OnPay vs Patriot Payroll 2026: Real Pricing and Who Should Choose Which
OnPay ($49 + $6/employee) and Patriot Payroll ($17-$37 + $4-$5/employee) both score 4.8 on G2, but their HR add-on modules price very differently in 2026.
Is it right for you?
- Total up the real monthly cost at your actual headcount, not just the advertised base price
- If you need PTO tracking or other HR add-on features, price both vendors' add-on modules, they are not the same cost structure
- Confirm you actually need OnPay's tip credit, multi-rate blending, or clergy/farm payroll before paying its higher base price
- If offering health, dental, or vision benefits through your payroll platform matters, only OnPay includes a licensed insurance brokerage
- If self-filing payroll taxes is acceptable, price Patriot Basic ($17 + $4/employee) against Full Service before assuming you need the higher tier
- Run a real trial before switching, OnPay's first month is free and Patriot offers a 30-day trial
Quick verdict
Patriot Full Service at $37/month + $5/employee is cheaper than OnPay at every headcount, and that stays true even after you add HR features, Patriot's add-on module runs $6 base + $2/employee versus OnPay's $15 base + $2/employee for the same PTO tracking capability. There is no crossover point where OnPay becomes the cheaper option on price alone. OnPay's case is entirely feature-based: it is the only one of the two with automatic tip credit calculation, Form 943 farm payroll, clergy dual-status handling, and a built-in insurance brokerage for medical, dental, and vision plans. If your business needs any of those, budget for OnPay's premium regardless of size. If it doesn't, Patriot is the cheaper pick at every stage.
OnPay vs Patriot Payroll at a glance
OnPay
Patriot
Gusto
BambooHROnPay and Patriot Payroll both hold 4.8 out of 5 on G2, and both get praised in reviews for the same thing: fast, US-based support that actually knows payroll. Past that, the two tools serve different owners. OnPay (Payroll Essentials, $49/month base + $6/worker) packs restaurant tip handling, farm payroll, clergy payroll, and an insurance brokerage into a single price. Patriot (Basic at $17/month + $4/worker, or Full Service at $37/month + $5/worker with automatic tax filing) strips payroll down to the essentials and charges less for it [OnPay and Patriot Software official pricing pages, verified 2026-08-19].
Review volume tells a second story: G2 lists roughly 415 verified reviews for OnPay against roughly 630 for Patriot Payroll's dedicated product page, both averaging 4.8 [g2.com/sellers/onpay-inc and g2.com/products/patriot-payroll/reviews, verified 2026-08-19]. Neither company has a volume advantage large enough to treat the rating as more reliable than the other. The decision comes down to what each tool includes at its price.
Pricing: what each add-on actually costs
| Patriot Basic | Patriot Full Service | OnPay | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Base price | $17/mo | $37/mo | $49/mo |
| Per worker | $4 | $5 | $6 |
| Tax filing | You self-file | ✅ Automatic | ✅ Automatic |
| PTO / time-tracking add-on | ❌ | +$6 base + $2/worker | +$15 base + $2/worker |
| 10-employee total (payroll only) | $57/mo | $87/mo | $109/mo |
| 10-employee total (with PTO add-on) | n/a | $113/mo | $144/mo |
Patriot Full Service at $37 + $5/employee is cheaper than OnPay's $49 + $6/employee at every headcount for payroll alone, a 10-person team pays $87/month on Patriot versus $109/month on OnPay. That gap, $12 base plus $1 per employee, only grows as you add people.
Adding PTO tracking does not close that gap, it widens it. Patriot's HR add-on runs $6 base + $2/worker on top of Full Service. OnPay's equivalent add-on, called HR+, runs $15 base + $2/worker on top of its standard price [OnPay and Patriot Software official pricing pages, verified 2026-08-19]. Both charge the same $2 per employee for the feature, but OnPay's base fee for it is $9 higher. At 10 employees, that turns an $22/month payroll-only gap into a $31/month gap once both vendors' PTO modules are added. There is no headcount at which OnPay becomes the cheaper option on price alone, PTO tracking included or not.
One caveat on Patriot's Basic tier: at $17 + $4/employee, it is the lowest number on either vendor's price list, but it does not file your federal or state payroll taxes. You calculate withholding and submit forms and deposits yourself: quarterly 941s, state unemployment filings, year-end W-2 reconciliation. For a solo owner comfortable with that paperwork, Basic works. For everyone else, Full Service at $37 is the realistic comparison point against OnPay.
Direct deposit: not the real difference some comparisons claim
Several payroll comparison sites list OnPay as offering same-day direct deposit. OnPay's own help center says otherwise: standard turnaround is 2 to 4 business days, set by a risk assessment run when your account is approved. Patriot runs a fixed 4-day window on both its Basic and Full Service tiers, submit Thursday for a Monday payday [OnPay Help Center, "Payroll processing turnaround," and Patriot Software product documentation, verified 2026-08-19].
In practice, the two land in the same range. Budget for funds to arrive a few business days after you submit payroll on either platform, and treat any same-day claim about OnPay you find elsewhere with skepticism until you confirm the current terms directly with OnPay for your specific account.
Where OnPay pulls ahead: industry-specific payroll
OnPay's clearest advantage is depth in a handful of verticals that generic payroll tools handle poorly. Restaurants get automatic tip credit and FICA tip credit (Form 8846) calculation, plus support for employees who work multiple roles at different pay rates in the same week, a server who also tends bar, for example. Farms get Form 943 filing (the annual federal return for agricultural employers) instead of the standard 941, along with support for seasonal and H-2A visa labor. Nonprofits get automatic 501(c)(3) FUTA exemption setup. Churches get clergy payroll: ministers have dual tax status (employee for income tax, self-employed for Social Security and Medicare) and often receive a housing allowance that is tax-exempt for income purposes but treated differently for SECA, and OnPay configures both correctly at setup.
Patriot processes standard W-2 and 1099 payroll well, but tip credits, multi-rate blending, farm-specific tax forms, and clergy dual-status configuration sit outside its scope at any price tier. A business in one of these categories using Patriot would need to calculate these manually outside the platform, adding both work and compliance risk that OnPay's built-in handling avoids.
Where Patriot pulls ahead: lower price, less to manage
Patriot's advantage is straightforward: it costs less and does less, on purpose. There is no benefits marketplace to configure, and no HR add-on to learn unless you choose to buy one. For a small business running standard salaried or hourly W-2 payroll in one or a few states, without tips or farm labor, Patriot delivers compliant payroll at the lowest price among established providers, with less surface area to navigate than OnPay's broader feature set.
Patriot also runs a recurring promotion: 50% off Full Service for the first three months, which drops the effective rate to roughly $18.50 base + $2.50/worker before it reverts to the standard $37 + $5 [Patriot Software pricing and promotional pages, verified 2026-08-19]. OnPay's equivalent incentive is a free first month rather than a percentage discount. Run both against your actual employee count before assuming one offer is bigger, a percentage discount and a flat free month favor different headcounts.
HR and benefits: OnPay's broker license vs. Patriot's add-on
OnPay is a licensed health insurance broker in all 50 states, so shopping and enrolling employees in medical, dental, and vision plans happens inside the platform, with deductions syncing automatically into payroll and no separate broker fee. It also integrates with Guideline, Vestwell, and America's Best 401k for retirement, plus 403(b) support for nonprofits and schools. This benefits administration is part of OnPay's base $49 + $6/worker price, it is not an add-on. Employee self-onboarding (e-signed I-9 and W-4 forms) and document storage are also included in the base plan; PTO tracking specifically requires the separate HR+ module covered above.
Patriot's HR add-on, at $6 base + $2/worker on top of Full Service, covers PTO requests and approvals plus basic employee records, useful, but it stops well short of benefits brokerage or retirement plan integration. If offering health insurance or a 401(k) through your payroll platform matters, Patriot is not built for that job at any price point, you would need a separate broker or PEO regardless of which Patriot tier you pick.
What real users say on G2 and Capterra
The pattern across both platforms' reviews is consistent: users on either tool switched away from ADP or Paychex citing cost creep at renewal, and both OnPay and Patriot get credited with responsive, US-based support that resolves payroll problems quickly rather than routing through a ticket queue. That consistency across two competing products is itself a signal, in the small-business payroll category, support quality tends to matter more to retention than any single feature.
Where the reviews diverge: OnPay reviewers more often mention the platform's handling of tipped and multi-rate employees as the reason they stayed, a pattern consistent with its restaurant and hospitality customer base. Patriot reviewers more often cite price as the deciding factor over any competitor, consistent with its positioning as the lowest-cost full-service option. Both products draw the same recurring criticism: a dated interface next to newer competitors like Gusto or Rippling, and no native mobile app for administrators, both are limited to a mobile-friendly browser experience for running payroll [G2 and Capterra review patterns for OnPay and Patriot Payroll, verified 2026-08-19].
Choose OnPay if / Choose Patriot if
Choose OnPay if you run a restaurant, farm, nonprofit, or church and need tip credit, Form 943, or clergy payroll handled correctly without manual workarounds, or if you want benefits shopping and 401(k) integration built into your payroll platform. Those are the only real reasons to pay OnPay's premium, since it is not the cheaper option on price at any headcount. See our full OnPay review for the complete feature breakdown.
Choose Patriot if your payroll is simple, standard W-2 or 1099 workers, one or a few states, no tips or farm labor, and price is the deciding factor, or if you are comfortable self-filing taxes on the Basic tier to save even more. It stays cheaper than OnPay whether or not you add its HR module. Read our Patriot Payroll review for the full pricing breakdown and limitations.
Neither tool is the right fit if you need a broad third-party integration library or plan to scale past 30-40 employees with growing HR complexity, at that point Gusto or a modular platform like Rippling starts to make more sense. And if your team includes international 1099 contractors alongside domestic W-2 staff, check our guide to payroll software for 1099 contractors before committing to either OnPay or Patriot, both handle domestic 1099s well but neither is built for cross-border contractor payments. For a broader shortlist beyond these two, see our best payroll software roundup.
Frequently asked questions
Is OnPay or Patriot Payroll cheaper? Patriot Full Service ($37/month + $5/employee) is cheaper than OnPay ($49/month + $6/employee) at every headcount. Adding PTO tracking does not change that: Patriot's add-on is $6 base + $2/employee, OnPay's is $15 base + $2/employee, so the gap actually widens once both vendors' HR add-ons are included [official 2026-08-19 rate cards from both vendors].
Does Patriot Payroll file taxes automatically? Only on the Full Service plan ($37/month + $5/employee). The Basic plan ($17/month + $4/employee) handles payroll calculations and direct deposit but requires you to file federal and state payroll taxes yourself [Patriot Software official pricing page, verified 2026-08-19].
Does OnPay offer same-day direct deposit? No, despite what some comparison sites list. OnPay's own help center states standard turnaround is 2 to 4 business days based on a risk assessment, in the same range as Patriot's fixed 4-day window [OnPay Help Center, verified 2026-08-19].
Does OnPay handle restaurant tip credits and Patriot doesn't? Correct. OnPay automatically calculates the employer tip credit and FICA tip credit (Form 8846) at no extra cost. Patriot does not offer tip credit handling on any plan; restaurants using Patriot would need to calculate this manually outside the platform.
Which has a better G2 rating, OnPay or Patriot? Both average 4.8 out of 5. OnPay draws from roughly 415 verified reviews, Patriot Payroll's dedicated G2 product page from roughly 630, neither has a large enough volume edge to treat one rating as more reliable than the other [g2.com, verified 2026-08-19].
Can I get automatic tax filing on Patriot without paying for the Full Service plan? No. Automatic federal, state, and local tax filing is exclusive to Patriot's Full Service tier. The Basic tier is priced lower specifically because it excludes this, you take on the filing responsibility yourself in exchange for the lower rate.