Multi-state payroll fees by vendor: Patriot $12 per extra state, SurePayroll $9.99 a month, Gusto Simple to Plus is +$91 at 10 employees, and who includes it
Last updated: 2026-10-03
Short version: what the second state does to the bill
- Only two vendors publish a fee for it. Patriot Full Service charges "$12 a month per additional state filing beyond the first"; SurePayroll charges a flat $9.99 a month however many states.
- Two vendors handle it with a higher tier instead of a fee. Gusto Simple ($49 + $6) does not include multi-state, Plus ($80 + $12) does: at 10 employees that is $109 to $200, +$91. Zoho Standard ($39 + $6) does not, Professional ($59 + $8.50) does: $99 to $144, +$45.
- Included, as the pricing page states it: OnPay, Square, Roll by ADP, Justworks Payroll, Deel US Payroll.
- Not stated: QuickBooks (all three plans), Wave, Homebase, Patriot Basic.
- Re-rank 10 employees in two states and the order is Roll by ADP $89, Square $95, Patriot Full Service $99, SurePayroll $108.99, OnPay $109. Patriot Full Service, lowest in one state at $87, drops to third.
Five ways a pricing page treats state number two
- A monthly fee per state. Patriot Full Service: $12 a month per additional state (2026-10-03). Three states is +$24.
- A flat monthly add-on. SurePayroll: $9.99 a month, "first state included" (2026-10-03). The same for two states or five.
- A step up to the next tier. Gusto Simple to Plus ($80 + $12), Zoho Standard to Professional ($59 + $8.50). Both the base and the per-employee rate change, so the gap widens with headcount.
- Included. OnPay ("Pay in as many states as you need", 2026-10-03), Square (2026-09-06), Roll by ADP (2026-09-06), Justworks Payroll (2026-09-06), Deel US Payroll ("registration support in all 50 states", 2026-09-27).
- Not stated. QuickBooks' three plans, Wave, the Homebase payroll add-on and Patriot Basic. The pricing page says nothing about a second state.
The point that a second state can change which plan you are on is made in article-08 with an eight-employee, two-state example. This page turns that into a table by headcount and state count.
Ten employees in one, two and three states
List price (base plus the rate times 10, plus the published multi-state charge). Cells that cannot be computed from the pricing page say so.
| Vendor | Plan | 1 state | 2 states | 3 states | Multi-state treatment | Checked |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Patriot Software | Basic Payroll | $57 | Not stated | Not stated | Not stated | 2026-09-27 |
| Patriot Software | Full Service Payroll | $87 | $99 | $111 | $12 a month per additional state | 2026-10-03 |
| Roll by ADP | Roll by ADP | $89 | $89 | $89 | Included | 2026-09-06 |
| Square Payroll | Full-Service Payroll | $95 | $95 | $95 | Included | 2026-09-06 |
| SurePayroll | Small Business Payroll | $99 | $108.99 | $108.99 | $9.99 a month, flat | 2026-10-03 |
| Zoho Payroll | Standard, then Professional (monthly billing) | $99 | $144 | $144 | Included on Professional | 2026-09-06 |
| Wave Payroll | Wave Payroll (US) | $100 | Not stated | Not stated | Not stated | 2026-09-06 |
| OnPay | Payroll Essentials | $109 | $109 | $109 | Included | 2026-10-03 |
| Gusto | Simple, then Plus | $109 | $200 | $200 | Included on Plus | 2026-09-27 (page could not be re-read 2026-10-03) |
| Homebase | Payroll add-on (Basic plan at $0, up to 10 employees) | $109 | Not stated | Not stated | Not stated | 2026-09-27 |
| Justworks | Payroll | $130 | $130 | $130 | Included | 2026-09-06 (page could not be re-read 2026-10-03) |
| QuickBooks Payroll | Workforce Payroll + Simple Start | $153 | Not stated | Not stated | Not stated | 2026-09-27 |
| Deel | US Payroll | $290 | $290 | $290 | Included | 2026-09-27 (the $29 was not on the page 2026-10-03) |
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For Gusto and Zoho the two-state cell is simply the higher tier's bill at 10 employees, and unlike Patriot's per-state fee it does not move again at state three. Homebase sits at $109 here because the Basic plan is $0 for one location and up to 10 employees; a second location or an Essentials, Plus or All-in-One plan adds the plan fee ($30, $70 or $120 per location) on top.
A tier step costs more than a fee
Same second state, very different increments. The monthly increase from one state to two, at 5, 10 and 25 employees:
| Vendor | 5 employees | 10 employees | 25 employees |
|---|---|---|---|
| SurePayroll ($9.99 flat) | +$9.99 | +$9.99 | +$9.99 |
| Patriot Full Service ($12 per state) | +$12 | +$12 | +$12 |
| Zoho Standard to Professional | +$32.50 ($69 to $101.50) | +$45 ($99 to $144) | +$82.50 ($189 to $271.50) |
| Gusto Simple to Plus | +$61 ($79 to $140) | +$91 ($109 to $200) | +$181 ($199 to $380) |
Gusto Plus is not a multi-state add-on; it is the higher tier, labeled "BEST VALUE" on the pricing page, and the increment buys whatever else Plus contains. That does not change the trigger: one employee in a second state is what moves the bill up by $91. Zoho's Professional is the same shape, a higher tier whose page description includes running payroll across states.
Over a year
Patriot Full Service comes to $144 a year for two states and $288 for three ($12 x 12 x extra states). SurePayroll is $119.88 a year at any number of states. Neither figure moves with headcount. The Gusto and Zoho increments scale with headcount, and the five "included" vendors stay at $0 in any number of states.
Patriot Full Service against SurePayroll at 10 employees: $87 vs $99 in one state, $99 vs $108.99 in two, $111 vs $108.99 in three, so SurePayroll moves underneath at the third state. The Patriot vs SurePayroll page ranks the two on the single-state bill.
The vendors whose page does not say
QuickBooks' three plans, Wave, Homebase and Patriot Basic carry no multi-state statement on their pricing pages. "Not stated" means it cannot be read off the page, not that there is no charge, the same convention as article-04. Among the things to get in writing before signing, the second state is one of the larger movers of the bill.
Deel US Payroll's "included" belongs to the "$29 per employee per month (self-service)" line this site read on 2026-09-27; on 2026-10-03 that price was not on the pricing page. Justworks' page could not be read on 2026-10-03, so its figures are the 2026-09-06 reading.
Ticking multi-state in the calculator
Open Advanced on the headcount calculator and tick multi-state, then enter the number of states (the box defaults to two): Patriot's $12 for each state after the first and SurePayroll's flat $9.99 are added to the year's total and the table is re-ordered. A plan whose page says multi-state is not available on it, such as Gusto Simple or Zoho Standard, is left out, and a vendor with no statement is marked not stated rather than given a number. The ranking at 10 to 24 employees in one state is on the 10 to 24 employee page.
Who this is not for
This page covers the multi-state charges printed on pricing pages and nothing else. It does not describe how registration or filing in each state works or how well any vendor handles it; this site has not used these products. Figures are list prices, not quotes, for US plans only. The tax treatment of an employee who lives in one state and works in another is outside its scope.
Sources
- https://www.patriotsoftware.com/pricing/ (checked 2026-10-03)
- https://www.surepayroll.com/pricing (checked 2026-10-03)
- https://onpay.com/payroll/software/costs-pricing/ (checked 2026-10-03)
- https://gusto.com/pricing (checked 2026-09-27; the page could not be re-read 2026-10-03)
- https://www.zoho.com/us/payroll/pricing/ (prices re-read 2026-10-03; multi-state inclusion as read 2026-09-06)
- https://squareup.com/us/en/payroll/pricing (prices re-read 2026-10-03; multi-state inclusion as read 2026-09-06)
- https://www.rollbyadp.com/pricing (prices re-read 2026-10-03; multi-state inclusion as read 2026-09-06)
- https://www.justworks.com/pricing (checked 2026-09-06; the page could not be re-read 2026-10-03)
- https://www.deel.com/pricing (US Payroll read 2026-09-27; the $29 price was not shown 2026-10-03)
- https://quickbooks.intuit.com/payroll/pricing/ (prices re-read 2026-10-03; no multi-state statement as read 2026-09-27)
- https://www.waveapps.com/payroll (prices re-read 2026-10-03; no multi-state statement as read 2026-09-06)
- https://www.joinhomebase.com/pricing (prices re-read 2026-10-03; no multi-state statement as read 2026-09-27)
- https://seatbill.com/payroll-pricing/article-08 (the 8-employee, 2-state example)
Related on this site
- A second state can change which plan you need
- What a published price includes, and what it leaves out
- Cheapest payroll for 10 to 24 employees in the US
- Patriot Software vs SurePayroll by headcount
- Patriot Software: Basic $17 + $4, Full Service $37 + $5
- OnPay: $49 + $6 with multi-state included
- Crossover library: where one vendor overtakes another
Written by Kaz (pen name). Figures are copied from vendors' published pricing pages on the dates shown. We have not used these products.
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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