OnPay Review 2026: Pricing & Features

§1Pros and cons at a glance

OnPay

Gusto

ADP

Patriot

BambooHR

Rippling

Paychex

§2What OnPay is

OnPay is a US payroll software company founded in 2011, headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia. It processes payroll for over 25,000 small and medium businesses across all 50 states. Unlike ADP (NYSE-listed enterprise), OnPay stayed privately held for most of its history before raising a $63M Series B led by Carrick Capital Partners in early 2025. It remains focused on a specific market: businesses with complex payroll scenarios that generic tools handle poorly.

On G2, OnPay earns a 4.8/5 rating from 408 verified reviews, the highest average score in the small business payroll software category, tied with Patriot. The recurring themes in reviews: support quality ("actually helpful," "picks up quickly"), the breadth of features included at base price, and reliable tax filing.

§3Pricing: what you actually pay

OnPay uses a flat pricing structure: $49/month base + $6/employee/month, no annual contract required. That covers core payroll, tax filing, and compliance in full, with no add-on fees for the payroll features Gusto and ADP gate behind higher tiers. OnPay does sell a separate HR add-on ($15/month + $2/employee) for PTO tracking, org charts, and a document vault, and time tracking is separately priced at $15 monthly plus $4 per worker; bundled offers have their own rates. Select the services needed before calculating the complete bill.

What's included at the base price: unlimited payroll runs, all 50 states, multi-state payroll, multiple pay rates per employee, tip credit handling, FICA tip credit tracking, agricultural payroll, nonprofit FUTA exemption, ACH direct deposit generally taking two to four business days after the required bank and risk approval, garnishment management, multiple pay schedules, and W-2/1099 filing.

At 10 employees: OnPay Payroll Essentials $109/month before selected HR or time additions. Gusto Simple $109/month, while eligible Simple accounts can add next-day pay for a separate charge; Plus includes it subject to approval (see our Gusto vs OnPay comparison for the full breakdown). For a restaurant or nonprofit, request a demonstration of the forms needed for your industry; compare the complete configurations.

§4Standout features

Tip credit and FICA tip credit handling. OnPay automatically calculates the employer tip credit and FICA tip credit for employer tax reporting. Confirm the credit calculation and reporting in the selected service; that function alone cannot establish how another configuration processes tips or distributes a pool.

Multi-rate employees. A single employee can have multiple pay rates, servers who also work bar shifts, nurses covering different departments at different rates. Overtime calculates correctly across blended rates.

Nonprofit FUTA exemption. 501(c)(3) organizations get this configured automatically at setup. Department tracking works as a cost allocation layer for grant reporting. Multiple nonprofit G2 reviewers cite this as the reason they switched from Gusto.

US-based support. Consistently rated the strongest support in the small business payroll category. Reviews mention fast response times (often under 2 minutes for chat) and agents who understand payroll.

§5Real limitations

No mobile admin app: employees have a mobile-friendly portal, but administrators run payroll from a browser.

HR features are thin at the base price: it covers onboarding paperwork only. PTO tracking, org charts, and a document vault require OnPay's separate HR add-on, and even with that add-on there is no performance review or learning management tooling. Pair with BambooHR if HR automation is a priority.

No built-in POS integrations: tips and hours from Square, Toast, or Clover require manual export/import each pay period.

Smaller integration library: QuickBooks, Xero, and a handful of HR tools, much smaller than Gusto's 100+ integrations.

§6Who OnPay is best for

Restaurants and food service: tip credit handling, FICA tip credit, and multi-rate employees are built in without extra fees.

Nonprofits: FUTA exemption, department cost centers for grant allocation, clean QuickBooks integration for audits.

Agricultural employers: piece-rate pay, seasonal worker payroll, and Form 943 filing are natively supported.

Who should look elsewhere: teams needing strong HR alongside payroll (Gusto Plus or Rippling); international contractors (Deel); very small teams (1-3 employees) where Patriot at $37/month is cheaper.

§7OnPay vs Gusto: the flat-pricing comparison

OnPay Payroll Essentials is $49 per month base plus $6 per paid worker. Enhanced HR and time tracking have separate charges; the entry payroll subscription does not include every service. Gusto starts at $49/month plus $6 per employee for Simple, with Plus at $80/month plus $12 per person. At 15 workers these base subscriptions are $139 and $260 respectively. Price the required time and HR configuration on each side before treating that difference as savings.

The catch is that Gusto's Simple plan looks cheap until you read what is excluded. Multi-state payroll uses Plus or Premium; next-day pay is also offered as a paid Simple add-on for eligible accounts. Price the specific HR and funding configuration rather than assuming each requirement forces the same upgrade. OnPay folds unlimited monthly pay runs, all 50-state tax filing, and 1099 plus W-2 workers into the single price with no per-run charge. If you run weekly payroll, that matters: some competitors cap free runs or bill per cycle.

Where Gusto pulls ahead is product polish and ecosystem. Gusto's mobile experience, embedded benefits marketplace, and self-onboarding flow are more refined, and its integration list is longer. Gusto closed its contractor-only plan to new sign-ups and plan switches on October 1, 2026. Existing customers retain that plan, and other Gusto plans can pay contractors; do not treat the former offer as an available new-customer option. Pick Gusto if you want the most app-like experience and plan to scale headcount fast; pick OnPay if you want predictable cost, heavy industry support, and you would rather not get nudged into a higher tier every renewal. For a standard W-2 payroll purchase, compare both subscriptions with the required add-ons and implementation costs before choosing on annual cost.

§8Industry specialization: farms, restaurants, nonprofits, and clergy

Most payroll tools treat every employer the same. OnPay built specific workflows for verticals that trip up generic systems, and this is its sharpest differentiator. For agriculture, OnPay handles Form 943 (the annual federal return for farm workers) rather than the standard 941, plus H-2A visa workers and the tax quirks that come with seasonal farm labor. Few small-business platforms file 943 without manual workarounds.

Restaurants get tip handling that actually works: OnPay supports tip credits, calculates the FICA Tip Credit (Form 8846), and manages minimum-wage make-up math when reported tips fall short. It also tracks multiple pay rates per employee, which matters when a worker bartends one shift and serves the next at different wages. For nonprofits, OnPay manages 501(c)(3) federal unemployment tax exemptions and integrates with benefits and retirement vendors common to mission-driven orgs.

The standout is clergy payroll, which almost no competitor touches cleanly. Ministers have a dual tax status (employee for income tax, self-employed for Social Security and Medicare), and they often receive a housing allowance that is exempt from income tax but treated differently for SECA. OnPay sets up clergy with the correct exemptions, handles the housing allowance designation, and keeps W-2 reporting compliant. If you run a church, a farm, or a restaurant, this specialization is the reason OnPay shows up on shortlists where bigger brands do not. The compliance edge cases are pre-built, not bolted on.

§9Benefits and HR features included

OnPay is licensed as a health insurance broker in all 50 states, so benefits are not a third-party hand-off. You can shop and enroll employees in medical, dental, and vision plans, and the deductions sync automatically into payroll with no double entry. There are no broker fees layered on top, and premium changes flow through to paychecks on the next run. For retirement, OnPay integrates with Guideline, Vestwell, and America's Best 401k, plus it supports 403(b) plans that nonprofits and schools rely on.

Beyond benefits, the base price includes an employee self-onboarding flow (new hires enter their own W-4, I-9, and direct deposit details) with templated offer letters and onboarding checklists, which trims the manual work of bringing someone on. For PTO accrual and approval, a document vault with e-signature, org charts, and an HR resource library with state-specific compliance guidance, OnPay sells a separate HR add-on at $15/month plus $2/employee.

OnPay also automates compliance paperwork that quietly eats time at no extra cost: new-hire state reporting, workers' comp through a pay-as-you-go integration so you are not fronting a lump-sum premium, and W-2 and 1099 generation at year-end. Core payroll compliance is not gated behind a higher plan the way Gusto and ADP tier it. Optional HR enhancements and time tracking are both separately priced; insurance premiums and the selected bundle also affect total cost. For a small business without a dedicated HR person, having self-onboarding and benefits enrollment built into the base price, with PTO and org charts available as a low-cost add-on, is the practical value.

§10Integrations: QuickBooks, Xero, and time tracking

Accounting sync is the integration most small businesses actually need, and OnPay supports QuickBooks Online, QuickBooks Desktop, and Xero. The general ledger mapping is configurable, so each pay run posts wages, taxes, and deductions to the correct accounts and classes rather than dumping everything into one bucket. This keeps your books reconciled without re-keying payroll journals every cycle, saving time when closing the month.

For time tracking, OnPay connects to When I Work, Deputy, QuickBooks Time (formerly TSheets), and Mineral among others. Approved hours flow into payroll so you are not transcribing timesheets, which is exactly what restaurants and shift-based businesses need given the multi-rate and overtime math involved. For scheduling and clock-in, compare the separately priced time-tracking service with the required integration, rather than assuming the Essentials payroll fee includes the complete configuration.

OnPay's integration catalog is narrower than Gusto's or Rippling's. There is no sprawling app marketplace, and if your stack depends on a niche tool, check the list before committing. What OnPay does support, it supports well, the accounting and time-tracking connections are reliable and properly mapped, which covers the needs of most US small businesses running standard W-2 and 1099 payroll. If you live inside a dozen SaaS tools that all need to talk to payroll, a platform like Rippling will fit better; if you mainly need clean books in QBO or Xero and accurate hours in payroll, OnPay's integrations are sufficient.

§11Real user verdict from G2

OnPay holds strong third-party ratings that back up the value story. On G2 it averages about 4.8 out of 5, and on Capterra roughly 4.8 out of 5 across hundreds of reviews. Reviewers consistently call out responsive US-based support and the flat, predictable pricing as reasons they switched from ADP or Paychex, where costs crept up at renewal. The recurring praise is that setup help is hands-on. OnPay's team handles the migration and prior-payroll data entry for you.

The criticism clusters in two places: the interface looks dated next to Gusto's, and there is no dedicated mobile app (you use the mobile web version instead). A few reviewers also note that report customization is more limited than enterprise tools. None of these are dealbreakers for the core audience, but if a polished UI and a native app rank high for you, weigh that against the savings.

The verdict from real users matches the analysis above: OnPay is a high-value, compliance-strong choice for US small businesses that want full-service payroll without tier games, and it is especially compelling for farms, restaurants, nonprofits, and churches. You trade some interface polish and a native app for that. If those trade-offs sit fine with you, OnPay earns its place near the top of any small-business payroll shortlist.

See also: OnPay alternatives for related options.

§12Frequently asked questions

How much does OnPay actually cost per month? The monthly base is $49, with $6 charged for each worker paid, including contractors. Ten paid workers make the Essentials subscription $109; optional HR or time services add their applicable charges. W-2 and 1099 preparation at year-end, pay runs outside the normal cycle and separate pay schedules carry no additional charge.

What is OnPay's rating on review sites? Across Capterra, G2 and Trustpilot, more than 700 reviews give OnPay an average near 4.8 out of 5. That places it among the highest-scoring options for smaller employers [Capterra/G2, 2025].

What do OnPay users complain about? Users most often criticize an interface that feels less polished than Gusto, the lack of a native app for admin users, and, for a minority, a bill they consider high relative to the support they need.

Does OnPay handle restaurant tip credits automatically? Yes, at no additional charge. It works out the employer credit for tips as well as the FICA credit claimed on Form 8846, a tax-credit workflow separate from dividing pooled gratuities among workers.

Does OnPay support clergy and nonprofit payroll? Yes. It sets FUTA exemptions automatically for organizations exempt under section 501(c)(3) and supports the dual tax treatment of clergy plus designating an allowance for housing. Few competing products cover this combination well.

Is there a mobile app for running payroll on OnPay? Admin users process pay runs in a browser designed for mobile screens. A dedicated application for administrators is unavailable, which reviewers regularly criticize.

For that exact comparison, see our Square Payroll alternatives guide.

Related reading: payroll tools for hourly staff.

Does OnPay use Zelle? No. OnPay pays employees and contractors through standard ACH direct deposit, not peer-to-peer apps like Zelle or Venmo. Direct deposit through OnPay takes up to 4 business days to land, the same mechanism used by nearly every payroll provider; Zelle transfers move differently and are not run through payroll systems at all.

What is OnPay used for? It is an online system for smaller employers to process pay and submit taxes. The $49 base and $6 per employee cover unlimited monthly runs, automatic filings at federal, state and local levels in every employee location, and payment by check, debit card or direct deposit. New-hire records and insurance administration are distinct from paid HR and time products; confirm the selected PTO, attendance and reporting workflow and its complete fee. Gusto and Paychex put some of that functionality into higher tiers.

Which is better, Gusto or OnPay? For a business with fewer than 25 staff, OnPay usually offers more for its $49 base with $6 per employee: it includes clergy pay, tip credits and filings across states. Gusto has tip entry and withholding tools; compare the required industry forms and state coverage separately in its selected plan. Plus lists an $80 base with $12 per employee. Gusto offers a more polished interface and more integrations; its better-known name can make hiring a familiar bookkeeper easier. Our Gusto vs OnPay comparison compares prices, support scores and specialized pay requirements.