6 alternatives comparedLast verified 2026-03-21 Live pricing
Looking for an alternative to Buddy Punch?
Whether you need better pricing, different features, or a tool that fits your workflow,
we've compared 6 verified hr & payroll alternatives below.
Every price is checked daily against vendor pages — no stale data, no guesswork.
Prices in USD, verified from the United States. Regional pricing may vary.
Deel's free HR tier for up to 200 people is the most generous entry point in this category by a mile. If you've got international contractors or employees, it's one of the few platforms that actually handles 150+ countries without bolting on a third-party service.
Free HR for 200 people — that's not a trial, it's the actual product. Gusto and OnPay charge from day one.
Contractor payments in 150+ countries with built-in compliance. Paychex and Gusto can't touch this.
Modular pricing means a 20-person US startup can use free HR now and add Global Payroll later without migrating platforms.
Rippling is the ambitious one. While everyone else on this list is a payroll company that added HR features, Rippling wants to be your HR platform, your IT department, AND your finance team — all from one login. Whether that ambition helps or overwhelms you depends entirely on your company size.
The only platform here that unifies HR, IT, and finance. Onboarding a new hire can trigger laptop provisioning, app access, and payroll setup in one workflow.
500+ integrations — the deepest ecosystem in this comparison. Gusto has 250, BambooHR has 125, OnPay has 40.
Global payroll in 50+ countries. Not as wide as Deel's 150+, but far beyond Gusto, Paychex, and OnPay, which are all US-only.
Gusto is the default answer when someone asks 'what should my small US business use for payroll?' and honestly, for most teams under 50 people, that reputation is earned. The benefits marketplace alone sets it apart from OnPay and Paychex at the entry level.
Benefits marketplace is the best at this price point — health, 401(k), HSA, and commuter benefits all in one place. OnPay has benefits too, but Gusto's selection is deeper.
250+ integrations. That's 6x OnPay's 40 and 3x Paychex's 80. If you use QuickBooks, Xero, or Slack, Gusto connects natively.
Contractor payments included on all plans with automatic 1099 filing at year-end.
OnPay's entire pitch is radical simplicity: one plan, $49 + $6/worker, everything included. No tiers to decode, no sales calls to endure, no 'contact us for pricing' walls. In a category where Rippling won't show a single number and BambooHR charges extra for payroll, that honesty is worth something.
One plan, everything included, no upsells. While Gusto wants $12/person for Plus features and BambooHR charges extra for payroll, OnPay gives you the full product at $6/worker.
30-day free trial — the most generous in this group. Actually run a payroll cycle before committing money. Gusto and Paychex don't let you try at all.
Identical pricing to Gusto Simple ($49 + $6/person) but with no temptation to upgrade because there IS no higher tier. The price you see is the price you pay, forever.
BambooHR is an HR system that happens to offer payroll, not a payroll system that happens to offer HR. That distinction matters. If your main problem is managing PTO requests, running performance reviews, and onboarding new hires, BambooHR does those things well. If your main problem is running payroll, you're looking at the wrong product.
The employee self-service portal is the best in this group. PTO requests, document access, org chart, personal info updates — employees actually use it instead of emailing HR.
Performance management on Pro is real, not a checkbox feature. Goal tracking, peer feedback, and review cycles that HR managers can customize.
The 7-day trial doesn't require a credit card, so you can test with zero risk. Just know it's barely enough time.
Paychex has been running payroll since 1971. That's not marketing — it's genuinely relevant when you're trusting someone to file your taxes correctly in all 50 states. The Flex Essentials plan is the cheapest entry point on this page at $39 + $5/employee, but the product you get at that price is noticeably more basic than Gusto or OnPay.
Cheapest entry point in this comparison. Flex Essentials at $39 + $5/employee undercuts Gusto and OnPay by $30/mo for a 20-person team.
50+ years of payroll means they've seen every edge case. Multi-state employees, unusual tax situations, garnishments — Paychex has handled it before.
Dedicated payroll specialist on Select and Pro plans. You get a named person, not a ticket queue. For large teams, this is a genuine differentiator.