Choosing the best payroll software for small businesses in Canada can be overwhelming. There are tons of options available and they all claim to be better than the other. Either too expensive or too confusing, here is a list of top payroll programs for small businesses in Canada.
This review shows you the best trending payroll software for small businesses over the years. Here they are:
What is Payroll software
Payroll software is a system that handles payroll services including payroll taxes, compensation, year-end bonuses, pay stubs, paid time off, benefits management, and organizing employee records. Many organizations outsource the payroll process, but you may decide that in-house is best for your company, and there are many payroll software solutions available to streamline the task.
Best overall: Ceridian
If you want a payroll plan that handles just about every aspect of human resources, we recommend Ceridian Dayforce. Why? Because Ceridian offers much more than just payroll deductions and payroll tax remittance. This total HCM solution covers payroll, benefits, workforce management, and most other HR-related tasks. Ceridian payroll services are also packed with unique features that many providers neglect, including the following:
- Multi-jurisdictional tax calculation, withholding, and filing
- Real-time payroll register (no need to wait until the end of the pay period to make revisions)
- Talent management, including recruiting and onboarding
- Workforce management, including a labour management system
Not quite big enough for an enterprise-level payroll solution? Ceridian Powerplay offers HR and payroll software for companies with fewer than 100 employees.
Per the customer review site Trustradius, most Ceridian payroll services customers are satisfied with their product. They do, however, wish for better customer service, more customized reporting features, and better employee time tracking.1ProsExtensive employee self-service features thorough HR solutions highly-rated mobile app on software learning curve requiredMiddling customer service reputation get
Best HR add-ons: ADP Workforce Now
ADP’s most popular software, ADP Workforce Now, is an HR-rich payroll program for Canadian small businesses. Its built-in time and attendance tracking simplify paying hourly employees. Unlike many other payroll options, ADP Workforce Now includes an employee-facing mobile payroll app so small-business owners can run the payroll on the go. It’s business and HR bundles include access to key HR forms and new hire paperwork. Pricier bundles include additional HR compliance assistance plus help creating employee handbooks.
Best for basics: Wagepoint
Data as of 4/2/21. Offers and availability may vary by location and are subject to change.
Don’t need ADP or Ceridian’s large-scale HR solutions? Wagepoint’s payroll software offers straightforward automatic payroll processing and little else—which is good news for Canadian small businesses with few employees. If you have hourly employees, Wagepoint integrates easily with popular time-tracking software like TSheets, Deputy, and 7Shifts. Or, if you pay your salaried employees the same amount at regular intervals, you can set Wagepoint to pay them automatically without having to lift a finger.
Wagepoint’s pricing structure is based on how often you pay your employees and how many employees you have. For instance, paying one employee weekly costs $12 per payroll run. Each additional employee-paid costs an extra two dollars per run. Paying one employee bi-weekly, semi-monthly, or monthly costs $22 per payroll run (plus $2 per additional employee).
However, Wagepoint isn’t a good choice if you need on-the-go payroll. While the small-business payroll program has a (poorly reviewed) time-tracking app for employees, it still lacks a mobile payroll app. And, as we said, it’s not suited to small businesses that want an all-in-one payroll and HR company.ProsAffordable full-service payrollGood customer service reputation user-friendly software with low learning curveConsNo mobile appNo built-in HR features
Best reporting: Payworks
Want to gain key insights into payroll and workforce management? Payworks Canada generates dozens of reports, most of which are fully customizable. Users can display information from those reports on customizable, shareable dashboards to collaborate with business stakeholders on financial growth.
Payworks also offers franchisee-specific payroll solutions. In fact, it has an entire customer service department dedicated to helping franchise owners. Additionally, Payworks offers human resource, time management, and workforce management solutions—though each solution costs an additional monthly fee (albeit a small one).
PSIPAYROLL
PSI Payroll Services | Canadian Payroll Service Solutions. PSI specializes in Canadian payroll services solutions for US companies with Canadian employees. Call 18663025926 for your payroll services in Canada.
PSIPAYROLL
PAYTRAK
Paytrak | Canadian Payroll | Payroll Processing | Payroll Service. PayTrak Payroll Services is a Canadian payroll outsourcing services company that offers payroll management, payroll processing, payroll accounting and more for small business.
PAYTRAK
CERIDIANSMALLBUSINESS
Payroll Services | HR Services | Ceridian for Small Business. Choose payroll services and HR services that make it easy to manage your people as your company grows.
CERIDIANSMALLBUSINESS
THEPAYROLLEDGE
Canada’s Small Business Payroll Services Provider | The Payroll Edge. We have more than 25 years of trusted expertise, processing payroll for hundreds of companies. Call us today and see how we can help your business grow!
THEPAYROLLEDGE
ONPAYROLL
Our outsourced solutions are a new way to manage your Canadian workforce. Working with OnPayroll.ca will give you a new perspective on outsourcing.
ADP Workforce Now
ADP Workforce Now is a comprehensive payroll software for small businesses that offers an all-in-one management solution for payroll, HR, time, talent, and benefits. For some businesses that are looking for a simple and straight-forward payroll solution, ADP Workforce Now might offer a tad too much. However, it does allow companies a complete back-office administration solution in one package, which makes it an excellent choice for many small businesses.
ADP Workforce Now delivers a self-service employee portal that offers tools like:
- time tracking
- scheduling
- PTO requests
- benefits options
The user experience for employees is often cited as one of the software’s strong points, making providing and receiving information easy. All of the standard features are available to employees through the ADP Workforce now mobile app. This self-serve portal helps to limit work by HR and finance teams, while streamlining many multi-step processes into a single step.
ADP offers deep customization with add-on modules and the ability to develop your own. For that reason, ADP primarily offers their software to enterprise companies. They are able to handle complex payrolls with thousands of employees, but are still a reliable payroll solution for small businesses.
One thing to take into consideration with ADP Workforce Now is implementation. ADP charges high fees for implementation and their add-on module pricing structure can be a barrier to entry for small businesses that are looking for something simple.
ADP Workforce Now Pricing
ADP Workforce Now offers 4 base plans with two versions:
- one for small businesses with 1-49 employees
- and one for companies with 50+ employees
Pricing is only available through appointment and quote, as the number of employees and add-ons will affect the overall price.
Each of the four base plans includes different software modules:
| PLAN | MODULES INCLUDED |
|---|---|
| Essential | Payroll & Tax, HR Management |
| Compliance | Payroll & Tax, HR Management, HR Tools |
| Talent | Payroll & Tax, HR Management, HR Tools, Benefits Management, Recruiting, Talent Management |
| Complete | Payroll & Tax, HR Management, HR Tools, Benefits Management, Recruiting, Talent Management, Enhanced Analytics |
For small Canadian businesses, the “Essential” plan may be enough for your needs.
Deluxe Payroll
Founded in 1967, Deluxe Payroll (formerly Payweb) is one of the oldest Canadian payroll providers operating today. They typically serve smaller companies, with between 1 and 1,000 employees.
While Deluxe Payroll is a narrowly-focused payroll solution, the company offers expanded HR and employee management features through integrations.
One of the biggest strengths of Deluxe Payroll is the excellent reports that they make available through the platform. The system can generate more than 5 different reports including Payroll Register and Vacation Accrual. Each report can be exported in a .PDF or Microsoft Excel file.
Employees often cite Deluxe Payroll’s employee portal as simple time and attendance features as one of their defining characteristics. Also their drag-and-drop calendar feature makes it easy to schedule employees, and change schedules, on the fly. Their system can generate schedules that are optimized for both cost and coverage.
Many companies that use Deluxe Payroll stick to their standard Payroll features, and that may be the best option for many small businesses.
However, there are some commonly cited pitfalls to Deluxe Payroll in their reviews online. While the platform is considered easy to use, many find their interfaces feel a bit outdated. Additionally, their system varies based on the features that you would like access to and the number of employees. The costs can add up quickly for more comprehensive packages.
Deluxe is a popular solution among contractors, healthcare companies, food service companies, and retailers, due to the time and attendance features that make employee management easier for companies with varied schedules and higher turnover rates.
Deluxe Payroll Pricing
Deluxe Payroll does not publicly publish their prices and requires that you contact their sales team for a quote. Their pricing is dependent on the number of employees in the system and the software features that you would like access to.
Conclusion
Payroll systems refer to a method of paying employees based on a number of factors. The process involves a company calculating the time employee’s spend working and the cost of these hours. It’s common for businesses to use payroll software to calculate this data automatically. There are two types, web-based and desktop versions, depending on your preference. It’s important you choose one that fits your needs and doesn’t complicate your workday.