Getting a PEO quote you can actually compare

Advertised prices, verified

How to get and compare PEO quotes

1. Prepare one census and send it to every vendor. Headcount, states, gross wages by role band, workers' compensation class codes and your intended benefits contribution. Identical inputs are the only way the outputs become comparable, and a vendor quoting without a census is quoting a placeholder.
2. Require the admin fee on its own line. Insist on itemisation: administrative fee, health premiums, employer taxes, workers' compensation, setup fees and deposits, each separated. Refuse bundled single-number quotes; they exist to prevent exactly the comparison you are trying to run.
3. Normalise to per employee per month. Convert percentage-of-payroll quotes using your real payroll, then divide everything by headcount. One unit across all quotes exposes the outliers immediately and shows what each vendor's benefits assumption is doing to the total.
4. Interrogate the renewal and the exit. Ask for the vendor's recent renewal pattern for clients your size, the notice period, any early termination cost, and what happens to the health plan when you leave. The cheapest year-one quote with the harshest exit is often the most expensive offer on the table.

What a complete quote contains

A quote you can act on itemises the administrative fee, the health and ancillary benefit premiums with the plans named, the employer tax treatment, workers' compensation by class code, and every one-time cost: setup, deposits, minimums. It names the legal entity you would contract with and, if the vendor claims IRS certification, the certified entity's exact name and EIN, since certification is what determines whether federal employment tax liability moves to the PEO for worksite employees.

It should also state its own assumptions: the census date it priced, how long the price holds, and what re-rates it. Wage changes, state changes and benefits elections all move real invoices; a quote that pretends otherwise is advertising.

The comparison traps

The commonest trap is mixed models: a 3% payroll fee and a flat fee of a few hundred dollars can rank either way depending on your average wage, so neither is cheaper until you convert. The second is benefits assumptions: two vendors quoting different health plans are not quoting the same product, and the cheaper total may simply carry thinner cover. Ask each vendor to quote against the same plan tier intent.

The third trap is timing. Joining mid-year can affect payroll tax wage bases as filings move between EINs, and a quote that ignores your start date can understate year-one cost. Ask each vendor to walk through the treatment for your actual start date. The service agreement controls everything a quote promises; nothing here is tax or legal advice.

Common questions

How many PEO quotes should we get?

Three is usually enough to see the market shape, if all three price the same census and itemise the same lines. Ten bundled quotes are worth less than three itemised ones.

What information do we have to hand over to get a quote?

A census: headcount, states, wages, workers' compensation class codes and benefits intent. Some vendors also ask about claims history for workers' compensation rating. Expect a placeholder price, not a real one, without it.

Is the quoted price what we will actually pay?

Only for the assumptions it prices. Wages, states, elections and renewals all move the invoice. The number to compare across vendors is the itemised admin fee plus the named plans, not the headline total.

How do we know a quote is within market range?

Check it against published pricing. This index verifies each vendor's published figures against the vendor's own pages and shows the median, which gives you an anchoring range before any call.

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