Cheapest payroll by team size
Some payroll providers may pay us a referral fee if you sign up through our links. It never affects the order of results. How we make money.
Prices re-confirmed on each provider's own page for 10 services: · last checked by hand for 3 services:
Lowest published monthly list prices among the 13 US payroll services we track that publish prices (ADP RUN and Rippling don't publish list prices). We only call a service the cheapest when it costs at least $5 and 5% less than the next one.
- For 1 employee in one state with payroll taxes filed for you, Deel is the cheapest at $29 a month, $12 less than Square Payroll (Deel's own blog posts give lower starting prices than its pricing page; Deel's product page describes its self-service option as a way to handle taxes and filings yourself). Full ranking for 1 employee
- For 5 employees in one state with payroll taxes filed for you, no service is clearly the cheapest: Patriot ($62), Paychex Flex ($64), Roll by ADP ($64) and Square Payroll ($65) are within $3 a month of each other (Paychex's main pricing page doesn't link to its Flex Essentials plan, so it may not be offered to every business). Compare 5 employees in the calculator
- For 10 employees in one state with payroll taxes filed for you, no service is clearly the cheapest: Patriot ($87), Paychex Flex ($89) and Roll by ADP ($89) are within $2 a month of each other (Paychex's main pricing page doesn't link to its Flex Essentials plan, so it may not be offered to every business). Compare 10 employees in the calculator
- For 25 employees in one state with payroll taxes filed for you, no service is clearly the cheapest: Patriot ($162), Paychex Flex ($164) and Roll by ADP ($164) are within $2 a month of each other (Paychex's main pricing page doesn't link to its Flex Essentials plan, so it may not be offered to every business; Paychex describes Flex Essentials as for businesses with fewer than 20 employees and/or contractors). Compare 25 employees in the calculator
- For 50 employees in one state with payroll taxes filed for you, no service is clearly the cheapest: Patriot ($287), Paychex Flex ($289) and Roll by ADP ($289) are within $2 a month of each other (Paychex's main pricing page doesn't link to its Flex Essentials plan, so it may not be offered to every business; Paychex describes Flex Essentials as for businesses with fewer than 20 employees and/or contractors). Compare 50 employees in the calculator
One state
Cheapest plan from each service that files and pays payroll taxes for you, employees in one state. Click a column header to sort.
| Service | 1 employee | 5 employees | 10 employees | 25 employees | 50 employees |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Patriot | $42 | $62 | $87 | $162 | $287 |
| Paychex Flex | $44 | $64 | $89 | $164 | $289 |
| Roll by ADP | $44 | $64 | $89 | $164 | $289 |
| Square Payroll | $41 | $65 | $95 | $185 | $335 |
| Wave | $46 | $70 | $100 | $190 | $340 |
| Gusto | $55 | $79 | $109 | $199 | $349 |
| Homebase | $55 | $79 | $109 | $229 | $379 |
| OnPay | $55 | $79 | $109 | $199 | $349 |
| QuickBooks | $57 | $85 | $120 | $225 | $400 |
| Justworks | $58 | $90 | $130 | $250 | $450 |
| Paycor | $104 | $124 | $149 | $224 | $349 |
| Hourly | $92 | $140 | $200 | $380 | $680 |
| Deel | $29 | $145 | $290 | $725 | $1,450 |
Paychex Flex at 25 and 50 employees: Paychex's Flex Essentials page says the plan is for businesses that "Have fewer than 20 employees and/or contractors". It doesn't say whether bigger teams can sign up, so ask Paychex before you count on this price.
Employees in two states
Some services need a higher plan or charge for each extra state. The same team sizes with employees in 2 states:
| Service | 1 employee | 5 employees | 10 employees | 25 employees | 50 employees |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Roll by ADP | $44 | $64 | $89 | $164 | $289 |
| Square Payroll | $41 | $65 | $95 | $185 | $335 |
| Patriot | $54 | $74 | $99 | $174 | $299 |
| Homebase | $55 | $79 | $109 | $229 | $379 |
| OnPay | $55 | $79 | $109 | $199 | $349 |
| Justworks | $58 | $90 | $130 | $250 | $450 |
| QuickBooks | $69 | $97 | $132 | $237 | $412 |
| Paycor | $104 | $124 | $149 | $224 | $349 |
| Gusto | $92 | $140 | $200 | $380 | $680 |
| Deel | $29 | $145 | $290 | $725 | $1,450 |
Not in this table: Hourly, Paychex Flex and Wave (no plan we could verify lists multi-state payroll with a published price).
Your exact team, with contractors or must-have features: open the calculator. No employees, only contractors? See the cheapest way to pay contractors.