For many employers, payroll is viewed as a commodity, a required back-office function they assume should “just work.” This creates an initial expectation that payroll should be inexpensive and interchangeable across providers.

However, as a Check partner, your product is not a commodity experience. When you add payroll to your suite of products, you’re:

Because of this integration advantage, you create operational efficiency that legacy payroll providers cannot match. That added value means you can confidently price above commodity expectations, as long as your sales and marketing teams articulate the value clearly.

Check recommends that partners use the following pricing as a starting point:

This ensures your margins remain healthy while staying competitive with the broader market.

Partners are encouraged to position their product at:

This price point better reflects the value created when payroll is integrated with your broader product ecosystem. Many employers will comfortably pay this premium if your sales team effectively communicates the time-savings, reduced errors, and consolidated operations that come from using your all-in-one system.

If your team presents payroll as part of a unified workflow, not a standalone commodity, you can confidently charge at the higher end of the range. Later in the GTM playbook, we’ll outline the specific sales pitch that helps partners achieve this.

Understanding employer psychology by size helps sales teams tailor their approach:

Your pricing confidence increases significantly as customer size increases.

For alpha customers, your earliest adopters, Check recommends an aggressive incentive:

These early customers help you:

The value of alpha learnings far outweighs the short-term revenue from these initial customers.

Discounts should be used strategically, not as your default. Payroll discounts are common across the industry, and the most effective structure is:

Why not month 1?

You want the employer to pay for month 1 to confirm they are a serious buyer, committed to adopting the product. Offering months 2–4 for free reduces risk for them without giving away the entire onboarding period.

This mirrors how legacy providers structure their promotions while maintaining buyer commitment.

You’ll notice that several major payroll providers, ADP, Paychex, and other legacy players, do not publicly list pricing. This is intentional.

Legacy payroll companies:

For reference, here are public pricing pages from non-legacy providers:

These pages give you a sense of the “visible” market rate employers may compare against—and show that your recommended $50 + $8–$10 PEPM pricing fits comfortably within the competitive landscape.