Payroll Mate vs QuickBooks Comparison

Payroll is an absolutely crucial business process, and because it’s often complex and tedious many entrepreneurs rely on a professional payroll service or software to do the job. 

Two of the leading online services to consider are Payroll Mate and QuickBooks. To help you determine which is better, and which might be best for you and your business, we have thoroughly reviewed their services by putting ourselves in the shoes of an entrepreneur. 

Read on to make the choice that will keep your business on the surest path to success. 

• Many features to make doing in-house payroll processing simple
• Good value compared to most payroll service providers
• Free trial download available

• Easy to use software
• All plans include health insurance and 401K administration
• Part of the Intuit product suite (easy integration with Quickbooks accounting)

After a thorough assessment, we have determined that QuickBooks offers the better value and broader service offerings.

Explore Quickbooks

Pros and Cons

Payroll Mate

QuickBooks

Features and Services Overview

Payroll Mate is a payroll software that you can download and use to do your payroll in-house. It calculates your withholdings and your taxes for you so that you don’t have to do it manually.

QuickBooks is a payroll service that also offers HR tools and employee benefits. They handle your payroll for you, so that you can focus on other business tasks. 

Quickbooks also offers software, but this review is focused on their payroll provider services. 

Plans Pricing

The Payroll Mate software costs $149 annually and allows you to easily do your payroll in-house.

QuickBooks has three plans. The QuickBooks base plan is $45 per month plus $5 per employee per month, or a minimum of $600 a year. It offers full-service payroll, including W-2s and 1099s, as well as health insurance benefits and 401K plans.

QuickBooks’ middle plan is $75 per month plus $8 per employee per month. It has the additional benefits of same-day direct deposit and time tracking on the go, enabling employees to clock in and track hours on their phones. You’ll also get HR support and workers’ compensation administration. 

QuickBooks’ top-tier plan is $125 per month plus $10 per employee per month. It has the unique benefit of tax penalty protection: if you’re fined for late tax filings, QuickBooks will cover it up to $25,000, subject to terms and conditions. You’ll also have a personal HR advisor. 

Payroll Mate Software vs QuickBooks Core Plan

The main difference between the Payroll Mate software and the QuickBooks plan is that QuickBooks handles the payroll for you, while Payroll Mate helps you do payroll in-house. 

Payroll Mate Website Interface and Navigation

The site is user-friendly. It clearly shows you what Payroll Mate offers, explaining all its features and benefits. You have the option to purchase immediately or download a free trial. 

How’s the signup process navigation?

We downloaded the free trial in just a few minutes. When you open the software, you’ll see a sample dashboard so that you can understand how the software will work for you.

On the dashboard you can view and print payroll checks, see employee information, print forms, and generate reports. 

You can also purchase blank checks and other forms. 

Before you start using the software, you’ll enter detailed company information.

You’ll also enter information about your employees.

When you’re ready to buy, you’ll see several options, which is a bit confusing, since none of the options were previously explained on the site.

After you select the product, you’ll enter your state and be given your total.

Overall, it was a bit of a “clunky” process that took some time. 

How’s the mobile experience?

Payroll Mate does not have a mobile app. 

In Summary

The site is easy to use at first, and the free download is a handy way to get a feel for what you’re getting for your money. But figuring out how the software works and getting to the actual purchase point is overly complicated; the site’s usability is certainly sub-optimal. 

Payroll Mate Customer Support

We tested all three forms of Payroll Mate customer support, as detailed below.  

Chat support

Live chat support was not available. The chat button took us to a form to fill out to receive an email response. We asked the cost to add direct deposit as an option with their software. We did not receive a response, although we did receive a response to our direct email, detailed below.

Support Rating:

Response time:

Reasonable

Phone support

Phone support is available M-F 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. CST. We called at 9 a.m. CST on a Monday and were on hold for nearly 30 minutes before we gave up. We tried again the next day in the afternoon and were on hold for 20 minutes before we gave up again.

Support Rating:

Response time:

Reasonable

Email support

We asked the same question about the cost of adding direct deposit through their direct email address instead of the form. We received a response within an hour. 

Support Rating:

Response time:

Reasonable

QuickBooks Website Interface and Navigation

The site is user-friendly. The plans are easy to find, with good detail on features and pricing. You can even get more information on each individual service. It’s laid out well and easy to understand.

How’s the signup process navigation?

When you view all the packages, you’re advised to select one to set up an account. After you select your plan, you’re offered bundled plans that include QuickBooks accounting features. You can select one of those plans, or select “just payroll”. 

Then you go to check-out, where you’ll set up your account and password. The next step is to enter credit card information, which is unusual, as most competitors do not charge until the first payroll run. 

This means that with Quickbooks you need to be absolutely certain of your choices when you’re setting up your account. 

How’s the mobile experience?

QuickBooks has a robust mobile app for employers. You can enter employee hours, submit payroll, view payroll taxes and forms, and even pay payroll taxes. They also have an app for employees to track their hours and clock in or clock out. 

Th employers’ app is far superior to those of competitors. Many payroll services do not even have an app for employers to manage payroll. 

In Summary

The site is quite user-friendly and information is easy to find. The only issue was that new clients must pay immediately when they sign-up, which seems a bit aggressive. Otherwise, the site is not very “salesy” and just guides visitors to the optimal plan. Overall, a pleasant customer experience.

QuickBooks Customer Support

We tested all three forms of QuickBooks customer support, as detailed below.  

Chat support

We asked chat support a simple question – do you offer the option of paying employees by direct deposit or paper check? She asked us several questions before saying she had to route us to a sales person, and asked for our email and phone number. This was disappointing as we just wanted a simple answer – which we never got.  

Support Rating:

Response time:

Reasonable

Phone support

Phone customer support is only available if you have an account. Non-customers can only contact sales, so we did and asked the same question. The answer was yes, both are available, but we were also pressed to sign up.

Support Rating:

Response time:

Reasonable

Email support

Again, email support is only available if you have an account. 

Support Rating:

Response time:

Reasonable

Verdict

After a thorough assessment, we have determined that QuickBooks offers the better value and broader service offerings. With QuickBooks you’ll save time and enjoy a better experience. 

The main advantage of Payroll Mate is that it offers a less expensive alternative if you want to handle your payroll in-house, but we feel QuickBooks offers a lot for the price, making it the better option. 

Our approach

As a leading human resources advisory site, we take our responsibilities seriously. We understand that countless entrepreneurs, and potential entrepreneurs, rely on our judgments and insights, particularly when it comes to managing their business.

As a result, our writers do their utmost to gain a comprehensive understanding of the services offered and the actual customer experience. In this case, we:

• Examined every single page of both the Payroll Mate and QuickBooks websites
• Reviewed all of their offerings
• Put ourselves in the customer’s shoes, creating accounts
• Communicated with customer service via chat, email and phone
• Gained a full understanding of the customer experience and service value

Thanks to this full immersion in the actual customer experience, our reviewer and team are able to provide the most complete and insightful comparison of Payroll Mate and QuickBooks payroll services.