{
  "name": "Payroll Price Index",
  "description": "What the US payroll services we track that publish prices charge a month for 1, 5, 10, 25 and 50 employees: the lowest, median and highest list price and the median price per employee, with and without Deel, now and in quarterly snapshots.",
  "url": "https://payrollpricecheck.com/data/",
  "publisher": {
    "name": "Payroll Price Check",
    "url": "https://payrollpricecheck.com/"
  },
  "license": {
    "name": "CC BY 4.0",
    "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/",
    "note": "A plain-text credit is enough; if you link, rel=\"nofollow\" is fine."
  },
  "credit": "Source: Payroll Price Check, list prices from providers' own websites, checked between October 22, 2026 and October 25, 2026",
  "dateModified": "2026-10-24",
  "pricesChecked": {
    "from": "2026-10-22",
    "to": "2026-10-25"
  },
  "currency": "USD",
  "figures": "standard monthly list prices in US dollars",
  "team": "W-2 employees only (no contractors), all in one US state, with federal and state payroll taxes filed and paid for you",
  "method": [
    "The team: W-2 employees only (no contractors), all in one US state, with federal and state payroll taxes filed and paid for you.",
    "Each service's price: its cheapest published plan for that team, at the standard monthly list price (base fee plus per-employee fees), worked out by the Payroll Price Check calculator.",
    "Lowest and highest: the smallest and the largest of those prices.",
    "Median: the middle price once they're sorted; with an even number of services, the average of the two middle prices. Median per employee: the median of each service's price divided by the number of employees.",
    "The services: only the US payroll services we track that publish prices, so adding or dropping a service can move the figures.",
    "Left out of every price: the payroll taxes themselves, health-insurance and workers' comp premiums, discounts and current offers, and fees a provider doesn't publish.",
    "Quarterly snapshots: the same figures, one snapshot kept for each calendar quarter as recorded that day, with the services it counted and the dates their prices were checked."
  ],
  "qualifier": "among the 13 US payroll services we track that publish prices; list prices only; checked between October 22, 2026 and October 25, 2026",
  "services": {
    "count": 13,
    "names": [
      "Deel",
      "Gusto",
      "Homebase",
      "Hourly",
      "Justworks",
      "OnPay",
      "Patriot",
      "Paychex Flex",
      "Paycor",
      "QuickBooks",
      "Roll by ADP",
      "Square Payroll",
      "Wave"
    ],
    "notCounted": [
      "ADP RUN and Rippling don't publish list prices",
      "SurePayroll is left out because its own pages showed different prices"
    ],
    "notCountedNotes": [
      "ADP's offer terms price a RUN self-onboarding bundle at $59/month + $4/employee after free months, only for new clients with up to 2 employees in states where offered, or 1-9 employees in Florida, Texas and Georgia"
    ]
  },
  "sizes": [
    {
      "employees": 1,
      "services": 13,
      "lowest": 29,
      "median": 55,
      "highest": 104,
      "medianPerEmployee": 55,
      "qualifier": "among the 13 US payroll services we track that publish prices; list prices only; checked between October 22, 2026 and October 25, 2026",
      "notes": [
        "Deel's own blog posts give lower starting prices than its pricing page",
        "Deel's product page describes its self-service option as a way to handle taxes and filings yourself, and suggests its managed option, which has no published price, for hiring across multiple states",
        "Paycor's pricing page also has an older, hidden price table with different numbers"
      ]
    },
    {
      "employees": 5,
      "services": 13,
      "lowest": 62,
      "median": 79,
      "highest": 145,
      "medianPerEmployee": 15.8,
      "qualifier": "among the 13 US payroll services we track that publish prices; list prices only; checked between October 22, 2026 and October 25, 2026",
      "notes": [
        "Deel's own blog posts give lower starting prices than its pricing page",
        "Deel's product page describes its self-service option as a way to handle taxes and filings yourself, and suggests its managed option, which has no published price, for hiring across multiple states",
        "Hourly also says to request a quote for exact pricing",
        "Hourly's help center says employees' home address must be in California, so confirm it serves your state"
      ]
    },
    {
      "employees": 10,
      "services": 13,
      "lowest": 87,
      "median": 109,
      "highest": 290,
      "medianPerEmployee": 10.9,
      "qualifier": "among the 13 US payroll services we track that publish prices; list prices only; checked between October 22, 2026 and October 25, 2026",
      "notes": [
        "Deel's own blog posts give lower starting prices than its pricing page",
        "Deel's product page describes its self-service option as a way to handle taxes and filings yourself, and suggests its managed option, which has no published price, for hiring across multiple states",
        "Hourly also says to request a quote for exact pricing",
        "Hourly's help center says employees' home address must be in California, so confirm it serves your state"
      ]
    },
    {
      "employees": 25,
      "services": 13,
      "lowest": 162,
      "median": 199,
      "highest": 725,
      "medianPerEmployee": 7.96,
      "qualifier": "among the 13 US payroll services we track that publish prices; list prices only; checked between October 22, 2026 and October 25, 2026",
      "notes": [
        "Deel's own blog posts give lower starting prices than its pricing page",
        "Deel's product page describes its self-service option as a way to handle taxes and filings yourself, and suggests its managed option, which has no published price, for hiring across multiple states",
        "Hourly also says to request a quote for exact pricing",
        "Hourly's help center says employees' home address must be in California, so confirm it serves your state"
      ]
    },
    {
      "employees": 50,
      "services": 13,
      "lowest": 287,
      "median": 349,
      "highest": 1450,
      "medianPerEmployee": 6.98,
      "qualifier": "among the 13 US payroll services we track that publish prices; list prices only; checked between October 22, 2026 and October 25, 2026",
      "notes": [
        "Deel's own blog posts give lower starting prices than its pricing page",
        "Deel's product page describes its self-service option as a way to handle taxes and filings yourself, and suggests its managed option, which has no published price, for hiring across multiple states",
        "Hourly also says to request a quote for exact pricing",
        "Hourly's help center says employees' home address must be in California, so confirm it serves your state"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "serviceNotes": [
    "Deel's own blog posts give lower starting prices than its pricing page",
    "Deel's product page describes its self-service option as a way to handle taxes and filings yourself, and suggests its managed option, which has no published price, for hiring across multiple states",
    "Homebase's prices are for one location, its plan fees are charged per location, and it doesn't say whether remote staff in another state need a location of their own",
    "Hourly also says to request a quote for exact pricing",
    "Hourly's help center says employees' home address must be in California, so confirm it serves your state",
    "Paychex's main pricing page doesn't link to its Flex Essentials plan, so it may not be offered to every business",
    "Paychex describes Flex Essentials as for businesses with fewer than 20 employees and/or contractors (at 25 and 50 employees)",
    "Paycor's pricing page also has an older, hidden price table with different numbers",
    "QuickBooks lists its Workforce plans' extra-state fee and some contractor fees only in its offer terms, and our prices include them",
    "Wave's prices apply to new payroll customers who signed up after April 2, 2025"
  ],
  "without": {
    "service": "Deel",
    "reason": "Deel is a global payroll and hiring service that prices its US payroll per employee; its pricing page shows no monthly base fee. Leaving Deel out changes the lowest price at 1 employee and the highest price at 5, 10, 25 and 50 employees, and doesn't change the median at any size. We also give each figure without Deel because of our notes on its price: Deel's own blog posts give lower starting prices than its pricing page; Deel's product page describes its self-service option as a way to handle taxes and filings yourself, and suggests its managed option, which has no published price, for hiring across multiple states. Every figure in the index is for a team whose payroll taxes are filed and paid for you.",
    "notes": [
      "Deel's own blog posts give lower starting prices than its pricing page",
      "Deel's product page describes its self-service option as a way to handle taxes and filings yourself, and suggests its managed option, which has no published price, for hiring across multiple states"
    ],
    "count": 12,
    "sizes": [
      {
        "employees": 1,
        "services": 12,
        "lowest": 41,
        "median": 55,
        "highest": 104,
        "medianPerEmployee": 55
      },
      {
        "employees": 5,
        "services": 12,
        "lowest": 62,
        "median": 79,
        "highest": 140,
        "medianPerEmployee": 15.8
      },
      {
        "employees": 10,
        "services": 12,
        "lowest": 87,
        "median": 109,
        "highest": 200,
        "medianPerEmployee": 10.9
      },
      {
        "employees": 25,
        "services": 12,
        "lowest": 162,
        "median": 199,
        "highest": 380,
        "medianPerEmployee": 7.96
      },
      {
        "employees": 50,
        "services": 12,
        "lowest": 287,
        "median": 349,
        "highest": 680,
        "medianPerEmployee": 6.98
      }
    ]
  },
  "history": [
    {
      "date": "2026-10-24",
      "quarter": "2026-Q4",
      "qualifier": "among the 13 US payroll services we track that publish prices; list prices only; checked October 22, 2026",
      "count": 13,
      "serviceIds": [
        "deel-us-payroll",
        "gusto",
        "homebase-payroll",
        "hourly",
        "justworks",
        "onpay",
        "patriot",
        "paychex-flex",
        "paycor",
        "quickbooks-payroll",
        "roll-by-adp",
        "square-payroll",
        "wave-payroll"
      ],
      "pricesChecked": {
        "from": "2026-10-22",
        "to": "2026-10-22"
      },
      "sizes": [
        {
          "employees": 1,
          "services": 13,
          "lowest": 29,
          "median": 55,
          "highest": 104,
          "medianPerEmployee": 55,
          "qualifier": "among the 13 US payroll services we track that publish prices; list prices only; checked October 22, 2026"
        },
        {
          "employees": 5,
          "services": 13,
          "lowest": 62,
          "median": 79,
          "highest": 145,
          "medianPerEmployee": 15.8,
          "qualifier": "among the 13 US payroll services we track that publish prices; list prices only; checked October 22, 2026"
        },
        {
          "employees": 10,
          "services": 13,
          "lowest": 87,
          "median": 109,
          "highest": 290,
          "medianPerEmployee": 10.9,
          "qualifier": "among the 13 US payroll services we track that publish prices; list prices only; checked October 22, 2026"
        },
        {
          "employees": 25,
          "services": 13,
          "lowest": 162,
          "median": 199,
          "highest": 725,
          "medianPerEmployee": 7.96,
          "qualifier": "among the 13 US payroll services we track that publish prices; list prices only; checked October 22, 2026"
        },
        {
          "employees": 50,
          "services": 13,
          "lowest": 287,
          "median": 349,
          "highest": 1450,
          "medianPerEmployee": 6.98,
          "qualifier": "among the 13 US payroll services we track that publish prices; list prices only; checked October 22, 2026"
        }
      ],
      "without": {
        "service": "Deel",
        "count": 12,
        "sizes": [
          {
            "employees": 1,
            "services": 12,
            "lowest": 41,
            "median": 55,
            "highest": 104,
            "medianPerEmployee": 55
          },
          {
            "employees": 5,
            "services": 12,
            "lowest": 62,
            "median": 79,
            "highest": 140,
            "medianPerEmployee": 15.8
          },
          {
            "employees": 10,
            "services": 12,
            "lowest": 87,
            "median": 109,
            "highest": 200,
            "medianPerEmployee": 10.9
          },
          {
            "employees": 25,
            "services": 12,
            "lowest": 162,
            "median": 199,
            "highest": 380,
            "medianPerEmployee": 7.96
          },
          {
            "employees": 50,
            "services": 12,
            "lowest": 287,
            "median": 349,
            "highest": 680,
            "medianPerEmployee": 6.98
          }
        ]
      }
    }
  ],
  "pages": {
    "index": "https://payrollpricecheck.com/payroll-cost/",
    "data": "https://payrollpricecheck.com/data/",
    "changeLog": "https://payrollpricecheck.com/price-changes/"
  }
}