Best Payroll Software of 2023

Bottom Line:
The Best Payroll Solutions of 2023
Why You Should Trust This Review
How I Rated the Best Payroll Software Providers
The Top 8 Payroll Solutions
How I Tested Payroll Software Providers

The Best Payroll Solutions of 2023

Payroll software	Best for	Pricing	Best features
Gusto (4.9)	Best payroll solution	Plans starting at $6 per employee per month See pricing	Unlimited payrolls per month for users in all 50 states Flexible pay rates and schedules Robust third-party integrations with accounting solutions
OnPay (4.7)	Best integrated payroll, HR, and benefits platform	Plans starting at $6 per employee per month See pricing	Payroll for all 50 states at no additional cost Unlimited payroll runs Multiple pay rates and schedules
Patriot Payroll (4.6)	Best for small businesses new to payroll	Plans starting at $4 per employee/contractor per month See pricing	Unlimited pay runs across all 50 states Offers two- or four-day direct deposits Excellent set-up wizard and knowledge base
ADP Run (4.5)	Best for startups	Quote-based pricing See pricing	Smart technology improves payroll efficiency Good reporting options Personalized dashboards
QuickBooks Payroll (4.4)	Best for businesses with around 20 employees	Plans starting at $5 per employee per month See pricing	Next-day direct deposits Full-service, automatic payroll Automated filing and payment of federal and state taxes
Justworks (4.3)	Best PEO solution	Plans starting at $59 per employee per month See pricing	Strong payroll features for both salaried hourly employees Easy to navigate 24/7 customer service support
Workful (4.2)	Best for paying hourly employees	Plans starting at $5 per team member per month See pricing	Multiple pay rates and unlimited payroll runs Built-in time tracking Automatic calculation of payroll taxes
Rippling (4.2)	Best for companies with a global workforce	Plans starting at $8 per user per month See pricing	One-click payroll runs Global payments are made in 90 seconds Syncs with HR data

Payroll software helps youmanage payroll processes, pay your employees correctly and on time, maintain compliance, optimizeHR best practices, and stay on top of emerging payroll trends. That’s why I spent more than 50 hours researching dozens of online payroll platforms to identify the best on the market.

I sat through demos, made the most of free trials, and evaluated customer reviews. I also assessed each product’s pricing options and feature set to create the definitive list of the top payroll platforms.

Why You Should Trust This Review

About Digital.com’s expert reviewer, Rhiân Davies:

I’m a content writer and digital marketing specialist specializing in HR, recruitment, and e-commerce. A seasoned tech writer and reviewer, my work has appeared on MarTechSeries, HR Technologist, and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.

My review relies on the expertise of our seasoned editorial team along with surveys of the past and current power users of each platform to get real-world feedback on these options and take them into account.

How I Rated the Best Payroll Software Providers

I took an in-depth look at each payroll software solution as a whole and evaluated them based on the following key features, integrations, trial options, costs, and ease of cancellation.

Core payroll features

Payroll software’s main purpose is to help you streamline and optimize the process of paying your employees, avoid payroll errors, file and pay taxes correctly, and manage employee benefits. When evaluating each payroll software platform, we noted the presence of the following key features and evaluated how well each performs:

Payment processing — including direct deposits
Tax filing
Compensation and benefits management
Time and attendance tracking
Employee self-service

Robust third-party integrations

If you’re already using other software solutions to manage your employees — for example,HR softwareoraccounting software— make sure that these can integrate with your chosen payroll system.

Plus, as your business grows and payroll processes become more complex, you need to make sure that the platform can integrate with other applications, such as reporting tools and expense management systems.

Ease of use

Payroll processes are complex, and so I evaluated each platform’s ease of use — taking into account its interface, navigation, and customer support — to make sure that even novice users can get the most out of the platform’s features.

Demo or free trial

The availability of demos and/or free trials is a key factor I took into consideration when evaluating each payroll solution.

By testing the solution before you invest, you can assess whether or not it’s suitable for your needs and company size, how well it can scale as you grow, and how it can help you maintain compliance. You can also identify the features the platform doesn’t have that would make it incompatible with your requirements.

Final costs and ease of cancellation

I considered how well each provider catered to its target market, how progressive the pricing tiers are, and how its pricing held up against the solution’s offerings compared with its competitors.

When selecting payroll software, keep your growth objectives in mind and consider whether your chosen platform can scale with you at a price you can afford.

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The Top 8 Payroll Solutions

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Reviews

Gusto

Best overall

4.9

Strong payroll features, reporting, and automations
Unlimited payrolls per month for users in all 50 states
Robust third-party integrations

Summary

Pricing
- $6 per employee per month
Tax filing
Yes
Free trial or demo
Free 30-day trial
Time and attendance tracking
Yes

Employee self-service
Yes
Compensation and benefits management
Yes
Ease of cancellation
Cancel anytime policy

With its affordable pricing plans, strong payroll features, and highly customizable platform, Gusto tops our list of payroll software solutions. From unlimited payroll runs for users in all 50 states to its intuitive design, Gusto is a great all-rounder platform for small to mid-sized businesses needing an affordable, easy-to-use payroll solution that accommodates their payroll needs.

I selected Gusto as the best payroll software solution due to its user-friendly platform, great range of core payroll features, and excellent scalability. Gusto walks you through a very thorough yet intuitive setup process — I set up and used the platform in under an hour.

As well as solid, core payroll features such as unlimited monthly payrolls for users in all 50 states and automatic pay runs and tax filing, Gusto also offers several interesting features that many of its competitors lack. For example, employees can complete most of the onboarding process themselves.

The platform makes it easy to automate deductions, tax filings, and direct deposits and easily handles pre-tax benefits. If you want to optimize your payroll processes, Gusto reports include a complete payroll journal, year-to-date employee earnings, and a benefits report.

Gusto’s benefits administration feature is exceptional. The platform creates custom benefit packages that adhere to your specific legal requirements. At no extra cost, Gusto also provides the best benefits package options based on your employee and company information.

Who is Gusto best for?

Gusto is a great all-around platform for small to midsize businesses that need an affordable, easy-to-use payroll solution with all the bells and whistles needed to run payroll processes easily and efficiently.

Recent upgrades to Gusto

In response to the shift to remote work, Gusto recently bought Remote Teams, a start-up that enables growing businesses to hire remote workers internationally. Additionally, Gusto now also facilitates the payment of contractors in 80 countries and quick tax registration in all 50 states.

To help business leaders make optimized business decisions, Gusto also recently launched the Gusto Economic Trends Tracker. This is an interactive dashboard that provides visualizations of the latest trends in employment, wages, and hours worked across small and medium-sized businesses in America.

Gusto pricing

Although Gusto is not the cheapest payroll provider on the market, the platform provides all of the payroll features you need. Even its most basic plan — coming in at $6 per employee per month plus a base fee of $40 per month — provides unlimited payroll runs, enables you to make direct deposits, and runs payroll reports. Plus, it will also handle your federal, state, and local tax filings.

Pros and cons of Gusto

Pros

Automatic pay runs and tax filing
Unlimited pay runs per month
Great employee benefits management feature
Offers two-, four- and next-day direct deposits

Cons

Per-employee pricing can become costly when left unchecked
Unresponsive customer support agents
Health insurance plans only cover 39 states
Not as customizable as other solutions

What customers are saying about Gusto

Gusto is a great payroll solution for small businesses that want to comply with complex wage laws and automate many HR tasks. Their onboarding process is simple, and their reporting is top-notch. It is perfect for smaller businesses that want to process payroll quickly and affordably. However, the price jumps significantly for the time clock feature, and it can be challenging to get clients to use it. The main downside is the customer service which can be challenging to reach and slow.

OnPay

Best integrated payroll, HR, and benefits platform

4.7

Payroll for all 50 states at no additional cost
Unlimited payroll runs
Multiple pay rates and schedules

Summary

Pricing
- $6 per employee per month
Tax filing
Yes
Free trial or demo
Free 30-day trial
Time and attendance tracking
Yes

Employee self-service
Yes
Compensation and benefits management
Yes
Ease of cancellation
Cancel anytime

OnPay’s robust payroll and HR platform is a great multi-faceted solution for small to midsize businesses. Recommended for businesses that pay hourly employees, OnPay can handle the majority of payroll processes at an affordable price.

OnPay is a strong, integrated payroll, HR, and benefits platform that provides an excellent interface, user experience, and a solid feature set. From the get-go, OnPay was easy for me to set up and intuitive to navigate.

One of the platform’s most impressive features is its payroll runs for all 50 states at no additional cost — competitors like QuickBooks Payroll and Patriot Payroll charge extra for additional states. Plus, its employee self-service portal gives employees a lifetime account to access pay stubs, download year-end tax documents, and change their own tax withholding information.

One big advantage of OnPay is that it offers only one pricing tier for access to all of its HR, payroll, and benefits features, which means you don’t need to pay extra to access additional features. OnPay also offers a mobile-friendly website that you can access from your smartphone which is great for on-the-go payroll management.

I found the platform a great fit for businesses that pay hourly employees. The platform also deftly manages various employee deductions, including dollar amounts, percentages, retirement plan contributions, and medical insurance premiums.

Who is OnPay best for?

My testing showed that OnPay is a good choice for small to midsize businesses looking to manage payroll, HR, and benefits within one platform. Since the platform does not currently support automatic pay runs, I’d say that the platform is better suited to companies with more hourly than salaried employees.

Recent upgrades to OnPay

I was unable to find much information about OnPay product upgrades after September 2020 when the provider launched a payroll Report Designer to give small businesses insights into their operations.

OnPay pricing

Instead of pricing tiers, OnPay charges a $40 base fee plus $6 per employee per month for access to all of the platform’s HR, payroll, and benefits features. OnPay’s pricing page provides a handy calculator that lets you see exactly how much you’d pay for your total number of employees. Plus, OnPay only bills you for employees who are paid in a given month.

Pros and cons of OnPay

Pros

Payroll for all 50 states at no additional cost
Unlimited pay runs per month
Multiple pay rates and schedules
Employees have lifetime access to the portal

Cons

No automatic payroll
Limited third-party integrations offering
Users don’t gain much from the platform’s defunct main dashboard
Charges for printing year-end tax forms

Patriot Payroll

Best for small businesses new to payroll

4.6

Unlimited pay runs across all 50 states
Offers two- or four-day direct deposits
Excellent set-up wizard and knowledge base

Summary

Pricing
- $4 per employee or contractor per month
Tax filing
Yes
Free trial or demo
Free 30-day trial
Time and attendance tracking
Yes

Employee self-service
Yes
Compensation and benefits management
No
Ease of cancellation
Cancel anytime

Patriot Payroll offers everything a small business needs when setting up their payroll processes at an affordable price. With its fast and guided setup, you can quickly get started with this easy-to-use, modern payroll platform.

I selected Patriot Payroll as best for small businesses that are new to payroll due to its stellar set-up wizard and strong feature set. Although setting up payroll can be complex, there’s also a fantastic knowledge base filled with video demos to help you out.

As well as two- or four-day direct deposits, automated time off accrual, and unlimited pay runs across all 50 states, Patriot Payroll also offers several customization options. For example, I could create an unlimited number of money and hours types and create user-defined company match and contributions rules.

Patriot Payroll offers everything you need to run payroll, but you can also purchase add-on services such as time tracking, multistate payroll tax filing, accounting, and HR.

While it would be great to see a stronger benefits management feature, Patriot Payroll offers broad functionality and is the least expensive payroll provider on this list.

Who is Patriot Payroll best for?

With its affordable pricing plans and robust feature set, Patriot Payroll is a great choice for small businesses with less than 100 employees. If you pay more than 100 employees, Rippling could be a more suitable option.

Recent upgrades to Patriot Payroll

This year, Patriot Payroll introduced a new W-2 mini wizard and a net-to-gross payroll tool.

Patriot Payroll pricing

Patriot Payroll costs $17 for the base fee plus$4 per employee/contractor per month making it the most affordable payroll platform on this list. If you file taxes in different states, be aware that Patriot Payroll charges an extra $12 per state, per month for additional state filings.

Pros and cons of Patriot Payroll

Pros

Unlimited pay runs across all 50 states
Offers two- or four-day direct deposits
Excellent set-up wizard and knowledge base
Clean and modern user interface

Cons

No dedicated benefits management module
Charges of $12 per state, per month for additional state filings
Lacks customizable reports
Extra charges for HR and time tracking modules

What customers are saying about Patriot Payroll

Patriot Accounting is affordable and stable accounting software that is a little more challenging than QuickBooks. But it is an excellent choice for small businesses who want an affordable, full-featured solution. The Patriot team is fantastic and always willing to help. Be aware of delays in debits and direct deposits, and extra fees.

ADP Run

Best for startups

4.5

Smart technology improves payroll efficiency
Robust payroll feature set
Personalized dashboards

Summary

Pricing
- Quote-based pricing
Tax filing
Yes
Free trial or demo
Video demo available
Time and attendance tracking
Yes

Employee self-service
Yes
Compensation and benefits management
No
Ease of cancellation
No termination fees

Well-known for its array of human capital management solutions, ADP’s Run platform is a great choice for startups getting to grips with payroll. With its smart technology that optimizes payroll processes, ADP is a solid choice for businesses with up to 49 employees.

ADP Run is designed for small businesses with up to 49 employees and offers a wealth of functionality for them to run their payroll and HR processes. Businesses looking for a trusted provider with the essential tools they need to process payroll, manage taxes, and easily onboard new hires would do well to consider ADP Run.

I selected ADP Run as best for startups based on the fact that it offers powerful functionality that’s been designed specifically with smaller businesses in mind. It offers direct deposits, contractor payments, and multi-jurisdiction payroll, as well as intelligent search functionality, personalized dashboards, and smart technology.

The solution is easy to navigate and highly intuitive, and there’s also a chat option if you have questions while using the platform. Overall, ADP Run is very user-friendly — notifications remind you when payroll is due, and it’s easy to preview your entire payroll before submitting.

You can also customize how to set up sick time and paid time and add workers’ compensation and retirement contributions. Employees can onboard themselves with the provider’s employee self-service tool, which enables them to view their paystubs and update their information themselves.

Who is ADP Run best for?

ADP Run is ideal for startups and small businesses that pay between one and 49 employees. Businesses with over 50 employees might find more suitable options in ADP’s Workforce Now platform or Rippling.

Recent upgrades to ADP Run

It was difficult to find specific ADP Run product upgrade information. However, in 2021, the provider announced major updates to the platform, including intelligent search functionality, a streamlined user interface, personalized dashboards with actionable insights, and smart technology that learns a business’s payroll system and identifies possible payroll mistakes before they happen.

ADP Run pricing

ADP Run does not share its pricing information publicly and operates on a quote-based model. However, the provider is offering the first three months free for new clients.

Pros and cons of ADP Run

Pros

Smart technology improves payroll efficiency
Robust payroll feature set
Personalized dashboards
Good reporting options

Cons

Lack of transparent pricing
Many additional charges for features like benefits integration and time tracking
Confusing feature package when compared to other ADP payroll products (Workforce Now, etc)
Depending on the type of contract, a set-up fee is usually required

QuickBooks Payroll

Best for businesses with around 20 employees

4.4

Next-day direct deposits
Full-service, automatic payroll
Automated filing and payment of federal and state taxes

Summary

Pricing
- $5 per employee per month
Tax filing
Yes
Free trial or demo
Free 30-day trial
Time and attendance tracking
Yes

Employee self-service
Yes
Compensation and benefits management
Yes
Ease of cancellation
Cancel anytime

Based solely on its pricing, QuickBooks Payroll is a great platform with robust features for businesses with less than 20 employees. Despite its strong feature set, the higher price tag might put it out of reach for many smaller businesses.

QuickBooks Payroll is a full-service, cloud-based payroll solution designed for businesses with up to 50 employees — although I recommend it for businesses with around 20 employees based on its high price point. If you’re already using QuickBooks Online for accounting, QuickBooks is a great integration option as a well-known, trusted provider.

The platform greeted me with step-by-step tutorials to set up my account quickly and easily. Once you’re up and running, you can automatically run payroll for your employees, make next-day direct deposits, and enjoy automated tax calculations and filing.

The QuickBooks Payroll interface was a pleasure to use, and it’s clear that it’s been designed with the user experience top of mind. Navigation is intuitive, and dashboards are useful, which is great since I’ve found that many cloud-based platform dashboards are a little underwhelming.

The platform sends HR paperwork to each employee to fill out, simplifying the onboarding process. Employees can also log in to the employee self-service portal to access paystubs, enter timesheets, apply for leave, and view leave balances.

The platform is a great choice for automated payroll processes. Once you’ve inputted hours and salaries, QuickBooks Payroll takes care of the rest. The tool also notifies you when you need to submit reports and payments and deftly handles government forms.

Who is QuickBooks Payroll best for?

I found that QuickBooks Payroll is best suited for businesses with around 20 employees. While the platform provides many core payroll features, it’s lacking in other important features — such as its employee portal — that are offered by its direct competitors and would benefit a company with over 50 employees.

Recent upgrades to QuickBooks Payroll

Aside from minor updates like tax form updates for specific states and e-file updates, I was unable to find information on core upgrades to the QuickBooks Payroll platform.

QuickBooks Payroll pricing

QuickBooks Payroll is currently offering a 50% discount on its pricing packages, meaning its most basic tier comes in at $5 per employee per month plus a $37.50 base fee per month. This package offers full-service payroll, including automated taxes and forms, automatic payroll for salaried employees, next-day direct deposits, and the ability to manage contractors.

Pros and cons of QuickBooks Payroll

Pros

Next-day direct deposits
Full-service, automatic payroll
Automated filing and payment of federal and state taxes
Intuitive user experience

Cons

Expensive base fee
Charges of $12 per state for additional state filings
Not as customizable as other solutions
Limited third-party integrations

Justworks

Best PEO solution

4.3

Robust feature set
Strong payroll features for both salaried and hourly employees
24/7 customer service support

Summary

Pricing
- $59 per employee per month
Tax filing
Yes
Free trial or demo
Free one-month trial
Time and attendance tracking
Yes

Employee self-service
Yes
Compensation and benefits management
Yes
Ease of cancellation
Contact Justworks to make the necessary changes to the account

If you’re looking to outsource your human resource functions to a professional employer organization (PEO) with a great payroll module, Justworks has you covered. The platform supports both salaried and hourly employees and offers 24/7 customer service support.

Justworks is a PEO solution that manages businesses’ payroll, HR, benefits, and compliance needs. Given the number of roles a PEO usually handles, I found the system easy to set up and navigate, and it was clear to see how the platform can scale with you as you grow.

Designed with small businesses in mind, Justworks is a modern take on many legacy PEO systems which are often presented as an assortment of siloed modules that don’t work together. A clean, intuitive interface made working through the system a breeze.

The provider offers strong payroll features for both salaried and hourly employees as well as support for contracted workers, which is unusual for a PEO — often PEOs charge extra for handling 1099 workers, or they don’t offer the functionality at all.

The platform also takes care of your tax compliance needs, including filing W-2s, paying quarterly payroll taxes, and helping you maintain compliance by informing you of changes to tax and employment laws. Justworks handles all calculations, filings, and payments for federal, state, and local taxes.

The system also supports multiple pay frequencies, off-cycle payments, and wage garnishments, and you can easily track leave accruals and manage time-off requests.

While Justworks is a great PEO solution, I’d have liked to have seen more third-party integrations available. As a PEO — platforms that are known for helping optimize business processes — the solution lacks the number of built-in reporting options I’d expect from an otherwise robust platform.

Who is Justworks best for?

Justworks is a great fit for small businesses looking for a PEO that provides full-service, outsourced human resource functions. Despite the higher price tag, given that PEOs can help small businesses reduce liability and increase efficiency, Justworks could be a great option for small and large businesses.

Recent upgrades to Justworks

Justworks recently announced the following product upgrades to optimize employees’ self-service options and help you better manage payroll processes:

Justworks mobile app for employees to access paystubs, health insurance information, and time off on the go

Optimized timecard settings page to help you set up time entry, overtime, and multi-rate overtime calculation methods

Bulk payments to make it easier to schedule multiple off-cycle payments of the same type at the same time

Justworks pricing

The basic plan for businesses with less than 50 employees costs $59 per employee per month, making Justworks the second most expensive provider on this list. This plan, however, provides payroll, benefits management, HR tools, and compliance features which provide a lot of value for businesses looking to consolidate most of their people management processes.

Pros and cons of Justworks

Pros

Robust feature set
Strong payroll features for both salaried and hourly employees
24/7 customer service support
Easy to navigate

Cons

Not as customizable as other providers
Expensive solution to use only for payroll
Not as many third-party integrations as you’d expect from a PEO
Time tracking feature comes at an extra cost

Workful

Best for paying hourly employees

4.2

Multiple pay rates and unlimited payroll runs
Built-in time tracking
Automatic calculation of payroll taxes

Summary

Pricing
- $5 per team member per month
Tax filing
Yes
Free trial or demo
Free 30-day trial
Time and attendance tracking
Yes

Employee self-service
Yes
Compensation and benefits management
Yes
Ease of cancellation
Cancel anytime policy

Launched in 2017, Workful is a relative newcomer on the payroll software market. Despite its later release into an already-crowded market, Workful is a versatile platform with great payroll features and an affordable pricing plan.

Workful is owned by parent company TaxSlayer, a popular online tax filing service that’s been in business since 1965. Based on this experience, Workful offers a full-service, cloud-based payroll solution that includes elements of HR functionality at an affordable price.

I was able to set up the Workful platform and payroll processes relatively quickly with the assistance of a multi-step wizard. The platform itself is easy to navigate and I enjoyed its clean and uncluttered aesthetic.

I chose Workful as the best solution for paying hourly employees because of its built-in time clock that supports geolocation and enables you to easily sync employee time tracking with payroll. For this reason, I highly recommend the platform for businesses that pay hourly employees.

Workful offers direct deposits, multiple pay rates, and a great employee portal where employees can clock in and out, make time-off and expense reimbursement requests, and update their information.

You also have access to a decent report library that includes reports on expenses and mileage, a tax liability report, a payroll register detail report, and a timesheet report. All of this information is updated in real-time to help you make better business decisions.

Workful automatically calculates payroll taxes, generates year-end forms, and auto-populates information on federal tax forms. However, I would have liked to have seen more third-party integration options — currently, Workful only integrates with QuickBooks.

Who is Workful best for?

With its strong time-tracking features and affordable pricing plan, Workful is a good fit for smaller businesses that pay employees that work on an hourly basis. The platform doesn’t offer automatic payroll, so if you’re paying salaried employees, you might consider solutions like Gusto or QuickBooks Payroll.

Recent upgrades to Workful

Workful recently expanded its earnings types and added e-filing of W-2s and 1099s.

Workful pricing

Like OnPay, Instead of pricing tiers, Workful charges a base fee of $25 per month plus $5 per team member per month, making it the second most affordable payroll platform on this list after Patriot Payroll. This price gives you access to the platform’s payroll, time tracking, and employee self-service tools.

Pros and cons of Workful

Pros

Affordable pricing plan
Unlimited payroll runs
Good range or earnings types
Simple, intuitive interface

Cons

No automated payroll
Only integrates with QuickBooks
Employee mobile app features are lacking
Not as customizable as other solutions

Rippling

Best for companies with a global workforce

4.2

One-click payroll runs
Global payments are made in 90 seconds
Syncs with HR data

Summary

Pricing
- $8 per user per month
Tax filing
Yes
Free trial or demo
Yes
Time and attendance tracking
Yes

Employee self-service
Yes
Compensation and benefits management
Yes
Ease of cancellation
Unclear

Rippling is a good choice for businesses with both larger budgets and a global workforce. While the platform boasts many strong payroll features, you need to purchase the core workforce management platform to use the payroll module.

Rippling is a full-service, multi-module HR provider that offers a global payroll solution for businesses paying employees worldwide. I found the setup very intuitive with Rippling’s automated wizard that takes you through a step-by-step guide.

From here, you’re presented with a “to-do list” of tasks that help you input the data and information you need to get started. Then, you are navigated to the next task based on the information you’ve provided.

What I love about the platform is that it can automatically import all data from your current tools, including Sage, QuickBooks Online, Xero, ADP, and Gusto. This plus core payroll features, workflow automations, and a high degree of customizability make Rippling an attractive solution for global businesses.

Plus, unlike many of its competitors, Rippling’s international payroll is included in the price. You can pay full-time and hourly employees and contractors worldwide in one click and in 90 seconds.

I also enjoyed the tight-knit synchronization with Rippling’s HR tools that enable you to onboard and offboard employees, manage employee development, and recruit new talent.

However, if you’re looking for a standalone payroll solution, Rippling is not your tool. You’ll also need to purchase the payroll module's workforce management module. This is a little disappointing given that Rippling has developed a strong, versatile payroll product with niches that many of its competitors don’t offer.

After setup, I found some of Rippling’s user journeys to be a little complicated, and many filters were reset when I left the screen. I had to refresh many pages multiple times to complete tasks halfway through, which was frustrating.

Who is Rippling best for?

Rippling is an option for businesses with a global workforce that need to pay employees in different countries. Given the fact that Rippling doesn’t provide transparent pricing information and that you need to purchase its workforce management platform in conjunction with the payroll module, Rippling is suited to midsize businesses with larger budgets.

Recent upgrades to Rippling

Rippling recently announced the following product upgrades:

Rippling Spend Management integrates with the payroll module to consolidate card transactions, reimbursements, and bill payments

Role-based permissions to help you control employee access to certain systems

Rippling pricing

On Rippling’s pricing page states that plans start at $8 per employee per month. Aside from this, however, there is no further information. Rippling operates a quote-based pricing system.

Pros and cons of Rippling

Pros

Global payments are made in 90 seconds
Access to 500+ integrations
Automatic filing of global taxes
Customizable policies and benefits for every country

Cons

System can be buggy at times
Lack of transparent pricing options and information about service terms
Can only access payroll module if you purchase the workforce management module
Sometimes clunky user interface

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How I Tested Payroll Software Providers

I tested each payroll software solution by signing up for a plan to check out what each provider offers users. I spent time navigating the software, testing features, and evaluating integration options. I also noted the level of customer support that was available to me.

I evaluated each platform’s core features and how well they serve the intended audience, took note of any unique features, assessed pricing options, and ascertained whether a free trial or demo is available.

Because we at Digital know it’s important to pick a payroll solution provider you can trust, I spent time testing the effectiveness of each provider’s features, and how well the provider presents its products in an honest, clear, and transparent way. During my tests, I also compared the list of features each company claims it offers, to what I actually had access to once I began using the platform.

I selected each payroll solution based on it being at the top of its game for one aspect of payroll management or another. In particular, I assessed each solution’s ease of use, core payroll features (including payment processing, tax filing, compensation and benefits management, time and attendance tracking, and employee self-service), and integrations offering.

From all-in-one payroll solutions to HR platforms with robust payroll modules, I’ve put together this list of the best of the best to help you find a payroll software solution that suits your business and employee needs.

Best Payroll Software of 2023

Table of Contents

The Best Payroll Solutions of 2023

Why You Should Trust This Review

How I Rated the Best Payroll Software Providers

Core payroll features

Ease of use

Demo or free trial

Final costs and ease of cancellation

The Top 8 Payroll Solutions

Gusto

Best overall

Summary

Pros and cons of Gusto

Pros

Cons

What customers are saying about Gusto

OnPay

Best integrated payroll, HR, and benefits platform

Summary

Pros and cons of OnPay

Pros

Cons

Patriot Payroll

Best for small businesses new to payroll

Summary

Pros and cons of Patriot Payroll

Pros

Cons

What customers are saying about Patriot Payroll

ADP Run

Best for startups

Summary

Pros and cons of ADP Run

Pros

Cons

QuickBooks Payroll

Best for businesses with around 20 employees

Summary

Pros and cons of QuickBooks Payroll

Pros

Cons

Justworks

Best PEO solution

Summary

Pros and cons of Justworks

Pros

Cons

Workful

Best for paying hourly employees

Summary

Pros and cons of Workful

Pros

Cons

Rippling

Best for companies with a global workforce

Summary

Pros and cons of Rippling

Pros

Cons

How I Tested Payroll Software Providers

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