8 Best Free Payroll Software of 2026

Payroll4Free is the only product here that runs US payroll, including tax math, at no charge. Its FAQ says all basic services are free as long as you pay 9 or fewer individuals no more than once a month, and the company explains that advertisers pay to show small ads inside the software. The free tier covers payroll processing, direct deposit through your own bank or paper checks, federal, state and local tax calculations, PTO accrual, an employee portal, reporting and live support. You can pay W-2 employees and 1099 contractors, and year-end forms are included. Two services cost extra: a Payroll Tax Service that deposits and files your taxes, and a Direct Deposit Service that moves funds through Payroll4Free's bank. The software runs on Windows, so Mac users need Windows installed, and it also imports hours from time clock files and exports to QuickBooks. For a business with a handful of staff on a monthly pay cycle that can make its own tax deposits, it removes the payroll bill entirely.

Square Payroll is the closest thing to free for an employer who only pays contractors. Its pricing page lists the contractor-only plan at $6 per person paid per month with no base fee, so a month with nobody paid costs nothing. Both plans include unlimited pay runs, payment by check, direct deposit or Cash App, timecard import from Square POS and the Square Team App, digital pay stubs and a QuickBooks Online integration. The full-service plan costs $35 a month plus $6 per person paid and adds automated federal and state tax payments and filings, new-hire reporting, off-cycle and multistate payroll, overtime calculations, tip importing and free seasonal inactivity. The contractor plan leaves out tax filings and benefit deductions, and Square charges $3 per mailed paper W-2 or 1099 each year. For a business with a couple of W-2 staff, full-service is fairly priced; for contractor-only teams, it is the cheapest paid option we found.

Zoho Payroll is not free, but its Standard plan has the lowest base fee of the full-service products here. Zoho's US pricing page lists Standard at $29 per organization a month billed annually plus $5 per employee, or $39 plus $6 billed monthly. That plan covers single-state payroll in all 50 states, five pay schedules from weekly to quarterly, automatic federal, state and local tax payments and filings, direct deposit, off-cycle pay runs, benefits and garnishment deductions, an employee portal and integrations with Zoho's accounting and expense apps. Professional, from $49, adds multi-state payroll, bonus runs, multiple pay rates and approvals. Zoho lists add-on charges openly, including $3 per employee for next-day processing, $3 per mailed W-2 and $150 for an amended return. There is a 14-day trial with no card required. For a three-person team in one state, the yearly cost lands well below most rivals.

Gusto costs the most to start here, but it is the most complete platform for an employer who plans to grow. Its pricing page lists Simple at $49 a month plus $6 per person for basic payroll in one state, with unlimited payrolls, tax filings and payments, basic PTO policies and holiday pay. Every plan includes domestic contractor payments, expense reimbursements, multiple pay rates and schedules, and mobile apps for employers and employees. Plus, at $80 plus $12 per person, adds time tracking, unlimited next-day pay, multi-state payroll and contractor invoice management. Gusto also prices its add-ons in public, such as Next-Day pay at $15 a month plus $3 per person, Remote I-9 at $20 per submission and health insurance broker integration at $6 per eligible employee. Cancel any time, with no contract. For two or three people the bill is noticeably higher than Zoho Payroll or Square, so the case for Gusto rests on the benefits and HR tools you will use later.

OnPay is a straightforward full-service payroll with one published price. Its payroll page says OnPay starts at $49 plus $6 per worker per month, and the first month is free with free onboarding and account migration. That price includes all tax filings and payments, such as quarterly Form 941, annual Form 940 and year-end W-2s and 1099s, plus new hire reporting to all fifty states. Workers can be paid by direct deposit, check or debit card, and OnPay syncs workers' comp and benefits with payroll. An HR add-on for PTO management, workflows and document audits costs $15 plus $2 per worker. For a very small employer the base fee is the same as Gusto Simple, so the cost of a two-person payroll is close to $61 a month. The draw is the free first month and migration help, which make switching from manual payroll or another provider cheap to try.

Wave Payroll suits owners who already use Wave's free accounting and want payroll in the same place. Wave's US pricing is $40 a month plus $6 per active employee and $6 per independent contractor paid, with no set-up fees. The service pays employees, contractors and owners, makes tax payments and files paperwork with state agencies and the IRS, though Wave says 1099 filings are excluded from that. Direct deposits are unlimited and free, an employee portal holds pay stubs and W-2s, and every payroll records accounting entries in Wave, with reports on payroll costs by employee and expense type. The 30-day free trial starts with your first payroll, and you activate billing when you are ready for tax filing. For a one or two person business the $40 base fee makes it pricier than Square full-service or Zoho Payroll, so the main reason to pick Wave is the link to its bookkeeping.

HR.my offers payroll and HR at no cost with no head count limit. Its home page says it is free forever with unlimited employees and data storage, crowdfunded by its user community, and it shows advertising. The payroll module generates payslips that employees can see in their own free web accounts, supports monthly, semi-monthly, weekly and bi-weekly cycles, keeps a salary adjustment history and exports payroll results to Excel. The same account covers leave management, expense claims with limits per claim type, a web time clock with optional selfie and geolocation, incident tracking and approval workflows. HR.my's documentation describes payroll as salary items and payslips; it does not describe US federal or state tax filing or deposits, so a US employer would still need to handle withholding forms elsewhere. For a small team that wants free payslips, leave and attendance in one place, it is hard to beat on price.

Frappe HR is free, open-source HR and payroll software under the AGPL-3.0 license. Frappe's pricing page explains that the software costs nothing but needs hosting: its own Frappe Cloud starts at $5 a month for a site, charged per site rather than per user, or you can self-host. The payroll module builds rule-based salary structures with formulas for earnings and deductions, assigns them in bulk, previews salary slips before a run and handles monthly, fortnightly or weekly payroll, off-cycle payments, multi-currency pay, employee loans and timesheet-based pay. Payroll links to accounting so costs can be booked to cost centers. The trade-off is effort. Frappe itself recommends professional help for implementation, statutory and tax deductions are components you define, and there is no service that deposits or files US payroll taxes. For a technical owner with a few staff, it is the cheapest way to own a full payroll system.