Best Payroll Software for Small Business
Gusto for almost everyone: full tax filing, benefits administration and a clear price per employee. Choose QuickBooks Payroll only to keep payroll and bookkeeping in one system.
Best Payroll Software for Small Business
Nothing we can price
None of these carry the figures needed to rank them for your situation yet.
Compared side by side
2 compared on the 3 things that decide it. A blank cell means we could not confirm the answer, not that the answer is no.
| Provider | Base price /mo | Per employee /mo | Files payroll taxes |
|---|---|---|---|
 Gusto Best overall | — | — | — |
 QuickBooks Payroll Best if you use QuickBooks | — | — | — |
Every offer, priced the same way
Ranked by what it costs you over a year. The arithmetic behind each figure is shown so you can check it. Offers we could not price are listed at the bottom with the reason.
1. Gusto — Gusto
Best overall
Files payroll taxes at every tier, handles benefits, and onboards employees for you.
Priced from national figures.
2. QuickBooks Payroll — Intuit
Best if you use QuickBooks
Payroll that posts straight into the books without an export step.
Priced from national figures.
How we ranked these
We compare the base monthly price, the per-employee cost, whether payroll tax filing is included at every tier, and multi-state support. Contractor-only pricing is noted separately.