HR outsourcing prices

Where HR outsourcing prices are published at all, they are published as a list, and a list is a marketing document as much as a price. This page is about reading one: what the tiers actually mean, which lines are missing by convention, and where the number you will pay diverges from the number on the page.

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.

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

Reading a published price list properly

  1. Find the unit. Per month, per employee per month, or per worker paid. The third is the commonest and the one that catches employers with irregular or part-time staff, because it counts anybody paid at all.
  2. Find the tier boundary. The feature you assumed was included is frequently one tier up. Read the tier you would actually buy rather than the one whose price is quoted first.
  3. Look for what is not on the page. Additional states, year-end forms, setup, and anything described as an add-on. Absence from a price list is not inclusion in the price.
  4. Check the date. A price list without a date has told you it is not maintained. Every figure in the record on this site carries the date it was read, for that reason.

Why lists price the entry tier

The first figure on a price list is almost always the cheapest configuration a provider will sell, and it exists to be quoted rather than to be bought. That is not deceptive, and it does mean the headline is a poor guide to your bill unless you are the smallest possible customer buying the narrowest possible product.

The useful reading is the second tier and the per-worker line, because that combination is what most employers actually end up on. Compute both at your headcount before you compare providers, and the ordering frequently changes.

What a published price signals

A provider willing to publish is usually one selling self-serve, which correlates with a simpler product and a lighter service relationship. That is a genuine trade rather than a straightforward advantage: the same transparency that lets you price it in an afternoon comes with less handholding when something goes wrong.

The providers in the record on this site that publish nothing are not worse; they are selling differently. The point of recording both is that a buyer can see which kind of relationship they are entering before the first call rather than after the third.

Common questions

Where can I find HR outsourcing prices?
Only a minority of providers publish any. The record on this site shows which of the providers checked publish a rate, quoted verbatim from their own pages with the date read.
Why is the published price not my price?
Published lists price the entry tier and usually omit additional states, year-end forms, setup and add-ons. Compute the tier you would actually buy, at your headcount, including the per-worker line.
Does publishing a price mean a better provider?
It usually means a self-serve product with a lighter service relationship. That is a trade rather than an advantage, and worth knowing before you choose.

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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-prices/.

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advertised base monthly subscription for a US payroll service · the US payroll and PEO market · September 2026

$39

Middle 50%$29 – $49
checked provider pricing pages2

Source: Payroll Services Quotes Price Record

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