Heartland Payroll Review 2023

The bottom line: Heartland Payroll is an average payroll processing solution for small and midsize businesses. While it offers comprehensive payroll features like paycheck deductions, wage garnishments, and new hire reporting, users have to sign up for additional Heartland products to get time tracking and benefits administration.

If you’re looking for an affordable payroll solution with HR benefits management, we recommend looking at all-in-one payroll and HR software like SurePayroll, QuickBooks Payroll, or Gusto. But if you already use software like Heartland POS or the Heartland Payments system, adding Heartland’s payroll solution to your existing Heartland products makes a lot of sense.

If you’re looking for basic payroll features and mostly hands-off payroll management, Heartland Payroll services have you covered. Heartland’s payroll software automates your most important (and most time-consuming) payroll tasks:

• Paycheck calculation
• Automatic payroll tax calculation, deduction, and IRS remittance
• Employee payments via direct deposit, check, or payroll card

All three Heartland Payroll plans include automatic new-hire reporting, a state-mandated requirement for all employers. Heartland Payroll also lets you manage legally mandated wage garnishments, such as child support payments.

Like Heartland’s payroll features, its human resource features are fairly basic. Heartland Payroll’s cheapest plan, Heartland Essentials, includes a handful of HR features like new-hire onboarding and electronic new-hire paperwork submission.

If you want more human resource support, though, you’ll need either the Advanced or Complete plan. With Heartland Advanced, you get additional help finding job candidates, tracking applicants, and hiring employees—though features like automatic job posting to major job boards costs extra.

The Heartland Complete plan includes the most HR support by giving you access to these features:

• an HR document library
• an employee handbook builder
• a live HR professional from the Heartland customer support center

You’ll also get legally mandated labor law posters to place in your workplace.

If you’re looking at payroll features only, Heartland’s payroll services stack up pretty well. Like Gusto, QuickBooks Payroll, Paychex, and OnPay, Heartland Payroll calculates employee paychecks for you and makes all the correct deductions. It automatically withdraws payroll taxes from employee paychecks and remits them to the correct federal, state, and local governments.

Additionally, Heartland Payroll lets you generate the most important payroll data and reports (especially payroll tax reporting documents). Its employee self-service portal lets employees update their own information, view pay stubs, and check their tax forms.

So where does Heartland Payroll fall short? For starters, its price. Running payroll for one employee costs $89 a month with Heartland Payroll. With SurePayroll’s self-service plan, you’d pay just $23.99—and you’d still have more HR features than you’d get with Heartland. And speaking of features, Heartland Payroll doesn’t have near as many as most competitors, falling notably short in the HR category.

Heartland Payroll isn’t the worst-reviewed payroll service in the world, but it’s not the best either. On the consumer review site TrustRadius, Heartland scores 5.6 out of 10—though it’s worth noting only 14 users have reviewed the service.¹ Both Android and iPhone users dislike Heartland’s payroll app, complaining of login problems and frequent glitches.^2,3

Are you already accepting online payments with Heartland Payments and POS? Adding Heartland Payroll once you’ve hired an employee is your next logical move. Each product in the Heartland suite syncs perfectly with the others. Plus, payroll is complicated. If you’re already familiar with Heartland’s tools and dashboard, you can focus on learning payroll, not on figuring out a new interface.

It’s notably hard to dig up customer service numbers for major payroll providers. That’s not true with Heartland Payroll. While you can contact customer service by submitting a form, you can also call 877-729-2968 to speak with a human and get real-time technical support.

The work opportunity tax credit (WOTC) offers federal support to employers who hire employees from certain demographic groups. Heartland Payroll’s hiring services include WOTC screening so you can make informed decisions about whether you can or can’t pursue the tax credit once you’ve made the hire.

Heartland Payroll is a solid payroll solution for business owners who already use—or are planning on using—Heartland’s full suite of workforce management products. But if you have only a handful of employees and want basic HR support or benefits management, most other payroll providers will give you more (and better) features at a fraction of Heartland’s cost.

Not sure Heartland Payroll is the right payroll solution for you? Take a look at our 10 favorite payroll companies for small businesses to find a better match.

No, employers who use Heartland Payroll cannot use Zelle to pay their employees. All three Heartland Payroll plans let you pay employees via direct deposit, check, or pay card.

Yes, Heartland Payroll has a payroll app. Employees can use the app to clock in and out, download their W-2 forms and pay stubs, check benefits information, and request time off.  Employers can use the app to generate payroll reports and perform other basic payroll tasks.

According to customers, the Heartland Payroll app is functional, but not much else. Android users rate the app 2.4 out of 5 on Google Play.² Apple users like the app a bit more, scoring it 3.2 out of 5 on the App Store, but reviews still call out the app’s frequent bugs and glitches.³

To contact Heartland Payroll’s customer support center, call 877-729-2968 or submit a request on Heartland’s website.

Employees can view their pay stubs on the Heartland Payroll app or by logging into their Heartland Payroll account via their web browser.

To evaluate Heartland Payroll, calculate its star rating, and compare it to other small-business payroll solutions, we looked at its strengths and weaknesses in five key categories:

• Payroll features
• HR features
• Pricing
• Ease of use
• Customer service reputation

We also considered our payroll expert’s opinion when determining how to rate and review Heartland Payroll’s payroll tools and HR features. Business.org’s star ratings are reviewed frequently and subject to change at any time.

Disclaimer

At Business.org, our research is meant to offer general product and service recommendations. We don't guarantee that our suggestions will work best for each individual or business, so consider your unique needs when choosing products and services.