Without question, one of the most important functions of your business is paying staff; these people keep your operations running, customers happy, and revenue flowing. To do all this, you obviously need a fast and reliable payroll service provider.Payroll services manage and assist in making payments to employees. They also help manage tax forms, compliance, and regulations. These days, payroll services are mostly online platforms with tools for automation and reporting.
Workforce.com
Best overall payroll software, particularly for for shift-based businesses focused on preventing payroll errors with automated and precise time tracking.
Gusto
Best for small businesses looking for ease of use.
ADP
Best for mid-sized companies operating across multiple states that want to use a tried and tested system.
Paycom
Best for mid-market businesses looking to have staff run their own payroll.
UKG
Best for enterprise-level payroll and user self-service in healthcare.
Workday
Best for large organizations looking to replace their legacy ERP systems with modernized payroll + HR.
Paychex
Best for high-quality customer support
Ceridian Dayforce
Best for continuous calculation and running audits mid-pay period.
Paylocity
Best for large businesses focused on data and efficiency
Bookkeeper.com
Best outsourced/virtual bookkeeping for small businesses.
Square Payroll
Best for Square POS users.
Rippling
Best for global-scale tech start-ups.
OnPay
Best simple payroll service at an affordable, all-inclusive price.
QuickBooks Payroll
Best for QuickBooks Accounting and QuickBooks Time users.
With a myriad of online payroll options to choose from, here are some of the key payroll features you should really look for in a payroll service provider:
Best overall payroll software, particularly for shift-based businesses focused on preventing errors with precise time tracking.
Workforce.com is a cloud-based human capital management system (HCM) that specializes in scheduling, HR, and payroll for shift-based businesses. Where the system really shines is in its ability to produce highly precise timesheets. Workforce.com creates and approves timesheets on a daily basis, flagging errors as soon as they occur. This upstream proactivity reduces the amount of time spent fixing timesheets right before pay runs.
Shift-based, hourly businesses in retail, hospitality, food & beverage, and healthcare make up the majority of Workforce.com’s clientele. Typically, these businesses range in size from 15 to 2,000 staff.
Workforce.com offers full-service payroll, including W-2s, wage garnishments, deductions, reporting, direct deposit, employee self-service, digital timesheets, and unlimited pay runs. Workforce.com also offers HR features which include a full-time and attendance module, virtual time clocks, PTO, employee onboarding, HRIS analytics, and employee engagement.
Beyond payroll and HR, Workforce.com also has a robust employee scheduling system featuring an employee app, labor forecasting, shift swapping, shift bidding, auto-scheduling, and task management.
Workforce.com tailors pricing based on business size and needs. Request a quote today to figure out what kind of plan will give you the best possible ROI..
Best for small businesses looking for ease of use.
Gusto merges basic payroll and HR services in an easy-to-use platform based in the cloud. You should use Gusto if you are a small business owner looking to move away from manual payroll processing to cloud-based, user-friendly payroll with basic HR analytics.
Gusto is primarily designed for small to medium-sized businesses and is heavily used by software companies, accounting agencies, and financial service providers.
With all of Gusto’s plans, you’ll get full-service payroll including direct deposit and tax deductions, employee profiles and self-service, health insurance administration, employee benefits, and a full range of software integrations. Beyond payroll, Gusto also offers basic time tracking, hiring and onboarding, HR tools, and even Gusto Wallet for employees to directly access and spend their money.
Gusto’s core plan starts at a rate of $39/month plus $6/month per user. Concierge, the most expensive option, goes for $149/month plus $12/month per user.
Best for mid-sized companies operating across multiple states that want to use a tried and tested system.
One of the oldest payroll software providers on the market, ADP is ideal for those looking for an extremely reliable solution that combines the basics like tax filing, benefits, and direct deposit with other functions like time tracking, talent management, and scheduling. However, it tends to be a costly option, charging additional fees for many features and its time clocks. ADP is also best suited for paying salaried staff or hourly employees with extremely straightforward schedules.
ADP has products available for businesses of any size. There’s ADP RUN for businesses with under 50 staff, ADP Workforce Now for mid-sized companies, and ADP Vantage for enterprise companies. Workforce Now is the most popular, particularly in the retail and IT industries.
Businesses usually choose ADP to combine HR and payroll into a single system. It offers detailed HRIS analytics that are directly linked to payroll for more accurate BI reporting. You’ll get all your basic payroll and year-end tax filing functions with ADP Workforce Now. You'll need to pay extra to get enhanced HR features like compliance reporting, onboarding, talent acquisition, and performance management, or add-ons like timekeeping.
ADP has quote-based pricing, so you must contact their sales team to determine the cost.
Best for mid-market businesses looking to have staff run their own payroll.
Paycom is a full-service HCM solution that specializes in detailed payroll processing, reporting, and user-self service. The only thing that makes Paycom stand out from other providers is that it allows employees to approve and submit their own payroll via an app. This, of course, is an optional feature. But, for companies looking for extreme self-service features, Paycom could be the right choice.
Paycom offers a full range of payroll analytics and features that are mostly unnecessary for small businesses. Mid-sized businesses in FinTech, healthcare, and IT tend to choose Paycom for its ability to pair comprehensive and speedy payroll processing with essential human resources functions.
At its core, Paycom specializes in providing comprehensive payroll and HR services. Additionally, they offer talent management, time and attendance, and scheduling to round out an all-in-one mid-market solution.
As their pricing is, unfortunately, quote-based, you won’t know how a basic plan will cost until you request a meeting.
Best for enterprise-level payroll and user self-service in healthcare.
UKG, or Ultimate Kronos Group, is the merger of the workforce management company Kronos and the HRIS software Ultimate. You should use UKG if you are a large healthcare organization with complex payroll and tax filing requirements and want to offload some of that work to staff via mobile self-service. However, know that UKG does not handle complicated scheduling and time-tracking requirements well, specializing more in paying and managing benefits for salaried staff. Because of this, it might be better for smaller, shift-based businesses to look into a different payroll system.
Payroll products from UKG are designed with all business sizes in mind and are generally popular in the healthcare and financial services industries. HRIS managers, in particular, gravitate towards UKG for its comprehensive reporting; however, keep in mind that UKG products can be quite expensive and are typically used by larger companies with fleshed-out payroll departments that have the time and resources to navigate everything UKG throws at them.
You can choose two different suites: UKG Pro and UKG Ready. Pro is for medium to large businesses with robust payroll, tax filing, and benefits administration needs. On the other hand, Ready is for mid-sized businesses prioritizing self-service. With both products, you’ll receive streamlined and automated payroll, benefits administration, HRIS reporting, PTO management, tax calculation, time tracking, and scheduling.
UKG does not provide upfront pricing information on its site and is entirely quote-based. For more information about their features or to look into pricing, reach out to their sales department.
Best for large organizations looking to replace their legacy ERP systems with modernized payroll + HR.
Workday is a cloud-native software vendor for primarily financial management, human capital management, student information systems, and payroll. You should use Workday if you are first looking for a comprehensive HCM platform that happens to feature basic payroll, not the other way around.
While mostly used for talent management, human resources, and more recently accounting, some enterprise companies in IT, financial services, and computer software use Workday for payroll. However, due to its limited nature, most businesses only use Workday for HR while integrating it with products like Workforce.com for payroll and workforce management.
With Workday payroll, you get full-service payroll alongside very basic time and attendance. For further HR and financial features, you’ll need to also look into getting Workday HCM.
Workday is one of the most expensive options on the market and is billed on an annual subscription basis. The pricing is quote-based, so you will need to contact the sales team directly.
Best for high-quality customer support.
Paychex provides integrated human capital management solutions for payroll, employee benefits, and business insurance. Small businesses in need of attentive support, basic online payroll processing, and intuitive benefits administration should use this platform.
Paychex is mostly designed for small business payroll in the US. It is particularly popular in the construction and real estate industries.
In addition to payroll, Paychex offers integrated HR management as well as basic time tracking with on-premise time clocks.They offer four packages: Paychex Flex Essentials, Select, Pro, and Enterprise. With Select, you get payroll, year-end tax filing, and minimum HR functionality, while with Pro and above you get a full range of HR, benefits, and payroll services. Time tracking packages are add-ons.
Like many of its competitors, Paychex pricing is quote-based, meaning you will need to contact them directly to figure out what works best for your situation.
Ceridian Dayforce | User Reviews
Best for continuous calculation and running audits mid-pay period.
Ceridian Dayforce is an online HCM system that includes extensive payroll and tax management offerings. While claiming “all-in-one” status, Dayforce is mostly used for its continuously calculating payroll system as well as its top-of-the-line talent and performance management.
Dayforce is popular in the retail and financial services industries, particularly among mid-market to enterprise-level businesses. Due to the complex and often overwhelming nature of the system as a whole, Dayforce is often seen as unnecessary for smaller businesses with simpler needs.
In addition to full service payroll, tax form filing, and time tracking, Dayforce also has a full HCM suite consisting of HR analytics, benefits administration, leave management, customer experience, and more.
Like many of its alternatives, Dayforce pricing is quote-based, so you’ll need to contact sales directly.
Best outsourced/virtual bookkeeping for small businesses.
Unlike the rest of the competitors listed, Bookkeeper.com is not a software vendor. Instead, it specializes in outsourcing all your payroll needs to teams of real-life payroll specialists. You simply provide them with all your employee data and they handle the rest. Bookkeeper.com’s payroll services cover things such as tax liabilities and forms, custom payroll reports, direct deposit, tax deposit, W-2s, and 1099s.
Due to its limited visibility and minimal configuration, Bookkeeper.com is strictly meant for small businesses with extremely basic payroll needs. This hands-off approach for paying employees works best for businesses that wish to avoid the manual process of running payroll and need little to no insight into payroll and HR analytics.
In addition to payroll, Bookkeeper.com also offers tax filing, financial planning, accounting, and bill-paying services.
Bookkeeper.com’s cheapest service package starts at $399, billed monthly. Plus and Advanced offerings are also available, for $599 and $799, respectively. They also offer custom pricing. Go here to see more about their pricing.
Best for Square POS users.
Hosted online by the POS system of the same name, Square Payroll is the most convenient option for small businesses already using Square. It’s essentially full-service payroll on all your Square devices, complete with fluid POS and time tracking integration. As long as you don’t need HR analytics, or have an alternative system for it, Square Payroll is a great option.
Just as with Square POS, Square Payroll is most popular among small businesses in food and beverage, hospitality, and retail. While offering little in the way of human resources administration, onboarding, or talent management, it keeps operations simple and pays employees fast.
Obviously, if you are considering Square Payroll you either already have or are looking to get Square POS. Beyond POS and payroll, Square also offers time tracking, tax filing, and instant payments.
Square Payroll has a flat rate of $35/month plus a $5/month per person paid. Contractor pricing also exists at $5/month per person paid.
Best for global-scale tech start-ups.
A modern take on the “one-stop-shop” software older companies like ADP and UKG claim to be, Rippling offers a competent payroll system among a host of other products including HR management, time tracking, and IT management. You should use Rippling if you are a mid-market IT business with multinational staff looking for a user-friendly, online payroll service.
Rippling is designed with tech start-ups and mid-market IT companies in mind. It is also used heavily in the financial services and advertising industries.
Beyond payroll, Rippling offers many other software solutions which makes it attractive for tech companies. Its IT cloud features app and device management, while its HR cloud has benefits administration, time tracking, learning management, and talent management.
Pricing for Rippling starts at $8/month per user. From there, all pricing is quote-based depending upon the features you select for your plan.
Best simple payroll service at an affordable, all-inclusive price.
OnPay is a full-service online payroll, tax, and HR software that takes pride in its affordability and transparency. If you are a small business looking to affordably fulfill basic payroll and HR functions in a single system, you should consider using OnPay.
OnPay is used mostly by small businesses in the construction, law, and real estate industries. While its interface is by no means flashy or modern, it gets the job done, is reliable, cost effective, and all-inclusive.
Beyond payroll, OnPay includes human resources, leave management, and benefits administration in its pricing. Its benefits features and providers are especially comprehensive.
OnPay offers everything for a monthly base fee of $36/month, plus an additional $4/month per user.
Best for QuickBooks Accounting and QuickBooks Time users.
For many businesses already using QuickBooks for accounting or time tracking, QuickBooks Payroll might be the perfect option, especially if you are job-costing. The system syncs perfectly with other QuickBooks products and can reliably handle payroll and tax filing requirements in every state.
However, keep in mind that QuickBooks is meant for small, project-based businesses. As such, it does not scale very well to the requirements of larger organizations, existing as a “one-size-fits-all” kind of system with limited options to configure.
For instance, running reports in QuickBooks can be a hassle, as the system lacks customization and digestibility. Moreover, reports cannot be saved, and they quite often crash the platform when pushed too far.
QuickBooks Payroll is popular with small, project-based SMEs in construction, trade, engineering finance, and IT.
Beyond payroll, the platform also offers time tracking, HR support, workers’ compensation, and retirement plans.
QuickBooks has three distinct pricing tiers. Starting with Core at $45/month plus $4/employee per month, you’ll get full-service accounting, auto payroll, and next-day direct deposit. Premium costs $75/month plus $8/employee per month and gets you same-day direct deposit, time tracking, and workers’ compensation. Finally, Elite is $125/month plus $10/employee per month and gets you 24/7 support, tax penalty protection, and a personal HR advisor.
From timesheet variances to labor law compliance, there’s a lot involved in payroll that isn’t handled by payroll systems. With Workforce.com, you cover all of your bases with an all-in-one system for the entire employee lifecycle.
The new hire onboarding process is the first step in running accurate payroll. The problem is, it’s hard to get people to complete onboarding most times. Shift workers in particular often don’t have time to log into a shared desktop to fill out endless paperwork. It’s best practice to adopt a mobile onboarding system where new hires can fill out a checklist over their phones - this way, HR quickly gets access to details necessary for payroll like bank information, W2s, addresses, and more.
Nothing is worse than getting hours wrong on a timesheet, underpaying a worker, and having to retroactively pay an employee. Keep your scheduling and time tracking synced in one system with payroll so that you can easily see time variances on every timesheet. This way, whenever an employee clocks more or less time than what they were scheduled for, you’ll spot it immediately and can address it before running payroll.
Recent advances in AI and machine learning have made it easier than ever to figure out how many staff you’ll need on hand during any given shift. Forecasting tools like Workforce.com account for historical sales, economic trends, and weather when predicting your upcoming customer demand. By properly forecasting your labor needs, you’ll never over or understaff - meaning you’ll never be surprised come payroll.
Employees should have a single app where they can clock in, check their schedule, and request PTO. All of this information should then seamlessly flow to payroll. If vacation time is siloed in a different system from work hours, you increase your chance of error while processing pay.
If you live in a state like California with complex wage and hour laws, it is extremely important your timekeeping and payroll system is backed up by a robust compliance engine. A system like Workforce.com lets you set up custom labor rules according to your local regulations, flagging any potential issues with wage calculations, missed breaks, tip distributions, work hours, and more.
To find out more about how to get started with Workforce.com, book a call today.