PEO pricing: what is published, and what you only learn by being quoted.

It depends on which PEO, and most will not say until they have quoted you. As of September 27, 2026, 2 of the 36 PEOs in our directory publish a per-employee price on their own website: Justworks (PEO Basic $79 and PEO Plus $124 per employee per month, no base fee) and Deel PEO (starting at $125 per employee per month). The other 34 quote each client individually based on headcount, states, workers' compensation class codes, the benefits census and claims history. The administrative fee is also only part of the bill: medical premiums, workers' compensation and employer payroll taxes are passed through on top of it.

Because the administrative fee is priced against risk they cannot see until they underwrite you. Workers' compensation class codes, the states you employ in, the age and location mix on your benefits census, turnover and prior claims all move the number. TriNet's own pricing page says its pricing is customized by company size, industry and geographic footprint; CoAdvantage's says it does not publish a fixed rate. The practical consequence for a buyer is that the only way to know a PEO's price for your company is to be quoted, which is the work a broker does for you at no cost.

A flat per-employee-per-month (PEPM) fee is easier to forecast and does not rise when you give raises or pay bonuses. A percentage of payroll can look smaller on day one for a lower-wage workforce but grows with every wage increase and can bundle the administrative fee together with taxes and workers' compensation so you cannot see the fee on its own. When you compare quotes, convert everything to a per-employee-per-month administrative fee and separate it from the pass-through costs before you compare providers.

Medical, dental and vision premiums on your census (usually the largest line), workers' compensation rates by class code, employer payroll taxes, and sometimes setup or implementation fees, per-check fees, state surcharges and year-two increases. Two quotes with the same administrative fee can differ by tens of thousands of dollars a year on the medical line alone, which is why we compare the whole invoice rather than the sticker.

No. There is no cost to you for our comparison. We are paid by the PEO you select, at the same rate whichever one it is, out of the PEO's margin rather than as a line added to your invoice. Because we bring the PEO a fully documented, pre-qualified company, the quotes we collect are typically the PEO's competitive pricing rather than a first offer.