Efficiency at No Cost
A free payroll software allows you to process payroll legally and efficiently, keeping your finances in check. Good software should offer features like creating pay stubs, printing tax forms, calculating tax deductions and issuing direct deposit payments, amongst many other features.
Payroll can be time-consuming, complex and costly. Fortunately, with free payroll software, small businesses, startups and business owners can focus on other aspects of their business and skip hiring accountants or worry about payroll mistakes. To get you started, here are five of the best free payroll software in the market.
The 5 Best Free Payroll Software of 2024
1. Payroll4Free.com
Features: Pays up to 10 people; has tax calculations and forms; integrates with numerous banks and accounting platforms; and allows check and direct deposits.
As the name suggests, Payroll4Free is a free payroll software for small businesses. With it, you can process employee and contractor payments, do tax calculations, track employee vacation time, perform basic deductions and access in-depth reporting, and the software even has its own employee portal. There are also two optional paid services that you can purchase if needed.
Given that it’s free software, the features do sound too good to be true. However, the catch is that in the free plan, you can only pay up to 10 people, and the software has targeted ads (which is necessary for it to remain mostly free). This wouldn’t be an issue for most startups, so if you have a small team and are looking for a free payroll solution, check out Payroll4Free.
2. Deel
Features: Free demo available; has payment options in over 150 currencies; offers Employer of Record (EOR) services; and up to $25,000 coverage in case of a legal crisis.
Deel is an advanced global HR platform with numerous payroll features. The company offers its services for free to startups or businesses with less than 200 employees. With this platform, you can hire or pay contractors or remote team members from anywhere worldwide. While the free plan isn’t as amazing as the premium options, the features are sufficient for most small business owners.
Some of the features of the free plan include automated access to Google Suite, automated invoicing, handling taxes, easily managing expenses, time off and bonuses, providing benefits, securely storing data with a people directory and tracking and churning retention with detailed HR reports.
While there isn’t a mobile app or free trial available, Deel is still one of the best, free payroll solutions in the market.
3. HR.my
Features: Free unlimited payroll processing; check, direct deposit and cash as payment options; and browser-based so no installation needed.
HR.my is the gift of crowdfunding. It functions because of community donations, making it entirely free to use. While it offers payroll solutions, the software is primarily human resource management software. With this, you can add and track paid time off, overtime and employee time worked, as well as do tax calculations, have expense claim management and easily generate payslips.
While a great platform, it does include paid ads, no customer support and no bonus and commission payment processing. If these cons don’t bother you then HR.my is an excellent platform for startups and nonprofit organizations.
4. TimeTrex
Features: Federal, state and local tax calculations; unlimited payroll processing; integrates with QuickBooks, Sage and Ceridian.
TimeTrex is a workforce management software that offers payroll solutions under its community edition plan. With TimeTrex, you can track employee attendance and with the payroll tools, pay your employees and contractors timely without any hassle.
Some of the popular features of this software include automated time and attendance policies, employee scheduling, calculating benefits, insurance and paid time off; electronic pay stubs, tax reports and HR management. A feature we especially like is this software allows employees to add their working hours to different levels of cost centers, making it easy to identify and create pay structures for employees who work in the office and those who work remotely.
TimeTres has different paid plans, starting from $3, but the community edition is free to use, and there’s also a 30-day free trial if you’re interested in checking out the premium features.
5. OnPay
Features: 30-day free trial; unlimited pay runs; direct deposit and tax filing; and responsive customer support.
OnPay is a payroll software that is specifically designed to meet the needs of small to medium-sized businesses. With this payroll and HR management software, users can create custom payroll reports. The mobile app allows employees to update information from wherever they are, and the clean and easy interface makes tax and payroll calculations a breeze.
OnPay offers most standard features, such as unlimited monthly pay runs, tax filings, paid time off and benefits management, direct deposits and self-service portals.
Like other payroll software, OnPay integrates with many accounting and time-tracking platforms, ensuring accuracy and on-time payments.
OnPay isn't free software, costing $6 per employee monthly along with a $40 monthly base fee, but users can access this software for a 30-day free trial. While a great software, it does have a few cons, such as a lack of payroll automation and a slight delay in salary delivery.
Free Your Finances
Whether you’re a startup or a medium-sized business, administering benefits and human resource tools along with running payroll and filing taxes is a must. This is why opting for free payroll software will ease some of your burden.
Choosing the right payroll provider is essential because you don’t want software that delays employee pay, miscalculates taxes and files them incorrectly, or has little to no customer support. Before deciding on any software, do your research. To help you out, we have listed some of our favorite payroll software. Consider these in your research before settling on your preferred free payroll software.
Take a look at some of the best tax filing software options.