There are many software systems that offer payroll management. One of the basic functions that should be included in any system is checking for payroll regulations in your state. Different states have different regulations when it comes to labor regulations. For example, some states require you to pay your employees special amounts if they work on holidays or weekends. Having this kind of information can save you from making costly mistakes down the road.
In this post, I will be sharing with you the Best Payroll Software for Small Business 2022..
Payroll4Free: Best for Companies With 25 or Fewer Employees
Overall Score: 3.55 OUT OF 5
What We Like
- Free-forever payroll services with essential online tools (including an employee portal)
- Email and phone support with access to payroll and tax experts
- Tax filings and direct deposits (not using own bank) are affordable add-ons
- Free only for 25 or fewer employees
- Limited system compatibility (Windows only)
- Payroll software comes with ads; interface looks outdated
Payroll4Free Pricing
- Free version: Payroll software free for those with 25 or fewer workers
- Add-ons:
- Payroll tax payments and filings: $15 monthly
- Direct deposit transfers using Payroll4Free’s bank account: $15 monthly
Read Full ReviewVisit Payroll4Free
Payroll4Free is a popular free payroll software for businesses with 25 or fewer employees. It calculates payroll and taxes, tracks PTO accruals, prints paychecks, and provides free direct deposits if you use your own bank. The software can also handle year-end tax reports (W-2s and 1099s), providing you with pre-formatted forms to send to the government. If you want Payroll4Free.com to file your tax forms, you have to pay $15 per month.
In our evaluation, Payroll4Free earned a score of 3.55 out of 5. It would have ranked higher if it didn’t have an employee limit (for 25 and fewer employees only) and if it offered tax filings for free. Some users even said that its platform is unintuitive, often taking extra steps to complete what a paid program can do in a single click. They also don’t appreciate the ads that appear while using the tool.
Payroll4Free Pricing
Payroll4Free.com is free to use—if your business has 25 or fewer employees. While it earns money through small ads placed inside the software, it also collects fees from the following payroll services that you can purchase as add-ons.
- Payroll tax deposits and filings, including year-end reporting: $15 per month
- Direct deposits using Payroll4Free.com’s bank*: $15 per month
*This requires a security deposit equal to the highest estimated net payroll you plan to process in a seven-day period.
Payroll4Free Features
- Efficient pay processing: In addition to paying employees and calculating taxes (federal, state, and local) for free, it allows you to set up any kind of deduction, contribution, and earning. Payroll4Free.com will automatically compute it—provided you have specified how these items should be calculated. Note that it doesn’t have the integrated time tracking tools that both TimeTrex and HR.my provide for free. You have to manually import time data into its system before you can run payroll.
- Check printing setup assistance: If you prefer to pay employees via checks, Payroll4Free.com can help set up its software to add any data you want to appear on the check. You won’t get the said free service with both HR.my and TimeTrex.
- Access to payroll and tax experts: Aside from unlimited customer support, Payroll4Free.com has a team of experienced payroll and tax specialists that you can contact if you have queries or need payroll advice. However, it doesn’t have the community forum that TimeTrex and HR.my offer, which allows you to get input from other business owners and HR professionals.
- Custom reporting: You get custom and detailed reports, enabling you to stay up-to-date with payroll information, tax details, PTO accruals, and employee deductions. It has several reporting options, but the choices aren’t as robust as HR.my and TimeTrex—simply because these two providers’ free packages include other HR solutions, so you may run non-payroll reports.
Payroll4Free’s Drawbacks
- 25 employee limit: Unless you have a workforce that doesn’t exceed Payroll4Free’s limit, you can continue using its software for free. For companies that have more than 25 staff, consider either TimeTrex and HR.my—both allow you to process payroll for unlimited employees at no cost.
- Paid payroll tax filings: Payroll4Free only calculates taxes and provides filled-out tax forms that you can use to file taxes. While it can remit the payments and file the forms (including year-end tax forms) for you, this service costs $15 per month.
HR.my: Best for Startups Needing Basic HR & Payroll Tools
Overall Score: 3.53 OUT OF 5
What We Like
- Feature-rich free HR solution
- Multilingual platform with free access to payroll, time clocks, and basic HR tools
- Additional paid features are only $5 per month
- Dashboard is basic and looks outdated
- User guide isn’t robust
- Limited customer support
HR.my Pricing
- Free version: Payroll software free for unlimited employees; includes free online storage
- Add-on: $5 monthly sponsorship that includes ad-free web accounts, early access to new features, additional online storage, and advanced email notifications
HR.my is a free multilingual HR software that is crowdfunded. The company works with those interested in translating the software into additional languages. It has basic payroll and HR features (such as employee information management, time tracking, and expense claims) that you can use for free.
Overall, it earned 3.53 out of 5 in our evaluation, with high marks for pricing and popularity. What pulled its score down is the lack of custom reporting and payroll tax filings. It also doesn’t offer phone support, nor does it have a support team. If you need help with a feature, you can visit its community forum and access its online user guide, which is more of an FAQ page but with limited information.
This is HR.my’s dashboard for adding new employees.
HR.my Pricing
HR.my is completely free, plus you get unlimited storage and can add unlimited employees. Unlike TimeTrex that collects fees through its paid tiers, HR.my has a crowdfunding campaign that you can opt to join. For a $5 monthly sponsorship, you get the following additional features:
- Early access to newly developed features
- Ad-free employer and employee web accounts
- Additional 3,500MB of file storage (or 6,000MB for an annual sponsorship) for employer accounts with every $5 unit of sponsorship
- Email notifications for HR.my managers in addition to those sent to the HR.my administrator
- More advanced email notifications, including for expense claims, leave requests, and announcements
HR.my Features
- Cloud-based software: If you’re always on the go, HR.my has a cloud-based system that you can access 24/7 and from any device (such as Windows and Mac computers, Android tablets, and the iPad). There’s no software installation needed—unlike TimeTrex’s free Community Edition that you need to download.
- Multilingual platform: Of the three free payroll software that we reviewed, only HR.my has a platform that is multilingual. While its default language is English, you can change it directly from the system and choose from 65 options that include Chinese, Korean, French, Spanish, Japanese, and Vietnamese.
- Feature-rich free HR solution: HR.my doesn’t only provide free payroll tools—you also get time tracking, PTO management, expense claim management, and self-service solutions for employees. However, it doesn’t have the scheduling and performance review tools that TimeTrex offers for free.
- Robust time clocks: Compared to TimeTrex’s free time clock, HR.my’s free time tracking solution offers more features, such as geolocation tracking, facial verifications of clocking in employees, and mobile time-ins/outs for field staff.
- Efficient pay processing: HR.my’s payroll tools are designed to simplify and automate employee pay processing. It has automatic pay runs and pay slips, and you can remit employee salaries through direct deposits or print paychecks. What it doesn’t support are payroll tax filings and year-end reporting—you have to fill out W-2 forms yourself.
HR.my’s Drawbacks
- Lacks phone support: HR.my doesn’t have a support team that you can contact via phone if you have questions or need assistance. You can access its user guide (but the content isn’t robust) and post queries on its community forum and then wait for other HR.my users or the system administrator to respond.
- Doesn’t file payroll taxes: Similar to TimeTrex, HR.my won’t pay and file payroll taxes on your behalf. Payroll4Free also doesn’t include this in its free services but can handle it for you if you pay $15 monthly.
Gusto
When it comes to the needs of small businesses, Gusto stands above the competition. It does this by providing a full-service payroll experience that’s easy to use and at an affordable price point for small businesses of any size.
And it even offers a full contractor plan for businesses that exclusively use them.
One way this tool goes above a lot of other payroll software is that it doesn’t just calculate the taxes to withhold, it actually files them with your government.
That’s right. Local, state, and federal taxes are handled in one fell swoop and filed. As a result, your tax season just got a lot simpler.
Gusto goes far above just a simple payroll tool. It also has other features like insurance tools to help get coverage for employees, HR tools, time tracking, hiring and onboarding tools, and so much more.
It’s a really smart purchase for businesses of any size.
Benefits of Gusto
- Most of the payroll process can be automated to reduce your workload
- Contractors and freelancers are fully supported at no extra cost
- The view from the employee’s side of things is excellent
Price of Gusto
- Basic starts at $19 per month plus $6 per person
- Core starts at $39 per month plus $6 per person
- Complete starts at $39 per month plus $12 per person
- Concierge starts at $149 per month plus $12 per person
- Contractor plan available
Paychex
Paychex is one of the biggest names in payroll software and it does an excellent job at providing its services to small businesses. The services involve access to their cloud-based payroll software and some plans even include HR software tools.
Thus, Paychex is more than just a payroll platform.
However, by far, the best part about Paychex is its mobile app. For once, it’s not just the employee who gets to enjoy a sleek mobile app, but the employers as well. You can manage payroll elements on the go with an easy-to-use app available on both Android and IOS.
It’s simply the best payroll app for employers.
The other major advantage of using Paychex is its incredible reporting capability. This tool can generate over 160 types of reports to help you analyze your business. However, these are in-depth reporting options only available on the most expensive plans.
Benefits of Paychex
- Automatic payroll tax filing
- Plans are adjustable to meet the needs of small businesses regardless of their size
- More than just a payroll tool
Price of Paychex
- Paychex Go starts at $59.99 per month plus $4 per person
- All other plans require you to contact Paychex for a quote
OnPay
OnPay has been improving its services over the years, and it has really become one of the best for small businesses. The software is flexible, powerful, fast, and the plans are simple and affordable for small businesses of all sizes.
And it works in all 50 states, to boot.
One of the biggest additions, which you might notice a trend on this list, is the inclusion of HR software. These tools are now built-in and available for customer use at no extra charge. Some of the features include automatic PTO management, org charts, and many other useful tools.
This online payroll software is also quite easy to use. The UI has been simplified and divided into 8 simple sections that make it perfect for beginners. And if at any point you need assistance, they have an excellent FAQ to take advantage of, or you can contact their talented support team.
Benefits of OnPay
- No limit on the number of employees
- This tool offer support for 1099 workers at no additional charge
- Adding benefits is very simple
Price of OnPay
- There is a 1-month free trial available
- The plan begins at $36 per month plus $4 per person
Square Payroll
For many new businesses, hiring employees might be too expensive, and instead, you may opt for hiring contractors or freelance workers that use the 1099 form. For those small businesses, Square Payroll is one of the best options available.
And that’s because it has the cheapest plan available for contract workers.
Instead of traditional plans charging a base fee, the contractor plan does not. Instead, you only pay on a person-basis. That said, it also has plans available for traditional employees that support contractors as well, meaning there is something for everyone.
Some of the other key features to consider include seamless integration with other Square products and services, automatic tax filing for both quarterly and annual reports, mobile-app support, and import timecards to simplify the process to name a few of the features.
Benefits of Square Payroll
- Talk to live support whenever necessary
- No limit on the number of employees or contractors
- Manage benefits for all employees
Price of Square Payroll
- The Contractor plan costs $5 per person with no base fee
- The Employee & Contractor plan starts at $29 per month plus $5 per person
Conclusion
Payroll software not only provides more accurate salary calculation, but also ensures more convenient operation. Our reviews are conducted to help small business owners find the most suitable payroll software for their company. Lots of top-rated payroll software were given the chance to prove their advantages.