# Patriot Payroll > Low-cost online payroll for small US businesses Patriot Payroll is online payroll software for small US businesses, sold by Patriot Software alongside its accounting product. Basic Payroll calculates pay and pays staff and contractors, while Full Service Payroll also files and deposits federal, state and local payroll taxes. It runs in a browser, with no app to install. - **Category:** Payroll - **Made by:** Patriot Software LLC - **Website:** https://www.patriotsoftware.com/payroll/ - **Runs on:** Web - **Facts last checked:** Oct 17, 2026 ## Pricing Patriot Payroll is a paid product with a free trial, starting at $17 per month, plus $4 per worker paid (half price for the first 3 months). - **Pricing model:** Free trial - **Free plan:** None. - **Free trial:** 30-day free trial, then 50% off for 3 months. | Plan | Price | What you get | | --- | --- | --- | | Basic Payroll | $17 per month, plus $4 per worker paid | Unlimited payrolls, free direct deposit, employee and contractor portals and payroll reports; you file taxes. Advertised at $8.50 plus $2 for 3 months. | | Full Service Payroll | $37 per month, plus $5 per worker paid | Adds federal, state and local tax filings and deposits and year-end forms. Each extra state is $12 a month. Advertised at $18.50 plus $2.50 for 3 months. | Read from https://www.patriotsoftware.com/pricing/ on Oct 17, 2026. Prices change, so confirm with Patriot Payroll before buying. ## Ways to pay less - **50% off for 3 months after the free trial** (Other savings): After the 30-day trial, new customers pay half the listed price for 3 months: $8.50 plus $2 per worker on Basic and $18.50 plus $2.50 on Full Service. Source: https://www.patriotsoftware.com/pricing/ - **Partner pricing for accountants** (Other savings): Accountants and bookkeepers who join Patriot's Partner Program get discounted pricing for the businesses they manage. Source: https://www.patriotsoftware.com/pricing/ ## Key features - **Unlimited and automatic payroll:** Run as many payrolls as needed for the same monthly fee, or set payroll to run itself on schedule. Months without a payroll cost only the base fee. - **Tax filing on Full Service:** Full Service collects, files and deposits federal, state and most local payroll taxes and files Forms 940, 941, W-2 and W-3 at no extra fee. - **Free direct deposit:** Standard 4-day direct deposit is free, with 2-day deposit for qualifying customers; checks can also be printed from the software. - **Employee and contractor portals:** Staff see pay stubs, pay history, time-off balances and W-2s online, and 1099 contractors can be paid in the same payroll and get their own portal. - **Benefits and insurance links:** Free integrations connect 401(k) plans through Vestwell, health insurance through SimplyInsured and pay-as-you-go workers' comp through ERGO NEXT. - **Time & Attendance and HR add-ons:** Time tracking and HR software can each be added for $6 a month plus $2 per employee, and payroll syncs to Patriot's own accounting software. ## Good for - Very small US businesses that want a low monthly base fee - Owners comfortable filing their own payroll taxes, on Basic - Patriot Accounting users who want payroll in the same account ## Worth knowing - Runs payroll in the US only; Full Service files in all 50 states, at $12 a month for each state after the first. - Basic Payroll does not file or deposit payroll taxes; that needs Full Service. - Time & Attendance and HR Software cost $6 a month plus $2 per employee each. - There is no mobile app: payroll is run in a phone's or computer's browser. ## ToolGPA grades **GPA: 2.6 out of 4**, graded Oct 17, 2026. Patriot is the cheapest payroll in this category: $37 a month for five people if you file your own taxes, $62 if Patriot does it. Months without a payroll cost only the base fee. There's no app, though, and each extra state is $12 a month. - **Value for money: A.** Basic is $17 a month plus $4 a worker, $37 for five, the cheapest in this category and under 60% of its cheapest quarter. Full Service, which files your taxes, is $62 for five, still the lowest price for that. Each extra state is $12. - **Free plan and trial: C.** A 30-day free trial, then half price for 3 months. No free plan, and the listing doesn't say whether the trial needs a card. - **Features: C.** Payroll done fully on Full Service, with federal, state and most local filing and year-end forms. It's a smaller job, though: Basic leaves the taxes to you, and time tracking and HR are add-ons at $6 a month plus $2 a person each. - **Ease of use: C.** No App Store rating on record, and no app to rate. Payroll can run itself on a schedule once it's set up, but there's bank and tax setup first, as with any payroll. - **Platforms and integrations: B.** Web only: you run payroll in a phone or computer browser. It does link to Patriot Accounting, QuickBooks Online and Desktop, Vestwell, SimplyInsured and ERGO NEXT. These are ToolGPA's own grades. Graded from this listing, whose facts were read from Patriot Software's own pages on 17 October 2026. Patriot's pricing page turned our reader away on 17 October 2026, so its prices are as the listing has them. Not based on using the product, and shorter than our full reviews. ## Where it stands among payroll services - Patriot Payroll's GPA of 2.6 is higher than 16 of the 18 other payroll services we grade, and level with 1. - It stands best on value for money (A, above 17 of 18) and worst on features (C, above 0). - Its paid plans start at $17 a month, against a middle price of $29 for the category: 1 of the 13 others that charge start lower. - On features, ease of use and platforms it scores 2.3 out of 4. 1 tool scores higher and costs less. The category's chart of price against score: https://toolgpa.com/charts/payroll ## Keep it, or make your own? **Keep it.** To replace Patriot Payroll 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. It is one of the better ones too: its GPA of 2.6 is higher than 16 of the 18 other payroll services we grade. It costs $204 a year. - You could make: Time tracking and reports: an app builder makes these well. - You could not: Payroll taxes worked out and filed with the government for you. - You could not: It plugs into other products, Patriot Accounting, QuickBooks Online and QuickBooks Desktop among them. A judgement by ToolGPA from this listing, by rules that are the same for every tool. Nothing was built to test it. ## Works with Patriot Accounting, QuickBooks Online, QuickBooks Desktop, Vestwell, SimplyInsured, ERGO NEXT Insurance **Tags:** Payroll, Time tracking, Reports ## Alternatives - [Gusto](https://toolgpa.com/tools/gusto): Payroll and HR for small businesses, with apps for owners and staff. [Compare](https://toolgpa.com/compare/gusto-vs-patriot-payroll) - [OnPay](https://toolgpa.com/tools/onpay): US payroll with published prices, plus HR and time add-ons. [Compare](https://toolgpa.com/compare/onpay-vs-patriot-payroll) - [SurePayroll](https://toolgpa.com/tools/surepayroll): Online payroll for small US businesses and household employers. [Compare](https://toolgpa.com/compare/patriot-payroll-vs-surepayroll) - [QuickBooks Workforce](https://toolgpa.com/tools/quickbooks-payroll): Intuit's payroll and HR service, sold alone or with QuickBooks. [Compare](https://toolgpa.com/compare/patriot-payroll-vs-quickbooks-payroll) - [Square Payroll](https://toolgpa.com/tools/square-payroll): Payroll for Square sellers, with timecards from Square POS. [Compare](https://toolgpa.com/compare/patriot-payroll-vs-square-payroll) ## Sources The prices, plans, platforms and features above were read from these pages on Oct 17, 2026: - https://www.patriotsoftware.com/pricing/ - https://www.patriotsoftware.com/payroll/ - https://www.patriotsoftware.com/about/ Page: https://toolgpa.com/tools/patriot-payroll Listed by ToolGPA (toolgpa.com).