The Best Payroll Software for 2024: Top 10 Compared

• Extensive global coverage: Payroll, HR, and compliance are covered in over 160 countries through its network of local in-country experts and partners.
• Comprehensive services: End-to-end support covering payroll, hiring, onboarding, benefits, tax filing, expense management, and more for a distributed global workforce.
• Expert compliance assistance: Besides software, Papaya provides local labor law experts to ensure compliance with each country’s regulations.

Papaya bases the price of its Payroll Plus product on your workforce size and the number of legal entities.

• Grow Global – Payment disbursement and liability coverage for up to 500 employees over 4 entities.
• Scale Global – The same as Grow but for up to 1000 employees and 10 entities.
• Enterprise Global – The same again, but for unlimited employees and entities.

Every plan gives you access to the employee self-service portal and Papaya Global mobile app.

While Papaya Global offers robust global payroll software and PEO services, potential drawbacks include a quote-based pricing model with additional fees, limited free trial options, and implementation requirements that might involve upfront contractual commitments.

Papaya is best for multinational businesses wanting an integrated payroll solution that supports multiple currencies and offers robust features for global payroll and workforce management.

• Fully managed global payroll solution: Everything from onboarding, document collection, payroll calculations, payroll taxes and filing, compliance with local regulations, and payslip issuing is handled by Deel, eliminating the need for an in-house payroll team.
• Full-service payroll data and processes: Your global payroll data is consolidated into one system, making it easy to review reports, spot discrepancies, and manage multi-currency payments.
• Expertise in international compliance: Deel ensures your company complies with global and local payroll laws across over 100 countries.
• Automated processes: Tax filing and onboarding/offboarding are automated, saving time on administrative tasks.

Like many alternatives, Deel has modular modular pricing for all its features. The following plans allow you to handle payments and taxes:

• Contractors – Ability to hire and pay international contractors compliantly.
• Global payroll – A full-service payroll plan, including automation, reporting, and compliance management.
• EOR – A set-up where you outsource HR, payroll, and benefits to Deel.

All plans give you access to Deel’s free HR module with automation tools, org charts, and document management.

If you have a distributed global team, Deel is perfect for you. The payroll features let you manage payroll for different countries and banking systems with ease.

• Modular, customizable platform: Select the specific HR modules/features you need, such as full-service payroll, benefits, performance management, etc. You only pay for what you use.
• Global workforce management: It supports global payroll in over 90 countries, local benefits packages, and Employer of Record (EOR) services for compliantly hiring international contractors/employees.
• Automated workflows: Rippling automates core HR processes like hiring, onboarding, time tracking, and document management through smart workflow builders.
• Integrated HR tools: All HR tools, from applicant tracking to LMS, surveys, and analytics, are unified in one platform instead of disparate systems.

As Rippling has custom pricing, you must contact them for a quote. Here are the payment modules available:

• US and Global Full Service Payroll – The option to manage payroll in over 50 countries worldwide.
• Global EOR – Assistance with international hiring and payroll.
• PEO – A solution that allows you to outsource your US payroll and benefits administration management.

Aside from payroll, Rippling has a range of other HR, IT, and finance modules. It’s worth noting that benefits administration is standalone and not included in the plans above.

Rippling’s integration ecosystem, though extensive, is not as wide as platforms and accounting software like Workday or BambooHR. Therefore, businesses heavily invested in niche HR/workforce software may find integration gaps and want to consider other payroll systems.

Rippling is one of the best HR payroll software for US-based companies with divisions in other North American countries. The tax compliance management helps avoid penalties at their main location while helping them run payroll for foreign teams.

• Employer of record (EoR): Remofirst is the legal employer for your international workforce, handling onboarding, payroll, taxes, and compliance. This eliminates the need for local entity set-up, saving significant time and resources.
• Global reach: Automate employee payroll in 180+ countries, one of the highest numbers of supported countries in a payroll platform.
• Cost-effective: Transparent pricing and payroll processing with no hidden fees, making it a budget-friendly option compared to traditional staffing agencies.
• Fast & easy onboarding: Onboard international employees in a single day with minimal paperwork compared to complex and time-consuming local procedures.

You can find two main plans on Remofirst with a fixed monthly rate:

• EOR – A combination of HR, payroll, and hiring features as part of the third-party service.
• Contractors – Onboarding and payments for international freelancers.

Remofirst gives you the option to add equipment provisioning and visa services. The price is based on your requirements.

Remofirst is best suited for remote teams as you can pay employees in 180+ countries using locally compliant contracts.

• Comprehensive HR functions: This full-service payroll solution handles multiple HR functions within a single platform.
• Inclusive features: The platform encompasses payroll, benefits administration, onboarding, talent management, and compliance support.
• Streamlined processes: Paycor is an excellent full-service payroll software choice for businesses aiming to streamline their HR processes.
• Access to diverse tools: Users benefit from a wide range of tools without needing separate systems.
• Financial wellness: Give employees access to resources like goal tracking and budget setting via the app.

Paycor requires you to contact them for a quote. However, they have published their four payroll plans online.

• Basic – Tools to pay and file taxes for employees compliantly.
• Core – Everything in Basic plus hiring and onboarding tools.
• Essential – The addition of employee engagement and development features.
• Complete – Access to advanced analytics and development tools.

You can add time tracking, benefits, and recruitment tools to any of the plans. There’s often a discount for signing up like 50% off for six months.

Paycor offers fantastic payroll software services for companies looking to scale. The impressive automation tools mean staff can spend less time on manual tasks and allocate resources more effectively.

• Mobile App: Its mobile app allows you to manage tasks like running payroll, updating information, and approving PTO with the Paychex Flex app.
• Automatic Tax Administration: Paychex offers access to Taxpay, its automatic tax administration service, which calculates, pays, and files taxes on your behalf. This helps reduce errors and compliance mistakes.
• Employee Self-Service: This feature allows employees to access certain HR functionalities, such as enrolling in benefits and adjusting personal information. With time-tracking, employees can also clock in touchlessly via the app.

All of the plans and modules on Paychex have custom pricing. There are three payroll bundles, such as Select, Pro, and Enterprise, aimed at different business types.

• Select: This plan suits small businesses and provides features like direct deposit pay solutions like card, credit, and on-site check printing.
• Pro: This plan offers more workforce management features like unemployment and workers’ comp services. You also get a general ledger to quickly transfer payroll data to accounting software to create customizable and flexible reports and improve your business operations.
• Enterprise: Besides the features above, you can access performance and document management. You can also access the payroll preview, which helps you reduce payroll discrepancies and costly corrections.

Paychex Flex does not offer a free plan or trial.

Paychex Flex is suitable for businesses looking to simplify and streamline payroll processing. The platform offers direct support, compliance, and automation to make payroll easy to manage.

• HR Policy Management: Create and enforce payroll policies across your business. Bambee also handles every HR task to free managers up to attend to business strategies.
• Dedicated HR Manager: Bambee provides a dedicated HR manager to guide your HR processes, policies, and compliance issues.
• Training: Right from onboarding to navigating labor laws, Bambee helps you clarify all questions about labor regulation compliance. You can also show your employees how to comply with tax and employment laws.

Bambee has five paid plans based on your number of employees. If you exceed the upper limit, you can get custom pricing and choose the features you need.

• No employees yet—This is a budget-friendly plan that’s designed to establish businesses and help them create a compliant hiring policy. With this plan, you’ll have access to the Bambee HR software, a select number of policies, and fundamental customer support.
• 1- 4 Employees: This is suitable for small businesses with 1 to 4 employees seeking tools to manage HR processes. Its features are similar to the previous plan but cater to more employees. Here, you have a $500 one-off setup fee, and you can gain access to six policies and a dedicated HR manager.
• 5 – 19 Employees: This plan manages up to 19 employees. Its features are similar to the previous plans, but you get up to four policies, and the set-up fee is still $500.
• 20 – 49 Employees: The main difference is that you get access to eight custom HR policies, but the price jumps by $100/month compared to the previous pricing tier, and the set-up fee is now $1,500. That makes the 20-49 employee tier quite expensive.
• 50 – 70 Employees: This plan suits businesses needing dedicated HR assistance to manage their operations. Its one-time set-up fee is $2,000, and offers 12 custom HR policies.

Each plan has a one-time setup cost except the ‘no employees yet’. The total depends on how many users you need to onboard. Also, there’s no free plan or trial.

Bambee is suitable for small businesses with up to 70 or more employees who require dedicated payroll support thanks to the platform’s guided payroll service. Bambee can handle up to 500 employees.

• Compensation Benchmarking: With this feature, you can gain insights into the salaries you should pay employees based on role, location, and credentials. Its compensation management also allows you to access real-time salary comparisons.
• Benefits: Trinet synchronizes payroll with benefits inside the platform to manage data and payments more efficiently.
• Data Analytics: With its advanced payroll features, you can configure data into easily understood graphs and get actionable insights.

Although TriNet has three monthly plans, payroll is only included in the top tier. You can add it to the lower-cost plans for $6 per employee per month.

• Essentials: This plan caters to small businesses, offering resource management and employee productivity tools. Its features include automated onboarding, employee management, time-off scheduling, an analytics dashboard, integrations, and a mobile app.
• Growth: This plan offers advanced features for small- and mid-scale businesses looking to expand, including configurable people analytics, compensation management, and performance management.
• Zen: This plan is for businesses that need a complete HR feature with payroll and employee management. Its features include all the features from the Essentials and Growth plans plus employee engagement surveys, a people hub, and permanently included payroll.

TriNet offers add-ons for more feature customization. You can add benefits administration for $5 per employee monthly and consultancy services for $8/employee/month.

There is no free plan or trial, but users can book a demo. Also, TriNet offers a 20% discount on its annual plan for a limited time.

TriNet is best for companies focusing on salary and benefits to attract top workers. Organizations needing a full HR platform with payroll functionality can benefit from TriNet as it ensures you’re offering the proper pay and perks.

• Advanced Dashboard: Customize and receive notifications of potential compliance issues. It also includes an employee self-service dashboard, which allows them to access pay stubs and more online or on the mobile app.
• Tax Management: ADP Workforce Now helps you maintain tax compliance as you pay employees confidently. It helps you accurately deduct and file Federal, State, and Local taxes.
• Industry-Specific Payroll Solutions: Get industry-specific payroll solutions for industries such as restaurants, manufacturing, hospitality, healthcare, construction, and more.

ADP Workforce Now has custom pricing based on your business size and requirements. They have three plans which all include payroll and tax filing:

• Select – A range of features including HR, onboarding, document management, and employee engagement.
• Plus – Everything in the Select plan and benefits administration.
• Premium – Access to workforce management tools like scheduling, time tracking, and TO management.

There’s a range of additional modules concerning employee management and development. You can add them all to any plan.

Growing US businesses can benefit from ADP Workforce Now’s scalable payroll solution. You can onboard new employees without exponentially increasing your costs or burdening the finance team.

• Workers’ Compensation: Gusto provides benefits and compensation to protect your team and business in unexpected situations like accidents, illness, or injury. Through Next Insurance, Gusto offers US businesses customized benefits for their team.
• Financial Tools: The wallet function helps employees track, save, and access their money. Employees can also build healthy spending habits using the budget tools that come with the wallet.
• Unlimited & Advanced Payroll: Flexible and unlimited payroll functionality, like flexible payment schedules, reimbursements, paperless paychecks, multiple pay schedules, next-day direct deposit, and multiple states.

Gusto has three main pricing plans to support businesses. See the table below for the full list.

• Simple Plan: This offers streamlined automatic payroll, benefits integration, employee self-service, basic hiring tools, and more—all essential for single-state operations.
• Plus Plan: This builds on the Simple plan with advanced features like multi-state payroll, comprehensive HR tools, time tracking, and performance reviews, all ideal for growing businesses.
• Premium: Gusto’s Premium plan offers more features like compliance alerts, access to certified HR experts, health insurance broker integration and more. It’s suitable for businesses with advanced payroll needs.

While Gusto doesn’t offer a forever free plan, it offers a three-month free trial, providing opportunities to explore the system.

Gusto is suitable for growing businesses in the US that need payroll software to manage employee payments in other states and ensure tax compliance.