QuickBooks Payroll vs Payroll Mate

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Our analysts compared QuickBooks Payroll vs Payroll Mate based on data from our 400+ point analysis of Payroll Software, user reviews and our own crowdsourced data from our free software selection platform.

Product Basics

Quickbooks is an Intuit payroll and accounting solution designed to meet the needs of both small and medium-sized, growing businesses. There are a variety of plans, starting with small packages built for independent contractors and self-employed individuals. It handles payment, calculating and filing taxes, benefits management, direct deposits and more.

The variety of products and packages enables users to find a solution that fits a company’s unique needs. Quickbooks offers specialized features for organizations in a variety of fields, including manufacturing and retail. Overall, it serves 1.4 million businesses.
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Payroll Mate is an on-premise payroll and accounting software that helps prepare pay runs, compensate employees, print pay stubs, calculate taxes, generate reports, process tax forms and more.

It helps control payroll-related functionalities with the help of easier access to staff information, comprehensive reports, compliance to minimum wage laws, instant data backups, holiday and sick leave tracking, employee onboarding, password protection and other business-related functionalities. The product works flexibly with various accounting software including Intuit QuickBooks, Sage Peachtree and Microsoft Accounting.
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$37.50 Monthly
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$219 One-Time
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Tailored to your specific needs
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Product Insights

  • Save Time: Connects with bank accounts and syncs with various apps to help streamline payroll processing. Saves users more than 40 hours monthly on average and spares them from tedious manual data entry.
  • Save Money: Saves the average users more than $3,500 annually through its assistance with tax filing and other processes.
  • Easy-to-Use: Provides a simple interface so HR managers and others can store and access relevant accounting information easily. Centralizes and organizes data, making it simple to access.
  • Simplified Administration: Manages benefits, payments, time tracking, workers’ compensation, inventory, compliance and other essential business functions from one location. Simplifies processes and handles all of them through one solution.
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  • Automated Compliance: Calculate error-free net pay, social security tax, medicare, local payroll taxes and more automatically. Prepare 941, 944, 940, W2 and W3 payroll forms and a number of state payroll forms. 
  • Secure: Send regular reminders to users to backup company data each time the software is closed to avoid data loss. 
  • Accessibility: Export report data in PDF, CSV, JPEG, BMP and other formats. 
  • Offline Mode: Manually update software in case of no internet access. 
  • Flexible: Register different jobs and rates on the same check for an employee in case of changing job functions. Supports payroll generation for seasonal and part-time employees. 
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  • Payroll Processing: Operate 24-hour direct deposit. Pay employees, access integration services for employees, calculate taxes automatically and file taxes directly through the system. Automate payments to save time.
  • Benefits Management: Administrate workers’ compensation, health insurance, retirement plans and more. Covers workers’ compensation through AP Intego. Offers medical, dental and vision insurance through SimplyInsured. Compare different plans to judge the coverage, value and deductibles and make informed decisions. Calculates deductions for health, medical and dental automatically. Deducts and calculates contributions for 401(k)s from each employee paycheck.
  • Mobile Capabilities: Create, track and send invoices via smartphone as well as payment reminders.
  • Workers’ Compensation: Manage workers’ comp, understand state requirements and laws and pick a policy through AP Intego. Provides a free quote and automates premiums.
  • Inventory: Import information from Excel and sync with Amazon, Etsy and other similar websites to track products, cost of goods, create purchase orders and manage vendors.
  • HR Management and Compliance: Provides HR resources and consultation to help with compliance through Mammoth Inc. Creates forms from templates for onboarding checklists, employee handbooks and job descriptions. Aids in creating policies, obeying HR laws, hiring and conflict management.
  • Time Tracking: Track and add billable hours to invoices. Review and put a stamp of approval on employee timesheets. Provides tracking through TSheets. Link hours to specific jobs, save time during payment processing and see real-time insights into employee work hours. Approve and enter employee time cards.
  • Reporting: Run and export a variety of reports. Create customizable reports for balance sheets, expenses and tracking profit and loss. Create, export, print and customize reports to share with accountants or critical stakeholders. Covers deductions, tax liability, contributions, more than one worksite, summary for taxes and wages, vacation, workers’ compensation and sick leave.
  • Taxes: Helps users find tax deductions. Store photos of receipts, share books with accountants and sort business expenses by tax categories to help streamline tax filing.
  • Penalty Payments: Covers payments of up to $25,000 if errors in local, state or federal taxes result in a penalty. Communicates with the IRS. Reviews taxes with experts before sending them to the IRS to cut off issues before they start. Doesn’t cover specific penalties in some situations such as fraud, insufficient funds, healthcare administration, employee classification and several others.
  • Project Tracking: Track project details such as labor costs, expenses and profits.
  • Payroll Plans: Offers three separate plans for payroll needs.
    • Core: Provides core functionality such as payment and calculating payroll taxes.
    • Premium: Covers team management and provides more powerful tools and services for payroll.
    • Elite: Gives access to experts on-demand to answer payroll questions. Gives access to tax penalty protection.
  • Implementation: Aids in transferring current payroll information to the new system. Provides expert support to help users with initial setup and compliance.
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  • Payroll Management: Process payrolls, print checks, calculate salaries, prepare paystubs and more on a centralized platform. Categorize checks, add or delete employees and allow users to access personal information. 
  • Direct Deposits: Save time and costs by simply sending quick, direct deposits into the beneficiary's account. Automatically generates an ACH file to send to the bank and process payments for employees. 
  • Time-Tracking: Calculate working hours, leaves and absences, paid time offs and more for each employee. When creating a payroll check, the software calculates editable vacation and sick hours earned and used. 
  • Automation: Comes with a built-in tax calculator for payroll and paychecks in accordance with federal and state withholdings. Tax tables and formulas are updated regularly and pushed via a flexible touch-free-auto-update mechanism. 
  • Security: Use the password-protected access system to maintain confidentiality. Mask employees' social security numbers on pay stubs to avoid unauthorized access to the personal information of specific employees by other individuals. 
  • Agriculture Payroll: Benefit from agricultural business tools to manage payroll for farm workers and labor contractors. File IRS annual tax form 943, pay workers' salaries, add payroll income based on the chosen business model while staying in compliance with IRS regulations. 
  • Fringe Benefits: Supports fringe benefits to employees for the performance of services, like when an employee uses a business vehicle to commute to and from work. 
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Product Ranking

#47

among all
Payroll Software

#103

among all
Payroll Software

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Analyst Rating Summary

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Analyst Ratings for Functional Requirements Customize This Data Customize This Data

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Benefits Management Dashboard And Reporting Expense Management Mobile Capabilities Payroll And Tax Management Platform Capabilities Security And Compliance Time And Attendance Management 38 92 74 94 91 75 80 91 0 25 50 75 100
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User Sentiment Summary

Great User Sentiment 626 reviews
Excellent User Sentiment 244 reviews
89%
of users recommend this product

QuickBooks Payroll has a 'great' User Satisfaction Rating of 89% when considering 626 user reviews from 4 recognized software review sites.

94%
of users recommend this product

Payroll Mate has a 'excellent' User Satisfaction Rating of 94% when considering 244 user reviews from 2 recognized software review sites.

4.7 (17)
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4.0 (25)
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4.67 (122)
4.5 (550)
4.7 (122)
3.5 (34)
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Awards

SelectHub research analysts have evaluated QuickBooks Payroll and concluded it earns best-in-class honors for Mobile Capabilities.

Mobile Capabilities Award

Payroll Mate stands above the rest by achieving an ‘Excellent’ rating as a User Favorite.

User Favorite Award

Synopsis of User Ratings and Reviews

Excellent Functionality: Over 90% of users that discussed functionality were happy with the features, including the tax filing, automation and employee salaries and hours functions.
Simple to Use: Reviewers that talked about the ease of use felt it had a simple and intuitive interface over 80% of the time.
Manage Salary and Hours: More than 80% who discussed the employee time tracking and salary functions felt it worked well.
Affordable: Just under 70% of users who discussed price felt it was an affordable option.
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Ease of Use: Many users find Payroll Mate intuitive and easy to navigate, even for those with limited accounting experience. They appreciate the straightforward interface and clear instructions, making it simple to set up and manage payroll tasks.
Affordable Pricing: Compared to other payroll software options, Payroll Mate is often praised for its competitive pricing, especially for small businesses and freelancers. Users appreciate the value for money, especially when considering the features and functionality offered.
Reliable Support: Users consistently highlight the responsive and helpful customer support provided by Payroll Mate. They appreciate the availability of phone, email, and online resources to address any questions or issues promptly.
Time-Saving Features: Payroll Mate automates many payroll tasks, such as calculating taxes and generating paychecks, saving users significant time and effort. Users appreciate the ability to streamline their payroll process and focus on other aspects of their business.
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Bad for Large Organizations: Over 90% of reviewers that discussed using the system for big organizations felt the system wasn’t complex enough.
Mixed Customer Service: Users were split on customer support quality, with 52% approving and 48% disliking the service.
Issues with Price: While overall, reviewers that discussed price felt it affordable, over 30% were displeased and said they got overcharged or billed after they’d already canceled.
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Limited Mobile Functionality: Some users have reported that the mobile app is not as robust as the desktop version, making it difficult to manage payroll on the go. For example, some users have found that they cannot access certain features or that the app is slow and buggy.
Customer Support Issues: Several users have expressed frustration with the customer support experience, citing long wait times and unhelpful responses. For instance, some users have reported that they were unable to get their questions answered or that the support team was not able to resolve their issues.
Integration Challenges: Some users have encountered difficulties integrating Payroll Mate with other business software, such as accounting programs. For example, some users have reported that the integration process was complex or that the software did not work as expected.
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Quickbooks Payroll is part of the Intuit suite of programs. Commenters felt it was easy to use, train and adopt with a simple interface that worked well. They found it affordable and found the integrations of time tracking with employee salaries made running payroll a quick process. Commenters said it was reasonably priced and the features worked well. The most popular functionality included automation, tax calculations and filing, and its ability to centralize and organize data. The largest complaint by far was that this program isn’t complex enough for larger organizations. Reviewers recommended only using it for small organizations. Reactions to customer service were very mixed. Reviewers who were satisfied said the support workers got back to them quickly, were friendly, helpful and called back promptly. Other users had adverse reactions say the staff was incompetent, complaining that there was only chat support and complained of always getting different answers. While most were pleased with the price, some reported getting overcharged and said it was difficult to cancel with charges showing up well after they’d terminated the service. Quickbooks Payroll is a good choice for small and medium-sized businesses. Be sure to understand what functionality comes with which pricing plan before purchasing.

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Payroll Mate is a desktop-based payroll software that's been around for a while, and it's been a popular choice for small businesses. But is it still a good option in today's market? Users praise Payroll Mate for its affordability and ease of use. It's a standalone program, so you don't need to rely on the cloud or a monthly subscription. This is a big selling point for businesses that are concerned about security or prefer to have complete control over their data. Payroll Mate also offers a wide range of features, including the ability to calculate taxes, print checks, and generate tax forms. It's compatible with popular accounting software like QuickBooks and Sage 50, making it easy to integrate into your existing systems. However, Payroll Mate has its drawbacks. Some users have complained about the software's interface, which they find outdated and clunky. Others have noted that the software can be slow and prone to errors. Payroll Mate also lacks some of the advanced features found in cloud-based payroll solutions, such as mobile access and real-time reporting. Overall, Payroll Mate is a good option for small businesses that are looking for a simple, affordable payroll solution. It's not the most feature-rich or user-friendly option on the market, but it gets the job done. If you're a small business owner who prefers to keep things simple and manage your payroll in-house, Payroll Mate might be a good fit for you.

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