Payroll · United States
OnPay pricing: what it actually costs per employee at 5, 10, 25 and 50
At 10 employees, the cheapest plan OnPay publishes is Payroll Essentials: $109 a month — $10.90 per employee per month, base fee included.
- Price statusPublished list price
- Prices read onchecked 2026-10-03
- Last recorded change2026-09-06 · what changed
Cheaper at this headcount: Patriot Software at $57 a month on its Basic Payroll plan.
On its cheapest published plan, OnPay costs $109 a month for 10 employees, which is $10.90 per employee per month.
At 5 employees the same plan works out at $15.80 per employee — the headline figure of $6 assumes the base fee is spread over more people.
What the vendor publishes
| Plan | Base / month | Per employee / month | Eligibility as published | What the vendor states |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Payroll Essentials | $49 | $6 | No headcount condition published | Vendor names the base plan "Payroll Essentials"; no implementation or integration fees; unlimited pay runs. HR add-on is +$15 base and $2/worker. Three bundles on 2026-10-03: Payroll + Time Tracking + HR, regular struck-through $79 + $12/worker, discounted $70 + $10; Payroll + HR + Compliance Resources + Live HR Support, regular $149 + $8, discounted $120 + $7; Payroll + Time Tracking + HR + Compliance Resources + Live HR Support, regular $164 + $12, discounted $130 + $10. Bundle discounts are excluded from the ranking. |
Billing: not stated in the vendor's published documentation (checked 2026-10-03).
Free trial: not stated in the vendor's published documentation (checked 2026-10-03).
Minimum contract: not stated in the vendor's published documentation (checked 2026-10-03).
The vendor states there is no setup fee.
What that works out at per employee
Vendors quote a per-employee fee and a base fee separately. What you actually pay per employee is both of them divided by your headcount, so the smaller your team, the further the real figure sits above the advertised one. This table is OnPay's published prices put through that division.
| Plan | 1 | 5 | 10 | 25 | 50 | 100 | 250 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Payroll Essentials | $55.00 | $15.80 | $10.90 | $7.96 | $6.98 | $6.49 | $6.20 |
Columns are employee counts. Scroll sideways on a phone.
No other adjustment is applied. We do not add estimated tax-filing fees, discounts, or promotional pricing. The full method is at Method.
Where the base fee stops mattering
On Payroll Essentials, the $49 base fee is 62% of the monthly bill at 5 employees and 14% at 50. That is the whole of why the effective figure falls as a team grows: the fee does not change, the number of people carrying it does.
Who this suits, and who it does not
- If price is the only thing you are deciding on, Patriot Software is cheaper at 10 employees ($57 against $109) — see its figures.
- If your headcount is under 5, the base fee of $49 dominates the bill. Check the per-employee column at your actual size before comparing anything.
- If you are not ready to decide, wait. Published prices change without notice and the figures here are only as current as 2026-10-03. Confirm on the vendor's own page before you sign.
Price history
| Date | Plan | What changed | Was | Now |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2026-09-06 | — | Pricing page address correction to our data — The vendor moved its pricing page | https://onpay.com/pricing | https://onpay.com/payroll/software/costs-pricing/ |
| 2026-09-06 | Payroll Essentials | Plan name plan renamed by the vendor — Vendor renamed the plan | OnPay Payroll | Payroll Essentials |
The same entries, next to every other vendor's, are on the price history (RSS).
Where each figure comes from
Every figure above is either a number OnPay publishes or a gap it leaves. Field by field: what we hold, which of the vendor's own pages it was read from, the day it was read, and the vendor's wording where we have it. Nothing in this table comes from a third party, and no blank is filled with an estimate.
Show the source of every figure on this page (12 fields)
| Plan | Field | What we hold | Read from | Read on | The vendor's wording |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| — | Setup fee | $0 | the pricing page | 2026-10-03 | |
| — | Minimum contract | Not stated in the vendor's published documentation | the pricing page | 2026-10-03 | |
| — | Free trial | Not stated in the vendor's published documentation | the pricing page | 2026-10-03 | |
| Payroll Essentials | Monthly base fee | $49 | the pricing page | 2026-10-03 | |
| Payroll Essentials | Per-employee fee | $6 | the pricing page | 2026-10-03 | |
| Payroll Essentials | Tax calculation | Included | the pricing page | 2026-10-03 | "Full-service payroll" is the first line of the base plan |
| Payroll Essentials | Tax filing | Included | the pricing page | 2026-10-03 | "Federal, state, and local tax filings included" |
| Payroll Essentials | Year-end forms | Included | the pricing page | 2026-10-03 | "W-2s, 1099s, and year-end filings included" |
| Payroll Essentials | Multi-state filing | Included | the pricing page | 2026-10-03 | "Pay workers in as many states as you need" |
| Payroll Essentials | Off-cycle runs | Included | the pricing page | 2026-10-03 | "Unlimited pay runs and schedules" |
| Payroll Essentials | Contractor payments | Included | the pricing page | 2026-10-03 | The fee is "$6/worker" and "W-2s, 1099s, and year-end filings" are included |
| Payroll Essentials | Conditions on the price | — | the pricing page | 2026-10-03 | Vendor names the base plan "Payroll Essentials"; no implementation or integration fees; unlimited pay runs. HR add-on is +$15 base and $2/worker. Three bundles on 2026-10-03: Payroll + Time Tracking + HR, regular struck-through $79 + $12/worker, discounted $70 + $10; Payroll + HR + Compliance Resources + Live HR Support, regular $149 + $8, discounted $120 + $7; Payroll + Time Tracking + HR + Compliance Resources + Live HR Support, regular $164 + $12, discounted $130 + $10. Bundle discounts are excluded from the ranking. |
The same record, for every vendor, is the sources column of plans.csv on the data page.
Where to check this yourself
Go to OnPay and open its pricing page. Everything above comes from https://onpay.com/payroll/software/costs-pricing/, read on 2026-10-03.
Related
- OnPay compared with Patriot Software
- OnPay compared with QuickBooks Payroll
- OnPay compared with Square Payroll
- Alternatives to OnPay
- Why payroll costs more than the advertised per-employee fee
- Put your own headcount against OnPay in the calculator
- What payroll software costs, and where the money goes
- Gusto vs OnPay: both $49 + $6, so the $0 gap comes down to multi-state, year-end forms and a free first month
- Payroll plus HR pricing in the US: 12 published plans from $109 to $400 a month for 10 employees, including Paycor's $99 + $5 small-business tier
Written by Kaz, independent publisher.
Page last updated: 2026-10-03. Sources: vendor pricing pages only. Figures checked between 2026-08-20 and 2026-10-03. I have not used these products. Nothing here is a personal test result.
Ranking method and formulas: Method. Listing position on this site is not for sale.
Corrections: contact form.