HR outsourcing costs
HR outsourcing costs are not one number and providers rarely present them as more than one. This page lists every line that can appear in the bill, says which of them the providers checked here publish, and which you will only learn by asking. The lines nobody prints are where two quotes that look alike stop being alike.
- median advertised base subscription, per month
- $39
- providers with a price they will print
- 2
- states with measured demand and evidenced cover
- 5
Figures on this page come from the price record on this site: 2 providers checked against their own published pages, median advertised base subscription $39 a month among those that publish one.
- 2 provider pages checkedevery figure matched verbatim to the provider's own page
- Quoted and dated, never estimatedlast verification pass 2026-09-09
- 5 states with evidenced coverevidenced by the provider's own live state page
Advertised prices, checked
| Provider | Base price | Per worker | What it covers | Source | Checked |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ExtensisHR | |||||
| FrankCrum | |||||
| Gusto | |||||
| Insperity | |||||
| Justworks | |||||
| OnPay | |||||
| Patriot Software | |||||
| Paychex | |||||
| Rippling | |||||
| SurePayroll | |||||
| TriNet | |||||
| VensureHR |
How to assemble the real number
- Start with the base subscription. A fixed monthly fee independent of headcount. Published by some providers, and the smallest part of the bill for anyone above a handful of people.
- Add the per-worker charge. The line that actually scales. Multiply by your real headcount including anyone paid irregularly, because most providers charge per worker paid rather than per worker employed.
- Add every state you file in. Charged per additional state per month by some providers and as one flat multi-state fee by others. Which is cheaper depends entirely on how many states you have.
- Add the annual lines. Year-end forms are frequently billed once a year rather than monthly, and setup is usually charged once. Neither appears in a monthly headline.
What providers publish, and what they do not
Among the providers in the record on this site, base subscriptions and per-worker charges are the lines most often published, additional-state charges are published by a minority, and year-end billing by fewer still. Everything else, including anything described as an add-on, is generally quoted rather than printed.
That pattern is worth knowing before you read any pricing page: what you are seeing is the part of the bill that is comparable across providers, which is deliberately the part where the provider expects to look good. The uncomparable part is not hidden so much as simply absent.
The lines that appear on a PEO bill and not a payroll one
A co-employment arrangement passes through costs a payroll subscription never touches: the benefit costs themselves, workers' compensation premium calculated by job classification, and state unemployment charges. The administrative fee is the line everyone negotiates and it is frequently the smaller half of what leaves your account.
That is why a PEO quote and a payroll quote cannot be compared as headline against headline. Ask for the total at your headcount with every pass-through named, and compare that against a payroll subscription plus what you currently pay for benefits and workers' compensation separately.
Common questions
- What is included in HR outsourcing costs?
- Typically a base monthly subscription, a per-worker charge, charges for each state you file in, and annual lines such as year-end forms and setup. A co-employment arrangement adds pass-through benefit, workers' compensation and state unemployment costs.
- Which costs do providers publish?
- Mostly the base subscription and the per-worker charge, sometimes the additional-state charge, and rarely anything else. The record on this site shows which of the providers checked publish what, with the date read.
- Why do two quotes differ so much?
- Usually because they are for different scopes or different fee structures rather than because one provider is cheaper. Convert both to a cost per employee per month at your headcount before concluding anything.
Get quotes for your payroll
Coverage by state
Cite or embed this figure
The advertised base monthly subscription for a US payroll service in the US payroll and PEO market was $39 in September 2026, across 2 checked provider pricing pages recorded in Payroll Services Quotes Price Record.
Cite as: "Payroll Services Quotes Price Record", updated 2026-09-09, https://payrollservicesquotes.com/hr-outsourcing-costs/.