# Payroll APIs and embedded payroll for AI agents

> 5 payroll infrastructure listings ranked by the Anchor benchmark. Leader Finch (BB). Payroll run through an API. Embedded payroll that a software platform builds on, and APIs that reach an employer's existing payroll account. Compared on what can be read and written, how a payroll is previewed and approved, and the partner or approval steps before access.

- Canonical: https://www.anchorterminal.com/categories/payroll
- Markdown: https://www.anchorterminal.com/categories/payroll.md (~2,100 tokens)
- Slim: https://www.anchorterminal.com/categories/payroll.min.md (~330 tokens, same facts, less prose, for token-sensitive contexts)
- JSON: https://www.anchorterminal.com/categories/payroll.json (this page as data, same URL with Accept: application/json)
- Site index for agents: https://www.anchorterminal.com/llms.txt (full text: https://www.anchorterminal.com/llms-full.txt)
- API: https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/index.json
- Updated: 2026-10-08

Payroll run through an API. Embedded payroll that a software platform builds on, and APIs that reach an employer's existing payroll account. Compared on what can be read and written, how a payroll is previewed and approved, and the partner or approval steps before access.

- Tools ranked: 5 · agent-ready (BB or better): 1 · accept x402: 0 · hosted endpoints: 4 · desk reviews by the panel: 0
- JSON: https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools.json (list) · https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/rankings.json (ranked) · https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/x402.json (payable) · https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/capabilities.json (by capability)
- Grades run AA, A, BB, B, C, D, E, F · methodology: https://www.anchorterminal.com/benchmark/

- Capabilities in this category: payroll.run, payroll.employees, payroll.embedded, payroll.tax-filing, payroll.contractors
- https://letme.dev/payroll.run picks the top-graded tool in this list and says how to call it direct; calling through letme comes later (https://www.anchorterminal.com/letme/index.md)

## Ranking

| # | Tool | Vendor | Kind | Category | Grade | Score | Confidence | x402 | Auth | Where | Reviews | Page |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 99 | Finch | Profound Platform Inc. (dba Finch) | HTTP API | Payroll | BB | 71.6 | medium | no | OAuth | hosted + local | none | https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/finch.md |
| 193 | Check | Check Technologies, Inc. | HTTP API | Payroll | B | 67.5 | medium | no | OAuth or key | hosted | none | https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/check-payroll.md |
| 283 | Gusto | Gusto, Inc. | HTTP API | Payroll | B | 63.3 | medium | no | OAuth | local | none | https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/gusto.md |
| 565 | Salsa | Salsa Software Inc. | HTTP API | Payroll | D | 46.1 | medium | no | API key | hosted | none | https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/salsa.md |
| 569 | Zeal | Puzzl Group Inc. | HTTP API | Payroll | E | 45.4 | medium | no | API key | hosted | none | https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/zeal.md |

Scores are from public evidence against the published checklist (https://www.anchorterminal.com/benchmark/), with Performance and Task success pending. p95 latency and context cost come from our probes, which haven't run yet.

## Summaries

### 99. Finch, BB (71.6)

Finch is a unified API for reading an employer's existing HR and payroll system, run by Profound Platform Inc. in San Francisco. Applications read directory, employment and pay data from 250+ systems and write payroll deductions. Graded on the REST API. An employer grants each connection named product permissions, and limits, error codes and a 99.9 per cent uptime SLA are published. Finch reads payroll and writes deductions but cannot run a payroll. Access tokens never expire, no idempotency keys were found, and writes and most providers need a sales-led plan.

- Page: https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/finch · Markdown: https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/finch.md · JSON: https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/finch.json
- Capabilities: payroll.employees, payroll.contractors, hr.employees, hr.org, hr.documents · endpoint: `https://api.tryfinch.com`

### 193. Check, B (67.5)

Check is an embedded payroll API from Check Technologies in New York. Software platforms build US payroll on it for their own customers, with tax calculation, payment and filing handled by Check. Access is by partner agreement. Graded as embedded payroll through a partner API key, not access to an existing employer's payroll account. The API has idempotency keys on writes, a required preview before approval and queryable request logs. No price is public, a sandbox key comes through Check's sales team, and one API key carries the whole partner account.

- Page: https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/check-payroll · Markdown: https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/check-payroll.md · JSON: https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/check-payroll.json
- Capabilities: payroll.run, payroll.employees, payroll.embedded, payroll.tax-filing, payroll.contractors · endpoint: `https://api.checkhq.com`

### 283. Gusto, B (63.3)

Gusto Embedded Payroll is a REST API for running US payroll inside another product, covering company and worker onboarding, payroll calculation and submission, tax filing and contractor payments. Production access needs a partnership with Gusto. A demo environment is self-serve. This listing covers the Embedded Payroll API. Every reference page carries an OpenAPI 3.1 definition, payroll is calculated as a preview before submission, and each API version gets 12 months of deprecation support. Production needs commercial and security approval, no price was readable, and the status page lists 11 incidents between 14 July and 5 October 2026, five marked major.

- Page: https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/gusto · Markdown: https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/gusto.md · JSON: https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/gusto.json
- Capabilities: payroll.run, payroll.employees, payroll.embedded, payroll.tax-filing, payroll.contractors, hr.onboarding, hr.time-off

### 565. Salsa, D (46.1)

Embedded payroll from Salsa Software Inc. for software platforms. A partner's backend onboards employers and workers, sends pay data, previews and confirms payroll runs and reads pay statements through a REST API, while Salsa files taxes and moves money. Salsa is reached as an embedded-payroll partner, not through an employer's existing payroll account. The REST API has a public OpenAPI 3.1 spec with 123 operations, a payroll preview, a separate confirm step and short-lived user tokens limited by role. Access starts with a sales conversation, and no public price, self-serve sandbox, status page or API changelog was found.

- Page: https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/salsa · Markdown: https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/salsa.md · JSON: https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/salsa.json
- Capabilities: payroll.run, payroll.embedded, payroll.employees, payroll.tax-filing, payroll.contractors · endpoint: `https://api.salsa.dev/api/rest/v1`

### 569. Zeal, E (45.4)

Zeal is an embedded payroll API for US staffing platforms, labour marketplaces and workforce software. Partners create employer companies, onboard W-2 employees and 1099 contractors, create pay cheques and contractor payments, preview payroll and pull reports. Graded on the partner REST API at api.zeal.com, which is the only access route. Three OpenAPI specs, llms.txt, a test environment that moves no money, a preview endpoint and a per-cheque approval flag are documented. Access starts with a demo request, prices are not published, each environment has one unscoped key, and no status page or working changelog was found.

- Page: https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/zeal · Markdown: https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/zeal.md · JSON: https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/zeal.json
- Capabilities: payroll.run, payroll.embedded, payroll.employees, payroll.contractors, payroll.tax-filing, hr.onboarding · endpoint: `https://api.zeal.com`

## How we test this category

One test employer with three workers in each listing's sandbox. The same tasks run through its API (onboard a worker, enter hours, preview a payroll, approve it, read the pay statements). We check the calculation preview, approval steps and the onboarding needed for production. In this run listings are graded from public evidence against the published checklist. This test hasn't run yet, so Task success is pending and the grades here come from the categories assessed from public evidence.