QuickBooks Payroll Pricing (2026): Workforce Plans and Fees

What does each QuickBooks Payroll plan cost?

QuickBooks Payroll has three plans: Workforce Payroll at $50 a month plus $7 per employee, Workforce Premium at $88 plus $13, and Workforce Elite at $134 plus $17. All three file federal and state payroll taxes, include 1099 e-filing, and run month to month with no annual contract.

Premium adds time tracking, hiring and onboarding tools, and an expert review of your setup. Elite adds done-for-you setup, a personal HR advisor and tax penalty protection. Source: Intuit’s pricing page.

What happened to QuickBooks Payroll Core?

QuickBooks Payroll Core is now called Workforce Payroll. Intuit renamed all three payroll plans when it launched QuickBooks Workforce on May 6, 2026: Payroll Core became Workforce Payroll, Payroll Premium became Workforce Premium, and Payroll Elite became Workforce Elite. Existing subscribers moved to the matching tier and picked up its new HR features. A page that still quotes “Payroll Core” prices is showing the old lineup. Check its per-employee fee against the table above.

What will QuickBooks Payroll cost for my team?

At 10 employees, QuickBooks Payroll costs $120 a month on Workforce Payroll, $218 on Premium and $304 on Elite, at list price. The table below is our sums of published prices: base fee plus the per-employee fee times headcount, before taxes and add-ons.

The intro offer halves only the base fee, so its value shrinks as you grow: at 50 employees on Workforce Payroll it saves $25 a month on a $400 bill. Intuit’s page shows no end date for the offer.

Is it cheaper with QuickBooks Online accounting?

No: a payroll and accounting bundle costs the Workforce plan’s price plus the QuickBooks Online plan’s price, and the per-employee fee stays the same. We built each bundle in Intuit’s plan builder on October 23, 2026.

Buy the bundle if you need the books anyway; the intro offer halves both base fees for 3 months. If you already pay for QuickBooks Online, add a Workforce plan to that subscription instead of buying a second accounting plan.

What costs extra?

QuickBooks Payroll’s monthly price covers payroll plus federal and state tax filing. Four things sit outside it:

• Benefits: health insurance (Allstate), 401(k) (Vestwell), workers’ comp (Next) and an HR advisor (Mineral) are offered on every plan but priced separately by those partners.
• Local payroll tax: Intuit’s payroll overview names federal and state filing and doesn’t mention city or county taxes, so ask before you buy if you have them.
• The end of the intro offer: month 4 is the first full-price bill.
• Contractors only: if you pay no employees, Contractor Payments at $25 a month is the cheaper plan; whether those workers can stay contractors is covered in 1099 vs W-2 for employers.

Is QuickBooks payroll being discontinued?

QuickBooks online payroll is not being discontinued: Intuit renamed it QuickBooks Workforce in May 2026 and still sells all three plans. The product that stopped selling is QuickBooks Desktop Enhanced Payroll, which Intuit no longer sells to new US subscribers after September 30, 2024. Existing Desktop payroll subscribers can keep renewing.

Is QuickBooks Payroll worth the price?

QuickBooks Workforce Payroll is worth its price mainly if your books already live in QuickBooks Online, which Intuit says Workforce is built into. On price alone, it ranks No. 9 of the 11 full-service payroll plans we priced at 10 employees, $1 a month above Gusto Simple:

Not every provider on the market. How we rank

The full ranking, with what each plan includes, is in our guide to payroll software for small business. At 10 employees, Patriot Full Service costs $33 a month less than Workforce Payroll. Roll by ADP also lists a QuickBooks Online integration, so moving off QuickBooks payroll doesn’t mean giving up the sync; see what ADP charges for Roll and RUN. If you’re weighing the two most common choices, read Gusto vs QuickBooks Payroll, or compare the cheapest payroll service options for every plan we track.