PEO cost calculator: the inputs that make an estimate honest

Advertised prices, verified

How to run a PEO cost estimate that holds up

1. Assemble the payroll inputs. Headcount by state, annual gross payroll, and average wage. These drive both pricing models: a flat fee scales with headcount, a percentage fee scales with payroll, and state mix changes taxes and insurance beneath both.
2. Add the employer costs a PEO passes through. Employer payroll taxes, workers' compensation by class code, and the health plan contribution you intend to make. These pass-throughs are usually most of the total, so an estimate that only prices the admin fee misses the bulk of the invoice.
3. Price the admin fee under both models. Apply a flat per-employee fee and a percentage of payroll from real published prices, then compare. If the percentage model wins today, rerun it with next year's planned raises before concluding anything.
4. Stress-test the edges. Rerun the estimate at your planned headcount in twelve months, with a mid-year start date, and with one senior hire in a new state. Estimates that collapse under those three changes were never estimates, only advertisements.

What moves the number most

Headcount and average wage dominate. A flat administrative fee multiplies directly by headcount, while percentage pricing multiplies by payroll, so the same PEO can be the cheap option for a warehouse team and the expensive one for an engineering team. State mix matters next: unemployment insurance rates, workers' compensation regimes and local requirements differ enough by state to shift the pass-through lines meaningfully.

Benefits intent is the third lever. A team that wants rich health cover will see the premium pass-through dwarf the admin fee, which is exactly when PEO pooling can earn its keep; a team that offers no health plan is buying administration alone and should hold the fee to a harder standard.

What vendor calculators leave out

Setup fees, deposits and minimum commitments rarely appear in a calculator. Neither do renewal increases, even though the second-year price is the real price of the relationship. Wage-base effects from a mid-year switch, when tax filings move between your EIN and the PEO's, are almost never modelled; ask the vendor to walk through the treatment for your specific start date.

Treat any calculator output, including your own, as an input to the quoting process rather than a decision. The service agreement and the itemised quote control what you will actually pay; nothing on this page is tax, legal or financial advice.

Common questions

What inputs does a credible PEO cost estimate need?

Headcount by state, gross annual payroll, workers' compensation class codes, and your intended health plan contribution. With fewer inputs than that, the output is a rough bracket at best.

Why does my calculator result differ from the formal quote?

Quotes are built from your census: real wages, states and class codes. Calculators use averages. The usual gaps are workers' compensation rating and the health plan you actually select.

Should I estimate with the flat fee or the percentage model?

Both, using published prices, then compare per employee per month at this year's and next year's payroll. The model that wins depends on your wage level and growth, not on the model itself.

Where do the fee figures in this index come from?

From each vendor's own published pricing page, checked and linked beside every figure. Unpublished, quote-only pricing is marked as such rather than guessed.

Coverage by country

• Employer of record vendors covering Singapore
• Employer of record vendors covering Mexico
• Employer of record vendors covering Spain
• Employer of record vendors covering Colombia
• Employer of record vendors covering United Kingdom
• Employer of record vendors covering France
• Employer of record vendors covering Hungary
• Employer of record vendors covering New Zealand