Patriot Payroll review

Patriot Payroll is online payroll software for American small businesses. You can buy it on its own or use it alongside Patriot accounting. It offers two payroll plans: Basic Payroll, for businesses that run payroll in-house, and Full Service Payroll, which adds tax filings and deposits.

Both plans include unlimited payrolls, free direct deposit, an employee portal and auto payroll, according to the pricing page. W-2 employees can use the employee app to view paychecks and change federal tax withholding. Time and attendance tools let employees enter hours and clock in or out on the web or in the app; HR tools include an HR Compliance Center, paperless employee files and manager permissions.

The pricing page lists a 30-day free trial and a 50% discount for three months after the free period. Annual pricing is not published.

Price is the clearest reason to consider Patriot. The pricing page lists Basic Payroll at an introductory $8.50 per month plus $2 per worker paid, normally $17 plus $4 per worker. Full Service Payroll starts at an introductory $18.50 per month plus $2.50 per worker paid, normally $37 plus $5. Both plans include unlimited payrolls and free direct deposit.

Full Service is the more practical option for owners who do not want to handle payroll tax filings themselves. It includes federal, state, local and year-end payroll tax filings, and the page says tax filing reliability is guaranteed. Basic does not list tax filing as an included feature.

The tools cover common small-team needs without requiring a separate product for every task: employee pay stubs and withholding changes, time tracking, and optional HR tools. Time & Attendance and HR Software are each listed at introductory prices of $3 per month plus $1 per employee; normally, each is $6 per month plus $2 per employee.

Some small-business Reddit commenters describe Patriot as simple and good value. One commenter said they used it across five stores; those are individual reports, not a guarantee of fit.

Patriot looks less suited to payroll setups with specialized benefits or retirement deductions. In one Reddit thread, a small-business owner said Patriot seemed limited for handling 401(k) and HSA benefits unless they were managed manually. Another S-corp user reported difficulty finding an easy way to contribute to a solo 401(k) or Roth solo 401(k), and said getting paid took longer than with other payroll services. These are user reports, not published product limits, but they point to questions to settle with Patriot before switching.

There is also a trade-off between the lower Basic price and tax support: Basic is for in-house payroll, while tax filings are included with Full Service. The listed introductory prices are temporary, and the pricing page does not publish annual billing rates. It also does not state a maximum employee count, so we would not assume one from the pricing alone.

If your bookkeeping is in QuickBooks, one Reddit user said their bookkeeper manually entered payroll amounts and employee totals. That is one account, but it is worth checking whether your accounting workflow will need extra reconciliation.

Patriot lists Basic Payroll at $8.50 per month plus $2 per worker paid at the introductory rate; the worker charge is normally $4. Full Service Payroll is $18.50 per month plus $2.50 per worker paid, normally $5. That is a $10 monthly base-price jump between tiers, plus 50 cents more per worker at the intro rate. Full Service adds federal, state and local tax filings, year-end filings and a tax-filing reliability guarantee. Both plans include unlimited payrolls and free direct deposit.

The pricing page advertises a 30-day free trial and 50% off for three months after the free period. It does not list annual billing, and the published pricing does not specify the regular monthly base prices after the promotion. Time & Attendance and HR Software each start at $3 per month plus $1 per employee; both are introductory rates, normally $6 plus $2 per employee. Budget for those add-ons if you need time tracking or HR tools.

Patriot’s published materials describe payroll features, but not a migration process, import options, data-export formats or cancellation terms. Those details are not published in the published material we reviewed, so confirm how prior payroll records, employee details and tax information move before choosing a cutover date. Ask what you can export if you later leave, and whether your accountant can access the records you need.

Patriot can be used on its own or alongside its accounting software, which may suit a small business looking to keep those tools together. But the published review notes flag complex benefit deductions, retirement contributions and multistate payroll flexibility as potential poor fits. Those are sensible reasons to compare alternatives before moving, not sourced claims about why customers have left. We don’t have Reddit posts or comments in the published material, so we can’t responsibly attribute churn reasons to Reddit users. If any of those payroll needs apply, get clear answers on support and data portability first.