The Top Payroll Software for Small Businesses in 2021

Ideal for small businesses and restaurants that want full-service payroll for one low price, OnPay includes a lot of extras such as HR tools, free direct deposit, multistate payroll capability, mobile accessibility, and an employee self-service feature, which includes lifetime access. But what really stands out is its product support, as every support employee is trained by the American Payroll Association.

This software option is better suited for small businesses with a lot of hourly employees, as there is no option to run payroll automatically, even for salaried employees. However, payroll is easy to run and requires little data entry.

Setting up state withholding tax information is easy with OnPay. Source: OnPay software.

Best of all, with OnPay's all-inclusive plan, you won’t have to worry about paying extra for additional features, or scaling up to a more robust plan as your business grows, since you’ll have access to the features and functionality you need from day one.

Here are a few aspects that make OnPay a good full-service payroll option for your small business.

• Features: Full-service payroll processing, mobile access, multistate payroll, employee onboarding and self-service, and solid integration options are available in OnPay for a single monthly fee. In addition, it offers a variety of HR resources including HR templates, offer letters, compliance tools, and access to an HR resource library.
• Pricing: OnPay pricing is transparent right from the start. There is a monthly fee of $36 and a per-employee fee of $4. That’s it. No hidden charges, no add-ons, and no upgrades necessary.
• Support: It will migrate your current data to the their application at no cost, assist with initial setup, and set up integrations with third-party applications. As an added bonus, the OnPay support team really knows payroll, since they’re trained by the American Payroll Association.
• Benefits: There are many benefits, but transparent pricing, multistate payroll, and easy (and free) accessibility to HR tools are just a few of them.

Intuit QuickBooks Payroll offers an affordable, easily navigated payroll software application that is designed for small business owners. And, like all Intuit applications, it's designed with the small business owner in mind.

Even better, if you’re looking for affordable accounting software, you can subscribe to both QuickBooks Online Accounting and QuickBooks Payroll at significant savings. But not to worry, QuickBooks Payroll can still be used as a stand-alone payroll application, even if you use another accounting software application.

One of the things that sets Intuit QuickBooks Online Payroll apart from a lot of its competitors is that all its plans include full-service payroll capability, which is rare. QuickBooks Online Payroll currently offers three plans: Core, Premium, and Elite, with all three plans including the following features:

• Unlimited payroll runs
• Direct deposit
• Automated tax calculations and filing
• Employee portal

Of all the things a new business owner needs to do, running payroll may be one of the scariest.

After all, you don’t want to accidentally pay your employees too little, or too much. On top of that, you have to make sure your payroll reports are processed correctly and filed timely, with the correct amount of tax remitted. Who wouldn’t be nervous?

You can view employee vacation and sick time hours with the Time and Attendance module. Source: Patriot Payroll software.

Patriot Payroll seems to make all of that disappear. An intuitive user interface, minimal data-entry requirements, and a three-step payroll process lets even a complete novice run payroll with ease. Ideal for small businesses with fewer than 10 employees, this software provides all the necessary features and functions a payroll application should have.

There are some downsides, such as the inability to pay contractors and a lack of flexibility when it comes to pay rates for employees, but for those running a straightforward payroll, Patriot Payroll may be a good option.

Here are some things that make Patriot Payroll stand out:

• Features: It offers free direct deposit, an employee portal, the ability to track paid time off (PTO), along with good add-on options that streamline the payroll process.
• Pricing: The Basic plan is $10 per month plus a $4 per employee fee, while the Full-Service plan, which includes tax processing, filing, and remittance, runs $30 per month, plus a $4 per employee fee. The optional Time and Attendance module is $5 per month, while the Human Resources module is $4 per month, each with a $1 per-employee charge added. Both are worth the cost.
• Support: Patriot Payroll offers toll-free phone support along with email and chat support during regular business hours. In addition, the Payroll Help Center includes short training videos, a searchable knowledge base, and a guide for getting started.
• Benefits: If you want payroll to be quick, painless, and accurate — and include necessities like direct deposit and an employee portal — then this may be the product for you.

There’s a reason some of the most popular accounting software applications (such as QuickBooks Online and FreshBooks) integrate with Gusto. Loaded with features designed to make your life easier, this software can be a good payroll solution for both accountants and for a business of just about any size or type, with pricing being the only possible drawback.

Highly recommended for business owners who know absolutely nothing about payroll processing, this software does all of the hard work for you, letting you concentrate on running your business. It supports direct deposit at no extra cost and will process, file, and remit any payroll taxes due to the appropriate agencies.

Gusto lets you view and manage all employee benefits from one convenient view. Source: Gusto software.

In addition, Gusto includes benefit administration and a variety of HR tools and resources, though they do come at an extra cost. For smaller businesses, Gusto can be the best choice, but as your number of employees goes up, so does the cost of the software, which can put it out of reach for some.

Here are a few things that set Gusto apart from the crowd:

• Features: It handles everything from new hire reporting to contract worker payments. New employees can onboard themselves in Gusto, and former employees can access pay stubs and W-2s online. Another great feature is AutoPilot, which will run payroll automatically.
• Pricing: The software offers three plans: The first two plans carry a $39 monthly base fee, and the last plan charges a whopping $149 base fee each month. Tack on the $6-$12 per employee fee each month, and you can see how pricing can get out of reach fairly quickly.
• Support: Gusto offers telephone, email, and chat support along with a searchable knowledge base where you can find answers to many of your questions.
• Benefits: Flexible payroll schedules, unlimited pay runs, an intuitive user interface, and complete payroll tax processing are just a few of the benefits offered.

SurePayroll is an online payroll service designed for small business owners who want to simplify the entire payroll process. It also offers a reseller capability for accountants who wish to offer payroll services to their clients.

SurePayroll is designed specifically for small business owners, with a special version available for those who pay household workers such as nannies. Because of its pricing structure, SurePayroll is ideal for businesses with fewer than 10 employees.

Completely cloud-based, SurePayroll allows you to easily enter the necessary pay information and it does the rest, including complete tax filing and payment remittance.

The payroll entry screen is designed for efficiency, so you can just click the box next to each employee and enter their hours for the pay period.

SurePayroll’s payroll dashboard offers easy access to numerous features. Source: SurePayroll software.

A perfect fit for those who wish to step back and let someone else do the heavy lifting, SurePayroll is also affordably priced, with payroll for a staff of five running under $50 monthly, including all tax filing, direct deposit capability, and live telephone support.

Payroll Mate is an on-premise payroll software you can purchase and download directly from the Real Business Solutions website.

Designed for businesses with 75 employees or fewer, Payroll Mate makes it easy to get started in payroll. While I would recommend that you have some knowledge of payroll processing prior to using Payroll Mate, the application does a good job guiding new users through various processes, such as setting up your business or adding new employees.

Payroll Mate allows you to select how you calculate vacation and sick pay. Source: Payroll Mate Software.

While this software will process all of the necessary payroll reports, you are responsible for filing those reports and making the required tax deposits by the deadline, which may scare some less-experienced business owners.

Unfortunately, Payroll Mate can only be used on Windows operating systems, so Mac users will have to look elsewhere.

Here’s a quick summary of what Payroll Mate offers:

• Features: You can run payroll for multiple businesses or locations, it handles multiple pay frequencies, and it supports employee direct deposit.
• Pricing: Payroll Mate pricing can’t be beat, running $139 for the year. An add-on direct-deposit module is also available for $95.
• Support: The software includes numerous tutorials and wizards and offers free technical support via telephone, email, or chat.
• Benefits: The pricing structure makes it affordable for even the tightest budgets, with one low payment and no monthly fees. A variety of add-on modules are available to increase product functionality.

I think we can all agree that ADP might know a thing or two about payroll.

The company has taken its 70 years of experience and created a product designed especially for small businesses with 49 employees or fewer. The result, RUN Powered by ADP, offers easy online payroll processing, with four plans to choose from.

You can create your own customizable dashboard with RUN by ADP. Source: ADP software.

The product’s extensive use of wizards makes it easy for anyone to use, even those running payroll for the first time. The user dashboard offers easy access to all payroll-related features, and a handy to-do list pops up on screen as a nice reminder to complete necessary tasks.

RUN Powered by ADP can get expensive — it’s difficult to obtain exact pricing from ADP — but for payroll novices, it can be worth the cost.

Here are just a few reasons your small business should take a second look at RUN Powered by ADP:

• Features: It offers four plans to choose from, with all plans offering direct deposit, mobile payroll processing, payroll delivery, and payroll tax processing, filing, and remittance. In addition, you can pay contractors in RUN Powered by ADP, and the product offers the Prior Payroll Amounts Wizard, which makes it easy to enter prior payroll totals.
• Pricing: With four plans available, there are a lot of pricing options to choose from, although it’s nearly impossible to pin down ADP on what the final cost will be. Pricing for 10 employees typically runs between $150 and $180 a month, but that can vary widely.
• Support: Support is available for both payroll administrators as well as employees, with separate options and resources available for both. Toll-free support is available as well as online help and a FAQ page.
• Benefits: This is a solid payroll application designed by industry leaders. The application also includes numerous add-on options that can increase the functionality of the application tremendously, but be prepared to pay more for those options.

Square applications are designed to make running your business easy, so it’s no surprise that Square Payroll does the same. Surprisingly powerful for a small business payroll application, Square Payroll is easy to use, affordably priced, and integrates with other Square applications as well as QuickBooks Online.

Square Payroll offers a long list of features including the ability to pay both employees and contractors. Square Payroll also includes unlimited payroll runs, and as a full-service payroll application, will also file tax reports and remit payroll taxes to the appropriate taxing authorities.

Square Payroll also includes an app for both iOS and Android smartphones, which allows you to manage all of your employees and process payroll right from your phone. The application also supports weekly, bi-weekly, semi-monthly, and monthly payroll schedules, and you can pay your contract employees at any time.

The Run Payroll screen lets you enter payroll hours or make any changes. Source: Square Payroll

In addition, you can set up your payroll to run automatically, which is a great option if you pay a lot of salaried employees.

Square Payroll also includes the following tools and resources:

• Customizable pay schedules
• New-hire reporting
• Multiple pay rates
• Garnishments
• W-2 and 1099 processing
• Direct deposit or manual check processing
• Employee access

Paychex Flex is designed for businesses with fewer than 49 employees. Plus with a really robust mobile app, Paychex Flex is a great fit for business owners on the go, or those of you who use your phone to conduct business.

The application offers four plans to choose from.

Express Payroll is good for up to 10 employees, Paychex Flex Select is designed for between 10 and 49 employees, Paychex Flex Pro is a good fit for businesses with 50 or more employees, and Paychex Flex Enterprise, for businesses with more than 100 employees.

Out of these options, Paychex Flex Select is the most popular choice for small business owners.

There is also a long list of add-on options available for businesses to choose from, and support options are solid. However, Paychex Flex’s a-la-carte menu can become very expensive very quickly, so smaller businesses with tighter budgets may want to look at a more inclusive application.

TRAXPayroll is a good fit for small to mid-size businesses that are also interested in complete HR and employee management services. Those services, which are provided by BambooHR software, seamlessly integrate with TRAXPayroll to provide complete employee management capability.

TRAXPayroll is designed for simplicity, using a three-step process which reads data from your current payroll data files.

TRAXPayroll includes both time card and time sheet entry options for your employees, which you can simply approve prior to running payroll. If you find changes need to be made after starting the payroll run, you can choose to reset the run, make the necessary changes and then continue with a new payroll run.

TRAXPayroll offers complete tax reporting and filing for your company, eliminating the need to calculate and remit taxable wages reports and payments manually.

Hiring managers will see the biggest benefit of TRAXPayroll is its seamless integration with BambooHR. However, the application does not offer integration with third-party accounting applications, so it’s probably not the best fit for accountants that are currently looking for payroll software or services.