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Original data, free to cite

Payroll Software Pricing Index: What 8 Vendors Charge in 2026

The published list price of 8 small business payroll services, copied from each vendor’s own pricing page and turned into a monthly bill at 5, 10, 25 and 50 employees. No quotes, no estimates, no reseller pages.

Every price checked on October 24, 2026. Download the CSV.

Key findings

  • At 10 employees, published list prices run from $87 a month (Patriot Software) to $130 (Justworks), a 49% gap.
  • At 50 employees the gap widens to 57%: $287 (Patriot Software) against $450 (Justworks).
  • Base fees range from $35 to $50 a month, and per-employee fees from $5 to $8. From 9 employees up, per-employee charges are the larger part of the bill for every vendor here.
  • ADP and Paychex publish no prices for their small business payroll products, so they are listed but not ranked.

Monthly payroll cost by team size

Sorted by cost at 10 employees. Each total is the base fee plus the per-employee fee times headcount, before taxes, add-ons, promotions or annual-billing discounts.

Vendor and planBase / monthPer employee5 employees10 employees25 employees50 employees
Patriot SoftwareFull Service Payroll$37$5$62$87$162$287
Square PayrollFull-service payroll$35$6$65$95$185$335
Zoho PayrollStandard$39$6$69$99$189$339
WaveWave Payroll$40$6$70$100$190$340
GustoSimple$49$6$79$109$199$349
OnPayOnPay Payroll$49$6$79$109$199$349
RipplingStarting price$40$8$80$120$240$440
JustworksPayroll$50$8$90$130$250$450

What each price includes, and where it came from

Patriot Software Full Service Payroll: $37 + $5 per employee

Regular price. New accounts get 30 days free and 50% off for 3 months. Basic Payroll is $17 + $4 per worker.

Source: www.patriotsoftware.com/payroll/pricing/, checked 2026-10-24.

Square Payroll Full-service payroll: $35 + $6 per employee

Contractor-only payroll is $6 per person paid with no base fee.

Source: squareup.com/us/en/payroll/pricing, checked 2026-10-24.

Zoho Payroll Standard: $39 + $6 per employee

Monthly billing, single-state payroll. Annual billing is $29 + $5. Professional (multi-state) is $59 + $8.50.

Source: www.zoho.com/us/payroll/pricing/, checked 2026-10-24.

Wave Wave Payroll: $40 + $6 per employee

Tax service in all 50 states. Each independent contractor paid is another $6 per month.

Source: www.waveapps.com/payroll, checked 2026-10-24.

Gusto Simple: $49 + $6 per employee

Payroll in one state. Multi-state payroll starts on Plus at $80 + $12 per person.

Source: gusto.com/product/pricing, checked 2026-10-24.

OnPay OnPay Payroll: $49 + $6 per employee

Listed as "starting at" $49 + $6. A footer on the same page says pricing starts at $55 per month.

Source: onpay.com/payroll/software, checked 2026-10-24.

Rippling Starting price: $40 + $8 per employee

Listed as starting at $8 per user plus a $40 monthly base fee. Final cost depends on the products added.

Source: www.rippling.com/small-business, checked 2026-10-24.

Justworks Payroll: $50 + $8 per employee

Payroll plan, not the PEO. PEO Basic is $79 and PEO Plus $124 per employee, with no base fee.

Source: www.justworks.com/pricing, checked 2026-10-24.

Quote-only vendors (not ranked)

Method

  • Each vendor’s cheapest listed US payroll plan that pays W-2 employees, at its regular monthly price. Where a page shows a promotion, the regular price is used and the promotion is noted.
  • Figures are copied from the vendor’s own pricing page, never from a quote or a third party.
  • Plans differ in what they include, such as multi-state payroll, time tracking or HR tools. The notes above say what each page states; compare features before you buy on price.
  • We re-check every price on the vendor’s site before we change it, and the date on each row moves with it.
  • Some vendors in this index may pay us a commission through links elsewhere on this site. That never affects the figures, which are each vendor’s own published prices. See our affiliate disclosure.

How to cite this index

The data is free to use under CC BY 4.0: republish it, chart it or quote it, with a credit and a link back.

HR Stack Solutions, "Payroll Software Pricing Index," checked October 24, 2026, https://www.hrstacksolutions.com/data/payroll-pricing-index

Spot a price that has changed? Email [email protected] with the vendor page and we will re-check it.

Payroll pricing FAQ

How much does payroll software cost for a small business?

Among the 8 vendors in this index, the entry plan for 10 employees costs $87 to $130 a month at published list prices, checked on October 24, 2026.

Where do these prices come from?

Every figure is copied from the vendor's own pricing page, linked in the table, on the date shown. We do not use quotes, reseller pages or third-party price lists.

Why are ADP and Paychex not ranked?

Neither publishes a price for its small business payroll product. Both ask you to request a quote, so there is no list price to compare.

Why is QuickBooks Payroll missing?

QuickBooks sells payroll bundled with its accounting plans, and the prices on its pricing page differed between two checks on the same day. We left it out rather than publish a figure we could not pin down.

Can I use this data?

Yes. The data is free to use and republish with a credit and a link to this page. Download the CSV at https://www.hrstacksolutions.com/data/payroll-pricing-index.csv.

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