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These professional employment organizations can take the burden of HR and payroll admin off your hands with reasonable pricing and robust features.
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If you have a small business, you may have looked into a Professional Employee Organization (PEO) to handle some of your administrative needs.
To determine the best PEO companies, we considered price, available features, and the types of small businesses they’re best suited for. Read on to find the right PEO solution for your business.
Learn More About Our Top Picks
| Company | Best For | Next StepsBest For |
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Paychex
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ADP Payroll
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Justworks
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TriNet
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Rippling
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Read more below to learn why we chose these options.
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The best PEO companies will dramatically help you save time and be more efficient by handling your benefits administration, payroll needs, and hiring and recruiting, all while working with your company and its employees to stay true to your vision and ethics.
| Price | Best For | Industry Specialization | Mobile App | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Paychex | Custom | Best overall & most customizable | SMBs | |
| ADP Payroll | Custom | Best features & benefit selections | SMBs & Fortune-500 companies | |
| Justworks | Starts at $59/month per employee | Best scalable PEO | SMBs & COBRA administration | |
| TriNet | Custom | Best industry-specific PEO | Consulting, Education, eCommerce Finances, Life Sciences, Manufacturing, Marketing, Media, Nonprofit, Retail, Tech, Wholesale | |
| Rippling | Starts at $8/month per person | Best for remote work | Remote companies |
Payroll Processing Time
2 days (can pay for faster processing times)Pricing Range
$39/month + $5/employee or custom pricingBusiness Size
Self-employed contractors to enterprises with 1,000+ employeesPros
Cons
Paychex is counted among the best PEO companies for tailoring its features and services to a business's unique needs. The company combines features, customer support, and customizability well. Customers benefit from working directly with a designated HR professional to develop a customized plan. Businesses looking for a customizable and more personal approach should give Paychex a try.
On the customer end, the Paychex Flex software is relatively easy to use and has 24/7 customer support to help with setup and ongoing use. Paychex offers an extensive selection of employee benefits and strong HR management.
Payroll Processing Time
2-5 daysPricing Range
Custom pricingBusiness Size
Small to enterprise-sized businesses with 1,000+ employeesPros
Cons
ADP is one of the biggest players in the workforce and HR management industry, with over two million small business employees supported by its services. This scale gives small businesses greater access to features, resources, and services. For starters, ADP TotalSource boasts Fortune 500-level healthcare plans and full-service payroll.
ADP also has a wide range of specialized benefits that small businesses can offer their employees, such as telehealth services, commuter benefits, and discounts on travel, retail, and entertainment.
Additionally, ADP's automated risk management tools and expert guidance reduce administrative burdens and minimize compliance risks. With a user-friendly platform and dedicated customer support, ADP ensures that small businesses can efficiently manage their workforce.
Payroll Processing Time
4 daysPricing Range
$50/month + $8/month per person - $109/month per employeeBusiness Size
Small - medium-sized businessesPros
Cons
Since launching in 2012, Justworks has emerged as the fastest-growing PEO for small businesses. Justworks provides full-service benefits administration, payroll processing, HR, and compliance support within its two PEO plans: Basic and Plus.
Small businesses that opt for the Plus Plan can access Justworks' full suite of corporate-level employee benefits. These include health insurance plans from Aetna, Kaiser, and United; dental and vision insurance; HSA and FSA accounts; and wellness perks.
Justworks can also assist with COBRA administration. Another noteworthy feature is Justworks' time and attendance program, Justworks Hours, which integrates across the platform to automate payroll and other HR tasks.
Pros
Cons
TriNet delivers full-service payroll processing, HR, benefits administration, compliance support, and risk mitigation services to small and mid-size businesses. Tailoring services and assistance to different industry sectors is where TriNet stands out among the best PEOs. Depending on a small business's needs and sector, TriNet provides a personal team of consultants with relevant experience and expertise.
TriNet offers specific services to a wide range of specific industries, including: consulting, education, eCommerce finances, life sciences, manufacturing, marketing, media, nonprofit, retail, tech, and wholesale.
If you've had a difficult time looking for niche HR or payroll services specific to your industry, you may want to give TriNet a try.
Payroll Processing Time
2 daysPricing Range
$8/month per employeeBusiness Size
Small businesses to enterprises with 2-2,000+ usersPros
Cons
Rippling PEO covers the bases in terms of payroll, benefits administration, compliance support, and risk management. Each solution is organized in its own module that can be accessed from the main Rippling interface. Other business software can be integrated here as well. Rippling offers more than 400 integrations, including applications related to collaboration, customer support, design, finances, HR, marketing, and sales.
For small businesses having to manage employees and technology in dispersed locations, Rippling has the tech stack to support you. Rippling PEO provides remote device management for employees via an auto-installing app. This allows small business owners and the PEO team to make changes to any employee's laptop from the Rippling platform. Businesses with employees in multiple states can receive assistance with local tax registration and meeting minimum wage levels across locations.
Merchant Maverick has been researching and reviewing payroll providers since 2018. Our writers have tested more than 75 different payroll software systems, evaluating pricing, features, ease of use, customer service, and user reviewers. Read more about how we rate payroll providers.
When comparing different apps, we consider over seventy data points, including the speed and cost of payroll runs, federal and state tax filing features, HR integrations, employee management tools, time tracking, and more. Our lists of the best providers include only apps we’ve deemed worthwhile from several vantage points. The payroll apps we pick are widely available and relatively easy to train on, with robust features and reasonable pricing. We also look carefully at features such as employee and client portals, user onboarding services, PTO management, benefits administration, multistate compliance, and more.
We spend an average of 10-15 hours researching and updating each one of our lists, making sure the providers included meet our internal standards for quality and reputation.
75+
Vendors evaluated
76
Attributes assessed per vendor
26
Features weighed
20+
Combined years of experience
PEO stands for professional employer organization. PEO companies take some troublesome payroll and HR tasks (such as benefits management, recruiting, and payroll) off your plate and manage them for you.
PEOs may specialize in certain tasks or have an industry-specific focus. Generally, they are equipped to take on small business functions, such as worker’s compensation, unemployment administration, employee onboarding and training, and legal compliance. But they’re not for everyone as they require a large budget and a willingness to be hands-off with your payroll management and HR administration.
Payroll software is generally managed by the business owner or in-house HR manager, whereas with a PEO (professional employer organization) payroll and HR management is outsourced to a separate company. Learn more about the different types of payroll software and how to know which is right for your business.
The biggest benefit of having a PEO is that you gain back much needed time. Small businesses dedicate about 17% of their working hours to administrative tasks. Outsourcing payroll, benefits administration, and other HR duties to a PEO can save precious time and money that could be better spent running and growing your business.
A PEO:
According to NAPEO, a PEO company also affects positive business growth and can lead to less turnover:
“Businesses in a PEO arrangement grow 7-9 percent faster, have 10-14 percent lower turnover, and are 50 percent less likely to go out of business.”
PEO cost varies according to location, type of business, number of employees, and services provided. Many PEOs give price quotes on a case-by-case basis. In general, you can expect to pay anything from $8/employee to upward of $100/employee.
When evaluating PEOs for your business, it’s helpful to consider what services you want to outsource and what support your employees need to succeed. And since many PEOs don’t divulge their pricing publicly, it’s worth requesting quotes from multiple companies to find a solution that works for your budget.
Find a PEO with:
The right PEO should fit both your needs and your employees needs. It also should be a good cultural fit and the company’s communication style should mesh with your own as they will be handling many tasks on your behalf.
The top companies on this list are a great place to start. Be sure to comparison shop with quotes and demos to find the perfect fit for your business.
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The vendors that appear on this list were chosen by subject matter experts on the basis of product quality, wide usage and availability, and positive reputation.
Merchant Maverick’s ratings are editorial in nature, and are not aggregated from user reviews. Each staff reviewer at Merchant Maverick is a subject matter expert with experience researching, testing, and evaluating small business software and services. The rating of this company or service is based on the author’s expert opinion and analysis of the product, and assessed and seconded by another subject matter expert on staff before publication. Merchant Maverick’s ratings are not influenced by affiliate partnerships.
Our unbiased reviews and content are supported in part by affiliate partnerships, and we adhere to strict guidelines to preserve editorial integrity. The editorial content on this page is not provided by any of the companies mentioned and has not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by any of these entities. Opinions expressed here are author’s alone.
Our reviewers like ADP Payroll for its advanced employee management, strong payroll features, and great customer support. For a limited time, get three months free.
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