State of Payroll Software in the United States, Q3 2026

We track 12 payroll software providers in the United States: 9 with a published price and 3 quoting on request. Every price below comes from the vendor's own pricing page as our records stood on 1 Oct 2026, and this page will not be updated as those prices change.

How many payroll software providers publish a price?

A provider counts as publishing a price when its pricing page gives enough to estimate a monthly bill without contacting sales. One that shows a headline or starting rate and quotes for the rest is counted as quoting on request. On that test, 75% of this market can be priced without asking.

Each figure above counts every provider that publishes that one number, including any that quote for the rest of their pricing, so the sample behind each figure differs.

What does payroll software cost in the United States?

Estimated monthly bill at each business size in the table, from the same cost engine as our live comparison table. Providers that quote on request are left out; an unknown price is never counted as zero.

For the largest business size in the table (growing business), the dearest option with a published price costs 4.2 times the cheapest, $580 against $137 a month.

How we compiled this report

Prices come from vendors' own pricing pages only, never from review sites or directories, and no commercial relationship with a vendor changes a figure here. Definitions, limitations and corrections: how we compile these reports.

Conclusion

Payroll pricing in the United States is easy to read at small headcounts. Nine of the twelve providers publish a price, and at one employee the modeled bill runs $29 to $56.50 a month, about 1.9 times between cheapest and most expensive. At four employees it is $57 to $116, about 2.0 times. A business that size is choosing within a narrow band and can decide on features rather than price.

The band opens at twenty employees: $137 to $580, about 4.2 times, with a median of $199. The top of that range is twenty employees at the highest published per-employee fee, $29, with nothing added. The median per-employee fee is $6.50, which is why most of the market sits well below that ceiling, and the base fee, $0 to $50 with a median of $37, matters at one employee and stops mattering soon after.

The two fee components pull in opposite directions as a business grows. A high base fee with a low per-employee rate tends to be the expensive option for a sole operator and the cheap one at twenty staff; a low base fee with a high per-employee rate is the reverse. The published figures make that trade-off visible, which is more than can be said for the three providers that quote on request.