# Check review (2026): is it worth it? > Payroll infrastructure and API for software platforms Checked Nov 12, 2026 ยท graded Nov 12, 2026 by ToolGPA. Check supplies payroll as an embedded service that other software companies build into their own products, rather than a payroll app a business signs up for directly. Its platform covers tax calculation and filing, money movement, deductions, garnishments and add-ons such as 401(k), health benefits and workers' comp. The company says it serves software platforms in workforce management, vertical SaaS and accounting. - **Category:** HR Software - **Made by:** Check Technologies, Inc. - **Website:** https://www.checkhq.com - **Runs on:** Web - **Who should skip it:** Not for you if you only want to run payroll for your own staff. - **Facts last checked:** Nov 12, 2026 ## Pricing Check's current pricing could not be confirmed from its own site. ## Key features - **Embedded payroll:** Software companies build a native payroll product on Check's infrastructure instead of writing payroll themselves. - **Tax calculation and filing:** Handles tax calculation, tax filing and tax notices, according to the product pages. - **Money movement:** Includes real-time payments, voids, deductions and garnishments, plus custom pay rates. - **Configurable experience:** Partners can configure the payroll experience and choose how much of the onboarding and support Check handles. - **Benefits and extras:** Health benefits, 401(k), workers' comp and accounting connections can be added beside payroll. - **Credit, risk and fraud tools:** The platform menu lists credit, risk and fraud protection among the services it provides to partners. ## Good for - Software companies that want to add payroll to their own product - Workforce-management, construction and vertical SaaS platforms - Product teams that prefer an API to building tax and payment logic ## Worth knowing - No pricing is published; the site directs visitors to contact the team, and /pricing returns a not-found page. - Check sells to platforms, so a business that only needs payroll for its own staff would use a product built on Check, not Check itself. - The pages read describe US payroll terms such as tax filing and 401(k); other countries are not mentioned. - Payments are handled by Check Payments LLC, shown in the site footer with an NMLS number. ## ToolGPA grades **GPA: 1.4 out of 4**, graded Nov 12, 2026. Check is payroll infrastructure that software platforms build into their own product: tax calculation, filing and money movement through an API. No price is published and /pricing returns a not-found page. A business that just wants to pay its own staff would use a product built on Check, not Check itself. - **Value for money: C.** No price is published; the site directs visitors to contact the team. - **Free plan and trial: F.** No free plan and no trial is on record in the listing or on its pricing page. - **Features: C.** Embedded payroll, tax filing, money movement and risk tools, for US payroll. It does that job fully, but it is a smaller job than an HR system and is sold to platforms. - **Ease of use: D.** No store rating on record. It is an API that a developer has to build into another product, so it is not something an employer signs up for. - **Platforms and integrations: C.** Web only, with an API at its core. No apps and no integrations list on record. These are ToolGPA's own grades. Graded from this listing, whose facts were read from Check's own pages on 12 November 2026. Not based on using the product, and shorter than our full reviews. ## Where it stands among HR software - Check's GPA of 1.4 is higher than 0 of the 63 other HR software we grade. - It stands best on value for money (C, above 5 of 63) and worst on free plan and trial (F, above 0). The category's chart of price against score: https://toolgpa.com/charts/hr-software ## Keep it, or make your own? **Keep it.** To replace Check you would be making payroll taxes worked out and filed with the government for you. That is not a weekend's work, with an AI app builder or without one. That makes this kind of software worth paying for, not this one in particular: 63 of the 63 other HR software grade higher. - You could not: Payroll taxes worked out and filed with the government for you. - You could not: An API that other software can build on. A judgement by ToolGPA from this listing, by rules that are the same for every tool. Nothing was built to test it. **Tags:** Payroll, Public API ## Alternatives - [Gusto](https://toolgpa.com/tools/gusto): Payroll and HR for small businesses, with apps for owners and staff. [Compare](https://toolgpa.com/compare/check-vs-gusto) - [Rippling](https://toolgpa.com/tools/rippling): HR, IT and finance platform with US and global payroll, by quote. [Compare](https://toolgpa.com/compare/check-vs-rippling) - [Justworks](https://toolgpa.com/tools/justworks): Pay, benefits and HR platform for employers, with an app for staff. [Compare](https://toolgpa.com/compare/check-vs-justworks) - [OnPay](https://toolgpa.com/tools/onpay): US payroll with published prices, plus HR and time add-ons. [Compare](https://toolgpa.com/compare/check-vs-onpay) - [Paychex Flex](https://toolgpa.com/tools/paychex-flex): Paychex's payroll, tax filing and HR platform, priced by quote. [Compare](https://toolgpa.com/compare/check-vs-paychex-flex) ## Sources The prices, plans, platforms and features above were read from these pages on Nov 12, 2026: - https://www.checkhq.com Page: https://toolgpa.com/tools/check Listed by ToolGPA (toolgpa.com).