Cheapest Payroll Software for Small Business

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Homebase Payroll: Best for Businesses Employing Hourly Workers

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Overall Score: 3.66 OUT OF 5

What We Like

  • Flat pricing with reasonable monthly fees
  • Payroll plan includes time tracking, scheduling, job postings, and applicant tracking tools
  • Unlimited pay runs with automated payroll tax payments and filings

What’s Missing

  • Payroll services available only in 43 states (as of this writing)
  • Lacks health insurance options
  • Integrates only with QuickBooks Online

Homebase Payroll Pricing

  • $35 per month + $5 per employee monthly

Read Full ReviewVisit Homebase Payroll

Homebase has added a payroll module to its suite of time tracking and scheduling solutions. Similar to Square Payroll, Homebase Payroll offers flat pricing for its easy-to-use pay processing solution that includes automated payroll tax payment and filing services. Its payroll platform is designed specifically for hourly teams as it comes with essential scheduling and time tracking tools to help you manage your hourly workforce more efficiently. It even offers job postings, applicant tracking, PTO management, new hire onboarding, and time clock apps.

Homebase Payroll earned an overall score of 3.66 in our evaluation. Its reasonably priced plan with flat pricing and robust HR tools contributed to its high scores (4 and up), while the lack of online Homebase Payroll reviews resulted in it getting a zero rating in our popularity criteria.

Homebase Payroll Features

  • Flat pricing: Both Square Payroll and Homebase Payroll offer flat pricing, allowing you to easily plan your payroll software expenses. You also don’t have to worry about having to pay extra fees if you exceed a plan’s user limits or need additional payroll and essential HR solutions. Homebase Payroll has only one plan that includes all the tools you need to hire, onboard, and pay employees.
  • Robust payroll plan: Homebase Payroll is the only payroll system for small businesses that we reviewed that’s affordably priced and comes with several HR features. For only $35 plus $5 per employee monthly, you get hiring, onboarding, time tracking, and scheduling tools in addition to full-service payroll and automatic tax filing services. Paycor, ADP, Paychex, and Rippling may offer similar functionalities, but you either have to pay extra or subscribe to its higher tiers to get these solutions.
  • Full-service payroll: Unlike Paychex, ADP Run, and Paycor, Homebase Payroll offers unlimited pay runs so you can process employee and contractor payments as many times as you need in a month. Salaries are sent to the employees’ accounts via direct deposits, although Homebase Payroll also supports payments made through printable checks. In addition to W-2 and 1099 reporting, Homebase provides automated payroll tax payments and filings.
  • Early access to wages: Similar to Gusto and Square Payroll, Homebase Payroll offers an employee perk that grants your staff early access to wages. Your workers can transfer a portion of their salary to their bank account before payday to help pay for emergency expenses.

Homebase Payroll’s Drawbacks

  • Doesn’t offer health insurance and retirement benefits: While it can help you find qualified candidates, onboard new hires, schedule work shifts, track attendance, and pay employees, Homebase Payroll doesn’t provide access to benefits options that you can offer to your workers. If you want robust benefits choices, consider any of the providers in this list except Square Payroll and Patriot Payroll. Gusto also has health insurance plans but it is limited to only 39 states.
  • Limited payroll coverage: Given that Homebase’s payroll solution is fairly new (as of this writing), its payroll services only cover 43 states. However, the provider is working on adding new states, so check its website for updates.

Timetrex: Best For Employee Time Tracking

TimeTrex
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Best for companies that need a full-fledged time-tracking solution that also offers payroll features. 

Calculating payroll requires knowing how much time employees have worked during a pay period. Recording any sick leave or vacation days is also important too. Timetrex is a good bet for small businesses with hourly employees, as it synthesizes time-tracking into payroll software.

The free option is known as the community edition; it is an open-source platform supported by volunteers from over 50 countries. Timetrex stands out for its time and attendance tracking for employees, who need simply log their hours online. This information is automatically linked with payroll, so running the numbers at the end of the pay period is a breeze.

Timetrex’s community edition covers most of the bases of completing payroll, including calculating net pay, taxes, and deductions. Users can utilize Timetrex to pay their employees via direct deposit or paper check, as well as prepare tax forms. Some other HR functions are featured too, such as submitting PTO requests and schedule changes.

Pros

  • Can be integrated with other payroll services, such as ADP and QuickBooks.
  • Cloud-hosted support for free
  • Employees can easily access app via web browser
  • Includes automated multi-week scheduling for recurring or rotating shifts.

Cons

  • The free community version does not assist with filing taxes.
  • Non-transparent pricing
  • Tax filings and payments to third parties are not included.

Timetrex Features & Pricing

TimeTrex offers its most basic payroll features for free under its Community Edition service plan. The TimeTrex Community Edition is exclusively cloud-hosted, doesn’t require any downloads or software installations, and comes with free features such as:

  • Payroll processing
  • Human resource management
  • Web browser support for time & attendance
  • Leave management

TimeTrex does offer mobile app and on-site service in addition to its web portal support, but you’ll need to purchase at least the Professional plan to access it. TimeTrex’s pricing starts at $2.99 per month, per user, and begins at a beginning flat rate of $29.90 for businesses that pay up to 10 employees. Additionally, the company offers a plan comparison online but doesn’t include any further pricing details, so you’ll need to request a demo with them to learn more about which plan makes sense for your business.

TimeTrex Summary

TimeTrex’s free features make the most sense for small, dispersed teams that need web access to time-tracking. Business owners who already use a payroll software they enjoy can integrate it with TimeTrex, as well as sync it automatically with TimeTrex’s attendance tracking. Unfortunately, TimeTrex’s lack of pricing transparency makes it difficult for busy companies that need immediate payroll solutions to quickly choose a plan that suits their needs.

Paychex

Improve your payroll accuracy and save time by choosing Paychex that makes it a lot easier to input employee hours, maintain employee wage & hour laws, and calculate taxes.

View your present and future pay periods quickly and complete the next payroll hassle-free from the Payroll Center. Run payroll by entering details in just a few clicks, choose from 3 pay-entry options such as grid view, and customize payslips, deductions, and earnings.

You can also customize reports based on your chosen package to fit your requirements at no extra cost. Use the feature People View for adding new employees, who can also be invited to complete their details such as personal data, tax withholding, etc.

Paychex offers multiple payroll services such as:

  • Small Business Payroll service handles tax and payroll processing by outsourcing these time-consuming activities and helps you concentrate on your growth.
  • And easy online payroll and HR solution.
  • Midsize Payroll solution that helps larger companies handle employee paychecks, HR tasks, and compliance
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They also help you compare different solutions and choose a plan based on your business requirements. Paychex makes it effortless to switch with just a few pieces of information if you already use another payroll system.

Paychex helps you calculate, file, and pay your payroll taxes, helping you enable tax credits. They make the onboarding process easy with one-to-one customer service through US-based support via calls, live chat, and in-app support such as guides and articles.

Paychex offers multiple employee payment options such as pay-cards, direct deposit, pay-on-demand, and paper checks. Use the mobile app to handle payroll tasks from anywhere and choose from multiple pay-entry options.

Their online payroll solutions are accurate with a built-in safeguard, including notifications in major payroll issues like data mismatch. Let your employees access their payroll information and save time answering common questions or let them talk to the administrator via the Flex chat.

Conclusion

       Are you a small business owner with employees? Are you looking for software that does more than just run payroll? Have a limited budget? Because of the economy and payroll outsourcing, more small businesses are running their own payrolls. These payroll software programs for small business take the complexity out of paying your employees by automating all payroll processes, accounting and filing federal, state and local tax forms.

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