OnPay review (2023): Features, pros and cons

How does OnPay work, and how much does it cost? Read our OnPay review to learn about important features, pricing, alternatives and more.

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What is OnPay?

OnPay is a cloud-based, full-service payroll software solution that enables small and midsize businesses to manage payroll, tax filing, benefits administration and other human resources processes. It offers a wide variety of features to support business payroll workflows, including garnishment deductions, automated tax payments and payroll reporting (Figure A).

Figure A

OnPay pros

• Unlimited pay runs: OnPay offers unlimited monthly pay runs and helps businesses process their payroll, with support for multiple pay rates and schedules, tax filings and garnishments.
• Multi-state payroll: OnPay is available in all 50 U.S. states, and businesses that use OnPay to handle employees’ taxes in more than one state are not charged extra fees.
• Benefits management: With OnPay’s employee benefit management tools, businesses can support their employees with attractive perks like health insurance and 401(k) retirement plans.
• Employee self-service tools: Employees can use OnPay’s self-service tools to carry out their own self-onboarding processes, like submitting personal information, signing offer letters, and setting up direct deposits. The employee-self-service portal allows workers to access payroll information and even view pay stubs and personal tax documents after leaving the company.
• Integration with popular solutions: OnPay can integrate with popular business software such as QuickBooks Payroll, Xero and Deputy, making it easy to link data from other software systems.

OnPay cons

• No built-in time tracking: OnPay’s software does not provide built-in time tracking features; however, businesses may be able to integrate their OnPay system with third-party time tracking software solutions.
• Form distribution fees: OnPay charges a fee to print and mail annual W-2 and 1099 forms to workers directly on behalf of the business. Companies can self-print and distribute these forms at no cost.
• Insufficient funds fees: OnPay will charge insufficient funds fees if businesses can’t cover the cost of a pay run.
• No auto-pay option: OnPay provides no auto-pay option, so it may not be ideal for businesses that want to automate their payments to salaried employees.

OnPay’s pricing structure

Unlike many other software solutions that use pricing tiers, OnPay charges businesses a monthly fee to use their software based on the number of people they will be paying.

OnPay provides new clients with the first month of software usage and setup support for free. After their first month of service, businesses are charged a base fee of $40 per month and $6 per month per person.

How does OnPay work?

OnPay’s features and capabilities allow businesses to streamline payroll and HR processes. Small and midsize businesses will benefit from the easy-to-use payroll and HR features that enable them to carry out their payroll processes with support for multiple payment options, pay rates, tax forms and deductions.

SEE: Best payroll software for your small business in 2023 (TechRepublic)

Automated tax filing

The OnPay platform simplifies tax filing by withholding all payroll taxes each pay run. In addition, OnPay automatically files all federal taxes, including quarterly 941s and annual Forms W-2, W-3, 1099, 940 and 943 when applicable to the IRS.

OnPay also files state payroll taxes and files all applicable local payroll taxes. These automated tax features can save business leaders time and effort while reducing the risk of making tax errors.

Helpful HR features

OnPay provides a range of helpful HR features for managing employee benefits, conducting traceable conversations within the platform and onboarding new staff members. The platform supports each step of the onboarding process by allowing businesses to send customizable job offer letters and set up employee workstations (Figure B).

Figure B

The solution even reports new hires to the state when they set up their OnPay accounts. From there, new workers can easily use OnPay’s automated onboarding flows to fill out their profiles, e-sign HR documents and perform other onboarding tasks directly within the system.

SEE: Best onboarding software for new employees in 2023 (TechRepublic)

Integration with third-party solutions

OnPay’s integrations allow users to take their software to the next level. System integrations with third-party software solutions can be particularly handy for viewing and managing data from external sources within the OnPay system.

For example, businesses can sync their payroll data with popular systems like QuickBooks Payroll and Xero to create custom item mapping and add detailed journal entries to their general ledger. Likewise, integrating with timekeeping tools like Deputy and QuickBooks Time will let them access time and attendance data and can help business leaders generate reports and manage workers’ paid time off.

Alternatives to OnPay

Gusto

Gusto is another full-service payroll provider offering software designed for small businesses. The solution automates payroll tasks for employees and contractors to simplify payroll processes for business owners. Gusto also provides employee benefits and features to help with tax filing and reporting, onboarding and tracking time and expenses.

Pricing

• Simple plan: Starts at $40 per month, plus $6 per month per employee.
• Plus plan: Starts at $80 per month, plus $12 per month per employee. As a limited time offer, for the first six months of service, the Plus plan is priced at $60 per month, plus $9 per month per employee.
• Premium plan: Pricing for this plan is available upon request.

ADP

ADP is a human capital management service provider that offers payroll, HR, talent management, and tax and benefits administration solutions. ADP automatically generates and sends W-2 and 1099 forms to employees and contractors and provides HR features like automated timekeeping, schedule building, and shift management tools. Other perks to ADP’s software include labor law compliance, customizable reporting and integrations with more than 100 systems.

Pricing

These four RUN Powered by ADP packages are suitable for small businesses with one to 49 employees:

• Essential provides basic payroll features for startups and established companies.
• Enhanced includes basic payroll features plus ZipRecruiter, state unemployment insurance and background checks.
• Complete includes all of the Enhanced package features, plus basic HR support.
• HR Pro comes with everything included in the Complete package, plus enhanced HR support.

The three ADP Workforce Now packages are optimal for businesses with more than 50 employees. You can choose between these Midsized & Enterprise Payroll and HR plan options.

• Essential provides the basic capabilities needed to streamline payroll and HR in an all-in-one suite.
• Enhanced provides everything included in the Essential package as well as additional features to simplify benefits administration and save time.
• Premium includes the capabilities of the Enhanced package and provides automated time tracking with Workforce Management.

SEE: Payroll services comparison tool (TechRepublic Premium)

Paychex

Paychex is a human capital management provider that offers software products to help small business owners meet their HR needs. Its features support processes relating to payroll, tax management, benefits administration, compliance, and talent acquisition. Paychex is an easy-to-use platform for businesses seeking to optimize their employee management.

Pricing

• Paychex Flex Essentials: $39 per month, plus $5 per employee.
• Paychex Flex Select: Pricing information is available upon request.
• Paychex Flex Pro: Pricing information is available upon request.

Who is OnPay best for?

OnPay is best for small and midsize businesses looking for a comprehensive and reliable payroll and HR software solution.

OnPay’s features make it particularly suitable for businesses that are new to payroll and HR software because of the user-friendly interface and all of the necessary essential elements to support payroll processing, tax filing and employee benefits management.

Review methodology

This is a technical review using compiled literature researched from relevant databases. The information provided within this article is gathered from vendor websites or based on an aggregate of user feedback to ensure a high-quality review.

Read next: Top payroll processing services for small businesses in 2023 (TechRepublic)