Wave Payroll review: pricing, fees and what happens when you leave

Wave Payroll at a glance

US price

$40 + $6 per employeeplus $6 per contractor paid, per month

10 employees

$100 a monthtax service in all 50 states

After you cancel

Access ends at month enddownload everything first

Our score

64/1004th of 15 payroll providers

Wave Payroll is the payroll add-on to Wave's accounting and invoicing software. It is one of the cheapest full-service options we price, and the tax service now runs in all 50 states at the same price. It is also thin in places: no phone support that we could find, no published support hours, and a tax guarantee that asks you to pay the penalty first. Scores follow our scoring method; we compare published terms, prices and documented complaints, and did not run payroll on Wave.

Wave Payroll pricing

Two details matter for the bill. Employees are charged when active and contractors only when paid, so a contractor you pay twice a year costs $6 in each of those two months and nothing in the others. And the published prices apply only to customers who signed up after April 2, 2025; the page does not say what earlier customers pay.

Wave gives you the first 30 days after your first payroll "commitment-free". There is no separate setup fee on the page, and Wave's own page says payroll is "not built for highly customized compensation plans".

What Wave Payroll costs for 5, 10 and 25 employees

At 10 employees Wave's $100 sits between Square Payroll ($95) and OnPay or Gusto Simple ($109), and above Patriot Full Service ($87), using each provider's list price checked October 16, 2026. Wave's $100 already includes every state, which OnPay's $109 also does and Gusto Simple's does not. The bigger saving for a Wave user is the accounting: if you already keep books in Wave, you are not paying for a separate ledger. More detail is on what payroll services cost and free payroll software and what free really means.

Wave's tax filing guarantee

Wave's payroll page claims "100% payroll accuracy guaranteed" but gives no terms there. The terms are in a support FAQ updated July 14, 2026: "if Wave is considered at fault, Wave will pay the amounts owing." You pay the penalty first and send proof to Wave Support for reimbursement (Wave support).

• Interest: not mentioned.
• Who decides fault: the FAQ says "considered at fault" without saying who decides or how.
• Exclusions: older tax service terms (August 16, 2021) disclaim penalties after a failed payroll funding (NSF) or filings you did not sign. We could not confirm whether those terms still apply.
• Filing partner: Wave files through its partner Tax1099.

For comparison, OnPay's terms reimburse penalties from its negligent errors with no notice deadline and do not describe a pay-first step (OnPay review); Gusto pays penalties if you forward the notice 30 days before the agency deadline (Gusto pricing).

Canceling Wave Payroll and getting your records

Wave publishes a clear cancellation process, and one of the shortest record windows we found. From Wave's help center (Wave support):

• How: Business settings, then Payroll, then Billing, then Cancel. Any time, no notice period.
• Last bill: a final bill arrives the month after.
• Taxes: automatic tax payments and filings end when you cancel.
• Records: "At the end of the month, you will no longer have access to your payroll data."
• Contract: "No long-term contracts." The 2021 tax service terms mention a 3-month minimum for the tax service, which may be outdated.

1. Before you click Cancel, download every pay stub, payroll register, Form 941, state return and any W-2s Wave has issued.
2. Export year-to-date totals per employee for your new provider, so Social Security stops at the 2026 wage base of $184,500 and FUTA at the first $7,000.
3. Because Wave's filings stop when you cancel, agree in writing who files the current quarter's Form 941 and state wage reports, and who issues the year's W-2s, which are due February 1, 2027 for 2026.
4. Keep filing any zero-wage state reports. One owner on Hacker News said a missed report after a switch moved their unemployment rate from 0.8% to 12.75% (August 2026); see 2026 SUTA rates.
5. Ask your employees to download their own pay stubs before month end.

Wave support

Wave offers live chat on weekdays and email. We found no phone line, and Wave does not publish support hours on the pages in our research. If a payroll fails to fund on a Friday, expect to wait until Monday for a live answer. If you want phone support with published hours, SurePayroll lists Monday to Friday, 8am to 7pm Central (SurePayroll review).

What Wave customers say

Wave Payroll has 4.1 out of 5 from 31 reviews on G2. Wave's Trustpilot page, which covers all of Wave and not just payroll, shows 3.2 out of 5 from 554 reviews (both seen October 16, 2026). Thirty-one reviews is a small sample for payroll specifically.

We have not documented recurring Wave Payroll complaints from individual reviews yet; the reviews were not read in this research pass, so we describe no pattern. The risks we can document come from Wave's own pages: pay-first reimbursement, record access that ends at month end, and no phone support.

Mixed messages on Wave's own pages

Reported as found on October 16, 2026:

• "100% payroll accuracy guaranteed" on the payroll page, while the support FAQ limits payment to cases where Wave "is considered at fault" and makes you pay first.
• "No long-term contracts" on current pages, while the 2021 tax service terms mention a 3-month minimum for the tax service. Wave has not said whether the older terms were withdrawn.
• Prices for new customers only. The page says its prices apply to sign-ups after April 2, 2025, without saying what earlier customers pay. If you joined before that date, check your own invoice.

How we score Wave Payroll

Wave scores 64 out of 100, fourth of the 15 payroll providers we score, behind Patriot (69), Gusto (69) and OnPay (67) and ahead of SurePayroll (56). It scores well on price and self-serve cancellation, and loses points on the guarantee conditions, short record access and support.

Who Wave Payroll fits, and who should pick something else

Pick something else if:

• You want a penalty promise without paying first: OnPay at $109 for 10, also in every state.
• You want records after you leave: Patriot keeps W-2s and 941s downloadable after canceling, and its Full Service plan is $87 for 10 (Patriot review).
• You want phone support and a household payroll plan: SurePayroll.
• Your pay plans are more complex than Wave says it is built for: compare Gusto Plus, with time tracking and multi-state payroll at $80 plus $12 per person (Gusto plans, OnPay vs Gusto).

See the full ranking on best payroll services for small business.

Related reviews

If you outgrow Wave, these reviews cover the next step up in price and features. For a full HR suite, see HR and payroll software and our Paylocity review.

• Gusto vs SurePayrollTwo posted-price payroll services, with year-end form fees, multi-state costs and exit terms.
• OnPay reviewOne flat price for any number of states, the HR add-on math and a 30-day written exit.
• OnPay vs GustoSame $49 plus $6 entry price; different multi-state, cancellation and add-on terms.
• Paycom reviewQuote only: a dated per-run estimate, the implementation fee and the terms to get in writing.
• Paycor reviewQuote only with a 50% off offer, the old $99 + $5 list price and the Deputy route.
• Paylocity reviewQuote only: the $18 to $22 per employee estimate, implementation math and missing terms.
• SurePayroll reviewTwo base prices on one page, $50 + $5 per W-2 and the terms you should get in writing.
• isolved reviewNo prices or terms published; how reseller sales work and what a quote must beat.