5 Best Online Payroll Services for Small Business Owners

The 5 plans offered by Gusto are ‘Basic’, ‘Core’,’ Complete’, ‘Concierge’, and ‘Contractor’. With the Contractor plan, there is no base fee, and you simply pay $6 per contractor. This makes it perfect for startups and novel small businesses.

Serving more than 100,000 businesses, Gusto is well-established in the payroll space and comes with excellent support. A payroll provider without good support does not last for long. Businesses need to get payroll issues resolved sooner rather than later.

The beauty of Gusto is that it is so simple to use, even for a complete beginner, but also offers sophisticated capabilities. You can automate payroll to make it a breeze, provided that wages are static in a fixed working week/month. The brilliance of Gusto is not only that it automatically pays taxes, but that it files them for you. How great is that? The two biggest headaches, automatically completed by a neat payroll provider.

The on-boarding process is simple. Just give the link to your employees/independent contractors and they can get themselves up and running. Which means there is no need for you to waste more cash than necessary on costly HR personnel. Pay Stubs and W2s are easy to access through the Gusto platform.

For more advanced features, you might want to purchase the ‘Concierge’ package. The cost of this subscription is $149 per month, but it comes with an HR resource centre for the large businesses and corporations that need them. The Concierge and Complete packages cost a heavy $12 per additional employee and are not at all suitable for small businesses. All of the Gusto packages include:

• Retirement savings management.
• Pay-as-you-go workers’ compensation.
• Rapid payroll (often under 8 minutes).
• Automatic payroll, if you opt for worker self-service
• Good rates for group health insurance.

So, what are the issues with Gusto? For one thing, Gusto has a D – rating with the Better Business Bureau (“BBB”). Most of these complaints are recent. Gusto used to be a lot cheaper, but as it has grown in stature it seems to have also grown a little more ruthless, at least for some people. $6 per additional worker is quite expensive, with many of its competitors (such as Patriot Software) costing $4 per additional employee. For larger businesses, these costs really add up.

Gusto offers a free 30-day trial where you can see for yourself if it is for you. We found zero problems on this platform and it delivers value for money for both large and small businesses. The base package at $39 a month is excellent for what’s on offer.

The major drawback of Gusto could well be its customer service. While professional, they can be a little strict with their terms. They have an ok rating of 4.1 stars on Trustpilot, but it’s not exactly an exceptional rating by any stretch of the imagination. A rating of 4.5 and above is what really separates an excellent company from a good one.

Why We Recommend

Unlimited (and fast) payroll, automatic tax filing, and an affordable rate make this the number one payroll software on the market right now.

Which means that the solution has to be easy to use yet comprehensive. This is the core description of OnPay. You can get full-service payroll at a very competitive rate. If you are a small business owner that wants to streamline payroll in the quickest possible manner, then OnPay is for you.

Like Gusto, 1099 contractors and W2 employees can both be paid through the system. Taxes and filing requirements are taken care of. With the possible exception of Intuit Quickbooks, OnPay is the most smooth and intuitive platform out there. You will appreciate its simplicity right from the start. The learning curve is basically non-existence.

Why do we love OnPay so much? One thing that makes OnPay distinct for practically all other payroll providers is its single pricing system. OnPay is $36 a month with a $4 fee for additional employees/contractors.

This makes it slightly cheaper than Gusto and makes our review process a whole lot easier. Sometimes, it can feel that a provider is just slapping on pricing plans to try and hit every possible market segment – which is exactly what they are doing, but not OnPay. Everything about the platform is easy, straightforward, and streamlined.

With OnPay, you can cancel at any time and are not bound into a yearly contract, which is a huge advantage. If you want to mail physical forms to employees, the charge is $5, not including shipping costs (the only real additional charge with this provider). The first month of service is free. OnPay offers similar functionality to Guso, including:

• Fast payroll processing.
• Automatic tax filing.
• Payroll deductions.
• Payment of various employee types in a uniform manner.
• Various payment options.
• Employee self-service/onboarding.
• Additional services: retirement management, workers compensation insurance, employee benefits, etc.

There is another area where OnPay really stands out. The customer service with this company is off the charts. While other companies we contacted on the top 5 (by both phone and email) were quite good, OnPay went above and beyond the call of duty.

Not merely polite and courteous, but prepared to offer customized solutions and refunds that may have been well within their rights to refuse (we like to pose as problem customers to gauge the reaction of the provider). For further verification of the fantastic OnPay customer service, visit their profile on Trustpilot with a lot of satisfied ratings, for a total of 4.9 out of 5 stars.

Why We Recommend

The price, the customer service and the ease of use all combine to make this the perfect platform for the very small business owner. You won’t be disappointed.

Patriot offers 2 payroll packages. The basic package costs $10 a month and $4 per additional employee. With 20 employees, this would work out at $90 a month. This is much cheaper than Gusto, which would work out at $159 for its core package with 20 employees. It’s nearly 50% cheaper. The full-service package costs $30 a month with a $4 fee per additional employee. There is no long-term contract and you can make use of a 30-day free trial

In other words, it is more suited to companies/businesses that have fixed employees on a long-term basis. But it can work out to be a lot cheaper (though it does lack some features in comparison). The basic version does not handle payroll taxes, which you will have to do for yourself. Both packages offer:

• Payroll setup and support.
• Direct deposits and print checks.
• Unlimited payroll.
• W2s.

But the full-service payroll package at $30 per month offers W3s and filing of local, state, and federal taxes. The beauty of Patriot is that you can use an online pricing tool to gauge your cost per employee and then compare this to other top payroll service providers like Intuit, Gusto, and OnPay.

So, along with the unbeatable pricing model, what else commends Patriot Software? Well, for one thing, it has a 4.8 rating on Trustpilot, just behind OnPay in terms of user feedback and social proofs (these are very powerful indicators of a good company). The company has both phone and email support options and we found them to be superb in terms of their customer service, much like OnPay.

Even if you feel that Patriot Software is not providing the features that you need, you can add on certain items for an additional cost. HR software is $4 a month with $1 per additional employee (which is still hyper cheap in comparison to other payroll providers). Time and attendance trackings are $5 a month base and $1 per additional employee. It really can be tailored and scaled to what you need, when you need it.

With Patriot, you are billed monthly as opposed to each payroll cycle (which can sometimes unfairly penalize businesses that pay their employees every two weeks). In terms of aesthetics, Patriot Software has more of a business-like and professional feel to it as compared to the friendly, smooth touch seen with other providers.

If you want a no-frills attached payroll service at a base cost, Patriot is for you. The major disadvantage of Patriot is that it does not have a benefits management system, which can be a nail in the coffin for certain business owners who frankly need this feature.

Why We Recommend

It is the cheapest option on the market while delivering everything that a payroll software needs to deliver, with the exception of benefits management.

So, what’s the drawback? Well, you do pay a price for all of those extra features, and Intuit Quickbooks is more steeply-priced than the other candidates on this list. For the full-service solution, you can expect to pay $45 a month with $4 per additional employee. In many respects, it is similar to Gusto in terms of both pricing and features. It comes with support for benefits (healthcare and retirement).

Intuit Quickbooks offers 3 packages – Core, Premium, and Elite. The Core package runs at $45, the Premium at $75, and the Elite at $125. The Core package is a full-service payroll solution, and there is no ‘Light’ option available. For a small business, the Core package is more than enough. The Premium and Elite packages are really for large businesses and enterprises that need to make use of HR features, premium time tracking, and advanced tax solutions.

This is a top product, especially if you are already using some other Quickbooks products. However, customer reviews of this company are mixed, and Quickbooks can have some problems. When a company starts to get really big, it can have trouble with backward compatibility and with keeping all classes of customers happy.

Quickbooks UK has a rating of 4.6 stars out of 5, which is quite impressive (a 4.6-star rating of over 5,000 reviews is actually superior to a 4-9 star rating of 900 or so reviews, which is what OnPay has). But there are some dreadful (and consistent) complaints with Consumer Affairs.

They seem to be having major trouble dealing with clients’ issues regarding interoperability and upgrades between operating systems and platforms. People with legacy systems will need to update their systems before migrating to Intuit Quickbooks, otherwise, they are setting themselves up for complete misery. There seem to be many accounts of people who have been with the company for 10 years or more but feel that the enterprise is not what it once was.

We called Quickbooks and were not overly impressed. It just took a long time, and we were kept on hold, though ultimately the issue was resolved. However, the quality of the software is still exceptional, potentially the best on the market, which is why it makes our no.4.

Why We Recommend

Fantastic integrations and quality of software. You will not lack for functionality with Intuit Quickbooks Payroll. Price and functionality similar to Gusto overall.

You are setting up your site with a Square subsidiary (Weebly), handling payment processing through Square POS and credit billing, and handling payroll through Square Payroll. Talk about an all-in-one solution!

Square Payroll starts at $29 a month with an extra $5 per employee/contractor. But it also offers a contractor only package for just $5 per contractor. With Square, you do not get charged extra no matter how many times you pay your contractors or employees, meaning it is truly one of the most affordable solutions out there. Tax filing is not automatic with the contractor only plan but is a feature of the full-service plan.

Square is easy to set up and is compatible with many other Square products. But this is also something of a drawback – it is only compatible with other Square services. If you use other Square services, it makes far more sense to use Square Payroll. So you would typically have all of your services within the Square ecosystem – credit card processing, employee payroll, inventory management, and even web support through its Weebly subsidiary (Weebly also happens to be the best and most affordable of all eCommerce solutions)

Square payroll is not suited for larger businesses that need advanced HR support. If you manage less than 10 employees and already use Square point of sale technology to sell products, then it is truly the perfect option. It does offer self-service onboarding and you can also take advantage of membership benefits such as retirement and healthcare. But, to be frank, the platform is simply not as smooth or easy to use in comparison to the competition.

You do need to input a lot of info, even if you get the employee to self-onboard. It does not offer a sophisticated suite of tools or reports, unlike Gusto or Intuit Quickbooks Payroll. On the plus side, once you get set up initially and become familiar with the platform, it does offer a decent level of functionality and it gets easier. If your requirements are simple, you should not have a problem.

It offers apps for both IOS and Android, and both of these applications are very smooth and interactive, unlike other payroll applications. As far as features are concerned, Square delivers:

• Membership benefits.
• Self-service onboarding.
• Apple and Android Application.
• Automatic tax filing.

In terms of customer reviews and social proofs, Square is arguably the most well-loved provider.

Trustpilot UK rates it 4.6 stars, Trustpilot US rates it 4.8 stars, and Trustpilot Canada rates it 4.5 stars. Across jurisdictions, it is consistently getting positive ratings, which is a diversified and robust sign of a strong customer-center company. Square even connects seamlessly to Trustpilot and offers tonnes of integrations. Small business owners simply love this product.

In sum, Square is best for businesses already using other Square products (which are awesome), in much the same way that Intuit Quickbooks Payroll is best for businesses that are already using Intuit products. But it is hard to justify otherwise, in comparison to OnPay and Patriot Software.

While it is excellently suited for contract work with no base pay (just a $5 fee per contractor), Gusto also provides this option, as do some others. This has only recently been added in an attempt to compete with Square, who are dominating certain areas of the market due to eCommerce/site building/payment processing expertise. It just makes a lot of sense for online and physical store owners to take the next step with a Square payroll processor.

Why We Recommend

Decent capabilities for a decent price. Great for businesses that already use existing Square services.