Square Payroll Review 2022

The bottom line: Square Payroll is one of the best payroll solutions for small-business owners who only employ contractors—there’s no monthly base fee for contractor-only Square Payroll plans, just a $5 charge per person paid. Thanks to its high-quality mobile payroll app and seamless Square integrations, Square Payroll also works nicely for employers with W-2 employees as well (or a mix of W-2 workers and 1099 contractors).

However, with just one payroll plan, Square Payroll isn't as scalable as options like Gusto or Paychex. It also has fewer employee benefits and HR features than competitors like OnPay. 

And Square Payroll's easy tip import feature makes it one of our top payroll picks for restaurant owners. Plus, if you accept payments with Square Point of Sale (as many restaurants and food trucks do), your employees can also use the software to clock in and out. Square Point of Sale syncs automatically with Square Payroll, so you don't necessarily have to import hours worked to run payroll for your employees.

Similarly, Square’s low cost comes with one key trade-off: it has slightly fewer features than pricier competitors. Both Paychex and ADP have more comprehensive reports, which are important for bigger businesses with complicated financials. Gusto has an autopay feature and more thorough HR and onboarding support.

And unlike multi-plan providers like Gusto and QuickBooks Payroll, Square Payroll offers just one payroll plan. It doesn't include additional features for businesses that want more as they grow—instead, you get the same payroll and HR features with Square Payroll no matter how many employees you have.

For many employers, that's just fine. Square Payroll covers all the basics, and you whether you have 10 or 50 employees, your company's payroll needs likely won't change drastically. But if you have 100+ employees, you might consider a heftier solution with multiple customizable plans like ADP or Paychex.

On the other hand, if you primarily employ freelancers or seasonal W-2 employees, you don’t really need a payroll provider with scalable plans—a flat-rate plan should suit you fine.

And even though Square Payroll doesn’t have loads of onboarding assistance, its workers comp, health insurance, and retirement add-ons are often the only HR benefits the smallest of small-business owners need.

Unlike most payroll solutions, Square Payroll has an employer-facing mobile app that lets business owners review timecards and pay employees anytime, anywhere. While you can’t set the app to autopay employees on a set schedule, you can use it to review employee hours and submit payroll numbers even when you’re away from the office. Both the Android and iPhone payroll apps are incredibly well reviewed: iOS users give it 4.8 stars out of 5,¹ and Google Play reviewers give it 4.4 out of 5.²

Square Payroll also has some crucial employee benefit add-ons, namely health insurance, 401(K) options, HSAs, and FSAs. Providers like Gusto have more employee benefits, including commuter benefits and college savings accounts. If you want a few more options, Gusto, Paychex, and ADP offer more benefits. If you're fine with the basics, though, Square Payroll has you covered.

We’ll make it simple: if your publishing business works mainly with freelance editors or your yoga studio hires teachers as contractors, you should probably be using Square Payroll. In the expensive world of payroll runs, paying only $5 per contractor with no monthly base fee is an absolute steal. And if you use Square’s payroll app and sync Square Payroll with your contractors’ timecards, you hardly have to do any work to pay your contractors on time.

On the other hand, if you're looking for fully featured plans that grow alongside your company, Square Payroll might not be your dream solution. Instead, check out a more comprehensive provider like Gusto, Paychex, or ADP. 

Not sure Square Payroll is right for your business? Check out our list of the year’s best online payroll software, which reviews more payroll solutions for businesses like yours.

Nope, Square Payroll isn’t expensive—in fact, Square Payroll is one of the most affordable full-service payroll plans you can find. With a $35-a-month base fee (waived if you only pay contractors), Square Payroll is cheaper than many payroll providers.

Love Square Payroll’s price but not its features? SurePayroll’s $29.99-a-month full-service plan and Patriot Software’s $30-a-month plan have similar prices with slightly different features.

Yes, Square Payroll lets you pay employees through a paper check. You can use the software to generate a PDF with the employee’s paycheck information, which you’ll then print out on a personalized check. (Bear in mind that you’ll need to purchase and customize the check stock yourself.)

Along with paper checks and direct deposit, Square Payroll also lets you pay employees via the Cash app.

Square Payroll’s US-based customer service team is available slightly outside regular business hours: 6:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. Pacific time, Monday through Friday. The SquareUp payroll help center also has a pretty comprehensive forum of how-tos and customer questions.

As for customer reviews, most customers have an excellent experience with Square Payroll’s software and customer service team. On the review site Trustpilot, Square as a whole gets a 4.6 out of 5 with most reviewers calling out Square’s stellar customer service.³ Reviewers also call out Square Payroll’s simple set-up process, user-friendly interface, and (of course) affordability.

A 1099 contractor is an independent, self-employed worker who pays their own payroll taxes at the end of the year. Employers don’t provide benefits to 1099 contractors (though depending on your state, you might need to offer workers compensation insurance). At the end of the year, you or your payroll service provider will mail contractors a 1099-MISC tax form, which shows how much the contractor made while working with you and lets them file their own taxes.

In contrast, a W-2 employee works directly for your company. Along with deducting the right amount of payroll taxes from their paycheck each pay period, you must offer benefits like health insurance. At the end of the year, you (or your payroll service provider) will mail employees a W-2 form that lists the employee’s gross wage, tax withholdings, and net wage after taxes.

Square Payroll supports weekly, biweekly, semimonthly, and monthly pay schedules.

To review Square Payroll and assign it a star rating, we assessed its strengths and weaknesses in several key categories: 

• Scalability, including number of plans and users
• Pricing
• Payroll features, such as automatic payroll runs, unlimited payroll, and automatic tax filing
• HR features, such as health benefits administration
• Overall customer service reputation
• General accessibility and user-friendliness, including mobile app access, interface, and cloud security

We also considered our payroll expert's opinion when assigning a star rating.

To calculate our rating, we weighted each category equally. Star ratings are reviewed frequently and subject to change.

Disclaimer

At Business.org, our research is meant to offer general product and service recommendations. We don't guarantee that our suggestions will work best for each individual or business, so consider your unique needs when choosing products and services.