The Best Payroll Software for Small Businesses in Georgia of 2022: An Overview
For any business, the most important day of the month is pay day. Mess it up, and you will have a whole lot of disgruntled workers on your hand! It pays to do pay day right!
Fortunately, thanks to computers carrying out payrolls, the task is faster and easier than ever before! There are lots of payroll software out there that you can use to do this. In fact – too many! Without some expert advice, it is hard to choose the best ones for your work.
I have reviewed over 70 different payroll software. If you want to know what the best payroll software for small businesses in Georgia of 2022 is, keep reading on.
Quick Picks
- Best for Mid-Sized Businesses – Namely
- Best for Growing Organizations – Justworks
- Best for Construction Businesses – Hourly
- Best for Indie Stores and Eateries – Square
The Best Payroll Software for Small Businesses in Georgia for 2022: In-Depth Review
Namely: Not So Small? Namely Grows With You as Much as You Need
Most software aimed at small businesses tends to be focused on anywhere from 2 to 200 employees. Namely, on the other hand, starts out a little bigger than the minimum.
It is a great simple payroll tool for growing businesses. For starters, it is highly customizable. The business owner can edit the user interface and tools displayed in Namely so that only relevant and useful ones are displayed. Plus, there is another level of customization we don’t see often: hierarchical levelling.
Namely has a very flexible and customizable layout, where different people can be assigned different roles easily. There’s no real limit to the number of levels of seniority in the company. You could easily set up a system like, say, Amazon, where there are more than 10 different levels to the company.
With each level comes different permissions in Namely. This is another point in favour of its customizability.
Namely also makes payrolls very easy. Just keep in mind that you will need to get the Payroll module separately from the core HR module.
In addition to calculating each employees’ pay, taxes, and deductibles, it can calculate the benefits as well. Medical, Dental, Vision, Dependents, Disabilities, etc. all can give benefits. You can select plans for each one and for each employee.
Other things, such as the dashboard and reports, are also flexible when it comes to layout and customizability.
While Namely sounds like it has everything, it does come at a high cost. The $12 per employee cost is quite high to many small-medium businesses, and it does not even include most of the payroll and business administration features. So, make sure Namely is worth it for you before you purchase it.
You’ll Really Like
- Extremely high level of dashboard and report customization.
- Easy management of benefits and payouts.
- Can set up multiple hierarchical levels of management in the company.
You Should Look Out For
- Very expensive even without any add-ons
- Small businesses may not even need all the customizability.
Justworks: Sometimes, simple and straightforward is best.
There are plenty of extremely sophisticated and comprehensive HR and Payroll software suites out there. However, sometimes you don’t need all those features to run a business. This is especially true for those who are just starting out with HR management.
Justworks is a great choice for beginners because it just works. It doesn’t need a huge amount of setup, nor does it bombard you with options and charts and choices. Instead, it simplifies payroll to the most basic steps.
With Justworks, you can set reminders for Payday. When the big day rolls around, you can simply run the Payroll. The pay calculations, plus taxes and deductibles will all be done for you in the background. All you have to do is confirm it. Plus, forms such as 1099, W-2 and others are automatically filled out and filed, saving you a lot of trouble.
Justworks also provides you with various benefits. Health, Medical, Dental, Vision, 401(k)s and other benefits are very highly appreciated by employees. Here, you can sign up for those benefits without paying too much extra.
The one thing to be wary of is the price. For businesses with less than 25 employees, Justworks starts at a huge $49 per month per employee for the basic plan and $99 per employee for the Plus plan. This may sound extremely high compared to other similar payroll software, but you are actually getting a lot more here.
The basic plan includes all typical taxes and filings, plus some features that are normally at a premium elsewhere such as Unemployment Instances and HR Consulting. Employee onboarding, document storage and planning systems are all included. Workers’ comp, Life and Disability Insurance, Health, Fitness and 401(k)s are all accessible as well.
Jumping up to the Plus plan adds COBRA administration, Health advocacy and One Medical healthcare, plus Medical, Dental and Vision insurance.
When a company first starts up with Justworks, they provide a dedicated onboarding manager to guide them through all the processes. Customer Support is available on multiple channels, including phone, email and Slack.
You’ll Really Like
- Payrolls and Tax Filing is extremely simple.
- Pricing and features are transparent.
- Health, Dental, Vision Insurance are all worked out in the plus plans.
You Should Look Out For
- Extremely high pricing.
- Customer Support is not always helpful beyond the onboarding process.
Hourly: Workers’ Comp Focused for Smaller Businesses
Hourly isn’t your typical payroll software for smaller businesses. As mentioned above, it is the best payroll for construction businesses. Why exactly is that?
For starters, Hourly is exactly what its name says. It is focused on hourly payments rather than monthly or quarterly. In construction and other blue-collar jobs, workers are paid by the hour. This particular payroll software is aimed towards exactly that.
As you might know, different jobs have different types of insurance. An electrician, a carpenter or a plumber will have different pay rates, insurance and paperwork to manage. Considering how many different such jobs there can be, it becomes a hassle to manage them using a typical payroll platform.
However, Hourly has all the necessary details built-in. It can calculate the insurance, fill up and file the appropriate forms, and make payments. Any workers’ comp you have can be integrated into the payroll, and the payroll itself works extremely fast. It automatically calculates taxes and files them, and completes W-2 and 1099 forms as well.
What would normally take a few hours at other companies only takes a few minutes here. Plus, your workers can stay connected to Hourly via phone. No need to bother with manual time tracking or punch cards. Hourly has Geofencing and Real-Time alerts.
Employees simply open the Hourly app on their phones and set their arrival time and assigned task. Supervisors can check the location and status of employees at all times from an app on their own phones. Basically, everything is in real-time.
The pricing is quite affordable for most small businesses. Instead of having a Bronze or Silver plan, Hourly skips right to the ‘Gold Plan’, which is the cheapest. It costs $40 plus $6 per employee every month. It includes all the features, such as unlimited payrolls and automatic tax filing.
Meanwhile, the ‘Platinum Plan’ costs $60 plus $10 per employee a month. It includes same-day deposits and direct assistance from HR professionals. Both of these plans need an extra $2 per worker to add time-tracking.
You’ll Really Like
- Focused and optimized for blue-collar hourly workers
- Small fee for automating deposits like other payroll software
- 90 days to try it out with a money-back guarantee
You Should Look Out For
- Limited to Worker’s Comp and Payroll. Does not have a lot of HR features.
- Not all functions and services have been developed yet, such as Quickbooks integration
Square: Get your Indie Store or Restaurant Squared Away
Square is payroll software with a unique indie vibe. Part of it is the website design and promotion. It is aimed at small business owners, such as those who own stores or restaurants.
Do you own a coffee shop or restaurant? A bar? A bookshop? A salon? Another retail business? If you answered yes to any one of those, then you could probably use Square Payroll.
What exactly makes square so suitable for stores and restaurants? Well, it has point-of-sale features built-in. Employees, suppliers and contractors, and customers can all be managed from a single dashboard. Consolidating everything in one can be really convenient.
In terms of payrolls, Square has pretty much all the features we expect. Square’s full-service payroll software accurately tracks time and manages shifts. The payroll itself is a simple 5-step process. First, you choose how to pay – whether by cheque or direct deposit. Then you confirm the hours each of your employees work, check for overtime or deductibles, and confirm the payroll.
There are additional features aimed for retail and food workers too, such as tips and commissions, automatic time tracking and workers comp insurance. Plus, if your business has multiple outlets across different states, no need to worry. Square can handle different state regulations for employees separately.
Overall, Square is one of the best and simplest payroll tools I have used so far. It has a great user interface that easily guides a user. It integrates with a wide range of external software or tools such as QuickBooks, time-tracking software and HR partners. The mobile Square Payroll App also does pretty much everything the PC browser version does.
What’s more, it has one of the most generous pricing models we’ve seen. All models have unlimited runs. For businesses with contractors exclusively, you will pay $5 per contractor monthly. In this case, 1099 forms will be automatically filled and mailed.
If you have full-time employees, then consider the other plan. This one costs the same per employee and contactor, plus a $35 monthly fee. This plan does come with every single feature Square offers, most of which we’ve already mentioned.
You’ll Really Like
- POS for convenience in running a retail or food business.
- Economical plan for contractor-only businesses
- Fairly cheap – all features available from $40 onwards.
You Should Look Out For
- Does not scale up to a larger business easily.
- Can have issues with the POS terminal
The Bottom Line: Best Payroll Software for Small Businesses in Georgia
Georgia is a great place to launch new small businesses. If you do, then you are going to need some employees. And if you have employees, you need to manage and pay them. That is why you definitely need an HR software.
I have tested over 70 HR and Payroll software, and these are my top 4 picks for the best Payroll Software for Small Businesses in Georgia.
Personally, if you are planning to expand your business, then I recommend using Namely. While it is expensive on a per-employee basis, it will be the most reliable for larger companies.
However, if you have no such expansion plans and are satisfied with your small business, then I recommend Square Payroll. It has all the features you might need, and that too for a really good price!
Top 3 Payroll Services
- 1 month free trial
- Trusted by over 200,000 businesses
- All-in-one payroll and HR solution
- Best for small businesses
- “Autopilot” runs payroll itself
- 6 months free with signup
- Trusted by 850,000+ businesses
- Dedicated customer service
- Also offer HR and benefits management
- 3 months FREE with signup
- Trusted by 700,000 companies
- Over 45 years of experience
- All-in-one platform
