10 Best Remote Payroll Software Solutions for Businesses to Consider

DarwinBox defines a remote payroll service as “A software that manages, organizes, and automates employee payment. The payroll process provides a system that tracks all payments and maintains all the payment records.” Further, remote payroll software solutions can do all these without geographic restrictions. In simpler words, payroll service can assist you in paying your remote workers worldwide. But why should an organization invest in remote teams' payroll services?

In this blog, we take a detailed look at the different aspects of payroll software for remote teams, including the factors to consider when choosing one and the best payroll software options currently available in the market.

Remote employees are based in different cities, states, countries, or even continents. As we cross boundaries, aspects such as compliance, payroll taxes, and labor law also change. The employer doesn’t have to worry about these challenges with remote payroll services provided by a dedicated payroll system, and it can ensure a complete boundaryless work experience.

Payroll service is an integral part of the entire corporate structure. Hence, you need to be extra cautious while outsourcing such a high-priority payroll system service. It is important to do comprehensive research and evaluate the different payroll software options in the market to make an informed choice. When analyzing different employees' payroll software service options, you must consider factors like price, compatibility, security, integrations, cloud features, customer support, legislation compliance, and reviews.

Let us briefly overview these factors for choosing the best hr payroll software system.

The price is one of the most vital factors that you have to consider when choosing a payroll solution. The budgeting for the payroll solution depends on the scale of your company’s operations or the number of employees and how frequently you need to pay them. Once you have documented your requirements, you can compare the pricing packages from different payroll system providers and choose the most compatible option.

The business size will dictate the type of payroll software solution you need to manage the payment of your employees. If you are a small or mid-scale business, you can use a more basic payroll service option with simple features and a responsive interface. If you have a larger-size business, you must opt for a robust and more dynamic payroll software solution with advanced features to cater to your high-volume custom business requirements. Before choosing any specific payroll system solution or platform, it is always important to do a comparative analysis to make well-informed decisions.

This is another extremely critical requirement that needs to be thoroughly considered before picking the right payroll platform. The payroll software solution manages a ton of critical and highly sensitive data, including personal information, banking details, and social security information. The privacy and security of this data should be a priority, and when you are looking at different payroll system solutions, you must particularly analyze their security features and encryption protocols.

Cyber security is one of the biggest challenges companies face these days. Hence, prioritizing security mechanisms when choosing the best payroll software solution for your business makes perfect sense.

The integration of the payroll mechanism with various third-party applications or accounting packages extends the functionality of the software. For instance, it will make your life easier if you can directly link the HR management application with the payroll software. So, if you want to integrate different modules with your payroll system, you must look for platforms that enable these integrations smoothly.

Since remote work is increasingly becoming mainstream, having cloud access is a must. So you must look for payroll processing solutions that provide remote access and many cloud features for more dynamic functionality. Cloud access also provides scalability and an efficient way of managing the different aspects related to payroll solutions.

Customer support is one of the most important factors you should consider before choosing the best payroll software platform. Ideally, you want to tie up with a vendor that provides a highly professional and 24/7 support mechanism to deal with queries or issues that might pop up over a period of time. Impeccable customer support also ensures high levels of transparency which is good for building trust between both parties.

When browsing the different payroll solutions, you must check whether these payroll providers cater to legislation compliance of different countries. Legislation compliance is essentially the legal framework related to financial transactions that must be followed by all the stakeholders involved in the process. This is an important criterion, and thus, it is something you should verify before proceeding ahead with the partnership.

Going through the client feedback is a significant part of the analysis since it provides real-time feedback from customers who have used the services of payroll platforms. The customer reviews help you identify the best payroll software services based on your requirements, and it helps you make a smart choice.

There are hundreds of online payroll services on the web, but which one should you choose? Which is the best payroll software option based on your requirements?

In this blog, we have shortlisted the top 5 remote payroll solutions. We will be discussing each of these payroll providers individually while highlighting their key features.

Deel is one of the most reliable remote team-specific payroll services and compliance platforms. With Deel, businesses can legally hire and pay full-time employees and contractors globally.

It enables firms to manage payroll and create customized legal contracts in more than 150 countries. Employees and business teams can withdraw their funds anytime in various ways, including direct bank withdrawals in their native currency.

Deel currently has over 8,000 customers, ranging from SMBs to publicly traded firms such as Shopify, Turing, Airtable, Andela, Notion, etc.

Key features

• Using its one-click payroll tool, you can effortlessly make bill payments in bulk for the entire team. Members can then withdraw their earnings through bank transfers, Coinbase, Revolut, and Wise, among other options.
• It also includes global payments and document collection capabilities.
• It works with NetSuite, Okta, QuickBooks, Xero, and various technologies.
• It provides legal paperwork and tax forms for clients in the United States, such as W8, W9, and 1099.
• Inclusion of activity dashboard, notifications, bonus management, compliance management, contractor management, electronic signature, invoice management, multi-currency support, and reporting & statistics.

OnPay is one of the most prominent and best payroll software services in the market since it is simple and offers many features. It is excellent and one of the best payroll service for small businesses and medium organizations due to its highly scalable solutions.

With OnPay, you can automate tax filing, payment, and payroll operations. It makes it easier to enter payroll data, including hours, bonuses, tips, reimbursements, benefits, and compensation insurance.
It can manage an unlimited number of monthly payroll runs for W-2 employees and 1099 contract workers. Payments can be made by cheque or direct deposit, depending on the users' preferences.

Key features

• With OnPay, you can automate remote payroll processes, schedule an unlimited number of pay runs, customize pay runs to fit company needs, make changes, and cancel as needed.
• Employees can use their employee management feature to perform self-onboarding, input and amend personal information, and obtain right-of-entry tax forms and pay stubs.
• Users can make payments through checks, direct deposits, and debit cards. It also enables payments based on different types of personnel, such as contractors, salaried workers, and hourly workers.

The ADP Payroll is one of the world's largest payroll service, human capital management (HCM), and human resource services providers. It has more than 920,000 clients globally.

Initially, the company provided payroll solutions to small businesses but transitioned into a cloud-based HCM software solution. Among other services, ADP offers benefits administration and new hire onboarding.

ADP offers scalability for businesses of any size, starting with the smallest companies and scaling up to companies with thousands of employees. Using the custom-built plans, you can grow your business with ADP's tools relevant to your business. With its numerous features, tools, and functionalities providing customers with an effective solution, ADP Payroll is rightly considered one of the best payroll processing solutions in the market.

Key features

• It offers automated online payroll processing to streamline your payroll processes.
• It also provides seamless integration with HR and time-tracking programs.
• It offers a self-service application for remote employees.
• It supports web-based devices and platforms such as iOS and Android.
• Businesses can access reports such as garnishments, tax, and payroll reports.

Paychex is one of the oldest providers of HR, payroll, and benefits outsourcing services for small and medium-sized organizations. Its remote payroll platform simplifies payroll processes for businesses while also integrating employee data with HR and benefits for better administration. Companies can access critical payroll information at a glance with the free Paychex Flex mobile app, including impending check dates and amounts, and process payroll from anywhere.

For almost 50 years, Paychex has provided remote payroll services to companies in America and Europe. With features like automated taxations and filings, this cloud-based payroll software is intuitive and user-friendly. Paychex is one of the best payroll services for small businesses.

Key features

• It offers an easy-to-use program with a straightforward UI.
• Users can complete payroll processing in just two clicks.
• It calculates, submits, and pays your payroll taxes automatically.
• It offers a free-to-use mobile application.
• Paychex also offers employee benefits, such as health insurance and pension programs.
• Paychex provides 24/7 support to its users.

With over 100,000 small businesses in the U.S., Gusto is a full-service payroll, HR, benefits, and HR platform. Gusto offers employee benefit solutions all over the globe. Furthermore, Gusto is a fully cloud-based platform that integrates with platforms such as Xero and QuickBooks. With its flexibility and integration features providing ease of access to the companies, Gusto Payroll has become one of the best payroll software options in the market.

Key features

• Its error-proof payroll administration technology calculates, minimizes, and eliminates human errors.
• Gusto makes it simple to handle critical information like employee contact information, day off balances, I-9s, W-2s, and other documents.
• It manages budgets, comp insurance, employment tax reporting, payment, and hire and leave reports with the help of the benefits administration tool.
• You can also track paid time off (PTO) with this software.

Brightpay is one of the most reliable and efficient payroll software solutions in the market. This automatic enrolment solution makes payments easy and ensures seamless integration with businesses. The intuitive dashboard design and secure mechanism make Brightpay one of the top choices for payment management in the industry.

Key features

• This solution comes with Brightpay connect which enables companies to publish payroll reports and payslips electronically to a secure portal on the network.
• It provides cloud integration features for backing payroll information and critical data on the cloud.
• It provides an employer-client dashboard, and employee self-service portal through web and smartphone apps.
• The software provides incredible flexibility and an annual leave management feature.

Payroll Mate is an excellent payroll software solution choice for small businesses. This is an ideal on-premise application, which is compatible with the online OS but doesn’t have cloud or network access. However, you have the option of hosting it on a remote server. This software is designed for companies with a limited number of employees, and it can also be used by accountants for processing the payroll of their clients.

Key features

• Payroll Mate provides multistate payroll with multiple pay frequencies.
• It comes with an employee wizard that guides you through the entire process of handling payroll for new employees.
• This software also provides the option of direct deposit.

Wave payroll is one of the best economical payroll software solutions in the market. The clients are charged a flat fee for using this software based on the state where the client is located. This payroll solution also provides invoicing and accounting features to the customers. This software comes with a free 30-day trial period. It has a different pricing structure in different states.

Key features

• Wave payroll solution comes with an intuitive user interface to navigate through different features and functionalities.
• The simplicity of the UX ensures that the software is very user-friendly and there are no complexities associated with any of its features.
• It provides accounting integration and free tax filing features.

Patriot payroll is an integrated payroll management and HR software solution that helps to streamline the different processes of employee management. Its payroll module is used to manage employee payments and tax compliances. The Patriot payroll solution is ideal for small-scale businesses. It offers two plans - the basic plan and the more advanced subscription.

Key features

• This software offers an employee portal to manage the different aspects of employee management including payments.
• It provides a free setup for payroll and free direct deposit options.
• This solution provides a responsive user interface and its portability ensures that it runs on multiple platforms.
• It offers reporting functionality for employees to generate annual reports and it also provides tax reporting options.

Rippling is a multi-purpose employee management payroll application that caters to a wide range of requirements. It provides HR, payments, and IT solutions to companies. Setting up the payroll mechanism with Rippling is incredibly easy and the whole process can be easily completed in 90. This payroll solution is widely used by companies as it offers a dynamic employee management system.

Key features

• Smooth integration with third-party apps including Zoom, Office, and Slack.
• Simplified HR management and payments solutions.
• Access to custom modules through a core interface.
• Economical pricing structure.

Companies with remote teams must use payroll services for managing and automating employee payments and records. We have narrowed the list to the top 5 remote payroll services and discussed their key features. As you might have already noticed, no service provider can tick all the boxes; you need to look at which one fits your requirements before making a decision.

Additionally, if you are looking forward to expanding your remote team, choose Turing, a deep jobs platform that helps companies hire remote software talent across 100+ skills in 3-5 days. Turing's Intelligent Talent Cloud uses AI to source, vet, match, and manage over 1.5 million developers around the world.

With the push of a button, you can hire remote software developers from any corner of the world and spin up your engineering dream team in the cloud.