If you’ve ever tried to get a straight price out of a payroll company, you already know the routine: form, sales call, discovery questions, custom quote three days later. By the time you have a number, you’ve spent 90 minutes of your life to learn something that should have taken 90 seconds.
So here’s the straight version for Illinois and Wisconsin small businesses, by employee count, with the math out in the open.
The short answer: what does payroll cost for a small business?
For most Illinois and Wisconsin small businesses, full-service payroll runs between $80 and $250 per pay run for under 25 employees. That number breaks down into a base fee (usually $40–$100 per run), a per-employee fee (usually $4–$12 per employee per run), and any add-ons (HR support, time tracking, 401(k) integration, multi-state filing). The wide range is real — it’s driven by how often you run payroll, how complex the deductions are, and whether you need HR or time-tracking bolted on.
What you’re actually paying for
Payroll pricing isn’t one number — it’s three. Every full-service provider (Payroll Freedom included) charges some version of:
- A base fee per pay run. The cost of running the payroll itself — calculating wages, filing taxes, generating paystubs. Usually $40–$100 per run for small businesses.
- A per-employee fee. Charged for every active employee in the run. Usually $4–$12 per employee.
- Add-ons. HR support, time tracking, retirement plan integration, multi-state filing, garnishment processing, certified payroll for contractors. Each one is usually $10–$50/month or a small per-employee surcharge.
Two things drive your real number: how often you run payroll (weekly costs more than biweekly costs more than monthly), and how many of the add-ons you actually need. A 10-person business running weekly payroll with HR support pays roughly double what the same business pays running biweekly with no add-ons.
What does payroll cost by employee count?
Here’s the honest math for a typical Illinois or Wisconsin small business, biweekly payroll, no major add-ons. Your actual quote will move with frequency, complexity, and HR needs — but these ranges are what we see in the market every week.
| Employees | Per Pay Run (Biweekly) | Monthly Equivalent | Annual Equivalent |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1–5 employees | $60–$110 | $130–$240 | $1,560–$2,860 |
| 6–10 employees | $90–$160 | $195–$345 | $2,340–$4,160 |
| 11–20 employees | $130–$240 | $280–$520 | $3,380–$6,240 |
| 21–35 employees | $200–$370 | $435–$800 | $5,200–$9,620 |
| 36–50 employees | $290–$520 | $630–$1,125 | $7,540–$13,520 |
Two reads from this table:
- The per-employee number drops as you grow. A 5-person business pays about $20/employee/month. A 30-person business pays about $20/employee/month. The base fee gets spread across more heads.
- Frequency matters more than people think. Weekly payroll runs roughly double the per-month cost of biweekly. Before you commit to weekly, ask whether your team actually needs it or whether biweekly works.
The 5 add-ons that quietly add up
The base price is the easy part. The reason payroll bills surprise people is almost always the add-ons. Here are the ones we see drive the real total:
- Time tracking / time clock — $2–$6 per employee per month. Worth it if you’re paying hourly employees and currently using paper or spreadsheets. Not worth it if you’re salaried and your team logs hours in their own calendars.
- HR support — $40–$150/month. Access to handbooks, compliance updates, employee letter templates, and live HR consultation. Worth it once you’re past 10 employees or operating in both IL and WI (the compliance load doubles).
- 401(k) integration — $20–$60/month. Worth it if you offer a retirement plan and want contributions auto-deducted and reported. Skip if you don’t have a plan yet.
- Multi-state filing — $10–$25 per additional state. Mandatory if you have remote employees in states other than your HQ. Easy to forget until the wrong state sends a notice.
- Certified payroll (contractors) — $25–$75/month. Required if you’re working on prevailing wage or government jobs. Specialty enough that some providers don’t even support it.
Stack two or three of these and your “$200 a month” payroll quote is suddenly $400. None of that is a bait-and-switch — those add-ons are real services. It’s just that nobody walks you through them up front, which is what we’re trying to do here.
Why Illinois and Wisconsin payroll has its own price floor
Two state-specific cost drivers most national payroll providers don’t price for:
- Illinois BIPA (Biometric Information Privacy Act). If you use fingerprint or face-ID time clocks in Illinois, BIPA requires specific written consent, retention policies, and storage rules. Get this wrong and the per-violation penalties are real — we’ve seen six-figure class-action exposure on small businesses. National providers often pass the risk to you without flagging it.
- Wisconsin overtime and tipped-wage rules. Wisconsin’s overtime and tip-credit rules don’t always match the federal defaults. If your payroll provider is running a one-size-fits-all setup, the errors show up in audits, not pay runs.
Neither of these changes the headline price much. Both change what you’re actually getting for it. A payroll provider who understands Illinois and Wisconsin specifically is worth a few dollars more per run than one who treats your business like it could be anywhere.
What does Payroll Freedom cost?
We sit in the middle of the ranges above for most small business clients. A 10-person Illinois business running biweekly, no add-ons, looks like roughly $130 per run with us. A 25-person Wisconsin contractor with certified payroll and HR support runs closer to $375 per run. We publish ranges, not gotcha pricing — every quote comes with a written line-item breakdown before you sign anything.
What this means for you
If you’re shopping payroll right now, three things will save you money and frustration:
- Ask for the price by line item, not by bundle. Base fee, per-employee fee, every add-on broken out. If a provider won’t give you that breakdown in writing, that’s the answer.
- Audit which add-ons you actually use. Half the small businesses we onboard are paying for time tracking they don’t use or HR support they’ve never called. Cancel what you don’t use.
- Match frequency to need, not habit. Weekly payroll is a service to your team; biweekly is a service to your bottom line. If weekly isn’t earning its keep, biweekly cuts your payroll cost roughly in half.
This article is provided for general informational purposes only and does not constitute tax, legal, accounting, or financial advice. Every business situation is different. Before acting on anything you read here, please consult with a qualified advisor — including, we hope, us. Reach out to Payroll Freedom for guidance specific to your situation.
Want a real quote, not a sales call? Tell us your employee count, pay frequency, and which add-ons you need. We’ll send back a line-item price within one business day. Get a quote →
Frank Fiore is the Visionary at Accounting Freedom and Payroll Freedom, sister brands serving small businesses across Illinois and Wisconsin since 1981. He’s spent 40+ years helping owners get straight answers about pricing, compliance, and what they’re actually paying for. He works out of the firm’s Mundelein, Illinois office.
