Round-up
Free payroll software (2026): what free actually covers
Payroll4Free is the best truly free payroll software for US teams of nine or fewer: pay runs, tax calculations and an employee portal at $0, funded by in-app ads. The catch shared by every free tool is tax filing, which you do yourself or pay for. HR.my (unlimited employees) and ExcelPayroll (spreadsheet-based) are the free runners-up.
Free payroll software: the short answer
Free payroll software is real; the free part just ends exactly where the risky part begins. Three tools are genuinely free in 2026: Payroll4Free and ExcelPayroll run US payroll with real withholding maths, for up to 9 and 50 employees respectively, and HR.my generates payslips for unlimited employees without touching US taxes at all. What none of them does for free is deposit and file your payroll taxes, and that’s the part where a missed deadline costs 2% to 15% of the money in IRS penalties. So the honest question isn’t “which free tool”, it’s “who’s doing my filing”. If the answer is “me”, start with Payroll4Free below. If the answer is “not me”, you’ll pay someone either way: Payroll4Free’s own filing add-on at a reported $35 a month, Patriot from $37 plus $5 per worker, or Gusto (tested 8/10) at $49 plus $6 with the whole job handled. And if you’re paying anyone outside the US, free US tools don’t apply at all; that’s Deel (tested 8/10) territory (see Deel’s plans).
I haven’t run the three free tools hands-on; every cap and price on this page carries a dated capture instead: the free tools from their own sites on 28 July 2026, the paid tools from the June–July 2026 captures already published on this site, and the two prices Payroll4Free doesn’t publish from a dated third-party check, flagged as exactly that. The two tools I have tested with my own accounts are the paid upgrades, Gusto and Deel.
What the ranking lists get wrong
The pages ranking for this query in July 2026 disagree with each other on the basic facts, which is a bad sign for a decision about tax money. Checked against the vendors’ own sites, three errors repeat:
- Stale caps and prices. One top-ranking list still says Payroll4Free is free to 25 employees with a $15 tax-filing add-on; its own fine print dates the data to March 2023. Payroll4Free’s homepage today says free applies when you “pay 9 or less employees monthly”.
- A discontinued edition still recommended. Two of the ranking pages, one refreshed as late as February 2026, recommend TimeTrex Community Edition as free payroll. TimeTrex itself announced on its forum that the free open-source edition was discontinued as of 1 October 2024, with “no updates or security patches” for existing installs. Payroll software that no longer gets security patches is not a savings; it’s where your team’s pay and Social Security numbers live.
- Paid tools labelled free. One list presents Homebase as fully free payroll with tax filing included. Homebase’s pricing page prints payroll at $39 a month plus $6 per employee paid; the free Homebase plan covers scheduling and time tracking for one location, not payroll (where Homebase does earn a slot is the tipped-crew payroll comparison, as a paid product). Wave gets the same halo from its free accounting: Wave Payroll is $40 a month plus $6 per person, with no free plan.
None of those pages claims to have run the tools. I haven’t either; the difference is that everything below is tied to a named, dated source you can re-verify in one click, the vendor’s own page wherever one exists.
What “free” covers, and where it stops
Every free payroll tool stops at the same line: your money reaches employees, but getting the withheld taxes to the IRS stays your job. Call it the Calculate–Deposit–File ladder; it’s the test I now apply to any payroll tool with a $0 tier, and free tools only climb the first rung:
- Calculate. Gross-to-net, federal and state withholdings, payslips. Payroll4Free and ExcelPayroll do this; HR.my stops at payslips, with no US withholding maths.
- Deposit. Actually moving the withheld tax to the IRS and your state on schedule. The tools that calculate withholdings tell you the amounts; you make the deposits.
- File. The quarterly Form 941, annual 940, W-2s and state returns. ExcelPayroll prints the forms for you to submit; HR.my doesn’t touch US forms; Payroll4Free sells filing as a paid service.
The reason rung 2 matters most is the penalty math. The IRS failure-to-deposit schedule runs 2% of the unpaid deposit at 1–5 days late, 5% at 6–15 days, 10% past 15 days, and 15% if it’s still unpaid more than 10 days after the first IRS notice, per IRS.gov (checked 28 July 2026). One forgotten $4,000 deposit caught 16 days late sits in the 10% tier: a $400 penalty, more than six months of Patriot Full Service for a three-person team. Free payroll is a real option; it’s just a job you’re taking, not a bill you’re deleting.
Payroll4Free
The default free pick, if you accept the deal. Payroll4Free includes what its homepage calls “all basic services” free while you pay nine or fewer people monthly: employee and contractor pay runs, tax calculations, direct deposits or paper checks, vacation tracking, reporting, an employee portal, and customer service. The deal is that it’s ad-funded; the vendor is upfront that companies pay to “place small ads inside the software that you will see when you log in to process your payroll”.
The parts that cost money are the parts that remove work. The vendor doesn’t print add-on prices on its public pages; FitSmallBusiness’s July 2026 review puts the payroll tax service, where Payroll4Free takes over the tax filings, at $35 a month, and paying employees by direct deposit through Payroll4Free’s own bank at another $35 a month; paying them through your own bank stays free. One nuance to verify on your own quote: that review confirms the $35 service covers filings, and doesn’t spell out whether tax deposits ride along. Buy both add-ons and you’re at roughly $70 a month, which stops being cheap; the table further down shows exactly where each combination crosses the paid tools. Not tested by me, so no score.
HR.my
The free pick without a headcount cap. HR.my is the odd one out: a crowdfunded HR platform whose site promises “UNLIMITED data storage and be able to add UNLIMITED employees” at no charge, with payroll runs on monthly, semi-monthly, weekly or bi-weekly schedules, auto-generated payslips, attendance and leave tracking, with a multilingual interface. Its funding statement is on the page: “HR.my is crowdfunded by the user community, and this helps HR.my remain free for all users.”
The fit is narrower than the price. HR.my generates payslips; nothing on its site mentions US tax depositing or filing, and it publishes no US-specific tax forms (as of 28 July 2026). That makes it the wrong sole tool for a US employer with W-2 staff, and an interesting one for a distributed micro-team that needs multilingual payslips and attendance in one free place while handling each country’s compliance separately. Nothing on its site advertises a staffed support line either (same date), so budget for self-serve support. Not tested, no score.
ExcelPayroll
The free pick you can hold in your hand. ExcelPayroll is a free Excel workbook (“Free: No monthly fee, no payroll fee”) built for “small companies with 1 - 50 active employees”. It calculates pay, handles 401(k), Section 125, HSA and garnishment deductions, prints on standard computer checks, generates accounting entries, and prints the tax forms themselves: W-2, W-3, 940, 941 and California’s DE 9. From 2026 the project says it runs on open code with no embedded macros. It needs Excel on a PC, and support is an email address.
Printing a 941 is not filing a 941: you sign, submit and deposit on your own schedule. But of the three free picks it’s the one that leaves you with the most complete paper trail, in a file that can’t be discontinued, rate-limited or put behind a login. If your payroll instinct is “I want to see the formula”, this is your tool. Not tested, no score.
What free really costs at your size
What free really costs depends on which add-ons you buy. With the tax service alone ($35 a month, employee pay through your own bank), Payroll4Free stays cheaper than Patriot at every size below; buy both add-ons ($70) and Patriot Full Service is the cheaper bill up to between six and seven employees. Monthly bills, single-state (Patriot adds $12 a month per extra state), all on published monthly prices (Payroll4Free add-ons per FitSmallBusiness, July 2026; Patriot and Gusto per their pricing pages, captured June–July 2026):
| Monthly bill | 3 employees | 5 employees | 9 employees |
|---|---|---|---|
| Payroll4Free, you file taxes yourself | $0 | $0 | $0 |
| Payroll4Free + tax service only ($35), pay via your own bank | $35 | $35 | $35 |
| Payroll4Free + tax service + their-bank pay deposits ($35 + $35) | $70 | $70 | $70 |
| Patriot Full Service ($37 + $5/worker) | $52 | $62 | $82 |
| Gusto Simple ($49 + $6/person) | $67 | $79 | $103 |
Three readings of that table. If you’ll really do your own depositing and filing, free wins at every size, and the add-on rows are irrelevant. If you want the filings handled but can pay people from your own bank, the $35 row is the cheapest bill at every size here, with one caveat from the section above: confirm on your quote whether tax deposits are included in that service. And if you want everything routed through the provider, the $70 combination costs more than Patriot Full Service until between six and seven employees, and the free label is doing the selling. Every published price on this site, with source and capture date, lives in the HR software pricing index.
When paid beats free
Paying for payroll buys exactly one thing: the tax liability work leaves your head. When the choice involves more than price, the constraint-first buying method in our payroll guide walks the whole decision. Three exits, in ascending price:
- Patriot Payroll is the cheapest standalone full-service product with a published price: $37/mo + $5 per worker for Full Service, where Patriot deposits and files federal, state and local taxes, per its pricing page (captured June 2026; extra-state filing $12 a month per state). Its Basic tier at $17 + $4 is the halfway house: cheaper software, filing still yours. Not tested by me.
- Gusto is the one I run with a real account, rated 8/10: $49/mo + $6 per person, full federal, state and local filing, strong employee self-onboarding. If the fear behind the free search is a paycheck or deposit that doesn’t land, this is the version of payroll where that class of error mostly stops being yours. The Gusto alternatives round-up maps its rivals if the price stings, and the Paychex alternatives page covers the quote-model incumbents these published prices undercut.
- Deel is for the case free US tools can’t touch: paying someone in another country. Tested 8/10 with a real account; global payroll from $29/employee/mo and employer-of-record hiring from $599/employee/mo (July 2026). A US-only free tool and a $599 EOR seat aren’t rivals, they’re different problems; the Gusto vs Deel head-to-head draws that border properly. → See Deel’s plans
Free payroll software at a glance
Every fact below is from the vendor’s own site on the capture date; scores exist only where I’ve run the tool myself.
| Tool | Genuinely free? | Cap | Calculates taxes | Files taxes | Support | My status |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Payroll4Free | Yes, ad-funded (28 Jul 2026) | 9 employees | Yes | Paid add-on ($35/mo, FSB Jul 2026) | Included, per vendor | Researched |
| HR.my | Yes, crowdfunded (28 Jul 2026) | None | Payslips only | No US filing | Self-serve | Researched |
| ExcelPayroll | Yes, free workbook (28 Jul 2026) | 50 employees | Yes | Prints forms, you file | Researched | |
| TimeTrex Community | Discontinued 1 Oct 2024 | — | — | — | None (no patches) | Researched |
| Homebase Payroll | No: $39/mo + $6/employee (28 Jul 2026) | — | Yes | Yes (“payments & filings”, 28 Jul 2026) | Paid product | Researched |
| Wave Payroll | No: $40/mo + $6/person (28 Jul 2026) | — | Yes | Yes, all 50 states | Paid product | Researched |
| Patriot Full Service | No: $37/mo + $5/worker (Jun 2026) | — | Yes | Yes | Phone/chat | Researched |
| Gusto | No: $49/mo + $6/person (30 Jun 2026) | — | Yes | Yes | Staffed | Tested 8/10 |
| Deel | No: payroll $29/employee (Jul 2026) | — | Yes | Managed by local experts (deel.com, 28 Jul 2026) | Staffed | Tested 8/10 |
How I chose these
I only score tools I’ve run with my own account; the method is documented in how WiserStaff tests tools. No free payroll tool on this page is tested hands-on yet, so none carries a score; each was verified against its own published pages on 28 July 2026, with the two figures the vendor doesn’t publish (Payroll4Free’s add-on prices) attributed to a dated third-party review instead of guessed. Gusto and Deel are tested 8/10 with real accounts. This is a US-payroll page: UK payroll is a different ecosystem, and HR.my aside, these tools don’t map onto it. Affiliate links are disclosed above this content. Only Deel carries one on this page; no other tool here does, Gusto included (its programme declined this site). The ranking doesn’t move for it: the top pick is a free tool that pays this site nothing.
Which free payroll software is right for you?
Decide by who does the filing, not by the $0. You’ll file, team of nine or fewer: Payroll4Free, eyes open about the ads. You’ll file, and you want the formulas in a file you own: ExcelPayroll, up to 50 employees. Global micro-team that needs payslips, not US filings: HR.my. You want filing done for you at the lowest published price: Patriot Full Service at $37 + $5. You want the whole problem gone and a known bill: Gusto, tested 8/10, at $49 + $6. Anyone on the payroll sits outside the US: Deel, tested 8/10. And for where payroll sits among everything else in HR worth automating, start with the map of what HR processes can be automated.
FAQ
What is the best free payroll software?
Payroll4Free, for US teams of nine or fewer employees: pay runs, federal, state and local tax calculations, an employee portal and support at no cost, funded by ads inside the software. HR.my is the free pick with no headcount cap, and ExcelPayroll covers up to 50 employees from a spreadsheet. None of the three files your payroll taxes for free.
Is free payroll software really free?
The software is; the tax work isn't. Payroll4Free and ExcelPayroll calculate withholdings for free but leave depositing and filing to you; HR.my stops at payslips. Third-party pricing checks from July 2026 put Payroll4Free's tax-filing service at $35 a month and direct deposit through its bank at another $35, so free plus both add-ons ($70) can cost more than a cheap paid tool.
Can I do my own payroll for free?
Yes, if you accept being your own tax department. A free tool calculates gross-to-net and prints payslips or checks; you deposit withheld taxes on the IRS schedule and file the quarterly 941 and annual W-2s yourself. Miss a deposit and the IRS failure-to-deposit penalty runs from 2% to 15% of the amount, so the discipline matters more than the software.
Does free payroll software file taxes for you?
As a rule, no. Of the three genuinely free tools in 2026, HR.my has no US tax forms at all, ExcelPayroll prints the forms but leaves you to file them, and Payroll4Free sells filing as a paid add-on. Full-service filing is exactly what the entry paid tiers charge for: Patriot Full Service at $37 a month plus $5 per worker, Gusto at $49 plus $6.
Is TimeTrex Community Edition still free?
Not in a form you should run payroll on. TimeTrex announced on its own forum that the free open-source Community Edition was discontinued as of 1 October 2024; existing installs keep working but receive no further updates or security patches. Lists that still recommend it as free payroll are out of date; unpatched software is a poor place to keep pay and tax data.
