PayGenie editorial guidelines and standards

PayGenie exists because there is no neutral place to compare payroll and HR providers. Most companies pick one based on whichever sales rep reached them first, a recommendation from their CPA, or a partnership they were routed into without knowing it. This page explains how PayGenie's content gets written, how its figures get verified, and what does and does not influence what you see.

PayGenie's content is written by Josh Kelly, who spent 5 years in marketing and sales roles across payroll, PEO, and HR technology companies before founding PayGenie.

PayGenie does not run payroll, provide HR services, or employ anyone's staff. It has no product to defend in any comparison it publishes.

How PayGenie makes money

Providers pay PayGenie a referral fee when a match is sent to them. That is the entire revenue model. There are no ads, no paid placements, and no sponsored content.

Full detail is on how PayGenie makes money.

Editorial independence

Five rules govern what that money can and cannot affect.

Routing logic does not reference payment. The quiz matches on your headcount, the states you operate in, your benefits situation, and how much you want to hand off. What a provider pays is not an input. Some results route to options that pay PayGenie nothing.

Certain answers rule out models entirely, regardless of revenue. Answering that your company will not accept co-employment removes the PEO recommendation completely, even though PEO referrals are among the most valuable to PayGenie.

No provider can buy a recommendation, a ranking, or placement. There is no rate card for position, and no arrangement under which paying more produces more matches.

Providers do not review or approve content before it publishes. No provider has editing rights, approval rights, or advance notice.

PayGenie writes about models it does not earn from. Payroll software referrals are worth the least to PayGenie and are still recommended where they fit.

If a provider, a reader, or anyone else identifies a factual error, it gets reviewed and corrected on the same terms regardless of who raised it.

Sourcing and verification

Compliance figures come from primary sources. Tax thresholds, filing deadlines, coverage requirements, and similar figures are sourced to the agency that sets them: the IRS, state departments of revenue and labor, the Department of Labor, and state workforce agencies. Aggregator sites and commercial directories are not used as sources.

Every figure is verified before it publishes. PayGenie maintains an internal library of every number that appears on the site, recording the source, the effective year, and the date it was checked. A figure that has not been verified against its primary source does not publish.

Sources are linked at the claim. Where a figure appears, the source is linked next to it so you can open it yourself rather than taking PayGenie's word for it.

Pricing ranges are labeled as ranges. Payroll and HR pricing varies by headcount, state, industry, and negotiation. PayGenie publishes ranges with the date they were current, not quotes for your company. Only a provider can quote your company.

Both sides get stated. Every model PayGenie covers has cases where it is the wrong choice, and those cases appear on the page alongside the advantages.

Corrections

Compliance figures are corrected within 48 hours of confirmation, and the page carries a note saying what changed. Pricing and product details are corrected as soon as the accurate figure is confirmed.

The updated date at the top of a page changes when the content materially changes. Every page also carries the date it was last reviewed.

First-party data

PayGenie sees quotes, contract terms, and routing outcomes across its provider network. As that data accumulates, PayGenie intends to publish findings from it: what health premiums actually do when a company moves to a PEO, what contract terms and notice windows look like in practice, and how often companies get ruled out of a model they were considering.

When PayGenie publishes its own data, it will state the methodology, the time frame, and the sample size. All of it will be aggregated and anonymized. No individual company's information will appear.

Not advice

PayGenie explains how payroll and HR service models work. It is not legal, tax, or accounting advice. Payroll and employment obligations vary by state, industry, and company structure. For a decision specific to your company, talk to a CPA or an employment attorney.

Contact

If you believe something on this site is wrong, email admin@mypaygenie.com. Corrections are taken seriously regardless of who raises them.