Payroll shouldn’t take over your Sunday night. But when you’re manually tracking hours, calculating overtime, and double-checking tax withholdings, it does. Paper timesheets get lost. Spreadsheets hide mistakes. And when your hours live in one place and payroll in another, errors are almost guaranteed.
An error on payday doesn’t just cost money. It chips away at the trust your team has in you.
Free payroll apps take some of that weight off. But “free” rarely means everything’s included. Most free tools calculate taxes without filing them, skip direct deposit, and leave compliance up to you. Knowing what you’re actually getting matters.
Here’s how the top 8 options stack up and how to find the right fit for your team.
The short answer: best free payroll apps at a glance
Most free payroll apps calculate your taxes but don’t file them. Filing usually costs extra. Here’s the fastest way to find your fit:
- Best all-in-one (free scheduling + time tracking, paid payroll): Homebase. Scheduling, time tracking, and payroll in one connected system.
- Truly free under 25 employees: Payroll4Free. Manual entry, Windows only, no automation.
- No employee cap, open-source: TimeTrex. Powerful but requires technical setup.
- Best for spreadsheet users: ExcelPayroll. Full control, high manual effort.
- Best for multilingual or remote teams: HR.my. 60+ languages, basic features.
- One-off paycheck calculator: eSmart Paycheck. No record-keeping, resets every session.
- Best affordable paid option: Wave Payroll. Starts at $40/month, no HR or hourly ops focus.
- Best for growing teams: Gusto. Starts at $40 + $6/employee, gets expensive at scale.
What to look for in a free payroll app for small business
Not all free tiers are equal. Before you pick one, check for:
- Employee limits. Most free plans cap you at 10 to 25 employees.
- Tax calculations vs. tax filing. Calculating is standard. Submitting quarterly and year-end forms usually costs extra.
- Pay delivery. Free often means printed checks. Direct deposit is frequently a paid add-on.
- Mobile access. If your team works from their phones, your payroll app should too.
- Employee self-service. Can your team view pay stubs, hours, and tax forms on their own?
- Time tracking integration. The best setups sync hours from a time clock straight to payroll, with no manual re-entry.
- Automation. Can payroll run itself once set up, or are you manually entering data every pay period?
- Compliance support. Does the app handle overtime rules, break laws, and tax requirements automatically?
- All-in-one vs. disconnected tools. Separate scheduling, time tracking, and payroll systems mean re-entering data and creating room for errors every pay period.
The 8 best free payroll apps for small business
1. Homebase: best all-in-one for hourly teams
Best for: Restaurants, retail, healthcare, and any business with hourly workers who need scheduling, time tracking, and payroll in one connected system.
Most payroll tools are built for accountants and retrofitted for small businesses. Homebase is built specifically for hourly teams. Employees clock in on their phones. Those hours flow automatically to timesheets. Timesheets convert to payroll with pre-filled hours, with no duplicate entry and no switching between systems.
When scheduling, time tracking, and payroll are disconnected, errors find the gaps. Homebase closes them.
What you get:
- Automatic timesheet conversion from time clock data, with hours flowing directly to payroll
- Federal and state tax calculations with automatic compliance updates
- Tax filing (W-2s, 1099s, quarterly forms) included, not an add-on
- Direct deposit included
- Employee self-service portal for pay stubs and tax forms
- PTO and sick time tracking
- Overtime and break compliance handled automatically
- Tip management and multi-location payroll support
- Early wage access through Pay Any Day
- Scheduling and team messaging, always free
- Android and iOS apps for your whole team
Free tier: Scheduling, time tracking, and team communication are free. Payroll is on the Essentials plan at $20/month base + $6 per employee.
What costs extra: HR compliance tools and hiring features are on higher tiers.
Bottom line: Homebase isn’t just a payroll tool. It replaces your scheduling spreadsheet, time tracking app, and payroll system with one connected product built for hourly teams. From clock-in to paycheck, everything happens in one place.
2. Payroll4Free: best genuinely free option under 25 employees
Best for: Small teams under 25 employees who use Windows, are comfortable entering hours manually, and don’t need mobile access or automation.
Payroll4Free does exactly what it says. No per-employee fees, no monthly subscription, no expiration after a trial. You enter hours manually, it calculates wages and taxes, and you’re done.
What you get:
- Federal, state, and local tax calculations
- Pay stub generation
- Employee self-service portal
- Vacation and sick time tracking
- Printable tax forms (W-2s, 1099s, 940, 941)
Free tier: Completely free for up to 25 employees. Windows only, no Mac, no mobile app.
What costs extra: Direct deposit ($40/month) and automatic tax filing ($40/month) are add-ons.
Key limitations: Hours must be entered manually every pay period. No integration with scheduling or time tracking. No automation, no compliance safeguards, no mobile access.
Bottom line: If you’re a Windows user with a small team and don’t mind handling data entry and tax filing yourself, Payroll4Free delivers. You’re trading automation for zero cost.
3. TimeTrex: best for scheduling and payroll without per-employee fees
Best for: Technical teams comfortable managing open-source software who want scheduling, time tracking, and payroll without paying per person.
TimeTrex’s community edition is open-source and permanently free with no employee cap. It handles scheduling, tracks hours, and processes payroll. It requires technical setup and ongoing management, and community forum support is all you get on the free plan.
What you get:
- Unlimited employees on the community edition
- Time tracking with overtime calculations
- Scheduling and shift management
- Wage calculations with multiple pay rates
- PTO accrual tracking
- QuickBooks and Sage integration
Free tier: Open-source with no employee limit or expiration. Community forum support only.
What costs extra: Direct deposit and dedicated support start around $2 to $3 per employee per month.
Key limitations: Requires technical setup most small business owners don’t have time for. Better suited to technical teams than typical hourly operations.
Bottom line: TimeTrex is powerful on paper but demanding in practice. If you’d rather just run payroll, Homebase or Wave will feel much easier from day one.
4. ExcelPayroll: best for owners who live in spreadsheets
Best for: Business owners who want full control over payroll data, prefer working offline, and have time to manage it manually.
ExcelPayroll is a free downloadable template with payroll formulas built in. Enter hours, calculate wages and taxes, print pay stubs. No cloud login, no monthly fee.
What you get:
- Payroll calculations for up to 50 employees
- Overtime and PTO tracking
- Printable pay stubs and checks
- Tax form generation (W-2, W-3, 940, 941)
- One-time download, yours to keep
Free tier: Completely free. Download once, use indefinitely.
Key limitations: High risk of manual errors. No compliance safeguards. Time-intensive to maintain as your team grows.
Bottom line: ExcelPayroll gives you complete control and complete responsibility. For owners who have time to manage it carefully, it works. Everyone else will find it more burden than benefit.
5. HR.my: best for remote and multilingual teams
Best for: Small businesses with distributed or international teams who need basic payroll in multiple languages without a monthly fee.
HR.my is ad-supported and available in 60+ languages, a gap most payroll apps don’t address. If your team speaks different languages, that’s a meaningful differentiator.
What you get:
- Unlimited payroll processing
- Available in 60+ languages
- Cloud-based, accessible on desktop and mobile
- Employee self-service portal
- Time off request management
- GPS clock-in for attendance
Free tier: Free with ads. No employee limit, no time restrictions.
What costs extra: $5/month removes ads and adds file storage. Support for direct deposit and tax filing varies by setup, so verify before committing.
Bottom line: HR.my fills a real gap for multilingual teams. It lacks the compliance tools and automation you’d get with Homebase, but if language support is your top priority, it works.
6. eSmart Paycheck: best simple paycheck calculator
Best for: Anyone who needs to calculate a one-off paycheck without committing to a full payroll system.
eSmart Paycheck is a free online calculator, not a payroll tool. Enter hours and a pay rate, get gross pay, withholdings, and net pay. No employee database, no filing, no record-keeping between sessions.
What you get:
- Free paycheck calculator
- Federal, state, and local tax calculations
- Pretax and after-tax deductions
- Overtime and bonus calculations
- Printable pay stubs, no account required
Free tier: Permanently free. No saved data between sessions.
Bottom line: eSmart Paycheck is a calculator, not a system. It works for one-off contractor payments or very occasional payroll. If you’re running payroll more than once a month, use an actual payroll app.
7. Wave Payroll: best affordable option for teams outgrowing free
Best for: Growing businesses that need full-service payroll and already use Wave for accounting, and don’t need hourly-specific scheduling or compliance tools.
Wave starts at $40/month plus $6 per employee (pricing varies by location). Direct deposit, automatic tax filing, and Wave’s free accounting software integration come standard.
What you get:
- Unlimited payroll runs
- Direct deposit for employees and contractors
- Automatic federal and state tax filing
- Year-end tax forms (W-2s and 1099s)
- Employee self-service portal and mobile app
Free tier: None. Wave charges from day one.
Key limitations: Not built for hourly operations. No scheduling or labor compliance tools. If you need those alongside payroll, you’ll end up with disconnected systems again.
Bottom line: Wave is a solid choice if you’re already in their ecosystem. For hourly shift workers or multi-location teams, it lacks the operational depth Homebase provides.
8. Gusto: best for growing teams ready to invest in a full HR stack
Best for: Businesses with 10+ employees who want full-service payroll, benefits administration, and HR tools, and are willing to pay more as they scale.
Gusto starts at $40/month plus $6 per employee. It has automatic tax filing, reliable direct deposit, and solid support. It’s a legitimate step up from free tools, though the cost climbs quickly and it’s designed more broadly for HR than hourly workforces. See how it stacks up on our Homebase vs. Gusto page.
What you get:
- Full-service payroll with automatic tax filing
- Direct deposit and printed checks
- Health insurance and 401(k) administration
- New hire reporting and onboarding with e-signatures
- HR resource center and compliance alerts
- Expert support via phone and chat
Free tier: 30-day free trial, then paid only.
Key limitations: Costs grow meaningfully with headcount. Designed more broadly for HR than hourly operations.
Bottom line: Gusto works well for businesses that need a full HR stack. If your team is primarily hourly and you want scheduling, time tracking, and payroll all connected, Homebase is built more specifically for that.
Which free payroll app fits your team?
Not sure where to start? Here’s the quick version.
- Need scheduling + time tracking + payroll in one system: Homebase. Built specifically for hourly teams, not retrofitted from accounting software.
- Need scheduling + payroll but comfortable managing a technical system: TimeTrex. Powerful but demanding.
- Under 25 employees, Windows user, happy to enter hours manually: Payroll4Free. No cost, no automation.
- Want full data control in Excel: ExcelPayroll. Watch for compliance gaps and manual errors.
- Managing a multilingual or remote team: HR.my.
- Just need to calculate one paycheck: eSmart Paycheck.
- Ready to pay for payroll plus accounting integration: Wave at $40/month.
- Need a full HR stack and have budget to scale: Gusto at $40 + $6/employee.
Not sure what pay period setup is right for your team? That decision affects how often you’ll be running payroll and which tools make the most sense.
Free payroll app FAQs
Are there any free payroll apps?
Yes. Payroll4Free is free for up to 25 employees with no time limit. ExcelPayroll is a free downloadable template. HR.my offers cloud-based payroll supported by ads. Most free apps calculate taxes but don’t file them. Direct deposit is also usually a paid add-on. Free payroll works for small teams willing to handle filing manually and enter hours by hand.
Is Payroll4Free actually free?
Yes, for up to 25 employees with no expiration. Direct deposit ($40/month) and automatic tax filing ($40/month) cost extra. Without those, you’re filing taxes yourself and printing checks. It’s also Windows-only, so Mac users will need to look elsewhere.
Is Excel payroll free?
ExcelPayroll is a free downloadable Excel template for up to 50 employees. No monthly fee, no cloud login. The tradeoff: no direct deposit, no automatic tax filing, no compliance safeguards, and no employee portal. If you want something more automated, free payroll software options handle the heavy lifting for you.
Can ChatGPT do payroll?
No. ChatGPT can help you understand payroll concepts or draft policies, but it can’t process payroll, calculate withholdings, file tax forms, or issue direct deposits. You need a dedicated payroll app for that.
What free payroll apps work on Android?
Homebase and HR.my are among the strongest mobile-friendly options, with apps for Android and iOS. Payroll4Free is Windows desktop only. Homebase also includes a mobile time clock so your team can clock in and out from the same app, with no separate tool needed.
Pay your team right, every time.
Most free payroll tools give you a calculator. Homebase gives you a system. Replace spreadsheets, disconnected apps, and manual re-entry with one product built specifically for small businesses with hourly teams.
Employees clock in on their phones. Hours sync automatically to timesheets. Payroll runs with pre-filled hours, taxes calculated correctly, and compliance handled automatically. W-2s and 1099s are ready at year-end without chasing paperwork. From clock-in to paycheck, everything happens in one place.
Already using another payroll provider? Switching is easier than you think. Start free with scheduling and time tracking. Add payroll when you’re ready. Get started free.
