The 7 Best Small-Business Payroll Programs in Canada 2023

The bottom line: Our top payroll program for small-business owners in Canada is Wave Payroll. Its affordable starting price, easy integration with Wave's Accounting software (which is free), and basic features make it the best fit for most small business owners.

But Wave is just one of the many options Canadian companies can choose from when it comes to payroll software. Learn more about all seven of our top picks.

Starting at $20 a month (plus $6 per payee), Wave Payroll is cheaper than most payroll services. Along with automatic payroll tax calculations and filing, that low price gets you several tax reports, an employee self-service portal, automatic ROE (record of employment) form submission, and T4/T4A tax forms.

Wave doesn’t offer benefits add-ons, but it does include benefits and workers compensation top-up calculations.

Wave’s best (and most cost-effective) feature, though, is its integration with Wave’s free accounting software. In fact, Wave Payroll and Wave Accounting together cost about the same as QuickBooks Online’s cheapest small-business accounting-only plan. If you’re looking to save on overall business expenses, Wave Payroll is a good place to start.

Unfortunately, Wave Payroll isn’t available in Quebec. Additionally, its software is more basic compared to most of the providers on our list. For instance, Wave Payroll doesn’t have an automatic payroll option, mobile payroll app, or HR and benefits add-ons.

Finally, its accounting software works best for small businesses with just a few employees—which suits most small businesses out there. But unless that describes your business, you won’t benefit much from Wave’s biggest perk: its accounting software integration.

If you want a payroll plan that handles just about every aspect of human resource management, we recommend Ceridian Dayforce. Why? Because Ceridian offers much more than just payroll deductions and payroll tax remittance. This total HCM solution covers payroll, benefits, workforce management, and most other HR-related tasks.

Ceridian payroll services are also packed with unique payroll tools and features that many payroll providers neglect, including the following:

• Multi-jurisdictional tax calculation, withholding, and filing
• Real-time payroll register (no need to wait until the end of the pay period to make revisions)
• Talent management, including recruiting and onboarding
• Workforce management, including a labour management system

Is your business not quite big enough for an enterprise-level payroll solution? Ceridian Powerpay offers HR and payroll software for companies with fewer than 100 employees.

Per the customer review site Trustradius, most Ceridian payroll services customers are satisfied with their product. They do, however, wish for better customer service, more customized reporting features, and better employee time tracking.¹

ADP’s most popular software, ADP Workforce Now, is an HR-rich payroll program for Canadian small businesses. Its built-in time and attendance tracking simplifies paying hourly employees. Unlike many other payroll options, ADP Workforce Now includes an employer-facing payroll app so small-business owners can run payroll on the go.

ADP's business payroll and HR bundles include access to key HR forms and new hire paperwork. Pricier bundles include extra HR compliance assistance plus help creating employee handbooks.

Bear in mind, though, that ADP’s fully featured plans are geared towards larger companies. Small businesses with one or two employees likely won’t need the company’s heftier payroll and HR packages (which are also more expensive than basic payroll software).

ADP also has a shaky customer service reputation. According to consumer review site Trustpilot, glitchy software and dropped customer service calls have been a problem in the past.²

Don’t need ADP or Ceridian’s large-scale HR solutions? Wagepoint’s payroll software offers straightforward automatic payroll processing and little else—which is good news for Canadian small businesses with few employees.

If you have hourly employees, Wagepoint integrates easily with popular time-tracking software like TSheets, Deputy, and 7Shifts. Or, if you pay your salaried employees the same amount at regular intervals, you can set Wagepoint to pay them automatically without having to lift a finger.

Wagepoint’s pricing structure is based on how often you pay your employees and how many employees you have. For instance, paying one employee weekly costs $12 per payroll run. Each additional employee paid costs an extra two dollars per run. Paying one employee bi-weekly, semi-monthly, or monthly costs $22 per payroll run (plus $2 per additional employee).

However, Wagepoint isn’t a good choice if you need on-the-go payroll. While the small-business payroll program has a (poorly reviewed) time-tracking app for employees, it still lacks a mobile payroll app. And, like we said, it’s not suited to small businesses that want an all-in-one payroll and HR company.

Want to gain key insights into payroll and workforce management? Payworks Canada generates dozens of reports, most of which are fully customizable. Users can display information from those reports on customizable, shareable dashboards to collaborate with business stakeholders on financial growth.

Payworks also offers franchisee-specific payroll solutions. In fact, it has an entire customer service department dedicated to helping franchise owners. Additionally, Payworks offers human resource, time management, and workforce management solutions—though each solution costs an additional monthly fee (albeit a small one).

Payworks charges a bit extra for services that some other payroll systems in Canada bundle into their payroll products, like employee absence management. Plus, Payworks’ detailed reports, customizable dashboards, and overall interface come with a high learning curve. The level of complexity might be too much for small-business owners who just want fast, easy payroll deductions and deposits at their fingertips.

If you want HR help but don’t need a payroll package as hefty as ADP’s or Ceridian’s, Rise could be a good fit. As an all-in-one HR, benefits, and payroll solution, Rise connects managers and employees across departments and automatically syncs benefits with payroll calculations. And if you need even less, Rise Lite is a free, payroll-only option for companies with fewer than 20 employees. Along with calculating payroll taxes, Rise Lite automates T4s, ROEs, and CRA (Canada Revenue Agency) remittances. (Note that Rise Lite isn’t available in Quebec.)

For now, though, Rise doesn’t seem to integrate with QuickBooks Online or Xero. And while Rise has a mobile app for payroll, it’s mostly employee facing (though managers can use it to approve time off requests). If you want to run payroll on the go, we recommend ADP or Ceridian instead.

Knit has a refreshingly straightforward pricing structure. Its three scalable plans—Lite, Complete, and Concierge—offer differing levels of payroll and HR features. Unlike Wagepoint, Knit charges you per month and per user, not per payroll run, which means you can run payroll multiple times per month without paying extra. And unlike Rise, Knit integrates with both QuickBooks Online and Xero.

However, Knit doesn’t have many online reviews—which doesn’t necessarily mean it’s a bad payroll provider. But it does mean we don’t have as much information about who the software works for or what problems customers encounter. (If you end up choosing Knit, we recommend leaving a review on a site like Capterra to help your fellow users.)

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Accurate, compliant payroll is important—not just to your bottom line, but to your employees’ happiness and job satisfaction too.

While Ceridian Dayforce is our favorite payroll solution for Canadian businesses, it might not fit your business’s needs—and that’s perfectly fine. Instead, you can try ADP, the best payroll company for extensive HR add-ons. Or try Wagepoint for an online payroll focus without much HR, Payforce for stellar reporting, or Wave Payroll for low-cost tax filing.

Want great accounting software that syncs with your payroll service? Look at our list of the year’s best accounting software for small businesses.

Not sure what to look for in a payroll company? At the bare minimum, payroll companies should provide these key services:

• Calculating and deducting payroll taxes from employee paychecks
• Remitting taxes to the federal and provincial or territorial governments
• Paying employees (usually via direct deposit or cheque)
• Creating year-end T4s/Relevés
• Generating records and financial statements, including year-end tax documentation
• Syncing payroll data with your accounting software

Some companies also offer HR benefits, time clocks, and employee self-service portals or apps. Make sure to consider your business’s unique needs while searching for a provider. For instance, if payroll on the go is crucial to your business, you’ll definitely want a payroll provider with an employer-facing app.

Want to learn more about payroll before searching for a provider? Check out these resources:

• The Ultimate Guide to Payroll
• How to Choose Payroll Software
• How to Set Up a Payroll Service

To rank the best payroll services for Canadian small businesses, we considered four key factors, weighting each one equally:

• Pricing
• Ease of use
• Customer service
• Payroll features

Disclaimer

At Business.org, our research is meant to offer general product and service recommendations. We don't guarantee that our suggestions will work best for each individual or business, so consider your unique needs when choosing products and services.