What Payroll Services Cost for a Small Business (2026)

Payroll services for a very small business charge a monthly base fee plus a per-employee fee. As of October 6, 2026, published plans start at $17 a month plus $4 per employee at Patriot Software (where you file the taxes yourself), $37 plus $5 for Patriot's full-service plan, and $49 plus $6 at Gusto and OnPay. On those full-service plans, that comes to roughly $42 to $55 a month for one employee and $87 to $109 for ten, so a one-person payroll pays far more per head than the per-employee fee suggests. ADP publishes no price and quotes each business, and if the business has no EIN yet, that comes first: ZenBusiness includes the EIN from its Pro plan and routes payroll to ADP.

Why the headline price misleads in both directions

Nearly every payroll provider prices the same way: a fixed monthly base fee for the account, plus a fee for each person paid. The base fee covers running payroll and, on full-service plans, the tax filings. The per-employee fee scales with headcount.

That structure makes the advertised number misleading for very small payrolls, and the direction depends on headcount. For a single employee, the base fee is almost the whole bill. Gusto's "$6 per person" turns into $55 a month, which is $55 per head, roughly nine times the per-person figure. For ten employees, the “$49 a month” headline understates the real bill by more than half: it is $109, or about $10.90 per head.

The practical rule is to do the math at your own headcount, then again at the headcount you expect in a year. A plan with a low base fee and a high per-head fee wins at one employee and can lose at fifteen.

What the entry plans cost at one, five and ten employees

Providers are listed alphabetically, not ranked. Totals are the base fee plus per-employee fees as of October 6, 2026, before add-ons, state charges or promotions.

Provider-by-provider pricing, in alphabetical order

The entries below are alphabetical. That order is not a ranking, and the "best for" line in each entry is where the editorial judgment sits.

ADP

ADP does not publish payroll pricing. It quotes each business individually, so no honest comparison page can give an ADP figure. Its small-business product, RUN Powered by ADP, is built for businesses with 1 to 49 employees. The only way to compare ADP against the published prices above is to get a written quote at your headcount and put it next to the table.

Best for: a business that prefers to talk a quote through with a representative rather than pick a plan off a pricing page.

Gusto

Gusto publishes three tiers as of October 6, 2026: Simple at $49 a month plus $6 per person, Plus at $80 plus $12, and Premium at $180 plus $22. The per-person fee rises sharply between tiers, which matters more than the base fee once a team grows. At ten people, Simple costs $109 a month and Plus costs $200, so the upgrade nearly doubles the bill.

Best for: a small team that wants clear tiers to move between as it grows, and that has checked the per-person cost of the next tier before it needs it.

OnPay

OnPay publishes a single price: $49 a month plus $6 per worker as of October 6, 2026. Its public page quotes a starting price of $55 a month, which is that base fee plus one worker. Its totals match Gusto's Simple plan at every headcount.

Best for: a business that wants one published price with no tier decision to make.

Patriot Software

Patriot Software has the lowest published prices on this page as of October 6, 2026. Basic Payroll is $17 a month plus $4 per employee, and Full Service is $37 a month plus $5. On Basic Payroll, the business handles its own payroll tax filings. Full Service hands those filings to Patriot, which is the fairer comparison against Gusto and OnPay.

Best for: the tightest budget at the very bottom end. On price alone, Patriot is the cheapest published option here at every headcount in the table.

QuickBooks Payroll

QuickBooks Payroll sells payroll bundled with QuickBooks Online accounting. The ongoing prices as of October 6, 2026 are $88 a month plus $6.50 per employee for Workforce Payroll with Simple Start, $125 plus $6.50 with Essentials, and $203 plus $10 for Workforce Premium with Plus. QuickBooks also runs a promotion of 50% off the base fee for the first three months. The full base fee applies from month four.

Best for: a business that wants accounting and payroll from one vendor and is comparing the bundle against a separate accounting tool plus a cheaper payroll plan.

SurePayroll

SurePayroll starts at $29 a month plus $7 per worker as of October 6, 2026. A multi-state add-on costs $9.99 a month, and household payroll starts at $39 a month. Its low base and higher per-worker fee make it cheaper than Gusto's Simple plan below 20 workers, and the two cost the same at exactly 20.

Best for: household employers, and very small teams that sit comfortably under the 20-worker crossover.

ZenBusiness

ZenBusiness does not run payroll, and it has no payroll price. What it sells is the part that has to exist before payroll: formation (Starter at $0 plus state fees, Pro at $199 a year, Premium at $299 a year as of October 6, 2026), a registered agent at $199 a year, the EIN, bookkeeping through Money Pro at $30 a month, and a website at $129 a year. The EIN and an operating agreement are included from Pro up and cost $99 each on Starter. State fees are set by each state, vary, and are separate from ZenBusiness's price. For payroll itself, ZenBusiness refers customers to ADP, which prices it separately.

Best for: someone who has not formed the business or does not have an EIN yet, and wants formation, compliance, bookkeeping and a payroll referral from one place.

One-person payrolls: the S corporation case

The one-employee bill at the top of the table is not only for businesses with a single hire. An S corporation whose only worker is its owner can still need payroll. The IRS states that an S corporation must pay reasonable compensation to a shareholder-employee for services before non-wage distributions may be made. It also says it has the authority to reclassify payments made as distributions into wages.

For that owner, the base fee is almost the entire cost. A year of Patriot Software's Full Service plan at one employee is $504, and a year of Gusto Simple or OnPay is $660, at October 6, 2026 prices. That is the number to weigh, not the per-employee fee.

Contractors, employees and the cost of choosing wrong

The per-employee fee is not a reason to pay someone as a contractor. The IRS decides worker status on control, not on a label or a contract. It weighs three categories, behavioral control, financial control and the type of relationship, and says there is no set number of factors that makes a worker an employee or a contractor, and that no single factor decides it.

Getting it wrong costs more than any payroll plan. The IRS says an employer who classifies an employee as an independent contractor without a reasonable basis may be held liable for employment taxes for that worker. A business that is genuinely unsure can file Form SS-8 to ask the IRS to decide, but the IRS warns that a determination can take at least six months.

What has to exist before the first payroll run

The IRS says businesses generally need an EIN to hire employees, so no payroll provider can set up payroll without one. The IRS issues EINs itself, free of charge, through its online application, and says to form a corporation or LLC with the state before applying. What a formation service charges for is handling the application alongside the rest of the setup, and ZenBusiness includes the EIN from its Pro plan or sells it for $99 on Starter.

The bank account comes next. The IRS guide to starting a business, Publication 583, names opening a business checking account as one of the first things to do and says to keep it separate from personal accounts. That puts three steps ahead of any payroll fee: forming the entity, getting the EIN and opening the business account.

ZenBusiness lays out how its customers get from there to payroll: a customer requests the connection from the ZenBusiness dashboard, an ADP representative follows up about employee count and pay schedule, and ADP provides a quote for RUN Powered by ADP. ZenBusiness customers may be eligible for promotional pricing, which is confirmed in that consultation, is not guaranteed, and generally excludes state filing fees and add-ons.

The boundary matters. ZenBusiness states plainly that ADP is a separate service with its own platform, billing and support, and payroll, tax filings and day-to-day management all happen in ADP's system. For a business not yet formed, that is a reasonable route: one company handles the setup, and a provider built for payroll runs it.

Paperwork no payroll service removes

A payroll service processes the information it is given, and some of that information has to come from the employer at hiring. The IRS says all U.S. employers must complete Form I-9 for every person they hire. It also says to ask every new employee for a signed Form W-4 when they start and to make it effective with the first wage payment.

A W-4 stays in effect until the employee hands in a new one. When a replacement arrives, the IRS says withholding under it must begin no later than the start of the first payroll period ending on or after the 30th day from receipt. The employer also needs each employee's name and Social Security number for Form W-2.

Costs the monthly fee does not cover

The provider's price is not the full cost of having employees. State unemployment insurance and workers' compensation are set by state law and vary sharply from state to state. The SBA's guide to hiring points employers to their own state's requirements, and that is the right place to check, since no national figure applies.

Pay frequency is also a state matter. The Department of Labor’s summary of state payday rules shows how much the minimums vary, and the DOL tells readers to confirm them with their state labor office. California requires wages at least twice per calendar month on days designated in advance, Colorado requires pay at least once a month, and Connecticut requires weekly pay unless the labor commissioner approves a longer interval. Before choosing a plan, confirm that it handles the state’s schedule, and price in add-ons such as SurePayroll’s $9.99 multi-state fee if employees work in more than one state.

Recordkeeping is the employer's job whoever runs payroll. The Department of Labor's FLSA recordkeeping fact sheet requires payroll records to be kept for three years. Records that wage calculations are based on, including time cards and wage rate tables, must be kept for two years. If a provider stores these records, check how to export them before switching or canceling.

How to compare payroll quotes

Work out each plan's monthly total at your headcount today and at your expected headcount in a year. Compare full-service plans with full-service plans, since a plan that leaves tax filings to the employer is cheaper because it does less. Where a provider leads with a promotion, compare the price from month four onward.

For ADP, or any provider that quotes rather than publishes, ask for the quote in writing at your headcount and pay schedule, with add-ons listed separately. A quote that cannot be set next to a published price is not yet a quote you can compare.

This article is general information, not legal, tax or accounting advice, and requirements vary by state and change over time.