Gusto
Tiered payroll and benefits bundle starting at $49 a month plus $6 per person, with a Trustpilot score far below its G2 and Capterra numbers
$49/mo + $6/person Read review →
Payroll & HR Software
Run payroll, file payroll taxes, onboard and check new hires, compared on base fee, price per employee and contract terms. Every score comes from a documentation-and-pricing audit; tools we partner with are listed first.
Want our ranked picks with the catch for each? Read Best Payroll and HR Software for Small Businesses in 2026 →
Independent review. If you buy through links on this page we may earn a commission, at no extra cost to you. Tools we partner with are listed first, but that never changes a score — how we test.
| Tool | Best for | Price from | Free plan | Score | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Small businesses that want full-service tax filing and a no-markup benefits brokerage in one price, and who are prepared for a rougher support experience than the G2 and Capterra scores suggest. | $49/mo + $6/person | No | 4.2/5 | Visit | |
| 2 | Small businesses planning to grow past payroll into IT, benefits and global hiring in one platform, and who are fully comfortable signing a 12-month contract with no early-exit option for convenience. | $8/employee/mo | No | 4.0/5 | Visit | |
| 3 | Small businesses that want to run background checks without a subscription, paying only per report, and who budget for pass-through court and database fees on top of the sticker price. | $29.99/report | No | 4.0/5 | Visit | |
| 4 | Small businesses that want structured onboarding and SOP documentation to pair with a separate payroll tool, and who are ready to book a demo and pay a $1,000 setup fee before seeing a single dollar figure. | Demo-gated | No | 3.8/5 | Visit | |
| 5 | Small businesses that want one price covering employees and contractors alike, and who will watch how OnPay handles a payroll tax problem if one ever comes up. | $49/mo + $6/person | No | 4.5/5 | Review | |
| 6 | Small businesses already running QuickBooks Online for accounting that want payroll on the same login, and who read the promotional-versus-regular price closely before committing. | $44/mo promo | No | 3.9/5 | Review |
All reviews in Payroll & HR Software
Rippling
Modular HR, IT and payroll platform starting at $8 per employee, locked into a 12-month contract with no cancel-for-convenience option
$8/employee/mo Read review →
Checkr
Per-report background checks with no subscription, from $29.99, though the sticker price excludes pass-through court fees
$29.99/report Read review →
Trainual
Onboarding and SOP software with demo-gated pricing and a $1,000 setup fee on every plan, including the cheapest
Demo-gated Read review →
OnPay
One flat plan at $49 a month plus $6 per person, with a real but rare tax-remittance complaint worth reading first
$49/mo + $6/person Read review →
QuickBooks Payroll
Tiered payroll bundled into QuickBooks Online, with a promotional first-three-months price shown next to the regular rate
$44/mo promo Read review →
Deals & price changes
Price changes and deals in payroll & HR software
One short email when a tool in this category changes its price or gets a verified deal. At most once a week.