HR companies: who does what, and what they will tell you

Advertised prices, checked

How to work out which kind you need

1. Write down what actually lands on your desk. Pay run, tax filings, new-starter paperwork, benefits admin, the awkward conversations. Most owners discover the pay run is the smallest part of it.
2. Decide whether you want to keep being the employer. A bureau and an outsourcing firm leave you the employer. A PEO does not: it co-employs, which is how it can put your staff on its own health plan and workers' comp.
3. Ask each provider the same question. What is the monthly fee, what is per employee, and what is charged once. Providers that lead with a per-employee number and providers that lead with a percentage of payroll are not quoting the same thing.
4. Get the prices in writing before the demo. Most of this market will not print a price. That is not a reason to accept a discovery call as the only route to one.

Payroll bureau, HR outsourcing, or PEO

A payroll bureau is the narrowest and cheapest. It takes hours or salaries, runs the calculation, pays people, and files federal and state payroll taxes. You stay the employer of record for every purpose, you keep your own benefits, and the fee is usually a monthly subscription plus a per-worker charge. This is what most businesses under about twenty people actually need.

HR outsourcing sits above it: the bureau's work plus handbooks, onboarding paperwork, an advice line and often a portal your staff log into. You are still the employer and still carry the employment risk, but the administration leaves your desk.

A PEO is a different legal arrangement. It becomes a co-employer of your staff, files their payroll taxes under its own identification number, and brings them onto its health, retirement and workers' compensation programmes. Small employers use one to buy benefits they could not buy alone. It is also the hardest to price, because the fee is usually a percentage of payroll or a per-employee charge quoted per client.

Why the prices are so hard to line up

The three models charge on different bases, so a bureau at a fixed monthly subscription and a PEO at a percentage of payroll cannot be compared until you convert both to a cost per employee per month at your own headcount. Providers rarely do that conversion for you, and several deliberately do not.

The record on this site is limited to what each provider puts on its own page, checked on the date shown. It is a small number of providers, and that is the finding rather than a gap: this is a market where the price is a conversation, and knowing which providers have already had it in public is worth more than a table of estimates.

Common questions

Is an HR company the same as a PEO?

No. A PEO co-employs your staff and puts them on its own benefits and workers' compensation; most HR companies do not, and leave you the sole employer. The word covers both, which is why the first question to any provider is whether it becomes a co-employer.

What does an HR company cost for a small business?

Where a price is published at all it is usually a monthly subscription plus a per-worker charge; the record on this site shows advertised base subscriptions from the providers that print one. PEO pricing is quoted per client and is not published by any provider checked here.

Can I use an HR company and keep my own health plan?

With a payroll bureau or an HR outsourcing firm, yes: you stay the employer and your benefits are unaffected. With a PEO the point is usually the opposite, moving your staff onto its plan, so ask before you sign if keeping your own cover matters.

Coverage by state

• PEO providers with evidenced coverage of Texas
• PEO providers with evidenced coverage of Georgia
• PEO providers with evidenced coverage of Colorado
• PEO providers with evidenced coverage of New York
• PEO providers with evidenced coverage of Virginia