If anyone has a one-person small business without payroll, I liked GnuCash for my consulting work (including abusing the invoicing system for time-tracking). https://gnucash.org/
If I had to do payroll, I'd probably try to find a SaaS that I could contractually lock to strict confidentiality. I wouldn't be in the business of saving pennies by selling out my employees' privacy.
> If I had to do payroll... that I could contractually lock to strict confidentiality.
This does not even remotely exist.
Getting anybody to do payroll for you means signing reams and reams of fine print where you absolve them, indemnify them, hold them harmless, and agree to bear their children. Well, maybe not the last part.
It's a nightmare.
It's somewhat expectable though. They're selling a service to people who don't want to deal with red tape (i.e. payroll) and read fine print (which is basically what doing your own payroll amounts to -- a lot of that). So their customer base is strongly self-selected for being susceptible to fine-print abuse.
Gusto. They automatically pay my taxes, employees, do all the HRIS functions, and file forms with government entities. This is my first year with them, but so far, I'm pretty happy.
If I had to do payroll, I'd probably try to find a SaaS that I could contractually lock to strict confidentiality. I wouldn't be in the business of saving pennies by selling out my employees' privacy.