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Home › Categories › Payroll & HR

Payroll & HR Software, Compared: Verified 2026 Pricing

Bill BelcaminoBy Bill Belcamino · Last updated September 23, 2026 · Our methodologyResearched and fact-checked by the HelpCompare team

Side-by-side pricing for Gusto, Rippling and OnPay: entry price, free plan, how each vendor bills for AI, and the date we last checked each figure against the vendor’s own pricing page.

Payroll & HR Software, ComparedVerified Sep 23, 2026

Quick answer

  • Lowest published entry price: Gusto — From $49/mo + $6/person and OnPay — $49 base + $6/worker/mo.
  • Free plans: none of the 3 tools we track here offers a permanent free plan.
  • Quote-only: Rippling does not publish list prices.

Most-read in this category: OnPay to Rippling

Payroll & HR pricing at a glance

Every row links to the comparison where the figure was verified and to the vendor’s pricing page.

ToolEntry priceFree planAI billingG2 ratingVerifiedSource
GustoFrom $49/mo + $6/personNo — free account setup, no contracts——September 17, 2026in Gusto vs RipplingVendor pricing ↗
RipplingCustom quote onlyNo——September 17, 2026in Gusto vs RipplingVendor pricing ↗
OnPay$49 base + $6/worker/moNo — "Get Your First Month Free" trial offer, not a permanent free tier——September 23, 2026in OnPay vs GustoVendor pricing ↗

Head-to-head comparisons

Gusto vs RipplingUpdated September 17, 2026OnPay vs GustoUpdated September 23, 2026OnPay vs RipplingUpdated September 23, 2026

Switching guides

Gusto to OnPaySwitching guideGusto to RipplingSwitching guideOnPay to GustoSwitching guideOnPay to RipplingSwitching guideRippling to GustoSwitching guideRippling to OnPaySwitching guide
Verified data

Payroll & HR: security, offline & remote work

The payroll tools we track, side by side on compliance, single sign-on, offline access and remote or office controls. Every value links to the vendor page it came from.

What we checkedGustoRipplingOnPay
Security & compliance
SOC 2 reportSOC 2 reportType not stated by vendorsourceSOC 2 Type IIsourceSOC 2 Type IIsource
ISO/IEC 27001Not publishedCertifiedsourceNot published
Other certificationsNot publishedSOC 1 Type II, SOC 3, CSA STAR Level 2, ISO/IEC 27018, ISO/IEC 42001sourceNot published
HIPAA (BAA)BAA availableFor benefits and health-insurance datasourceNot publishedNot published
GDPR data processing agreementNot publishedNot publishedNot published
Single sign-on (SAML/OIDC)NosourceNot publishedNot published
SCIM user provisioningNot publishedNot publishedNot published
Two-factor authenticationYesEnforcement: Primary admin setting; applies to admins only (plan not stated)sourceNot publishedYessource
Admin audit logNot publishedYessourceNot published
Data residency choicesUS onlysourceNot publishedNot published
EncryptionAES-256 at rest (AWS); TLS 1.2 in transitsourceAES at rest; 256-bit TLS in transitsourceAES-256 at rest; TLS 1.2 in transit; hosted on AWSsource
Self-hosting optionNot publishedNot publishedNot published
Offline access
Offline modeNot documentedPartialOnly the Rippling time Kiosk works offline: employees can clock in and out, switch jobs, take breaks and capture photos without a connection.sourceNot documented
Desktop appsNot publishedNot publishedNot published
Mobile appsiOS, AndroidsourceiOS, AndroidsourceiOS, Androidsource
Remote, hybrid & in-office
IP allowlistingNot publishedNot publishedNot published
Device & session controlsNot publishedYesRippling IT device management (Apple and Windows MDM): remote lock and wipe, custom security policies, automated device offboarding.sourceNot published
Office & room hardwareTime Kiosk turns any internet-connected tablet or computer into a shared clock-in station (Plus, Premium, or Time & Attendance Plus Simple add-on).sourceRippling Time & Attendance runs a Kiosk for shared clock-in and out, and the Kiosk has an offline mode.source—
Editorial assessment

What this means for your team

  • Audit reports: all state a SOC 2 report on their own sites, but not the same kind: Gusto (type not stated), Rippling (Type II) and OnPay (Type II). Rippling also holds ISO/IEC 27001. A Type I report checks controls at a single point in time; a Type II report tests them over months. If your security team requires Type II, confirm it with Gusto, and ask each vendor for the latest report under NDA.
  • Health data: Gusto will sign a HIPAA business associate agreement (Gusto: For benefits and health-insurance data). We found no BAA offer for Rippling and OnPay, so keep protected health information out of them.
  • Working offline: Rippling works offline only in part; Gusto and OnPay don’t document an offline mode. Details are in the Offline mode row above.
  • In the office: Gusto: Time Kiosk turns any internet-connected tablet or computer into a shared clock-in station (Plus, Premium, or Time & Attendance Plus Simple add-on). Rippling: Rippling Time & Attendance runs a Kiosk for shared clock-in and out, and the Kiosk has an offline mode.

Gusto: worth knowing

  • OfflineGusto's Time Kiosk has no offline mode: the kiosk device must be online, so sites without Wi-Fi need a device with cellular data. source
  • OfficeTime Kiosk is limited to Plus, Premium, or Time & Attendance Plus Simple add-on customers who use Time Tracking. source
  • RemoteOn Plus and Premium, provisioning apps grant or remove team members' access to tools like Slack or Zoom from Gusto. source
  • SecurityGusto's SOC 1 and SOC 2 reports are updated annually and available through its Trust Center under NDA; the SOC 2 type is not stated on the security page. source

Rippling: worth knowing

  • RemoteDevice offboarding follows HR offboarding, so admins can schedule when a remote employee's laptop is locked and wiped. source
  • SecurityRippling IT includes identity and access management with custom SCIM and SAML integrations for provisioning and SSO to other apps. source
  • OfflineThe Kiosk's offline mode lets hourly staff keep clocking in and out during internet outages. source

OnPay: worth knowing

  • SecurityOnPay's single sign-on lets users log in with Google, QuickBooks or Xero credentials; no SAML connection to a company identity provider is documented. source
  • SecurityEach employee profile has a History > Audit Log of actions involving that employee, but it only shows the last 30 rows. source
  • RemoteEmployees can check pay, hours and PTO from the OnPay Mobile app on iOS and Android; the app is for employees, not admins. source
  • RemoteOutside accountants and bookkeepers can manage client payroll remotely as Outside Collaborators instead of sharing the owner's login. source

Checked September 24, 2026 against each vendor’s own trust center, help docs and app pages. Hover or tap “source” to see the exact wording we relied on. “Not published” means we could not find the vendor saying it on its own site; it doesn’t mean the feature is missing. Plan names are the lowest plan the vendor says includes the feature. Security · Offline · Remote vs office · Download the data

Frequently asked questions

Which payroll tool is cheapest?

Of the 3 payroll tools HelpCompare tracks, the lowest published entry price belongs to Gusto (From $49/mo + $6/person, verified September 17, 2026) and OnPay ($49 base + $6/worker/mo, verified September 23, 2026). Entry prices are the cheapest paid tier each vendor publishes; the right answer at your team size depends on seat minimums and add-ons, which each head-to-head comparison breaks down.

Which payroll tools have a free plan?

None of the payroll tools we track offers a permanent free plan; check each vendor for trials.

Where does this pricing data come from?

Every figure was recorded from the vendor's own pricing page during research for a HelpCompare comparison, and is dated. The most recent check in this category was September 23, 2026. Nothing is estimated: where a vendor publishes no price, we say so. The full dataset is free to reuse under CC BY 4.0 at helpcompare.com/data/.

Sources

Figures come from each vendor’s pricing page, recorded on the date shown. Download the full dataset from Open Data (JSON and CSV, CC BY 4.0).

Cite this page: HelpCompare, “Payroll & HR Software, Compared: Verified 2026 Pricing”, helpcompare.com/payroll-hr-software/ (updated ).

Source links on this site are checked every month; last check . How sources are checked.

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Bill Belcamino, founder of HelpCompare
About the author

Bill Belcamino

Founder and author, HelpCompare

Engineer by training, operator by experience, marketer by choice. Bill spent eight and a half years as an engineer at HP, was COO of Auctiva (the number one third-party selling platform on eBay, past 200,000 users) and ran Google’s $70M/year search syndication partnership at Alot.com. Then he spent 13 years building his own web properties with his own money at stake. He has bought, trialled, integrated and cancelled more SaaS tools than he can count, and started HelpCompare because the real cost of switching tools is the part nobody covers.

“I’ve sat on both sides of the table: the agency recommending the tool and the client paying for it.”

Researched and fact-checked by the HelpCompare team. Pricing on this page was last verified on September 23, 2026. No paid sponsorships, no affiliate commissions.

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