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OnPay vs Aspen HR

Side by Side

OnPay and Aspen HR, attribute by attribute
AttributeOnPayAspen HR
What It IsFull-service payroll for small businesses at a flat base-plus-per-worker fee: unlimited pay runs, federal, state, and local tax filings and year-end W-2s and 1099s included, multi-state, plus HR basics (onboarding, PTO, benefits, 401(k), workers' comp) and a QuickBooks integration. It is the run-it-yourself payroll leg of the back office, distinct from the outsourced bookkeeping firms on this shelf.A professional employer organization: payroll, benefits, retirement, HR compliance and an HRIS bought as one contract, with the provider taking on the employer duties for payroll tax and benefits. It publishes a page written for search funds and several more for private equity and portfolio companies, so the pitch is aimed at a small business that has just changed hands rather than at a startup.
CategoryOperating ResourcesOperating Resources
Pricing ModelSubscriptionCustom Pricing
What It Costs$49/mo base plus $6 per worker; federal, state, and local tax filings and year-end W-2s and 1099s included with no filing surcharge; an accountant and bookkeeper partner program starts at $55/mo with revenue share. Verified on onpay.com/pricing.Nothing published. The site has no pricing page and quotes after a benefits and payroll review, which is normal for the PEO model: cost is usually a per-employee administrative fee plus the insurance it places, and the two are worth asking to see separately.
Best ForA new owner who wants to run payroll and basic HR in-house rather than outsource the whole back officeA buyer whose new company has no HR function and a benefits renewal coming
Where It FitsOperate & Grow the BusinessOperate & Grow the Business
Our VerdictThe run-it-yourself payroll leg of the back office; pair it with a bookkeeper for the rest.Worth a quote if you inherit a company with no HR function, and worth two quotes rather than one: the model is standard and the price is not published.
Pros
  • Transparent published pricing with federal, state, and local tax filings and year-end forms included, no filing surcharge
  • Full-service payroll plus HR basics (onboarding, PTO, benefits, 401(k), workers' comp) and multi-state support, enough to run a small acquired business's people operations
  • Integrates with QuickBooks and the accounting stack rather than forcing a separate silo
  • One vendor covers payroll, benefits placement, workers' compensation and compliance, which is otherwise three relationships in the first month of ownership
  • Pools a small employer into larger benefit plans, which is the usual reason a fifteen-person company can offer cover it could not buy alone
  • Names search funds and PE-backed companies as client types on its own pages, so the sales conversation starts where a buyer already is
Cons
  • Payroll and HR only, so it does not touch the bookkeeping or business tax-return work the other shelf entries cover; a new owner still needs those elsewhere
  • Per-worker pricing scales with headcount, so a labor-heavy trades business pays more than a lean one
  • Oriented heavily toward the accountant and bookkeeper partner channel, so direct-buyer onboarding gets less spotlight
  • No published pricing at all, so a buyer cannot size it before a call and cannot compare it against another PEO without running both quotes
  • The arrangement shares employer duties with the provider: it takes work to unwind, renewals move as a block, and the administrative fee and the insurance cost are easy to conflate
  • No independent review of the firm is published, so everything here comes from its own pages

Our take

Choose OnPay when the company already has whatever cover it needs and what you want is payroll off your desk at a number you can see: $49 a month plus $6 per worker, with federal, state and local filings and the year-end W-2s and 1099s included rather than surcharged, across multiple states, alongside onboarding, PTO, benefits administration, a 401(k) and workers' compensation. Two limits its row names. It is payroll and HR only, so the bookkeeping and the business return still live with somebody else on this shelf. And the per-worker fee scales with headcount, which a labor-heavy trades business feels before a lean one does.

Choose Aspen HR when the company has no HR function and a benefits renewal is coming, which is the case its own pages are written for. Payroll, benefits placement, workers' compensation and compliance arrive as one contract instead of three relationships in the first month of ownership, and a fifteen-person company gets pooled into plans it could not buy alone. Three things weigh against it. Nothing is priced, so you cannot size it before a call or hold it against another PEO without running both quotes. The administrative fee and the insurance cost are easy to conflate and worth asking to see separately. And the arrangement shares employer duties, which takes work to unwind and moves renewals as a block.