Payroll is a critical part of running a business. From billing to taxes, it involves a lot of time and attention. Payroll can be a challenging process especially for companies with a large number of employees. There are several online payroll software packages available offering free survey software, free payroll rates, free payroll calculator, free payroll schedule, etc…
Here are a couple of softwares that offer free services.
Homebase Payroll: Best for Businesses Employing Hourly Workers
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 37 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 37 states. However, the provider is working on adding new states, so check its website for updates.
– OnPay — Best for Remote Workforces
- STARTING AT $36 PER MONTH
- UNLIMITED MONTHLY PAY CYCLES
- FREE MULTI-STATE FILINGS
- AUTOMATED TAX FILINGS
OnPay is reliable, secure, and they’re fantastic for companies with distributed teams and employees.
That’s because they don’t charge you more for multi-state filings the way many other payroll services do. From Iowa to New York, you’ll be able to conduct payroll for your employees no matter where they are in the country.
The all-in-one payroll service has straightforward and transparent pricing. It’s $36 per month plus $4 per employee.
This is a great value compared to some of the other options on my list, especially considering all of the features and benefits that you’ll get.
- Unlimited monthly pay cycles
- Automated tax filings and payments
- Supports W-2 and 1099 workers
- 2-day turnaround
- Pay via direct deposit, live check, or debit card
- Garnishments
- Flexible pay rates and schedules
- Unemployment insurance withholding
- 40+ reports
- Time-tracking integrations
OnPay also has specialized payroll solutions for businesses in specific industries with unique needs. Examples include restaurants (e.g. taxes, wage reporting), farming, nonprofits, and churches (e.g. tax exemptions).
You’ll get everything you need to run payroll for your small business, including HR benefits that can help negotiated mixed workforces (e.g. W2 employees and independent contractors). It’s easy to add on things like employee health and dental, workers’ comp, and retirement plans.
They’ll even work with the IRS on your behalf if there are any issues with taxes.
Employees can self service their own payroll too. Your staff can onboard themselves, access their accounts even after leaving the company, and change their personal information at any time. Employees can also manage voluntary deductions like their 401k plans directly online.
Your first month using OnPay is free. They’ll also cover any migration costs from your old payroll provider.
The only major drawback of OnPay is that there they don’t have a mobile app. While the site is optimized for mobile devices, apps seem to be pretty standard in today’s day and age.
OnPay will charge you extra for any year-end forms that are mailed to your office or employees. But you could always print them out yourself to avoid those costs.
Gusto — Best If You Have a Ping-Pong Table in the Break Room
- STARTING AT $39.99 PER MONTH
- BEST FOR STARTUPS AND NEW BUSINESSES
- UNLIMITED PAYROLL CYCLES
- EASY ACCESS TO PAY STUBS & BENEFITS
Gusto offers one of the best online payroll services out there. They serve more than 100,000 businesses across the country.
The reason why so many companies are choosing Gusto for payroll is because of the platform’s simplicity. It’s easy for anyone to set up, manage, and pay workers.
That’s what makes it perfect for startups and new business ventures. They’re perfectly scaled for small-but-growing operations, and the learning curve is a snap for both employers and employees.
With Gusto, you can run payroll in minutes. You can even run it on autopilot, assuming things aren’t changing each pay cycle.
The user experience of Gusto is unparalleled too. It’s incredibly simple to use even if you’re completely inexperienced with online payroll services.
Not only does Gusto calculate your taxes, but it files everything for you. Local, state, and federal taxes are automatically paid to the right government office each time you run payroll. This benefit is 100% free, while competitors charge extra for it.
I love Gusto’s onboarding process for each employee. Whether you have a new W-2 hire or 1099 contractor, they can onboard themselves.
Your staff will have easy access to pay stubs, W-2s, and everything else they need online. Even former employees will still be able to view old payroll information.
Gusto offers unlimited payroll cycles, meaning you can issue payments whenever you want. You’re not locked into weekly or bi-weekly cycles.
Gusto helps you with compliance, time-tracking, PTO, employee benefits, and more, in addition to being a full-service online payroll company.
Pricing for Gusto is as follows:
Core — $39 per month
- $6 per month per person
- Employee self-service
- Health benefits administration
- Workers’ comp administration
- PTO policies
Complete — $39 per month
- $12 per month per person
- All Core features
- Employee offers and onboarding
- Time tracking
- Time-off requests
- Employee directory and surveys
Concierge — $149 per month
- $12 per month per person
- All Complete features
- Certified HR professionals
- HR resource center
The Core plan is perfect for small teams with basic payroll. As your team scales, you may want to upgrade to the Complete package. Gusto Concierge is designed for larger businesses as a full-service HR resource.
Workers’ comp and health benefits are free to integrate with Gusto. They don’t charge any administrative fees, so you’ll only pay for the premiums.
401k plans, 529 college savings plans, HSAs, FSAs, and commuter benefits come with additional monthly base rates, as well as extra charges for each participating employee.
Gusto has everything you need in an online payroll service. We use it here at QuickSprout, and I think it’s exceptional. The only potential drawback is the price. It used to be one of the cheapest payroll options on the market, which is no longer the case.
You can try Gusto free for one month. There is no charge for setting up an account, and you’ll only pay after you run your first payroll.
ADP Payroll — Best for Businesses Making a Hiring Push
- MARKETPLACE OFFERS TONS OF BENEFITS
- PRICING PLANS GREAT FOR SCALING
- ROBUST HR FEATURES
- 25,000+ JOB BOARDS
ADP Payroll is a great all-in-one HR solution for everything from hiring, to time tracking, to background checks, to (of course) payment processing.
That’s why they’re one of the most popular solutions out there.
Where they really shine for us is in their app integrations. ADP partners with tons of benefit providers to give both employees and HR departments with perks like product discounts through LifeMart and integration with outsourced HR and a time clock software.
As such, you’re going to have a lot of ammo when coming to the table to offer the best benefits to prospective employees.
Their plans are made for scaling, which makes them great for growing businesses. They offer two “tiers” for businesses:
- Small business payroll. This is their service for smaller businesses with 1-49 employees. Great for start ups.
- Midsized to enterprise payroll. This is their service for bigger businesses with 50-1,000+ employees.
Across both levels, there are four different pricing plans your business can choose from. Expect everything from direct deposit and tax filings, to more unique benefits like legal assistance and HR training toolkits.
ADP Payroll also gives you hiring solutions. You’ll be able to conduct background checks, get access to 25,000+ job boards to find the right recruit, and also set up interview scheduling and offers of employment..
You’ll also be able to track your employees’ hours worked as well as manage their vacation days and PTO requests.
As for pricing, you’ll need to go to their website and get a free quote from them. Depending on the specific needs of your company though, you can expect to pay roughly $10 – $15 per employee.
Deluxe Payroll — Best Price for Included HR Features
- POWERFUL HR TOOLS
- MAKES ONBOARDING EASY
- GET ALL THE PAYROLL FEATURES YOU NEED
- STARTS AT $39/MONTH
Payroll and human resources are close bedfellows and the tasks you routinely handle in both departments tend to go hand-in-hand. Whereas some services don’t offer much in the way of HR and others may be overkill for your needs, Deluxe offers a simple solution for running payroll and basic HR management in one package.
With Deluxe Payroll, you get everything you need to reduce headaches and time spent on recurring actions. The platform offers full-service tax filings for all 50 states in the U.S., two-day direct deposit, time tracking, paid time off administration, and detailed reporting.
Deluxe’s HR prowess really shines, though, in its included hiring and onboarding tools. Through Deluxe Payroll, you get access to the company’s Text To Apply feature—a streamlined, fully compliant way for talented people to apply for openings at your organization.
You can take that and other job postings you have on the internet and track everything in the Deluxe dashboard. The software will even simplify the process of posting new openings to the most prominent social media platforms and job boards. It even makes pre-screening and interview scheduling a cinch.
Once you’ve found a great new hire, Deluxe keeps making things easier still. You get all sorts of onboarding tools, like new hire document management, easy federal and state documentation, and customizable onboarding forms. You even get SSN verification completely for free.
And that’s all just at the basic tier of Deluxe’s payroll and HR packages:
- Lite: $39/month + $7/employee; full-service payroll with HR reports and hiring and onboarding features
- Blended: $49/month + $7/employee; HR-centric solution with no payroll or tax features
- All-Access: $39/month + $12/employee; the best of both worlds—everything in Lite and Blended
While the Lite package may be a bit high for simple payroll needs, the All-Access tier is very competitively priced, especially considering the features you get within.
The Blended package isn’t going to work if you need payroll service. And, since you’re reading this article, that means it probably won’t fulfill your needs. But the All-Access Package adds a lot of useful HR bonuses to Deluxe Payroll.
For one, you get a lot of assistance with compliance. Like with ACA compliance, where Deluxe will help you not only handle W-2, W-4, and 1099 forms but also the 1094 and 1095 forms regarding provided healthcare options.
You also get key features like the ability to track employee performance, organizational charts, customizable and shareable HR documents, and assistance with employee terminations.
Plus, All-Access unlocks helpful workflow automations for routine HR tasks, user access customization, and single sign-on through Google, Slack, and others.
If you need a solid payroll service with included HR tools that won’t break the bank, reach out to Deluxe today.
Square Payroll — Best for Retailers and Restaurants
- STARTING AT $29 PER MONTH
- EASY INTEGRATION WITH SQUARE POS
- ECOMMERCE FRIENDLY
- SELF-SERVICE ONBOARDING
Square is best known for its POS software and credit card processing services. But they also offer Square Payroll which is an excellent all-in-one payroll solution.
It’s no surprise then that they’re a great choice if you already use Square POS. You can easily sync those timecards with your payroll system.
Since Square also offers an ecommerce solution, this makes them a perfect payroll service for any organization that relies heavily on their ecommerce or online store.
Really though, I’d highly recommend Square if you are in either the restaurant or retail industry with physical locations. They have the equipment and integrations you need to connect your entire business online, from front to back.
They also offer one of the best ways to digitally track employee hours without having to manually enter information for each pay cycle. Square will also help you calculate and split any employee credit card tips. That’s great for restaurants.
Another top benefit of Square Payroll is the setup. You can get up and running in just a few quick steps, all done online. Simply input your company info, add your workers’ information, and run your payroll.
Alternatively, you can invite your employees to enter their own information for self-service onboarding. Square Payroll has a great mobile app for managing payroll from anywhere.
Pricing for Square Payroll is affordable and straightforward. It costs $29 per month plus $5 per person paid.
Furthermore, Square Payroll offers a unique option for businesses paying contractors. It’s just $5 per contractor per month, with no base subscription fee. This is one of the most affordable pricing plans you’ll find.
Overall, Square Payroll is perfect for businesses already using the Square POS system. It’s got everything you need to process payroll.
With all of that said, I wouldn’t recommend it to larger businesses in need of more HR resources. Square Payroll is pretty limited in that sense.
But if you have a brick-and-mortar, work in the retail or food service industries, or are a local business, you ought to try Square Payroll for your needs today.
Conclusion
I’m sure everyone in this era would like to save their pennies and use something for free because we all feel the pinch of every penny that we spend, right? Payroll is no exception, and when it comes to free payroll software, you need to ensure that it works well with your business. Luckily, there are various payroll applications in the market which you can easily download in order to use and implement in your business and I’m going to tell you about them in detail.