OnPay review

OnPay runs a single plan rather than a tiered ladder: $49 a month plus $6 a month per person, the same rate whether that person draws a W-2 paycheck or gets paid as a 1099 contractor. It’s rated 4.5 out of 5 here, backed by 4.8-star scores on both G2 and Capterra. The one thing to read before signing up: a BBB complaint and a separate Trustpilot review both describe the same category of failure, a payroll tax issue OnPay allegedly didn’t resolve, a pattern worth knowing even though it isn’t proven to happen at scale.

What OnPay is for

OnPay targets a small business that wants payroll, tax filing and basic compliance handled under one price, without separate tiers to compare or a sales call to book first. The base plan covers unlimited pay runs, multi-state pay, and federal, state and local tax filing, plus W-2 and 1099 year-end filings, with phone, chat and email support included and no implementation fee. HR and time tracking sit outside the base plan as optional add-ons, which keeps a payroll-only buyer from paying for features they won’t use.

Pricing: one plan, no tiers

That $6 per-person rate doesn’t change based on worker type, so a business that only pays contractors still owes the full $49 base plus $6 per contractor, not a cheaper contractor-only rate. One detail worth flagging: OnPay’s own pricing page shows a separate “starting at $55/mo” headline in another spot that doesn’t match this itemized breakdown, and the company hasn’t reconciled the two figures anywhere we found. Budget from the $49+$6 math above, and don’t be surprised if the other number shows up somewhere in the signup flow.

The tax-remittance complaint, in context

This is the detail worth reading before anything else. A Better Business Bureau complaint describes OnPay failing to resolve an IRS Form 941 issue over more than three months, with the business owner seeking reimbursement for penalties and interest. Separately, a Trustpilot reviewer wrote that OnPay “kept taking funds but never transferred money to IRS or state,” and says OnPay refused responsibility when confronted. Two independent sources describing the same category of failure is enough to flag plainly rather than bury in a ratings table. It isn’t proof this happens often: both complaints sit against a much larger base of 4.8-star reviews on G2 and Capterra from businesses with no such issue. Treat it as a reason to confirm your own filings went through, not a reason to rule OnPay out on its own.

What users say in reviews

G2 and Capterra both rate OnPay 4.8 out of 5, with G2 counting somewhere between 326 and 406 reviews depending on the source and Capterra reporting 469 reviews at 97% positive sentiment. Trustpilot tells a rougher story: 3.7 out of 5 from 320 reviews, with slow support response times and accounts “closed” without explanation as the two most common one-star complaints, alongside the tax-remittance issue above. That gap between review platforms shows up across most of the payroll tools in this category, not just OnPay (see the best payroll and HR software guide for how it compares to Gusto’s and Rippling’s own Trustpilot numbers), but it’s still worth reading the actual one-star reviews before signing up, not just the star count.

Who should skip it

OnPay is a weak fit for anyone who wants a confirmed free trial before paying; its own pricing page doesn’t state one, where Gusto offers 7 days with no card and QuickBooks Payroll offers 30. It’s also not the right pick for a business already committed to QuickBooks Online for accounting; QuickBooks Payroll bundles directly into that login instead. Anyone weighing a bigger platform that bundles IT and benefits alongside payroll should read Rippling first, including its 12-month contract terms. For the full lineup side by side, see Best Payroll and HR Software for Small Businesses.