Payroll + HR · United States

Paycor pricing: what it actually costs per employee at 5, 10, 25 and 50

What the vendor publishes

Setup fee: 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).

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 Paycor's published prices put through that division.

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.

Who this suits, and who it does not

• If price is the only thing you are deciding on, Gusto is cheaper at 10 employees ($109 against $149) — see its figures.
• If your headcount is under 5, the base fee of $99 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

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 Paycor 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.

Where to check this yourself

Go to Paycor and open its pricing page. Everything above comes from https://www.paycor.com/plans-pricing/small-business/, read on 2026-10-03.

Related

• Paycor compared with Gusto
• Paycor compared with Homebase
• Alternatives to Paycor
• Why payroll costs more than the advertised per-employee fee
• Put your own headcount against Paycor in the calculator
• What payroll software costs, and where the money goes
• 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
• Quote-only payroll vendors (ADP RUN, Paychex, Paylocity, Rippling, TriNet): the seven line items to ask for, with published prices at 25 employees ($117 to $250.50) as the yardstick