Best PEO Service for Small Business of 2025
September 25, 2025
Small business owners often wear many hats as they grow the business. One of the more complex ones is Human Resources, which can be a frustrating and time-consuming challenge for founders who don’t come from an HR background. The core idea behind a Professional Employer Organization (PEO) is to offload the HR tasks to a team of experts.
But unlike HR software, a PEO operates under a co-employment model, where the PEO becomes the “employer of record” for administrative purposes, while you remain the boss of your team’s day-to-day work. This unique partnership model allows your business to gain access to enterprise-level benefits, dedicated HR support, and a higher degree of regulatory compliance. Here, we explain what a PEO does, how to choose the right one, and highlight some of the best options on the market today.
Best PEO Services
CoBanker’s recommendations and reviews are selected by our team of experts who have worked directly with each company in our network. While the companies featured are all partners we work with, reviews are based on our team’s experience across multiple criteria.
| Company | Best for | Price | 401(k) and Health Benefits | Primary Focus |
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Small Business | Starts at $10/employee/month | Yes | HR & Compliance |
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New Business | Starts at $50/month + $8/employee/month | Yes | User-friendliness |
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Scalability | Quote required | Yes | Benefits Administration |
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Consulting Assistance | Starts to $150/employee/month | Yes | HR & Legal Consulting |
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Legal & Compliance | Quote required | Yes | Payroll & Benefits |
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Personal Support | Quote required | Yes | Company Culture |
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Tech-forward Business | Quote required | Yes | Automation & Efficiency |
Best for Small Business TriNet
TriNet is the most well-known PEO on the market. Through its co-employment model, TriNet takes on the administrative and legal burdens of managing your workforce, from payroll and taxes to benefits and compliance. With a dedicated team of HR experts, TriNet provides hands-on support and advice on a wide range of HR challenges, so you can focus on strategic growth rather than paperwork and questions you don’t know the answers to.
TriNet is an ideal choice for ambitious startups and growing businesses that want to professionalize their operations and attract top talent with premium benefits. It’s a robust, user-friendly platform that’s built to scale with your business.
- Full-service payroll and automated tax administration
- Access to high-end medical, dental, and vision benefits
- Dedicated HR experts for strategic guidance and support
- Comprehensive workers’ compensation and risk management
- Essentials: $10/employee/month
- Growth: $20/employee/month
- Zen: $33/employee/month
Best for New Business Justworks
Justworks is an intuitive, transparent platform that has become a popular PEO option for modern small businesses in recent years. Justworks offers a simplified, flat-rate per-employee fee, which helps business owners budget effectively without worrying about hidden costs. The platform is designed to be easily usable for both employers and employees, streamlining everything from running payroll to managing benefits and handling compliance.
Justworks’ commitment to transparency and user experience is especially clear in its customer support, which has won multiple Stevie Awards for customer service excellence. It’s a great choice for startups and small businesses that want a straightforward, stress-free way to manage the team without sacrificing the quality of their HR services or employee experience.
- Simple, flat-rate pricing model with no hidden fees
- Automated payroll with tax filings and payments
- A wide range of health, dental, and vision benefits
- Integrated compliance support and a user-friendly platform
- Payroll: $50/month + $8/employee
- PEO Basic: $79/employee/month
- PEO Plus: $109/employee/month
Best for Scalability ADP TotalSource
ADP TotalSource is the PEO component of the world’s largest payroll and HR company. Sometimes, big business spells trouble for small businesses, but ADP TotalSource does a good job leveraging an unparalleled level of resources and expertise, and user-friendly solutions that cater to businesses of all sizes. It’s perhaps the most comprehensive tool on this list, with both basic features like payroll and benefits, as well as advanced talent management, global HR support, and powerful reporting tools.
ADP TotalSource can be a valuable partner for small businesses with ambitious growth plans that want a PEO to scale with them. The platform is robust and highly integrated, so you can manage every aspect of your workforce from a centralized system that’s supported by data analytics.
- Comprehensive HR administration and consulting
- Advanced reporting and analytics for strategic decision-making
- Global HR support and a vast network of partner integrations
- Full-service payroll, benefits, and talent management
As a more scalable, enterprise solution, ADP TotalSource does not publish transparent pricing. You’ll need to speak with a representative directly to get a custom quote.
Best for Consulting Assistance Insperity
Insperity stands out from other PEO services by taking a more strategic and consultative approach to its partnerships. Beyond just handling administrative tasks, Insperity positions itself as an extension of your leadership team, offering expert guidance and tools to help you develop a stronger company culture. The PEO services are there, of course, but you’ll also get a range of strategic tools for performance management, employee engagement, and business coaching.
Insperity is an ideal partner for teams that not only want to simplify HR but also actively improve their workforce strategy and create a stronger company culture. It’s a true partner towards your long-term success.
- Strategic HR guidance and business coaching
- Comprehensive payroll and benefits administration
- Performance management and employee engagement tools
- Full compliance support and legal expertise
$150 to $210 per employee per month, depending on the level of service and your company’s specifics.
Best for Legal & Compliance Paychex PEO
Paychex is well-known in the HR and payroll space, but you may not be as familiar with its PEO service. Formerly known as Oasis, Paychex PEO leverages the deep expertise of Paychex to offer a reliable, flexible solution for small businesses. They have a wide range of plan options, allowing you to choose the level of service that best fits your company’s needs, and are particularly well-known for their workers’ compensation and risk management services. This makes Paychex PEO a particularly valuable partner for businesses operating in strictly regulated spaces or in high-risk industries.
The Paychex PEO is a natural extension of their broader HR platform, providing a seamless experience for those already familiar with Paychex.
- Integrated payroll and HR management
- Comprehensive workers’ compensation and risk management
- Full-service benefits administration
- A wide range of flexible plan options
Paychex PEO does not publish transparent pricing. You’ll need to speak with a representative directly to get a custom quote. Estimates around the internet suggest costs are between $100 to $150/employee/month.
Best for Personal Support Vensure
Vensure is a rapidly growing PEO that has built its reputation on a personalized, hands-on approach to client service. Many larger PEOs, like TriNet and Paychex PEO, get knocked for feeling too impersonal, which is exactly the niche Vensure aims to fill. They focus on providing a high level of one-on-one support from a dedicated team, making them a great fit for businesses that value a strong relationship with their HR partner.
Vensure offers a comprehensive suite of PEO services, including payroll, benefits, and compliance, with a focus on flexibility. Their solutions are designed to be adaptable to the specific needs of different industries and business models. If you want a responsive and customized PEO experience, Vensure is a good option.
- Personalized service from a dedicated HR team
- Comprehensive benefits and payroll services
- Robust technology platform for employee self-service
- Flexible solutions adaptable to different industries
Vensure doesn’t publish its pricing, but estimates around the internet suggest a cost of $120 to $150 per employee per month, depending on the level of service and your company’s specifics.
Best for Tech-forward Business Rippling PEO
Rippling has built a strong reputation for its unified HR, IT, finance, and legal solutions. Rippling PEO integrates with its other powerful services to create a truly unified platform to help businesses automate the entire employee lifecycle, from the moment a new hire signs their offer letter to their last day. Rippling boasts some of the best tech on the market. The system can automatically set up a new employee’s email account, order their equipment, and enroll them in benefits—all as part of a single, streamlined workflow. And that’s just scratching the surface of the automation potential.
While the focus on automation and efficiency makes Rippling an ideal partner for tech companies or any business that wants an integrated approach to HR, it’s a very complex platform that goes beyond the core needs of most small businesses.
- Full-service PEO, including payroll, benefits, and compliance
- Powerful IT and finance automation
- Integrated platform for managing the entire employee lifecycle
- Robust reporting and analytics tools
Rippling doesn’t publish its pricing, but an article about PEO pricing on its own website suggests expected costs for a PEO service should be between $500 and $1,500 per employee per year. It feels fair to assume Rippling’s pricing model falls within this range.
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