Choosing the best professional employer organization (PEO) to support the growth of your small business is critical.
The right PEO will free up time and precious brain space by managing human resources and other tasks for you, allowing you to focus on any one of the hundreds of duties on your list that needed to be done yesterday.
The wrong PEO will suck even more precious hours and cash flow out of your already limited account and leave you without the mental or financial resources necessary to move your company in the right direction.
After assessing 900+ PEOs, investigating the top 15, and reviewing the top 9, I've identified the best PEO company in the US.
But before I give you that recommendation, there's something you need to know.
The Best PEO Isn't Always the Right PEO
I've spent more hours analyzing the 900+ PEOs than I care to admit and identified the PEO with the highest average score across a series of metrics. But just because it had the highest average score doesn't mean it's necessarily the right PEO for your company.
- Some PEOs are highly experienced in specific industries and can provide unique benefits and support.
- Some PEOs have very strong working relationships with insurance companies and can provide a wider range of health insurance options.
- Some PEOs have deep roots in the compliance industry and can ensure you meet all state and federal guidelines.
The only way to get the right PEO for your company is to compare your specific needs with the key advantages of each individual PEO. That will ensure you don't just get the best-scoring PEO, you get the best-scoring PEO on the metrics that matter most to you.
If you'd like a completely free analysis of your company and situation and a personalized recommendation of the right PEO, enter your details below. I'll contact you within 24 hours to provide a personalized analysis and recommendation.
If you'd just like to know which PEO scored the highest, here are my recommendations for the best PEO.
1. Vensure — 9.45/10 (Best Overall PEO)
Vensure is my pick for the best overall PEO because while they don’t stand out for any particular reason, they do everything you need with a high level of efficiency. I guess you could say that their key difference is that you will never run into issues with them.
Pros
They provide all the products and services you’d expect from a PEO:
- Human resources paperwork
- Employee benefits
- Tax withholding
- Compliance assistance
- Tax rates
- Payroll
- 401k
- Employee contracts
- Dental insurance
- Risk management
- Health insurance
- Workers' compensation insurance
- Administrative services
- Employee benefits administration
- HR support
They also have solid customer support to back it up. You can get an email response within 24 hours if you have a general question, or if you have an urgent issue you can simply pick up the phone and call them.
One of the best features of Vensure is that while it has the technological capabilities to meet the needs of large organizations, their specific focus is on small-to-medium enterprises.
This means they can meet you where you are and scale up to where you want to be.
Cons
The only real negative for Vensure (if you can call it that) is that they don’t do anything exceptionally well.
- Their product offerings cover everything you need, but don't include any high-end, exotic options.
- Their customer support will answer every question as soon as you ask, but they won’t do anything crazy like send you a birthday card on your birthday.
- Their pricing isn't as low as some others, but it's solid and they’re more than competitive in the PEO landscape. But they’re not priced so low that they’re going to put themselves out of business just to help you.
The company is great across the board, but don’t have any one standout feature that will blow your mind.
Overall
Vensure PEO is my #1 choice because they do everything you need and they do it well. They offer a full suite of products and services at more-than-competitive prices with excellent support to back it up.
Vensure’s pricing changes based on your company size and needs so to get a quote for your company, request one here: Vensure PEO Pricing.
2. CoAdvantage — 7.90/10 (Best Customer Service PEO)
CoAdvantage is my #2 recommendation, but that doesn’t mean they’re not a good option. They only just missed out on claiming my #1 recommendation by a whisker, but do have one area in which they beat Vensure PEO.
Pros
Just like Vensure, CoAdvantage offers a full range of products and services. You can get insurance and onboarding and payroll and tax management and everything in between.
They have competitive pricing and a very simple and easy-to-use interface for getting setup in their system.
While they do have their drawbacks, there was one area in which they excelled: customer support.
In the three customer support tests I ran, their average response time to customer support emails was 46 minutes and the average wait time for speaking to a customer support agent on the phone was less than two minutes.
Their support was not only fast, but also incredibly helpful. They answered my questions without needing to transfer me to another agent (and having to explain my problem all over again) or involve a manager.
While they haven’t sent me a birthday card just yet, that’s about the only thing their support could have done to improve their service and my satisfaction.
Cons
CoAdvanatge missed my #1 spot because while their system is easy to use and their pricing is competitive, it still falls short of Vensure.
There were some instances where their system was unclear and I needed to call their stellar customer support to work out how to navigate my way around. CoAdvantage’s prices are great but the three quotes I received for my three different fictional companies all came in around 10% higher than Vensure.
These aren’t dealbreakers—especially if you really value customer support—but they were enough to move CoAdvantage to #2 on my list.
Overall
CoAdvantage is a great PEO that ticks many boxes. They offer a full range of products and services and do so at more than competitive pricing, with exceptional customer service to boot. Their system isn’t the easiest to navigate and they’re slightly more expensive than Vensure but still an excellent option, especially if you really value customer support.
As with every PEO, their pricing is based on your needs and size so to get a full quote, fill in your details here: CoAdvantage.
3. PEO Companies — 7.41/10 (Best Value PEO)
My #3 recommendation is PEO Companies. They’re a solid and reliable option with great pricing, but some areas let me down.
Pros
As with the other two recommendations on my best PEO list, PEO Companies offers a full range of products and services. You’ll get your insurances, compliance assistance, payroll and taxes, and everything else you need for onboarding and managing your staff.
Their system is relatively easy to get started with, though I did have a few challenges navigating it once I was set up. Their support was definitely competent and able to answer my questions within a reasonable time frame.
But the one area where they really shone was pricing. The three quotes I received were all within the top three cheapest with my small business quote coming in at #1. This included every option available in every other quote and it showed off just how good their value is.
Cons
As I mentioned before, while PEO Companies is definitely great value, there are some limitations.
Their system was easy to get set up with, but I found a few challenges navigating it once I was set up and attempting to run some fairly routine tasks.
We contacted their customer support for assistance with these issues and while they responded within a reasonable time frame, their support wasn’t anywhere close to the support I received with Vensure.
They’re good, but not really great at anything.
Overall
PEO Companies is a reliable, well-supported PEO with excellent pricing. While their system can be a little clunky at times and may challenge those without great technical abilities, and their support isn’t the most useful or patient, they were the cheapest overall PEO I received quotes from.
Just like the other two PEOs on my list, Vensure’s pricing is dependent on your needs and size, so to get a full quote, message them here: PEO Companies.
4. Justworks
Justworks is an up-and-comer in the PEO world, was established in 2012, and is currently expanding to service the entire US.
Just like everyone else, they provide everything you need—payroll, compliance, etc. Justworks offers one feature that no other PEO on my list provides: transparency.
Their pricing structure is on their website for anyone to see. In an industry that works as hard as possible to obscure their pricing and forces every potential customer to disclose their needs and obtain a quote, this was a massive positive.
But the reason I’ve ranked Justworks #4 is their age, which, in the world of PEOs, is very important.
The process of joining a PEO and establishing yourself in their system is a time-consuming one. It’s not something you can afford to go through again and again because the startup PEO you chose stops operating.
I’d give Justworks a few more years to establish themselves and prove that it's here for the long haul before trusting them with your business.
If you'd like to know about Justworks, you can check out their site here: Justworks.
5. Infiniti HR
Infiniti HR has managed to set themselves apart in a crowded field of PEOs.
On top of offering the full range of HR support and services, they go above and beyond by assisting with recruiting. If your experience is anything like the entire rest of the country, you’ll know just how much value a great employee can bring and so getting help finding the right staff is a massive plus.
The drawback with Infiniti is the same as with Justwork—their age. At only 10 years old, they’re babies in the PEO world and lack the proven track records of some of the more established players, so give them a few more years before you sign up.
6. TriNet
Trinet is the oldest and most established PEO on the market. They launched in 1988 and have 16,000+ companies and 330,000+ employees under their umbrella.
While they provide every service you need and do enough to tick the boxes, they seem to rely on their established reputation in the PEO market to draw customers.
They don’t go above and beyond in their customer support, they don’t innovate and create new solutions for existing problems, they aren’t hungry to impress, and don’t work to gain your business.
This means that while TriNet will be a reliable, consistent, and functional PEO, they will never exceed industry standards or your expectations.
7. Oasis
Oasis is another of the old guard of the PEO industry. They’ve been serving small businesses for more than 20 years and were recently acquired by PayChex (although they still operate under their own name).
While Oasis does provide a number of industry-specific solutions targeting hospitality, banking, retail, and education (amongst others), and provides every solution you need, they ultimately scored poorly due to their policy of only allowing for 12 month contracts.
In an industry where month-to-month contracts are the standard, it seems both bizarre and unnecessary to lock potential customers in for 12 months, so Oasis lost points for that.
8. ADP Totalsource
ADP Totalsource is a “big boy” of the PEO world, offering services in 140+ countries. They provide the full range of services and, just like Oasis Outsourcing, they offer industry-specific solutions.
The big positive with ADP Totalsource is that their customer support team is available not just to you, the business owner, but also to your staff. If any of your employees have questions about their pay, entitlements, tax rates, or any other HR issue, instead of calling you, they can call ADP to get the answer. Removing these time-draining phone calls from your plate is a massive plus.
The downside with ADP Totalsource is the same issue as with TriNet. If you’re a small company joining ADP, you’re essentially insignificant to their overall operations and you don’t get the attention you need to thrive.
9. Insperity
Insperity is a PEO service that had so much promise, yet they let me down in so many ways.
The promise started with their 30-year track record of winning awards for their products and support. Seeing this filled me with hope for a seamless and empowering experience. When I saw they also allow you to cancel your service any time (with 30 days notice), I thought that maybe this is a company that thrives on delivering a superior product.
One detail convinced me otherwise: health care.
As you know, health care is a HUGE issue that requires a massive degree of flexibility to serve the individual needs of your employees. Each employee is different and has different health needs, and to make sure they get the coverage they need, you need lots of options available.
For some reason, Insperity only offers health care plans from one provider. Just one. Why? I don’t know. They just do.
This means that if you choose Insperity, your employees’ health care options will be severely limited, and there’s a good chance they won’t get the support they need.
The Best PEO for Your Business?
With over 900 PEO companies now available to businesses of any size, it can be tough to find the right PEO for your company.
We’ve spent over 230 hours over the last six years reviewing the industry and have identified my three top performers.
While these PEOs will be reliable providers for any company, to get the right PEO for your company, you need an individual and personalized recommendation based on:
- The number of employees on your payroll
- What you want the PEO to help with (payroll, HR compliance, workers' compensation insurance, etc.)
- Employee benefits you want to offer to your team (such as health insurance and workers' compensation insurance)
- How much you can afford to spend on employee benefits
- The location of your small business
- The location where you conduct your business (if outside the office)
- How much customer support you will need
- Your technological capabilities
- How large you plan to scale
- Your industry
If you would like to find the right PEO for your company, simply enter your details below and I will provide a free assessment of your company needs.
The Best PEO Selection Process
My selection process for the best PEO is extensive. But before I tell you, you need to know a couple of things about me.
Why you should trust me
You can trust my recommendation because I know PEO service providers better than just about anyone else on the planet—both from building my small businesses and through helping others.
My personal experience dealing with PEO service providers started with my health company. I was swamped with learning all the basics of everything related to building a small business—trying to build websites and write articles and manage my team—and simply didn’t have time to look after all the HR nonsense and employee benefits stuff that was sucking up so much of my day.
I tried a staffing company to manage my employees but that simply wasn’t enough, so I ended up signing up with a great professional employer organization.
After dealing with all that, I took some downtime before opening my second small business—a cafe! To say it was a little different to running an online small business is a bit of an understatement.
But despite the significant differences, the one constant still remained in both small businesses—HR pain. So, once again, I dove into the world of PEOs to fulfil my HR needs and look after my employee benefits. I read websites, combed through reviews, listened to sales teams try to pitch their solutions when I really just wanted answers to basic questions. It was a LOT. I eventually found the right partner that allowed me to scale and grow my small business.
I soon realized that I didn’t have the personality necessary for hospitality, so I sold my cafe and spent some downtime wondering what I should do with myself. The answer was thrust upon me unexpectedly when old friends from both the website and cafe days reached out for help with their back-end business operations.
The more recommendations I made, the more people came to me, and eventually I started writing those recommendations down. Since then, I’ve helped more than 1,200 people find the right support for their growing small businesses, which has given me more experience than just about anyone else in the PEO industry.
How I selected the Best PEO
My process is a four-stage process that gradually refines the list of over 900 PEOs down to a shortlist of contenders.
Stage 1: Reviews
The first stage in my analysis is to read online reviews.
Most PEO companies that have been in business for more than a year have accumulated a wealth of online feedback from customers. This feedback allows mr to quickly and efficiently discover which PEOs are worth investigating further and which ones I can eliminate from contention without wasting too much time.
I reviewed the major online review portals to identify the PEO companies that do not meet basic standards of product offerings, pricing, or support that I can eliminate from my more in-depth analysis.
Stage 2: Offering Analysis
The PEO industry is not homogenous. Different companies provide different products and services and offer those at different price points.
The second stage in my analysis is to review which products and services are offered by which PEOs at which price points. This allows me to eliminate PEOs that either don’t offer a full range of services or offer this range at an inflated price.
Stage 3: Speaking with Real Customers
Online reviews are a great way to form a general understanding of a company, but they have two significant limitations.
The first limitation is that people typically only leave a review when they have had an overwhelmingly positive or overwhelmingly negative experience. This means that if you base your opinion on online customer reviews, you get a distorted picture of how the company operates.
The second limitation relates to space. Most online reviews are 200 characters or less, which is insufficient to form a complete understanding of whether a company is worth using.
To avoid these limitations, the next stage of my analysis is to speak with real customers. I reached out through my website and existing relationships to real PEO customers and got their feedback. I asked in-depth questions, got well-thought-out answers, and was able to form a comprehensive picture of what it’s like to work with different PEOs.
But most importantly, I looked at how they handle criticism and feedback to assess what it will be like to work with this company over the long run. Are they set in their ways or are they constantly evolving? Do they try and blame the customer or do they take responsibility for their failings? These characteristics and values are what separates the A players from the rest of the field.
- Best PEO Delaware
- Best PEO Maryland
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- Best PEO Georgia
- Best PEO Florida
- Best PEO Alabama
- Best PEO Mississippi
- Best PEO Tennessee
- Best PEO Louisiana
- Best PEO Arkansas
- Best PEO Texas
- Best PEO Oklahoma
Ranking Factors
I used five factors to rank each PEO when determining the Best PEO.
Factor 1: Offerings
The first is their list of product offerings.
There’s no point in partnering with a PEO to take care of health insurance if the PEO doesn’t offer health insurance, so to make sure you get the best PEO for your situation, I created a comprehensive database of products and services offered.
Factor 2: Price
The second factor I assessed a PEO on is their price.
The price of different products and services can vary widely between PEOs (with this information only available by participating in a sales call—very sneaky) so I ranked the PEO based on how much value for money they provide.
Factor 3: Ease of Sign-up
The third factor I assessed a PEO on is how easy it is to sign up to their system.
With some PEOs, you can spend weeks scrounging through drawers trying to find obscure pieces of information that you really don’t need, while other PEOs can draw significant amounts of your information from government services.
To make sure you get a PEO that won’t waste your time, I assessed each PEO on how streamlined and automated their onboarding process is.
Factor 4: Ease of Use
The fourth factor I assessed is how easy a system is to use.
Some PEOs have invested millions into streamlining and automating their back-end systems while making user experience a major priority, while others have simply tacked additional features onto legacy systems and then written massive manuals to explain the complex navigation systems.
Obviously, partnering with a customer-focused, easy-to-use system is FAR superior to being stuck with an outdated legacy system. So to make sure you choose well, I assessed each PEO on how easy their system is to use and navigate.
Factor 5: Customer Service
Regardless of how much time or money is spent building the most intuitive system, there are always going to be questions. This is where customer service comes in.
Some PEOs will leave you on the line for hours until you get a bored college kid on the phone who can do nothing to solve your problem other than promise to escalate it to management (which they never do). Other PEOs will answer your call in just a few minutes and solve your problem in less, leaving you free to move forward with your day.
The Best Overall PEO — Vensure (9.45/10)
Vensure is my #1 pick for the best overall PEO because it ticks every box.
They provide every service you need to take your HR challenges off your plate, including HR Paperwork, 401k management, health and dental insurance, risk management, payroll, state taxes, and everything in between.
On top of that, their system is simple to join and easy to navigate once you’re inside and their customer support is reliable, efficient, and quick to respond when you need them.
While they aren’t exceptional in any one area, their all-around excellence make them a simple #1 choice.
If you’re looking for a PEO that can deliver on your needs every time and can grow with your business, check out Vensure.
Is Vensure right for you?
While Vensure is an excellent all-round PEO, the best PEO for your business depends on a number of different factors:
- The number of employees on your payroll
- What you want the PEO to help with (payroll, HR compliance, workers' compensation insurance, etc…)
- Employee benefits you want to offer to your team (such as health insurance and workers' compensation insurance)
- How much you can afford to spend on employee benefits
- The location of your small business
- The location where you conduct your business (if outside the office)
- How much customer support you will need
- Your technological capabilities
- How large you plan to scale
- Your industry
All of these factors combined mean it’s impossible to simply give one single recommendation as the definitive best PEO for your small business.
To make sure you get the best PEO for your business, you can speak to one of my qualified team. The free consultation will help you identify which PEO fits your specific needs, size, and industry ensuring that your time is freed up to deal with other, more pressing challenges.
Enter your details in the form below and one of my advisors will contact you within 24 hours (usually within 15 minutes).
Best Customer Support PEO — CoAdvantage PEO (7.90/10)
If you’re not sold on Vensure or are looking for a PEO with a little more guidance and support, CoAdvantage is a great second option.
Just like Vensure, they provide everything you need. They take care of payroll and taxes and compliance and health insurance and everything else you need so you don’t have to worry about your HR responsibilities.
The big plus with CoAdvantage though is their customer support. Their team responded quickly to every enquiry and were polite, courteous, and incredibly helpful.
The downside with CoAdvantage is that you actually need their support far more than you should. Their sign-up process is a little more cumbersome than necessary and their online systems obviously haven’t been optimized with the end user in mind. On top of this, you can also expect to pay roughly 10% more than with Vensure.
So, while they’re a reliable second option to Vensure and have superior customer support, their online system and cost have them securely in second place.
If you want to know more about CoAdvantage, you can check them out here: CoAdvantage.
Best Value PEO — PEO Companies (7.41/10)
If your budget is extremely tight and you’re happy to sacrifice ease of use and support for cost, then PEO Companies is a good third option.
PEO Companies offers the full range of products and services you’d expect from a nationwide PEO, with everything from health insurance, payroll software, and HR services all available for your use.
They also provide these at some of the best rates on the market. Their three quotes were all within the top three cheapest quotes I received for my three fictional small businesses.
But the reason they’re able to offer these great rates is that they cut corners elsewhere. They obviously haven’t devoted significant resources to making their online system easy to navigate, and their support team must be under a lot of pressure because they take a long time to respond with their short and impersonal responses.
If you don’t mind navigating a clunky system and dealing with a slow and abrupt support team, then check out PEO Companies here.
The Best PEO for Your Business
While Vensure is a great option for most small businesses, the best PEO for your business is impossible to recommend without an in-depth knowledge of your business and situation.
Until I know your industry, size, number of employees, and the benefits you wish to offer (among other things), I can't recommend the right PEO for your situation.
If you would like a personalized recommendation for your small business, you can get a free business analysis and recommendation by entering your business details below.
Once you complete the form, I will help you find the right PEO to suit your situation and needs, free of charge.
So enter your details below and take the hard work out of finding the right PEO for your small business.
Frequently Asked Questions
How much does it cost to use a PEO?
The price of a PEO can vary widely depending on a number of different factors. This can include the PEO you choose, the services you use, the employee benefits you offer, and the number of employees you have. But on average, $1,000–$2,000 per employee per month is a good base number to start with.
How does a PEO charge?
There are two different fee structures used by PEO service providers: flat fee or percentage of payroll.
A flat fee structure charges you a set amount per employee. This is a good option for any business that requires a high level of certainty around their monthly billing.
A percentage of payroll structure is where the PEO charges you a percentage of the wages you pay your employees per month. This is a good option for employers in low-wage industries.
How long does it take to get set up with a PEO?
The setup process for any small business with PEO service providers takes time. They need lots of paperwork from your end and then need to file plenty more with government authorities to get you up and running.
This process can take anywhere between three and six weeks but on average, it usually takes four weeks.
Does it cost to change PEOs?
There are no specific exit fees associated with any of the PEOs we’ve recommended in this article, but due to the extensive setup process, every PEO charges a setup fee. This means that if you decide to leave your PEO for a new PEO, you won’t be charged anything to leave but you will have to pay the setup fee with the new PEO.
