Heartland Payroll Review
Despite some limitations, Heartland Payroll is a solid payroll and HR solution that offers plenty of features, HR resources, and top-notch customer service.
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Expert Analyst & Reviewer
UPDATED
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Heartland Payroll
| Total Rating | 3.5 |
|---|---|
| Pricing | Poor |
| Features | Good |
| Customer Service | Good |
| Integrations | Fair |
| Reviews | Fair |
Payroll Processing Time
Same-day to two-day payroll processingPricing
VariableBusiness Size
Small to large businesses with up to 600 usersHeartland Payroll At A Glance
- Heartland Payroll is a payroll processing and HR solution designed for use by small to large businesses with up to 600 employees.
- Heartland Payroll offers a (nearly) full suite of payroll processing and HR tools, but the software’s lack of third-party integrations and built-in benefits administration may cause some businesses pause.
- Standout features of Heartland Payroll include the software’s vast HR resource library, dedicated customer support representatives, time-tracking solution, and payroll tax support.
Pros
- Dedicated support representative
- Extensive reporting
- Solid onboarding support
- Extensive HR resources library
Cons
- Lack of pricing transparency
- Outdated interface
- No mobile app for employees
- Limited third-party integrations
Table of Contents
What Is Heartland Payroll?
Heartland Payroll is a cloud-based payroll solution that provides payroll tax support, time tracking, attendance tracking, extensive HR resources, employee management tools, new hire onboarding support, and much more. As Heartland Payroll offers a suite of business software and hardware solutions, it may be a good fit for a business that is already within the Heartland ecosystem.
Overall, Heartland Payroll’s surprisingly robust payroll and HR features could simplify your business’s operations. However, Heartland lacks strong integrations and built-in business administration.
Keep reading to find out if Heartland Payroll is right for your business!
Heartland Payroll Pricing
Heartland does not publish its pricing online. However, a sales representative confirmed that the software operates under a “$X/month + $X per employee/contractor paid” pricing model, which is standard pricing practice in the payroll software category.
If you want to try out Heartland Payroll’s interactive demo to get a feel for the software, you’ll need to schedule a call with a Heartland sales representative. After an admittedly lengthy sales phone call, you’ll have a custom-tailored payroll pricing package designed to meet your business’s payroll needs.
Extra Heartland Payroll Costs & Fees
| Heartland Payroll Extra Costs | Price |
|---|---|
| Heartland Time | Variable |
| Heartland Hire | Variable |
| Heartland HR | Variable |
While Heartland isn’t transparent about its prices online, there are a few noted add-on services that will increase your plan costs. You can expect to pay additional fees for services not included within Heartland’s payroll solution, including:
- HR support
- Onboarding
- Hiring
- Time tracking
However, these add-on fees are common for the services they cover. Many payroll software solutions offer HR services and time tracking as à la carte options to grant businesses the flexibility to choose solutions that work best for them.
Is Heartland Payroll Easy To Use?
Heartland Payroll’s cloud-based software is relatively easy to use. However, the software’s interface is a bit outdated and feels a little clunky compared to other payroll software options like Gusto.
Additionally, Heartland’s HR, Hire, and Time solutions are housed in separate dashboards from its Payroll solution. This can be confusing to navigate and may require a slight learning curve for those new to the software or who aren’t very computer savvy.
Heartland Payroll Features
| Feature | Availability |
|---|---|
| Auto-Schedule Payroll | |
| Payroll Tax Support | |
| Bonus Payroll | |
| Off-Cycle Payroll | |
| Employee Management | |
| Paid Time Off | |
| Time Tracking | (Heartland Time add-on) |
| Reporting | |
| HR Support | (Heartland HR add-on) |
| Onboarding Support | (Heartland Hire add-on) |
| Benefits Administration |
Heartland Payroll includes all the essential features that your business will need to run payroll, plus some bonus features that allow the software to handle complex business payroll needs. You’ll find all the basics, including direct deposit, check-printing, garnishments, deductions, payroll tax support, reports, and more.
In addition to the basics, Heartland also boasts a time and attendance tracking solution, a custom report writer, compliance support, and a large suite of HR tools and resources.
The software’s most glaring feature limitation is its lack of built-in benefits administration. Beyond that sore spot, Heartland’s payroll and HR features are on par with other payroll software, but the software lacks any standout features.
Payroll Processing
As a full-service payroll provider, Heartland has an extensive payroll feature set that allows businesses to run and manage their payroll easily.
Here’s a look at Heartland Payroll’s most notable payroll processing features:
- Pay employees and 1099 contractors
- Same and next-day payroll processing are available
- Paper check printing
- Direct deposit
- Payment cards
- Full payroll tax support
- Time and attendance management (add-on)
- Garnishments
- Deductions
- Bonus and termination payroll runs
- Support for multiple pay rates and schedules
- Extensive payroll reports
Employee Management & PTO
Heartland Payroll’s built-in features cover all the basics of employee management. However, they are a bit limited compared to other solutions on the market.
Heartland Payroll’s employee management features include:
- Employee self-service portal
- PTO accrual
- PTO policy management and tracking
- Employee accessible tax forms and pay stubs
- Online document storage
- eSigning
- Performance reviews
Time Tracking
While Heartland Payroll doesn’t offer a built-in time tracking solution, its integrated Heartland Time platform provides a wealth of time-tracking features and an informative dashboard that enables at-a-glance time and attendance oversight.
Here’s a look at Heartland Time’s time-management features:
- PTO management
- Real-time payroll sync
- Multiple punch options
- Geofencing
- Job costing
- Scheduling
- Payroll budgeting
- Enable shift swapping and coverage
- Overtime calculator
Payroll Tax Support
Heartland Payroll handles all payroll taxes for businesses and takes full tax liability for your business’s taxes. The software’s payroll tax features include:
- Calculation and payment of payroll taxes
- Handles taxes at the federal, state, and local levels
- Create and send W-2 and 1099 forms
- Create custom tax reports
- WOTC assessments for new hires
- Employee portal for tax form access
- ACA reporting
Reporting
Heartland Payroll offers robust payroll reporting options. Beyond a sizable selection of built-in reports, users can contact Heartland directly for highly customized reports that aren’t available within the software.
Here’s a look at Heartland Payroll’s payroll reporting features:
- 56 built-in reports
- Customizable reports
- Create and save custom report templates
HR & Onboarding
Heartland’s HR and onboarding software solutions are, respectively: Heartland HR and Heartland Hire. While some of Heartland’s HR and onboarding features are available as add-on services, both Hire and HR are only available as add-on services to Heartland’s payroll solution.
You’ll need to pay extra to take advantage of applicant tracking, electronic onboarding, and tax credit eligibility assessments.
Heartland’s HR and onboarding features include:
- Applicant tracking (available as an add-on)
- HR resources library
- One-on-one assistance from SHRM-certified HR professionals
- Secure document storage
- labor law compliance posters
- Customizable employ handbook templates
- Work Opportunity Tax Credit (WOTC) assessments (available as an add-on)
- Work authorization verification
- eSigning
- Electronic onboarding through a web portal
- Automated welcome emails
- Create and post jobs
- Text-to-apply options
- Applicant screening
- New-hire reporting
- Harassment prevention training
- HR law updates
Benefits Administration
Heartland Payroll does not offer benefits administration but does offer benefits reporting and compliance support. Additionally, the software integrates with Ease and Employee Navigator to sync information from your business’s benefits providers’ platform.
Heartland representatives can also provide recommendations for independent employee benefits brokers to help get your business benefits up and running.
Heartland Payroll Customer Service
| Heartland Payroll Support | Availability |
|---|---|
| Phone Support | |
| Email Support | |
| Support Tickets | |
| Live Chat | |
| Dedicated Support Representative | |
| Knowledge Base or Help Center | |
| Videos & Tutorials | |
| Company Blog | |
| Social Media |
Heartland offers a variety of customer service and support options, including a dedicated customer service representative, 24/7 phone support, and support tickets. Having a dedicated point of contact can reduce the time businesses spend trying to reach a customer service representative familiar with payroll and their business.
While customers are generally happy with Heartland’s customer service, there were several complaints about the implementation process. Customers noted that implementation took a long time, communication was poor, and they ran into several issues during the process. This may be something to note if your business wants to make a fast, smooth transition to new payroll software.
Heartland Payroll Integrations
Heartland Payroll has not published an exhaustive list of its third-party software integrations, but the software does integrate with third-party accounting software solutions, including QuickBooks and Sage.
Additionally, Heartland’s payroll software integrates with the other solutions in Heartland’s business software suite, including Heartland Hire, Heartland HR, and Heartland Time.
Heartland Payroll Reviews
Heartland Payroll’s reviews are all over the place but lean toward the positive. The software has a solid 4.4/5 star rating on G2 (125 reviewers), 4.7/10 star rating on TrustRadius (7 reviews), and an A+ BBB rating. Customers praise Heartland Payroll’s ease of use and simple payroll processing. However, there are several complaints citing a long and problem-packed implementation process.
Views on customer service are split. Many customers praise the customer service support from their dedicated representative, and others stress that getting in touch with customer support is a massive headache.
Negative Heartland Payroll Reviews & Complaints
- Lengthy implementation process
- Limited payroll automation
- Many fees
- Tax support issues
Positive Heartland Payroll Reviews
- Responsive customer support
- Easy to use
- Strong employee onboarding support
Is Heartland Payroll Secure?
Heartland is surprisingly mum about its data security practices for anything other than payments security. The only mention of Heartland software’s security measures includes the recent introduction of multifactor authentication.
While Heartland Secure protects customer data during card transactions, customers using Heartland Payroll will need to reach out directly for more information about how their data is protected.
The Final Verdict: Is Heartland Payroll Worth It?
| Heartland Payroll Review | |
|---|---|
| Business Size | Ideal for small to mid-sized businesses with up to 600 users |
| Pricing | Variable |
| Choose If You Need |
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Heartland Payroll is a solid payroll and HR solution that offers plenty of features, HR resources, and top-notch customer service. I believe that it would be a good payroll solution for businesses already using the software within the Heartland ecosystem and have been satisfied with the experience.
Otherwise, it’s hard to see a business choosing Heartland Payroll over the many other payroll solutions on the market — the software just lacks any standout features. Moreover, the lack of benefits administration, limited third-party integration, and poor security transparency further reduce Heartland’s competitiveness in the payroll software market.
If your business requires payroll software with built-in benefits administration, transparent security practices, and support for third-party integrations, it might be good to check elsewhere. As Gusto, Paychex, and ADP Payroll offer plenty of integrations and built-in benefits administration, they are solid alternatives to Heartland Payroll. For more options, check out our post: The 8 Best Payroll Software For Small Businesses.
Heartland Payroll FAQs
Davina Ward
Expert Analyst & Reviewer
A New York native, Davina earned her BA in English from SUNY Geneseo in 2018. After graduating, she began her career as a freelance writing generalist before finding a niche writing about SaaS. Davina unironically enjoys testing and reviewing software on her free time but otherwise can be found oscillating between hobbies every few weeks or so — most recently, longboarding.
View Davina Ward's professional experience on LinkedIn.
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Try A Top Pick For Payroll
ADP Payroll  |
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Try A Top Pick For Payroll
ADP Payroll |
|---|
We like ADP Payroll for its advanced employee management, strong payroll features, and great customer support. Get three months free when you sign up through our links! Get Started.
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