Still Doing Payroll in Spreadsheets? 5 Tools That Do It for You, and What Each Publishes on Price

Moving payroll out of a spreadsheet costs as little as $109 a month for ten people on published list prices as of 12 October 2026. OnPay lists $49 base plus $6 per worker, and QuickBooks Workforce Payroll lists $50 plus $7 per employee. Rippling, Paychex and ADP do not publish a price at all, so you have to ask for a quote.

This guide covers five tools, what each one shows publicly, and where the comparison breaks down. It is written for small HR teams and agency owners deciding whether to stop running payroll by hand.

Why replace a payroll spreadsheet at all?

A spreadsheet calculates pay, but it does not file anything. Payroll software vendors sell the filing and deposit work on top of the calculation. ADP says RUN deducts and files federal, state and local payroll taxes and will create and e-file W-2 and 1099 forms on your behalf.

QuickBooks makes a similar claim for its full-service payroll: the company calculates, files and pays payroll taxes and handles garnishments and deductions. These are vendor descriptions of their own products, so confirm the exact scope in writing before you sign.

How much does payroll software cost?

Only two of the five vendors here publish a number. The table shows what each states on its own pages as of 12 October 2026.

For a ten-person business the arithmetic is simple. OnPay is $49 plus $60, or $109 a month. QuickBooks Workforce Payroll is $50 plus $70, or $120 a month at list price. Those are our calculations from the vendors' displayed rates, and they exclude taxes, add-ons and any fees the pages do not show.

What does OnPay charge, and what is included?

OnPay lists Payroll Essentials at $49 base plus $6 per worker, and says pricing starts at $55 a month. The page says W-2s, 1099s and year-end filings are included, along with unlimited pay runs and no implementation or integration fees.

Add-ons are priced separately: HR at $15 base plus $2 per worker, and time tracking at $15 base plus $4 per worker, according to OnPay. One caution: the page cited here is OnPay's pricing page for accountants and bookkeepers, which also advertises partner discounts and revenue sharing for firms with clients. An ordinary employer should confirm the standard rate on OnPay's consumer pricing page.

What does QuickBooks Workforce Payroll charge?

QuickBooks lists three payroll-only tiers: Workforce Payroll at $50 plus $7 per employee, Workforce Premium at $88 plus $13, and Workforce Elite at $134 plus $17. All three carry a "50% off for 3 months" banner, and the displayed promotional prices are $25, $44 and $67 a month in base fee, with the per-employee amount unchanged.

The tiers differ in more than price, per the company:

• Workforce Payroll: next-day direct deposit.
• Premium: same-day direct deposit, time tracking and an expert review of your setup.
• Elite: the above plus expert setup and tax penalty protection of up to $25,000 a year.

The page also states there is no annual contract and you can cancel anytime. The fine print behind the promotion's asterisk and its end date are not shown on the page, so treat the promotional price as temporary.

QuickBooks also sells payroll bundled with accounting on a separate page. That page shows different numbers, for example $88 plus $6.50 per employee with its Simple Start bundle, so make sure you compare the same product when you shop.

What does Rippling say about payroll pricing?

Nothing numeric. Rippling's pricing page says "Tell us what services you need, and we'll send you a custom quote." Its form asks for company size in bands from 1-10 to 1001+ employees and contractors.

Two facts from that page matter for budgeting. Payroll can be bought separately but only alongside the required core Rippling Platform, and most products are billed per employee per month, though some may carry a monthly base fee, according to Rippling. The payroll product page says you can run payroll as often as you need at no extra charge.

What do Paychex and ADP publish?

Neither shows a dollar price. Paychex lists packages named Basic, Foundations, Advanced and Complete, each with a Request Pricing button. Its small-business page describes Basic as "for essential payroll and HR needs" and mentions a Paychex Promise that gives up to 7 days of payroll flexibility.

ADP's RUN page lists four plans: Essential, Enhanced, Complete Payroll & HR+ and HR Pro. Each has a "Get pricing" button. ADP also advertises 3 months of free payroll for new small-business sign-ups, with terms on a separate ADP page that is not covered here.

How should you choose between them?

Match the pricing model to your situation. If you want a number you can budget today, OnPay and QuickBooks give you one. If your payroll involves multiple states, benefits or a larger headcount, the quote-only vendors may price differently, but you cannot tell from their public pages.

A short checklist for a vendor call:

1. Ask for the full monthly cost at your current headcount and at 1.5 times that headcount.
2. Ask what is excluded: year-end forms, state filings, off-cycle runs, setup.
3. Ask how long any promotional price lasts and what the list price is afterward.
4. Ask how the vendor handles year-to-date balances if you start mid-year.
5. Ask for the terms in writing, including cancellation.

What's still unclear?

Several things cannot be settled from public pages. Rippling, Paychex and ADP do not publish prices, so any cost ranking that includes them rests on quotes you would have to collect yourself. The OnPay figures come from its partner-program page, not its standard consumer page. QuickBooks shows different prices on its payroll-only page and its bundled accounting page, and the promotion's end date and conditions are not visible. Prices change often, so check each vendor before you decide.

The weakest point of this article's argument is that list price is only one input. Support quality, accuracy of tax filing and how easily you can export your data matter as much, and none of the vendors' own pages can show you those.