8 Best Payroll Apps in 2021

The QuickBooks Payroll app is ideal for employers who are existing QuickBooks users given that its accounting system integrates with its payroll software seamlessly. If you are always on the go, then this app is also the best tool for you since you can run payroll, electronically pay and file payroll taxes (in all 50 states), and remit staff wages via direct deposits—all from your mobile device.

Square Payroll is a great payroll app for business owners, especially those using Square POS, since it offers a wide range of payroll tools at an affordable rate (software subscription fees start at $29 plus $5 per employee monthly). With its mobile app, you can enter employee details, view and manage timecards, sign up to offer insurance and other staff benefits plans, and run unlimited payrolls.

However, the Square Payroll app is available only for employers. Your employees will have to download the Square Team App to check their pay stubs, update their personal information, view their hours worked, and access tax forms (W-2s and 1099s).

Paychex has a mobile app for its Paychex Flex solution, enabling users to manage and process payroll even if they’re outside the office. Unlike the apps for QuickBooks Payroll and Square Payroll, Paychex Flex’s mobile tool includes functionalities for both employers and employees. Aside from processing payroll, employers can use it to access staff profiles, payslips, tax documents, and health insurance enrollment information. Employees, on the other hand, can check their pay stubs, Form W-2s, PTO balances, health insurance benefit details, and more.

If you have a small business (with up to 49 employees), then you may want to consider ADP Run and its app, RUN Powered by ADP Mobile Payroll. Similar to QuickBooks Payroll and Square Payroll, the app is designed for employers to run payroll while on the go. However, it doesn’t have PTO management and won’t let you edit staff information (like pay rates and department) within the app. For your employees to access pay stubs and tax documents, track time entries, view benefits, and request PTO, they will need to download the ADP Mobile Solutions app.

The Zenefits app is a mobile extension of the Zenefits human resource information system (HRIS) platform. It’s more HR focused, and the app’s features reflect that—you can request and approve PTO, manage HR and time tracking data, view payslips, and check the org chart. What the app doesn’t allow is for employers to run payroll.

However, Zenefits’s mobile solution still made our list of best payroll apps given its platform’s HR and payroll functionalities, ease of use, and transparent pricing. If you’re planning to expand to 50 employees anytime soon or operate in a highly regulated industry, wherein HR compliance will become more important, then Zenefits could be a good fit.

The SurePayroll app is designed for small businesses that need to run payroll without all of the bells and whistles. Apart from letting employers process payroll using their mobile devices, it allows users to add the employees’ hours worked and deductions, as well as input available and used sick leave and PTO credits. However, your staff will have to download an employee-specific SurePayroll app for viewing payslips, PTO balances, retirement deductions and contribution rates, and state and federal tax information.

Rippling offers an employee management platform as its base program and comes with HR, payroll, benefits administration, and IT modules (for managing apps and devices) that you can purchase as add-ons. Its mobile app—which is available for both employees and employers—allows users to access your co-workers’ contact information, request and approve PTO requests, view payslips, manage passwords, and securely log in to all of your apps with just one tap.

However, the Rippling mobile app doesn’t have payroll processing capabilities. Similar to Zenefits, we included it in our best payroll apps list since its platform received high marks for HR features, payroll and payroll tax capabilities, and pricing. If you need a modular system with highly integrative HR and IT tools that your business needs, then you may want to consider Rippling.

You might be wondering why we chose an app that only earned 1.86 stars out of 5; the primary reason is that unlike QuickBooks Payroll, Square Payroll, and the other mobile solutions mentioned in this guide, Payroll Guru has a free-to-use app, Paycheck Free. You don’t need to purchase a software subscription in order to use its online payroll and payroll tax computation tools. If you need more functionalities (such as hourly calculations, pre- and post-tax deductions, multiple employee payroll profiles, and zero in-app ads), then you may want to consider using the paid Payroll Guru app, which costs $4.99.

However, like Zenefits and Rippling, you can’t run payroll directly from Payroll Guru’s free and paid apps. It only allows you to compute your expected payroll and payroll tax deductions. In fact, many users who left feedback on the App Store and Google Play mentioned that they primarily use the app to estimate their take-home pay.

Employers, on the other hand, can take advantage of the app’s functionalities if they don’t have a more efficient way to calculate payroll amounts. It’s best to only use it if you have less than five employees because it only gives calculations (doesn’t actually run payroll), and can get tedious if you have a big team.