Best Paychex alternatives in 2024

Rippling is a software provider offering cloud-based human resources, IT and finance products. Its products include:

• U.S. and global payroll.
• Automated onboarding and offboarding.
• Compliance.
• Time tracking.
• Benefits administration.
• Recruiting tools.
• Learning management.

Rippling offers four Core plans which offer primarily workforce management, automation and HR tools. Plans start at $8 per user per month, but you have to work with a Rippling sales rep to get personalized pricing for your team.

On the other hand, Paychex offers three plans. The Select plan offers fewer features than the other two plans  — Pro and Enterprise — but pricing information isn’t readily available on its website.

Rippling tools come as modules and add-ons you can mix and match to meet your company’s HR needs. Its features are accessible with a single sign-on. The combination of offerings and competitive pricing make it a top choice for businesses of all sizes.

Paychex does offer a lot of features, however, many of its features are only offered as an add-on, adding more costs on top of the monthly and per user fees. For example, advanced documentation features are included in Rippling’s plans, while it would incur an additional fee for Paychex users.

Patriot could be a better choice than Paychex if you’re looking to spend as little as possible. Patriot Software offers a competitively priced payroll system starting at $17 per month plus $4 per worker. If you want Patriot to handle payroll taxes for your business, the price jumps to $37 per month plus $4 per employee, which is still a good deal compared to similar plans from competitors.

If you want online payroll processing and tax filing features with Paychex, however, you have to at least purchase the Select plan. Prices for this plan aren’t readily available on the company’s website; it is customized based on your business.

Patriot payroll includes features like:

• Direct deposit.
• Workers’ compensation integration.
• Varying pay frequencies.
• Multi-location payroll.
• Time-off accruals.
• W2 generation.
• 401(k) integration.

It also works with 1099 contractors, as does Paychex in its basic plan.

Additionally, Patriot offers accounting software with competitive pricing. You can test out the software for 30 days for free to decide if it’s a good fit for your business. There’s also no long-term contract, so you can switch to another provider at any time. Paychex doesn’t offer a free trial or any accounting software add-ons.

Gusto is an excellent pick for small businesses looking to save time on payroll management, and is our pick as the best payroll provider for automation. Plans start at $40 per month plus $6 per person for businesses that only need to pay employees in one state. If you need to pay employees in two or more states, you will have to purchase the $80 per month plus $12 per person plan.

Gusto’s plans are a bit more expensive than Paychex’s, with Paychex plans starting at $39 per month plus $5 per employee. However, this is more difficult to determine since Paychex’s Select and Pro plans don’t offer pricing online.

The benefits add-on from Gusto helps you administer insurance, retirement plans, workers’ compensation, health savings accounts (HSAs) and flexible spending accounts (FSAs) accounts and commuter benefits. HR tools include job postings, applicant tracking, onboarding, performance reviews, employee handbooks and HR reporting.

Paychex does integrate your payroll with HR in its basic plan, however, its employee handbook builder is only available with its highest tier plan and not via an optional add-on. It does offer onboarding features on its basic plan, as well as offering job posting integration and applicant tracking as add-ons, among other features. But, unlike Gusto, the HR add-ons aren’t bundled together; rather, most of them are offered as a separate add-on with a separate cost.

Gusto works well for businesses with a single employee-owner, small businesses, mid-sized businesses or contractor-only payments. You can view a demo system to learn how it works, but you must provide your contact information to get in.

Learn more in our Gusto vs. Paychex comparison.

QuickBooks is an industry leader for accounting software, acting as a de facto standard for many small- to mid-sized companies. It is our top pick for integrations, as QuickBooks comes with a huge marketplace of integrations with other software tools and has payroll built into the same software as used for accounting. Paychex only offers integrations as add-ons.

QuickBooks Payroll is a strong offering for small businesses using QuickBooks accounting, closely tied to the popular bookkeeping software. Paychex does offer accounting integrations, but only as add-ons, and it is unclear how robust those options are. It does, however, offer a QuickBooks Online package.

QuickBooks Payroll starts at $45 per month plus $6 per employee per month. The full-service payroll system includes tax filings and automatic payroll tools. 

It’s not the cheapest option, but the close integration with QuickBooks makes it a reasonable choice for some businesses looking to keep their finances in one place. Other payroll features include partner-based tools for workers’ compensation coverage and tracking, health benefits and 401(k) plans. Paychex also offers these products as add-ons.

Roll by ADP is owned by ADP, one of the largest payroll providers for large enterprises. Roll by ADP is the small business version and costs $39 per month plus $5 per employee per month. 

It comes with a mobile app, including a text-based assistant to run payroll cycles and ask questions. It’s our top pick for the best payroll mobile app. Paychex offers multiple apps, which might make it confusing.

Roll includes a huge feature list, with highlights including payroll tax withholdings and filings, payments for 1099 workers, payroll for workers who work and live in different states, accounting integration, tipped wage support, payroll reports for businesses and accountants and benefit and retirement deductions and garnishments.

Paychex only offers accounting software as an add-on instead of it being included in the basic plan. Roll by ADP also offers same-day and next-day direct deposit, which Paychex doesn’t offer.

New users can start with three months free, while Paychex doesn’t offer any free trials. It’s mobile-friendly, enabling you to handle payroll cycles using a chat-based app. Once you’re onboarded, you can run payroll in under a minute, and it takes about 15 minutes to install the app and enter your company information to get started.

Paychex does offer multiple apps, but it doesn’t offer a text-based assistant to run payroll. However, you can run payroll from your desktop or mobile device.