OnPay vs. Payroll by Wave

Overview
ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price
OnPay
Score 9.7 out of 10
N/A
OnPay's payroll and HR is designed for people who want to spend more time running their business, and less on back-office tasks. The application aims to enable users to: • Run payroll • Automate taxes • Let employees do more themselves • Simplify HR processes • Offer benefits in any state OnPay is $49 plus $6 per person each month. The monthly fee includes integrations with QuickBooks, Xero, and time-tracking software, as well as all quarterly and year-end…
$49
per month +$6 per month, per person
Payroll by Wave
Score 10.0 out of 10
N/A
Wave Accounting headquartered in Toronto now offers Payroll by Wave, a payroll app for small businesses.N/A
Pricing
OnPayPayroll by Wave
Editions & Modules
No answers on this topic
No answers on this topic
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
OnPayPayroll by Wave
Free Trial
YesNo
Free/Freemium Version
NoNo
Premium Consulting/Integration Services
NoNo
Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeNo setup fee
Additional DetailsFirst month free, then $49 + $6 per employee each month.
More Pricing Information
Community Pulse
OnPayPayroll by Wave
Features
OnPayPayroll by Wave
Payroll Management
Comparison of Payroll Management features of Product A and Product B
OnPay
9.8
50 Ratings
17% above category average
Payroll by Wave
9.4
5 Ratings
13% above category average
Pay calculation9.747 Ratings10.05 Ratings
Benefit plan administration9.716 Ratings9.01 Ratings
Direct deposit files9.945 Ratings9.05 Ratings
Salary revision and increment management10.034 Ratings9.55 Ratings
Reimbursement management9.621 Ratings10.02 Ratings
Support for external payroll vendors00 Ratings9.03 Ratings
Off-cycle/On-Demand payment00 Ratings9.03 Ratings
Best Alternatives
OnPayPayroll by Wave
Small Businesses
Dayforce Powerpay
Dayforce Powerpay
Score 9.5 out of 10
Dayforce Powerpay
Dayforce Powerpay
Score 9.5 out of 10
Medium-sized Companies
Paypro Workforce Management
Paypro Workforce Management
Score 9.7 out of 10
Paypro Workforce Management
Paypro Workforce Management
Score 9.7 out of 10
Enterprises
Infor Human Resources
Infor Human Resources
Score 7.1 out of 10
Infor Human Resources
Infor Human Resources
Score 7.1 out of 10
All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
User Ratings
OnPayPayroll by Wave
Likelihood to Recommend
9.7
(50 ratings)
10.0
(6 ratings)
Likelihood to Renew
9.1
(3 ratings)
10.0
(1 ratings)
Usability
9.2
(21 ratings)
10.0
(1 ratings)
Availability
9.1
(1 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Performance
9.1
(1 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Support Rating
8.8
(21 ratings)
8.9
(2 ratings)
Implementation Rating
9.1
(2 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Configurability
9.1
(1 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Contract Terms and Pricing Model
9.1
(1 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Ease of integration
9.1
(1 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Product Scalability
9.1
(1 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Vendor post-sale
9.1
(1 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Vendor pre-sale
9.1
(1 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
User Testimonials
OnPayPayroll by Wave
Likelihood to Recommend
OnPay
I'd say if you had someone who wasn't educated on how Payroll should be setup and function OnPay is less ideal. But even then you've got things so well setup and cost efficient, they could afford to put some focus on training. In my mind I imagine OnPay is the best solution for small to mid, even early large, company Payroll processing. We're a small company so I'm unaware of the options provided to streamline importing of large group payrolls, but that might be an area where the interface could provide challenges.
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Wave
Great for small business payroll needs. Reports and taxes are taken care of, everything is automated and once you're set up it's literally just a matter of minutes to run payroll each time. You also get email reminders which is helpful. There are premium features available for companies with larger/more robust needs, and I would definitely recommend looking into this software if you are searching for a user friendly payroll solution
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Pros
OnPay
  • Communication - From my first call I was so impressed at the level of care and compassion OnPay expressed. I was assigned specific employees who were available in the sign up process to walk me through each step and to answer all my questions. I know some of my questions were probably "stupid" but OnPay never minded answering them and I was always treated with respect.
  • On Boarding - The nightmare I had experienced with a competitor became a dream with OnPay. They said if I would authorize them to sign onto my account they would take care of the sign up process. And they did!!! They also did it correctly. All of the numbers and information was error free. The only information I was required was input was direct deposit bank information.
  • Resolving an Issue - I have only had one issue that needed to be resolved. The person I talked to had to check with another person for an answer but she stayed on the line with me to make sure the problem was resolved. Then I received a follow up email outlining exactly what action they had taken.
  • Ease of using the website - I can find what I am looking for! I like the verification code. And every time I sign on to my account the red heart by our company name makes me smile.
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Wave
  • An intuitive, clear UI helps you know where everything is, what options are at your disposal. Calendars and timelines show that Wave really thought out how to provide you with useful tool.
  • Pay day can be automated and straightforward.
  • Wave onboarding provides guidance at what information to input next until you are all set up.
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Cons
OnPay
  • You can add additional additions or benefit items such as a car allowance. The process required me to contact a representative as that wasn't as easy to navigate.
  • The process for handling additional withholdings for pre-payed taxes required support to ensure the calculations were accurate.
  • Process for on-boarding is a little tricky if you don't start the process from the point of hire. You can add various things easily but it reflects differently in terms of completion of an Employee file.
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Wave
  • Implement an employee time clock option through a separate link which automatically applies to the weekly time sheets.
  • Option to further customize payroll statements
  • Add a per employee payroll dashboard with the option to review rolling, quarterly, and weekly snapshot. Info to include gross pay, employer paid tax, employee paid tax, etc...
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Likelihood to Renew
OnPay
We have used OnPay for a few years now and we do continue to renew our annual use of OnPay. We are only a small organization and although OnPay provides a lot of additional services that larger organizations might ind useful, OnPay still meets our limited requirements of running bi-weekly payroll and submitting our quarterly state and federal tax documents, and at a price that we still find affordable.
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Wave
No answers on this topic
Usability
OnPay
OnPay is very easy to use. The computer interface is setup very well. You can quickly add people, enter your Payroll, print reports, etc. If your Payroll doesn't change from pay period to pay period (example, salaried employees) it takes mere seconds to enter in your Payroll.
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Wave
Very simple & straightforward system to learn and when time is always of the essence the efficiency is much appreciated
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Reliability and Availability
OnPay
OnPay immediately responds to any of my inquiries.
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Wave
No answers on this topic
Performance
OnPay
No complaints on OnPay's integration with Xero.
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Wave
No answers on this topic
Support Rating
OnPay
They have always solved my problems and answered the questions I had. In the earlier years, they were much better and faster but in recent years there appears to be not as much people available so this results in more email requests.
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Wave
Quick response times, personalized service. They offer in-depth videos and guides for helping to get set up. Any time I have a question about taxes or reporting, they answer quickly and give comprehensive answers. Members of the team with whom I've interacted have been courteous, friendly, and helpful. Overall, great support.
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Implementation Rating
OnPay
Easy to implement and easy to convert any other payroll reports to the OnPay system when making the switch
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Wave
No answers on this topic
Alternatives Considered
OnPay
OnPay is tremendously less expensive and technically superior to Quickbooks in my opinion. OnPay is less expensive and offered the ease of managing a restaurant payroll that was better in my opinion than When I Work. My experience when evaluating all of the payroll products that I felt the company could afford was that OnPay had a superior staff of professionals who knew their product and could explain how to use it most clearly.
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Wave
First is the cost. Since QuickBooks removed the inhouse solution and moved everything to the cloud, the cost for a small business is prohibited. Wave is reasonable in cost. Support for QB isn't great they are always trying to upsell and commit. Wave support in comparison is 100% better, and most of the answers are in their manual
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Scalability
OnPay
OnPay works.
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Wave
No answers on this topic
Return on Investment
OnPay
  • Massive time savings. Wonderfully easy to use interface.
  • I've loved the Chat feature. It's provided quick clear direction from your staff for me at times when it was needed.
  • I've had very minimal worry about the tax filings and am grateful for that component of your automation.
  • During the recession we experienced as a result of COVID19 I was particularly grateful we were able to have guidance from your team on how we needed to handle ERC credits. We did run into filing issues there, but were able to resolve them in the end.
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Wave
  • Peace of mind that all the payroll tax-related stuff is taken care of accurately and on time.
  • Easy to use interface saves time and helps ensure I am paid on time.
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ScreenShots

OnPay Screenshots

Screenshot of full-service payrollScreenshot of multiple pay rates and schedulesScreenshot of employee self-onboarding and org charts, which are built-inScreenshot of an e-signable offer lettersScreenshot of calendars, where PTO is managed and approvedScreenshot of centralized finances, viewed with over 20 reports for analyzing employment-related expenses