A payroll service costs a small business $35 to $49 a month, plus $6 for each person paid, at the three providers we found that publish a price: Square Payroll ($35 + $6 a person), Gusto Simple ($49 + $6) and OnPay ($49 + $6). For a business paying five people, that comes to $65 to $79 a month. Gusto's higher plans cost $80 + $12 and $180 + $22 a person. ADP and Paychex do not publish prices; both ask you to request a quote.
For a business that only pays contractors, Square charges $6 a month per contractor paid, with no base fee.
How much does a payroll service cost per month?
$35 to $49 a month, plus $6 for every person you pay, at the three providers that publish prices. Square Payroll's full-service plan is $35 a month plus $6 a person. Gusto's Simple plan and OnPay's base plan are each $49 a month plus $6 a person. All three include unlimited pay runs.
| Provider and plan | Base, per month | Per person, per month | What the page says it covers |
|---|---|---|---|
| Square Payroll, full-service | $35 | $6 | Unlimited pay runs, automated tax filings |
| Gusto, Simple | $49 | $6 | "Run basic payroll in one state." |
| OnPay, Payroll Essentials | $49 | $6 | Full-service payroll, unlimited pay runs, multi-state payroll |
| Gusto, Plus | $80 | $12 | Adds multi-state payroll, time tracking |
| Gusto, Premium | $180 | $22 | "A named advisor as you scale" |
| Square Payroll, contractor-only | $0 | $6 | Pays contractors only |
| ADP RUN, Paychex | Not published | Not published | Both pages ask you to request pricing |
Each provider's own pricing page, 22 October 2026. None of the pages prints a date. OnPay sells HR and time tracking as add-ons.
The $6 a person is the part that grows. It is charged for each person on the payroll, so a business that adds staff pays more every month without changing plans.
Bookkeeping is the monthly service small businesses pay a person for, next to their payroll. The QuickBooks Bookkeeping Service walkthrough lays it out step by step.
How much does payroll cost for 5 or 10 employees?
$65 to $79 a month for five people, and $95 to $109 for ten, at the cheapest published plan from each provider. Square is the lowest at both sizes because its base fee is $14 lower. On Gusto's Plus plan, which adds multi-state payroll, five people cost $140 a month and ten cost $200.
| Plan | 1 person | 5 people | 10 people | 5 people, per year |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Square Payroll | $41 | $65 | $95 | $780 |
| Gusto Simple | $55 | $79 | $109 | $948 |
| OnPay | $55 | $79 | $109 | $948 |
| Gusto Plus | $92 | $140 | $200 | $1,680 |
| Gusto Premium | $202 | $290 | $400 | $3,480 |
Our arithmetic: base fee plus the per-person fee times the number of people paid, at the monthly prices on each provider's page on 22 October 2026.
The cheapest plan is not always the right one. Gusto says its Simple plan runs payroll in one state, so a business with a remote worker in another state needs Plus or OnPay's base plan, which lists multi-state payroll.
How much does payroll cost for contractors only?
$6 a month per contractor paid at Square, with no base fee. Square's contractor-only plan pays contractors "directly within the Payroll section of your online Square Dashboard." A business paying three contractors a month pays $18.
The extra cost to watch is the year-end paperwork. Square charges an annual fee of $3 per form if you choose to have paper W-2s or 1099s mailed. How contractor income is taxed on the other side is in side hustle tax explained.
Why pay for payroll when you could do it yourself?
Because a late tax deposit costs 2% to 15% of the unpaid amount. The IRS failure-to-deposit penalty is 2% for a deposit 1 to 5 days late, 5% for 6 to 15 days, 10% for more than 15 days, and 15% if it is still unpaid more than 10 days after the first IRS notice. A payroll service files and deposits the taxes on schedule.
On a $2,000 deposit, those penalties are $40, $100, $200 and $300. A single late deposit at the 10% level costs more than two months of Square Payroll for five people. The IRS also notes the penalties "don’t add up": a deposit more than 15 days late is charged 10%, not 2% + 5% + 10%.
The other comparison is a person. The BLS median wage for payroll and timekeeping clerks was $28.01 an hour in May 2025, or $58,260 a year. Software does not do all of a payroll clerk's job, but for a business with five people, the software covers the part that has deadlines and penalties for about $65 to $79 a month.
Do ADP and Paychex publish their prices?
No. Neither page shows a dollar figure, where Square, Gusto and OnPay show $35 to $49 a month plus $6 a person. ADP's page for RUN, its small business payroll product, offers "Get Pricing" and "Get a quote". Paychex's small business payroll page offers "Request Pricing".
A quoted price can be fine. It just means the number depends on the conversation, and you cannot compare it with the published prices above until you have had one. Ask for the base fee, the per-person fee, and the cost of year-end forms in writing.
What does a $79 payroll service still leave for you to do?
The inputs, every pay run. A payroll service at $65 to $79 a month for five people does the calculation, the tax deposits and the filings. Someone still has to enter the hours, add each new hire with their tax details, and check the numbers before the money goes out.
In a small business, that is the owner or whoever keeps the books. If a bookkeeper does it, it becomes part of what they charge; what bookkeepers charge each month is in how much bookkeepers charge. For someone starting a bookkeeping business, see how to start a bookkeeping business and what it costs to start one.
The honest hard part
The price is not the hard part. At $65 to $79 a month for five people, payroll software is one of the cheapest services a small business buys. The hard part is the setup: getting each employee's tax details, bank accounts and state registrations right the first time.
The second hard part is that the published price is not always the whole price. Gusto and OnPay both sell add-ons, OnPay lists HR at an extra $15 base and $2 a person, and Square charges for mailed forms. Check which features you need before comparing plans.
The third is that the cheapest plan can be the wrong one. A business that hires in a second state on Gusto Simple has to move to Plus, and the monthly cost for five people goes from $79 to $140.
