Square Payroll Review 2026: Best for Square POS Users

§1Pros and cons at a glance

Gusto

Paychex

ADP

OnPay

§2Pricing and contractor-only option

Square Payroll costs $35/month plus $6/employee for full employees. If you only pay contractors (no W-2 employees), the contractor-only plan is $6/contractor/month with no base fee. That makes it one of the cheapest 1099 contractor payroll options available.

For a 10-person hourly team, Square Payroll runs $95/month. That is competitive with Gusto Simple ($109/month for the same headcount) and cheaper than Paychex.

§3Square POS integration

If your business uses Square Point of Sale, Square Payroll pulls hours directly from the Square timeclock. No export, no manual entry. For restaurants and retail with hourly staff, this is the biggest time saver in any payroll tool.

The tip tracking integration is particularly useful. Square POS records tips, and Square Payroll calculates tip allocation and handles the payroll tax treatment automatically.

Using another POS reduces the benefit of the Square Timeclock connection. Square Payroll can still merit a comparison on price and payroll functions; check how your time data will reach payroll before choosing it over Gusto or QuickBooks Payroll.

For how Square Payroll stacks up against the other retail-focused options on tips handling and seasonal hiring, see our retail payroll software comparison.

§4Limitations to know

Square Payroll supports employee self-onboarding and paid-time-off and sick-leave policies. Those are concrete HR-related functions; assess any broader document or performance-review requirements separately rather than assuming all HR tools are absent Square payroll pricing and PTO guidance, checked October 12, 2026.

Square documents multistate tax payments when each work location and the required agency account details are configured. Test the states, local taxes and work arrangements you actually need before comparing it with Gusto or ADP; state count alone does not establish that another provider handles every edge case better Square payroll pricing, checked October 12, 2026.

Customer support is Square's weak point across all its products. Payroll-specific questions sometimes require persistence to get a clear answer.

If your required HR or state-tax workflow is not covered by the proposed Square setup, our Square Payroll alternatives comparison lays out the switch options, including staying on Square POS but moving payroll itself to OnPay with a manual hours import.

§5Frequently asked questions

What would the Square subscription bill include? The employee plan charges a thirty-five-dollar base each month and six dollars for each person paid. A contractor-only account has no fixed base and charges six dollars for each contractor paid that month. Count the people actually paid and include any separate service charges in the quote.

How should I compare the available review scores? This article cites about 4.7 out of five from more than six hundred Capterra responses and a 4.2 Trustpilot score from over five thousand. Confirm which listing each score describes: a broad Square company profile is not necessarily evidence about the payroll product alone.

Which reported frustrations should I test during evaluation? Comments cited here describe restricted customization and banking-data synchronization issues. Try your own configuration and bank-update workflow. A few complaints about subscription value cannot determine whether the quote is reasonable for your team.

Can I rely on the service to prepare the employer tip-credit claim? Ask for a current demonstration of the report needed for Form 8846. A Square moderator said in January 2022 that a FICA-credit report was unavailable; the answer from 2022 cannot settle what the product offers now. Arrange who will calculate and file the credit, separately from ordinary payroll tip taxes.

How useful is Square when our checkout runs on another platform? The built-in timeclock and tip connection brings less benefit in that setup. Compare the proposed hours-import process, tax coverage and full charge against other providers. Evaluate the pay service against those tasks even when the checkout system is different.