service for growing businesses that plan to be greater than 100 employees.
Here’s a more detailed breakdown of ADP’s payroll service:
- Pricing: Unique pricing for all businesses that is undisclosed.
- Ease of Use: Moderately easy to use but it can be difficult for small businesses who are unfamiliar with payroll software
- Tax Services: Handles all W2 and 1099 filings as well as employer tax filings
- Year-End Fees: All year-end filings are included in the price, regardless of what package you select
- Accounting Integrations: QuickBooks, Xero, and most other accounting software
ADP isn’t known for great customer service, but they still have mostly good reviews online. Their customer service is available 24/7. Overall, their service is widely available but it’s subpar in terms of quality compared to other options on the list.
Intuit QuickBooks Payroll
Intuit QuickBooks Payroll provides small businesses with scalable payroll services that easily integrate with QuickBooks. The service collects and reports all payroll taxes and offers a variety of helpful tools. It is available in several plans with a range of services and prices.
Among the companies we reviewed, QuickBooks Payroll provides some of the most flexible payroll plan options. The services are broken down into Online Payroll and Desktop Payroll, each of which can have QuickBooks’ accounting software added into it. This gives you the opportunity to get more services in one plan.
While some plans focus solely on payroll processing, others include a variety of human resources services, which are valuable for small businesses that don’t have the luxury of an in-house HR team. Each plan includes a 30-day free trial.
These are the Online Payroll pricing tiers:
- Core: This is the lowest-cost plan at $45 per month, plus $4 per employee. It includes health benefits, workers’ compensation management, next-day direct deposit and automatic payroll options.
- Premium: The Premium plan costs $75 per month, plus $8 per employee. It includes same-day direct deposit, access to an HR support center, mobile time tracking and expert setup review.
- Elite: The Elite plan costs $125 per month, plus $10 per employee. It includes customized setup, project tracking, and a tax penalty protection of up to $25,000. Elite plan subscribers also receive a dedicated HR specialist who can offer guidance as needed.
These are the Desktop Payroll pricing plans:
- Basic: The Basic plan is for payroll processing only. It includes direct deposit, printable paychecks, support for W-2 and 1099 employees, and live customer support. It costs $29 per month, plus $2 for each employee.
- Enhanced: The Enhanced plan includes state and federal payroll tax preparation, but the responsibility for making payments on time remains yours. This plan also includes a printable version of all year-end tax forms for employees. It costs $45 per month, plus $2 per employee.
- Assisted Payroll: The Assisted plan calculates, files and pays payroll taxes for you. It also provides a tax guarantee that your payroll taxes will be paid on time and accurately. The company will set up all your employee information in its system and handle the preparation and payment of all payroll taxes. The company will also cover any costs of fines or penalties associated with delays or errors. This plan costs $109 per month, plus $2 per employee.
Because of these flexible payroll options for small businesses, we chose QuickBooks Payroll as the best payroll service for small businesses.
Conclusion
A lot of entrepreneurs work as freelancers and consultants, and many who do would like to be able to offer their clients a payroll service as well as an assortment of other business services. Running a business is already difficult enough, so why not outsource some of your smaller tasks to someone who will handle them for you? This way, you can devote more time and energy to growing your company and doing what you do best: running it.