Square Payroll vs Sage Payroll

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

Sage Payroll Software Tool

Product Basics

Based in the cloud, Square Payroll is suited for businesses of all sizes. Integrating with the well-known POS solution from the same company offers features that assist with processing pay, filing taxes, employee self-service and more. The support staff helps users with implementation, whether they need help with their first implementation or simply just assistance migrating data from an old interface. Its capabilities also provide time tracking, invoice creation, appointment scheduling, direct deposit and more.
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Sage HRMS Payroll is an HR system used by businesses of all sizes across all industries. It enables organizations to process pay in-house. It streamlines tasks such as tallying hours worked, calculating tax and managing data. The single platform approach lets users streamline their pay processes and ensure employees receive accurate paychecks at the end of each pay period. If you integrate with a full suite, users can automate various tasks concerning processing payments, including time and attendance tracking, benefits management and recruitment.
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$35 Monthly
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Tailored to your specific needs
$595 Annually
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Tailored to your specific needs
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Windows
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Chromebook
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On-Premise
Mobile
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On-Premise
Mobile

Product Assistance

Documentation
In Person
Live Online
Videos
Webinars
Documentation
In Person
Live Online
Videos
Webinars
Email
Phone
Chat
FAQ
Forum
Knowledge Base
24/7 Live Support
Email
Phone
Chat
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Knowledge Base
24/7 Live Support

Product Insights

  • Synchronized Systems: Fully synchronize the payroll solution with other Square systems, including partners that offer timecard solutions. Automatically calculate employee hours to run payroll.
  • Payroll On-The-Go: Run payroll directly from any internet-connected device with the mobile app. Creates a quick and seamless process that gets employees paid expediently, while administers don’t have to spend time tediously inputting data.
  • Affordable Small Businesses Payroll: Offers two pricing models, one of which is specifically designed to meet the needs of businesses that rely on contractors. The monthly subscription fee starts as low as $34 monthly for companies with standard employees. Hire contractors and spend only $5 monthly per contractor or employee.
  • Manageable Processes: Run payroll with only necessary employee information. Customize pay periods while employees can create their accounts, making the setup process quick and straightforward.
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  • Tax Assistance: Electronically generate and complete tax forms such as I-9s and file them automatically. In addition to guiding users through these forms, the web-based system can check forms against current regulations to ensure compliance.
  • Ensure Compliance Provide compliance with all local, state and federal tax, payroll and reporting regulations. Receive peace of mind about not getting penalized for inaccurate tax calculations or failure to submit accurate reports when necessary.
  • Automated Labor Data: Track information about employee worked hours and pay rates to make it easy to generate reports and minimize instances of overtime or improper pay.
  • Automated Deductions: Save time and energy by allowing the system to calculate employee deductions automatically. Account for factors like benefits plans or wage garnishments.
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  • Automatic Payroll: Import employee hours and overtime and calculate salaries to process each pay period automatically. Handles multiple pay rates and does all off-cycle and unlimited bonus runs for no extra charge. Customizes scheduling for payment. Process payroll by 8:00 p.m. PT, so employees get their direct deposit on payday.
  • Employee Self-Service: Have employees create their account, set up direct deposit, fill out necessary forms and even clock in for their shifts. Provide them with 24/7 access to these features to make changes as needed through the mobile app.
  • Tax Filing: Ensure compliance with Square Payroll’s tax functions. Manage W2s and automatically calculates and files tax withholdings, payments, and filings at the local, state and federal level. Supports post-tax deductions and reimbursements. Files federal and state taxes quarterly and files and sends out W-2s and 1099-MISC forms at the end of the year. Includes forms such as form 940, form 941, form 944 and W-3s.
  • Reporting: Provides new hire reports, quarterly reports and sales reports to provide real-time analysis and make more informed decisions about the business. Send reports to key stakeholders.
  • Team Management: Set schedules, track hours, customize access for different groups and provide employee onboarding. Comes in one of two versions, team management and team plus. Team management includes reporting for time cards, time clocks, scheduling for shifts, break tracking and overtime reporting. Team plus has broader functionality such as early break prevention, report for break violations, preventing early clock-ins from break, notes on timecards, many wage rates, unlimited permissions and more.
  • Compliance: Updates automatically to ensure users stay abreast of changes to tax laws and stay in compliance with payment best practices. Save time and money by obeying regulations.
  • Benefits Management: Customize and manage benefits packages while the integrated benefits management functionality enables the system to calculate and make deductions automatically when running payroll. Provides workers’ comp through AP Intego.
  • Integrations: Integrates with QuickBooks Online for users who want to include accounting and can function with any other Square product.
  • Time Tracking: Synchronize Square Payroll with the vendor’s Point of Sale app at no additional cost to allow employees to clock in for their shift directly at the register. Employees can then import timecards, or synchronize with a variety of other popular time tracking systems. Managers can also enter employee hours manually. Tracks sick leave, PTO and overtime. Use customizable user permissions to manage it effectively.
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  • Tax Filing: Deposit, file and pay all payroll taxes directly through Sage Payroll. For additional peace of mind, Sage pledges to pay all fines and penalties for any errors if they are the party at fault.
  • Benefits Management: Administer and manage benefits, including flexible spending accounts and retirement plans such as 401k and simple IRAs.
  • Time and Attendance Management: Allow employees to clock-in and clock-out directly through the system. Timeclock information can then be used to calculate employee hours for payroll processing.
  • Employee Self-Service: Log into the system to view essential documents like pay stubs and year-end tax documents (including W-2s).
  • Integration: Compatible with a variety of third-party vendors. For users with additional payroll needs, the system also offers various add-on products, including HR compliance, recruiting and data management.
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Product Ranking

#21

among all
Payroll Software

#24

among all
Payroll Software

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User Sentiment Summary

Excellent User Sentiment 1069 reviews
Good User Sentiment 92 reviews
93%
of users recommend this product

Square Payroll has a 'excellent' User Satisfaction Rating of 93% when considering 1069 user reviews from 4 recognized software review sites.

70%
of users recommend this product

Sage Payroll has a 'good' User Satisfaction Rating of 70% when considering 92 user reviews from 4 recognized software review sites.

n/a
5.0 (1)
4.4 (23)
3.3 (30)
4.66 (571)
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4.6 (471)
3.6 (56)
4.5 (4)
3.0 (5)

Awards

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

User Favorite Award

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Synopsis of User Ratings and Reviews

Simple UI: Over 90% of users who discussed the ease-of-use were impressed by the system.
Affordable: Reviewers felt the pricing was appropriate and affordable in more than 90% of comments that discussed it.
Efficient Payroll Processing: More than 90% of users who discussed payroll processing felt it worked well.
Highly Recommended: In reviews that discussed recommending the service, over 80% said they’d advise other businesses to use it.
Filing Taxes and Reports: More than 80% of comments that discussed filing taxes and year-end reporting were happy with its capabilities.
Adequate Functionality: Users liked the features and felt they worked well in over 80% of reviews that talked about it.
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Excellent HR Functionality: Over 90% of reviewers discussing the HR functions said it worked well.
Useful Reporting: Commenters liked reporting in just under 90% of reviews that discussed it.
Successful Functionality: More than 80% of users who talked about the features were pleased with their functionality.
Great Price: Reviewers were pleased with the price in over 70% of reviews discussing the cost.
Helpful Customer Service: Over 70% of commenters that discussed support felt it was pleasant and useful.
User Friendly: Reviewers felt the system was easy to use in over 60% of comments about the platform’s usability.
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Limited Customization Options: Over 70% of reviews that talked about customization said the options were inadequate.
No Employee Discounts: Businesses had trouble giving employees discounts in over 70% of comments that discussed it.
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Performance Issues: Over 80% of users who talked about the system’s performance said they ran into some bugs and crashes.
Bad Setup: Reviewers ran into issues and sharp learning curves during implementation in over 60% of comments about it.
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Square Payroll is an online payment, time and attendance and POS system. Users like it best because it’s easy to use with an intuitive design that can be adopted quickly. They felt the pricing was fair and were especially pleased with its efficient processing of payment. Many users said they’d recommend it to other businesses similar to their own and were happy with its ability to create and file sales, quarterly and new hire reports. Lastly, they were pleased with its features, specifically its easy sign-in, reporting, time tracking and tax calculating. On the con side, customization options were minimal as it’s a reasonably straightforward system. Many companies that use the solution are restaurants that either want to give employees discounts on food or pay with money from their upcoming paycheck. They were displeased with its inability to allow this. Overall, this solution is excellent for small businesses, especially retail and food service. Larger companies should look elsewhere.

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Sage HRMS Payroll is a payment solution that’s part of the broader software suite. Users enjoyed its useful functionality, ease of use, intuitive layout and good HR features. The reporting features were prevalent because of the comprehensive breakdowns and different levels of permissions on the report. Many also liked that there was no hard close after closing the payroll. Users also felt that customer service was polite and was able to help many through challenges. Overall, reviewers also said it was well-priced and affordable. Its biggest drawback came in the form of performance issues. Users experienced instances of getting kicked out or running into programs that were buggy or crashed. Reviewers were also displeased with the setup process they felt was over-complicated and took far too long. Sage HRMS Payroll may be a good choice for medium and large enterprise organizations who are looking to integrate HR functions as well.

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