Buyer guide

How much does payroll software cost for 5 employees?

For 5 employees, Gusto Simple is $79 per month ($49 plus $6 per person) and Justworks Payroll is $90 per month ($50 base plus $8 per employee). Rippling and ADP don't publish self-serve payroll prices, so their cost can't be compared from public data. Gusto Simple is single-state only.

Tool	Plan	5 employees, monthly	Pricing model	Worth knowing
Gusto	Simple	$79/mo	$49 base plus $6 per person	Single-state only; multi-state needs Plus or Premium
Justworks	Payroll	$90/mo	$50 base plus $8 per employee	Includes multi-state payroll and contractor payments
Justworks	PEO Basic	$395/mo	$79 per employee	A PEO model, not a payroll upgrade
Rippling	Payroll	Quote required	Custom quote	Own 2026 content cites $35 plus $8 per employee as reference figures
ADP	Essential Payroll	Quote required	Custom quote	No public list price; promo advertises 3 months free

Payroll tools price by employee, so cost grows with headcount. At 20 employees, Gusto Simple is $169 per month and Justworks Payroll is $210. Neither has an ongoing free plan: Gusto's free period ends with the first payroll run, and Justworks advertises 3 months free for Payroll as a promotion.

The cheapest option has limits that matter: Gusto Simple supports one state only, so a team with employees in more than one state needs Plus ($80 plus $12 per person) or Premium ($180 plus $22 per person).

Figures are published list prices aggregated from vendor pricing pages and independent third-party research as of October 2026. Totals marked as arithmetic are StackScope's multiplication of a listed per-seat price. Confirm current pricing directly with each vendor before purchasing. This is not a recommendation to buy any specific product. See the full Payroll & HR Software report for every source and flagged conflict.