QuickBooks Payroll Review 2023: Pros, Cons, Alternatives

While Gusto offers a wide variety of features, the highest-tier Premium plan is only available at quote-based pricing. QuickBooks Payroll from Intuit is a cloud-based payroll service that you can use stand-alone or in integration with QuickBooks Online. The stand-alone payroll processing service has enough features to handle payroll for one to 150 employees.

Its higher-tier plans have slightly more HR features than Square (though neither provider goes heavy on human resource tools). However, we liked the setup wizard and online resources — business owners and their teams shouldn’t have any trouble. If you go with the Premium plan, a QuickBooks expert will review your setup to ensure it’s correct. With the Elite package, an expert will do the entire implementation process for you, including any data transfer, after receiving the necessary information.

You’ll get the most out of it if you have some knowledge of basic accounting concepts. Whereas you might be able to use some software alternatives without explanation, it may take some time to get the hang of QuickBooks. Next, you can customize invoices, set up automatic sales tax tracking (if necessary) and learn how to enter mobile receipts and bills. You can edit all of your business’s account settings using the gear icon in the upper right corner. Wondering how QuickBooks Payroll compares to other payroll solutions? Enter some basic information about your business’s payroll requirements and we’ll send you up to five personalized quotes.

Premier is the midrange plan and offers a wide range of reports, income and expense tracking, invoicing and bill management features. Enterprise includes all of that and more, depending on which sub-plan you select. Overall, Premier is likely best for businesses that don’t work with a huge number of clients or products, while Enterprise is best for larger businesses that deal with bigger inventories. Employing the help of a skilled professional can make a world of difference for small startups that have been running payroll themselves as novices. Sole proprietors or small bookkeeping firms are cost effective, give you a high level of visibility to what’s happening with your payroll, and take a significant burden of time and energy off your plate.

With QuickBooks Payroll, businesses can efficiently manage employee time tracking and project tracking without working through a third-party provider. This integrated feature provides more control over projects, resource allocation and accurate billing. Note that QuickBooks Payroll charges an extra fee for customers who want to add its time-tracking feature, QuickBooks Time, to their payroll plan. When it comes to integrations, OnPay offers extensive integration with other accounting, time tracking, 401(k), HR systems and other business tools. For example, OnPay integrates with the QuickBooks Accounting software so users can synchronize payroll data with their accounting system. Papaya Global offers international payroll services in 160+ countries, making it a great option for dispersed teams.

It brings most of the features of the online platform, plus it enables mileage tracking and receipt capture for quick and convenient recordkeeping. QuickBooks Online is cloud-based accounting software that covers all the accounting pros and cons of quickbooks payroll needs you may have. It’s a subscription-based service that is good for various industries and beneficial to those who regularly work with a bookkeeper or accountant because you can give them access to your files.

1. All Gusto plans include full-service payroll plus health insurance administration, offer letter templates, employee self-onboarding and tools for remote teams.
2. Enterprise includes all of that and more, depending on which sub-plan you select.
3. For $1,410 per year, get the Enterprise plan with advanced pricing, reporting and inventory.
4. One of the best things about Square Payroll is that if you only pay independent contractors each month, you have a very affordable option because you get to skip the monthly per-employee fee.

If you have employees in different states, you’ll incur additional charges unless you have the highest-tier Elite plan. QuickBooks Payroll has a $12 monthly fee for every filing obligation outside of the primary state. For businesses with remote employees, these multiple-state-filing fees could really add up. QuickBooks Payroll enables you to offer competitive benefits to your employees. It provides workers’ compensation via AP Intego and health benefits, affordable medical, dental and vision insurance packages by SimplyInsured. Our first entry in this list needs almost no introduction, but for the sake of thoroughness, we’ll scribble one here anyway.

Full-Service Payroll Provider

The table below illustrates the key features and pricing structure of both products. The Core plan comes with messaging and call-me-back support from 6 a.m. Premium and Elite plans come with 24/7 priority phone, messaging and call-me-back support. QuickBooks Online is not free to use, but new customers can choose between a 30-day free trial or a 50% discount for three months. Watching tutorials, reading support pages or consulting experts for advice are all great options to learn how to use QuickBooks Online for your business.

QuickBooks Payroll Core

Learn more about how we calculate our star ratings, including how we weighted each subcategory to calculate scores with our internal algorithm. Before deciding, take advantage of discounts, free trials or demos offered by the vendors to ensure the chosen solution meets your business needs and expectations. OnPay’s Report Designer, although providing good reporting features, does not offer the same level of customization and detail found in QuickBooks Payroll. Employees can keep track of their pay history, view attendance, see W-2s from the past three years and request time off. Some of the links on our site are from our partners who compensate us.

Accounting

If your business is required to run specialized reports as part of payroll, it’s especially advisable to employ a trusted advisor. This would include, for example, contractors who work on government–funded construction projects, and are required to run certified payroll. In this case, it would be advisable to employ a certified payroll provider who specializes in payroll and time tracking for contractors. A popular add-on is the payroll feature where you can run payroll and access benefits in one convenient place. It does cost more to access this, which is approximately $22.50 more per month plus $5 per employee, per month. When subscribing to this service, you’ll get a 1099 e-file of forms and a next-day direct deposit.

Compare QuickBooks Payroll pricing and plans 2022

In contrast, OnPay syncs with time-tracking and project-tracking software, but it doesn’t offer any native solutions. After you sign up for QuickBooks Online, you’ll be able to log in to your account and access the main dashboard view. If you’re moving to QuickBooks from another accounting software, you can import your existing files to your new account.

The software offers webinars, support articles, and tutorials that help you get started. The software has an intuitive interface that makes it easy to operate and locate the features you need. Its modern design and feature-rich structure allow you to navigate and access its wide variety of tools https://personal-accounting.org/ easily. No matter which payroll option you decide is the best fit for your business, automating several key features will be key to your success. Attempting manual entry or execution of any of the following will result in far more headaches and mistakes than your valuable time is worth.

QuickBooks, part of the Intuit family of financial apps, is used by numerous businesses across pretty much every industry and vertical. As one of the original digital accounting tools, it’s capable of quite a bit and integrates with almost everything. Kelly Main is staff writer at Forbes Advisor, specializing in testing and reviewing marketing software with a focus on CRM solutions, payment processing solutions, and web design software. Before joining the team, she was a content producer at Fit Small Business where she served as an editor and strategist covering small business marketing content.