Independent · sourced · Updated November 2026
Best HR & Payroll Software (2026)
9 HR & payroll software options compared on price, free tier, compliance and fit — ranked by entry price. Every figure links to the public page it was captured from — the vendor's own wherever the vendor publishes the number, otherwise the named public source — with the date we captured it; where a vendor publishes no monthly price we name the kind of pricing it uses, never a guess.
The cheapest HR & payroll software is Deel at $5/user/mo. All 9 compared below on price, free tier and compliance — every figure sourced and dated, updated November 2026.
As of Nov 1, 2026 · figures linked to their source in the table below
Cite this comparison
Per The Front Desk Review, the cheapest hr & payroll software is Deel at $5/user/mo; across 8 with published pricing the median is $13.50/mo ($5–$50/mo), every figure sourced and dated, as of 2026-11-01. https://frontdeskreview.com/best/hr-payroll-software/ Key takeaways
- Typical paid price: from $5/mo, median $13.50/mo, up to $50/mo — across 8 with published pricing.
- Tracked: 9 vendors, data current through 2026-11-01. STALE · 2026-09-02
Comparison
| # | HR & Payroll Software | Entry price | Free | HIPAA | SOC 2 | Best for | Source | Visit |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Deel STALE · 2026-09-02 | $5/user/mo Deel HR (Core HR) | No | — | Yes | Companies hiring internationally across 110+ countries | deel.com | Visit → |
| 2 | Square Payroll | $6/user/mo Contractor-Only Payroll | No | — | — | Square POS merchants (restaurants, retail, services) wanting payroll in one ecosystem | squareup.com | Visit → |
| 3 | Rippling STALE · 2026-09-02 | $8/user/mo Platform (per-user starting price) | No | — | Yes | Mid-market companies wanting HR + IT unified | rippling.com | Visit → |
| 4 | BambooHR STALE · 2026-09-27 | $10/user/mo Core | No | — | — | SMBs (25–500 employees) standardizing their HRIS | bamboohr.com | Visit → |
| 5 | Patriot Software STALE · 2026-09-29 | $17/mo Basic Payroll | No | — | Yes | Very small businesses (under 20 employees) on a tight budget | patriotsoftware.com | Visit → |
| 6 | Gusto STALE · 2026-09-02 | $35/mo Contractor Only | No | — | — | US-based SMBs running their first payroll | gusto.com | Visit → |
| 7 | OnPay | $49/mo Payroll Essentials | No | — | Yes | Small businesses wanting simple, transparent payroll pricing | onpay.com | Visit → |
| 8 | Justworks STALE · 2026-09-26 | $50/mo Payroll | No | — | — | US startups and SMBs that want big-company benefits at PEO rates | justworks.com | Visit → |
| 9 | ADP RUN STALE · 2026-09-02 | quote-only | No | — | Yes | Small businesses (1–49 employees) wanting a household-name payroll brand | adp.com | Visit → |
Prices are the lowest published self-serve rate, with the period it is charged on, as captured on the linked source. Annual-billing and usage details are on each vendor's record in our open dataset.
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What is the cheapest HR & payroll software?
Deel has the lowest published entry price at $5/user/mo (Deel HR (Core HR)), as of 2026-11-01.
How much does HR & payroll software cost per month?
Across the 8 HR & payroll software with published paid pricing, the median starting price is $13.50/mo, ranging from $5/mo to $50/mo, as of 2026-11-01. 1 are quote-only.
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