PEO Tools: Decide What You Need, Price What You Were Quoted
Two free tools. The decision tool applies four fixed rules to tell you whether a PEO, an EOR, an ASO or a payroll service fits your situation. The cost calculator turns a quoted administrative fee into an annual number and lists what it excludes.
Is it a PEO you need?
Four questions, four fixed rules, one answer — including the answers that are bad for our business, like "stay on your payroll service" and "you want an ASO". The rules are published on the page so you can check the logic rather than trust it.
PEO readiness check
Five questions about headcount, footprint, the reason you are considering a PEO, your willingness to move plans, and your timeline. Five fixed rules applied in order — including the answers that mean you are not ready to talk to a provider yet.
PEO cost calculator
Enter the administrative fee you were quoted and your headcount, and it produces an annual figure alongside an explicit list of the costs it cannot model. It will not invent a market rate to give you a rounder number. Free to embed on your own site.
PEO provider cheat sheet
Who each tracked provider is for, and the verified fact behind the answer, in one sourced table instead of fourteen profile pages.
What the tools deliberately do not do
- They do not rank providers. Ranking requires the provider dataset to be
verified, and tools built on guesses are worse than no tools.
- They do not estimate your insurance premium. Workers' compensation and
benefits depend on class codes, loss history and plan design. The calculator says what it excludes for a reason.
- They do not sell your details. None of these tools requires contact
information. Only the optional match form does, and it asks your consent per provider.
Coming
- Switching cost estimator — notice periods, exit fees and the work of
rebuilding what you handed over. The notice_to_terminate field is already in the provider schema, waiting for the service agreements to populate it.
- State registration checker — verify a provider's registration in the states
where you employ people, against the agency that administers it.
Both depend on the state regulatory dataset reaching verified coverage first. Tools built on unverified data are worse than no tools, because they launder a guess into an answer.
Next
- What is a PEO — the arrangement in one paragraph
- What a PEO costs — how to get comparable quotes
- Provider directory — who we track and what we have verified
Frequently asked
Are these tools free?
Yes, no account, no email wall, no paywall. They are the same arithmetic a broker would run for you, published with the rules visible so you can check the logic.
Can I trust a tool from a site that makes money from provider referrals?
Check the rules before you use the tool — they are published on the page. The decision tool will tell you a PEO is not right for you, even though we only get paid when you talk to a PEO. That is the test of independence.
Why doesn't the calculator tell me what a PEO should cost?
Because we have not verified a market rate yet, and a confident invented number is exactly the failure mode this site exists to criticise. The calculator prices your own quote honestly instead.
Related guides
Get matched with up to three PEOs
Answer six questions about your headcount, states and timeline. We shortlist providers that can actually serve you, and you choose which ones may contact you.
No obligation. You pick which providers get your details. We never sell your information to a data broker.