For small-business owners & operators

The payroll price.
And the rest of
the bill.

Understand the software subscription, the charges around it, and the work of switching providers—before you commit.

Your own quote. Visible assumptions. No invented savings.

Start with the cost model

A base price is a starting point.

True Payroll Cost helps small businesses examine payroll software quotes. This first guide gives you a comparison method and a working budget worksheet—not a provider ranking. Keep wages, employer taxes, and benefit funding separate from software and administration costs.

01 / RECURRING

Count what is billed.

Record the base charge, the per-person charge, and the definition of a billable person. Ask whether inactive staff, contractors, extra entities, or additional states change your quote. These are questions to confirm, not fees we assume every provider charges.

02 / SCOPE

Price the same job.

List the services you need before comparing plans: payroll processing, tax filing, time tracking, benefits administration, and support. Mark each as included, optional, or not confirmed. An unconfirmed item is not a zero-cost item.

03 / TERMS

Read beyond month one.

Write down the normal price, promotion end date, cancellation terms, and any quoted setup charge. Separate recurring obligations from a temporary offer so that a discount does not stand in for a full-year comparison.

Evidence before estimates

Use the provider's actual terms.

These official pages illustrate different things to check. We reviewed them on October 22, 2026. Follow the source for current details and confirm your exact service scope in writing.

For a worked example using published plan rates, read Gusto Pricing and Payroll Cost: Calculate Your Plan, Extras and Switching Bill and download its fillable cost worksheet.

Official source	What the page shows	What to record in your comparison
Gusto pricing ↗	Plan pricing combines a monthly base with a monthly per-person charge. The page also lists add-on services.	The selected plan, billed headcount, and each selected add-on—not just the headline base price.
QuickBooks payroll pricing ↗	The page displays a payroll-and-accounting bundle and a time-limited promotional base price.	Whether your quote is payroll alone or a bundle, the normal price, and the promotion period.
RUN Powered by ADP ↗	The product page directs visitors to get pricing and compare packages.	A written quote for your headcount and requested package. We do not substitute an estimated public price.

These are source links, not endorsements or evidence that the plans have identical scope. No provider prices are preloaded into the worksheet.

Make the assumptions visible

Your quote, worked through.

Enter amounts from a written quote or your own internal assumptions. All amounts use USD. Enter zero only when you have confirmed no charge applies. Blank fields are deliberately not treated as free.

The formula
Monthly = base + (per-person fee × billable people) + add-ons.
First year = (monthly × 12 months) + one-time external costs + (transition hours × hourly cost).
Source of every input: your entries. The 12-month multiplier defines this worksheet's annual scenario.

A total you can explain.

Complete the fields to see recurring costs and the one-time transition model separately.

This worksheet assumes unchanged monthly pricing and headcount. It does not predict promotions, payroll taxes, wage costs, price changes, or your actual invoice.

The calculator runs locally in your browser. Your entries are not sent to this site.

Before you move providers

Ask about the exit,
not just the entrance.

Switching is a project as well as a subscription decision. Use this checklist to request a migration plan and identify which tasks belong to you, the outgoing provider, and the new provider.

“Please itemize the normal recurring price, selected extras, transition charges, cancellation terms, and who handles each migration task.”

Records: Which payroll reports and employee records can you export, in what format, and how will access work after cancellation?
Responsibility: Who handles year-to-date imports and any outstanding filings or corrections? Get the handoff documented.
Timing: Which pay date is the cutover, what funding deadlines apply, and will you pay for overlapping subscriptions?
People and systems: Who checks employee setup, deduction balances, accounting connections, and the first payroll results?
Charges: Are setup, data conversion, cancellation, or post-cancellation support included in your written quote?

How to read this site

Claims need a source.
Costs need a scope.

We distinguish provider-published terms from calculations using your own inputs. We do not present an unknown fee as free, invent a quote, or turn a single plan price into a claim about every small business.

What this page does today

Explain the cost model, point you to official pricing sources, and let you calculate a scenario from your quote. The questions above are a review checklist, not claims that every vendor levies those charges.

Privacy & measurement

The worksheet has no upload or account requirement. Site traffic is measured only with Cloudflare Web Analytics. Calculator entries are not included in analytics events. See Cloudflare's analytics description.