Cheapest is a trap unless you measure the real cost. Payroll is priced as a base fee plus a charge per employee, so the headline number means nothing until you plug in your team size — and the cheap-looking quotes from the big providers often hide fees that land later. We reweighted our rubric around effective cost and price transparency, then ranked seven tools by what you will actually pay.
For a cheapest ranking we weight effective monthly cost most — base fee plus the per-employee charge for a real team size — then price transparency, because a number you can only get from a sales call is not a price. We also check that full-service tax filing is genuinely included. The cheapest tool is the one with no surprises, not the lowest sticker. See the full rubric →
Real monthly cost (base + per-employee)35%
Transparent pricing, no hidden fees25%
Full-service tax filing included20%
No forced upsell or lock-in10%
Ease & support10%
01
RANK
★ Editor’s Choice
Gusto
Best real value
Gusto wins because the price on the page is the price you pay. Simple is $40/mo plus $6 per employee, full-service tax filing included, no setup fee and no sales call. For a small team that is among the lowest real costs here once you count tax filing — a five-person shop runs about $70/mo, all in. It is not the rock-bottom sticker, but it is the cheapest number you can trust.
Justworks has the lowest entry price here: payroll-only is about $8 per employee per month with no base fee, so a tiny team can start for very little. The honest catch is that Justworks is built to sell you its PEO — the bundled benefits-and-compliance model at $79 and up per employee — so the cheap payroll tier is the on-ramp, not the destination. Great if you only need payroll; watch the upsell.
Rippling starts around $8 per employee for core HR and adds payroll as a module, so the per-person math can be very low. Two caveats keep it out of the top spot for cheapness: the modules stack up quickly, and you cannot see your real price without a custom quote. Excellent platform; not the one to pick if a transparent, all-in number is what you are after.
BambooHR's per-employee pricing looks affordable, but the headline buys HR — the hiring, records and time-off side — not payroll. Payroll is a paid add-on, so the real cost once you switch it on is higher than the sticker suggests. Worth it if you want strong HR tooling and will pay for payroll on top; misleading if you compared its base price against full-service payroll tools.
Deel is the value leader for one specific job: paying contractors and employees in other countries without setting up foreign entities. For a purely domestic small business it is more machine than you need, and its strength — global payroll and EOR — is priced for that scale. If your whole team is in one country, the cheaper, simpler tools above will serve you better.
ADP RUN can look cheap in the pitch — a low promo rate, sometimes months free — but the list price is higher, with Essential starting around $79/mo plus per-employee fees, and add-ons for reports and tax forms are where the bill grows. ADP does not publish full pricing, so you negotiate. Powerful and reliable at scale; the opposite of cheap once the promotion ends.
Paychex publishes almost no pricing — every real number comes from a sales conversation — and buyers routinely report add-on fees for year-end forms, multi-state filing and more. There is a capable product underneath, but for a small business chasing the lowest honest price, opaque quote-based pricing with surprise fees is exactly what to avoid. Get every fee in writing before you sign.
What is actually the cheapest payroll software here?
It depends on your team size, which is the whole point. On pure sticker price, Justworks payroll-only at about $8 per employee with no base fee is the lowest entry cost, and Rippling's per-employee rate is similar. But once you require full-service tax filing with no surprises, Gusto at $40/mo plus $6 per employee is the cheapest number you can actually trust. For one to five employees, those three are your real shortlist.
Is there a truly free payroll option?
Not among the established full-service providers, and you should be suspicious of anything advertised as free. Running payroll means filing and paying taxes correctly, and that work costs something. The genuinely low-cost route is a transparent tool like Gusto or a no-base-fee tier like Justworks payroll-only — not a free product. Treat months-free promotions as marketing: check the price after the promo ends, because that is what you pay all year.
Why do ADP and Paychex rank low on a cheapest list?
Because you cannot trust the price. Both hide full pricing behind a sales quote, lead with promotions, and add fees for things smaller competitors include — year-end tax forms, multi-state filing, reports. They are strong products built for larger or more complex payrolls, but for a small business hunting the lowest honest cost, quote-based pricing with add-on surprises is the bait-and-switch this ranking is designed to flag.
Does cheaper payroll mean my taxes might not get filed correctly?
Not if you pick a full-service tool. Gusto, Rippling, Justworks, ADP and Paychex all file and pay your payroll taxes as part of the service — that is what full-service means. The risk is not the price; it is choosing an HR-first tool like BambooHR and assuming payroll and tax filing are included when they are a paid add-on. Always confirm automated tax filing is in the plan you are pricing.