Hand picked by our HR Technology experts after product testing, user research, and much debate - enjoy!
The field of human resources is among the fastest-growing fields in the United States. This has consequently added complexity and nuance to the work of human resource management professionals. As more emphasis is placed on enriching the employee experience, niche areas have emerged SaaS for Human Capital Management.
You might have seen HR software that’s solely built for specific HR processes like benefits administration or performance reviews. But what if you need an all-in-one human resources management system that caters to your company’s needs? How do you sift through the barrage of information that’s out there on the internet and choose the best management software for your team? You use a guide like this one, since we did the hard part of researching for you.
Be it small businesses or large corporations, the one thing that’s a must for every company is that its employees are getting compensated accurately and on time. A good payroll software takes care of this. But what’s even better is a management solution that not only helps a company with payroll processing but also acts as an all-in-one HR system that lets you streamline core HCM tasks such as onboarding, time tracking, talent management, performance management, among others.
We’ve put in hours of research to come up with a list of the best payroll processing and HRMS vendors to help you choose an HR software that’s best suited for your company. This list has been arrived at by judging these HR solutions on various metrics including but not limited to their user interface, functionality, pricing, and customers. To help you make a calculated decision, we’ve also included the pitfalls, benefits, ROI, implementation, and more.
We take research seriously. To make sure we’re offering our readers the very best solutions in a given software category, we are methodical, rigorous, and expansive in our research. We consult with HR professionals, vendors, and industry experts. We cut through the noise to bring you a carefully curated list of vendors, along with other essential information, to help you find the right software platform for your business.
Here’s how we chose who makes the cut:
Product: We believe in gaining a comprehensive understanding of a product before we recommend it, so we start by getting to know the software. Whenever possible, we meet with a senior executive (CEO or Head of Product) for a demo and Q&A. We also test the product ourselves to make sure it has a solid UI, intuitive workflows, and the features to make it a best-in-class offering.
User feedback: We go straight to the source and compile feedback on user experience. Real-world input supports our commitment to diligence in our software evaluation methods and the products we recommend. Keeping up with the everyday experience of HR pros also puts new vendors on our radar, and it keeps us close to our community so we can better connect the right products to the right people.
Financial metrics: We are certified finance nerds, so we use all the data we can get our hands on to make selections for our guides. We comb through data for concrete statistics like retention rates, growth, profitability, and scalability. We evaluate the bottom line of each product because we know making a software purchase can put your reputation on the line.
Best for a use case: Software is never a one-size-fits-all product. Sometimes the best solution is free or cheap. Other times it’s the one that is best for global companies or the one that’s sized right for early-stage startups. Keeping this in mind, we include solutions across the spectrum so our readers can find the best fit for their unique needs.
Here's more detail if you want to read more about how we research vendors. Our dedicated staff writers rely on hard data, impartial experts, and user feedback to ensure our reviews are helpful, truthful, and hopefully a pleasure to read!
Why we love it
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Paycor not only takes care of your payroll management and HCM needs but goes over and beyond by providing predictive HR analytics to help you understand your employees’ trends and behaviors.
Paycor
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Trusted by more than 29,000 businesses, Paycor’s HR + Payroll Software is made up of three HR management tools: A payroll system, an HR platform, and analytics. The payroll solution is laden with many incredibly useful features such as OnDemand Pay, AutoRun functionality, employee self-service, and tax compliance to name a few.
There’s also a mobile app that helps you make real-time changes at the tip of your fingers.
Similar to its payroll processing counterpart, Paycor’s HRMS tool is driven by automation and also comes with features that let you view employee records, edit employee data, optimize performance reviews, and improve internal communication.
Paycor
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Paycor
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BambooHR comes with an interface that’s remarkably calming to the senses for a workplace tool. They’re one of the top HR products of all time. Their payroll product, while acclaimed, is only available for paying US-based employees.
BambooHR
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BambooHR refers to itself as an “HR Software with heart” and rightly so. This all-in-one HR software takes care of the entire employee lifecycle by focusing on five key areas which are compensation, culture, people & analytics, hiring, and onboarding.
By keeping customer experience at the center of everything, BambooHR lets you access all your employee records in one place and dramatically reduces your paper usage.
From a robust payroll software that lets your employees quickly access their pay stubs or direct deposit to a highly accurate applicant tracking system that lets you find people who match your company culture, BambooHR has most that you could ask for in an HRIS and more.
BambooHR
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BambooHR
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Incredibly user-friendly, Rippling is a one-of-a-kind HR tool that lets you manage everything from payroll processes to employee benefits in one place. Notably, it comes with over a hundred workflow templates and app integrations to choose from.
Rippling
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From the get-go, you would get a sense of Rippling’s product quality, thanks to its elegant user interface that rightly embodies the seamlessness this highly-rated, award-winning SaaS product carries.
Rippling’s all-in-one HR software has a very powerful online payroll that boasts features such as automatic compliance, automatic tax filing, effortless time tracking, and easily customizing your company’s PTO policy.
Apart from smoothly running payroll, Rippling also has tools for time & attendance, talent acquisition, applicant tracking, learning management, and benefits administration.
Rippling
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Rippling
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Trusted by the world’s leading companies, Workday runs on automation and innovation to help you save time and money. Its advanced analytics tools can benefit HR teams at even the largest companies.
WorkDay
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Designed to fuel your acceleration in a changing world, Workday aims to overcome the limitations of an Enterprise Resource Planning system, commonly referred to as an ERP. Workday has many products and solutions but if you’re on the lookout for a payroll and HR solution that would help you optimize the time, talent, and energy of your people, their Human Capital Management system is worth checking out. From creating customized compensation programs to augmented people analytics that give you insights from vast data sets – Workday’s HCM suite is packed with extremely powerful tools.
WorkDay
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What makes Namely stand out from its competitors is that it’s highly customizable, easy to implement, and has unmatched customer service. Namely is also very scalable and would smoothly grow with your team.
Namely
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Namely aims to help you stay on top of your job and free up your time to focus on innovative people strategies. This cloud-based HR software consists of enhanced payroll services, compliance tools, benefits insurance expertise, and tools for employee engagement.
Apart from handling your core HR needs, Namely also offers pre-built integrations with an ever-growing list of partners. But what’s even more compelling is that if you don’t find an integration you need, you could build your own integration through Namely’s secure API.
Namely also has an amazing and active client community you could reach out to if you want an insight into the best practices.
Namely
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Namely
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With best-in-class integrations and built-in HR, OnPay is extremely user-friendly and has top-notch customer support. Its USP is the way it combines simplicity with a wide range of features.
OnPay
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Fast, precise, and backed by payroll experts, OnPay is a payroll software with all the HR tools embedded in it. OnPay’s goal is to enhance the productivity of individuals and teams. This is reflected both in their simple yet intuitive user interface and extensive features such as multi-state payroll, single sign-on, employee-self service, or automated onboarding flows.
One of the best things about OnPay is that when you buy it, you get the help of trained experts every step of the way. They also provide one month of a free trial.
OnPay
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OnPay
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Gusto has a sleek user interface and is quick to use. On top of its user-friendly payroll and essential HR tools, you get personalized support from certified HR experts if you buy their concierge pricing plan.
Gusto
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Gusto deploys smart technology to automate your workflows and help you save money and time. Its user interface is very peppy – a reflection of its snappy features.
Apart from unlimited payroll runs and automatic tax calculations, Gusto’s payroll processing stands out by giving you the option of paying your international contractors in over 80 countries.
With talent management features such as automated feedback requests and personalized employee communications, Gusto is truly a people’s software. It also integrates with popular apps the likes of which include Zoom, Slack, and Lattice.
Gusto
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Seamlessly integrated across all levels, what separates Zenefits from other HR systems is that it has built-in compliance, dozens of pre-built integrations, and a fully functional mobile app for both employees and HR managers.
Zenefits
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With a slick user interface and tools that span across the entire employee lifecycle, Zenefits has everything you need to manage your people with ease. Its payroll is packed with advanced features and is built to serve every company’s unique needs.
Unlike most HR platforms, Zenefits’ payroll system automatically syncs with other HRMS tools, saving your bandwidth for more important tasks. From streamlined onboarding and easy PTO, Zenefits packs several essential HR tools into one place.
Zenefits
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Zenefits
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Easy to use, 24/7 support from payroll experts, seamless integrations, – ADP is packed with interesting features that will elevate your business like nothing else.
ADP
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Instead of obfuscating a first-time user with unnecessary details about their HR services, ADP asks you a few simple questions and fetches you a customized HR solution that would best suit your organizational needs.
ADP’s payroll and HR software known as RUN is easy to use, has a clean user interface, and yet contains so much depth in terms of features. From personalized payroll to AI-powered error detection features for tax compliance, ADP lets you seamlessly run payroll, track time & attendance, helps you with workforce management, and much more.
ADP
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ADP
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Easy to navigate and customizable to your business needs, UKG’s Payroll and HR Software provides you with all the HR services under one roof. Their customer support team that’s available on a payroll hotline and chat are worth mentioning.
UKG
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UKG has a variety of HR product suites. If you’re looking for an HR software that combines transformative HR technology with robust payroll functionality, then UKG Pro is their HCM solution you should keep an eye on.
UKG Pro takes care of four key areas and those are payroll processing, talent acquisition, learning, and employee voice. One of its most coveted aspects is its intuitive navigation. You can get all your information on the very first page, with just a single click.
It also has a mobile app that your employees can use to do a variety of things such as being able to request time off or pulling old pay stubs.
UKG
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If you have just started an organization or are managing a small team, you may wonder if there is any use of bringing payroll and HR software onboard. After all, you could simply keep a database of your employees’ essential information.
While it may not seem like a necessity early on, contemporary payroll and HR solutions offer so much more value than meets the eye. Here are some of the reasons why you should consider investing in payroll and HR software:
You may find yourself wondering if a payroll and HR software product is worth buying, and rightly so.
These tools are certainly not free and the cost only escalates as the organization scales up. In the early stages of a company, tasks like time tracking and running payroll can be managed with the help of spreadsheets, although you have to consider that the opportunity cost is your precious time and sometimes even your peace of mind.
But when your organization grows, it’s clear as day that you’re better off outsourcing menial payroll and HR tasks to a software tool.
Consider this simple stat: The average salary of a payroll administrator in the U.S. is $50,000 per year. The average annual salary of an HR administrator is approximately the same as a payroll administrator. If you compare the amount of money you’ll spend on payroll and HR software vs. what it costs to hire a couple of administrators for such jobs, you’ll see that it’s completely worth buying a good payroll and HR software.
Besides, unquantifiable features such as accuracy, elimination of duplicate entries, or compliance risks, however easy to overlook, can make a substantial difference at the end of the day.
For most payroll and HR software, the pricing model is such that there is a monthly base fee plus a per employee per month fee. The latter fee is usually around a quarter of the base amount. Most HRMS vendors also provide differently priced packages that you can choose from, however. This depends on the features that you require and your organization’s size. Many vendors don’t disclose pricing upfront and require you to quote a custom price.
Pricing contracts are renewable monthly or annually, with the latter being a cost-effective choice usually. Some vendors also ask for additional charges on top of the pricing plan you choose for various purposes such as for filing W-9s and 1099s, set up, customer support, or consulting.
Make sure you’re aware of these hidden costs before you seal the deal with a vendor. That said, below is a chart of price ranges to keep in mind before you start looking for payroll and HR vendors. Do note that it’s only an average estimate and prices may vastly vary between vendors.
After spending countless hours in the HRMS vendor universe, we’ve found that the highest-rated payroll and HR solutions are laden with features that surpass the basic requirements of HR teams.
While some vendors go over and beyond in terms of the add-ons they provide, below is a list of features that you must look for while selecting a payroll and HR solution.
Most HR tech vendors either provide a live demo or a recorded one to their potential customers. Think of this as a simulation of what it’s going to be like after you get this product onboard. Lest you get carried away by the number of features or a beautiful user interface, it’s imperative that you prepare a list of questions beforehand that will address your core HR needs.
Although not exhaustive, below are such questions that we think HR professionals should definitely ask to get the most out of a demo:
Depending on whether you’re buying payroll and HR software for the first time or switching to a new one, your implementation process would slightly differ.
There are also variables such as your organization size, training requirements, and the vendor you choose that would dictate your timeline and process. Thus, implementation of a new payroll and HR software could take as little as a day to a couple of weeks.
Most vendors start with an installation, which is followed by data migration (if you’re switching from another vendor), configuration, testing, employee training, and finally officially bringing the software onboard. Later, the vendor may follow up for feedback.
In most cases, the implementation team would ask you for the following information:
Do note that although this is the typical process, it’s best to ask the vendor you’re interested in about their implementation process and timeline before proceeding with them.
In 2022, when someone says payroll software they typically mean a SaaS solution that manages, records, organizes, and automates a company’s payments to its employees. That being said, payroll software could be cloud-based or on-premise.
HR software is a suite of tools that helps a company’s human resources department carry out everyday HR tasks in an efficient manner.
An all-in-one HRMS software enables a company’s HR department to carry out a wide range of core HR tasks such as payroll processing, onboarding, recruiting, benefits administration, applicant tracking, and more from one centralized location.
Yes, many vendors in the HR space provide a combined solution that takes care of payroll and core HR needs.
HRIS stands for Human Resource Information System.
HCM stands for Human Capital Management.
HRMS stands for Human Resource Management System.
These terms are often used interchangeably because on the surface, there isn’t a huge difference between HRIS, HCM, and HRMS. The definition varies from vendor to vendor and even among HR professionals. While all three are all people management tools, the differences lie in their features and use cases. An HRIS takes care of your core HR needs and is limited in that sense. An HRMS has the same use case as an HRIS but goes beyond the core HR needs in terms of features, especially if it adds performance management and payroll. Strategic planning is the epicenter of an HCM while having most of the HRMS features all the same.
There are many benefits of using an HR and payroll software, some of which are:
While we’ve spent a lot of time researching and coming up with this list of best payroll and HR softwares, what is best for one company might not be for some other. Hopefully, our comprehensive yet brief vendor reviews help you shortlist what would be the best payroll and HR software for your particular case.
To wrap things up, we hope that the information on this page helped you get an overview of the best payroll and HR vendors, their features, pricing, and how to go about implementing them.
Partnering with a top payroll and HR vendor will help you save a lot of time and money, but what would truly elevate your experience is partnering with a vendor that specifically caters to your company’s needs.
Our advice to you is that instead of looking for a one-size-fits-all solution, you should narrow down your specific HR requirements and base all your demos around that. Dive right into demos with 2-3 vendors and ask them to show specific functionality. If a vendor checks the majority of your boxes, you can then evaluate them on other factors like ease of use and overall user experience.
Lastly, if you're an internationally distributed team, consider coupling this guide with our roundup of the best global payroll software.
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