Payroll · United States
QuickBooks Payroll pricing: what it actually costs per employee at 5, 10, 25 and 50
At 10 employees, the cheapest plan QuickBooks Payroll publishes is Workforce Payroll + Simple Start: $153 a month — $15.30 per employee per month, base fee included.
- Price statusPublished list price
- Prices read onchecked 2026-09-27
- Last recorded change2026-09-27 · what changed
Cheaper at this headcount: Patriot Software at $57 a month on its Basic Payroll plan.
On its cheapest published plan, QuickBooks Payroll costs $153 a month for 10 employees, which is $15.30 per employee per month.
At 5 employees the same plan works out at $24.10 per employee — the headline figure of $6.50 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Workforce Payroll + Simple Start | $88 | $6.50 | No headcount condition published | Standard price; promo "50% off for 3 months" ($44/mo base; per-employee fee unchanged). Plan renamed from "Payroll + Simple Start" on or before 2026-09-06. |
| Workforce Payroll + Essentials | $125 | $6.50 | No headcount condition published | Marked "FAVORITE"; standard price; promo "50% off for 3 months" ($62.50/mo base; per-employee fee unchanged). Plan renamed from "Payroll + Essentials" on or before 2026-09-06. |
| Workforce Premium + Plus | $203 | $10 | No headcount condition published | Standard price; promo "50% off for 3 months" ($101.50/mo base; per-employee fee unchanged). Plan renamed from "Premium Payroll + Plus" on or before 2026-09-06. |
Setup fee: not stated in the vendor's published documentation (checked 2026-09-27).
Free trial: not stated in the vendor's published documentation (checked 2026-09-27).
Minimum contract: not stated in the vendor's published documentation (checked 2026-09-27).
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 QuickBooks Payroll's published prices put through that division.
| Plan | 1 | 5 | 10 | 25 | 50 | 100 | 250 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Workforce Payroll + Simple Start | $94.50 | $24.10 | $15.30 | $10.02 | $8.26 | $7.38 | $6.85 |
| Workforce Payroll + Essentials | $131.50 | $31.50 | $19.00 | $11.50 | $9.00 | $7.75 | $7.00 |
| Workforce Premium + Plus | $213.00 | $50.60 | $30.30 | $18.12 | $14.06 | $12.03 | $10.81 |
Columns are employee counts. Scroll sideways on a phone.
monthly total = base fee + (per-employee fee x headcount)
effective PEPM = monthly total / headcount
annual total = monthly total x 12 + setup fee
three-year cost = annual total x 3
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 Workforce Payroll + Simple Start, the $88 base fee is 73% of the monthly bill at 5 employees and 21% 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 $153) — see its figures.
- If your headcount is under 5, the base fee of $88 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 2026-09-27. Confirm on the vendor's own page before you sign.
Price history
| Date | Plan | What changed | Was | Now |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2026-09-27 | Workforce Payroll + Simple Start | Per-employee fee correction to our data — The pricing page on 2026-09-27 shows the standard price as $88 + $6.5/employee. Our 2026-09-06 reading recorded $88 + $7. We cannot tell whether the page changed in between or the earlier reading was wrong, so this is logged as a correction to our data. | $7 | $6.50 |
| 2026-09-27 | Workforce Payroll + Simple Start | Tax calculation, in the plan correction to our data — The plan's "Full service payroll" line reads "We'll calculate, file, and pay your payroll taxes for you." Our earlier reading recorded this as not stated. | not stated by the vendor | included in the plan |
| 2026-09-27 | Workforce Payroll + Simple Start | Tax filing, in the plan correction to our data — The plan's "Full service payroll" line reads "We'll calculate, file, and pay your payroll taxes for you." Our earlier reading recorded this as not stated. | not stated by the vendor | included in the plan |
| 2026-09-27 | Workforce Payroll + Essentials | Monthly base fee correction to our data — The pricing page on 2026-09-27 shows the standard price as $125 + $6.5/employee. Our 2026-09-06 reading recorded $135 + $7. We cannot tell whether the page changed in between or the earlier reading was wrong, so this is logged as a correction to our data. | $135 | $125 |
| 2026-09-27 | Workforce Payroll + Essentials | Per-employee fee correction to our data — The pricing page on 2026-09-27 shows the standard price as $125 + $6.5/employee. Our 2026-09-06 reading recorded $125 + $7. We cannot tell whether the page changed in between or the earlier reading was wrong, so this is logged as a correction to our data. | $7 | $6.50 |
| 2026-09-27 | Workforce Payroll + Essentials | Tax calculation, in the plan correction to our data — The plan's "Full service payroll" line reads "We'll calculate, file, and pay your payroll taxes for you." Our earlier reading recorded this as not stated. | not stated by the vendor | included in the plan |
| 2026-09-27 | Workforce Payroll + Essentials | Tax filing, in the plan correction to our data — The plan's "Full service payroll" line reads "We'll calculate, file, and pay your payroll taxes for you." Our earlier reading recorded this as not stated. | not stated by the vendor | included in the plan |
| 2026-09-27 | Workforce Premium + Plus | Monthly base fee correction to our data — The pricing page on 2026-09-27 shows the standard price as $203 + $10/employee. Our 2026-09-06 reading recorded $228 + $13. We cannot tell whether the page changed in between or the earlier reading was wrong, so this is logged as a correction to our data. | $228 | $203 |
| 2026-09-27 | Workforce Premium + Plus | Per-employee fee correction to our data — The pricing page on 2026-09-27 shows the standard price as $203 + $10/employee. Our 2026-09-06 reading recorded $203 + $13. We cannot tell whether the page changed in between or the earlier reading was wrong, so this is logged as a correction to our data. | $13 | $10 |
| 2026-09-27 | Workforce Premium + Plus | Tax calculation, in the plan correction to our data — The plan's "Full service payroll" line reads "We'll calculate, file, and pay your payroll taxes for you." Our earlier reading recorded this as not stated. | not stated by the vendor | included in the plan |
| 2026-09-27 | Workforce Premium + Plus | Tax filing, in the plan correction to our data — The plan's "Full service payroll" line reads "We'll calculate, file, and pay your payroll taxes for you." Our earlier reading recorded this as not stated. | not stated by the vendor | included in the plan |
| 2026-09-06 | Workforce Payroll + Simple Start | Per-employee fee price change on the vendor's page — Standard per-employee price | $6.50 | $7 |
| 2026-09-06 | Workforce Payroll + Simple Start | Plan name plan renamed by the vendor — Vendor renamed the plan | Payroll + Simple Start | Workforce Payroll + Simple Start |
| 2026-09-06 | Workforce Payroll + Essentials | Monthly base fee price change on the vendor's page — Standard monthly price | $125 | $135 |
| 2026-09-06 | Workforce Payroll + Essentials | Per-employee fee price change on the vendor's page — Standard per-employee price | $6.50 | $7 |
| 2026-09-06 | Workforce Payroll + Essentials | Plan name plan renamed by the vendor — Vendor renamed the plan | Payroll + Essentials | Workforce Payroll + Essentials |
| 2026-09-06 | Workforce Premium + Plus | Monthly base fee price change on the vendor's page — Standard monthly price | $203 | $228 |
| 2026-09-06 | Workforce Premium + Plus | Per-employee fee price change on the vendor's page — Standard per-employee price | $10 | $13 |
| 2026-09-06 | Workforce Premium + Plus | Plan name plan renamed by the vendor — Vendor renamed the plan | Premium Payroll + Plus | Workforce Premium + Plus |
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 QuickBooks Payroll 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 (24 fields)
| Plan | Field | What we hold | Read from | Read on | The vendor's wording |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| — | Setup fee | Not stated in the vendor's published documentation | the pricing page | 2026-09-27 | |
| — | Minimum contract | Not stated in the vendor's published documentation | the pricing page | 2026-09-27 | |
| — | Free trial | Not stated in the vendor's published documentation | the pricing page | 2026-09-27 | |
| Workforce Payroll + Simple Start | Monthly base fee | $88 | the pricing page | 2026-09-27 | |
| Workforce Payroll + Simple Start | Per-employee fee | $6.50 | the pricing page | 2026-09-27 | |
| Workforce Payroll + Simple Start | Tax calculation | Included | the pricing page | 2026-09-27 | We'll calculate, file, and pay your payroll taxes for you. |
| Workforce Payroll + Simple Start | Tax filing | Included | the pricing page | 2026-09-27 | We'll calculate, file, and pay your payroll taxes for you. |
| Workforce Payroll + Simple Start | Direct deposit | Included | the pricing page | 2026-09-27 | "Next-day direct deposit" |
| Workforce Payroll + Simple Start | Year-end forms | Included | the pricing page | 2026-09-27 | "1099 E-File"; the pricing page does not state how W-2s are handled |
| Workforce Payroll + Simple Start | Conditions on the price | — | the pricing page | 2026-09-27 | Standard price; promo "50% off for 3 months" ($44/mo base; per-employee fee unchanged). Plan renamed from "Payroll + Simple Start" on or before 2026-09-06. |
| Workforce Payroll + Essentials | Monthly base fee | $125 | the pricing page | 2026-09-27 | |
| Workforce Payroll + Essentials | Per-employee fee | $6.50 | the pricing page | 2026-09-27 | |
| Workforce Payroll + Essentials | Tax calculation | Included | the pricing page | 2026-09-27 | We'll calculate, file, and pay your payroll taxes for you. |
| Workforce Payroll + Essentials | Tax filing | Included | the pricing page | 2026-09-27 | We'll calculate, file, and pay your payroll taxes for you. |
| Workforce Payroll + Essentials | Direct deposit | Included | the pricing page | 2026-09-27 | "Same-day direct deposit" |
| Workforce Payroll + Essentials | Year-end forms | Included | the pricing page | 2026-09-27 | "1099 E-File"; the pricing page does not state how W-2s are handled |
| Workforce Payroll + Essentials | Conditions on the price | — | the pricing page | 2026-09-27 | Marked "FAVORITE"; standard price; promo "50% off for 3 months" ($62.50/mo base; per-employee fee unchanged). Plan renamed from "Payroll + Essentials" on or before 2026-09-06. |
| Workforce Premium + Plus | Monthly base fee | $203 | the pricing page | 2026-09-27 | |
| Workforce Premium + Plus | Per-employee fee | $10 | the pricing page | 2026-09-27 | |
| Workforce Premium + Plus | Tax calculation | Included | the pricing page | 2026-09-27 | We'll calculate, file, and pay your payroll taxes for you. |
| Workforce Premium + Plus | Tax filing | Included | the pricing page | 2026-09-27 | We'll calculate, file, and pay your payroll taxes for you. |
| Workforce Premium + Plus | Direct deposit | Included | the pricing page | 2026-09-27 | "Same-day direct deposit" |
| Workforce Premium + Plus | Year-end forms | Included | the pricing page | 2026-09-27 | "1099 E-File"; the pricing page does not state how W-2s are handled |
| Workforce Premium + Plus | Conditions on the price | — | the pricing page | 2026-09-27 | Standard price; promo "50% off for 3 months" ($101.50/mo base; per-employee fee unchanged). Plan renamed from "Premium Payroll + Plus" on or before 2026-09-06. |
The same record, for every vendor, is the sources column of plans.csv on the data page.
Where to check this yourself
Go to QuickBooks Payroll and open its pricing page. Everything above comes from https://quickbooks.intuit.com/payroll/pricing/, read on 2026-09-27.
Related
- QuickBooks Payroll compared with Patriot Software
- QuickBooks Payroll compared with OnPay
- QuickBooks Payroll compared with Square Payroll
- Alternatives to QuickBooks Payroll
- Why payroll costs more than the advertised per-employee fee
- Put your own headcount against QuickBooks Payroll in the calculator
- What payroll software costs, and where the money goes
- Gusto vs QuickBooks Payroll: $55 against $94.50 at one employee, $39.50 to $89 apart at every size
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.