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5 Best Payroll Software for Small Businesses

Payroll management is a difficult and time-intensive task that should not be handled manually. In a survey by the NSBA (National Small Business Association) in the U.S., 33% of small businesses said they spend over 80 hours a year on calculating and filing federal taxes which include payroll taxes. 11% of small companies stated they spend more than 10 hours per month on payroll functions. This shows the importance of investing in a quality payroll software solution for small businesses.

Payroll management is an essential task for every firm and accurate processing is vital to ensure employees get the correct salaries they deserve. It takes a lot of time to calculate hours and wages, manage deductions, input the exact payment amounts, and process checks and direct deposits, without making any errors. 33% of businesses make payroll mistakes as per the IRS.

To save time and make your payroll processing accurate, you can buy a complete payroll solution that offers all the needed features. We help you by providing the top features and benefits of the 5 best payroll software tools for small businesses.

1. UZIO

UZIO is an integrated HRIS with payroll services and features, benefits administration, and workers’ compensation modules. You can use it to manage, monitor, and analyze HR, compensation, payroll, and employee benefits tasks. UZIO can be effectively utilized by employers, employees, and brokers. The software offers different features for each user type.

Brokers can use UZIO’s client management hub to handle enrollments and proposals. Employers can utilize a range of specialized features to manage their HR tasks and business processes. Employees are given policy visibility and decision support tools to help them make compliant and right decisions.

Features

Onboarding & off-boarding
Unlimited payroll
Time-off tracking
In-sync with benefits
Automatic salary changes
UZIO Legal
Access to complete benefits
401(K) plans synchronized with payroll
Easy tax administration

Pricing

UZIO offers pricing by quote. Contact them directly to get customized pricing.

2. Paychex Flex

Paychex is a slightly expensive payroll solution but still very popular among small businesses. The platform is robust and can be difficult to set up and use. This is because you need to add plenty of personal data to start with and generating reports entails added costs and red tape. However, it is widely used in a variety of sectors.

Features

Unlimited amount of custom fields
Helpful payroll reminders
Cross-system support for self-service tools and payroll
Excellent export and import capabilities

Pricing

Paychex Flex offers custom pricing based on your needs.

3. Gusto

Gusto stands out for its user-friendliness and for this reason it is a fast-growing payroll solution on the market. The software is simple to install and use, and offers an array of useful features. This makes it a front-runner in the category of payroll software.

Features

Unlimited payroll runs per month
Services offered to both 1099 contractors and W-2 employees
Staff self-service site that includes new hire onboarding
Payroll reminders
Reasonable pricing
Top-notch user experience

Pricing

Gusto offers 4 packages:

Concierge - $149/mo base price + $12/mo per person
Complete - $39/mo base price + $12/mo per person
Core - $39/mo base price + $6/mo per person
Basic - $19/mo base price + $6/mo per person

4. Intuit Online Payroll

Intuit is a payroll software system for providers that process payroll for multiple clients. It functions as a payroll hub that bookkeepers can use to manage all their accounts in a single location. The product integrates effortlessly with other Intuit software tools and Quickbooks. Thus, if you use Quickbooks for accounting, you can run the payroll on Intuit and integrate the two platforms to minimize data entry and errors.

Intuit Online Payroll can be marketed as a white-label product. This means you can market this software as your firm’s payroll solution since your clients would not know that you are using it as a backend for your payroll management.

Features

Customer portal with varying access levels
Ideal for multiple payroll accounts
Affordable cost
Easy to integrate with Quickbooks products

Pricing

Monthly subscribers

Intuit Online Payroll Basic - $35 + $4 per employee
Intuit Online Payroll Enhanced - $50 + $4 per employee and contractor
Intuit Online Full Service Payroll - $115 + $4 per employee and contractor

Annual subscribers

Intuit Online Payroll Basic - $350 + $4 per employee
Intuit Online Payroll Enhanced - $500 + $4 per employee and contractor

5. QuickBooks Online Payroll

QuickBooks is one of the most widely used accounting and payroll software tools. It is popular in North America as well as in the U.K., Australia, and New Zealand. The reason is the product makes payroll management easy even for lay users.

Features

Multiple integrations available
Allows you to do bookkeeping in-house
Versatile software that is used in many industries
Small businesses can afford the reasonable cost
Staff self-service portal
A popular platform that is used for invoices, inventory management, general accounting, and other purposes

Pricing

QuickBooks Online Payroll offers 3 plans:

Core

$22.50/mo
Save 50% for 3 months
+$4/employee per month

Premium

$37.50/mo
Save 50% for 3 months
+$8/employee per month

Elite

$62.50 /mo
Save 50% for 3 months
+$10/employee per month

Conclusion

That then is the lowdown on the 5 best payroll software solutions for small businesses available on the market. Each has its strengths and minus points and you can analyze them minutely to select the right one for your company needs.