Payroll Platforms
Cecila Dammrich
The best payroll services for small businesses offer automated payroll and calculations, tax filing support, an employee portal and an intuitive interface at an affordable cost. We reviewed dozens of payroll services to find the best options for small businesses. While Rippling, OnPay and Gusto topped our list, there are many more that offer standout features to meet small business payroll needs.
The Forbes Advisor Small Business team is committed to bringing you unbiased rankings and information with full editorial independence. We use product data, first-person testing, strategic methodologies and expert insights to inform all of our content so we can guide you in making the best decisions for your business journey.
OnPay has an average rating of 4.8 from nearly 300 user reviews on G2. On Capterra, users give it an average score of 4.9 from over 400 reviews. Common themes in positive reviews include ease of use and satisfaction with customer service.
In my experience, some parts of OnPay were easy to use while others were not. Customizing the dashboard and viewing employee benefits was easy, while payroll and onboarding posed some challenges. I discuss my specific obstacles with payroll in the next section.
See MoreSee Less Best for Contractor PayrollGusto4.6Our ratings take into account a product's cost, features, ease of use, customer service and other category-specific attributes. All ratings are determined solely by our editorial team.Base monthly price
Key features you can expect with Gusto include its automated payroll and tax filing for employees and contractors; the Gusto Wallet app for employees and employee time tracking tools for remote, on-premises and field employees.
It was easy to manually add an employee or independent contractor by entering their name, email address and other crucial information. The platform offers a checkbox option to invite the added employee or contractor to fill out the rest of the information themselves. Though this process was straightforward, manually entering several people could get tedious for companies with high hiring volumes.
However, I noticed that payroll and adding new team members, in particular, require a lot of manual data entry upfront. In addition, customization of reporting, templates and the dashboard is limited.
Gusto is made for startups and growing small businesses with a mix of employee- and contractor-based workforces. It is best for businesses that expect to eventually expand across state lines or even globally using a workforce with a mix of contractors and employees.
See MoreSee Less Best for Professional Employer Organization (PEO) ServicesJustworks4.6Our ratings take into account a product's cost, features, ease of use, customer service and other category-specific attributes. All ratings are determined solely by our editorial team.Base monthly price
Justworks is a professional employer organization (PEO) that appeals to remote teams. The company engages client companies in a co-employment relationship, serving as an employer of record for your employees.
Justworks is a professional employer organization designed for remote teams. The company engages user companies in a co-employment relationship so it can handle HR and payroll on your behalf. For example, it will handle the following payroll processes and tasks for you:
At a starting PEO service price of $59 per employee per month, its monthly per-employee fee looks high at first glance, but it could be well below the cost of an HR hire and goes lower the more employees you have.
Justworks earns 4.6 out of five stars on G2 from 458 user reviews. In addition, it earns 4.6 stars from 718 user reviews on Capterra. Users say the service is easy to set up and use for both employers and employees and is easily scalable as a company grows. They do wish that Justworks offered more in the way of integrations with popular accounting and other software and some express the need for more customizable platform features.
See MoreSee Less Best for SimplicityPaychex Flex4.5Our ratings take into account a product's cost, features, ease of use, customer service and other category-specific attributes. All ratings are determined solely by our editorial team.Base monthly price
The platform offers an easy-to-use basic payroll processing platform to pay employees and contractors, but no HR and benefits administration in its basic Essentials plan. You must upgrade for these complementary features. It strips away the complex features of the broader Paychex platform to stand out as a provider of easy employee payroll.
However, Paychex Flex does integrate with other Paychex products and offers higher-tiered plans to meet your payroll and HR needs, as well as with third-party accounting systems to automatically keep your bookkeeping updated with payroll data.
Paychex Flex offers bare-bones features to help you manage your payroll runs, such as automated tax filings, payments and calculations; a self-service mobile app for employees; and customizable payroll reporting.
Paychex Flex starts at $39 per month plus $5 per employee per month. It offers three plans, including its Essentials, Select and Pro plans. However, its Select and Pro plans require a custom quote for pricing details. Here is an overview of the features each plan offers:
However, they say that they sometimes experience frustrating glitches within the system, such as being locked out of their accounts, updates during which users cannot access their accounts and the inability to access some features.
In my testing, I found that Paychex Flex offers a clean interface. Interface designers clearly worked hard to ensure that data is not overwhelming but is at your fingertips at all times in intuitive-to-find locations.
For example, you will find a company directory on the upper right-hand corner of the software that includes a list of all employees. Simply click on a name to see all of their payroll information, such as their gross and net pay, deductions, pay period and preferred payment method.
Detailed analytics are also offered in color-coded pie and bar charts for a straightforward interpretation of data. When I clicked on an element of the pie chart, a screen popped up to show more granular data regarding the broader data point represented in the graph.
The employee app offers a robust self-serve interface that is efficient and not overwhelming. The initial dashboard offers key summary information and links, such as time-off and sick-day calculations, paycheck stub links, a task list and a time tracker.
Employees can then use a left-hand menu to find more detailed information, such as their health benefits options and performance reviews. Simple forms and digital signing tools allow employees to complete documents and reviews in a fully digital format, even on a small screen.
See MoreSee Less Best for Payroll Tax ComplianceADP RUN4.2Our ratings take into account a product's cost, features, ease of use, customer service and other category-specific attributes. All ratings are determined solely by our editorial team.Base monthly price
Its standout feature is its tax compliance support. RUN by ADP automatically calculates, deposits and files all taxes for you. It also sends W-2 and 1099 forms to your respective workers each year. It even keeps track of payroll law changes by state and adjusts your withholdings and payments accordingly to ensure you are in compliance. And, if the IRS has any questions and sends you an inquiry, RUN by ADP will handle this communication on your behalf.
Once payroll was run, the software summarized how much was paid out and when. I was also asked if I wanted a reminder of when payroll should be run again. Overall, this process was self-explanatory and required no learning curve.
See MoreSee Less Best for Controlling Payroll CostsTriNet4.1Our ratings take into account a product's cost, features, ease of use, customer service and other category-specific attributes. All ratings are determined solely by our editorial team.Base monthly price
TriNet can handle all payroll tax administration for you, offering the option to outsource your payroll function to its PEO service. When you do, its team of HR experts not only manage your payroll and tax administration for you but is available to your company for consulting and problem resolution.
When you hire a new employee, its team of tax experts notifies the correct state entity as required by law. The platform also calculates, withholds and remits payments, then files your taxes on the federal, state and local level. Then, it prepares and delivers W-2 forms to your employees when needed. Finally, for employees, it will manage your unemployment taxes and claims on your behalf.
For managing contract employees, the platform auto-generates Form 1099 when needed and grants contractors self-serve access to key tax documents. It also allows you to customize how you pay contracts with multiple pay options.
TriNet helps small businesses save money by looking for tax credits for each company. For example, it allows you to input tax credit information into the payroll system and then prepares forms 8974 and 941 for you to claim those credits.
The TriNet mobile app offers convenient features for both employers and their employees. Employers and permissioned personnel can view employee profiles, hire and termination data, benefits and payroll information and access reporting. They can also search a knowledge base for answers to their questions or open a support case or live chat session to access TriNet customer support.
Employees access the mobile app to view their paychecks, review and manage their benefits and access their tax documents. In addition, they can track their vacation days and request time off using the mobile app. Finally, as an added perk, employees can use the app to access TriNet-offered discounts on technology, groceries and other products.
TriNet offers three plans ranging from $8 per employee per month to $33 per user per month when billed monthly. However, unlike many competitors on this list, only the most expensive plan offers payroll features. To access payroll features in the first two tiers, you have to first purchase the core plan and then pay $6 per employee per month more to access the payroll add-on. When I contacted customer support, I was told that this payroll add-on is typically only sold as an add-on and not as a standalone product.
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