Best Cheap Payroll Solutions for Small Businesses in 2026

Disclosure: Online Paystub is our own product. We ranked it first only for the use case where it is genuinely the lowest-cost option. Below we explain exactly when a full payroll service is the better choice. Prices verified September 2026.

The cheapest way to handle payroll depends on one question: do you want software to file your payroll taxes or are you comfortable paying them yourself?

If you have one or two employees and already pay payroll taxes through the IRS Electronic Federal Tax Payment System (EFTPS), you may not need a monthly payroll subscription at all. If your team is growing or has employees in several states, a full-service provider will usually save you more time than it costs.

This guide compares the true annual cost of each option instead of the advertised starting price, then shows where the cheapest choice changes as your team grows.

Quick Comparison

Prices are regular list prices. Most providers also run introductory discounts or free trials, which lower the first few months but not the long-term cost.

True Annual Cost for 1, 2, 5 and 10 Employees

Advertised prices hide the real comparison. The table below shows what each option costs per year with employees paid biweekly (26 pay periods), using regular list prices.

For a one-employee business that handles its own tax deposits, Online Paystub costs roughly half as much as the cheapest subscription. With two employees it still wins at about $259 a year against $300 for Patriot Basic. At three employees Patriot Basic becomes cheaper ($348 against about $389). By ten employees Online Paystub costs more than Patriot Full Service ($1,044), which also files your taxes. At that size it is roughly level with OnPay and Gusto.

Keep in mind that the comparison is not like for like. Patriot Basic also pays your employees by direct deposit, while Online Paystub only produces the pay stub and leaves the payment itself to you.

How pay frequency moves the break-even point

Because Online Paystub charges per stub, the number of pay dates matters as much as the number of employees. Compared with Patriot Basic, the largest team for which Online Paystub stays cheaper is:

1. Online Paystub: Best for DIY Payroll With 1 to 2 Employees

Price: $4.99 per pay stub. No monthly fee and no contract.

Online Paystub is a pay stub generator, not a full payroll service. You enter wages, hours and deductions. It calculates federal and state withholding, net pay and year-to-date totals, then produces a professional PDF pay stub.

It fits businesses that already pay employees by bank transfer or check and deposit payroll taxes themselves through EFTPS. In that setup the only thing missing is accurate pay stub documentation. Paying a monthly subscription just for that makes little sense.

Pros

• Lowest total cost for 1 to 2 employees on a biweekly or semi-monthly schedule
• Pay only when you run payroll, which suits irregular or seasonal pay
• Automatic tax and year-to-date calculations
• Works for employees as well as independent contractors
• Withholding rules built in for every U.S. state, with state-by-state paystub guides

Cons

• Does not file or deposit payroll taxes
• Does not pay employees directly (no direct deposit)
• No employee portal or HR tools
• Costs more than a subscription from about three employees on a biweekly schedule

Choose it if: you have one or two employees, you handle tax deposits yourself and you want to avoid a monthly bill.

2. Patriot Basic Payroll: Best DIY Subscription for Growing Teams

Price: $17/month + $4 per employee or contractor paid, according to Patriot's pricing page. Workers who are not paid in a given month are not charged.

Patriot Basic calculates payroll and pays employees by direct deposit, but like Online Paystub it leaves tax filing to you. Once you reach three or more employees on a biweekly schedule, its flat base fee makes it cheaper than paying per stub.

• Pros: low base fee, direct deposit, unlimited payroll runs
• Cons: no tax filing, paid add-ons for HR and time tracking

3. Patriot Full Service Payroll: Cheapest Full-Service Option

Price: $37/month + $5 per worker paid.

This plan adds federal, state and local payroll tax filings and deposits. For owners who want taxes handled for them at the lowest price, it is the benchmark: about $504 a year for one employee.

• Pros: tax filing included, low price for a full-service plan
• Cons: fewer HR features than Gusto or OnPay

4. OnPay: Best for Multi-State and Contractor Payroll

Price: $49/month + $6 per worker. The HR add-on costs $15/month + $2 per worker, according to OnPay's pricing page.

OnPay's Payroll Essentials plan includes federal, state and local tax filings, unlimited pay runs, payroll in as many states as you need, contractor payments and year-end W-2 and 1099 forms. Watch the add-ons: HR tools and time tracking are billed separately.

• Pros: multi-state payroll included, strong contractor support
• Cons: HR features cost extra

5. Gusto Simple: Best for Payroll Plus Basic HR

Price: $49/month + $6 per person, according to Gusto's pricing page.

Gusto Simple includes unlimited payroll runs, tax filings and payments, plus core HR features such as onboarding. It suits small teams in a single state that want payroll and light HR in one place. Multi-state payroll requires the Plus plan at $80/month + $12 per person.

• Pros: polished interface, tax filing included, HR basics
• Cons: single-state only on Simple, advanced features need higher tiers

6. QuickBooks Payroll: Best for QuickBooks Users

Price: Intuit now sells payroll bundled with QuickBooks Online. The entry bundle, Payroll with Simple Start, lists at $88/month + $6.50 per employee at its regular price, with higher tiers at $10 or $12 per employee. Introductory discounts are common, so check the regular price before you commit.

QuickBooks Payroll makes the most sense if your books already live in QuickBooks, since payroll data flows straight into your accounting. Every bundle includes full-service payroll tax filing.

• Pros: native accounting integration, tax filing included
• Cons: highest total cost in this comparison, since the accounting subscription is part of the price

How We Ranked These Options

We ranked options by true annual cost for a small business, then by what each one actually includes. Our criteria:

• Total cost for 1, 2, 5 and 10 employees, including required add-ons
• Whether payroll tax filing is included
• Pricing transparency and hidden fees
• Fit for common small business situations

We did not rank Online Paystub against full-service providers on features it does not offer. It ranks first only because it is the lowest-cost option for DIY payroll with very small teams.

Pay Stub Generator or Payroll Service: Which Do You Need?

How to Calculate Your Real Payroll Cost

For subscriptions:

Annual cost = (Base fee × 12) + (Per-worker fee × Employees × 12) + Add-ons

For Online Paystub:

Annual cost = $4.99 × Employees × Pay periods per year

Pay periods per year: weekly 52, biweekly 26, semi-monthly 24, monthly 12.

For example, three employees paid biweekly cost $17 × 12 + $4 × 3 × 12 = $348 a year on Patriot Basic, against $4.99 × 3 × 26 = $389.22 with Online Paystub.

What You Still Handle When You Do Payroll Yourself

If you choose Online Paystub or Patriot Basic, you remain responsible for:

• Depositing federal income tax withholding plus Social Security and Medicare taxes through EFTPS
• Filing Form 941 quarterly (or Form 944 annually if the IRS has told you to)
• Filing Form 940 for federal unemployment tax
• State withholding and unemployment filings
• Issuing Form W-2 to each employee by January 31

The IRS Employment Taxes page explains each requirement. For a one-employee business the quarterly work is usually modest. If it sounds like too much, a full-service plan is worth the extra cost.