The last time we reviewed online payroll services, PayCycle Plus was our Editors' Choice. Intuit, which was late on the scene has since bought PayCycle, and a recent revamp of the combined service has brought it up to the interface and navigational standards that characterize today's best websites. Intuit Online Payroll Plus ($39/month base price; $1.50/employee/month; $12/month for each additional state) earns its place as the best thanks to this new look and feel, its superior ability to shepherd users through a complex and challenging process, and its extensive support options.

Setup and Support Surpass Competition

Once you've done the initial setup of a payroll site, the actual payroll runs aren't that difficult. But those early steps can be. If you've pulled together all of the required information about compensation and deductions and taxes, it's easier. But precision is required because of the necessity of absolute accuracy, and because you're dealing with local, state and federal taxing agencies, financial institutions, insurance companies and other benefits providers.

Intuit Online Payroll Plus eases you through this progression in numerous ways. First, like its competitors SurePayroll and ONPAY, Intuit Online Payroll offers Intuit specialists to help you with the setup process. All three offer assistance via email, phone and chat. But the online help Intuit offers—both within the site and on its company website—surpass what SurePayroll and ONPAY provide.

You'll find every type of support imaginable on Intuit's payroll sites, like FAQs and videos and a community forum. You're more likely to find an answer to your question via Intuit's online help or glossary than through the competition's help files. There's a Getting Started Guide, an interactive video tutorial, and a practice site.

Another standout feature: Intuit covers all seven days of the week with personalized support options. You can call Monday through Friday 6 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. PT, and chat Monday through Friday 5 a.m. to 6:30 p.m., as well as weekends 7 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. PT. You'll most likely need the bulk of your support upfront as you're building your files, so generous weekend support isn't so critical at first. But if you're running a payroll on the weekend and get stuck, a few minutes with a support person could save the day.

Creating the Core

To prepare an online payroll site for use, you have to enter information about your company itself and about your employees. Within those two areas are myriad questions about your company's compensation practices and your employees' specific financial situations. For example, how often do you do a payroll run? How do employees accrue vacation and sick time? Do you have to deal with state and local taxes? What benefits do employees get? Other withholding?

Each of three services I reviewed has a slightly different method of requesting this information. ONPAY and SurePayroll display one main screen each for employee and company setup, with a vertical pane that contains links to each sub-section, where you fill in the blanks and make selections. While both are easily understandable and navigable, neither makes particularly good use of screen space. And SurePayroll doesn't have the look of an up-to-date Web interface.

Thankfully, Intuit has streamlined and modernized its onscreen presence. Intuit Online Payroll accomplishes much more on one screen than it used to. And it's visually superior to its competitors. As you build an employee record, for example, the screen displays a check graphic and keeps a running tally of the pay and deductions you're adding. Payroll doesn't require a lot of time once your basic records are complete, but the more pleasant the experience, the better.

None of these sites towers over the others in terms of the amount and flexibility of payroll information you can record. They're all mature enough to accommodate the creation of thorough payroll employee and company records for most U.S. small businesses of roughly 100 employees (more or less). Intuit Online Payroll offers little wiggle room: You can add notes, as you can in ONPAY, but there are no custom fields, which would be welcome in this application. SurePayroll lets you define up to 12 additional employee fields.

Employees can also enter hours on a remote timesheet or punch in and out on a time clock ($1.50/employee/month), and workers' compensation is tracked each payroll. Competitors offer similar services. What they don't offer is their own 401(k) product and a Health Debit Card, which Intuit does.