SurePayroll

What SurePayroll does

SurePayroll, Inc. is a U.S.-domiciled online payroll and HR services provider purpose-built for small businesses with fewer than 10 employees, founded in 1999 and headquartered in Glenview, Illinois (with operational headquarters ties to Paychex in Rochester, New York). It has been a wholly-owned subsidiary of Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ: PAYX) since prior to 2023, operating under the brand "SurePayroll by Paychex" with money transmission services delivered through Paychex's NMLS-licensed entities. The company's core product is a cloud-based payroll platform offered in two subscription tiers — Full Service at $29/month plus $7 per employee (with automated federal, state, and local tax filing and deposit) and No Tax Filing at $20/month plus $4 per employee — supplemented by mobile applications for employers and employees that enable on-demand paystub, W-2, and 1099 access.

Built on the payroll engine is a suite of HR and benefits add-ons including 401(k) retirement plans (with an AI-powered "Max" recommendation tool), workers' compensation, health insurance brokerage, employment law guidance, payment processing, and HR tools. The platform supports payroll across all 50 U.S. states, processes W-2 employees and 1099 contractors, and includes Schedule H support for household employers — a segment expanded via the August 2023 integration of the NannyChex household payroll brand.

SurePayroll's go-to-market combines direct phone sales (877-954-7873), self-serve online sign-up, and a white-label reseller and accountant partner program with dedicated partner sales and care lines. Marketing relies on a content/blog resource center, email/SMS outreach, and a structured referral program offering $600 (business) and $100 (household) gift cards per qualified referral. Revenue is generated on a recurring monthly subscription basis with no long-term contract commitment, with ancillary commission or fee income likely from benefits cross-sell. The customer base is a long-tail of micro-SMBs across industries (financial services, automotive, retail, dental, law firms, skateboarding, household employers), with 16,000+ customers having referred peers and over three million payrolls processed across 25+ years of operation.

Name

SurePayroll

Legal name

SurePayroll, Inc.

Website

https://surepayroll.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

1999

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

251–500 employees

Short description

SurePayroll by Paychex is a cloud-based online payroll and HR platform purpose-built for U.S. small businesses with fewer than 10 employees, offering subscription-based payroll processing, automated tax filing, and add-on benefits such as 401(k), workers' comp, and household payroll.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Online Payroll Services

NAICS

Payroll Services (541214), Accounting, Tax Preparation, Bookkeeping, and Payroll Services (54121)

SIC

Services-Computer Processing & Data Preparation (7374), Services-Computer Programming, Data Processing, Etc. (7370)

akta.pro primary industry

Full-Service Payroll Processing (BPACAIAA)

akta.pro secondary industries

Managed Payroll Services (Full-Service Payroll Outsourcing) (BPAAAHAA), Payroll Tax Filing, Compliance & Regulatory Reporting (BPAAAHAB), Benefits Deductions & Payroll Integration Administration (BPAAAHAF), Employer Payroll Processing (SMB & Enterprise) (FSAMAKAA)

Keywords

• Online payroll services
• Small business payroll
• Payroll tax filing
• 401k retirement plans
• HR and benefits administration

Headquarters

HQ city

Glenview

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Software

Cost components

Personnel, Technology or R&D, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Infrastructure

Revenue model

1. Full Service Payroll Subscription: Monthly subscription consisting of a base fee plus per-employee charges. Includes unlimited payroll runs, tax filing and depositing, award-winning customer service, W-2 and 1099 support, and 2-day direct deposit.
2. No Tax Filing Plan: Lower-tier monthly subscription for customers who handle their own tax filings. Includes all features of Full Service except tax filing responsibilities fall on the customer.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels4 records

Core offering

SurePayroll provides online payroll processing and tax filing services purpose-built for small businesses with fewer than 10 employees. Its cloud-based platform calculates, files, and deposits federal, state, and local payroll taxes automatically, supports W-2 employees and 1099 contractors, and offers free 2-day direct deposit. The company complements its core payroll product with add-on HR and benefits offerings, including 401(k) retirement plans, workers' compensation, health insurance, employment law compliance, payment processing, and AI-powered retirement plan matching.

Product overview

SurePayroll is a purpose-built online payroll and HR platform for small businesses (typically fewer than 10 employees), operated by Paychex. The core product is the Payroll platform, offered in two tiers: Full Service (automated tax filing and deposits) and No Tax Filing (customer handles taxes). Built on top of the core payroll engine, SurePayroll offers a suite of HR and benefits add-ons including 401(k) Retirement Plans, Workers' Compensation, Health Insurance, Employment Law compliance support, Payment Processing, and general HR Tools. The company also offers a white-label reseller program for accountants and CPAs. In 2023, NannyChex (a household/nanny payroll specialist) was integrated as a sub-brand under SurePayroll, bringing dedicated household employer payroll capabilities to the platform. An AI-powered feature called Max provides retirement plan recommendations based on user responses.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Full Service Payroll Cloud-based payroll processing platform for small businesses with fewer than 10 employees. Enables employers to run payroll, automatically calculate, file, and deposit federal, state, and local payroll taxes, pay W-2 employees and 1099 contractors, and process payments via free 2-day direct deposit. Includes unlimited payroll runs, employee self-service portal, mobile app, automatic payroll scheduling, and 24/7 access to payroll history.
• 401(k) Retirement Plans Employer-sponsored retirement savings plan administration and enrollment support, connecting small businesses with retirement plan options sized for their team.
• Workers' Compensation Workers' compensation insurance coverage with flexible payment options, administered through SurePayroll for small businesses to meet state-required coverage.
• Health Insurance Affordable health care plan solutions for small business owners and their employees, facilitated through the SurePayroll platform.
• Employment Law Legal and HR compliance guidance for small businesses, helping employers navigate employment regulations and requirements.
• Payment Processing Bank and online payment acceptance capabilities enabling businesses to process customer and employee payments through the SurePayroll platform.
• HR Tools Human resources management tools for small businesses, providing employee tracking, compliance, and HR administrative functions.
• Max (AI Retirement Plan Matching) Standalone AI-powered tool that recommends appropriate 401(k) retirement plans based on three business-related questions, hosted at max.surepayroll.com.
• NannyChex Household Payroll SurePayroll's household and nanny payroll offering, formerly operated as NannyChex. Provides payroll processing, Schedule H tax filing, direct deposit, and mobile access specifically for household employers paying nannies, caregivers, and other in-home workers, with U.S.-based customer support including Saturdays.

Quantifiable outcome

• Up to 120 hours per year saved by switching from manual to online payroll
• +3 more outcomes

Named customers3 records

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

AI capability1 record

Feature4 records

Partnerships

One partnership is on record.

• PaychexcoreOthersSurePayroll is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Paychex, a major payroll and HR services company. The relationship provides SurePayroll with the resources and infrastructure of a large enterprise while maintaining its small business focus. SurePayroll services are considered money transmission and are provided by Paychex, Inc. (NMLS ID 1029977) or Paychex Holdings, LLC (NMLS ID 1764512) across multiple state licensing jurisdictions.

Scale indicators4 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• Gusto: Gusto is a leading cloud-based payroll, benefits, and HR platform purpose-built for small businesses in the US, directly competing with SurePayroll in the sub-10-employee segment on full-service payroll, tax filing, 401(k), and health insurance.
• OnPay: OnPay offers payroll, tax filing, HR, and benefits services for small businesses, directly competing with SurePayroll on subscription-based full-service payroll priced per employee with accountant partner channels.
• Patriot Software: Patriot Software provides affordable online payroll and accounting software for small US businesses, competing head-to-head with SurePayroll on basic and full-service payroll plans in the sub-10-employee segment.
• Wave Accounting: Wave offers free accounting plus paid payroll services targeted at very small US businesses, freelancers, and sole proprietors, overlapping with SurePayroll's sub-10-employee and independent contractor segments.

Broad incumbents

• ADP Run: ADP Run is the small business division of ADP, offering payroll, tax filing, HR, and benefits for companies with up to 50 employees. It overlaps directly with SurePayroll's target segment while leveraging ADP's much larger scale and brand.
• QuickBooks Payroll (Intuit): Intuit's QuickBooks Payroll bundles payroll and tax filing into the QuickBooks accounting ecosystem, directly competing with SurePayroll for small business customers who want accounting and payroll in one workflow.
• Square Payroll (Block): Block's Square Payroll is an SMB payroll and benefits offering tightly integrated with Square's payments ecosystem, directly competing with SurePayroll for small business payroll customers in retail and service verticals.
• Paychex: Paychex is SurePayroll's publicly-traded parent company (NASDAQ: PAYX) and a major SMB/mid-market payroll and HR competitor in its own right. SurePayroll effectively serves as Paychex's brand for the smallest end of the SMB market.
• Justworks: Justworks is a PEO providing payroll, benefits, HR, and compliance services to small and mid-sized US businesses. While it bundles payroll with co-employment/PBO services rather than pure SaaS, it competes for the same small business wallet share as SurePayroll.

Emerging players

• Rippling: Rippling is a fast-growing unified HR, payroll, benefits, and IT platform for SMB and mid-market. It increasingly overlaps with SurePayroll's payroll + benefits suite for growing small businesses and is a credible longer-term threat to incumbent SMB payroll providers.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks7 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/surepayroll
• Facebookfacebook.com/surepayroll
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/surepayroll

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles1 record

Subsidiaries1 record

Funding overview

Funding rounds1 record

Investors2 records

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about SurePayroll