Payroll software trials, promos and contract terms by vendor: 30 days at Patriot, 3 months free at Roll by ADP, 6 months at Homebase, and what year one costs for 10 employees
Last updated: 2026-10-03
Short version
- Four vendors print a free trial with a length on the pricing page: Patriot (30 days), Wave (30 days), Zoho (14 days, no card) and Homebase (14 days of All-in-One, no card). Roll by ADP's "three months free" is recorded in this site's dataset as a 90-day trial.
- Nine vendors run a "first months free or half price" offer: Patriot, QuickBooks, Roll, Homebase, Justworks, SurePayroll, OnPay, Paycor and ADP RUN, with conditional offers at Gusto (Contractor Only) and Deel (PEO) on top. The longest is Homebase at six months of payroll and the Plus plan; SurePayroll makes every alternating month free. ADP RUN's three months come without a published list price.
- Four pages state there is no minimum term: Gusto (month-to-month, cancel anytime), Roll (no long-term contracts), Square (no long-term contracts required) and Deel's EOR (month-to-month). The rest say nothing either way.
- At 10 employees the promotions take between $109 (OnPay) and $654 (Homebase) off the first year's list price. Year two is list price everywhere.
What each pricing page says about trying, paying less and leaving
Copied from this site's dataset and the 2026-10-03 re-read. "Not stated" means the page does not say, not that the term does not exist.
| Vendor | Free trial | Promotion | Minimum term | Billing terms | Read |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Patriot Software | 30 days | 30 days free, then 50% off for 3 months on both the base and the per-worker fee (Basic $8.50 + $2, Full Service $18.50 + $2.50); no end date shown | Not stated | Billed in arrears | 2026-10-03 |
| QuickBooks Payroll | Not stated | 50% off the base fee for 3 months ($44, $62.50, $101.50); the $6.50 and $10 per-employee fees are unchanged | Not stated | Not stated | 2026-10-03 |
| Roll by ADP | "Three months free" (terms apply; 90 days in the dataset) | Same | No long-term contracts (0 in the dataset) | Unlimited payroll for $39 a month | 2026-10-03 |
| Homebase | 14 days of All-in-One, no card | 6 months free of payroll and the Plus plan, limited time | Not stated | Plan fee monthly or annual (Essentials $30 or $24 annually, Plus $70 or $56, All-in-One $120 or $96) | 2026-10-03 |
| Justworks Payroll | Not stated | "3 Months Free!" | Not stated | Not stated | 2026-09-06 (not re-readable) |
| SurePayroll | Not stated | "Get your FREE months when you start today"; "every alternating month will be free" (terms apply) | Not stated | Year-end forms billed once a year, $50 + $5 per form | 2026-10-03 |
| OnPay | Not stated | First month free | Not stated | No implementation or integration fees (setup $0) | 2026-10-03 |
| Zoho Payroll | 14 days, no card | None | Not stated | Monthly or annual (Standard $39 + $6 monthly, $29 + $5 annual; Professional $59 + $8.50 monthly, $49 + $7 annual) | 2026-10-03 |
| Wave Payroll | 30 days | None | "30 days commitment-free after processing first payroll" | No set-up fees or hidden charges | 2026-10-03 |
| Gusto | Not stated | Contractor Only base fee shown as "$35 $0/mo," limited time, terms apply | Month-to-month, cancel anytime (0 in the dataset) | Not stated | 2026-09-27 (not re-readable) |
| Square Payroll | Not stated | None | No commitment, no long-term contracts required | Paper W-2/1099 mailing $3 per form per year, opt-in | 2026-10-03 |
| Deel | Not stated | PEO: three months of platform fees credited on new two-year agreements, 2026-07-15 to 2026-12-31 | EOR month-to-month, no long-term commitment; the PEO offer needs a two-year term | Not stated | 2026-10-03 |
| Remote | Not stated | None | Not stated | No platform, onboarding or setup fees | 2026-10-03 |
| Paycor (small business) | Not stated | 50% off for 6 months | Not stated | Not stated | 2026-10-03 |
| ADP RUN | Not stated | "Get 3 months FREE payroll"; list price not published | Not stated | Not stated | 2026-10-03 |
| Rippling, Paychex Flex, Paylocity, TriNet | Not stated | Not stated | TriNet only: "does require a minimum worksite employee count" | Not stated | 2026-10-03 |
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Three different things called "free"
The word does not mean the same thing down the column.
- A trial that ends on a date: Patriot's and Wave's 30 days, Zoho's and Homebase's 14. After that, list price.
- A discount or waiver on the first months after you sign up: Roll's three, Homebase's six, Justworks' three, OnPay's one, and the 50% at Patriot and QuickBooks. These lower the bill; they are not a test period.
- A credit with a condition attached: Deel's PEO offer requires a two-year agreement, and SurePayroll's alternating months carry terms of their own.
Patriot's and QuickBooks' 50% also land on different lines. Patriot halves both the base and the per-worker fee; QuickBooks halves only the base and leaves the $6.50 per employee alone. At 10 employees, Patriot Full Service goes from $87 to $43.50 for the discounted months, while QuickBooks Workforce Payroll + Simple Start goes from $153 to $109.
Year one at 10 employees
Twelve months at list against the first year with the page's promotion applied, from this site's computed tables. Article-13 runs the same arithmetic at 5 employees, so this table uses 10.
| Plan | Monthly, 10 employees | 12 months at list | How the promo is applied | Year one | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Patriot Basic | $57 | $684 | 1 month free + 3 months at half | $541.50 | $142.50 |
| Patriot Full Service | $87 | $1,044 | 1 month free + 3 months at half | $826.50 | $217.50 |
| SurePayroll Small Business | $99 | $1,188 | Every alternating month free (read as 6 of 12) | $594 | $594 |
| Roll by ADP | $89 | $1,068 | 3 months free | $801 | $267 |
| Homebase payroll add-on | $109 | $1,308 | 6 months free (plan fee extra) | $654 | $654 |
| OnPay Payroll Essentials | $109 | $1,308 | First month free | $1,199 | $109 |
| Justworks Payroll | $130 | $1,560 | 3 months free | $1,170 | $390 |
| QuickBooks Workforce Payroll + Simple Start | $153 | $1,836 | Base fee at half for 3 months | $1,704 | $132 |
Scroll sideways on a phone.
SurePayroll's $594 reads "every alternating month will be free" as six of twelve; the conditions sit elsewhere on the page. Homebase's $654 is the payroll add-on alone, and on any plan other than Basic ($0 up to 10 employees) the per-location plan fee comes on top. Paycor's "50% off for 6 months" is left out because the reading does not say whether it covers the base fee only or the per-employee fee as well. ADP RUN's three free months cannot be priced without a list price.
Gusto's Contractor Only ($35 + $6) shows its base fee as "$0/mo, limited time," and the pricing-page reading does not say for how long. Taking article-33's six months, three contractors would pay $426 instead of $636 at list, a difference of $210; a different length gives a different number.
Annual billing is a separate discount
Zoho discounts by billing period rather than by promotion. Standard is $39 + $6 billed monthly and $29 + $5 billed annually: at 10 employees, $99 a month against $79, or $1,188 against $948 a year, a $240 difference. Professional follows the same pattern, $59 + $8.50 monthly or $49 + $7 annually. Homebase's plan fees also have an annual rate (Essentials $30 to $24, Plus $70 to $56, All-in-One $120 to $96), while the $49 + $6 payroll add-on shows none. Whether "annual" means twelve months paid up front is not stated on either page.
Leaving: mostly unwritten
Four pages state there is no minimum term: Gusto, Roll, Square and Deel's EOR. Wave's wording is "30 days commitment-free after processing first payroll," with nothing about what follows. Patriot, QuickBooks, Homebase, Justworks, SurePayroll, OnPay, Zoho and Paycor print no minimum term at all, and silence is not evidence that there is none. What a mid-year switch costs in effort and fees is in article-06; how to read a pricing page is in article-05. Promotional wording changes often, so check the date on this site's change log. The list price for your own headcount comes out of the calculator.
Who this is not for
This is a table of terms printed on pricing pages, not an account of anyone's experience with a promotion or a rating of how easy each vendor is to leave. The figures are list prices with the published promotion applied mechanically; the conditions behind "terms apply" have not been read. The scope is US plans. Gusto is the 2026-09-27 reading and Justworks the 2026-09-06 reading; neither page could be re-read on 2026-10-03. We have not used any of these products.
Sources
- https://www.patriotsoftware.com/pricing/, checked 2026-10-03
- https://quickbooks.intuit.com/payroll/pricing/, checked 2026-10-03
- https://www.rollbyadp.com/pricing, checked 2026-10-03
- https://www.joinhomebase.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://www.zoho.com/us/payroll/pricing/, checked 2026-10-03
- https://www.waveapps.com/payroll, checked 2026-10-03
- https://squareup.com/us/en/payroll/pricing, checked 2026-10-03
- https://www.deel.com/pricing, checked 2026-10-03
- https://remote.com/pricing, checked 2026-10-03
- https://www.paycor.com/plans-pricing/small-business/, checked 2026-10-03
- https://www.adp.com/what-we-offer/payroll/payroll-for-1-49-employees/payroll-packages.aspx, checked 2026-10-03
- https://gusto.com/pricing, checked 2026-09-27 (page could not be re-read 2026-10-03)
- https://www.justworks.com/pricing, checked 2026-09-06 (page could not be re-read 2026-10-03)
- https://seatbill.com/payroll-pricing/article-13, the 5-employee year-one figures
Related on this site
- Is free payroll software still free after the first few months?
- How to read a payroll pricing page without being misled
- The cost of switching payroll providers mid-year
- Price and plan changes, by date
- Roll by ADP's pricing page as recorded here
- Patriot Software: $17 + $4 and $37 + $5
- Cheapest payroll for 10 to 24 employees in the US
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.
Corrections: contact form.