
Plans and Pricing
Free HR Software Plans and Trials Compared: What You Actually Get
How free plans, free trials and freemium HR tools differ, what they usually leave out and how to test them before committing your employee data.
How HR software plans are priced and what the quote usually leaves out.
HR software pricing looks simple on a vendor page and gets complicated on an invoice. Most U.S. vendors charge a monthly base fee plus a per-employee amount, then add charges for payroll runs, benefits administration, onboarding packages, performance modules and premium support. Some bundle everything into tiers, and professional employer organizations (PEOs) price by percentage of payroll or by a flat fee per employee.
The guides in this section explain each pricing model, show how to build a realistic budget from your own headcount, and point out the costs that tend to be missed: implementation, data import, per-filing fees, minimum monthly charges and annual renewal increases. They also cover free plans and trials, including what the free tier typically leaves out.
Use them together with the HR cost estimator and the PEO fee calculator in the tools section. Every number in the examples is illustrative, so replace it with figures from written quotes, and treat any published price as something to confirm directly with the vendor.


Plans and Pricing
How free plans, free trials and freemium HR tools differ, what they usually leave out and how to test them before committing your employee data.

Plans and Pricing
The extra charges that make an HR software bill larger than the quote: setup, add-ons, per-run fees, overages, support tiers and renewal increases.

Plans and Pricing
How HR software plans are priced in the U.S., what each tier usually includes and how to build a realistic monthly budget from your headcount.

Plans and Pricing
Compare PEO fees with HRIS and payroll software costs, including percentage-of-payroll math, bundled benefits and what changes legally with co-employment.

Plans and Pricing
Compare per-employee, tiered, flat-fee and percentage-of-payroll pricing for HR software, with break-even math to see which model costs less for your team.