Recommended Payroll Services Reviews

Remote is a modern global employment platform designed to help businesses of all sizes—from early-stage startups to Fortune 500 companies—hire, manage, and pay international talent. Founded in 2019 by Job van der Voort (former VP of Product at GitLab) and Marcelo Lebre, the company was built on the premise that talent is everywhere, but opportunity is not. Unlike many competitors that act as “aggregators” (outsourcing your employees to third-party partners), Remote builds and owns its own legal entities in the countries where it operates. This “owned-infrastructure” model allows them to offer superior intellectual property protection, flat-rate pricing without hidden fees, and faster service since they don’t rely on middlemen. Headquartered as a fully distributed “remote-first” company itself, Remote has rapidly grown into a tech unicorn (valued at over $3 billion) and is backed by leading investors like Sequoia, Accel, and Index Ventures. Their mission is to simplify global compliance, payroll, benefits, and equity management, enabling any business to build a truly global workforce.

TriNet is a prominent all-in-one HR and payroll, solution provider. Founded in California in 1988, TriNet has evolved into a professional employment organization that assists the entities in managing their employees, right from the point of recruitment. Its payroll services are ideal for small and medium-sized businesses and include debit and direct payroll processing. TriNet also offers an employee management platform, which allows businesses to automatically update employee info upon change. Online W-2 preparation and submission alongside online pay stubs make this software a profitable alternative to manual payroll processing.

FreshBooks is a leading cloud-based accounting software designed for freelancers, small businesses, and anyone new to accounting. Founded in 2003 by 2ndSite Inc. and headquartered in Toronto, Canada, FreshBooks has become a brilliant solution for simplifying financial management. With an intuitive interface and a brilliant range of features, FreshBooks makes handling tasks like invoicing, expense tracking, time tracking, mileage tracking, and double-entry accounting straightforward. Its subscription-based model includes tools such as accounts payable, fixed asset depreciation, payroll integrations, and detailed business reporting, catering to professionals across various industries. Accessible via desktop and mobile, FreshBooks ensures all financial data is securely stored in the cloud on a unified ledger, allowing users to work seamlessly from anywhere. It supports multiple tax rates, currencies, and country-specific tax calculations, including GST, HST, and MTD compliance, making it a global solution for small business needs. With consumer-friendly pricing and a free API for third-party integrations, FreshBooks delivers brilliant solutions to simplify business finances while supporting growth and productivity.

Patriot Software is a US-based provider of online accounting and payroll solutions designed specifically for American small business owners and their accountants. The company’s founder, Mike Kappel, started in 1986 with other startups, with Patriot being his fifth. The brand has since remained privately owned and served over 60,000 customers in the US, particularly small business owners. It has over 180 workers across 30 states. Patriot offers two main cloud-based products: Patriot Accounting and Patriot Payroll. Both are standalone products. The Payroll solution handles basic payroll tasks as well as tax filing (with higher-tier plan). The software is engineered for speed, with the company boasting that customers can run payroll in under three minutes. Key features include unlimited payroll runs, free direct deposit, and a mobile-friendly employee portal that lets workers access pay stubs and W-2s. Businesses can also customize the platform with add-ons for Time & Attendance and HR management, or integrate it with other tools they use.

NetSuite SuitePeople is an offering that aims to simplify important HR and payroll processes. The company is owned by global cloud software giant Oracle, showcasing its trustworthiness and quality. NetSuite provides a wide range of different useful cloud-based business applications, covering everything from payroll to accounting, CRMs, and ERPs. It has been in business since 1998 and it currently serves over 24,000 customers of varying shapes and sizes. This review will focus on NetSuite’s payroll offering.

Payroll, HR, and benefits all go hand-in-hand with each other. So when there’s a platform that offers all of them, it’s often an excellent choice. Zenefits is an HR platform that offers payroll as a paid add-on at a great price. Zenefits calls itself a People Operations Platform to indicate its broad focus on all things relating to your employees. It’s been around since 2013 and was named the fastest-growing software tech company in history in 2014. In 2016, it launched its payroll add-on to provide a more comprehensive solution to its customers. Should you consider Zenefits for your payroll and HR? It makes a compelling case for itself, but you can learn the details below.

Square was founded in 2009 by Jack Dorsey and Jim McKelvey to give small businesses a simple way to accept card payments using a mobile device. Since then, it has evolved into a comprehensive suite of business tools covering everything from point of sale and eCommerce to banking, payroll, and team management. Today, Square serves millions of businesses around the world, offering cloud-based software, hardware, and services designed to streamline operations, improve cash flow, and help business owners grow. Whether you’re a retailer, restaurateur, service provider, or freelancer, Square offers solutions built to meet your needs at every stage of your business.

Sage is a global enterprise software company that provides a range of business management software solutions to businesses of all sizes. The company’s products include HR, payroll, customer relationship management (CRM), and human capital management (HCM) software. Sage was founded in 1981 and is headquartered in the United Kingdom. The company has over 2 million customers in over 170 countries. Sage’s products are available in over 40 languages. Sage’s cloud-based software solutions are designed to help businesses of all sizes manage their finances, operations, and people. The company’s products are easy to use and scalable, so they can grow with businesses as they need.

OnPay Payroll is a cloud-based application service that provides a comprehensive package of features designed to make time-consuming payroll and bookkeeping tasks easier.  A good deal of the core of OnPay’s options is designed for small businesses but even for medium-sized firms, there are plenty of advantages.