Wave Payroll is the payroll add-on for Wave's free accounting platform, and the honest verdict is that it is a genuinely cheap way to run payroll for a very small team, but the documented gaps in automatic tax filing coverage by state and thinner HR features mean it is not a match for QuickBooks Payroll or Gusto once a business grows. This Wave Payroll review compares its documented pricing against QuickBooks Payroll and Gusto, and the pattern holds across published sources: Wave Payroll wins on low base cost paired with genuinely free core accounting, loses on tax filing depth and HR features compared with both competitors. Wave documents a Full-Access Payroll plan at $40 per month plus $6 per active employee or contractor, so verify current state-by-state tax filing coverage before committing.
For this review, we compared Wave Payroll's documented Full-Access and Limited-Access pricing, its tax filing coverage and integration with Wave's free accounting, against QuickBooks Payroll's deeper tax automation and native QuickBooks Online integration and Gusto's standalone payroll and benefits platform. We priced out a typical three-to-ten employee small business, weighed low cost against feature depth, and identified which businesses each tool fits best.
How We Compared These Accounting Tools
We compared Wave Payroll, QuickBooks Payroll, and Gusto using each vendor's public pricing pages, documented feature lists, and consistent patterns in published customer reviews. We did not run a live payroll cycle through any of the three accounts. Wave Payroll documents the lowest base cost of the three, purpose-built as an add-on to Wave's free core accounting rather than a standalone system, while QuickBooks Payroll documents deeper native integration with QuickBooks Online's ledger, and Gusto documents the most complete standalone payroll and benefits platform. We weighted four factors: total documented cost at a typical small employee count, breadth of automatic tax filing coverage by state, HR and benefits depth, and how well the tool fits a business already using Wave's free accounting.
Wave Payroll Priced Out: Full-Access and Limited-Access
Wave documents a Full-Access Payroll plan at $40 per month base fee plus roughly $6 per active employee or contractor, covering direct deposit, payroll tax filing, an employee self-service portal, and native integration with Wave's accounting. Wave's own support documentation states this base fee now includes automatic tax payments and filings across US states as of an April 2025 update, though other published sources describe full-service automatic filing as more complete in a smaller subset of states, with manual filing required elsewhere, so coverage details are worth confirming directly. A Limited-Access Subscription is documented at $17 per month, retaining historical payroll data and year-end tax forms without running new payroll. Verify current state-by-state tax filing coverage directly with Wave before committing, since published sources vary on the details.
The Strength: The Cheapest Base Fee Paired With Free Accounting
Wave Payroll's core appeal is its low documented base cost combined with Wave's genuinely free core accounting, which reviewers consistently report makes it the cheapest complete bookkeeping-plus-payroll combination available for a very small business. For a business already using Wave to invoice and track expenses, adding payroll at $40 per month plus a per-employee fee is documented as meaningfully cheaper than paying for a separate standalone payroll platform on top of accounting software. The employee self-service portal is documented as functional for the basics, letting staff view pay stubs and update banking details without extra admin overhead.
The Weaknesses: Tax Filing Coverage and HR Depth Both Lag
Three criticisms appear repeatedly in published reviews. First, automatic tax filing coverage is documented inconsistently across sources, with some describing full-service filing as available broadly and others noting gaps by state, meaning a business should confirm its own state's coverage before assuming full automation. Second, Wave Payroll is documented as significantly thinner on HR features than Gusto, with no meaningful benefits administration, onboarding tools, or HR advisory support bundled in. Third, customer support is documented in published reviews as slower and less specialized for payroll questions than either QuickBooks Payroll or Gusto offer at comparable price points. None of these are disqualifying for a very small, budget-conscious team, but they change the real fit for a business planning to grow past a handful of employees.
How Wave Payroll Stacks Up Against QuickBooks Payroll and Gusto
QuickBooks Payroll documents deeper native integration with QuickBooks Online's ledger and more consistently documented multi-state tax automation, at a documented cost above Wave's base fee. Our QuickBooks Payroll review covers that platform in depth. Gusto documents the most complete standalone payroll and benefits platform of the three, with reviewers consistently reporting its HR tools are the most polished, covered in our Gusto review. The table below sums up the trade-offs.
| Factor | Wave Payroll | QuickBooks Payroll | Gusto |
|---|---|---|---|
| Base price | $40/month plus $6/employee | About $50/month plus $6/employee (Core) | Documented from about $49/month plus $6/employee |
| Paired free accounting | Yes, Wave's core accounting | No, requires QuickBooks Online subscription | No, requires separate accounting software |
| Tax filing coverage | Documented as varying by source and state | Documented, broad multi-state coverage | Documented, broad multi-state coverage |
| HR and benefits depth | Documented as thin | Documented, strongest on Elite tier | Deepest documented HR and benefits |
| Best fit | Very small, budget-conscious teams | Existing QuickBooks Online users | Standalone payroll and HR priority |
Who Should Choose Wave Payroll Over QuickBooks or Gusto
Choose Wave Payroll when your books already live in Wave's free accounting and a low combined bill matters more than the deepest tax automation or HR features. Choose QuickBooks Payroll if your books are in QuickBooks Online and you want more consistently documented multi-state tax filing. Choose Gusto if standalone HR and benefits depth is the priority regardless of which accounting software you use. Our roundup of the best accounting software for small business ranks the field across use cases.
What Reviewers Consistently Praise and Pan About Wave Payroll
Praise clusters around the low combined cost of running Wave's free accounting alongside Wave Payroll's modest base fee, and the straightforward employee self-service portal for the basics. Pans cluster around the inconsistently documented tax filing coverage by state and the thin HR feature set compared with Gusto. A practical pattern emerges: very small teams already on Wave's free accounting report the low cost outweighs the thinner feature set, while businesses with employees in multiple states or needing HR support more often find QuickBooks Payroll or Gusto the better documented fit. Buy Wave Payroll for the low combined cost, not for the deepest tax or HR automation.
The bottom line: Wave Payroll remains the strongest documented choice we compared for a very small business already on Wave's free accounting that wants the lowest combined bill, though its inconsistently documented tax filing coverage and thin HR features mean growing businesses should compare QuickBooks Payroll or Gusto too. If low combined cost is your priority, Wave Payroll is the strongest option we compared; if deeper tax automation or HR features matter more, QuickBooks Payroll or Gusto will likely serve you better.
