HR & Payroll Tools Pricing Guide 2026

Gusto is the most popular payroll and HR platform for US-based startups and SMBs. Simple pricing, excellent onboarding experience, and handles federal + state payroll taxes automatically. US only — no support for international employees or contractors (except basic contractor payments).

Plan	Base Fee	Per Employee	Key Features
Simple	$40/mo	$6/employee/mo	Full-service payroll, employee self-service, health benefits access
Plus	$60/mo	$9/employee/mo	Next-day direct deposit, time tracking, PTO management, team management tools
Premium	$80/mo	$12/employee/mo	HR resource center, priority support, compliance alerts, dedicated success manager
Contractor Only	$35/mo	$6/contractor/mo	1099 contractor payments, W-9 collection, unlimited contractor count

Gusto Real Costs: 25-Person Team on Plus Plan

$60 (base) + 25 × $9 = $60 + $225 = $285/month ($3,420/year). Add health insurance administration ($6/employee/mo) = $150 extra = $435/month total. Gusto is transparent and competitive at this scale.

Gusto Hidden Costs

• Health benefits administration: Gusto handles benefits enrollment but charges an additional $6/employee/mo for benefits management — not included in base plans.
• Workers' comp integration: Pay-as-you-go workers' comp through Gusto requires connecting a third-party insurer; rates vary.
• International contractors: Gusto doesn't support international payments natively (unlike Deel). Use Wise or a separate tool for non-US contractors.
• State-specific taxes: Gusto handles multi-state payroll at no extra cost — a significant value vs. traditional payroll services.

Rippling is the most ambitious HR platform — combining payroll, HR, IT (device management, app provisioning), and finance in one system. The pricing model is modular: you pay per employee per month, but only for the modules you activate. This makes it flexible but complex to estimate total costs.

Module	Starting Price	Notes
Core Platform	$35/mo base	Required — employee directory, onboarding/offboarding
Payroll (US)	$8/employee/mo	Full-service US payroll, tax filing
Benefits Administration	$5/employee/mo	Health, dental, vision — enrollment + COBRA
Device Management (MDM)	$8/device/mo	Mac/PC management, app deployment, remote wipe
App Management	$5/employee/mo	SSO, app provisioning/de-provisioning
Global HR	$20+/employee/mo	International employee records
EOR (Employer of Record)	$500/employee/mo	Hire internationally without local entity

Rippling Real Cost: 25-Person Tech Startup

Base ($35) + Payroll 25 × $8 ($200) + Benefits 25 × $5 ($125) + MDM 25 × $8 ($200) + App Management 25 × $5 ($125) = $685/month ($8,220/year). Compared to Gusto + separate MDM + separate SSO, Rippling often wins on consolidation value for tech teams.

Rippling Advantages Over Gusto

• Handles IT provisioning — when you hire someone, Rippling can auto-create their Google account, Slack, GitHub, etc. in one workflow
• Global payroll support (170+ countries) vs. Gusto's US-only model
• Expense management, corporate cards (Rippling Spend) available
• Device management built-in — replaces Jamf or Mosyle for Mac-heavy teams

BambooHR is the leading HR information system (HRIS) for mid-market companies. Important distinction: BambooHR is an HR management tool, not a payroll processor by default. You pair BambooHR with a separate payroll tool (Gusto, ADP, Paychex) unless you add their payroll module.

BambooHR doesn't publish pricing publicly — you must request a quote. Estimates from market research:

Plan	Estimated Cost	Key Features
Essentials	~$6/employee/mo	Employee records, PTO management, reporting, org chart, onboarding
Advantage	~$8–9/employee/mo	+ Performance reviews, applicant tracking (ATS), eSignature, custom reports
Payroll Add-on	~$45/mo + $6–8/employee	Full-service US payroll, tax filing (BambooHR Payroll)

Minimum billing is typically around $150–200/month regardless of employee count, making BambooHR less economical for very small teams (<20 people).

BambooHR Hidden Costs

• Implementation fee: BambooHR often charges a one-time implementation fee of $400–1,500 to set up custom workflows and data migration.
• Payroll is separate: Unless you pay for the payroll add-on, you still need a payroll processor. Budget $45+/month for payroll on top of BambooHR.
• ATS is Advantage-only: Applicant tracking (recruiting) requires the Advantage plan — a common source of upgrade pressure as companies start hiring.

Deel solves the hardest HR problem: hiring people internationally without setting up a local legal entity in each country. Two main use cases: (1) paying international contractors compliantly, and (2) Employer of Record (EOR) — hiring full-time employees abroad with Deel acting as the legal employer.

Service	Price	Notes
Contractor management (free)	$0	Manage, sign, and pay up to unlimited contractors. Invoice consolidation. Free plan.
Contractor compliance	$49/contractor/mo	Misclassification protection, local law compliance, IP assignments
EOR (full-time, global)	$599/employee/mo	Deel becomes employer of record — handles local taxes, benefits, compliance in 150+ countries
US payroll (PEO)	$49/employee/mo	Deel as PEO for US-based W-2 employees
Deel HR (HRIS)	Free up to 200 employees	HR management module — org chart, documents, PTO, onboarding. Free for small teams.
Global payroll	Custom ($20–100+/employee)	Payroll in countries where you have a local entity

Deel Cost Example: Startup With 5 International Contractors + 3 EOR Employees

5 contractors on paid compliance plan: 5 × $49 = $245/mo. 3 EOR employees: 3 × $599 = $1,797/mo. Total: $2,042/month ($24,504/year) to hire 8 international team members legally. For a Series A startup, this is often the right trade-off vs. setting up local entities ($20–100K each).

When to Use Deel vs. When to Avoid It

• Use Deel for: First 1–10 international hires where setting up a local entity isn't economical
• Consider moving off EOR when: You have 5+ employees in the same country — at that point, a local entity becomes cheaper than $599/person/mo
• Beware Deel lock-in: Transitioning employees from Deel EOR to a local entity requires redundancy or transfer, which can be complex and expensive

Workday is the enterprise gold standard for HR, combining HRIS, payroll, finance, and planning in one platform. It's designed for organizations with 200–50,000+ employees and is priced accordingly. Pricing is 100% custom and negotiated — typically $25–100+/employee/year depending on modules and headcount.

Typical Workday costs by company size:

• 200–500 employees: $100,000–200,000/year implementation + $50,000–100,000/year subscription
• 500–2,000 employees: $200,000–500,000/year total (implementation amortized)
• 2,000+ employees: $500,000–$5M+/year

If you're a startup or company under 200 people reading this guide, Workday is almost certainly not the right choice yet. Use Gusto + Rippling until you have 200+ employees and meaningful compliance complexity.