10 Best Small Business Payroll Software for Startups in 2026, Compared
Compare the 10 best small business payroll software for startups on price, tax filing and contractor pay, with every price checked November 4, 2026.
Shamim Mia, Founder, SerpAstraLast verified November 4, 202615 min readWe compare pricing pages, documentation and public reviews. We never accept payment for rankings.
Key takeaways
- Gusto is the best fit for most startups at $49/month plus $6 per person; Square Payroll follows at $35 plus $6, and Patriot Payroll is the cheapest start at $17 plus $4 per worker.
- The per-person fee, not the base fee, decides what a growing startup pays — a 5-person team costs $37 to $145 a month across this list, before Rippling's custom quote.
- The single most important buying factor is whether tax filing is included: Patriot Basic Payroll is the only plan here that leaves filing to you, while the other nine file federal and state taxes.
- Rippling and Deel are the scale-up picks: Rippling quotes payroll and bundles HR and IT, while Deel runs US and global payroll at $29 per employee a month.
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Quick comparison
| Tool | Best for | Starting price | Free plan |
|---|---|---|---|
| Gusto | Startups that want payroll, benefits and hiring in one login, with room to grow | $49/mo + $6/person | No |
| Square Payroll | Startups that already take payments through Square and pay hourly staff | $35/mo + $6/person | No |
| OnPay | Startups that want every payroll feature for one flat, predictable price | $49/mo + $6/person | No (first month free) |
| Patriot Payroll | Startups on the tightest budget that are comfortable filing taxes themselves | $17/mo + $4/worker | No (30-day trial) |
| Wave Payroll | Startups already running Wave's free accounting with a small US team | $40/mo + $6/person | No (30-day trial) |
| Zoho Payroll | Startups already in the Zoho ecosystem paying employees in one state | $39/mo + $6/employee | No (14-day trial) |
| QuickBooks Payroll | Startups that already run QuickBooks Online and want payroll in the same ledger | $50/mo + $6.50/employee | No (30-day trial) |
| SurePayroll | Startups that want Paychex-backed full-service payroll at a budget price | $29/mo + $7/employee | No (6 months free) |
| Deel | Startups hiring across borders, or planning to within the first year | $29/employee/mo | No |
| Rippling | Startups planning to scale past 20 people and wanting one HR, IT and payroll system | Custom quote | No (6 months free) |
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Request a listingThe best payroll software for startups
Gusto
Best for: Startups that want payroll, benefits and hiring in one login, with room to grow
Gusto is the payroll pick most startups should start with. Simple costs $49 a month plus $6 per person, covers unlimited payroll runs, and files federal, state and local taxes for you. Benefits administration, hiring tools and an employee portal come in the same login, so a small team can run payroll and benefits without an HR hire.
The catches are the state limit and the price history. Simple runs payroll in one state only, so a second state means Plus at $80 a month plus $12 per person, and the Simple base fee rose from $40 to $49 in March 2025. There is no free plan or trial. Buy Gusto for the most complete small-team setup; buy Patriot or Square when the budget is tighter.
What we like
- Simple costs $49/month plus $6 per person, with unlimited payroll runs and tax filings included
- Benefits administration, hiring tools and 401(k) options in the same login
- Rated 4.6/5 on G2 across 13,907 reviews
- Month-to-month billing with no long-term contract
Watch out for
- Simple runs payroll in one state only — a second state needs Plus at $80/month plus $12 per person
- Simple base fee rose from $40 to $49 in March 2025, and there is no free plan or trial
- State tax registration and global contractor payments are paid add-ons
Square Payroll
Best for: Startups that already take payments through Square and pay hourly staff
Square Payroll is the cheapest full-service start for a startup that already takes payments through Square. It costs $35 a month plus $6 per person paid, files federal and state taxes automatically, and imports hours straight from Square POS and the Team app, so hourly staff are paid from the hours they already logged.
The contractor-only option costs $6 per person paid with no base fee, which suits a startup that pays freelancers before its first hire. The limits are scope, not price: there is no built-in HR suite and no benefits administration beyond deductions. Pick Square when the team is hourly and already lives in Square; pick Gusto when benefits and hiring tools matter from day one.
What we like
- Cheapest full-service start here: $35/month plus $6 per person paid
- Hours import straight from Square POS and the Team app, with overtime calculated
- Contractor-only payroll costs $6 per person paid with no base fee
- Two-day and next-day direct deposit included
Watch out for
- No built-in HR suite or benefits administration beyond deductions
- No free trial, and support is limited to weekday hours
- Rated 4.2/5 on G2 across only 31 reviews, the thinnest review base here
OnPay
Best for: Startups that want every payroll feature for one flat, predictable price
OnPay charges one flat rate — $49 a month plus $6 per person — and includes everything in it: unlimited pay runs, multi-state payroll, federal, state and local tax filings, PTO tracking, benefits administration and an HR resource library. There are no tiers to compare and no feature locked behind a higher plan, which is rare at this price.
The first month is free, and setup and data migration are free too, so switching costs little. The trade-off is depth: OnPay has no time-tracking module of its own and no global payroll, so a startup that hires abroad or needs shift scheduling will add another tool. Pick OnPay when you want every payroll feature for one predictable price and no tier decisions.
What we like
- One flat rate — $49/month plus $6 per person — with every feature included, no tiers
- Multi-state payroll and federal, state and local tax filings included at the entry price
- First month free, with free setup and data migration
- PTO tracking, benefits administration and an HR resource library included
Watch out for
- No built-in time tracking — hours come from a separate tool
- No global payroll for hiring outside the US
- No free plan, only the free first month
Patriot Payroll
Best for: Startups on the tightest budget that are comfortable filing taxes themselves
Patriot Basic Payroll is the cheapest way to pay employees in this list: $17 a month plus $4 per worker paid, with free direct deposit, unlimited payroll runs, an employee portal and contractor payments included. It is a plain, US-made payroll tool from a company whose support reviewers praise, and it pairs with Patriot Accounting in the same login.
The catch is that Basic calculates payroll taxes but does not file or deposit them — that is Full Service Payroll at $37 a month plus $5 per worker paid. There is also no built-in time tracking, so hourly hours come from elsewhere. Pick Patriot when the budget is the deciding factor and you are comfortable filing taxes yourself; otherwise pay the extra for Full Service.
What we like
- Cheapest entry here: Basic Payroll at $17/month plus $4 per worker paid
- Free direct deposit, unlimited payroll runs and an employee portal on Basic
- US-based support by phone, email and chat, with free payroll setup help
- Pairs with Patriot Accounting in the same login
Watch out for
- Basic Payroll calculates taxes but does not file or deposit them — Full Service costs $37/month plus $5 per worker
- No built-in time tracking
- Each additional state filing costs $12 a month
Wave Payroll
Best for: Startups already running Wave's free accounting with a small US team
Wave Payroll is the natural add-on for a startup already running Wave's free accounting: $40 a month plus $6 per active employee and $6 per contractor paid, with tax payments and filings in all 50 states since April 2025. Payroll flows straight into the Wave ledger, so there is no second set of books to reconcile.
The weakness is that Wave Payroll is an add-on, not a standalone product — you run it inside Wave, and there is no HR suite, no benefits administration and no multi-state pricing break. The $40 base fee also buys nothing if you only pay contractors some months. Pick Wave when the books already live in Wave and the team is small; pick OnPay or Gusto when payroll needs to stand on its own.
What we like
- Payroll flows straight into Wave's free accounting, so there is one set of books
- Tax payments and filings in all 50 states at one price since April 2025
- Unlimited free direct deposits and 1099-NEC forms generated
Watch out for
- Payroll is an add-on inside Wave, not a standalone product — no HR suite or benefits administration
- The $40 base fee is charged every month, even in months with no pay run
- US and Canada only
Zoho Payroll
Best for: Startups already in the Zoho ecosystem paying employees in one state
Zoho Payroll is the value pick for a startup already in the Zoho ecosystem. Standard costs $39 a month plus $6 per employee for single-state payroll in all 50 states, with automatic federal, state and local tax payments and filings, direct deposit, off-cycle pay runs and an employee self-service portal included.
Annual billing drops the price to $29 a month plus $5 per employee, the cheapest step up in this list. The limits are youth and scope: the US edition launched in September 2025, multi-state payroll waits for Professional at $59 plus $8.50, and US businesses cannot pay 1099 contractors through it yet. Pick Zoho when the startup lives in Zoho and pays employees in one state.
What we like
- Standard is $39/month plus $6 per employee, dropping to $29 plus $5 on annual billing
- Automatic federal, state and local tax payments and filings included
- Deep Zoho ecosystem: Books, Expense, CRM and Inventory connect without third-party tools
- Off-cycle pay runs and an employee self-service portal included
Watch out for
- US edition launched in September 2025, so the feature set is still maturing
- Multi-state payroll waits for Professional at $59/month plus $8.50 per employee
- US businesses cannot pay 1099 contractors through Zoho Payroll yet
QuickBooks Payroll
Best for: Startups that already run QuickBooks Online and want payroll in the same ledger
QuickBooks Payroll is the right pick for a startup that already runs QuickBooks Online: Core costs $50 a month plus $6.50 per employee, covers unlimited payroll runs and next-day direct deposit, and files federal and state taxes automatically. Payroll posts straight into the QuickBooks ledger, so there is no export-and-import step at month end.
The catches are the per-employee fee and the add-on math. Core does not file local taxes, same-day direct deposit and time tracking wait for Premium, and payroll sits on top of the QuickBooks Online subscription, which starts at $38 a month. Pick QuickBooks Payroll when the books already live in QuickBooks; pick Gusto or OnPay when the accounting lives elsewhere.
What we like
- Posts payroll straight into QuickBooks Online — no export step at month end
- Core covers unlimited payroll runs, next-day direct deposit and federal and state tax filings
- Multi-state payroll included on Core, where Gusto reserves it for Plus
Watch out for
- Core does not file local taxes, and time tracking waits for Premium
- Payroll sits on top of a QuickBooks Online subscription from $38/month
- 50% introductory discount applies to the base fee only, not the per-employee charge
SurePayroll
Best for: Startups that want Paychex-backed full-service payroll at a budget price
SurePayroll is the budget full-service option from Paychex: the Full Service plan costs $29 a month plus $7 per employee, covers unlimited payroll runs, and files federal and state taxes for you, with W-2 and 1099 forms prepared and free two-day direct deposit. Every other month of the first year is free, so the first year costs about half the list price.
Watch the add-ons: local tax filing costs $9.99 a month extra, multi-state payroll another $9.99, and the accounting integration $4.99, so a multi-state business pays more than the headline rate. Support is by phone and chat on weekdays. Pick SurePayroll when you want Paychex backing at a startup price and your team works in one state.
What we like
- Full Service files federal and state taxes for $29/month plus $7 per employee
- Every other month of the first year is free — 6 free months
- Unlimited payroll runs with free two-day direct deposit and W-2/1099 preparation
Watch out for
- Local tax filing costs $9.99/month extra, and multi-state payroll another $9.99
- Its own pricing page shows two different starting figures ($29 and $39 a month), so confirm the quote before signing
- Accounting integration costs $4.99 a month extra
Deel
Best for: Startups hiring across borders, or planning to within the first year
Deel is the pick for a startup that hires across borders. US Payroll costs $29 per employee a month with no base fee, covers payroll and tax in all 50 states, and the same platform runs global payroll at $29 per employee and contractor management at $49 per contractor, so a distributed team lives in one dashboard.
The trade-off is that Deel is built for global teams, not for a purely domestic startup: there is no free trial, every plan starts with a demo rather than a self-serve checkout, and employer taxes and statutory benefits add 13–40% on top of gross pay abroad. Pick Deel when the second hire is in another country; pick Gusto or OnPay when the whole team is in the US.
What we like
- US Payroll at $29 per employee a month with no base fee — the only no-base-fee pick here
- Same platform runs global payroll, EOR and contractor management in 130+ countries
- Month-to-month pricing with no long-term contract
Watch out for
- No free trial, and every plan starts with a demo rather than self-serve checkout
- Employer taxes and statutory benefits add 13–40% on top of gross pay for global hires
- Costs more per head than Gusto once the team reaches three people
Rippling
Best for: Startups planning to scale past 20 people and wanting one HR, IT and payroll system
Rippling is the scale-up pick: payroll, HR, IT device management and spend run from one employee record, so a startup that grows past twenty people stops re-entering the same data in four systems. Plans start at $8 per employee a month plus a monthly base fee, and eligible US VC-backed startups get six months free.
The catch is the quote: payroll itself is priced by custom quote, so the $8 figure is a platform floor, not a total, and each module you add raises the bill. Implementation takes about a month, and the setup workload sits with the startup, not with Rippling. Pick Rippling when one system for HR, IT and payroll is worth a sales call; pick Gusto when you want a price on the page.
What we like
- One employee record drives payroll, HR, IT devices and spend — no re-entering data
- Eligible US VC-backed startups get 6 months free
- Rated 4.7/5 on G2 across 14,995 reviews, the highest score here
- Global payroll, EOR and contractor management in the same platform
Watch out for
- Payroll is priced by custom quote — the $8 per user figure is a platform floor, not a total
- Implementation takes about a month, and the setup workload sits with the startup
- Each added module is quoted separately, so the total is hard to forecast
The best small business payroll software for startups does three jobs at once: it pays people on time, files the taxes, and stays cheap while the team is small. We ranked the ten tools below by fit for the most common buyer — a founder running their first payroll for one to ten people — starting with the cheapest full-service options and ending with the scale-up platforms, and every price was checked on the vendor's own pricing page, or disclosed as third-party-sourced, on November 4, 2026.
How to choose the best small business payroll software for startups
- Count heads, not just the base fee. Every tool here charges $4–$7 per person on top of its base fee, except Deel, which charges $29 per employee with no base fee. A $17 base fee with $4 per worker beats a $49 base fee at one person, but the ranking flips as the team grows.
- Check whether tax filing is included. Nine of the ten tools file federal and state taxes for you. Patriot Basic Payroll is the exception: it calculates taxes but you file and deposit them yourself, unless you pay for Full Service.
- Decide who you pay: employees, contractors, or both. Square Payroll has a contractor-only plan at $6 per person with no base fee, and Deel runs contractor management at $49 per contractor. Zoho Payroll cannot pay US 1099 contractors yet.
- Count your states. Gusto Simple and Zoho Payroll Standard run payroll in one state; a second state means Gusto Plus at $80 a month or Zoho Professional at $59. OnPay, Square Payroll and QuickBooks Payroll Core cover multi-state payroll at the entry price.
- Check what the accounting integration costs. Payroll that posts straight into your ledger saves a monthly export job — QuickBooks Payroll and Wave Payroll do this natively, while SurePayroll charges $4.99 a month for its accounting integration.
- Think about who else touches payroll. If an accountant or bookkeeper will run payroll for you, check that they can get in for free and that the tool covers your state. A tool your accountant has never used costs you their learning time.
Payroll is one system in your stack, not the whole stack. If the business also needs to be found online, our guide to marketing platforms for small business SEO covers the visibility side. And before you publish new pages for the services you sell, run your titles through the free SERP snippet preview tool — it shows exactly how the title and description will look in Google.
Whatever you shortlist, try it with real data before you pay. The free trials and free months in this list are long enough to run one genuine pay cycle — your employees, your tax registrations, your pay schedule — and that cycle tells you more than any review can. Check two things in the trial: that the tax filings actually go out without you chasing them, and that the per-person fee matches the quote. Every tool here prices per person paid, so a quote for five people is not the price for ten.
Payroll software for startups pricing: what you will actually pay
Take a 5-person startup, all in one state, paid monthly at list prices. The subscription costs $37 a month on Patriot Basic Payroll, $64 on SurePayroll Full Service, $65 on Square Payroll, $69 on Zoho Payroll Standard, $70 on Wave Payroll, $79 on OnPay or Gusto Simple, $82.50 on QuickBooks Payroll Core, and $145 on Deel US Payroll. Rippling is priced by custom quote, so it has no number in this example — its published platform floor is $8 per user a month plus a $40 monthly base fee, with payroll quoted on top.
Over a year, that is $444 on Patriot Basic, $768 on SurePayroll Full Service, $780 on Square Payroll, $828 on Zoho Payroll Standard, $840 on Wave Payroll, $948 on OnPay or Gusto Simple, $990 on QuickBooks Payroll Core, and $1,740 on Deel US Payroll. Two of those numbers need adjusting before they are real. First, Patriot Basic does not file taxes, so a startup that wants filing pays $37 a month for the subscription and files itself, or steps up to Full Service at $62 a month for five workers. Second, Zoho Payroll Standard drops to $54 a month on annual billing, or $648 a year.
Three costs sit outside every number above. First, the introductory offers — 50% off for three months on Patriot and QuickBooks Payroll, and every other month free in the first year on SurePayroll — end, so budget on the list price. Second, the add-ons: local tax filing at $9.99 a month on SurePayroll, multi-state payroll at $9.99, extra state filings at $12 a month on Patriot, and the accounting integration at $4.99 on SurePayroll. Third, employer payroll taxes, which are charged on top of every subscription here and run roughly 7.65% of gross pay for Social Security and Medicare alone. If the startup pays contractors instead of employees, the math changes completely — see our guide to the best payroll software for small business for the contractor-heavy comparison.
A solo founder paying only themselves is the cheapest case in this list: $21 a month on Patriot Basic, $29 on Deel, $36 on SurePayroll Full Service, $41 on Square Payroll, $45 on Zoho Payroll Standard, $46 on Wave Payroll, $55 on OnPay or Gusto Simple, and $56.50 on QuickBooks Payroll Core. Deel is the only tool with no base fee, so it wins for a one-person team — but once the team reaches three people, Gusto Simple costs less per head than Deel, and the gap widens with every hire.
Know the difference: payroll software vs a PEO vs an EOR
The confusion in this category is between three different jobs that all get sold as "payroll". Payroll software processes pay and files taxes for people you employ yourself. A PEO, or professional employer organization, co-employs your team: it becomes the employer of record for tax and benefits purposes, bundles payroll with health insurance and HR, and charges far more per person — Deel's US PEO starts at $125 per employee a month, against $29 for its payroll product. An EOR, or employer of record, employs workers in a country where you have no entity at all, and costs far more again: Deel's EOR starts at $599 per employee a month.
A startup with under twenty people in one country almost never needs a PEO or an EOR. Plain payroll software files the taxes, pays the team, and costs $17–$50 a month in base fees. The PEO starts to make sense when the team wants group health insurance it cannot buy on its own, or when the founder wants HR compliance handled by someone else — and even then, Gusto Premium and Rippling both sell benefits administration without full co-employment. The EOR only makes sense when the hire lives in a country where the startup has no legal entity and no plans to open one.
There is a second, quieter confusion: contractor management is not payroll. Paying a 1099 contractor means no tax withholding, no employer taxes and no benefits — a lighter job with a lighter price. Square Payroll's contractor-only plan costs $6 per person with no base fee, and Deel's contractor management is $49 per contractor a month. If the whole team is contractors, do not buy full payroll software for them; buy the contractor plan and upgrade when the first W-2 hire joins.
Quick comparison: tool type by need
| Buyer | Best pick | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Solo founder paying themselves | Deel | $29 per employee a month, no base fee |
| Cheapest way to pay employees | Patriot Payroll | Basic Payroll is $17/month plus $4 per worker |
| Startup already on Square | Square Payroll | $35/month plus $6 per person, hours import from POS |
| Most startups, one state | Gusto | Payroll, benefits and hiring from $49/month plus $6 per person |
| One flat price, every feature | OnPay | $49/month plus $6 per person, multi-state included |
| Startup already on Wave | Wave Payroll | Payroll inside free accounting, $40/month plus $6 per person |
| Startup already on Zoho | Zoho Payroll | $39/month plus $6 per employee, $29 plus $5 on annual billing |
| Startup already on QuickBooks | QuickBooks Payroll | Core is $50/month plus $6.50 per employee, posts to the ledger |
| Hiring across borders | Deel | US and global payroll at $29 per employee a month |
| Scaling past 20 people | Rippling | One system for HR, IT and payroll, priced by custom quote |
Mistakes to avoid
- Budgeting on the base fee alone. The per-person fee is where the bill grows: a 5-person team pays $37 a month on Patriot Basic but $145 on Deel, and the ranking flips again at ten people. Price every tool for your actual headcount.
- Buying on the promo price. The 50% discounts on Patriot and QuickBooks Payroll last three months, and SurePayroll's free months end after year one. The list price is what you pay in month seven, so compare tools on that number.
- Assuming tax filing is included. Patriot Basic Payroll calculates taxes but does not file them, and local tax filing costs extra on SurePayroll and is not filed at all by QuickBooks Payroll Core. Read the filing line, not the headline.
- Buying a PEO or EOR when you need plain payroll. Deel's EOR starts at $599 per employee a month and its PEO at $125 — twenty times its $29 payroll price. A startup with a domestic team does not need either.
- Ignoring the second state. Gusto Simple and Zoho Payroll Standard cover one state. A remote hire in a second state means Gusto Plus at $80 a month or Zoho Professional at $59, so price the hire you plan to make, not the team you have.
How we chose
We checked each vendor's own pricing page on November 4, 2026 and recorded the starting price exactly as shown, including the annual-billing figure where the page lists one, and we ranked the tools by fit for the most common buyer — a startup founder running their first payroll for one to ten people — not by brand size. Three prices are third-party-sourced, not read directly from the vendor's page: QuickBooks Payroll Core at $50 a month plus $6.50 per employee, OnPay at $49 plus $6, and Deel US Payroll at $29 per employee, each taken from a recent read of the vendor's own pricing page by an independent pricing guide, because the vendors' pages did not render their prices when we opened them. SurePayroll's own pricing page shows two different starting figures, $29 and $39 a month, and its calculator quotes $7 per worker — we use the $29 Full Service figure, the widely published list price. Ratings appear only for Gusto, Square Payroll and Rippling, whose G2 pages we opened on November 4, 2026; the G2 pages for the other seven tools returned rate-limit errors, so we show no rating for them rather than a stale one. No vendor paid for a place in this list, and none of the links here are affiliate links.
What to do next
Start with the free trial or free months of your top pick and run one real pay cycle through it. Check that the tax filings go out on time, the per-person fee matches the quote, and your accountant can see the reports before you commit to a year. If the books are sorted but new customers are not finding you, our monthly SEO service handles the visibility side — or compare providers in our guide to SEO companies for small business. Once your tools are in place, find out what's holding your rankings back.
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Get a free audit→Sources we checked (13)
- Gusto pricing — gusto.com/product/pricing (checked November 4, 2026)
- Square Payroll pricing — squareup.com/us/en/payroll/pricing (checked November 4, 2026)
- OnPay pricing — onpay.com/pricing (checked November 4, 2026)
- Patriot Software pricing — patriotsoftware.com/pricing (checked November 4, 2026)
- Wave Payroll pricing — waveapps.com/payroll (checked November 4, 2026)
- Zoho Payroll pricing — zoho.com/us/payroll/pricing (checked November 4, 2026)
- QuickBooks Payroll pricing — quickbooks.intuit.com/payroll/pricing (checked November 4, 2026)
- SurePayroll pricing — surepayroll.com/pricing (checked November 4, 2026)
- Deel pricing — deel.com/pricing (checked November 4, 2026)
- Rippling pricing — rippling.com/pricing (checked November 4, 2026)
- Gusto reviews — g2.com/products/gusto/reviews (checked November 4, 2026)
- Square Payroll reviews — g2.com/products/square-payroll/reviews (checked November 4, 2026)
- Rippling reviews — g2.com/products/rippling/reviews (checked November 4, 2026)
Shamim
Founder of SerpAstra
A full-stack SEO and digital marketer who spends most days on Local SEO for dental practices, AI search visibility and lead generation.
Frequently asked questions
What is the best payroll software for startups?
Gusto is the best fit for most startups: Simple costs $49 a month plus $6 per person, covers unlimited payroll runs, and files federal, state and local taxes. Square Payroll is the cheapest full-service start at $35 plus $6, and Patriot Payroll is the cheapest overall at $17 plus $4 per worker.
How much does payroll software cost for a startup?
A 5-person startup pays $37 to $145 a month at list prices: Patriot Basic Payroll is $37, Square Payroll $65, Zoho Payroll $69, OnPay and Wave Payroll $70 each, SurePayroll $74, Gusto Simple $79, QuickBooks Payroll Core $82.50, and Deel US Payroll $145. Rippling is priced by custom quote.
Is there free payroll software for startups?
No tool in this list has a free payroll plan. The closest free starts are Rippling's 6 months free for eligible VC-backed startups and SurePayroll's 6 free months in the first year. Wave's accounting is free, but its payroll add-on costs $40 a month plus $6 per person.
What is the difference between payroll software and a PEO?
Payroll software processes pay and files taxes for your own employees. A PEO co-employs your team and bundles payroll with benefits and HR, at a much higher per-person price — Deel's US PEO starts at $125 per employee a month, against $29 for its payroll. A startup with under 20 people rarely needs a PEO.
Do I need payroll software if I only pay contractors?
Not full payroll. Square Payroll's contractor-only plan costs $6 per person paid with no base fee, and Deel's contractor management is $49 per contractor a month. Gusto's Contractor Only plan closed to new customers on October 1, 2026, so a contractor-only startup should look at Square or Deel first.
Can I switch payroll software mid-year?
Yes, and most vendors in this list offer free setup and data migration — OnPay and Patriot both advertise it. Bring your year-to-date payroll totals, tax filings and employee records, and run the switch at a quarter end if you can, so the old and new systems do not both file the same quarter.
Does payroll software file taxes for me?
Nine of the ten tools here file federal and state taxes automatically. The exception is Patriot Basic Payroll, which calculates taxes but leaves filing to you — Full Service Payroll at $37 a month plus $5 per worker adds filing. Local tax filing is sometimes extra: SurePayroll charges $9.99 a month for it, and QuickBooks Payroll Core does not file local taxes.
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