Best Free Payroll Software – Which One Is Best for Your Business?

The best free payroll software is Payroll4Free, because it offers a shockingly large feature catalog for a cost-free platform, including payrolls reports, 401(k) deductions, and access to an employee portal for self-service functionality.

The aptly named Payroll4Free isn’t the only option when it comes to free payroll software, though. In fact, there are plenty of other platforms that can perform payroll tasks without costing you a dime. They do, however, come with some caveats, which is why we’d recommend larger businesses to check out the best paid payroll software options before you make a decision.

In this article, we’ll break down the best free payroll software, letting you know which features and integrations each one has to offer. You can also take our free online payroll quiz to get match your business to a suitable solution in minutes.

In this guide:

• What Is the Best Free Payroll Software?
• Why Do Businesses Need Payroll Software?
• Is Free Payroll Software Worth It?
• Is Free Payroll Software Secure?
• How to Choose Payroll Software for Your Business
• Methodology: How We Test Free Payroll Software
• Verdict: What Is the Best Free Payroll Software?

What Is the Best Free Payroll Software?

Read our full list of contenders, and their individual best fors, in the list below, and click the links to learn more about each provider.

1. Payroll4Free – Best free payroll software overall
2. ExcelPayroll – Best for spreadsheet lovers
3. HR.my – Best for international use
4. Toast Payroll – Best for restaurants and bars

1. Payroll4Free – Best Free Payroll Software Overall

When it comes to evaluating free payroll software, the biggest factor is how functional the platform is when it comes to manage business operations. After all, free platforms are known for their lack of functionality, and you can’t exactly skimp when it comes to payroll.

However, when it comes to overall functionality within a free platform, Payroll4Free is clearly the best option on the market, offering a massive selection of payroll features at no cost to businesses.

What we like about Payroll4Free

The biggest boon for Payroll4Free users is the feature catalog. You get access to everything from vacation time tracking and direct deposit functionality to tax calculations and data import from valuable integrations like QuickBooks. You’ll even get access to a full-on employee portal, so that users can take advantage of self-service tools to take the load off your team. Yes, all for free.

Plus, the service offers a simple interface and 24/7 customer support, so you shouldn’t have too many growing pains when it comes to actually using the platform. And trust us, live customer support for a free software isn’t a guarantee, particularly if it is unlimited support via both phone and email.

What we don’t like about Payroll4Free

Like most free software, Payroll4Free isn’t perfect. One big restriction is the employee cap, which limits the number of individuals on the payroll to 10 — a number that’s fine for many small businesses, but could be too limiting as a company grows. In comparison, ExcelPayroll offers a much higher employee limit — with a cap of up to 50 employees, but it’s definitely lacking when it comes to features.

Another big issue for Payroll4Free is the ads. You have to make money somehow, and Payroll4Free does so by putting big targeted ads throughout the platform. Given you’re getting top tier payroll features for free, it’s not the worst, but if you’re used to paid platforms, it will get a bit annoying.

On top of all that, Payroll4Free is only available on Windows. You can still use it on a Mac, but you’ll have to have Windows installed to get it to work.

Payroll4Free comes with targeted ads, which is how it’s able to be free forever. Source: Payroll4Free

Payroll4Free features

Payroll4Free is at the top of our list in large part due to the wide range of features it offers. Here’s a quick list of the key abilities that it can handle for your business:

• Pays employees and contractors
• Determines federal, state, and local taxes
• Supports paper checks and direct deposit
• Employee portal
• Vacation time calculation
• Generate reports
• Data export for accounting integrations
• Data import for time tracking integrations
• Customer support: Phone and email

The reporting ability tracks data that can be turned in a variety of reports — earnings, tax, benefit, accrued time, and payroll journal reports.

Any hidden fees?

Payroll4Free offers an impressive amount for free, but not everything. Payroll4Free offers two different services as paid add-ons that can help streamline some of your payroll needs.

First off, Payroll4Free offers the Payroll Tax Service, in which the company will deposit and file all of your payroll taxes for you, so you don’t have to go through the trouble. There’s also the Direct Deposit Service, which allows you to set up direct deposit for your employees without going through your own bank. Payroll4Free notes that you won’t pay more than $40 per month for these two services.

Additionally, if you go over the 10 employee limit, you can be subject to fines and other charges, so make sure that’s all you need before getting started with Payroll4Free.

2. ExcelPayroll – Best for Spreadsheet Lovers

The ExcelPayroll software is an excellent free payroll software for DIY-loving small business owners or managers who enjoy tracking data through spreadsheets, as its more of an extension/template for Microsoft Excel than its own platform.

You’ll have to do a bit more manual entry and the learning curve is steep if you haven’t used Excel before, but for a free platform, you could do a lot worse.

What we like about ExcelPayroll

For starters, setup and installation with ExcelPayroll is easier than any other software in this guide, because it all runs on Microsoft Excel, so you’ll just have to download and unzip a file.

Plus, up to 50 employees can be paid at one time through the software, which should be more than enough for any small business. The user cap is intentionally designed by the software’s creator, who wanted only small businesses to be able to use it, although they have noted that non-profit organizations with a greater number of active employees should get in touch to have the cap removed.

What we don’t like about ExcelPayroll

While the service is free, ExcelPayroll is more limited than Payroll4Free when it comes to features. For example, direct deposit is not supported, though paper checks can be printed. Users can also print tax forms (W2 forms, W3, 940, 941, DE9), although they can’t file through the software.

Users may face a tough learning curve if they aren’t already familiar with Excel, too, given the vast customizability of the spreadsheet system. Still, you should be able to figure it out quickly, and those savings won’t hurt either.

Setup is easy with ExcelPayroll, because it operates within Microsoft Excel. Source: ExcelPayroll

Features

ExcelPayroll’s most important features to know are:

• Prints tax forms
• Tracks vacation days
• Generates workers’ compensation reports
• Calculates deductions
• Generates accounting entries
• Offers custom withholding and timecard options
• Live customer support: None

The deductions that the software is designed to automatically add when desired include 401K, 125P, HSA, and Garnishment.

Any hidden fees?

There are no extra fees whatsoever with ExcelPayroll, including no monthly fee, no payroll fee, and no additional services such as tax filing. It’s a stripped-down service with no surprises.

3. HR.my – Best for International Use

Unlike most software on this list, HR.my supports an unlimited number of employees, across any location on the planet. Well, any location that speaks one of the 66 languages that the payroll software supports. That’s an impressive number for any free software, and more than any other service in this guide. As a result, HR.my works well as a way to track worker pay across international borders making it perfect for managing multinational teams.

What we like about HR.my

HR.my features include basic payroll support and time tracking, but also cover useful employee management tools that will help managers easily field expense claims and employee leave requests. Plus, the software lets a business operate an HR service, a benefit none of the other free offerings in our guide can boast.

The HR.my software is crowdfunded, with no paid plans waiting in the wings, so you can be sure that you’ll always enjoy the free price tag.

What we don’t like about HR.my

The downsides of the software are also tied to its focus on international. It doesn’t offer any US labor law compliance, so users in the US will likely need to look elsewhere for tax forms and filing. Also, as with ExcelPayroll, there is no live customer support — offering it would have quite a feat, given the global userbase.

One other limitation worth mentioning is that only four specific salary processing periods are supported — Monthly, Semi-Monthly, Weekly and Bi-Weekly — which isn’t likely to be a problem, but falls short of the effectively unlimited amount of payroll cycles allowed per month by other options like ExcelPayroll.

HR.my also offers attendance management features to understand your payroll more granularly. Source: HR.my

Features

HR.my packs plenty of features into its software. Here are the highlights:

• Time tracking
• Employee portal
• Expense claim support
• HR management
• Leave management
• Supports 67 languages
• Live customer support: None

Users of the free service can suggest additional tools online, and HR.my says its software is regularly updated for even more functionality.

Any hidden fees?

No extra fees or cost here: HR.my doesn’t have a fee or offer any tie-in services.

4. Toast Payroll – Best for Restaurants and Bars

Toast Payroll is a payroll software designed specifically for restaurants, bars, and cafes. Due to its industry specialism, the payroll includes a raft of sector hospitality-focused features like tip management and calculations, and a seamless integration with its POS system. However, while Toast Payroll is free for businesses that already pay for Toast’s POS system, it’s not eligible for businesses that aren’t using the service.

What we like about Toast Payroll

Since Toast Payroll is an extension of the provider’s POS product, it’ll be a natural fit for most restauranteurs and hospitality businesses — especially if they’re already using Toast POS. The payroll service offers a number of stand-out features, including Toast Tips Manager — an automated tip management platform that gathers, pools, and distributes tips – and support for multiple pay rates, for employees on different wages.

There’s also digital onboarding for staff, so they can get a quick handle on how to use the payroll software and solve problems on their own without much hassle.

What we don’t like about Toast Payroll

Despite Toast Payroll’s strengths, it’s not as versatile as other free options on this list as it’s only eligible for hospitality businesses. What’s more, while it’s a great deal for businesses already benefitting from Toast POS, the point-of-sale entry price of $69 per month might be quite steep for users who won’t make full use of the system.

You can use Toast to preview payroll and employee earnings. Source: Toast

Features

Toast Payroll’s restaurant-specific packages separate it from the pack. Here are some highlights:

• Automated tip-sharing
• Seamless POS integration
• Integrated employee management
• Compliance tools
• Reporting and insights
• Automated tax calculations
• Support for multiple pay rates

Any hidden fees?

While these costs aren’t particularly hidden, businesses will need to use Toast’s POS software to gain access to the payroll service for free. Toast POS’s paid packages start from $69 per month, with more expensive enterprise options available as well.

Read our Toast POS review to learn more about the user-friendly point-of-sale system.

Why Do Businesses Need Payroll Software?

All businesses need workers, and all workers need to get paid. For that, the manager needs a system for tracking and automating how, when, and how much each employee and contractor is paid — which is what payroll software does.

The key advantages of payroll software include greater efficiency and accuracy for generating paychecks and payslips, as well as the ability to calculate bonuses, expenses, overtime and holiday pay.

Many payroll software options will include integrations with accounting software, so business taxes can be easily calculated as well, and the correct tax forms can be sent to employees. The biggest benefit, though, is increased employee satisfaction: There’s no quicker way to shake your employees’ confidence that you value their contributions than failing to deliver their paycheck on time.

Is Free Payroll Software Worth It?

According to our research, payroll software costs tend to start at $35 to $45 per month for paid services. There’s a reason plenty of businesses pay that fee — the relatively small investment will reap dividends in additional features and integrations with common business management tools from time trackers to HR resources.

It’s also worth noting that these free payroll software tools offer very basic, often outdated interfaces that pale in comparison to the modern experience many are used to in 2024. Suffice to say, you aren’t going to get the flashy, streamlined experience found in paid plans, but for the price and functionality, it’s still a great deal.

Still, starting with a free software makes sense: When a business is particularly small — like around 10 employees — and there isn’t any immediate plans to change that, a no-cost solution to tackle the basics can go a long way in keeping costs down while making life easier for managers with more important tasks on the docket. As the company scales up, it can switch to a paid plan to capitalize off of the more detailed functionality.

If you plan to outgrow your free plan, we’d recommend starting with Payroll4Free, which offers paid plans for users who have outgrown employee caps or require more features.

A small business that hopes to keep roughly the same employee base might want to pick ExcelPayroll, as they won’t run the risk of hitting the 50-employee cap and needing to unexpectedly migrate to a new software.

Is Free Payroll Software Secure?

Given that free software is often prone to cutting corners, it’s understandable to wonder whether or not free payroll software is secure enough to handle your sensitive company data. After all, payroll is not only filled with important employees information, but specifically requires compliance with regulatory bodies to keep that data secure.

Fortunately, the free payroll software providers on this list are not only committed to security, but make a point of it on their websites to assuage any concerns from users. HR.my, for example, notes that the company uses protocols like AES-256 encryption and two-factor authentication to keep data secure. Payroll4Free, on the other hand, uses 2048 bit SSL encryption for communication of information, which is actually a tier above the standard for the industry.

All that to say, free payroll software is a lot more secure than you might think, if only because when they get it wrong, the consequences are a lot worse than your average security breach.

How to Choose Payroll Software

You’ll want to find the best payroll software for your specific needs: You won’t want to overpay for a wealth of features that aren’t actually relevant to your industry or that won’t save enough money to justify taking the time to use them. In general, a smaller business has basic payroll needs, while a larger operation has the scale to fully benefit from a payroll software with expanded functionality.

That extra functionality might include more ways to accomodate employees’ needs, from vacation day accrual to overtime hours, or more ways to analyze data with a greater range of generateable reports.

Payroll software often serves more than one role, or it integrates with other services. The most common of these additional businesses services are accounting, tax filing, time tracking, employee scheduling, and HR support. Your business may need other industry-specific services as well.

If you’re after a way to manage human resources processes, check out our guide to the best HR software.

Methodology: How We Test Free Payroll Software

While some publications will merely throw payroll software providers on a list and call it a day, we at Tech.co take our ratings and rankings seriously. We put these tools through rigorous testing to decide which one is best, so that your business has the information it needs to make the best decision in the long run.

For free payroll software, there were a few key categories we focused on. Here are some of the metrics we used to rate and rank the best free payroll software:

• Features – Payroll software comes with a lot of features like time tracking and benefits access, and we wanted to be sure these free tools offered them for all businesses.
• Security – A free service could be cutting corners by skimping on security, which is why we evaluated how protected your data is with each of these available payroll tools.
• Ease of use – Limited functionality usually means it’s easier to use for beginners, but some tools have a higher learning curve, which is why we used this metric to gauge the best.
• Hidden fees – Free isn’t always free, which is why we looked into any potential hidden fees and costs that you could incur while using these free payroll software.

If you want to learn more about how we research business software like payroll, feel free to check out our in-depth research guide to get a peak behind the curtain.