What should you compare before picking a payroll provider?
Summary
Compare scope before you compare price. A plan that only calculates pay will always look cheaper than one that also deposits and files your payroll taxes, and a single-state plan will look cheaper than one that handles employees in several states. Once you know which of those jobs the provider has to do, price each candidate at your real headcount, then use integrations, support, and data export to narrow the list to two or three.
One vendor, two very different jobs
Patriot Software sells two payroll plans. Basic Payroll costs $17 a month plus $4 per worker paid and covers running payroll and direct deposit. Full Service Payroll costs $37 plus $5 and adds federal, state, and local tax deposits and filings, along with year-end filings at no extra fee.
The gap between those two prices is the cost of the tax work you would otherwise do yourself. For a business with a bookkeeper who already handles deposits, Basic can be enough. For an owner who has never filed a Form 941, it is a false saving.
A second state can change which plan you need
Multi-state coverage is where published prices diverge most. Here is what three providers charge for eight employees split across two states, using the list prices on their pricing pages:
| Provider and plan | How multi-state is priced | Monthly total, 8 employees in 2 states |
|---|---|---|
| Gusto Plus ($80 + $12 per person) | Simple is described as single-state payroll; Plus lists multi-state payroll | $176 |
| Patriot Full Service ($37 + $5 per worker) | $12 a month for each additional state | $89 |
| Square Payroll full-service ($35 + $6 per person) | Multistate payroll included; no per-state fee on the pricing page | $83 |
The Gusto row is the one to watch if you are growing. With everyone in one state, Simple costs $97 a month for eight people. The first remote hire in another state moves you to Plus, and the bill rises to $176.
The rest of the comparison sheet
After scope and price, the columns that separate providers are the kinds of workers you pay (hourly, salaried, 1099 contractors), the states you expect to hire in within a year, and whether W-2s and 1099s are prepared for you. Integrations matter when time tracking or accounting lives in another system. So does support: whether you can reach a person by phone or chat, and whether setup help comes with your plan.
Two items get missed until they hurt. One is access control, meaning separate admin roles, approvals, a change history, and a way to cut off former staff or an outside accountant. The other is the exit: how you retrieve payroll registers, year-to-date balances, and tax forms if you leave.
Quote-only vendors and online reviews
Some providers publish no price at all. To put them in the same table as the published ones, ask for a quote at the same headcount and scope, with the recurring fee and one-time setup listed separately.
Reviews are most useful when they name a specific workflow, such as a time import that needs fixing every pay period or a correction that took three calls to process. A complaint that keeps repeating is something you can ask to see in a demo. If you are searching for a local payroll company, the question is whether you need face-to-face meetings and a named contact, since an online provider can often file in the same states.
Sources
- https://www.patriotsoftware.com/pricing/
- https://gusto.com/pricing
- https://squareup.com/us/en/payroll/pricing
Related on this site
- What does payroll software do, and where does a payroll service take over?
- Payroll software cost calculator
- Payroll vendors that publish prices vs quote only
- What payroll software pricing includes
- All payroll and HR software vendors, by published cost
Written by Kaz, independent publisher. No commercial relationship with the companies named unless it is listed on the disclosure page.
Published September 27, 2026. The figures above come from the government and vendor pages listed under Sources.
I have not used these products. Nothing here is a personal test result.
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