9 Best Payroll Software for Small Businesses in 2024

GoCo stands out as the best payroll software for small businesses in 2024. Its all-in-one platform simplifies HR, payroll, benefits, and compliance, making it an excellent choice for businesses that need flexibility, comprehensive features, and ease of use. One of the standout features is the ability to either use GoCo’s embedded payroll solution or integrate with your existing payroll provider—giving businesses the ultimate flexibility in managing their payroll.

Key Features:

• Embedded Payroll: Process payroll in minutes using GoCo’s built-in payroll system, ensuring accurate and timely payments every time.
• Bring Your Own Payroll: If you prefer to stick with your current payroll provider, GoCo allows you to bring your own payroll system while seamlessly syncing all relevant employee data and updates.
• Custom Workflows: Create tailored workflows that fit your specific business needs, from hiring to offboarding, ensuring that every process is streamlined and efficient.
• Employee Self-Service: Employees can access pay stubs, benefits, and request time off through a user-friendly dashboard, reducing HR administrative work.
• Compliance Management: Automatically stay up-to-date with tax regulations and payroll compliance to avoid penalties and ensure your business runs smoothly.
• Integration Flexibility: GoCo easily integrates with a variety of other systems, whether you’re using GoCo’s payroll or a different provider, ensuring that all your platforms are in sync and data flows smoothly between them.

Best For: Small and mid-sized businesses that want a customizable, user-friendly solution with advanced HR features.

Pricing: GoCo offers competitive pricing with flexible plans that can be customized to fit the needs of any SMB.

QuickBooks Payroll is a popular payroll solution for small businesses, especially those already using QuickBooks for accounting. By integrating payroll and accounting, QuickBooks Payroll simplifies financial management, allowing you to automate tasks like payroll calculations, tax filings, and direct deposits. QuickBooks Payroll offers an efficient platform for businesses looking to manage payroll and accounting in one place.

Key Features:

• Automated Payroll: QuickBooks Payroll handles everything from calculating wages and taxes to filing them automatically. This feature ensures timely and accurate payroll processing, reducing the risk of manual errors and keeping you compliant with payroll regulations.
• Tax Filings and Compliance: The platform simplifies tax filings at federal and state levels, automatically withholding the right amounts and submitting your filings on time. QuickBooks Payroll also generates year-end forms like W-2s and 1099s, making tax season easier.
• Integration with QuickBooks Accounting: QuickBooks Payroll integrates with QuickBooks accounting software, syncing payroll data with your general ledger and financial reports. This integration reduces manual entry and helps maintain accurate, up-to-date financial records.
• Employee Self-Service: Employees can access their pay stubs, manage direct deposit information, and view tax withholdings from their own self-service portal.
  Working with GoCo: QuickBooks Payroll also integrates smoothly with GoCo, enabling you to combine GoCo’s powerful HR features with QuickBooks’ payroll capabilities. This allows businesses to manage their HR and payroll tasks in one streamlined workflow without the need for multiple systems.

Best For: Small businesses that are already using QuickBooks for accounting or those looking for a solution that integrates accounting and payroll in one place.

Pricing: QuickBooks Payroll starts at $35 per month for limited features. The Essentials Plan begins at $65 per month, or you can opt for Plus for $99 a month. Advanced starts at $235 a month. Adding Payroll to any of these plans costs between an extra $50 per month and $130 per month as a base plus a PEPM cost.

Square Payroll is an easy-to-use payroll solution designed specifically for small businesses, freelancers, and those already using Square's ecosystem of business tools. Offering straightforward payroll management, automated tax filings, and integrations, Square Payroll makes paying employees and managing payroll compliance a simple task.

However, some users note that they’ve had issues with direct deposit and difficulty switching between the dashboard and payroll. Additionally, it lacks larger HR features, making it a point solution, when many small businesses look for an HRIS that include payroll, time tracking, benefits, PTO tracking, and more—which Square Payroll does not.

Key Features:

• Automated Payroll: Square Payroll simplifies the process of running payroll by automating wage calculations, tax withholdings, and direct deposits. It also offers features to manage both full-time employees and contractors, paying them via direct deposit or manually.
• Automated Tax Filings: Square Payroll automatically files federal, state, and local payroll taxes, ensuring that you remain compliant with all tax regulations. Additionally, it generates and files W-2s and 1099s at the end of the year.
• Integration with Square Ecosystem: If your business uses Square for payments or time tracking, Square Payroll integrates seamlessly. It syncs employee hours from Square’s time-tracking tools directly into payroll.
• Employee Self-Service: Employees can access pay stubs, manage tax forms, and update personal information through an easy-to-use online portal, reducing the administrative workload for business owners.
  Best For: Small businesses, particularly those already using Square for payments or time tracking, looking for an affordable and easy-to-use payroll solution.

Pricing: For employees, Square Payroll starts at $35/month + $6 per paid employee per month. For contractors only, Square Payroll costs $6 per paid contractor with no monthly base fee.

Gusto is another top choice, known for its intuitive design and comprehensive payroll tools. It’s particularly suited for businesses focused on payroll efficiency and benefits management.

While Gusto offers solid payroll, its HR features are less comprehensive compared to dedicated HR platforms, according to reviews. Additionally, reviews on G2 complain about poor customer support, missing features and an expensive price tag.

Key Features:

• Automated Payroll & Tax Filing: Simplifies the entire payroll process from tax calculations to filing.
• Employee Benefits: Offers health insurance, retirement plans, and other perks.
• Compliance Tools: Keeps your business compliant with state and federal laws.

Best For: Small businesses with less than 10 employees looking for an affordable, user-friendly payroll solution.

Pricing: Starts at $40/month + $6 per employee per month for basic features. More popular plans increase to a base fee between $80 and $135 per month + PEPM fees of $12 to $22.

Heartland Payroll+ offers a payroll solution tailored to meet the needs of small and mid-sized businesses. Heartland Payroll+ integrates payroll processing with HR and time-tracking services, making it a solution for businesses seeking to manage payroll, compliance, and workforce management all in one place.

While it offers a comprehensive payroll system with HR and time-tracking integrations, many users have reported frustrations with its complexity and pricing transparency. Businesses looking for more flexible and straightforward options may want to explore alternatives.

Key Features:

• Payroll Processing: Heartland Payroll+ automates payroll calculations, tax withholdings, and direct deposits. It ensures payment to employees while managing deductions, garnishments, and benefits contributions.
• Tax Filing and Compliance: The platform handles federal, state, and local tax filings on your behalf, ensuring full compliance with current tax laws. Heartland also generates W-2s and 1099s at year-end, streamlining tax season for your business. However, while Heartland does handle federal, state, and local tax filings, there have been reports of delayed filings and inaccuracies. This can be particularly concerning during tax season when timely and correct filings are crucial.
• Employee Self-Service: Employees can access pay stubs, manage tax forms, and update personal details via an intuitive self-service portal.
• HR and Benefits Administration: In addition to payroll, Heartland offers optional HR features, including benefits management, employee onboarding, and compliance monitoring.
• Custom Reporting: The software provides reports to help you track payroll expenses, monitor labor costs, and gain insights into workforce trends for better decision-making.
  Best For: Small businesses looking for a payroll solution with the ability to integrate HR and time-tracking tools.

Pricing: Pricing for Heartland Payroll+ is based on the size of your business and the specific features you need. Businesses must contact Heartland for a custom quote, but pricing starts at $89 per month for 1-5 employees.

ConnectPay is a payroll service designed for small businesses, offering a simple approach to payroll management. While ConnectPay is appreciated for its straightforward setup and access to payroll experts, it may lack some of the more advanced features found in larger, more comprehensive payroll platforms. Businesses with more complex payroll needs or those seeking deeper integrations may find some limitations.

ConnectPay focuses specifically on payroll services, with limited HR functionality. Businesses looking for an all-in-one HR and payroll solution may need to look for other options that offer more comprehensive HR tools.

Key Features:

• Payroll Processing: ConnectPay provides basic payroll services, including wage calculations, tax withholdings, and direct deposits. However, it lacks some of the advanced automation features of larger providers, meaning that businesses may need to perform more manual tasks.
• Compliance Support: The platform helps ensure compliance with tax regulations, offering tax filing support. However, some users have noted that communication around tax updates or issue resolution can sometimes be slower than expected.
• Integrations: ConnectPay integrates with time-tracking and benefits tools, but the range of integrations is more limited compared to larger payroll platforms.
• Employee Self-Service: Employees can access pay stubs and tax forms through the self-service portal.
  Best For: Small businesses that have relatively straightforward payroll needs. It may not be ideal for businesses with complex payroll requirements or those needing extensive software integrations.

Pricing: ConnectPay offers custom pricing, and while its rates are competitive for basic payroll services, additional fees may apply for extra services, which could affect overall cost.

ADP TotalSource is a Professional Employer Organization (PEO) solution that combines payroll with HR services, benefits administration, and compliance management. While ADP is a trusted name in payroll and HR solutions, ADP TotalSource may be overkill for smaller businesses with straightforward payroll needs, as it’s designed for companies that want to outsource many of their HR functions in addition to payroll.

Key Features:

• Payroll Services: ADP TotalSource offers full payroll processing, including wage calculations, tax filings, and direct deposits. However, the platform's comprehensive nature means that it may be more complex to navigate for those just looking for a simple payroll solution.
• Tax Filing and Compliance: ADP handles federal, state, and local tax filings, and ensures compliance with ever-changing tax laws.
• HR and Benefits Integration: In addition to payroll, ADP TotalSource offers extensive HR services, including benefits management, workers' compensation, employee onboarding, and performance management.
• Employee Self-Service Portal: Employees can manage their pay stubs, benefits, and tax information through a self-service portal, but some users have noted that the portal’s interface could be more user-friendly and easier to navigate.
• PEO Model: ADP TotalSource operates under the PEO model, meaning ADP acts as a co-employer and takes on many HR responsibilities. While this reduces administrative burden, it also means giving up some control over HR decisions, which may not suit all businesses.
  Best For: Businesses that prefer to outsource the majority of their HR tasks through a PEO model. Smaller businesses or those with simple payroll needs may find the service to be overly complex and costly.

Pricing: Pricing is not readily available and varies based on the size of your business and the services you choose. ADP TotalSource typically requires a consultation to provide a custom quote, and it tends to be more expensive due to the breadth of services offered.

Homebase is a payroll solution tailored to small businesses, particularly in the retail, hospitality, and service industries. In addition to payroll, Homebase offers time tracking, employee scheduling, and team management tools. While it’s a solid choice for businesses with hourly workers, its payroll features are more basic compared to larger, more comprehensive payroll platforms, which may limit its appeal for businesses with complex payroll needs.

Key Features:

• Payroll Processing: Homebase offers payroll services with automatic wage calculations, tax withholdings, and direct deposits. It’s best suited for businesses with simpler payroll structures, such as those with hourly employees.
• Time Tracking Integration: One of Homebase’s standout features is its integration with time tracking and employee scheduling. It syncs hours worked directly into payroll, reducing the need for manual data entry and making it a decent choice for businesses with a large number of hourly workers.
• Automated Tax Filings: Homebase automatically files federal, state, and local payroll taxes, helping businesses stay compliant with payroll regulations. While this feature is reliable, some users have expressed a desire for more advanced tax reporting options.
• Employee Self-Service: Employees can view their hours, pay stubs, and tax forms through a simple self-service portal, which is particularly useful for hourly employees managing their shifts and payroll information.
  Best For: Small businesses with a focus on hourly workers, especially in industries like retail and hospitality. Businesses with more complex payroll requirements or those needing a more advanced payroll solution may find Homebase lacking in certain areas.

Pricing: Homebase's payroll starts at $24.95 per month per location, but most businesses would need the Plus Plan ($59.95 per month per location) or the All-in-One Plan ($99.95 per month per location).

SurePayroll is a simple payroll solution designed specifically for small businesses. It offers essential payroll features such as tax filing and direct deposits while being user-friendly and easy to set up.

However, its more basic functionality might not meet the needs of businesses with complex payroll requirements or those looking for advanced HR integrations. SurePayroll’s strengths lie in its simplicity, making it an appealing option for businesses focused primarily on payroll without the need for additional HR services.

Key Features:

• Automated Payroll Processing: SurePayroll provides an easy way to run payroll, automatically calculating wages, deductions, and taxes. Users can set up payroll to run automatically on a set schedule, ensuring timely and accurate payments.
• Tax Filing and Compliance: SurePayroll handles federal, state, and local tax filings, and guarantees accuracy by filing taxes on your behalf. This feature is particularly helpful for small businesses that may not have the internal resources to manage payroll taxes.
• Employee Self-Service: Employees can access their pay stubs, W-2s, and tax information through a simple self-service portal. However, the portal is more basic compared to larger platforms, lacking more advanced employee management tools.
• Mobile Access: SurePayroll provides a mobile app that allows business owners to run payroll from their smartphones, adding convenience for those who need to manage payroll while on the go.
• Integration: While SurePayroll integrates with some accounting software like QuickBooks, its integration capabilities are more limited compared to larger payroll providers. Businesses with multiple systems or more complex needs may find this limiting.
  Best For: Small businesses, startups, and household employers who need a basic, affordable, no-frills payroll solution without the complexity of larger, more feature-heavy systems.

Pricing: SurePayroll starts at $20 per month plus $4 per employee for basic payroll services, not including tax filing. This makes it one of the more affordable payroll solutions on the market, but watch out for additional fees that may apply for add-on services such as tax filing or enhanced support.