PayHr vs Payworks: quotes and payroll operations

Which option fits your business?

For five employees paid twice monthly, the recurring examples are $0 for PayHr Manual, $60 for PayHr automation and $72.50 for Payworks. At ten employees, Payworks’ $99 estimate falls below PayHr automation’s $120. That makes team size important, but the quote’s setup charges and the services included still need to be compared.

Pricing and assumptions

The Payworks quote tool asks for employee count, pay frequency and province. For Ontario and semi-monthly payroll, its live calculator returned $36.25, $49.50 and $89.25 per pay period for 5, 10 and 25 employees respectively. The table multiplies those amounts by two. Estimates exclude one-time setup, taxes, optional modules and printed-report delivery; prices require provider approval. Its payroll overview describes multi-location and multiple-business-number support.

PayHr Manual — Free ($0 service fee). Unlimited employees, contractors and manual pay runs, with manual T4/T4A and ROE workflows. Your team arranges and verifies wage payments, tax remittances and manual submissions; bank or adviser charges may still apply. Paid automation is optional.

Examples compare service fees before tax, wages, employer contributions and remittances. They exclude promotions, optional filings and extras unless stated. All employees are paid on every run; there are no contractors. These are budgeting examples, not equivalent service packages or provider quotes.

What PayHr includes

PayHr has free manual payroll and optional automated payments at $6 per person per automated run, plus a one-time $25 automation setup fee. Optional automated ROEs cost $5 each and T4/T4A filings $15 each. Manual document workflows remain free. Review the full PayHr pricing before choosing automation.

PayHr’s employee workflow is Ontario-first; Quebec payroll is not supported. A payment method is saved during workspace setup. Payroll approval records the run and does not itself transfer wages or remit taxes. Compare the work you retain as well as the fee.

Compare a real operating scenario

If your organisation has several locations, write down whether they share a business number, payroll calendar and approver. Bring that structure to the quote process. A price calculated for one simple payroll may not represent the configuration you actually need.

Request separate amounts for implementation, recurring payroll, time tracking, absence management, year-end work and support. Keep items that are included on the same worksheet as paid extras. This prevents a low headline amount from appearing cheaper merely because it describes less work.

What to check before choosing

Ask for a demonstration of your reviewer permissions and location-level reporting. Check the steps for a late timesheet and an employee moving between locations. PayHr may suit a simpler Ontario-first workflow, but confirm the actual requirements instead of assuming it replaces a broader configuration.

For a broader shortlist, see our Canadian payroll pricing comparison and pay-frequency cost guide.

A ten-person employer comparing its first year

Take an Ontario business with ten employees and 24 regular runs. PayHr automation costs $1,440 in annual usage, plus $25 setup if newly activated: $1,465 before optional documents and tax. The Payworks calculator’s $49.50 per period produces $1,188 for the same 24 runs, before its unspecified setup charge, extras and tax.

The recurring difference is $252 in Payworks’ favour. A first-year saving cannot be finalised until the excluded charges are known. PayHr Manual has no software service fee for those runs, but the employer retains the work of arranging and checking payments and submissions.

Illustrative scenario, not a customer case study. Costs use the assumptions and source rates stated in this guide.

Frequently asked questions

Are the Payworks figures monthly subscription prices?

No. The calculator returns a fee per pay period. We selected Ontario and semi-monthly payroll, then multiplied the result by two for a month with two runs.

Does the Payworks estimate include setup?

No. The calculator excludes one-time setup and taxes, flags additional printed-report and delivery charges, and says prices are subject to approval. The examples also exclude optional modules.

Put your next payday in order

Explore PayHr’s payroll software and free manual payroll plan, or follow the workspace setup guide.