Square Payroll vs. Wise

Overview
ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price
Square Payroll
Score 6.1 out of 10
N/A
Square Payroll is a payroll solution for hourly employees, from Square headquartered in San Francisco, California.
$0
per month
Wise
Score 9.4 out of 10
N/A
Wise, formerly TransferWise, from the company of the same name headquartered in London, provides international accounts and payment solutions for businesses. Wise helps businesses pay international invoices, vendors, and employees with the real exchange rate, in 80 countries, boasting cheaper rates than traditional banking options. It also helps to make faster, lower-cost payouts to all business customers, freelancers, employees, investors, and suppliers around the world.
$0.02
One time/%
Pricing
Square PayrollWise
Editions & Modules
Free
$0
per month
Plus
$29
per month
Premium
Custom
ATM Fees over 100 USD per month
2%
One time/%
Accounting Funding transactions
2%
One time/%
Receiving USD wire payments
4.14 USD
One time/%
Getting the Wise Debit card
5 USD
One time/%
Getting account details in 10 currencies
31 USD
One time/%
Sending money
From 0.41%
One time/%
Converting money
From 0.41%
One time/%
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
Square PayrollWise
Free Trial
NoNo
Free/Freemium Version
YesNo
Premium Consulting/Integration Services
NoNo
Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeNo setup fee
Additional Details
More Pricing Information
Community Pulse
Square PayrollWise
Considered Both Products
Square Payroll
Chose Square Payroll
ADP is much too expensive. Gusto was great for us but we found Square Payroll to be more cost effective, though the difference is not very much.
Chose Square Payroll
We used Quickbooks for a long time. Our payroll/HR person for the past 20+ years retired around the time our company was sold and bought. Her replacement had experience in using Square Payroll. We gave it a shot and liked it. We went live rather quickly and it did take some …
Chose Square Payroll
We have tested the QuickBooks Online platform. Before using Square, we tried QuickBooks, but the experience we had was not to our liking. QuickBooks Online is a much more complicated platform to use, the interface is much larger and has complexity in the configuration of the …
Chose Square Payroll
I would say that Square Payroll has a step up in comparison to the competition. It is a great platform for small companies that don't need the resources and expense that bigger systems might offer. Square is the exact thing I was looking for.
Chose Square Payroll
I liked patriot, but I found it to be more confusing than Square and took me too much time to setup. I setup Square Payroll in about an hour. I would also say the Square interface made more sense to me. I also like how Square offers more things like benefits, etc. that can be …
Chose Square Payroll
Cheaper and easier to implement Square payroll versus the competition. Accessible to the small business. Doesn't have a learning curve. Quick deployment to usage/adoption. The other options don't compare when looked at feature for feature vs. price.
Wise
Chose Wise
Wise has great transfer fees, while Stripe has online payment options. We are using both services since Stripe can be connected to our invoicing platform, and our clients can pay us with a few clicks. Wise, as far as I know, does not offer such integration, and all transfers …
Chose Wise
I used all of them and some more like Skrill, Neteller. Wise just worked better for me in most cases. Also, I use Payoneer a lot. When I started freelancing I was only using Payoneer, so it's been with me forever. But Wise worked pretty well for me, at least better than Remitly.
Chose Wise
Apple Pay has high fees and hidden charges, not easy to use and it does not really support enterprises. It is also not regulated by MAS so we don't feel safe using it. Transferwise account was easy to set up (within minutes), the admin fee is low and the pricing is very …
Chose Wise
Stripe is good and convenient as well. However to setup something more in-depth as an invoicing platform, Stripe definitely is more flexible. The only downside to Stripe is.. It takes a higher transfer fee as compared to TransferWise.
Chose Wise
With Revolut, taxes are lower (even for free) for small number of transfers and small amounts. It all depends on the individual needs. However, Revolut is worse with regards to user experience and interface, what is something to consider (specially when dealing with the upload …
Chose Wise
We considered PayPal payment, ACH bank transfer, and simply mailing a check. TransferWise's fees were much lower than PayPal and our bank. Postage might have been less than TransferWise's fee, but payment could have taken more than a week rather than hours (or days in the case …
Chose Wise
TransferWise beats all the competition on transaction rates, and it's easy to use. I literally have found no drawbacks in using TransferWise to pay my overseas contractors, and they prefer it too. I found it because my contractor recommended it to me, and it's better AND …
Chose Wise
We have used Xoom and PayPal Payments, but TransferWise works for additional countries and has more transparent fees.
Chose Wise
We cannot send to certain locations that we need to, but with TransferWise we can.
Chose Wise
TransferWise was the only solution that we've found that will allow us to facilitate ACH payments that result in an overseas deposit. The fact that you can transfer money to TransferWise and that they can then make a local transfer is awesome. The fees are totally worth it with …
Chose Wise
We had used bank transfers for several years, but TransferWise outdoes them in almost all aspects. It leaves out most of the bureaucracy, and it is agile and much cheaper. Also, TransferWise reliably sends messages as each step of the transaction is completed. Perhaps …
Features
Square PayrollWise
Payroll Management
Comparison of Payroll Management features of Product A and Product B
Square Payroll
7.8
Ratings
5% below category average
Wise
-
Ratings
Pay calculation8.90 Ratings00 Ratings
Support for external payroll vendors8.60 Ratings00 Ratings
Off-cycle/On-Demand payment4.40 Ratings00 Ratings
Benefit plan administration9.10 Ratings00 Ratings
Direct deposit files7.00 Ratings00 Ratings
Salary revision and increment management8.90 Ratings00 Ratings
Reimbursement management7.80 Ratings00 Ratings
Best Alternatives
Square PayrollWise
Small Businesses
Dayforce Powerpay
Dayforce Powerpay
Score 9.5 out of 10
Square Invoices
Square Invoices
Score 9.2 out of 10
Medium-sized Companies
Paypro Workforce Management
Paypro Workforce Management
Score 9.7 out of 10
Apple Pay
Apple Pay
Score 9.3 out of 10
Enterprises
Infor Human Resources
Infor Human Resources
Score 7.1 out of 10
Checkout.com
Checkout.com
Score 8.5 out of 10
All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
User Ratings
Square PayrollWise
Likelihood to Recommend
4.7
(0 ratings)
9.0
(0 ratings)
Usability
9.0
(0 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Support Rating
9.0
(0 ratings)
10.0
(0 ratings)
User Testimonials
Square PayrollWise
Likelihood to Recommend
I would say that Square Payroll is perfect for companies that don't exceed 100 employees. The multistate payroll system allows for us to be able to handle business with ease when we go do work in Mississippi or Arkansas. The multiple payout options are great for our particular business. We might deal with a multimillion dollar contract one day and a $120 order the next.
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Transferwise it is great for transferring money across countries (never for transfers within the same country) and when the countries in question use different currencies. It is very quick, especially if the amount is not big. For larger amounts, it would take longer so it would be good only if you are not time-constraint.
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Pros
  • 1099 contractor payments are easy, and they provide you with the IRS filing as part of the service.
  • Direct deposit/debit from your already connected account to the employee.
  • Reporting and management features are simple yet inclusive.
  • Low cost compared to alternative solutions.
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  • Quick - because funds are transferred domestically, even when going international, you don't have to wait long.
  • Easy - the printout of what information I needed to give the sending bank was complete and easy to understand.
  • Affordable - the fees on both ends were minimal.
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Cons
  • [In my experience] they can cancel your service at any time, without warning or explanation. When they do this your funds are held by them for up to 90 days, at which time they are presumably accruing interest on your money. This could take a small business under very quickly and there is nothing you can do about it.
  • [I believe] getting verified is complex and not customer friendly. Until you are verified you can't talk to payroll customer service, which is paradoxical. Even getting a hold of account services for this purpose is tricky and exceedingly time-consuming, plus they can not answer most questions directly.
  • [I feel] they don't communicate well, closed my account with no notice whatsoever. The only notification I had about the need to verify my account was one easily lost email. Not having responded to this email fast enough created months of stress and difficulty in the setup process, only to find in the end I would need to start from scratch to attempt to sign up again.
  • [In my experience] if they close your account you can never reopen it. You have to start a new account from scratch.
  • [In my experience] they can hold your money and not deposit funds if your account is "under review". This can happen without explanation. No customer service is directly available for this. I was told I had to wait for them to call me.
  • [I believe] they are either lying, or the left hand doesn't know what the right hand is doing to such an extent that they give a great deal of misinformation.
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  • TransferWise (at the time of this review) does not allow one to transfer money to all kinds of business accounts. This can be a limitation for people who want to use it as a way to pay directly for goods and services.
  • Sometimes it has problems with some credit cards. But the most popular types are accepted without problems.
  • TransferWise accepts fewer currencies than other services. But it seems like this is a temporary problem, and the company is making efforts to support transferences to all of the currencies.
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Usability
It could use a mobile-friendly interface. Other than that it's a simple layout and non-cluttered which allows you to get done what you need to get done. No unnecessary dodads or distractions.
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No answers on this topic
Support Rating
I think they have quick and helpful customer service reps, however, I give them a 9 because I have had to wait on hold for long periods of time before.
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We haven't really had to engage with TransferWise support. The platform is simple and easy to use.
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Alternatives Considered
We have tested the QuickBooks Online platform. Before using Square, we tried QuickBooks, but the experience we had was not to our liking. QuickBooks Online is a much more complicated platform to use, the interface is much larger and has complexity in the configuration of the collection of hours of work of the employees. In addition, QuickBooks technical support does not respond in time to users' doubts, on several occasions we had several doubts about the operation of the platform and the response was too late and inconsistent. We decided to use Square Payroll because it offered us a much more accessible UI, a simpler but more precise interface for what we needed in our company, to be able to make payroll payments and make detailed reports on the workers.
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Apple Pay has high fees and hidden charges, not easy to use and it does not really support enterprises. It is also not regulated by MAS so we don't feel safe using it. Transferwise account was easy to set up (within minutes), the admin fee is low and the pricing is very transparent (no hidden fee). Lastly, we needed a platform which is safe to use and we are happy to know that Transferwise is regulated by the MAS of Singapore.
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Return on Investment
  • Square Payroll has dramatically reduced the time it takes to process payroll.
  • We could have a faster payroll with the Square POS integration for commission, but that is not something we've implemented yet.
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  • We can save around 5% on our transfer fees
  • The online account management is easier than going into banks personally
  • There's no negative impact...
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ScreenShots