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PaycheckForge comparison · checked 3 September 2026

How free US paycheck calculators differ

We opened 6 well-known paycheck calculators on 3 September 2026 and recorded 11 things that can be checked by looking: whether the page separates state tax, links the government documents behind its figures, names a tax year, handles local taxes, and so on. Each cell links the page we opened. PaycheckForge is in the table on the same terms as everyone else, including the rows where we do less.

Checked 3 September 2026 11 criteria · 7 tools 4 rows where we do less or tie Engine 2026.2.1

What this is, and what it is not

What it is

  • One dated observation per cell, taken from the tool's own public page.
  • A link, on every cell, to the page we opened, so you can check us.
  • An open record of what we could not establish, marked Not verified.

What it is not

  • Not a review, a rating or a ranking. There is no score and no winner.
  • Not a claim that any tool's numbers are wrong. We did not test their arithmetic.
  • Not a statement about the whole company — only the page named in the cell.

Different jobs

ADP, Gusto and PaycheckCity sell payroll services; TurboTax files tax returns; SmartAsset also introduces readers to financial advisers; Calculator.net covers hundreds of unrelated subjects. A feature one of them does not have on a calculator page is usually a choice about what that page is for, not a shortcoming.

Found something out of date? These pages change without notice, and a cell can go stale the day after it is written. Tell us which row and we will re-check the live page and change the date on it. Report an out-of-date cell — the form arrives with this page already filled in.

The comparison

Every value describes the page linked in that cell as it stood on 3 September 2026. On a phone the table scrolls sideways and the criterion column stays put.

Criterion PaycheckForgethis site SmartAsset ADP PaycheckCity Gusto Calculator.net TurboTax (Intuit)
State tax shown separately, per state The result separates state income tax as its own line, using that state’s own rules. Yes Yes Not verified Two separate reads of this page disagreed, so we do not state it either way. Yes Yes Partly The state and city rates are typed in by the user rather than modelled per state. No
Links the government documents behind its figures The page hyperlinks IRS or state revenue documents for the tax figures it uses. Yes No Not verified Links labelled for Form W-4 appear; we could not confirm whether they point to a government document. Yes IRS Publication 15-T is linked directly; Publication 505 is cited. Partly IRS withholding tables are referenced as a resource, but individual figures are not cited. No Yes The IRS Form W-4 PDF is linked.
Publishes how the number is computed A page or section describes the computation, not only what a paycheck is. Yes No No Partly How federal withholding follows the tables is explained; the full method is not published. Yes Gross pay by frequency and step-by-step net pay are set out on the page. Partly Progressive tax, FICA and deductions are explained; the calculation itself is not. Partly The five-step W-4 process is described without the calculation specifics.
Names the tax year it applies The page states which tax year the calculation itself uses. Yes Partly 2025 and 2026 bracket tables are printed, but the year the calculator applies is not stated. No Yes Labelled a 2026 calculator, with 2026 brackets shown. No Yes States that it uses 2026 brackets. Yes Labelled 2026, filing in 2027.
Result without an email or account A number appears without signing in or handing over an address. Yes Yes Not verified A newsletter form is on the page; whether the result itself is gated could not be established. Yes Not verified The calculator itself did not appear in the page text we could read, so we can neither see nor rule out a gate. Yes Partly The form can be started; a sign-in is prompted after the first entries.
Handles local or city income tax Taxes below the state level are modelled or taken as an input. Partly Four states’ worth of jurisdictions are modelled — Maryland’s 23 counties and Baltimore City, Indiana’s 92 counties, New York City and the Yonkers resident surcharge. The other states and cities with a local income tax are not: no Ohio municipal or school-district tax, no Pennsylvania EIT, no Kentucky, no Michigan cities, no Kansas City or St. Louis, no Denver occupational tax, and no Yonkers non-resident earnings tax. Yes Partly State and local withholding is discussed in the guidance; a local input in the calculator was not confirmed. Yes Partly The page says local taxes are accounted for without showing the input or the mechanics. Yes A city income tax rate field is provided. No
Offers the calculator for other sites The page offers an embeddable or hosted widget for third-party websites. Yes No No Yes The page offers customizable calculators for other websites. No No No
Publishes its tax parameters as open data The brackets, rates and thresholds behind the tool are downloadable as data. Yes No No No No No No
Separates per-check withholding from annual tax owed The page distinguishes what is withheld each payday from what is owed for the year. Yes Yes The page discusses trading a bigger paycheck against a smaller bill at filing. No Yes Yes States that pay frequency does not change the total tax owed for the year. Partly Before-tax and after-tax income are explained; withholding is not related to the annual bill. Yes
Sells a payroll service The same brand will actually run payroll for you as a paid product. No We estimate paychecks. We do not run payroll and cannot pay anyone. No Yes Payroll pricing and a sign-up offer are on the page. Yes A payroll product is offered with a free trial. Yes No No Not on the page checked; Intuit sells tax filing rather than payroll here.
Links a phone app The page links an iOS or Android app. No PaycheckForge is a website; there is no app. No No No No Not mentioned on the page checked. No Yes App-store links are on the page.

Not verified means we looked and could not establish it — not that the answer is no. Several of these calculators are drawn by scripts after the page loads, so a feature may exist without being readable to us, and where two separate reads of one page disagreed we recorded it as unsettled rather than pick a side. 4 of 77 cells ended that way. The raw notes, including the method and its limits, are kept alongside the site source.

Where the others do more than we do

A comparison whose author wins every row is not a comparison. These are the rows we lose or tie, in plain words.

Handles local or city income tax

Local and city income taxes, in most of the country

We now model local income tax in four states’ worth of jurisdictions: Maryland’s 23 counties and Baltimore City, Indiana’s 92 counties, New York City and the Yonkers resident surcharge. That still leaves most of the states that levy one — Ohio’s municipal and school-district taxes, Pennsylvania’s EIT, Kentucky, the Michigan cities, Kansas City and St. Louis, Denver’s occupational tax, and the Yonkers non-resident earnings tax, among others. SmartAsset, PaycheckCity and Calculator.net each dealt with taxes below the state level on the pages we checked. Outside the jurisdictions listed above, our take-home figure is still higher than a real paycheck for anyone paying a local wage tax.

Sells a payroll service

Actually running payroll

ADP, Gusto and PaycheckCity run payroll as a paid service. We estimate a paycheck; we cannot file, pay or produce a real pay stub. If that is the job you need doing, one of them is the right tool and we are not.

Links a phone app

A phone app

TurboTax links app-store apps from its calculator page. PaycheckForge is a website. It works on a phone browser, but there is nothing to install and no saved history.

Offers the calculator for other sites

Embeddable widgets are not ours alone

We offer free embeds, and so does PaycheckCity. This row is a tie, not a win, and we would rather say so than leave the impression that nobody else does it.

If the job you actually need doing is running payroll, filing a return, or getting a local wage tax right, one of the tools above is the better choice and we would rather say so here than have you find out later.

What is different about ours

Stated as facts you can open and check, not as claims about quality.

The parameters are downloadable

Every bracket, rate and threshold the engine uses is published as one JSON file under CC BY 4.0. You can read it, diff it against the IRS and state documents yourself, or use it in your own work.

Open the 2026 rule pack (JSON)

The method and its limits are written down

The computation steps, the primary sources behind each figure, the test coverage and the things this engine does not model — most local taxes among them — are on one page.

Read the methodology

Every engine change is dated

The changelog records what changed in engine 2026.2.1, when, and which source document caused it. A number that moved can be traced to the document that moved it.

See the engine changelog

Withholding per check, separate from the annual bill

The W-4 view applies IRS Publication 15-T withholding to each pay period and sets it against the estimated annual liability, so the refund-or-bill gap is visible instead of implied.

Open the W-4 withholding view

A paycheck that changed can be explained line by line

The diagnostic takes two pay stubs and attributes the difference change by change, rather than leaving you to guess which line moved.

Open the paycheck-change diagnostic

Nothing to sign up for, nothing sent anywhere

Salary, filing status and state are processed in your browser. There is no account, no email gate and no paid tier on the public calculators.

What is free, and how we are paid
None of that is a claim about whose numbers come closer to your real pay stub; we have not tested that and do not assert it. Every figure the site produces is a planning estimate: annual liability is spread evenly across pay periods, local taxes are modelled only in Maryland, Indiana, New York City and Yonkers, and credits and itemised deductions are not modelled. Your employer's payroll system is the authority on your actual pay. Data as of 2026-09-05.
Try the paycheck estimate Read how it is computed

Frequently asked questions

Is this a review of other paycheck calculators?

No. Every row records whether a named public page did or did not do one specific, checkable thing on the date we looked. There is no score, no ranking and no opinion about whether a tool is good. Some of these products are payroll services with a different job from ours, and a missing feature is not a fault.

What does "Not verified" mean in the table?

It means we looked and could not establish it. Some calculators are drawn by scripts after the page loads, so the feature may well exist without being visible to us; where two separate reads of the same page disagreed we also recorded "Not verified". There are 4 such cells and they are marked in the table rather than rounded down to "No".

Where does PaycheckForge do less than the others?

Three places. Local and city income tax is only partly covered here: we model Maryland’s 23 counties and Baltimore City, Indiana’s 92 counties, New York City and the Yonkers resident surcharge, but not the rest of the states that levy one — no Ohio, no Pennsylvania EIT, no Kentucky, no Michigan cities, no Kansas City or St. Louis, no Denver occupational tax. SmartAsset, PaycheckCity and Calculator.net each handle taxes below the state level on the pages we checked. We do not run payroll, which ADP, Gusto and PaycheckCity do. And we have no phone app, while TurboTax links one. Embeddable widgets are a tie: PaycheckCity offers them too.

How current is this comparison?

It was checked on 3 September 2026 and every cell carries that date and the page we opened. These sites change without notice, so a cell can go stale the day after it was written. If you find one that is wrong today, please tell us and we will re-check it and change the date.

Does PaycheckForge produce better numbers than the others?

We make no claim of that kind, because we have not tested anyone else’s arithmetic and could not prove it if we had. Every figure here is a planning estimate, not payroll output. What we can show is where our numbers come from: the parameters are published as an open JSON rule pack, the method and its limitations are written down, and every engine change is dated in a changelog.

Pages we opened

Company and tool names are the trademarks of their owners and are used here only to identify the page that was checked. No competitor text, styling, data or brand imagery is reproduced on this page; every capability above is described in our own words. One further tool was considered and dropped: its paycheck calculator URL returned a 404 on 3 September 2026, and with no comparable page to check we left it out rather than guess.