Patriot Payroll Review 2026: The Best Budget Payroll Software?
Patriot Payroll is the lowest-priced full-service payroll tool on the market. Here is what you get, what you give up, and whether the trade-offs are worth it.
Last updated: 2026-05-23
Quick verdict
Patriot Payroll is the right choice if price is your primary concern and your payroll is simple — US employees only, single or a few states, no complex tip or multi-rate scenarios. At $37/month + $4/employee for full-service with automated tax filing, it is the cheapest compliant option on the market. If you need better UX, faster direct deposit, or HR features, Gusto Simple at $40 + $6/employee is worth the small premium.
What Patriot is and its G2 standing
Patriot Software is a US payroll and accounting software company founded in 2012, headquartered in Canton, Ohio. It targets small businesses that need reliable, affordable payroll without the feature overhead of enterprise tools. Privately held, it has grown steadily without VC-backed growth pressure.
On G2, Patriot earns a 4.8/5 rating and consistently holds the "Best Value" badge in the small business payroll category. Review volume is lower than Gusto's 11,246 reviews, but the pattern is consistent: users stay because it does exactly what they need at the lowest price, and the US-based support team resolves issues quickly.
Negative reviews cluster around two themes: the dated interface compared to Gusto or Rippling, and the 4-day direct deposit window. Both are real trade-offs to evaluate.
Pricing — the full picture
Basic Payroll: $17/month + $4/employee/month. Payroll calculations and direct deposit. Does NOT include automatic tax filing — you file federal and state taxes manually. For a 5-person team: $37/month.
Full Service Payroll: $37/month + $4/employee/month. Adds automatic federal, state, and local tax filing. Includes W-2 and 1099 filing at year-end. 5-person team: $57/month. 10-person team: $77/month.
The Basic plan only makes sense if you are comfortable handling quarterly 941s, state unemployment filings, and year-end W-2 reconciliation yourself. For most owners, Full Service at $37 base is the right call — and still the cheapest automated tax filing option on the market.
What Patriot does well
Price. Full-service at $37 base is the lowest among established providers. 10-person team: $77/month vs. Gusto Simple's $100/month or OnPay's $100/month.
US-based support. Described in G2 reviews as knowledgeable and same-day responsive — meaningful when a payroll error has real consequences.
Simplicity. Patriot does payroll and does not try to be an all-in-one HR platform. Less complexity, fewer features to navigate.
All 50 states. Multi-state payroll at no additional per-state fee — unlike some competitors that charge $10/month per extra state.
Real limitations
Dated interface. No major UX updates in years. Functional but not modern — the difference is noticeable next to Gusto or Rippling.
4-day direct deposit. Submit Thursday for Monday payment. Gusto Plus offers next-day; OnPay includes same-day. For hourly workers living paycheck to paycheck, this matters.
No mobile admin app. Employees have a mobile portal; admins run payroll from desktop only.
Limited integrations. QuickBooks, Xero, and a small number of time-tracking tools. Much smaller than Gusto's 100+ integrations.
Patriot vs. Gusto Simple
| Patriot Full Service | Gusto Simple | |
|---|---|---|
| Base price | $37/mo | $40/mo |
| Per employee | $4 | $6 |
| 10-person total | $77/mo | $100/mo |
| Direct deposit | 4 days | 4 days |
| Onboarding | ❌ | ✅ |
| Mobile admin app | ❌ | ✅ |
| G2 rating | 4.8/5 (Best Value) | 4.6/5 |
If $23/month ($276/year) matters to your budget, Patriot is the right call. If you want digital onboarding and a mobile app, Gusto Simple's small premium is worth it.
Who Patriot Payroll is best for
Patriot fits a specific profile: the budget-conscious small business owner who is comfortable doing payroll themselves. If you run a 1-15 person team, pay mostly W-2 hourly or salaried staff, and don't want to spend $40-$80/month on a brand-name platform, Patriot's $17/month base (plus $4 per employee) for Full Service is one of the lowest all-in costs that still files and deposits your federal, state, and local taxes for you.
It works best when your payroll is predictable and low-complexity. Think a single-location coffee shop, a small dental office, a landscaping crew, or a startup with five employees on direct deposit. Patriot handles standard pay schedules, overtime, common deductions, and multi-state payroll, so a business with one remote worker in another state is still well within range.
The DIY-comfortable part matters. Patriot's setup is largely self-guided - you enter your EIN, state tax account numbers, and prior payroll history yourself. There's no white-glove onboarding specialist walking you through it the way some pricier vendors offer. Owners who are comfortable reading a help article and entering their own state unemployment rate will be fine; those who want someone to do it for them may feel underserved.
Patriot is a weaker fit if you need deep HR features, equity or complex benefits administration, automated international contractor payments, or a large hourly workforce with scheduling and shift management. For a company past roughly 25-30 employees with growing HR needs, you'll likely outgrow it. But for a lean operation where every dollar of overhead counts, Patriot delivers the core job - accurate paychecks and on-time tax filings - at a price most competitors can't match.
Full Service vs Basic (self-file) tiers explained
Patriot sells payroll in two tiers, and the difference comes down to who handles your payroll taxes. Both run unlimited payrolls, calculate withholdings, and support direct deposit, so the paycheck math is identical. The split is entirely about tax filing and deposits.
Basic Payroll runs about $17/month plus $4 per employee. You run payroll and Patriot calculates exactly what's owed - federal income tax, Social Security, Medicare, state income tax, and unemployment - but you are responsible for actually depositing those taxes with the IRS and your state, and for filing the quarterly Form 941 and annual Form 940, W-2s, and state returns. Patriot gives you the numbers and the forms; you submit them. This tier suits owners who already have a bookkeeper or accountant filing for them, or who genuinely don't mind logging into EFTPS and their state portal on schedule.
Full Service Payroll runs about $37/month plus $5 per employee (Patriot periodically adjusts these, so confirm current rates). Here Patriot collects, deposits, and files all federal, state, and local payroll taxes on your behalf, and handles year-end W-2 and W-3 filing. Patriot backs this with a tax-filing accuracy guarantee - if they make a filing error, they cover the resulting penalties and interest.
For most owners, the extra ~$20/month for Full Service is worth it. Missing a federal deposit deadline can trigger IRS failure-to-deposit penalties of 2-15% depending on how late you are, which dwarfs the price difference. Basic only makes sense if you have a trusted tax pro already handling deposits, or you operate in a simple single-state setup and are disciplined about deadlines. When in doubt, choosing Full Service removes the highest-stakes compliance risk in running payroll.
Add-ons: HR, time tracking, and 1099 e-file
Patriot keeps its base payroll cheap by selling extras as modular add-ons, so you only pay for what you actually use. This is a deliberate contrast to platforms like Gusto that bundle more into higher tiers whether you need it or not.
Time and Attendance runs about $6/month plus $2 per employee. Employees clock in and out online, time entries flow straight into payroll, and you can set up overtime rules and approvals. It's a sensible add for hourly teams - a restaurant or retail shop paying by the hour avoids manual timesheet entry and reduces the transcription errors that cause payroll re-runs.
HR Software runs about $6/month plus $2 per employee. This is a lightweight HR layer: a document e-storage and e-signature tool, an org chart, customizable HR fields, and a place to track PTO and store handbooks and offer letters. It is not a full HRIS - there's no applicant tracking, no advanced performance management - but for a small team that just needs a central place for employee records and signed forms, it covers the basics cheaply.
1099 e-filing is built into Patriot's contractor handling. You can pay 1099 contractors through the same direct-deposit pipeline, and Patriot e-files 1099-NEC and 1096 forms with the IRS and provides copies for your contractors. This matters because the IRS now requires electronic filing once you hit 10 or more information returns in a year (combining W-2s, 1099s, and other forms), so paper filing is off the table for most growing businesses. Patriot handling the e-file keeps you compliant without a separate 1099 service like Track1099 or Tax1099. Stacked together, payroll plus time tracking plus HR for a 5-person team still lands around $60-$70/month all in - below what a single bundled mid-tier plan from a larger competitor often costs.
Patriot vs OnPay vs Wave - the budget bracket
Patriot competes in a distinct budget bracket against OnPay and Wave Payroll, all of which undercut Gusto, QuickBooks, and ADP on price. Each makes a different trade-off, so the right pick depends on team size and what you need beyond paychecks.
OnPay charges a flat $40/month base plus $6 per employee with no tiers - full-service tax filing, HR tools, and benefits integration are all included at one price. It's a strong value once you have around 10+ employees because there's nothing to upsell, and OnPay handles more complex scenarios well, including agriculture (Form 943), restaurants with tipped wages, churches, and multi-state teams. OnPay holds a high G2 rating (around 4.8) and is often the better pick for a business that wants full features without juggling add-ons.
Wave Payroll is the cheapest at roughly $20/month base plus $6 per employee for self-service states and around $40 base in the states where Wave offers full tax filing. Wave only files taxes for you in a limited set of states; everywhere else it's self-file like Patriot Basic. Its real draw is tight integration with Wave's free accounting and invoicing, making it appealing for a solo freelancer or micro-business already living in Wave's books.
Where Patriot wins is the lowest entry cost for a true full-service option - $37 base plus $5 per employee beats OnPay's $40 base for very small teams of 1-5, and unlike Wave it offers full tax filing in all 50 states. The math flips as you grow: at 10-15 employees, OnPay's bundled features often justify its flat base. Quick rule of thumb - choose Patriot for the cheapest compliant payroll on a tiny team, OnPay when you want everything included and expect to scale, and Wave only if you're already on Wave accounting and your state supports full filing.
Real user verdict from G2 and reviews
Across G2, Capterra, and Trustpilot, Patriot earns consistently strong marks, and the pattern in the reviews is telling: users praise value and responsive US-based support, while the few complaints cluster around self-guided setup and the absence of deeper HR and benefits features.
On G2, Patriot holds roughly a 4.8 out of 5 across 800+ reviews, which is among the highest in the payroll category - on par with OnPay and above QuickBooks Payroll. Reviewers repeatedly call out how much they save versus their old provider and how quickly they reach a real person by phone or chat. The recurring critique is that initial setup expects you to know your state tax account numbers and rates upfront, which trips up first-time employers.
The table below summarizes how Patriot stacks up against the budget bracket on the metrics small business owners actually weigh:
| Platform | Starting price | G2 rating | Best for | Watch-out |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Patriot (Full Service) | $37/mo + $5/employee | ~4.8 | 1-15 employees, lowest-cost full filing in all 50 states | Self-guided setup; thin HR features |
| Patriot (Basic) | $17/mo + $4/employee | ~4.8 | Owners with an accountant who self-files taxes | You handle all deposits and filings |
| OnPay | $40/mo + $6/employee | ~4.8 | 10+ employees wanting everything bundled | Higher base cost on tiny teams |
| Wave Payroll | $20-$40/mo + $6/employee | ~4.0 | Solo/micro-business already on Wave accounting | Full tax filing in limited states only |
| Gusto Simple | $40/mo + $6/employee | ~4.5 | Teams wanting polished UX and benefits | Roughly 2x Patriot's per-employee cost |
The honest verdict: Patriot is the best-value full-service payroll for a budget-conscious, DIY-comfortable small employer, and the high G2 score reflects that buyers get what they pay for. If you can handle a self-directed setup and don't need a full HRIS, the savings versus Gusto or QuickBooks compound month after month. If you want hand-holding onboarding or rich benefits and HR built in, you'll pay more elsewhere - but Patriot rarely leaves its target user disappointed.