Paycor’s fast factsPricing: Contact for pricing Key features:
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Paycor is a popular cloud-based payroll software used by more than 2 million people across 40,000 different businesses. Paycor is known for its payroll platform, but the software offers human capital management (HCM) tools as well.
Let’s dive into Paycor’s pricing plans, features, pros and cons to help you decide if this is the right payroll software for your business.
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Paycor pricing
Paycor doesn’t disclose pricing on its website, so you must contact the sales team for a quote. It does list out four different tiers of plans for businesses under 50 employees and what features are included in each one, and we’ll get into those details below. TechRepublic’s other picks for the best payroll software are split on whether or not they disclose pricing, so this isn’t completely unusual, but I prefer that payroll software be upfront about their pricing.
A 14-day free trial is supposedly available so you can try before you buy, but it’s very difficult to find. However, I was able to sign up for access for a demo account with dummy data using only my email, and I appreciated that it didn’t require a credit card to do so.
Paycor Basic Plan
The Basic plan includes classic payroll features such as wage garnishments, off-cycle payruns, online check stubs and online reporting.
Paycor Essential Plan
In addition to all the features offered on the Basic plan, the Essential plan also includes a month-end accounting package, a general ledger report, a time off manager, onboarding tools and more.
Paycor Core Plan
In addition to all the features offered on the Basic and Essential plans, the Core plan includes expense management, employee surveys and leadership tools.
Paycor Complete Plan
In addition to all the features offered on the Basic, Essential and Core plans, the Complete plan includes career management, compensation planning and talent development functionality.
Paycor add-ons
Paycor also offers additional add-ons that are not included in any of their main payroll plans. Those add-on features are:
- Workers’ compensation insurance.
- Time and scheduling.
- Benefits administration.
- Recruiting and hiring tools.
Paycor key features
Payroll and tax features
Paycor’s payroll module does offer unlimited payroll runs, so it won’t charge you extra for off-cycle payments or other additional runs, which is helpful if you need to make payments frequently. It also offers a helpful payroll feature called AutoRun that can run payroll automatically at another date and time. All changes are made in real-time, so you don’t have to wait for them to load. Additional payroll features include direct deposit, federal and state tax filing, employee self-service and check stuffing (the latter of which costs an additional feature).
Time management features
Paycor does offer tools for time and scheduling, but you’ll have to pay an undisclosed amount to add them on, even if you opt for the most expensive plan. Since lots of payroll platforms include time and scheduling tools on their higher tier plans, I wasn’t thrilled to see that Paycor charges extra for it, no matter what. Paycor offers a range of timeclock options as well as time rules so your organization can customize how it calculates time balances. Paycor also offers a scheduling feature that allows you to assign shifts and view the entire team’s schedule at a glance. All of this time data flows over to the payroll module, eliminating manual calculations that can lead to payroll mistakes.
HR tools
Paycor offers several tools to support the human resources department. The Leadership Insights module provides insights to help managers improve their effectiveness. Paycor also creates an employee profile for each person, which centralizes all their information in one place. The software also offers a digital document creation and storage module, which can help your business go paperless if you haven’t already. The software also offers some automation tools to eliminate manual workflows, reminders and notifications.
Reporting and analytics
Paycor offers basic analytics on the Essential and Core plans — you’ll need to upgrade to the Complete plan if you want access to the full suite of analytics features. You can import your HR data to 30+ standard reporting templates or create your own custom report. If you just need a quick answer, try submitting your workforce data questions to Paycor’s AI assistant, which should return an immediate answer in natural language. These analytics and reporting features help your team evaluate pay practices, benchmark against competitors and make strategic business decisions based on data.
Paycor pros
- Unlimited payroll runs included on all plans.
- Option to automate payroll with AutoRun feature.
- Custom reporting in addition to 30+ templates.
- Self-service employee portal.
Paycor cons
- Pricing is not transparent.
- Charges extra for many key add-ons like time tracking.
- Additional fees for certain payroll actions, like check stuffing.
- Lacks a few key integrations, such as QuickBooks.
Paycor alternatives
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Rippling
If you’re looking for a payroll platform with even more HR features than Paycor, take a look at Rippling. Rippling offers international as well as domestic U.S. payroll and health insurance benefits in all 50 states. Rippling also offers finance and IT management tools that Paycor does not, so you may be able to centralize even more functions in one software. Unfortunately, Rippling doesn’t disclose its pricing information, so you’ll need to contact their sales team for a quote.
For more information, read the full Rippling review.
Gusto
If you’re looking for a payroll app with transparent pricing and basic HR features, check out Gusto, which starts at just $40 per month, plus $6 per employee per month for its entry-level plan. However, you will need to upgrade to the Plus or Premium plans if you want access to all the HR features, like native time tracking, PTO management and performance reviews. Gusto does integrate with QuickBooks online, whereas Paycor does not.
For more information, read the full Gusto review.
OnPay
If you just need a payroll platform without additional HR features, then consider OnPay. OnPay only offers one simple pricing plan, which costs $40 per month, plus $6 per employee per month. With this plan, you’ll get unlimited pay runs and automated tax payments and filings. It also includes limited HR tools such as PTO management and integrated 401(k) retirement plans. OnPay lacks some features offered by Paycor and other alternatives, but it will more than suffice for many small businesses.
For more information, read the full OnPay review.
Review Methodology
To write this review, I took a guided online tour of Paycor and also viewed demo videos of various features. I also reviewed reputable rankings, customer ratings, and testimonials and other expert reviews from credible sources.