Independent · founder-run · prices verified monthly

The hiring stack, priced honestly

Payroll platforms won't tell you their real per-seat cost. Review sites rank whoever pays most. We verify the published prices, walk the public demos, and cite what real users report — then tell you which tool fits your team, and who each one is wrong for.

Browse the reviews Cost calculator
42 SERPs audited by hand Every price carries its check date $0 accepted for rankings
Payroll at a glanceChecked: {DATE}
R RipplingConsolidating payroll + IT + benefits from $8/user + modules→ G GustoSimple US payroll, published prices from $49 + $6/user→ D DeelGlobal contractors & EOR EOR ~$599/seat→
Not sure which? The calculator prices your exact team in 30 seconds.

Start here — the founder's path

01
Form the company
LLC services, registered agents, virtual addresses
 02
Run payroll
Rippling vs Gusto vs Deel, with real invoices
 03
Check the hire
Timelines, what shows up, which service
 04
Pay the team
Contractors abroad without wire-fee bleed

Latest teardowns

All payroll reviews

Every guide carries the date we last re-checked the numbers.

Rippling pricing: what you'll actually pay

The base fee is the ad. The modules are the bill. We priced a real 8-person team, line by line.

Checked: July 31, 2026from $8/user/mo + modules

Rippling vs Deel: one rubric, no vendor spin

Both companies publish comparisons of each other. Here's the one neither would publish.

Checked: July 31, 2026US payroll vs global EOR

Deel review: pros, cons, and who should skip it

What Reddit gets right about Deel, what it gets wrong, and the alternatives per use case.

Checked: July 31, 2026EOR from ~$599/mo

Payroll cost calculator

Your headcount, your mix of employees and contractors — the real monthly bill across three platforms.

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Why trust a site you've never heard of?

Because we show our work: every price is checked against the official source and stamped with the date, every claim from the community carries a link, and the methodology is public. When a tool is a bad fit, we say so on the page that reviews it.

  1. 1Prices verified, with datesEvery number is checked against the official source and stamped with the day we checked it.
  2. 2Public demos, documentedWe walk the vendors’ own product tours and show what’s actually inside — with attribution.
  3. 3Every review names a bad fitIf we can't say who shouldn't buy, we don't publish.