Free Employee Payroll Spreadsheet Template for Google Sheets & Excel
Hours against a rate gives gross pay, the deductions you enter come off it, and net pay follows on the same line. The Free Employee Payroll spreadsheet template holds fourteen people on one working sheet and carries a strip for the whole run - gross payroll, deductions, net payroll - with no rates built into the file. A How to Use guide sits on a second tab. Google Sheets or Excel, one file. No macros, no VBA, no sign-up.
The FinancialAha Free Employee Payroll Spreadsheet Template is a one-sheet workbook for Google Sheets and Excel, with a How to Use guide on a second tab. It works as a Free Employee Payroll Excel template and a Free Employee Payroll Google Sheets template from the same download. This Free Employee Payroll spreadsheet template runs a pay period a person per line: hours against a rate gives gross pay, the deductions you enter come off it, and the net figure and the payroll totals follow. No macros, no VBA, no sign-up.
Inside the workbook
What's inside the FinancialAha Free Employee Payroll spreadsheet template
The FinancialAha Free Employee Payroll Spreadsheet Template runs on one working sheet, with the instructions on a tab of their own. It works in both Microsoft Excel and Google Sheets and here is what the Free Employee Payroll spreadsheet holds.
01of 01
Payroll
The single working sheet, and the whole template. One row per person, up to fourteen, each taking a name, the hours worked and the rate they are paid at, with gross pay following from those two and net pay following once the deductions you enter are taken off. A strip across the top carries the run as a whole - what it costs gross, what came off in deductions, and what actually goes out. Worth being clear about: the deductions column is a figure you supply rather than one the sheet works out, because this build holds no rates of any kind.
Payroll
Included guide
How to Use
A step-by-step guide on its own tab, covering setup, how to replace the sample values, and how to change the currency. Because it ships inside the file, the instructions travel with the template wherever it is opened.
Works in both Google Sheets and Excel
Free Employee Payroll Spreadsheet template for Google Sheets
Upload the Free Employee Payroll Spreadsheet Template to Drive, right-click it, and choose "Open with Google Sheets". This Free Employee Payroll Google Sheets template needs no conversion step and nothing gets rewritten on the way in - the totals keep working exactly as they do in Excel. The currency dropdown beside the title relabels each money column, and the whole Free Employee Payroll spreadsheet is small enough to open instantly.
Free Employee Payroll Google Sheets template setup
A shared copy of the Free Employee Payroll Google Sheets template works where one person prepares the run and another approves it before anything is paid, and Sheets version history covers a rate typed over. A short list and one totals strip keep the Free Employee Payroll Spreadsheet Template readable without scrolling.
Sharing the Free Employee Payroll Google Sheet
The Free Employee Payroll Google Sheet is a per-period job rather than a daily one: enter the hours, check the rates still hold, and read the three totals. Because the Free Employee Payroll spreadsheet covers one run at a time, saving a copy per period is how a record gets kept.
Free Employee Payroll Spreadsheet template for Excel
The Free Employee Payroll spreadsheet Excel download is a plain .xlsx. Excel opens this Free Employee Payroll Excel template directly, with no import step and no compatibility prompt, and the totals update the moment an entry changes. There are no macros and no VBA in the file, so it opens without a security warning.
Free Employee Payroll Excel template setup
The same Free Employee Payroll Excel template opens in Excel on Windows, Excel on Mac, and Excel for the web. It is also the identical file you would upload to Drive, so there is no separate Free Employee Payroll spreadsheet download to choose between.
Free Employee Payroll spreadsheet Excel notes
The Free Employee Payroll spreadsheet Excel file carries no macros and no VBA, so Excel opens it without a trust prompt. The same Free Employee Payroll spreadsheet Excel download also opens in Excel for the web, which matters when you move between a work machine and a personal one.
Opening the Free Employee Payroll spreadsheet Excel file
Nothing in the Free Employee Payroll Excel template is version-specific, so this Free Employee Payroll spreadsheet Excel workbook behaves identically in Excel on Windows, Excel on Mac, and older builds.
What the Free Employee Payroll spreadsheet template tracks
Three columns are yours to fill and three follow from them. The Free Employee Payroll Spreadsheet Template works out the pay but takes no view on the deductions:
Employee
who the row is for
Hours
the hours worked in the period
Rate
what those hours are paid at
Gross Pay auto
derived, hours against the rate
Deductions
the amount you enter to come off that person's pay
Net Pay auto
derived, gross pay less the deductions
Compare builds
FinancialAha Employee Payroll spreadsheet template: Free, Essentials, and Ultimate compared
The FinancialAha Free Employee Payroll Spreadsheet Template covers one working sheet with a person per line. It turns hours into gross pay and gross into net, which is the honest limit of the Free build: the deductions are a figure you work out elsewhere and type in, there is no overtime column, and no rates of any kind live in the file. The Essentials Employee Payroll Spreadsheet Template for Google Sheets and Excel puts the rates at the top of the sheet, separates regular hours from overtime at a premium, and works the deductions out for you, with a dashboard and a chart over the top. The Ultimate Employee Payroll Spreadsheet Template goes much further, holding a roster of twenty across departments with salaried and hourly people side by side, a year of payroll by department, per-employee tax estimates, a benefits picture, and what the whole thing actually costs the employer.
Notes on working in the Free Employee Payroll spreadsheet template
Gross pay is hours times rate, and net pay is gross less the deductions you enter.
The deductions column is an input. Nothing here derives it, which also means nothing in it can be out of date.
There is no overtime column - hours are hours. Splitting regular from overtime, at one and a half times the base rate, is what the Essentials build adds.
The three headline figures total gross, deductions and net across the run.
The dropdown beside the title relabels the rate and pay columns. It changes the label and nothing else.
How the Employee Payroll template works
A pay run on one sheet: hours against a rate gives gross pay, the deductions you enter come off it, and the net figure and the run totals follow.
When this template helps
01
You run pay for a small team and want gross, deductions and net for each person on one page.
02
Hours times rate is quick for one person and easy to get wrong across fourteen, and the sheet does that multiplication on every row.
03
You want the run totals - gross payroll, deductions and net - so the figure leaving the account is not assembled by hand.
04
Deductions go in as one figure per person, so whatever your jurisdiction takes off is entered rather than modelled for you.
Tips to get the most out of it
A premium for overtime has to go on its own row or into the rate, since there is no column for it.
Saving a copy per run is what leaves a record, because the sheet holds one run at a time.
Blank rows sit under the samples, and the totals expand to take them in.
Common mistakes to avoid
Entering overtime hours at the base rate. There is no overtime column here, so a premium has to be handled on its own row or in the rate.
Carrying deduction figures over from a previous period without checking them, since the sheet does not derive them.
Overwriting the same file each run, which leaves no record of what was paid before.
How to Use the Free Employee Payroll Spreadsheet Template
1
List your people
Put one employee per row with the hours worked in the period and the rate they are paid at.
2
Check the gross
Gross pay follows from the hours and rate, so a wrong figure here points back at the rate.
3
Enter deductions
Add the amount coming off each person's pay. This build takes the figure rather than working it out.
4
Read the run
The strip at the top carries gross payroll, total deductions and what actually goes out.
We use Claude AI to draft each template, after a deep research. Then our team steps in. We refine the layout, stress-test every formula, fix edge cases, and polish the design until it feels like something we would actually use ourselves. The AI gets us 80% there. The last 20% is all human judgment.
Excel
Sheets
No signup
Download instantly, no email required
Formula-driven
All calculations update automatically
Dual compatible
Works in Excel and Google Sheets
Sample data included
See the template in action right away
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the difference between the free, Essentials, and Ultimate Free Employee Payroll spreadsheet template?
Free is a single-sheet starter template with sample data and a How to Use guide. Essentials ($19) is the fuller build - more capacity, more detail, and more worked out for you rather than typed. Ultimate ($29) goes further again, usually six working sheets, giving each part of the template its own sheet and adding deeper reporting on top. What each tier holds differs by template - the comparison table on every template page lists it exactly.
Which Free Employee Payroll spreadsheet template should I download?
Upgrade to Essentials if you want a dashboard with charts, more categories, larger capacity, and a more polished spreadsheet for ongoing use. The Free version is a good fit for one-off planning or trying out the layout.
Can I upgrade the Free Employee Payroll spreadsheet template later?
Essentials is a one-time $19 purchase with no subscription. It typically adds a full dashboard, 30-50% more categories or rows than the Free version, and richer formulas. Most buyers upgrade after using the Free version for a few weeks and hitting its limits.
Is the FinancialAha Free Employee Payroll Spreadsheet Template a Google Sheets template?
Yes. Upload the file to Drive and choose "Open with Google Sheets". Nothing needs rewriting in the Free Employee Payroll Google Sheets template, and the currency dropdown still relabels the money columns.
Is the FinancialAha Free Employee Payroll Spreadsheet Template an Excel template?
Yes. The download is a plain .xlsx, so the Free Employee Payroll Excel template opens directly in Excel with no import step. There are no macros and no VBA, so it opens without a security warning.
Will the Free Employee Payroll spreadsheet Excel file open in older versions of Excel?
Yes. The Free Employee Payroll spreadsheet Excel workbook ships as a plain .xlsx, so it opens identically in current Excel and in builds that predate dynamic arrays.
Does the FinancialAha Free Employee Payroll Spreadsheet Template calculate deductions?
No. Deductions are a figure you enter per person - this build holds no rates of any kind, which also means there is nothing in it that can go out of date. The Essentials build puts the rates at the top of the sheet and works the deductions out from them.
Does the Free Employee Payroll spreadsheet handle overtime?
Not as a separate column. Hours are hours in this build, so overtime would need to be entered at a blended rate or on its own row. The Essentials build keeps regular and overtime hours apart, with overtime paid at a premium.
How many employees can the Free Employee Payroll spreadsheet handle?
Fourteen, with ten filled in the sample. For a fifteenth, right-click a row inside the table and choose Insert - the three totals expand to include it, because the new row falls inside the ranges they read.
Is the Free Employee Payroll spreadsheet template safe to download?
Yes. No macros, no sign-up, no tracking. The file is a plain .xlsx that opens directly in Excel or Google Sheets.
How do I open the Free Employee Payroll spreadsheet template in Google Sheets?
Upload the .xlsx file to Google Drive, then open it with Google Sheets. All formulas and formatting will be preserved.
Can I use the Free Employee Payroll spreadsheet template for commercial work?
All free templates are released under CC BY 4.0 (Creative Commons Attribution). You can use, modify, and share them freely - including for commercial purposes - as long as you credit FinancialAha.com. They are provided as-is and do not constitute financial advice.
