OnPay payroll review: pricing, add-ons and the fine print

OnPay at a glance

Payroll Essentials

$49 + $6 per workerper month, checked Oct 16, 2026

10 employees

$109 a monthall states, W-2s and 1099s included

To cancel

30 days' written noticeOnPay terms, Sec. 10

Our score

67/1003rd of 15 payroll providers

OnPay sells one payroll plan at one price, and that price already covers what other providers bill separately: payroll in as many states as you need, W-2s, 1099s, year-end filings, and federal, state and local tax filings. HR and time tracking are optional add-ons. The catch is on the way out: canceling takes 30 days' written notice, and the terms say nothing about record access afterward. Scores follow our scoring method; we compare published terms, prices and documented complaints, and did not run payroll on OnPay.

OnPay pricing: the plan and the add-ons

Two things the table shows that the pricing page does not spell out. First, HR + Time Tracking costs only $6 a month more than Time Tracking alone ($21 vs $15 base, same $4 per worker), so if you want time tracking, the HR tier is nearly free on top. Second, Bundled HR has a higher base and a lower per-worker fee than the HR add-on: $71 + $1 per worker matches $15 + $2 per worker at 56 workers ($71 + 56 = $127; $15 + 112 = $127). Below 56 workers the HR add-on is cheaper; the page does not say what Bundled HR adds, so ask before choosing it for price alone.

OnPay also says it charges "no implementation or integration fees" and migrates your data for free. A footer link offers "Get one month free", with no terms shown.

What OnPay costs for 5, 10 and 25 employees

First year, 10 workers, payroll only: 12 × $109 = $1,308. If the "one month free" offer waives a full month, 11 × $109 = $1,199. There is no year-end form fee to add, which is where OnPay pulls ahead of SurePayroll: SurePayroll's 10-worker year comes to $1,408 at its $39 base once its $50 + $5 per form W-2 charge is added (SurePayroll review).

Three states, 10 workers: still $109. On Gusto, a second state means moving from Simple ($49 + $6) to Plus ($80 + $12), or $80 + (10 × $12) = $200 a month; on SurePayroll it adds $9.99 a month. See OnPay vs Gusto, side by side and what payroll services cost for every provider we price.

Fees and terms to read before you sign

• Late fees: the terms charge a finance charge of 1.5% a month on late fees.
• Price changes: OnPay may change its fees with "best-effort" 30 days' notice, so the $49 + $6 is not locked.
• Liability cap: OnPay's liability is otherwise capped at six months of fees (Sec. 13(E)). The tax penalty promise in Sec. 2 sits outside that cap.
• State registration: OnPay files in every state you add, but does not say it opens new state withholding and unemployment accounts for you. Budget time to register yourself; 2026 SUTA rates by state shows each state's new-employer rate.
• Benefits: not covered on the pricing pages in our research.

OnPay's tax filing guarantee

OnPay's terms of service (Sec. 2) say that if OnPay negligently fails to perform the payroll tax part of the service, your remedy includes reimbursement of "any penalties resulting from such negligent error or omission." No notice deadline is stated, which is better than Gusto's rule that you forward a notice at least 30 days before the agency's response date.

• Interest: interest caused by your own data errors is yours. Interest caused by OnPay's errors is not addressed.
• Your data: penalties and interest from wrong information you entered are yours, as with every guarantee we read.
• Negligence: the promise covers OnPay's negligent errors, so expect a discussion about fault if something goes wrong.

How that compares: Wave pays amounts owed when it is at fault but makes you pay first; SurePayroll's guarantee terms could not be read; QuickBooks Workforce Elite names penalties and interest, up to $25,000 a year, and ADP covers interest only when it held your tax money too long (Wave Payroll review, QuickBooks Payroll pricing).

Cancellation, contract and W-2 access after you leave

• Contract: monthly, no implementation or integration fees.
• Notice: Sec. 10 of the terms requires "thirty (30) days' prior written notice" to end the service. A Trustpilot reviewer (June 4, 2026) said there was "no online option" to cancel.
• Records after you leave: the terms have no clause on post-termination access to W-2s, pay stubs or reports.

1. Send written notice 30 days ahead and ask OnPay to confirm the last billing date.
2. Export year-to-date totals per employee for your new provider, so Social Security stops at the 2026 wage base of $184,500.
3. Agree who files the current quarter's Form 941 and state wage reports, and who issues the year's W-2s (2026 forms are due February 1, 2027).
4. Keep filing zero-wage reports in any state that still expects one. A missed report after a switch sent one owner's unemployment rate from 0.8% to 12.75% (Hacker News, August 2026).

OnPay support

OnPay advertises support by phone, chat and email. It does not publish support hours on the pages in our research, and its contact page could not be read when we checked. Recent reviews describe slow ticket replies (below), so ask what response time applies before a W-2 deadline, and keep a phone number handy rather than relying on tickets.

Documented OnPay complaints

OnPay has 4.8 out of 5 from 419 reviews on G2 and 3.8 out of 5 from 311 reviews on Trustpilot (both seen October 16, 2026). Three complaints recur in the recent Trustpilot reviews we read:

• Corrected W-2s taking months. A September 23, 2026 reviewer waited about five months; a September 2, 2026 reviewer wrote "Been trying to get an amended W2 form since May 2025" (Trustpilot).
• Slow ticket replies. An August 14, 2026 reviewer described replies taking three to four months (Trustpilot).
• No online cancellation. A June 4, 2026 reviewer said there is "no online option" to cancel (Trustpilot).

The praise is specific too. Reviewers in May 2026 described switching from ADP with about 70 employees and finding "no hidden fees or surprises", and others moved from QuickBooks and Gusto (Trustpilot, May 4 and May 23, 2026). Price is a long-running reason people look at OnPay: a 2017 Hacker News comment said "Gusto recently doubled their prices so we are looking at OnPay" (Hacker News).

OnPay prices you will see elsewhere

OnPay's own pricing page was consistent when we checked: one plan, $49 plus $6 per worker. Older figures still circulate. CNBC Select's payroll list (updated June 2, 2026) shows OnPay at $40 plus $6, and TechRepublic's TriNet alternatives page and a restaurant payroll guide by Gusto, a competitor (dated February 10, 2026), each show both $40 and $49 for OnPay. At 10 workers that understates the bill by $9 a month. Use the $49 figure, and check the live page before you sign.

How we score OnPay

OnPay scores 67 out of 100, third of the 15 payroll providers we score, behind Patriot (69) and Gusto (69) and ahead of Wave (64) and SurePayroll (56). It gains on its flat multi-state price and its tax penalty promise, and loses points for written-notice cancellation, unstated record access and unpublished support hours.

Who OnPay fits, and who should pick something else

Pick something else if:

• You want to cancel online on short notice, or keep records after leaving: Patriot lets you download W-2s and 941s after canceling (Patriot review).
• You want new state accounts registered for you or global contractor payments: Gusto (Gusto pricing).
• You are one state and price is everything: Patriot Full Service at $87 or Wave at $100 for 10 workers (Wave Payroll review).
• You need a full HR suite with implementation help for 50 or more people: see HR and payroll software and Paylocity.

The full ranking is on best payroll services for small business.

Other reviews and head-to-heads

Compare OnPay with the other published-price providers, or see how sales-led suites such as Paycor quote. Larger teams can start at enterprise payroll.

• Gusto vs SurePayrollTwo posted-price payroll services, with year-end form fees, multi-state costs and exit terms.
• OnPay vs GustoSame $49 plus $6 entry price; different multi-state, cancellation and add-on terms.
• Paycom reviewQuote only: a dated per-run estimate, the implementation fee and the terms to get in writing.
• Paycom vs PaylocityTwo quote-only HR suites: dated third-party price estimates, first-year math and the terms neither publishes.
• Paycor reviewQuote only with a 50% off offer, the old $99 + $5 list price and the Deputy route.
• Paylocity reviewQuote only: the $18 to $22 per employee estimate, implementation math and missing terms.
• SurePayroll reviewTwo base prices on one page, $50 + $5 per W-2 and the terms you should get in writing.
• Wave Payroll review$100 a month for 10 in any state, a pay-first guarantee and records that vanish at month end.
• isolved reviewNo prices or terms published; how reseller sales work and what a quote must beat.