The Best Online Payroll Services of 2022

OnPay is our top choice for very small businesses because it handles all payroll and payroll tax needs, has an easy-to-use online platform, and is affordable even on a tight budget. The service costs $36 per month, plus $4 for each employee.

There is only one plan available through OnPay for all customers. The service costs $36 per month, plus $4 for each employee. "Employees" are any individuals you compensate for their services, so part-time employees and independent contractors are considered "employees" and are included in this fee.

The only other additional fee you might incur with OnPay is if you have them print and mail year-end tax forms to your workers. You can print W-2s and 1099s for free, but to have OnPay send those forms through the mail to your office costs $5 plus shipping per form. It costs $6 plus shipping to mail those forms to an employee's home.

OnPay doesn't sacrifice features and value by edging toward simplicity. Users can enjoy payroll processing, tax compliance, multiple employee types, multiple payment options and employee self-service access. This software can also integrate with many popular small business services, like QuickBooks Online, Xero, Kabbage, Humanity, Guideline and ThinkHR.

One of the standout aspects of OnPay is its unlimited payroll runs and automated payroll processing features. OnPay stays up to date with federal, local, and state payroll tax rates and calculates how much your business owes based on where your employees are located. OnPay even takes responsibility for any fines associated with payroll tax errors. If your company offers employees benefits like a 401(k) or commuter benefits, OnPay automatically withholds the correct amounts for these items.

OnPay includes a full suite of HR tools with its payroll services for no extra charge. In addition to online onboarding, companies get PTO accrual and approval, e-signable legal document templates, in-app messaging, secure document storage, and a full library of free HR guides and resources. It also offers an employee self-service portal, where employees can see their paystubs and year-end tax forms. They can also update their banking information or their address, saving time for your staff and ensuring your payroll records are up to date.

The reporting tools give small businesses the ability to create enterprise-level expense reports. The tools can examine 50 different data points, rearrange columns as needed and save the report in multiple views based on who within the company is reviewing it. The reporting functionality is available to all users.

Paychex is a robust cloud-hosted payroll service that manages payroll processing and tax obligations, and provides a host of other HR-related survives. The Paychex Flex platform is accessible online or via the mobile app for iOS and Android devices. You can pay anyone who does work for you through Paychex, including W-2 workers, 1099 contractors and freelancers.

Paychex offers plans suitable for businesses small and large, making it a good option for businesses seeking a payroll processing partner they can scale with. Paychex offers three different service plans, and payment methods are customizable as well, including direct deposit, paper checks and prepaid debit cards.

Running payroll is a simple process with Paychex. In essence, all you have to do is enter your employees' salaries and pay rates, note how many hours they worked, and then submit your payroll for processing. Paychex takes care of the rest. It calculates each paycheck, withholding the proper amounts for payroll taxes and other benefits. It then pays your employees via direct deposit, pay card or printed check.

To ensure paychecks are accurate, Paychex users now have the opportunity to review paystubs before payday. The new feature, Paychex Pre-Check, lets users choose how they want to be notified, such as via email, a smartwatch or smart speaker, when their paystub is ready to be reviewed. Users can then confirm accuracy or report a problem.

Paychex recently unveiled a new labor cost tool that gives business owners and their financial team a real-time look at their total labor costs and labor distribution. Having instant access to labor costs and allocation helps businesses better understand their financial standing, as well as plan more adeptly for the future. One use of this data from Paychex can, for example, help business owners see how salary cost adjustments would impact overall expenses.

Additionally, Paychex offers a compensation summary for employees. This provides workers with an understanding of their full compensation, beyond just what they see in their paycheck. The report shows employees health insurance and retirement contributions, as well as any bonuses or other benefits they received. This is helpful in efforts to retain employees in today's competitive job market.

Paychex recently began offering a self-service tool that allows new hires to get set up in the Paychex Flex platform quickly. Employers send an invite to new employees. That invite gives new hires access to the Paychex system and allows them to sign up for direct deposit and fill out their W-4 forms.

The Paychex Flex platform also makes it easy for employers to track employee vaccination and COVID-19 testing status. The platform allows employees to upload their vaccination card information and COVID-19 test results. This can be especially valuable to larger employers, which may soon be subject to vaccination mandates by the U.S. government.

Paychex has three pricing plans: Go, Flex Select and Flex Enterprise. Each of these plans include all the core payroll processing and payroll tax features we looked for in our review. Here's more about these three plans.

• Go: Paychex's basic plan, Go, includes online payroll, payroll tax preparation, time and attendance tracking and new-hire reporting. This plan costs $59 per month, plus $4 per employee.
• Flex Select: Flex, Paychex's most popular plan for small businesses, includes everything in the Express plan, plus access to a dedicated payroll specialist, labor compliance poster kits and paper check options. There is no set or fixed price for this plan; pricing is customized for your business.
• Flex Enterprise: This is the most comprehensive plan and designed for larger organizations. It includes everything in the Pro plan, plus custom analytics, reports and HR administration. Pricing is customized for businesses.

In addition to its payroll services, Paychex offers human resources tools and services, time and attendance systems, employee benefits, and business insurance. This is another element that makes Paychex a scalable platform. Larger organizations can also leverage Paychex to manage time and attendance, recruiting, hiring, and benefits.

ADP has a strong reputation as a leader in the payroll industry. For complex businesses, including those in highly regulated industries or those operating in multiple states, ADP offers several highly effective tools.

This company offers specified payroll platforms for small, midsize and large businesses. Its Run platform is designed for businesses with fewer than 50 employees, while its Workforce Now platform is for businesses with 50 to 999 employees. Organizations with more than 1,000 employees have various options, including the Enterprise platform.

ADP offers four plans for businesses. Here's what is included in each plan:

• Essential: With this plan, companies get an employee self-service portal, direct deposit payment, prepaid debit cards and paper checks. It also offers onboarding and payroll reporting. In addition, the Essential plan includes new-hire onboarding tools and a small business marketing toolkit.
• Enhanced: This plan includes everything in the Essential plan, plus state unemployment insurance management and the option to have ADP sign and stuff paper checks for you. The plan offers options to run background checks on new hires, as well as the ability to post new jobs on ZipRecruiter.
• Complete: The Complete plan includes an employee handbook wizard, job posting and applicant tracking, five background checks per year, HR forms and documents, and HR training and toolkits. With the Complete plan, businesses are also assigned a team of HR experts who can serve as advisors, offering guidance on numerous human resources questions.
• HR Pro: The HR Pro plan includes HR help desk support, expanded employee handbook support, employee training, and sexual harassment prevention training. Legal assistance from Upnetic is also included.

The breadth of ADP's services alone makes it a standout payroll provider.

Payroll processing is especially flexible with ADP; you can manage it on your desktop or mobile device (iOS and Android), as well as over the phone. ADP automates payroll tasks like calculating an employee's paycheck based on wages and time off, saving you time and improving accuracy in payroll by reducing the likelihood of human error.

ADP's RUN is also taking advantage of artificial intelligence and machine learning. The platform's smart technology is able to examine all of your company's payroll history in order to flag possible errors before they occur. In addition, the platform lets users receive alerts from state and local tax jurisdictions on possible mistakes with tips on how to address them.

ADP's payroll software can easily integrate with its other services, like its time and attendance software. If you're interested in a full suite of business solutions, ADP gives you several different packages to choose from.

The Workforce Now platform gives businesses in the U.S. and Canada the ability to easily pay employees working in other countries. This eliminates the need to pay for a payroll service in each country where your employees are located.

ADP recently unveiled a new timekeeping solution that is available to businesses with less than 50 employees that are using the Run payroll platform. The new timekeeping system lets employees clock in and out via tablets. The system features facial recognition software, which ensures the entire process is touchless. The solution's dashboard provides insight into who is working and when, as well as who is missing work and who is incurring overtime. The scheduling tools make it simple for managers to create schedules and share them with their staff. Additionally, employees can use the system to claim shifts and let those in charge know when they are unavailable to work.

Gusto is our choice for the best online payroll software with added HR tools because of the many HR services it offers. In addition to taking care of all your payroll processing and payroll tax needs, Gusto can handle many of your HR tasks, such as managing your staff's paid time off (PTO) and administering health insurance. It also grants access to certified HR professionals who can guide you through all sorts of situations.

Gusto is available in four service plans that range from $19 to $149 per month, plus $6 to $12 per employee. The range of service plans gives you the option to use Gusto just for your payroll needs, or to upgrade plans if you want to tap into the HR resources.

To run payroll with Gusto, you can log in to the system from anywhere online, enter an employee's hours plus any PTO and any bonuses or commissions they earned, and click Submit Payroll. The employee is then paid with direct deposit or a printed check. The flexibility of payment method and the ease of running payroll makes Gusto an ideal service for small businesses.

Gusto is available in four service plans, including:

• Core: Gusto's Core service plan has a base fee of $19 per month, plus $6 per employee. Six months after signup, the base fee increases to $39 per month. The Core plan is the lowest-cost plan and is predictably lightweight in terms of features. Included in this plan are full-service payroll, employee self-service, health benefits and workers' compensation administration, and paid time-off tracking.
• Complete: Gusto's Complete plan also costs $39 per month, plus there is a per-employee fee of $12 per month. The Complete plan offers all the features the Core plan has, as well as new hire offers and onboarding tools, enhanced paid time-off management, and employee directories and surveys.
• Concierge: This is Gusto's top-shelf plan with the most features and highest price tag. The base fee is $149 per month, plus $12 per employee. It includes all the features in Gusto's other plans, plus additional HR support – including HR on-demand services that give you anytime access to HR professionals who can counsel you on questions or concerns you have.
• Contractor: Employers who only work with independent contractors or freelancers would select this plan. There is no base fee; instead, you pay $6 per contractor, per month. The plan allows you to pay contractors as often as you like, it gives contractors self-service options and handles all of the 1099 form creation and filings.

Gusto also supports the hiring of employees around the country by allowing quick and easy tax registration for employees in all 50 states. This is especially beneficial in the current workplace environment, with a growing number of employers hiring employees from anywhere to work remotely. In addition, the Gusto platform now allows for contractor payments in more than 80 countries.

Gusto is an intuitive, easy-to-use software platform that most users can learn quickly with minimal training. Running payroll, for example, is as easy as logging in, clicking the Run Payroll tab, and filling out the fields regarding employee hours, vacation time, bonuses, commissions, etc. When the information is entered, simply click Submit Payroll. Most of the processes in Gusto are similarly straightforward.

Rippling stands out as a user-friendly online payroll software that requires little to no training to quickly become proficient with the system. The company claims that Rippling allows you to "run payroll in 90 seconds," which certainly could be true given how many sources the software pulls data from – in all, Rippling integrates with more than 400 apps to automate the processing of your payroll.

A sleek, organized user interface organizes key information like the total hours worked per employee, time off by employee, total labor expenses and more. Further, you can manage direct deposits and paychecks through Rippling so your employees are paid on time in the manner they prefer. Rippling displays all of the tax and benefit withholdings by employee per paycheck, offering a complete record for both employer and employee to reference with ease.

Square is a highly popular payment processing platform, but it also offers Square Payroll, an online payroll software program that is easy to use and makes payroll tax compliance simple. Square automatically compiles and files your federal, state, and local payroll taxes based on the data that already exists in your system, giving you more time to focus on operations.

Additionally, Square offers expert support through a live chat tool that allows you to connect with payroll specialists who can help you manage your business's payroll and improve your process. Square can sync with a wide range of time and attendance systems and POS systems, tracking employee hours automatically. When it's time to run payroll, you can pay employees directly from your Square Balance, rather than waiting for ACH transfers to go through the banks.

QuickBooks Online Payroll by Intuit provides businesses of all sizes with payroll and related tax services. As a cloud-hosted service, it doesn't require you to install or maintain any software. You can log in to the system to process payroll, review and pay payroll taxes, and view detailed labor reports, while your employees can view their paystubs, pay history and PTO accruals.

QuickBooks Online is available in three service plans – Core, Premium and Elite – which all allow small business owners to run payroll and file taxes automatically. Other services in the various plans include a workforce portal for employees, health benefits from SimplyInsured, time tracking, an HR support center and project management.

QuickBooks has multiple service plans covering payroll processing and payroll tax preparation. They include:

• Core: With the Core plan, you get health insurance benefits, workers' compensation management, next-day direct deposit and automatic payroll options. It is the lowest-cost plan at $45 per month, plus $4 per employee.
• Premium: The Premium plan includes the Core plan's features, plus same-day direct deposit, access to an HR support center, mobile time tracking and expert setup review. The cost of the Premium plan is $75 per month, plus $8 per employee.
• Elite: The Elite plan includes customized setup, project tracking, and a tax penalty protection of up to $25,000. It also provides a dedicated HR advisor you can turn to for guidance. The Elite plan costs $125 per month, plus $10 per employee.

QuickBooks accounting software can be included with each of these plans as an add-on. Each plan includes a 30-day free trial.

QuickBooks Online users will also soon have access to QuickBooks Early Pay, an on-demand pay option for employees. The service will give employees access to immediate funds to help cover unexpected expenses or ease any other financial stress they may be facing. The Early Pay service will be included in the QuickBooks Online Payroll service for no additional cost.

QuickBooks also offers three desktop payroll plans that include different services, features and prices than the plans listed above. These include:

• Basic: This plan costs $29 per month, plus $2 for each employee. This plan includes payroll processing only, including direct deposit, printable paychecks, support for W-2 and 1099 employees, and live customer support.
• Enhanced: The Enhanced plan costs $45 per month, plus $2 per employee. QuickBooks calculates all federal and state payroll taxes for you, but you are responsible for making the payments. (The service provides the option of letting you electronically pay these taxes.) With the Enhanced plan, you are able to print out year-end tax forms for employees.
• Assisted Payroll: This plan costs $109 per month, plus $2 per employee. It calculates, files and pays payroll taxes for you. It also provides a tax guarantee that your payroll taxes will be paid on time and accurately. If any mistakes are made, Intuit corrects them and pays any fines. Intuit sets up the service for you by inputting all employee information into the online platform. It also processes and prints year-end tax forms.

QuickBooks is a flexible service that can meet the needs of just about any small business looking to run payroll online. If you're interested, the company provides access to the QuickBooks accounting software as part of its payroll offering, giving you intuitive accounting and payroll software in one simple plan. By focusing on plan variety and addressing a full spectrum of small business needs, QuickBooks defines itself as a versatile small business payroll provider.

Deluxe shines when it comes to supporting your team in processing your company's payroll and complying with federal and state payroll tax laws. Not only do you gain access to Deluxe's online payroll software, but you are assigned a dedicated customer service team who can offer guidance and serve as a liaison between you and the company. Deluxe also offers additional service beyond payroll, including identity theft protection.

Pricing is customized and depends on the features and services your business requires. Deluxe develops a singular approach for each client, given the consultative nature of its team, so it can be difficult to understand the full scope of services Deluxe can provide to your organization. To better understand all that Deluxe can do for your company and how much it will cost, contact a sales representative, who will give you a custom quote.

Paycor is an online payroll software platform that includes an exceptionally user-friendly employee self-service portal, which allows employees to take charge of their time-off requests, monitor their compensation, check their paystubs, manage their benefits, and update their personal or financial information.

Paycor offers three plans, all of which are based on flat monthly rates. This is unlike many of the other payroll software solutions we reviewed, which often included a base rate and a per-employee, per-month fee. Midsized and larger companies could see saving based on Paycor's pricing model, but very small businesses might pay less with a per-employee, per-month model.

Zenefits offers an easy-to-use payroll system that enables you to run payroll in four steps. Making manual adjustments, such as including bonuses, is easy when running payroll as well. Zenefits' payroll solution offers unlimited payroll processing, wage garnishment support, direct deposits, tips reporting, multiple pay schedules/rate tables, 1099 contractor payments, general ledger reporting and mobile paystubs.

Zenefits Payroll seamlessly integrates with other Zenefits HR modules, including Time Tracking, Benefits and HR. Zenefits Payroll works best when you purchase all of the modules, because these integrations expand its functionality. For example, the connection between Zenefits Payroll and HR enables easy benefits changes and salary changes, while an integration with Time Tracking can automatically tabulate paid time off when running payroll. Zenefits Payroll is an add-on to this larger HR software suite; it costs $6 per employee, per month.