The 7 Best Payroll Software Options for Accountants

If Excel is all you need for payroll, check out our guide to Excel payroll forumlas. Quickly and seamlessly transition high-caliber applicants to productive contributors with our onboarding software. Self-onboarding lets employees complete documents and access training before Day 1 so they can hit the ground running.

With multiple plans and price points, it’s also a scalable choice for businesses planning on growth. Otherwise, price is generally determined as a function of the number of employees in your organization plus a base monthly fee. Some payroll platforms will charge best payroll app you a fee per employee in your company, while others will offer tiers that cover up to a certain number of employees, after which you’ll have to upgrade to a higher tier. Wave Payroll is an approachable payroll platform with a focus on employee satisfaction.

Patriot is the most affordable self-service payroll

Roll allows you to make use of natural language to access payroll information or even complete a full payroll run in much the same way that you’d text a friend. It’s powered by GenAI, a generative AI tool that allows you to do things like give an employee a bonus or a raise or get a better understanding of 401k deductions just by texting the Roll app. Beyond just payroll, Rippling provides a complete platform for a number of different facets of your business, including HR, IT and finance.

Using a combination of phone support, live chat and knowledge bases, customers should be able to quickly resolve issues 24/7. Additionally, Gusto offers a debit card that employees can use to get immediate access to their funds on payday. Blueprint is an independent, advertising-supported comparison service focused on helping readers make smarter decisions.

What Is Payroll Software?

While Wave doesn’t feature an automatic payroll option, it does support a one-click run. Just review the details of your payroll for the current pay period, and you can get your team paid with a single click. There’s a focus across the platform on small businesses, and Wave also offers accounting, payment and invoicing software that integrates with its payroll platform for complete business management. While business owners can typically make up for a lack of time tracking or expense management features by using an outside app, the same can’t be said for payroll taxes. Here are payroll features that are vital for most business owners along with some that are certainly nice to have.

• Free plan users can use automations from within the pre-built templates.
• Automatic payroll runs, payroll tax filings, W-2 and 1099 form preparation, manual check capabilities, and two-day direct deposits are some of the features that we looked for.
• We reviewed several payroll software providers using a detailed methodology to help you find the seven best payroll apps for small businesses.
• It provides them access to pay and deduction details so they’re aware of how much salary to expect every payday.
• Katherine Haan is a small business owner with nearly two decades of experience helping other business owners increase their incomes.

With the right app at your disposal, you can get rid of your old-school time clock tools, verify that your team is where they are supposed to be, and promote two-way transparency across your business. Rippling is best for small businesses that hire talent internationally and need an automated way to handle payroll runs, compliance and tax filings across the globe. It is also best for growing businesses that need automation tools to scale their payroll and compliance efforts as they grow. When you hire a new employee, its team of tax experts notifies the correct state entity as required by law. The platform also calculates, withholds and remits payments, then files your taxes on the federal, state and local level. Then, it prepares and delivers W-2 forms to your employees when needed.

Paycom’s Beti: Best for Guided Employee-run Payroll

And they do it all through our mobile app for a paperless onboarding process. Up until now, SurePayroll by Paychex and Gusto may have sounded pretty similar, but when it comes to additional HR features, the two platforms really start to diverge. Besides the benefit add-ons, SurePayroll by Paychex does not really offer anything in terms of HR tools. Meanwhile, Gusto offers many different HR features depending on the pricing plan you choose. SurePayroll handles all payroll taxes, from initial report preparation and form filing to payment remittance. In addition, Gusto handles all tax filing including creating reports, filling out forms, and submitting tax payments.

• A payroll app needs to offer useful features for companies handling many different payroll situations.
• The platform also has your basic tax tools, including filing and calculation functions.
• Although Gusto doesn’t have a mobile payroll app for employers, its site is optimized for mobile.
• Similar to Square Payroll, it has a separate app for tracking the clock ins/outs of employees.
• It offers an employee portal online and through the Paycor mobile app, so employees can access pay stubs, documents, time-off requests, performance evaluations and employee development all from their phones.

That starting base price looks high, but the cheapest plan’s per-employee fee is just $5 per payee per month. Thanks to that lower fee, Intuit QuickBooks Payroll actually has one of the lowest payroll starting prices on our list, as long as you have more than one employee. If you hire contractors instead of working with a full-time team of employees, choose Gusto’s Contractor plan, which has no monthly base cost. Even better, Gusto includes these features for free when many payroll providers charge extra. For instance, Gusto’s in-house insurance brokers ensure that if you sign up for employee medical insurance and workers compensation insurance through Gusto, you’ll pay the premium only.

Why You Can Trust Forbes Advisor Small Business

This capability, coupled with its contract payment options, makes Wave an ideal option for seasonal businesses such as garden centers and landscaping companies. Note that the features you and your employees can access through its mobile apps depend on the functionalities included in your chosen Fingercheck plan. Upgrade to its highest tier to unlock all tools (such as hiring, expense tracking, and shift scheduling solutions).

• OnPay’s interface is clean and straightforward, making it easy to navigate.
• Our partners cannot pay us to guarantee favorable reviews of their products or services.
• There are almost no automation options and you cannot customize the dashboard at all.
• Setup is manual, but a tool helps you enter the right information in the right places.
• Compared to other free payroll software products, Payroll4Free’s tax calculations, filing options, PTO tracking and employee portal set it apart.
• This is also where you can approve or deny pending time-off requests.

She also owns Editing by Sierra, where she offers editing services to writers of all backgrounds, including self-published and traditionally published authors. Note, however, that Wave currently only includes state tax services in 14 states, though the company says that expanded support is coming. However, its services are cheaper in states where the company doesn’t offer tax processing. Beyond running payroll automatically, Gusto can also fully calculate and then automatically file your payroll taxes with the appropriate government agencies every time you run payroll for no additional fee. Gusto also boasts some significant third-party integrations with other business management apps and software, including Xero, QuickBooks and Clover. The free online payroll calculator offered by eSmart Paycheck lets you create paychecks, print them and calculate federal and state payroll taxes.