In our experience, far too many entrepreneurs overlook payroll software until they desperately need it, at which point it can take some time and effort to set up. It’s best to set up your payroll system early and then add employees and contractors to it as your business expands.
Starts at $0 + state fees and only takes 5-10 minutes
Square is a favorite payroll service for contractors, as well as for businesses that already use other Square software products. But is this the right payroll software provider for your company’s unique needs?
Old-school methods for payroll tracking were incredibly time-consuming. Even small businesses needed to invest way too much time into things like calculating payroll manually, tracking hours, writing checks, and calculating taxes. Thankfully, technology has simplified this process significantly.
Today, entrepreneurs can instead pay a reasonable monthly fee to one of many payroll software services and receive automated assistance with these and other related tasks. Square is one of the best payroll software providers available, so let’s find out if it’s the ideal option for you.
Square is an outstanding payroll software solution for contractors, and it’s also a great choice for companies that already use other Square products. Let’s take a look at some of its pros and cons before we dig into the details.
Square’s payroll software costs $35 per month plus $5 per employee or contractor, or a flat $5 per month if you only need to pay contractors. With Square’s $35/month plan, you’ll receive automatic payroll tax calculations, timecards, an employee app, and more.
At $35 monthly (plus $5 per person paid), Square’s core payroll software offering has plenty of features to make it worth the price. There are cheaper options out there (like Patriot and Workful), but Square’s $35 rate is still a solid price point.
Where Square Payroll really shines in this area is in its outstanding $5 per person, per month offer for paying contractors. This option doesn’t even require a monthly subscription fee, so it’s a highly affordable offer for businesses without employees that just need to pay a few contractors.
Square was formed in 2009 by Twitter founder Jack Dorsey. While Square, Inc., changed its name to Block, Inc., in late 2021, its core software offerings still use the Square moniker. With roughly 5,500 employees and an annual revenue of nearly $10 billion, Square has become one of the top software providers in the world.
There are thousands of Square reviews available online, but we wanted to narrow down this feedback to just reviews for Square Payroll. We found more than 550 reviews of Square Payroll on GetApp, and nearly all of them are positive, as Square Payroll holds down a 4.8/5 average score.
Square’s customer support team is available by phone from 9 am to 9 pm ET on weekdays. It also offers support via email and chat. Interestingly, these options have estimated wait times listed on Square’s website. At the time of this writing, it was taking around 24-48 hours for an email response and roughly 10 minutes for a chat response.
Overall, we’ve always been pleased with the quality of Square’s customer service, and we also appreciate how they’re so transparent about response times. We have no complaints in this area, other than the fact that Square is such a massive company that its support isn’t as personalized as some competitors.
There wouldn’t be much point in using a payroll software service if it didn’t make the process of running and tracking payroll significantly simpler. Thankfully, Square does just that, with an easy-to-use interface and plenty of intuitive features.
The only drawback for Square Payroll in this category is the fact that some of its advanced features are only available if you also purchase some other Square products. For instance, it can take up to five days for Square Payroll to process direct deposits, but if you also have Square Balance, you can access same-day and next-day payment options.
As we mentioned earlier, there is a large quantity of customer feedback for Square, but we wanted to narrow down this feedback to reviews specifically about Square Payroll. Fortunately, GetApp has nearly 600 reviews available for Square Payroll, and nearly all of these reviews are highly positive.
With an average score of 4.8 out of 5, it’s clear that most customers are pleased with the Square Payroll experience. When we flipped through these reviews, we discovered that these customers frequently reference Square Payroll’s excellent ease of use and the helpfulness of its customer support network.
Overall, customer feedback is an advantage for Square Payroll compared to most competitors.
Overall, Square is our favorite payroll software provider for paying contractors, as well as for companies that already use other Square software solutions. Square’s lack of a monthly subscription fee for businesses with contractors is an outstanding deal, and the integrations with other Square products are always convenient.
We’re big fans of what Square has to offer for payroll services, and we wouldn’t hesitate to recommend this company to our families and friends. That said, we understand that this might not be the right company for everyone.
If you’d like to take a look at your other options for payroll software services, take a look at our guide to the best companies in the industry.
Disclaimer: The content on this page is for information purposes only and does not constitute legal, tax, or accounting advice. If you have specific questions about any of these topics, seek the counsel of a licensed professional.
Written by Team ZenBusiness
ZenBusiness has helped people start, run, and grow over 700,000 dream companies. The editorial team at ZenBusiness has over 20 years of collective small business publishing experience and is composed of business formation experts who are dedicated to empowering and educating entrepreneurs about owning a company.
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