Top Payroll4Free Alternatives & Competitors For 2024

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Looking for alternatives to Payroll4Free? Many users crave user-friendly and feature-rich solutions for tasks like Security and Compliance, Payroll and Tax Management, and Platform Capabilities. Leveraging crowdsourced data from over 1,000 real Payroll Software selection projects based on 400+ capabilities, we present a comparison of Payroll4Free to leading industry alternatives like OnPay, Fingercheck, APS Payroll, and Paychex Flex.

Payroll4Free Software Tool
Paychex Flex Software Tool

Product Basics

Payroll4Free offers online payroll services and professional support to small businesses. It is easy-to-use, secure and was built to handle both simple and complex payroll requirements. It tackles all payroll matters for businesses, including direct deposits, employee and contractor payments and tax form calculations.

Its basic features are available free of charge for small businesses with less than 25 employees. It helps businesses pay employees via paper check, direct deposit or a combination of both. Companies can use it to make payments to contractors and file year-end taxes. It also calculates federal, state and local taxes and grants access to filled out tax forms.

It offers an employee portal that helps staff members edit or access their personal information from anywhere. It can be used to generate reports that offer insight into a company’s taxes, earnings, benefits and more.
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OnPay is designed to address core payroll needs for small businesses and handles basic HR functions as well. It integrates with a variety of other HR systems to enhance HR processes that include time tracking, accounting, benefits and compliance software integrations.

It requires no more than a few minutes to set up and features an easy-to-use interface. It also offers assistance with data migration for new users, making the transition even easier.
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Fingercheck is a cloud-based human resources platform that streamlines hiring, time tracking and payroll tasks along with various other HR management tasks. Beneficial for users at all levels, it allows both employees and employers to streamline workflows. It helps automate payroll processes, connects time tracking, payroll and core HR functions, and automatically tracks and compiles relevant data.
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Designed to meet the needs of small and medium-sized businesses, APS Payroll is a cloud-based solution for managing human resources. It provides features to help automate and streamline a variety of core HR tasks including processing payroll, tracking time and attendance, hiring the best talent, managing employee benefits, and creating analytic reports based on user data.

Users can access their account from any internet-connected device to conveniently complete tasks. Built with scalability in mind, it’s able to grow with businesses. Additionally, each organization has access to a dedicated support team and account lead that can assist with tech support and field general assistance inquiries.
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Paychex Flex is a cloud-based compensation and HR solution with the capability to serve thousands of employees. While there is an essential core version that mainly handles financials, it runs a wide range of departments and tasks. Some of its functions include payment management, benefits, talent management, time clocks, attendance, workforce management and more.


It’s a scalable option with unique versions for small, medium and large businesses with different versions for groups of varying sizes, including one to nine, 10 to 49, and 50 to thousands. It also has distinct user roles for workers, managers or administrators. A winner of multiple industry awards, its automation cuts down on time doing manual operations like processing payments, auto calculating taxes and staying up to date with current rates and compliance.
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Product Assistance

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Product Ranking

#45

among all
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#20

among all
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#19

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#14

among all
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#6

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Find out who the leaders are

Analyst Rating Summary

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Security and Compliance
Benefits Management
Payroll and Tax Management
Benefits Management
Dashboard and Reporting
Expense Management
Platform Capabilities
Security and Compliance
Dashboard and Reporting
Time and Attendance Management
Security and Compliance
Platform Capabilities
Benefits Management
Dashboard and Reporting
Expense Management
Platform Capabilities
Security and Compliance

Analyst Ratings for Functional Requirements Customize This Data Customize This Data

Payroll4Free
OnPay
Fingercheck
APS Payroll
Paychex Flex
+ Add Product + Add Product
Benefits Management Dashboard and Reporting Expense Management Mobile Capabilities Payroll and Tax Management Platform Capabilities Security and Compliance Time and Attendance Management 73 40 0 0 71 41 60 20 89 60 40 69 88 83 100 52 52 100 50 56 81 91 92 95 0 25 50 75 100
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Analyst Ratings for Technical Requirements Customize This Data Customize This Data

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User Sentiment Summary

Fair User Sentiment 9 reviews
Excellent User Sentiment 616 reviews
Excellent User Sentiment 235 reviews
Excellent User Sentiment 1249 reviews
Great User Sentiment 2205 reviews
64%
of users recommend this product

Payroll4Free has a 'fair' User Satisfaction Rating of 64% when considering 9 user reviews from 1 recognized software review sites.

98%
of users recommend this product

OnPay has a 'excellent' User Satisfaction Rating of 98% when considering 616 user reviews from 4 recognized software review sites.

92%
of users recommend this product

Fingercheck has a 'excellent' User Satisfaction Rating of 92% when considering 235 user reviews from 4 recognized software review sites.

92%
of users recommend this product

APS Payroll has a 'excellent' User Satisfaction Rating of 92% when considering 1249 user reviews from 4 recognized software review sites.

83%
of users recommend this product

Paychex Flex has a 'great' User Satisfaction Rating of 83% when considering 2205 user reviews from 4 recognized software review sites.

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5.0 (16)
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Awards

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Synopsis of User Ratings and Reviews

Easy to Use: Users praise Payroll4Free for its intuitive design and ease of use, making payroll processing straightforward even for those without prior experience.
Affordable Pricing: Many users appreciate the cost-effectiveness of Payroll4Free, especially smaller businesses or startups with limited budgets.
Reliable Customer Support: Users highlight the responsive and helpful customer support provided by Payroll4Free, ensuring any issues or questions are addressed promptly.
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Customer Support: The service team is well-versed with the product and responds quickly, as noted by 93% of users referencing support.
Budget-Friendly: OnPay’s cost has good value against the features offered, according to 91% of users mentioning price.
User-Friendly: The application is easy to adapt to and use, suggested 82% of users who reviewed usage and interface.
Payroll Updates: Gantt Charts provide management with a rich visualization of project workflows and data depiction that helps solve scheduling problems, as observed by approximately 100% of users who talk about its visualizer tool.
Workflow Management: Of users mentioning workflow management, 85% suggested the platform simplifies and organizes workflows to make operations easy.
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Ease of Use: The system is user friendly and easy to navigate, as observed by 97% of reviewers referencing navigation.
Customer Service: The support team is very responsive and helpful, according to 88% of reviewers who mention this aspect.
Centralized Payroll: Everyone talking about this feature noted the system provides centralized payroll information and serves as a combination of time clock and payroll.
Time Clock: More than 75% of reviewers who talk about this feature observed it helps access timecards for several locations at once.
Labor Tracking: The system helps organize, track and manage work hours from anywhere, any time according to every user referencing this feature.
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Ease of Use: Of users who mentioned the platform’s usability, 85% suggested it’s user-friendly and has an intuitive interface.
Payroll Tracking: The software offers seamless workday tracking and updates irrespective of employee location, according to 84% of reviews on this feature.
Support Team: Customer service is helpful and informative in resolving technical issues, as reviewed by 76% of users mentioning it.
Workflow Automation: Of reviews about workflows, 88% suggested it reduces the need for manual entries by organizing and automating tasks.
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User-Friendly: Just under 50% of reviews said the user experience was good and the interface worked well.
Good Support: Around 40% had good interactions with customer service and were happy with their level of care.
Proper Functionality: One-third of reviewers felt that the system was fully equipped with the tools they needed and especially liked the efficient payroll processing, benefits management, the transparency employees had on their payments and the PTO features.
Value for Price: Around 20% of reviews felt happy with the price and said it was well worth it.
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Limited Customer Support: Users have reported difficulties reaching customer support and receiving timely assistance when encountering issues.
Occasional System Glitches: Some users have experienced occasional system errors or glitches that disrupt their payroll processing.
Basic Feature Set: Payroll4Free is generally considered suitable for businesses with straightforward payroll needs, as it may lack some advanced features found in other payroll software.
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Unstable Mobile App: The mobile app doesn’t offer optimum usage and lacks functionality compared to the web and desktop versions, according to 66% of reviews referring to this feature.
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Technical Glitches: Everyone mentioning this aspect observed issues such as no reflection of time punches on the self-service portal, inclusion of former employees during payroll calculation and online banking rejection.
Slow System: The system is slow and takes a while to generate reports.
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Not Cost-Effective: The platform is a bit on the pricey side, according to 76% of users who reviewed cost.
Restricted Reporting: The system has limited report usage and exporting, as noted by 60% of users referencing this feature.
Unstable Mobile App: The mobile app’s functionality isn’t user-friendly and creates problems when processing payroll, according to 80% of users who reviewed it.
Limited Customization: Of users who mention customization, 60% stated that some commonly used features such as performance review aren’t customizable.
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Issues with Features: Just under 40% of reviewers felt the features were lacking. The biggest concerns were that the UI was difficult to learn initially and the reporting wasn’t sophisticated enough.
Time and Attendance Systems: Over 20% of users had problems with the punching system or the biometric clocks.
Poor Customer Service: While users felt that the customer service was helpful overall, they noted a high rate of turnover with their reps which often led to gaps in service.
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Is Payroll4Free truly free, or is there a hidden cost? User reviews from the past year suggest Payroll4Free delivers on its promise of a free and easy-to-use payroll solution, particularly for small businesses with 25 or fewer employees. Users praise its intuitive interface, highlighting the guided account setup wizard and straightforward navigation. They appreciate the software's ability to handle both employee and contractor payments, simplifying the payment process. The automatic tax calculations are a major plus, easing the burden of payroll tax compliance. Some users even compared their manual calculations to Payroll4Free's reports, finding them to be spot-on. However, the "free" aspect comes with caveats. The software is ad-supported, which some users find intrusive. While the free version allows for 12 pay runs per year, exceeding this limit requires an upgrade. Additional fees apply for features like direct deposit, contractor payments, and multi-state employee payments. Users also point out limitations in functionality, noting that Payroll4Free is best suited for basic payroll needs. Larger companies or those requiring advanced features like robust reporting, automation, and analytics might find Payroll4Free lacking. Alternatives like OnPay, with its base price of $40 per month plus $6 per employee, offer more comprehensive features. In conclusion, Payroll4Free is a viable option for startups and small businesses with limited budgets and straightforward payroll requirements. Its ease of use, free basic features, and accurate tax calculations make it an attractive choice for those seeking a no-frills payroll solution. However, businesses with more complex needs or a larger workforce might find themselves outgrowing Payroll4Free's capabilities and needing to consider paid alternatives.

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OnPay is a payroll and HR management software ideal for small businesses. It offers various robust features such as workflow management, automated payroll updates, taxations and billings. It’s also easy to use and good for small budgets. The one notable drawback users cited was the mobile app’s functionality and speed. Overall, small businesses looking for an economic payroll solution with plenty of functionality should consider OnPay.

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Fingercheck’s user-friendly interface makes it easier to handle common HR activities. The support team is responsive, and features like labor tracking, the time clock and centralized payroll information are beneficial according to most reviewers. However, it suffers from certain technical glitches and tends to run slow at times. Overall, it’s a good fit for organizations looking for an all-in-one solution.

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APS Payroll provides easy-to-use HR management tools and exceptional payroll tracking. Other notable features include workflow management to ease manual tasks, intuitive technology and stellar customer support. Users dislike its restricted mobile app functionality, lack of customization and reporting options, however. The system is a good fit for SMBs that are trying to organize and create workflows, as well as looking for core HR functionality in a unified platform.

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Paychex Flex is a solid payroll processing system best liked for its ease of use, positive customer service interactions, fair price and useful functionality. However, it comes with several drawbacks as well. While it’s easy to use, the onboarding takes time and can be initially frustrating. The customer service is good but the high turnover with representatives can be trying. A small but significant percentage had problems with the time and attendance features, either having issues with their punches not being registered or issues with the physical biometric clocks. Overall, it seems best for small and medium businesses looking to automate their payroll. Any organization with multiple types of workers, complex pay rules or many different kinds of income to report should be sure to demo the system carefully and may want to find a more complex option.

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Top Alternatives in Payroll Software


ADP Workforce Now

APS Payroll

Gusto

Namely

OnPay

Patriot Payroll

Paychex

Paycom

Paycor

Paylocity

QuickBooks Payroll

Rippling

TriNet

Workday HCM

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