10 Best Payroll Companies for Your Booming Business in 2021

Did you know it takes small business owners up to five hours per pay to run payroll? For some business owners, that adds up to 21 days a year spent just on running payroll. In this article, our team took a deep dive into the best payroll companies to end your suffering.

Imagine what you could do with an extra 21 working days a year! Now imagine you could get those days back by simply selecting the right payroll service for your business. 

That’s what we’re going to help you do. The results are just below, so keep reading.

Affiliate Disclosure

Overview — Despite being a relative newcomer to the industry, Gusto is one of the country’s most popular payroll services. It owes most of that popularity to an effective combination of easy-to-use features and advanced options. 

Gusto appeals to both small business owners just starting payroll and experienced HR managers alike. It’s the best payroll software for most SMEs. It comes in four price tiers, each appealing to a slightly different type of business. 

Four-tier pricing — Gusto’s price tiers are well-designed to appeal to different business segments. However, you’ll notice every price tier retains the critical aspects of payroll processing, such as employee self-service, worker’s comp admin, and PTO management. 

HR education — With Gusto’s Concierge plan, you can get personalized support from HR professionals. Gusto’s specialists will guide you through OSHA regulations, HR best practices, and labor laws. Even the best payroll service can’t help you without accurate reporting.

Gusto Wallet — If you use Gusto, your employees get access to a mobile app that helps them manage their finances. Your employees can use a Gusto Wallet account to track spending, paychecks, and savings.  

Payroll on AutoPilot — You can set up Gusto to run payroll automatically. It only takes seconds to enable, and it will run payroll a day before the deadline every period. You’ll have 24 hours to make any changes or cancel the payroll altogether.

Pros:

• Simple and intuitive 
• Can run payroll automatically
• Versatile price tiers
• Best payroll app for employees
• In-depth HR assistance

Cons:

• Lackluster UI

Overview — ADP is not only one of the largest payroll companies, but it’s also among the most prominent business process outsourcing companies bar none. 

By most accounts, ADP is the most used payroll services company in the US. And while it can cater to businesses of any size, it’s not ideal for everyone. 

HR features — You’ll probably find the breadth of HR features to be the ADP’s most attractive point it brings to the table. ADP partners with ZipRecruiter to help you find new hires and even has integrations to streamline background checks for employees.

RUN by ADP —  RUN is ADP’s cloud-based payroll solution. It’s one of the best small business payroll services for organizations with under 50 employees. This will provide you with mobile access to the ADP’s full range of services, including HR support, benefits management, and more. 

Scales with your business — ADP works with almost a million businesses. As your company grows, ADP’s services can grow with it, no matter how big you get. And you can even add full-service HR support if you need it. However, it’s likely not a great choice if you just need the cheapest payroll service for one employee. In that case, you’d better go with a Patriot software.

Custom pricing —Unfortunately,  ADP doesn’t disclose pricing directly. Instead, you’ll get a custom quote based on your needs. But you can expect a price along the lines of $10 per employee per month and additional fees per payment period.

Pros:

• Outstanding mobile payroll app
• Full-service HR and payroll
• Easy PTO and sick leave tracking
• New-hire reporting to state and federal agencies
• Best-in-class customer support

Cons:

• Unclear pricing
• Onboarding and setup takes a long time

Overview — If you want the best payroll services for your small business at the most straightforward pricing, OnPay is a superb choice! It has all the tools that most businesses need and a simple price point that doesn’t change based on services. 

Moreover, OnPay will only bill you for workers who get paid during a month. If you have people on the payroll who don’t receive a paycheck that month, you won’t pay for them. 

Unlimited pay runs — Whether you need to run payroll once, twice, or more times, OnPay’s price stays the same. The only way your price goes up is if you add more people to your payroll. 

Full tax filing support — OnPay payroll can handle tax filing for W-2 and 1099 employees and taxes for any organization type. OnPay even covers churches, nonprofits, farms, and other nontraditional organizations. 

Additionally, OnPay offers you a tax-filing guarantee. If the company makes a mistake on your tax filing, it will make it right. Even if that means covering any penalties or interest resulting from the error. 

Full HR support — Along with some of the best online payroll services, you’ll get access to OnPay’s HR features. Those features include offer letters for new employees, PTO processing, organizational charts, HR audits, and more.

Pros:

• Single price tier
• HR features at no extra cost
• Unlimited pay runs per month
• Only pay for employees who receive a paycheck
• 30-day free trial with free migration

Cons:

• The site is a bit disjointed and hard to use
• No mobile app

Overview — Founded in 1971, Paychex is one of the oldest companies on this list and has developed a solid reputation in the payroll processing space. 

The element that most makes it stand out among the top payroll companies is how well it integrates your HR solutions with payroll software. 

Paychex has a relatively straightforward solution for small businesses in the form of Paychex Go. But it also has highly versatile options if yours is a larger organization. It also has several quality-of-life features built-in for your employees. 

HR tools suite — Paychex offers a host of HR solutions and services. So, you can get consulting on various issues, such as hiring processes, employee assistance, and even building a company culture. 

Paychex also helps you simplify your employee onboarding process with online forms, new hire checklists, and a secure online portal for new hires. This is as good as it gets.

Paychex Flex plans — With the basic Paychex Go plan, you’ll get everything you need to run payroll effectively for a small business, so we were more than satisfied with this. 

What is more, Paychex Flex and Flex Enterprise have many additional features besides payroll service organization. Paychex can help you with things like:

• Managing unemployment insurance
• Creating custom analytics to visualize your business needs
• A dedicated payroll specialist who acts as a single point of contact
• Employee screening and background checks
• Designing online courses for employee education

Pros:

• Flexible pricing options
• Seamlessly integrated HR functions
• Labor law compliance support
• Excellent employee tools
• New hire reporting and streamlined onboarding

Cons:

• Among the more expensive options
• Custom setup takes a long time

Overview — Intuit’s payroll service is as polished and user-friendly as all its other products. Of course, it has a significant edge over other options if you’re already using QuickBooks. But if that’s not the case, it’s still a strong contender for the best payroll software for a small business.

The basic price tier is accessible and has everything you’re likely to need. But if you’re willing to pay a little more, we can say the added benefits are entirely worth it. 

Same-day deposit — If you complete and submit your payroll by 7am on a payday, QuickBooks can direct-deposit wages on the same day at no extra charge. How cool is that?

Payroll automation — For salaried employees, you can run payroll automatically. All you have to do is approve the payroll during the pay run and let QuickBooks do the rest if nothing has changed since last time. 

Mobile time tracking — Employees can track hours anywhere and on any device with GPS tracking to record where they are working. 

ProAdvisor program — QuickBooks is easily among the best online payroll services in terms of perks for professionals. Accountants who use QuickBooks are eligible for a partner program too. Perks include listing on the QuickBooks directory, expert training, and discounted products for professionals. 

QuickBooks Payroll also allows professional users to adjust client access and real-time collaboration options. The service even provides ready-made marketing material and support to help accountants grow their business. Basically, if your small business belongs to an accounting niche, QuickBooks has the software for you.

Pros:

• White-glove setup support
• Accuracy guarantee 
• Tax penalty protection
• Same-day direct deposit option
• Automated payroll

Cons:

• Price tiers are badly organized for value
• Poorly designed mobile interface

Overview — Sage Payroll is a component of the Sage HRMS, which is itself part of the Sage accounting ecosystem. Sage specializes in small business solutions, and this payroll service reflects that in several ways. 

Sage Payroll Essentials —  The basic price will cost you a flat $49.95 per month and it doesn’t have additional per-employee charges. If you need to run payroll for exactly 10 people, it’s definitely the best deal around. 

Simple user interface — One of the things that stands out immediately about Sage Payroll is the bare-bones interface. This is a welcome departure from some more unintuitive designs, such as OnPay. 

However, it’s also the main thing keeping Sage payroll from being the best software for payroll on our list. We find it looking and feeling outdated, with some key features missing and other present features being obsolete.  

Sage HRMS — The broader Sage human resource management system is excellent for companies with a lean HR department. It has the potential to streamline most HR processes, from recruiting to the exit process. 

Ultimately, Sage Payroll will appeal to self-starters who know their way around payroll. If you’re willing to put in a little more work than with other options, you’ll be rewarded in the form of cheaper service! 

Pros:

• Excellent price point for startups
• In-depth reporting
• Easily integrates with Sage HR solutions
• Excellent mobile apps
• On-premises option

Cons:

• The full HR management system is costly
• Basic price tier missing key features

Overview — First and foremost, Zenefits is an HR management software. But all Zenefits plans also include its excellent payroll services.

In terms of benefits administration, Zenefits is one of the top choices overall. That’s great if you have trouble managing and assigning benefits.  

Moreover, with plans starting at only $8 per employee per month, Zenefits is one of the cheapest payroll service providers. 

Effortless new hires — Zenefits makes hiring and onboarding a breeze. For starters, it will automatically report new hires to state and federal agencies. It also syncs new hires instantly, so they’ll start receiving wages from their first day. 

Additionally, Zenefits prorates employees’ first payments based on their start date automatically.

Reporting — Zenefits makes it easy to view and track all your payroll and benefits information in one place. Payroll timelines, general ledger reporting, and job costing are all tracked and easily accessible.   

Advisory services — You can add unlimited access to an HR advisory team to any Zenefits plan. Zenefits advisors can help you with things like crafting new hiring policies or managing time off for employees. 

Integrations — Zenefits is one of the best online payroll companies when it comes to integrations. It works smoothly with most major business process software, such as QuickBooks, Xero, Asana, etc. Therefore, you’re bound to enjoy the straightforwardness of this payroll service and use it to the fullest.

Pros:

• Comprehensive benefits and payroll management
• Highly detailed reporting 
• Easy time tracking and PTO management
• Simplified onboarding process for new hires
• Supports contractor and freelancer payroll

Cons:

• The support team is slow
• Doesn’t support employees outside the US

Overview — SurePayroll recently became a part of the Paychex family, but it maintains a completely separate set of services. It specializes in payroll processing but has a decent set of HR management features as well. 

You’ll notice that in most of these payroll companies reviews, the companies try to have a diverse range of price and service tiers. That’s not the case here.

SurePayroll is divided into only two plans—self-service and full service. 

Self-service payroll — The best value you’re likely to find for payroll services. This plan allows unlimited payroll runs and includes everything you need to run payroll efficiently. It supports multiple pay rates, automatic payroll, and it also includes live customer support. 

However, this version of the best online payroll service doesn’t file taxes for you (we’re talking self-service). Under the self-service plan, you file taxes, and it has a four-day processing period. Therefore, you’d have to hire a good tax relief company, or find a way around it (avoid taxes legally). 

Full-service payroll —  Everything you’d get under the self-service plan, plus tax filing and a two-day payroll processing period. The full-service plan also includes HR advisory support that will help you stay compliant with workplace posters and other regulations. 

Nanny payroll — SurePayroll also has a separate price plan for nanny payroll. It’s designed for a single employee and handles all the taxes and deductions for a nanny’s wage. While it’s ideal for nannies, it provides low value if you have over one employee on the payroll. 

Nevertheless, SurePayroll is one of the very few payroll companies that offer this choice.

Pros:

• Affordable self-service plan
• Excellent customer service reviews 
• Minimal setup 
• Simple and easy-to-navigate interface
• Nanny payroll plan

Cons:

• Reports of mistaken state filings
• Third-party time tracking

Overview — You probably already know Square from the wildly successful point-of-sale systems the company offers. Now, Square executed a superb expansion from payment processing into payroll services. 

Square’s payroll service isn’t the cheapest, but it’s relatively affordable. And if you already use Square products, it’s a perfect way to keep everything integrated. 

Full-service payroll — Square offers you a relatively standard payroll service with tax filing, a comprehensive employee app, and time tracking. We believe the fact that unlimited pay runs at no extra charge is a standout feature as well. 

Cash App payments — Square supports employee payments through the Cash App, which is unique to this list. It’s also an uncommon feature, even among the biggest payroll companies. 

Contractors-only payroll — Square can run payroll for contractors without a subscription for only $5 a month. That’s an outstanding solution if you’re getting a startup off the ground and don’t have regular employees yet. 

Live support — You can get phone and email support during business hours and live chat support during signup. Square has the most accessible support of all the companies listed in our payroll company reviews. It even offers support from onboarding specialists to help you set up Square Payroll.

Pros:

• Integrates with QuickBooks Online
• Automatic payroll
• Supports Cash App payments
• Simple employee portal and app
• Unlimited pay runs

Cons:

• Cumbersome setup
• Poor report customization

Overview — We found Patriot Software’s payroll service to be not the most comprehensive, but it’s easily the least expensive. If you choose the basic payroll plan, that is. Despite being very affordable and cheap, it has a solid feature set. 

Patriot’s payroll has a unique à la carte approach to features. Some things you’d expect to be standard with a payroll system are add-ons here. So, it may be a better value to pay for the full-service plan from the start. 

Nevertheless, Patriot is the best payroll service for one employee since payroll tasks are minimal to begin with. 

Easy setup — Patriot has a simple setup wizard that guides you through the process. For business owners just starting out, this wizard is a godsend. 

By the time you’re done, you’ll have a much better understanding of what it takes to manage your payroll and use Patriot. Even some of the best payroll companies don’t offer this approach or a suitable alternative to it.  

Time tracking — Patriot’s timekeeping system is effective and easy-to-use. However, it’s only available to you as an add-on service for $6 a month plus $2 per employee. 

HR software — Patriot also makes human resource management software that’s on-par with some of the best in the business. You can use it to manage employee records, create employee reports, and most other HR features. But you’ll have to pay for this add-on too. 

It’s nice to have the flexibility offered by Patriot to add or remove features. Yet, we have to say some elements feel like they should come with the base service rather than be add-ons.

Pros:

• Competitive price points
• Flexible feature add-ons
• Can include basic accounting
• Employee portals are excellent
• Tax filing guarantee on the full-service plan

Cons:

• No mobile app
• Poor report customization

There are two crucial factors you need from a payroll service—accuracy and ease of use. And if you’re missing one, the other one doesn’t matter much. 

The cost of messing up your payroll reporting can easily wipe out any convenience that the service provides. Likewise, you can have the most accurate reporting in the world, but if it still takes you ten hours a month to run payroll, you’ve accomplished little. 

You don’t need the best payroll service company with every cutting-edge tech feature there is.

You just need one that delivers on those premises and does so without breaking the bank. 

Here’s how to find it. 

Start With What You Know

The first step to finding your perfect payroll match is to understand what you need. That means looking into what kind of employees you hire, how many pay runs you will do, etc.

With your particulars in hand, you can narrow down your options and exclude those that don’t fit your needs. And the best way to do that is to get your hands on a sample report from the company and start checking off items. 

For reference, here are the most common payroll needs a small business will have:

• Payroll processing — It should go without saying you’ll need a system that can accept worked hours and pay rates and pay employees on time. 
• Payroll tax filing — Ideally, the payroll system can file taxes for you, regardless of what kinds of employees you have. All the best payroll companies for a small business include tax filing in some form. 
• Check and direct deposit — It’s a good rule of thumb to avoid services that can’t accommodate direct deposit. Consider these two payment methods the bare minimum. 
• New hire reporting — If your state requires that you report new hires, some payroll services can do that for you. It’s a nice time-saver but not a deal-breaker. 
• Mobile access — A reliable mobile app is a big plus, but a responsive website also works. As long as the payroll company has a mobile-friendly dashboard you can access online, that should be enough. 
• Financial reporting — You should expect some degree of analysis in the form of wage reports, work hours reports, and any other key performance metrics for your business. Even if you just need a cheap payroll service for one employee, you should be able to see historical wage data at the very least. 
• Managing time off — A sound payroll system will have mechanisms in place to efficiently handle time-off requests, sick leave, and vacation time. 

Those are some of the need-to-haves. Now, let’s go over some of the nice-to-haves from a payroll company! 

Employee-Facing Access

Among the things that will save you the most time with a payroll system is how well it interfaces with employees. For this reason, we valued employee access highly in our list of top 10 payroll companies. 

At a minimum, having an employee portal will help you avoid having to do things like print pay stubs and PTO requests individually. 

The best-case scenario is to have a payroll service that allows employees broad and easy access to manage their documentation. That way, all you have to do is approve requests as needed. 

Alternative Payment Methods

If you’re just looking for the best payroll service for your small business, direct deposit and paychecks should do the trick. However, it’s always nice to have options. 

Some payroll companies allow you to pay wages through payroll cards. That’s a great option if you have employees who don’t have bank accounts or prefer not to receive checks. 

A few services also allow you to make payments through mobile wallets, such as the Cash App.

Small conveniences can make a big difference for your employees, so it’s worth considering them when you pick a payroll service. 

Company Reputation

It’s a good idea to give precedence to companies that have been around for a while. Especially in this environment. You can be at ease if you pick one of the payroll companies in this review, and here’s why.

Established payroll companies like ADP and Paychex are much more likely to adapt to new labor laws smoothly. That might soon become an issue since many employment law updates have already been announced for 2021. 

Reliability is also a crucial part of payroll services, and older companies with an established system are generally more reliable. 

Besides, if you have any issues, you’ll probably have an easier time resolving them. The best third-party payroll companies with an excellent reputation work hard to maintain that reputation. 

Pricing

Yes, it’s obvious that price is a significant factor in any purchase. But here’s a useful way to think of pricing when it comes to choosing the best payroll company. 

Generally, payroll companies will either bundle everything into price tiers or have a cafeteria model. There are a few exceptions in which companies use both models, but those are few and far between. 

The bundle approach is best if you don’t have extensive HR experience and just want a turnkey solution. After all, the best online payroll for small business owners shouldn’t require too much setup.

The cafeteria approach allows you to pick which services you want to add. It’s better for people comfortable taking on a few tasks on their own to save some money. 

A few companies only do custom pricing. So you must speak with a representative and explain what you need. 

In that case, build a wishlist for your ideal payroll service and describe your organization as best you can to the payroll company. 

And, there’s the option of using a free payroll service. However, even the best free payroll software pales compared to paid options. Most companies that offer a free service, so you’ll be better off with any of the companies listed above. 

This would be a comprehensive list of payroll companies in the USA, or at least of reputable companies with brilliant features.  

The companies listed here present a broad spectrum of options that have excellent choices for most people. And luckily, these days, you can easily skip over the “payroll companies near me” search and look for the best service nationwide. 

Ultimately, the best payroll system is the one you’re comfortable using every pay period. Since many companies have at least a short free trial, pick one that seems closest to what you need and give it a spin.