Self-employed and small-team payroll: the cheapest options for 1 to 5 people

Quick answer: the cheapest payroll for one to five people

Cheapest full service, 1 person

$41 a monthSquare Payroll: $35 + $6

Cheapest full service, 5 people

$62 a monthPatriot Full Service: $37 + $5 each

Cheapest if you file taxes yourself

$21 a monthPatriot Basic: $17 + $4

S corp owner extra tax on a $60,000 salary

$4,590Employer share of FICA at 7.65%

For a single owner on payroll, Square and Patriot Full Service are $1 apart. They tie at $47 for two people, and from three people up Patriot is cheaper because its per-person fee is $5, not $6. SurePayroll would be lower ($36 for one) if its $29 base applies, but the same page also shows $39, so we use the higher figure. If you want the payroll company to file your 941s, W-2s and state returns, skip Patriot Basic: on that plan you file and pay the taxes yourself.

Gusto, OnPay and Homebase all list $49 plus $6, which is $55 a month for one person. That is $14 a month, or $168 a year, more than Square for the same headcount. You pay that premium for things like next-day deposit options, an HR tier you can add later, or multi-state payroll (OnPay includes it; Gusto Simple does not).

What payroll costs for 1, 2 and 5 people

First-year cost for one person, with promotions and year-end fees

• Square: $41 x 12 = $492. Add $3 per form only if you want paper W-2s mailed.
• Patriot Full Service: month 1 free, then $18.50 + $2.50 = $21 for three months, then $42 for eight months. $63 + $336 = $399 in year one, $504 a year after that.
• SurePayroll: $36 x 12 = $432 (or $46 x 12 = $552 at the $39 base the same page also shows), plus $50 + $5 for one W-2 = $487 or $607.
• Roll by ADP: three-month free trial, then $44 x 9 = $396 in year one, $528 a year after that.
• Wave: $46 x 12 = $552.
• Gusto Simple: $55 x 12 = $660. No promotion is listed.
• QuickBooks Workforce Payroll + Simple Start: base is $44 for the first three months, then $88. (3 x $50.50) + (9 x $94.50) = $151.50 + $850.50 = $1,002. That price includes QuickBooks Online accounting, so compare it with what you pay for bookkeeping today.

For larger teams and every add-on, see what payroll services cost per employee and the full payroll software ranking.

Payroll picks for a team of one to five

Ranked by our published payroll scores. Scores come from our scoring method. Payroll services are scored out of 100 on price transparency and cost for 10 employees (25 points), tax filing coverage and guarantee (20), features (20), contract and exit terms (15), support access (10) and documented complaints (10). Scheduling tools are scored on their own criteria, so compare those scores only with each other. The scores price a 10-employee plan; for one to five people, the cost table above shows who is cheapest. The ADP score is for ADP RUN. Homebase is scored as a scheduling app.

How to pay yourself from an S corp

An S corporation owner who works in the business is an employee of the corporation. You go on payroll, get a W-2, and the company withholds income tax and the employee share of FICA from your paychecks. Profit left after your salary can come out as distributions, which are not wages and are not run through payroll. That split is the reason many owners elect S corp status, and it is also why the IRS looks at owners who take little or no salary.

The IRS says an S corporation must pay a shareholder-employee reasonable compensation for the services they provide before it makes non-wage distributions (IRS, S corporation compensation and medical insurance issues, checked October 17, 2026). It publishes no dollar figure or percentage. Owners and their accountants usually look at what the business would pay someone else to do the same job, the hours you work and what the company earns. Keep your notes on how you picked the number.

What it costs to put a $60,000 owner salary on payroll in Texas, 2026

Not every state taxes corporate officers the same way for unemployment, and states with a FUTA credit reduction cost more than $42. Run your own state through the employer cost calculator or check the 2026 SUTA rates for every state.

Steps to start owner-only payroll

1. Confirm the S corp election is in effect before the first owner paycheck.
2. Register for state withholding and unemployment accounts where you work. Gusto offers state registration through a partner, priced by state. Paychex, QuickBooks and others expect you to bring your own account numbers.
3. Pick a pay schedule. A monthly schedule keeps per-run work low, and every published plan in the table above is priced per month, not per run.
4. Set the salary, then let the provider deposit federal taxes. Most small employers are monthly depositors: tax is due by the 15th of the next month if the lookback period had $50,000 or less of tax (IRS Topic 757).
5. Watch the year-end dates. W-2s for 2026 go to the Social Security Administration and to you by February 1, 2027.

LLC owners and sole proprietors: when you do not need payroll

A single-member LLC taxed the default way, and a sole proprietor, do not put the owner on W-2 payroll. You take draws and pay self-employment tax on your own return (IRS Publication 3402, Taxation of Limited Liability Companies, March 2020 revision). Payroll starts when you hire your first employee, or when the LLC elects to be taxed as an S corp (or C corp) and you become its employee.

So "payroll for one employee" means one of two things. If the one person is you as an S corp owner, the table above applies. If the one person is a hire and you are a sole proprietor, the same prices apply but you are the employer, not the employee. Our guide to hiring your first employee covers registration, new hire reporting and workers' comp for that case.

Paying freelancers instead of employees is cheaper to run. Square charges $6 per contractor with no base fee, and QuickBooks Contractor Payments is $25 a month for up to 20. See how to pay 1099 contractors and how to tell a contractor from an employee before you choose.

Who pays the penalty if the payroll company files late

This matters more than $5 a month. One of the biggest payroll complaints in our research is a filing error followed by an IRS or state notice the provider would not pay. Gusto has a 1.9 rating from 2,535 Trustpilot reviews (seen October 16, 2026), and recent reviews describe exactly that.

Leaving later: cancellation and access to your W-2s

• Patriot: cancel in Settings; billing stops for days not used. You can still view and download reports, 941s, W-2s and 1099s, and workers keep lifetime access.
• Gusto: self-serve cancel that takes effect at once, but you pay the full month if you cancel after the 5th or ran payroll that month. If Gusto files your final returns: $100 federal, $100 per state, $5 per W-2 or 1099. Admins keep read-only access.
• QuickBooks: ends at the end of the billing month. $150 if Intuit prepares year-end filings after you cancel. Data access for one year.
• Wave: payroll data access ends at the end of the month you cancel, so download forms first.
• OnPay: 30 days' written notice. A Trustpilot reviewer (June 4, 2026) said there is no online option.
• Square: post-cancellation access is not stated in the pages we read.

More detail by provider: Gusto fees and cancellation, Square Payroll costs, Patriot Software review.

Common mistakes with one-person payroll

• Choosing the do-it-yourself plan by accident. Patriot Basic at $17 + $4 does not file your taxes. Missed 941 deposits cost far more than the $20 a month difference.
• Paying yourself only distributions. An S corp owner who works in the business and takes no salary invites IRS questions about reasonable compensation.
• Forgetting the second state. Gusto Simple is single-state; Patriot and QuickBooks charge $12 a month per extra state. OnPay includes multi-state.
• Switching mid-year without a plan. Missed quarterly wage reports after a switch can push your state unemployment rate up. One owner reported a jump from 0.8% to 12.75%.
• Using a free tool that does not file. Most free payroll tools leave filing to you. Compare with the real cost of free payroll.