I tested top payroll providers and found that Gusto is the best overall. See how the others stack up.
The best payroll software and services should make pay runs easier, taxes cleaner, and compliance less stressful. Whether you’re paying a handful of employees or managing a growing workforce, the right platform can save time and reduce costly payroll mistakes.
For this guide, I reviewed nine payroll options to help you find one that fits your business needs.
My verdict:
| Gusto | ||
| ADP | ||
| Rippling | ||
| OnPay | ||
| Papaya Global | ||
| Paychex | ||
| SurePayroll by Paychex | ||
| QuickBooks Workforce (formerly QuickBooks Payroll) | ||
| Square Payroll | ||
| *Fees are based on Rippling’s small business page. **This is for Papaya Global’s Payroll Plus product. |
||
Given the many state and local jurisdictions, employers also face rising complexity when running payroll across states. The U.S. even ranked sixth in the 2025 Global Payroll Complexity Index, with California and New York identified as the country’s most complex states for payroll.
If those challenges sound familiar, you’re in the right place. I tested 9 of the most popular payroll solutions on the market today and used an objective scoring rubric to determine which one is truly the best.
And the results are in: Gusto is the best payroll software solution thanks to its thorough automation, comprehensive payroll tools, and optional employee benefits with built-in administration.
But if Gusto isn’t right for you, one of the other eight payroll solutions might do the trick. Below, I’ve analyzed each platform’s features, strengths, weaknesses, and cost to help you find the best fit for your business.
| Gusto | ||||
| ADP | ||||
| Rippling | ||||
| OnPay | ||||
| Papaya Global | ||||
| Paychex | ||||
| SurePayroll by Paychex | ||||
| QuickBooks Workforce (formerly QuickBooks Payroll) | ||||
| Square Payroll |
Data accurate and verified as of 5/29/2026.
Our star rating: 4.6 out of 5
If you don’t have any prior experience with payroll software and aren’t sure where to start, Gusto is absolutely my top recommendation. It’s one of the most popular payroll providers for small businesses, and it integrates with dozens of popular third-party applications, including accounting solutions like QuickBooks Online and Xero.
Gusto’s payroll service also has built-in time tracking and project tracking features for higher-priced plans. Managers can easily track team hours and process time-off requests and approvals. Workers can track their time by logging their hours on a computer or through Gusto’s employee mobile time-tracking app, which uses geolocation to verify hours.
The balance of flexibility and affordability made it my number one pick.
Top integrations: FreshBooks, QuickBooks Online, Sage Intacct, Xero, ZipBooks, QuickBooks Desktop, and Bookkeeper360.
Gusto has three business payroll plans:
If you pay contractors only, Gusto’s contractor plan costs $6 per contractor paid per month for six months, then $35 per month plus the per-contractor fee after that.
Gusto also has an international contractor payment plan that lets businesses pay independent contractors in 120+ countries. Pricing is country-specific.
Finally, Gusto recently added international payroll in the form of an employer of record (EOR) service. Contact Gusto for more information.
Learn more about Gusto by reading our in-depth Gusto payroll software review.
Visit Gusto
ALSO READ: ADP vs. Gusto: Which Payroll Software Is Better?
Our star rating: 4.4 out of 5
Whether you’re looking for a simplistic app-based payroll solution or a fully featured enterprise-level program, ADP has a payroll product for you. Its extremely versatile products are diverse enough to accommodate businesses of all sizes and in plenty of industries.
For instance, ADP TotalSource is a PEO for small businesses that want to offload hiring and payroll responsibilities. Roll by ADP is a chat-based app for businesses with fewer than five employees. ADP Workforce Now is an HCM solution for midsize businesses, while ADP GlobalView Payroll helps businesses pay employees in 40+ countries.
Top integrations: QuickBooks Online, Wave Accounting, Xero, SAP, Sage, Workday, 7shifts, ZipRecruiter, HiBob, and Microsoft Teams.
ADP doesn’t list the base prices for any of its payroll solutions online, including RUN Powered by ADP. Interested parties must contact ADP directly for a quote.
Learn more about ADP in our thorough RUN Powered by ADP review.
Visit ADP
Our star rating: 4.3 out of 5
Rippling is by far the most versatile solution on my list, and its automation capabilities will supercharge your payroll processes. I’m not even talking about the basic calculation and filing automations that most providers offer — Rippling’s payroll workflows can automate pretty much anything that touches payroll.
This could be as simple as a pay rate increase when an employee gets promoted or as complex as a referral bonus that gets added to one employee’s paycheck when another employee hits their 90-day milestone. (Like I said, supercharged.)
Rippling’s automations also extend to hundreds of third-party platforms, so you can configure automations like syncing payroll data to your general ledger or reimbursing employee expenses.
Top integrations: QuickBooks Online, Xero, Sage, and Oracle NetSuite.
Rippling doesn’t list its base price online, though its small business page shows that its monthly fees start at $8 per employee per month plus a $40 monthly base fee.
Contact Rippling to request a custom quote.
Dig deeper into Rippling’s features by reading our Rippling payroll review.
Visit Rippling
Our star rating: 4.7 out of 5
OnPay is a solid solution for any business, but it really shines when you start digging into industry-specific payroll requirements.
For example, bar and restaurant owners can manage multiple pay rates for front-of-house and back-of-house staff, as well as tipped wages and overtime costs. Clergy and nonprofit orgs also get clear guidance for tax deductions and exemptions, and farms get support for ag-specific tax forms and workers’ compensation.
The best part? These niche capabilities don’t cost extra. Gusto may offer a wider range of native HR capabilities, but OnPay immediately becomes a more affordable option when you start adding up the fees for with these specialized payroll functions.
Top integrations: Xero, QuickBooks Online, QuickBooks Time, and Magnify.
OnPay payroll has just one plan that includes all of its payroll tools plus hiring, onboarding and benefits administration. It costs $49 per month as a base fee plus $6 per month per employee.
It also offers an HR add-on if you want PTO management, org charts, onboarding workflows, equipment and software provisioning, and HR insights. This is priced at $2 per month per employee and a $15 base monthly fee.
Learn more about OnPay’s payroll system by reading our comprehensive OnPay review.
Visit OnPay
SEE: The 9 Most Common Payroll Mistakes and Ways to Avoid Them (TechRepublic)
Our star rating: 4.2 out of 5
For fast, budget-friendly global payroll processing, it’s hard to do better than Papaya. Its contractor payroll plans start at just $5 per contractor per month, or you can also choose Papaya’s employer of record service for comprehensive employee hiring in 160+ countries.
Top integrations: NetSuite, Workday, Expensify, BambooHR, Namely, and HiBob
Papaya offers a variety of international payroll services tailored toward businesses with diverse budgets and workforce needs:
Learn more about whether Papaya Global will work for you by reading our in-depth Papaya review.
Visit Papaya
Our star rating: 4 out of 5
While Paychex has more or less the same full-service payroll features as Gusto, it has a more robust set of HR features. In contrast to Paychex’s professional employer organization service, its payroll and HR software isn’t a total HR solution.
However, each Paychex plan has far more HR tools and support than any of Gusto’s plans, including access to a comprehensive HR library, optional financial wellness benefits for employees, and access to labor posters.
Top integrations: BambooHR, Greenhouse, Indeed, NetSuite, SAP, Sage Intacct, QuickBooks Online, Workday, and Xero.
Paychex has five different pricing tiers for its HR/payroll solutions, but all of them require a custom quote:
Learn more about Paychex by reading our in-depth Paychex software review.
Visit Paychex
Our star rating: 4.7 out of 5
SurePayroll by Paychex is hands-down the most affordable payroll solution with the most essential payroll features. It offers the best value for the price and includes more features at no additional cost than other providers include in their base plan.
For example, SurePayroll offers free two-day direct deposit, HR advisor access, and free year-end tax form filing — other providers charge extra for these capabilities.
Businesses can also use SurePayroll by Paychex to find employee benefits like 401(k) retirement plans, health insurance, and workers’ compensation insurance. SurePayroll by Paychex also offers optional hiring tools like pre-employment screening and background checks.
Top integrations: Xero, QuickBooks Online, BuddyPunch, Homebase, and Less Accounting.
SurePayroll by Paychex has two payroll plans:
With the first plan, SurePayroll by Paychex calculates your payroll taxes but leaves the filing up to you. With the second plan, SurePayroll also withholds and remits your payroll taxes on your behalf.
Find out if SurePayroll by Paychex is a good fit for you by reading our SurePayroll by Paychex review.
Visit SurePayroll by Paychex
Our star rating: 4.1 out of 5
If you’re new to payroll, it’s easy to be overwhelmed by the new processes and legal requirements. But if you already use QuickBooks Online for bookkeeping, adding QuickBooks Workforce ensures you don’t have to get used to an entirely new, confusing interface while you’re learning how to do payroll.
It’s basically a no-brainer for existing QBO users, especially if you don’t need other HR capabilities like hiring or performance management.
Top integrations: QuickBooks Online.
Unlike some of its top competitors, QuickBooks Online Payroll lists its prices clearly and upfront:
New customers can receive 50% off QuickBooks’ base price for their first three months of service.
Learn more about QuickBooks Workforce by reading our QuickBooks Workforce review.
Visit QuickBooks Workforce
Our star rating: 4.2 out of 5
Similar to my QB Payroll recommendation, Square Payroll is ideal if you’re already using Square for point of sale, invoicing, or banking. It’s an intuitive and affordable platform that helps you run payroll, pay taxes, and stay ahead of compliance needs.
Square Payroll will calculate, withhold, and file federal and state payroll taxes (quarterly and annually) on your behalf. But automatic filing doesn’t stop there — it’ll also handle W-2s, 1099s, and new hire reporting according to your state regulations.
Square Payroll offers two plans:
Visit Square
ALSO READ: Why Does My Business Need a Payroll Service?
To review the best payroll software for businesses, I set up free accounts with payroll providers whenever possible to test the software for ourselves. When creating a free account wasn’t an option, I viewed demos and watched product reviews from customers detailing their experience with the software.
In all cases, I read product spec sheets, thoroughly reviewed each company’s website, and reviewed verified user reviews on trustworthy third-party sites.
After conducting this initial research, I used a proprietary in-house algorithm to calculate star ratings for each brand, determine each use case, and rank each brand according to its score.
Our algorithm weighs each criterion as follows:
Learn more about my software selection process and the criteria I used for testing: Review Methodology for Payroll Software Services
To find the right payroll software for your company, you need to first evaluate which payroll features are essential to your day-to-day business operations. Make sure to consider third-party integrations, automatic payroll processing and tax remittance, compliance checks, HR tools, employee self-service features, wage garnishment, and optional employee benefits.
It’s also crucial to consider the price. As you’re budgeting for payroll software, look at not just the monthly fixed base price you’ll pay to use the software but the per-employee fee, which will change over time as you gain employees.
Most importantly, sign up for free trials and request free software demos before fully committing to any payroll product for the long term.
Payroll software is a (typically cloud-based) tool businesses use to pay their employees. Payroll software calculates paycheck amounts for both hourly and salaried employees, including gross paycheck amounts, payroll tax amounts, and other paycheck deductions.
Most payroll software automatically deposits employees’ net pay via direct deposit and includes features like payroll reports, optional HR features (like employee benefits administration), and time-tracking solutions for hourly employees who clock in and out.
Payroll software removes the need for business owners to calculate paycheck amounts by hand. It also simplifies record-keeping processes and helps businesses stay legally compliant with tax and labor laws.
Payroll services can help business owners who want to save time on processing payroll and reduce the possibility of making a critical error with an employee’s paycheck amount or payroll taxes. Businesses in any industry and of any size can benefit from streamlining their payroll processes with payroll software.
Most payroll products charge a monthly base fee along with a per-employee fee, though some payroll providers like Gusto and Square Payroll waive their base fees for business owners that pay only contractors. Most entry-level software plans charge around $20 a month as a self-service base fee and up to $50 a month as a full-service base fee. Per-employee fees for entry-level plans can range from $4 per employee to $10 per employee.
There are also free payroll software options, like Payroll4Free, which offers free payroll for businesses with up to 25 employees. Alternatively, businesses can use spreadsheet software like Excel (which costs a monthly fee) or Google Sheets (which is free) to calculate payroll by hand.
However, these more affordable payroll-processing methods aren’t feasible for businesses with dozens of employees. They’re also less ideal for businesses that want to save time on payroll while reducing the possibility of human error.
Robie Ann Ferrer is an HR expert writer, focusing on HR and payroll software content. She has over eight years of content writing experience, handling different topics. Robie also worked as an HR specialist for 10 years where she managed various facets of HR—from payroll and benefits to employee services and HR systems.
