How Much Does Payroll Cost for a Small Business in 2026? 10 Employees Compared

For 10 employees in one state, paid every two weeks and billed monthly, Patriot Basic Payroll is the lowest list price in this table at $57 a month, or $684 a year. Basic does not list federal or state tax filing. Patriot Full Service, which adds that filing, costs $87 a month, and OnPay Payroll Essentials costs $109. Every price was read on the vendor's own website on 10 October 2026.

Scenario: 10 W-2 employees, one state, paid every two weeks, billed monthly. Monthly totals are the base fee plus the per-worker fee times 10. Yearly totals multiply by 12. Add-ons are not included.

Toolradar data: Toolradar, the software directory we run, tracks 73 payroll tools as of 10 October 2026. The table prices five plans from vendor pages and marks two products quote-only, so they stay out of the ranking.

What a payroll bill is made of

Every priced plan here charges two things: a monthly base fee and a fee for each worker paid. The base fee is what you pay even in a quiet month. The per-worker fee grows with headcount, and at 10 workers it is the larger share of the bill: 70% of Patriot Basic's and 55% of OnPay's.

Of the $52 gap between Patriot Basic and OnPay at 10 workers, $32 comes from the base and $20 from the per-worker fee. Each extra hire adds $4 to $6 a month across the priced plans. The base fee sets the floor, and the per-worker rate sets the slope.

The 10-employee table, plan by plan

Patriot Basic Payroll is the cheapest line in the table at every headcount. Its plan wording lists federal and state tax filing under Full Service only, so the Basic line does not include the filing. Patriot says it charges no setup fees or other hidden fees. Patriot on Toolradar has its profile.

Patriot Full Service Payroll adds federal and state tax filings and deposits. It also charges $12 a month for each state filing beyond the first. At 10 workers it sits $30 a month above Basic: $20 more on the base and $1 more per worker, which is the gap between the two feature sets.

Roll by ADP is the product ADP sets against RUN on its own comparison page. It costs $39 a month plus $5 per employee, which makes it $2 a month above Full Service at any headcount, since the per-worker fee matches. Same-day deposit carries a per-transaction fee that the page does not price, so ask for that figure before you rely on the quote. For the wider ADP stack, see ADP pricing, the ADP review and the ADP tool page on Toolradar.

Square Payroll, full service, charges $35 a month plus a per-person fee. Its page lists unlimited pay runs and no long-term contract. Paper forms carry a $3 fee per mailed form, charged only if you opt in. Square is cheaper than Roll for up to three workers, ties at four and costs more from five.

OnPay Payroll Essentials is $49 a month plus a per-worker fee, the highest base in the table. It runs $14 a month above Square at every headcount, because the two per-worker fees match. OnPay's benefits integration has no integration or admin fee, so you pay only the plan premiums. Its other plans are priced on separate lines. Time Tracking, for example, is $15 a month plus $4 per worker. The OnPay pricing page shows the full set, and OnPay on Toolradar has its profile.

ADP RUN publishes no price. Its page says pricing "varies by package and capabilities," and each package carries a "Get pricing" button. Budget it from a quote for your headcount, and compare it with the priced rows above only after you have one.

Rippling describes per-employee, per-month billing for most of its products, but sends buyers to a custom quote for a figure. The Rippling review covers what the product includes, and the Rippling pricing page shows the quote path. Rippling on Toolradar has its profile.

How the ranking changes with headcount

The order holds from five workers up. Below five, Square ties or beats Roll, so the middle of the table reorders for the smallest teams. At 25 workers, the spread between Patriot Basic and OnPay is $82 a month. Patriot Full Service stays $2 below Roll and OnPay stays $14 above Square at every headcount in the table, so those pairs are not decided by growth.

Costs the table does not show

Add-ons and fees sit outside the base-plus-per-worker arithmetic, and on a small payroll they add up quickly.

• Patriot Time & Attendance: $6 a month plus $2 per employee on the regular price, with a promotional rate and 30 days free shown on the page.
• Patriot extra state filings: $12 a month per state on Full Service.
• Square paper forms: a $3 fee per mailed form, opt-in only.
• Roll by ADP same-day deposit: a per-transaction fee, with no amount on the page.
• OnPay Time Tracking: $15 a month plus $4 per worker, billed as its own plan.

Patriot's promotional rate on Basic is half the regular price. This table uses the regular prices, because a promotion ends and the budget should survive it.

What to budget for 10 people

If someone on your team already files payroll taxes, Basic is the lowest line here before add-ons, at $684 a year. If you want the vendor to file and deposit federal and state taxes, budget Full Service at $87 a month, or $1,044 a year. That figure includes the filing, so it is the comparable number for a company with no payroll staff of its own.

Use the per-worker fee to plan hiring. If payroll is one bill among several HR tools, how much an HRIS costs prices the rest of the stack, and the best HRIS for small business list shows which systems pair with payroll. On Full Service, each new paid worker adds $5 a month, so five hires add $25 to the monthly bill. If you add Time & Attendance, its base and per-employee fees apply on top.

Frequently asked questions

How much does payroll cost per month for 10 employees?

For 10 employees in one state, the priced plans here run from $57 to $109 a month. Patriot Basic is the lowest at $57, Patriot Full Service adds tax filing for a higher price, and OnPay Payroll Essentials is the highest in the table. ADP RUN and Rippling publish no list price, so they do not appear in that range.

How much does payroll cost per employee?

Across the priced plans, the per-worker fee is $4 to $6 a month. At 10 workers, that is $40 to $60 a month, billed on top of a base fee of $17 to $49. At that size the per-worker fees make up most of the bill on every priced plan, so the per-worker rate matters more than the base.

Is there a free payroll plan?

None of the priced plans here is free. Patriot's Time & Attendance add-on shows 30 days free on its page, and its regular price applies after that. Every priced plan here carries a monthly base fee.

Does running payroll every two weeks cost more?

Not on these pages. Square lists unlimited pay runs. Patriot's FAQ says it charges the base monthly price and a per-worker paid fee on the first of each month.

Which plan should a 10-person company pick?

Pick by scope, then by price. If someone on your team already files payroll taxes, Basic is cheapest. If you want the vendor to file and deposit federal and state taxes, compare Full Service with the other plans on what each includes, not only on the base and per-worker fees. Before you decide, the Paychex review and the Justworks review cover two wider options.

How we priced this

We read each vendor's own pricing or comparison page on 10 October 2026, then multiplied the published base and per-worker fees by headcount. Where a page shows a figure in two places, we use the figure in its pricing table. Where a page shows a promotion, we use the regular price. The vendor pages are OnPay, Patriot, Square, ADP's Roll comparison, ADP RUN and Rippling. Totals are our arithmetic on those fees, not vendor quotes.

For the single-vendor view, read Gusto pricing, the Gusto review and ADP pricing. For 15 employees, cheaper Gusto alternatives runs the same arithmetic against Gusto Plus. Free-tier options sit in best free payroll software, and the wider category lives in best payroll software.

Cite this: HRpresso, "How Much Does Payroll Cost for a Small Business in 2026? 10 Employees Compared", October 2026.

Find more payroll and people-ops pricing at hrpresso.com.

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