Payroll pricing per run vs per month: how to compare costs

Which option fits your business?

Use a full year for the calculation whenever possible. Monthly pricing usually follows subscribed months and billable people; usage pricing follows the people charged on each run. Minimums, bonus runs and setup fees can change the result. A $0 manual plan eliminates the software service charge while leaving payment and submission work with the employer.

Start with two formulas

For a simple monthly subscription, recurring cost = monthly base + employee count × monthly employee rate. For a per-run service, recurring cost = people paid × number of runs × per-run rate. Add any base charge, apply the provider’s minimum rules and include optional services afterwards.

These simplified formulas assume the same people are paid each time. If participation varies, add the charges run by run. Do not charge a person in your spreadsheet for a run in which they are not paid unless the provider’s billing rules require it.

A ten-person example

PayHr uses a $6 automated-run fee. The subscription illustration uses Wagepoint Unlimited’s $40 base and $6 monthly person fee. A one-run business should also check its Solo plan; this table holds one subscription tier constant to explain the arithmetic.

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.

Biweekly is different from twice monthly

Twice-monthly payroll has 24 regular runs in a year. A typical biweekly year has 26, and some payroll calendars have 27. Count actual pay dates for the year you are budgeting. For ten people on PayHr automation, 24 runs give $1,440 in usage fees; 26 give $1,560; 27 give $1,620. Setup, optional filings and taxes are additional.

At an unchanged $100 monthly subscription, twelve months total $1,200. That is a pricing-model illustration, not a guarantee that rates or headcount will stay constant. Include corrections and bonus runs according to the actual provider rules.

Find a break-even point without choosing by price alone

For ten people at $6 per run, each full run costs $60. A $100 subscription is crossed between one and two runs per month: $100 ÷ $60 is about 1.67. Since actual payroll runs are whole events, compare your real calendar rather than treating the fraction as a usable schedule.

Setup changes the first-month comparison; included year-end work can change the annual one. Ask what happens during months with no payroll, what counts as a billable person, and whether a failed payment or correction adds a charge. Use our multi-provider pricing table to build a shortlist, then verify the full scope.

Avoid the two-runs-per-month shortcut

Suppose ten people are paid biweekly on a calendar with 26 dates. Multiplying a two-run month by twelve counts only 24 dates. At $6 per person per automated run, the omitted two dates are $120 of annual PayHr usage. The correct usage total is $1,560 rather than $1,440.

If someone joins halfway through the year, count their paid runs separately instead of charging the full-year headcount on every date. This small spreadsheet change is more useful than comparing the largest price printed on each provider’s page.

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

Frequently asked questions

Is biweekly payroll the same as semi-monthly payroll?

No. Semi-monthly means twice per month, or 24 dates annually. A biweekly calendar typically has 26 dates and sometimes 27. Count the dates for your specific year.

Does free manual payroll become paid after several runs?

PayHr Manual includes unlimited manual runs. The $6 charge applies to optional automation per person per automated run, not to an ordinary manual run.

Put your next payday in order

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