Expert Guide

Cheaper ADP Alternatives in 2026: Payroll With Published Prices

Eight US payroll services with printed prices, set against quote-only RUN Powered by ADP on monthly cost for 10 employees, tax filing, deposit speed and what each plan leaves out.

Louis CorneloupFounder, Dupple · Updated Oct 2026

Product links may be affiliate links. How we rate 8 tools compared

TL;DR

Short answer: Patriot Full Service Payroll is the cheapest published alternative to ADP in 2026, at $87 a month for 10 employees with federal, state and local tax filing included. Roll by ADP, ADP's own mobile app, costs $89 for the same team, and Square Payroll costs $95 with multistate payroll included. Prices were read on each vendor's pricing page on 18 October 2026.

RUN Powered by ADP, the plan most small businesses mean by "ADP", publishes no list price, so the saving against it depends on your quote. Use the totals below as the number to beat before you sign or renew. OnPay, Gusto Simple and Homebase all land at $109 a month for 10 people, and OnPay includes payroll in every state at that price.

Key facts8 tools compared: Patriot Software, Roll by ADP, Square Payroll, Wave Payroll, OnPay, Gusto…

Updated: October 23, 2026
Top pick: Patriot Software (best for: Single-state US employers who want the lowest printed bill for full-service payroll)
Top pick price as of October 23, 2026: Patriot Software: Full Service $37/mo + $5 per worker paid; Basic $17/mo + $4 if you file taxes yourself

8 tools compared: Patriot Software, Roll by ADP, Square Payroll, Wave Payroll, OnPay, Gusto, Homebase, QuickBooks Payroll
Roll by ADP (best for: Owners who want to stay with ADP but need a printed price instead of a RUN quote): $39/mo + $5 per employee; same-day deposit costs a per-transaction fee
Square Payroll (best for: Square POS businesses and multistate teams that want timecards to flow straight into payroll): $35/mo + $6 per person paid; contractor-only payroll at the per-person fee alone
Wave Payroll (best for: Wave accounting users who want payroll in the same books): $40/mo + $6 per active employee, the same per independent contractor paid

ADP is hard to price because RUN Powered by ADP sells four packages, Essential, Enhanced, Complete and HR Pro, and none of them carries a dollar figure on its product page. You get a number only after a call or a form. Every alternative on this page prints its fee, so you can price your own payroll tonight and walk into the ADP quote with a ceiling.

The ranking is by what a 10-employee US company with one state pays each month for full-service payroll, meaning the provider files and pays the taxes. Ties are broken by what the plan includes. ADP's own cheaper product, Roll by ADP, is on the list because it is the one ADP price the company prints.

Toolradar data: the payroll ranking on Toolradar, the software directory we run, evaluates 74 payroll tools as of October 2026. Of its top 10, 7 publish a paid price, with a median cheapest paid plan of $19 a month, and ADP is one of the paid-only tools in that top 10.

Top Picks

Based on features, real-world fit, and value for money.

#1 Top pick

Patriot Software

The cheapest full-service plan on this page, with US-based phone, email and chat support on weekdays.

Pricing

Full Service $37/mo + $5 per worker paid; Basic $17/mo + $4 if you file taxes yourself

Best for

Single-state US employers who want the lowest printed bill for full-service payroll

Visit Patriot Software Details

Roll by ADP

ADP's mobile-only payroll app, priced in public, with tax filing in all 50 states and 24/7 in-app chat.

Pricing

$39/mo + $5 per employee; same-day deposit costs a per-transaction fee

Best for

Owners who want to stay with ADP but need a printed price instead of a RUN quote

Visit Roll by ADP Details

Square Payroll

The lowest base fee here, multistate payroll included, and hours imported from Square POS or the Square Team App.

Pricing

$35/mo + $6 per person paid; contractor-only payroll at the per-person fee alone

Best for

Square POS businesses and multistate teams that want timecards to flow straight into payroll

Visit Square Payroll Details

Cheaper ADP Alternatives in 2026: Payroll With Published Prices: 8 tools compared, updated Oct 2026
Tool	Pricing	Best for
Patriot Software	Full Service $37/mo + $5 per worker paid; Basic $17/mo + $4 if you file taxes yourself	Single-state US employers who want the lowest printed bill for full-service payroll
Roll by ADP	$39/mo + $5 per employee; same-day deposit costs a per-transaction fee	Owners who want to stay with ADP but need a printed price instead of a RUN quote
Square Payroll	$35/mo + $6 per person paid; contractor-only payroll at the per-person fee alone	Square POS businesses and multistate teams that want timecards to flow straight into payroll
Wave Payroll	$40/mo + $6 per active employee, the same per independent contractor paid	Wave accounting users who want payroll in the same books
OnPay	$49/mo + $6 per worker; first month free; HR add-on $15 + $2 per worker	Growing teams with employees in several states who want one flat per-worker price
Gusto	Simple $49/mo + $6 per person; Plus $80/mo + $12 per person; no contracts	Teams that want payroll plus a path to benefits and HR in one product
Homebase	Payroll add-on $49/mo + $6 per employee paid; Basic scheduling free for 1 location up to 10 staff	Hourly, shift-based teams that schedule and clock in on Homebase already
QuickBooks Payroll	Workforce Payroll + Simple Start $88/mo + $6.50 per employee; 50% off for 3 months	Businesses that also need QuickBooks accounting and want one bill for both

Pricing read from each vendor's own pricing page, checked Oct 2026. Every vendor here publishes a price.

Lowest monthly figure each vendor publishes, checked Oct 2026. A tilde marks a figure the vendor states approximately. Per-seat and usage charges can sit on top of it. Every tool here publishes a monthly price.

Top Pick

Patriot Software

The cheapest full-service plan on this page, with US-based phone, email and chat support on weekdays.

Pricing: Full Service $37/mo + $5 per worker paid; Basic $17/mo + $4 if you file taxes yourself

Best for: Single-state US employers who want the lowest printed bill for full-service payroll

Pros

Full Service files and deposits federal, state and local taxes and the year-end forms, with no setup fee.
A 30-day free trial applies to all its software, followed by 50% off for 3 months.

Cons

Each additional state costs $12 a month, so a team spread over three states pays $24 more on top.
Support runs 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. Eastern, Monday to Friday, with no weekend line.

Roll by ADP

ADP's mobile-only payroll app, priced in public, with tax filing in all 50 states and 24/7 in-app chat.

Pricing: $39/mo + $5 per employee; same-day deposit costs a per-transaction fee

Best for: Owners who want to stay with ADP but need a printed price instead of a RUN quote

Pros

It is the only ADP payroll product with a published price, so you keep ADP's tax engine without a sales call.
Payroll, tax filing and basic HR questions run through a chat interface, and it connects to QuickBooks Online.

Cons

It runs on a phone only, with no desktop, which suits an owner more than a bookkeeper.
HR is basic guidance by chat; RUN's recruiting, onboarding and benefits tools are not part of it.

Square Payroll

The lowest base fee here, multistate payroll included, and hours imported from Square POS or the Square Team App.

Pricing: $35/mo + $6 per person paid; contractor-only payroll at the per-person fee alone

Best for: Square POS businesses and multistate teams that want timecards to flow straight into payroll

Pros

Multistate payroll and automated state tax filings are included in the full-service price.
Contractor-only payroll drops the base fee, so a business with no W-2 staff pays only per contractor paid.

Cons

Standard direct deposit runs four days; two-day processing needs an application.
Mailing paper W-2s or 1099s costs $3 a form each year, if you opt in to paper copies.

Wave Payroll

Payroll that posts to Wave's accounting, with state and federal payroll taxes paid and filed for you.

Pricing: $40/mo + $6 per active employee, the same per independent contractor paid

Best for: Wave accounting users who want payroll in the same books

Pros

Wave's tax service transfers tax payments and files with your state agency and the IRS.
Direct deposits are unlimited and free, and there are no setup fees.

Cons

Contractors are billed like employees, so a business with many 1099 workers pays more than on Square.
Wave's tax service excludes 1099 filings, so contractor forms are a separate job.

OnPay

Every state included at no extra cost, plus free data migration and onboarding support.

Pricing: $49/mo + $6 per worker; first month free; HR add-on $15 + $2 per worker

Best for: Growing teams with employees in several states who want one flat per-worker price

Pros

Pay workers in all 50 states with no extra fee, and OnPay handles state tax registrations automatically.
W-2s, 1099s and year-end filings are included, and support runs by phone, chat and email.

Cons

The base fee is $14 a month higher than Square's, so a single-state team pays more for the same filing.
PTO management and HR workflows sit in the paid HR add-on, not in the base plan.

Gusto

No contract, free setup, and U.S. contractors billed only in months you pay them.

Pricing: Simple $49/mo + $6 per person; Plus $80/mo + $12 per person; no contracts

Best for: Teams that want payroll plus a path to benefits and HR in one product

Pros

Every plan includes unlimited payrolls, tax filings and payments, payroll approvals and Payroll on AutoPilot.
Gusto acts as broker for health insurance at no extra admin cost, so you pay only the premium.

Cons

Plus doubles the per-person fee, so moving up for workforce cost reports costs $200 a month at 10 people.
Same-day and instant pay are on Premium only, and state tax registration is an add-on on every plan.

Homebase

Payroll built on hours from the Homebase time clock, with tax calculation, filing and payment automated.

Pricing: Payroll add-on $49/mo + $6 per employee paid; Basic scheduling free for 1 location up to 10 staff

Best for: Hourly, shift-based teams that schedule and clock in on Homebase already

Pros

The Basic plan is free for one location and up to 10 employees, so scheduling and time tracking add nothing at this size.
A payroll expert migrates your pay and tax data for free, and setup has no implementation fee.

Cons

Past 10 employees or one location, you move to a paid plan such as Essentials, charged per location.
PTO controls start on Plus, so time-off approval is not on the free plan.

QuickBooks Payroll

Full-service payroll bundled with QuickBooks accounting, with next-day direct deposit and 1099 e-filing.

Pricing: Workforce Payroll + Simple Start $88/mo + $6.50 per employee; 50% off for 3 months

Best for: Businesses that also need QuickBooks accounting and want one bill for both

Pros

The price includes QuickBooks Simple Start accounting, so it replaces two subscriptions if you pay for both today.
The Essentials bundle adds same-day direct deposit and 3 users.

Cons

It is the most expensive option here for a payroll-only buyer, because the bundle carries the accounting fee.
The 50% discount lasts 3 months, after which the regular base applies.

What it is

A cheaper ADP alternative is a payroll service that runs pay, files payroll taxes and produces W-2s for a lower monthly bill than an ADP quote, with the price printed before you sign. The fair comparison is with RUN Powered by ADP, the package ADP sells to small businesses, not with ADP Workforce Now, which is built for larger companies.

Most of these services bill the same way: a monthly base fee plus a fee for each person you pay. The base sets the floor for a tiny team, and the per-person fee decides the bill once you pass a handful of employees. A low base with a high per-person fee can cost more at 20 people than a higher base with a lower one.

Why it matters

The scenario we priced is a US company with 10 employees in one state, paid on a regular schedule, billed monthly at list price. Each total is the printed base fee plus 10 times the printed per-person fee. Promotions, such as ADP's 3 free months on RUN or Homebase's 6 free months of payroll, are left out because they end, and the regular rate is what you pay from then on.

At that size the spread between the cheapest and the most expensive plan here is $66 a month, or $792 a year. That is real money, but a switch also costs hours: you rebuild employee records, pay schedules and tax accounts, and a mid-year move means entering year-to-date wages. Switching at a quarter end, after the last payroll of the quarter is filed, keeps those numbers simple.

Key features to look for

Who files the taxes

Full-service plans file and pay federal, state and local payroll taxes for you. Patriot Basic Payroll is cheaper but leaves the filing to you, so it is not a like-for-like swap for RUN.

Extra states

OnPay and Square Payroll include multistate payroll in the base price. Patriot charges $12 a month for each additional state it files in, which matters once you hire remotely.

Deposit speed

Square's standard direct deposit runs on a four-day schedule, with two-day processing on application and next-day deposit through a Square balance. Roll by ADP charges a per-transaction fee for same-day deposit and prints no amount.

HR on top of payroll

RUN's Complete and HR Pro packages bundle HR support. Among the alternatives, OnPay sells HR as a $15 base plus $2 per worker add-on, and Patriot sells HR software as a separate add-on with its own base and per-employee fee.

Pricing

Every price on this page was read on the vendor's own pricing page on 18 October 2026: Patriot Software, ADP's RUN vs Roll comparison, Square Payroll, Wave Payroll, OnPay, Gusto, Homebase and QuickBooks Payroll. The RUN Powered by ADP page lists its packages and a 3-months-free offer but no price.

The takeaway: four alternatives run a 10-person payroll for $100 a month or less. Patriot, Roll by ADP, Square and Wave sit within $13 of each other, which is too small a gap to decide on. Pick among them on states, deposit speed and whether your point of sale or your books already live with one vendor. OnPay, Gusto Simple and Homebase tie one step up, and QuickBooks only makes sense if you would pay for its accounting anyway.

Methodology: each total is the printed monthly base fee plus 10 times the printed per-person fee, at regular price, for one state and full-service tax filing. Add-ons, benefits premiums, extra-state fees and promotions are not in the totals. Rippling and Paychex were left out because, like RUN, they publish no small-business payroll price.

Plan	Price	Best for
RUN Powered by ADP (baseline)	Contact sales	Essential, Enhanced, Complete and HR Pro packages; quote only, with a free-months offer at sign-up
Patriot Full Service Payroll	$87/mo at 10 employees	Federal, state and local tax filing and year-end forms; extra states billed per state
Patriot Basic Payroll	$57/mo at 10 employees	Payroll runs, direct deposit and employee portal; you file the taxes yourself
Roll by ADP	$89/mo at 10 employees	Mobile-only app, tax filing in all 50 states, 24/7 in-app chat
Square Payroll	$95/mo at 10 employees	Full service with multistate payroll and timecard import from Square POS
Wave Payroll	$100/mo at 10 employees	State and federal tax filing, free direct deposits, posts to Wave accounting
OnPay	$109/mo at 10 employees	All 50 states included, W-2s, 1099s and year-end filings
Gusto Simple	$109/mo at 10 employees	Unlimited payrolls, tax filing, payroll approvals, contractor payments
Homebase Payroll on Basic	$109/mo at 10 employees	Payroll from time clock hours; free Basic plan covers one location up to 10 staff
QuickBooks Workforce Payroll + Simple Start	$153/mo at 10 employees	Full-service payroll with QuickBooks accounting, next-day direct deposit

Mistakes to avoid

×Comparing a RUN quote with Patriot Basic. Basic leaves tax filing to you, so the fair comparison is Patriot Full Service.

×Counting the promotion as the price. ADP's free months, Homebase's free payroll period and QuickBooks' discount all end, and the regular rate is what you pay for every year after.

×Ignoring extra states. One remote hire in a second state adds a monthly fee on Patriot, while OnPay and Square include it, so a team that hires remotely should price the second state now.

×Switching mid-quarter. Moving after the last payroll of a quarter keeps quarterly filings in one system and year-to-date entry short.

×Pricing contractors as free. Wave and Gusto bill a contractor at the per-person fee in months you pay them, so count them in the headcount.

Expert tips

→Price your real headcount on two alternatives before the ADP call, and ask ADP to beat the lower total in writing.

→List every state you withhold tax in today, then check each plan's multistate rule before you compare totals.

→Ask ADP whether its free-months offer applies to a business switching from another provider, and get the regular monthly rate in writing, because that is the rate you pay once the offer ends.

→Export your payroll registers, tax filings and W-2 history from ADP before you cancel, while you still have access.

The bottom line

Choose Patriot Full Service if you have one state and want the lowest printed bill for full-service payroll. Choose Roll by ADP if you want to keep ADP and can live with a phone-only app. Choose Square Payroll if you run Square POS or pay in several states, Wave if your books are already in Wave, and OnPay if your team spreads across states and you want one flat per-worker fee.

Choose Gusto when benefits and HR are next on the list, Homebase when shift scheduling and the time clock drive payroll, and QuickBooks Payroll only if you would buy QuickBooks accounting anyway. Stay on RUN if your quote beats these totals, or if you depend on its HR packages, ZipRecruiter access or garnishment payment service.

For the ADP side, read the ADP review, the ADP pricing breakdown, Gusto vs ADP and ADP vs Paychex. The OnPay review, Gusto review and Homebase review go deeper on three picks, what payroll costs a small business covers the wider market, and cheaper Gusto alternatives and cheaper Rippling alternatives run the same exercise for those two. If you would rather run payroll in-house, see how to run payroll yourself. Dupple's wider take on the category is best ADP alternatives.

Tool records on Toolradar: ADP, Patriot Software, OnPay, Gusto, Wave and Homebase. How we compared: eight payroll services with printed US prices, read on 18 October 2026 against ADP's own product pages, for a 10-employee company. This is a desk comparison of those pages, with no hands-on payroll runs.

Cite this: HRpresso, "Cheaper ADP Alternatives in 2026: Payroll With Published Prices", October 2026.

Frequently asked questions

What is the cheapest alternative to ADP in 2026?

Patriot Full Service Payroll is the cheapest published option for a 10-employee, single-state US company, at $87 a month with federal, state and local tax filing included. Roll by ADP and Square Payroll follow closely. Prices were read on each vendor's pricing page on 18 October 2026.

How much does ADP RUN cost?

ADP does not publish a price for RUN Powered by ADP. Its product page lists four packages, Essential, Enhanced, Complete and HR Pro, with a quote form and an offer of 3 free months of payroll. The one ADP payroll price in public is Roll by ADP at $39 a month plus $5 per employee.

Is Roll by ADP cheaper than RUN?

Roll by ADP is the only ADP payroll product with a printed price, so it is the one you can compare in advance. It runs on a phone only and replaces RUN's HR packages with basic chat guidance. If you need recruiting, onboarding or benefits tools from ADP, RUN is the product and the price comes from a quote.

Which ADP alternative is best for employees in several states?

OnPay and Square Payroll include multistate payroll in their base price, so adding a state does not change the bill. Patriot charges $12 a month for each additional state it files in, which narrows its price lead for a remote team.

Is there a free alternative to ADP?

None of the full-service plans here is free at list price. Patriot offers a 30-day free trial, OnPay gives the first month free and Homebase offers 6 months of free payroll on its current terms. After those periods each one bills its regular monthly base and per-person fee.

Should I switch from ADP mid-year?

You can, but switching right after the last payroll of a quarter is cleaner, because the quarter's tax filings stay in one system. A mid-year move also means entering year-to-date wages and taxes for every employee, and most providers here offer help with that setup.

Sources

Prices and plan details come from each vendor's own pricing page, re-checked by the Toolradar pricing tracker.

Gusto pricingchecked Sep 2026
Homebase pricingchecked Sep 2026
QuickBooks Payroll pricingchecked Sep 2026

Some offers on this page may be paid placements or contain affiliate links.

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