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hr & payroll for small businesses that don't have an HR person.

Hire someone, run payroll, answer a policy question — just ask Ember. Hearth shows you what's about to happen, you confirm, it's done.

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No credit card. Set up in 10 minutes.

You · 9:14 AM
Run payroll for the period ending Friday.
Ember · 9:14 AM
Pulling up your run for May 16. 14 employees, $34,212 gross, $26,888 net.

One thing to flag — Joe's hours are 38% above his 12-week average. Worth a check before confirming.

You started a business, not an HR department.

Most HR software is built for HR people — generalists trained on dashboards and toggles and acronyms. You're not that person. You're the owner, the head of HR, the one who runs payroll, and probably the one who unclogs the kitchen sink.

You shouldn't need a manual.

Every screen in Hearth has one job. Ask Ember if you're stuck — it'll walk you through it.

You shouldn't have to learn IRS rules.

Federal, state, and local taxes are handled. So are W-2s, 941s, garnishments, and same-day-pay state rules.

You shouldn't have to choose between cheap and good.

Hearth starts at $6/employee/month. That's it.

the difference

Meet Ember.

Ember is the small flame inside Hearth that runs the back office. Ask Ember in plain English to do something — hire, pay, answer, walk you through. Ember shows you exactly what's about to happen, you confirm, it's done.

live demo
Hire Sarah Chen as a senior cabinetmaker, NC, starting June 15, $68K.

Pulling that together…

  • ✓ Created Employee record for Sarah
  • ✓ Generated I-9, W-4, NC-4 e-sign packet
  • ✓ Picked the Production New-Hire onboarding template
  • ✓ Assigned Mark Adler as buddy
  • ✓ Drafted Day 1 calendar invite

Ready for you to review →

  • Always shown to you.

    Every change is a diff. You see the before and after. Cost impact included.

  • Always reversible.

    If we got it wrong, undo. Audit log shows every action and who took it.

  • Always your call.

    Ember proposes. You decide. The hard rules — terminations, harassment, garnishments — always go to a real person.

the back office

Everything you need. Nothing you don't.

Payroll, hiring, time off, onboarding, reports, compliance — all built in. All US-only, all small-business-first.

  • Payroll that handles the hard stuff.

    Federal, state, and local taxes. W-2s, 1099s, 941s. FLSA overtime, supplemental withholding, garnishments. Direct deposit via ACH. Year-end forms ready in December.

  • Hiring without the spreadsheet.

    Post a job to your careers page, collect applications, screen with Ember's help, send an offer letter, kick off onboarding — all in one flow. New-hire reporting auto-filed in your state.

  • Time off that runs itself.

    Set the policy once. Hearth tracks accrual, balances, carryover, and tenure tiers. Employees request from their phone. Managers approve with one tap and see who's covering.

  • Onboarding the new hire actually finishes.

    I-9, W-4, state forms, direct deposit, handbook acknowledgment — all e-signed before Day 1. Ember picks the right onboarding template and assigns a buddy.

  • Reports your accountant will thank you for.

    Posts payroll runs straight to QuickBooks Online and Xero. YTD totals, by department, by class, by anything. Custom reports in plain English — just ask Ember.

  • Compliance that watches itself.

    Tax rate changes, new-hire reporting, same-day-pay state rules, ACA tracking — Hearth flags what changed and updates what it can, automatically. You see the brief, you don't have to read the IRS feed.

Up and running this afternoon.

Three steps to your first payroll. We'll walk you through every one.

  1. Step 01: Sign up free.

    30-day trial, no credit card. Connect your bank account when you're ready to run real payroll.

  2. Step 02: Add your team.

    Import from Gusto, OnPay, BambooHR, or upload a spreadsheet. Ember will spot anything that needs a second look.

  3. Step 03: Run payroll.

    Hearth handles taxes, generates payslips, sends ACH to your bank. Ember double-checks for anomalies before you confirm.

the rigor

Built so you can trust it.

Every action Ember takes is shown to you, confirmed by you, logged forever, and reversible where physically possible.

Activity log
  • 9:42 AMDrafted offer letter for Sarah Chen
  • 9:43 AMYou approved offer letter
  • 9:43 AMSent e-sign packet to sarah.chen@…
  • 10:08 AMYou approved Mark's vacation request
  • 10:21 AMFlagged anomaly: Joe's hours +38%
  • 10:24 AMYou confirmed payroll run · $26,888 net

  • Diff before mutation.

    No change happens without your explicit approval. You see the before, the after, and the cost impact.

  • Every action audited.

    Owner, Ember, system — every change writes to a tamper-evident log you can search and export.

  • Reversible by default.

    Approve a leave that shouldn't have been? Undo. Run payroll wrong? Reverse it before ACH cutoff.

  • Sensitive topics escalate.

    Harassment, terminations, wage disputes, garnishment orders — Ember surfaces them, but a human always drives the action.

  • SOC 2 Type 2 in progress.

    US-only data residency. Encrypted in transit and at rest. Your data is yours — export anytime.

Questions, answered.

Can I switch from Gusto, OnPay, or QuickBooks Payroll?
Yes. Hearth can import your employees, salaries, departments, and YTD pay history in a few clicks. Most owners switch in an afternoon. We have step-by-step guides for each major platform — see our compare pages.
Do I need to know about taxes to use Hearth?
No. Federal, state, and local taxes are calculated automatically using current rates. W-2s, 1099s, and quarterly 941s are generated for you. Ember tells you about rate changes as they happen.
What does Ember actually do?
Ember is an AI agent that runs the back office on your behalf. You ask in plain English to hire someone, run payroll, draft a document, look something up — Ember does it. Every action is shown to you as a diff first; you confirm; it's done.
Is it safe to let an AI handle payroll?
Ember never takes a final action without your explicit approval. Every proposed change is shown as a diff with cost impact. Every action is audit-logged. Sensitive topics — terminations, harassment, garnishments — always go to a human, never an AI.
What states does Hearth support?
All 50 US states plus DC. We handle state-specific rules including same-day-pay laws, state-specific withholding, sick-leave accrual (CA, NY, NJ, MA, etc.), and state new-hire reporting.
Can I run Hearth without using Ember?
Yes. Ember is optional. Every feature works through the regular UI. Ember is on by default but you can turn it off in settings.
What about benefits — health insurance, 401(k)?
Health insurance and 401(k) administration with carrier sync is on the roadmap. For now, you can manage benefits as deductions in payroll. We can recommend brokers if you don't have one.
How do I cancel?
In settings. No phone call, no friction. Your data exports to CSV before cancellation.
Is my data secure?
Yes. Data is encrypted in transit and at rest. We're working toward SOC 2 Type 2 (Type 1 in progress). US-only data residency. Audit log for everything. We never sell any data.

Light your hearth.

30 days free. No credit card. Set up in an afternoon.

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