Enter your business details to see what each option would cost you. Prices are live from our database and shown in pounds sterling.
How we chose. We priced every HR platform we list on its entry HR plan at 3, 10, 30, 50 and 100 staff, through the same cost engine as the HR software comparison. The picks are platforms that publish a price we can cost, and the table above ranks them live at your own headcount. Affiliate status never changes the order.
A UK startup tends to buy HR software at the wrong time. Too early, and you are paying for a system to manage two people the founders already sit next to. Too late, and contracts live in personal inboxes, holiday is tracked in a spreadsheet and nobody can find the copy of the new hire's passport. This guide covers the time between: what the law asks of a first employer in the UK, what an HRIS costs from 3 staff to 100, and which pricing shape suits how you plan to hire. If your business is already established, our guide to HR software for small business is the better read.
Do you need HR software before your first hire?
No. What a first hire needs is a set of checks and documents, payroll that reports to HMRC and a workplace pension. None of it requires an HR system.
What the law asks of a UK employer from the first employee:
| Obligation | When | Source |
|---|
| Check the person's right to work in the UK | Before they start. Check again before a time-limited permission expires, and keep the copies for the whole employment plus 2 years | GOV.UK (Home Office) |
| Give a written statement of employment particulars | The principal statement on the first day, the wider statement within 2 months, and any change within 1 month of making it | GOV.UK |
| Take out employers' liability insurance | As soon as you become an employer: at least £5 million of cover from an authorised insurer, with the certificate where staff can see it | GOV.UK |
| Register as an employer with HMRC | Before the first payday, and no more than 2 months before you start paying people | HMRC |
| Give a payslip | On or before every payday | GOV.UK |
| Start workplace pension duties | On the day your first member of staff starts work, even if nobody needs enrolling yet | The Pensions Regulator |
| Re-enrol and re-declare | Every 3 years, whether or not anyone has left the scheme | The Pensions Regulator |
| Give paid holiday | At least 5.6 weeks a year for most workers | GOV.UK |
| Pay Statutory Sick Pay | From the first day of sickness, at the lower of the weekly rate or 80% of the employee's average weekly earnings | HMRC |
Two of those changed this year. Since 6 April 2026, Statutory Sick Pay has had no waiting days and no lower earnings limit, and Paternity Leave and Unpaid Parental Leave are rights from the first day of employment, according to the government's Employment Rights Act timeline. If a written statement template predates April, check its sick pay and family leave wording.
Several of the lines above are payroll jobs, so payroll comes first. Our payroll software guide for small business covers HMRC's free option, the pension rules and what each paid tool costs per employee. HR software earns its place later, once every new starter means a contract, a right to work copy, bank details, a pension letter and a holiday allowance set up by hand.
HR software pricing for a UK startup at 3, 10, 30, 50 and 100 staff
At 3 staff a monthly minimum or a band fee is often the whole bill. By 100 staff the per-employee rate does most of the work, except on banded plans and where one flat fee covers a block of users. The table prices every HR platform we list at five team sizes, through the same cost engine as the comparison above.
| Provider | 3 employees | 10 employees | 30 employees | 50 employees | 100 employees |
|---|
| Connecteam | £0 | £0 | £21.67 min | £29.07 | £47.57 |
| Access PeopleHR | £9 | £30 | £90 | £150 | £300 |
| Deel | £11.22 | £37.40 | £112.20 | £187 | £374 |
| Sage HR | £15 | £50 | £150 | £250 | £500 |
| Factorial | £16.20 | £54 | £162 | £270 | £540 |
| CharlieHR | £21 min | £47 | £185 | £323 | £431 |
| Breathe | £24 min | £24 min | £99 | £99 | £175 |
| Employment Hero | £40 min | £40 min | £120 | £200 | £400 |
| BambooHR | £200 min | £200 min | £243 | £405 | £810 |
| HiBob | Get quote | Get quote | Get quote | Get quote | Get quote |
| Multiplier | Get quote | Get quote | Get quote | Get quote | Get quote |
| Oyster HR | Get quote | Get quote | Get quote | Get quote | Get quote |
| Papaya Global | Get quote | Get quote | Get quote | Get quote | Get quote |
| Payoneer Workforce Management | Get quote | Get quote | Get quote | Get quote | Get quote |
| Personio | Get quote | Get quote | Get quote | Get quote | Get quote |
| Rippling | Get quote | Get quote | Get quote | Get quote | Get quote |
Estimated monthly cost in pounds on each provider's entry HR plan, at the price each provider publishes; we do not add or remove VAT. Prices published in US dollars are converted at 0.7471 USD to GBP, captured 12 June 2026. Plans and pricing checked October 2026. "min" means the provider's monthly minimum is the whole bill at that size, and "from" marks a published starting price. Get quote means the provider does not publish a price we can cost.
How the pricing works: bands, per head and a free tier
The five picks use four pricing shapes, and the shape tells you more about next year's bill than any single figure:
| Provider | Free plan | Base fee | Per employee | Monthly minimum | Contract |
|---|
| Connecteam | Yes (up to 10 employees) | £22/mo (Basic) | £0.37/user/mo above 30 | £22/mo (Basic hub fee) | No |
| Breathe | No | £24/mo (up to 10) | £0 (flat tiers) | £24/mo | No |
| Deel | No | £0 | £4/emp/mo | None | No |
| Employment Hero | No | £0 | £4/emp/mo | £40/mo | No |
| CharlieHR | No | £21/mo (1-4) | £0 (flat tiers) | £21/mo+ | No |
- Free to a cap, then a flat fee, then per user. Connecteam costs nothing until its free cap, then one hub fee covers a block of users, and only the users above that block add to the bill.
- A flat price per headcount band. Breathe and CharlieHR charge one fee for the band your team sits in. A hire that keeps you inside the band costs nothing extra; the hire that tips you into the next band raises the whole bill at once. Per person, a band works out cheapest at the top of its range.
- Per head with no minimum. Deel charges the same rate for every employee from the first, so the bill grows in a straight line.
- Per head above a minimum. Employment Hero charges per employee but never less than its monthly minimum, so a very small team pays the minimum.
If you expect to double in a year, price the platform at the headcount you expect then: the 30 and 50 columns of the cost table are there for that. The contract column matters for the same reason, because a startup that outgrows its first tool should not be paying out the rest of a year to leave.
Of the 16 HR platforms we list, the cost table can price Access PeopleHR, BambooHR, Breathe, CharlieHR, Connecteam, Deel, Employment Hero, Factorial and Sage HR. The rest price on request: HiBob, Multiplier, Oyster HR, Papaya Global, Payoneer Workforce Management, Personio and Rippling.
Some of the quote-only names are full HR systems sold through a demo, and others are Employer of Record services with no standalone HR plan; the Pricing model row in our full HR software comparison says which. A published price is not always a sterling one: some platforms publish in US dollars, which we convert at the rate under the cost table.
Is HiBob cost-effective for a small business?
We cannot tell from a published price, because HiBob prices on request and so is not costed in the table. Our data describes the market it sells to as Mid-market / scaling UK SMB (50-500). If it is on your shortlist, ask three things in the quote:
- The price per employee at the headcount you expect in a year, and any minimum, so you can set it against the 30 and 50 columns above.
- Which modules the price includes. A quote for core HR alone is not comparable with a published plan that includes onboarding, documents and time off.
- The contract length and notice period. Our contract cell for HiBob reads Annual.
HR and payroll in one system, or two
Two systems work fine. The payroll tool files to HMRC and, if it supports auto-enrolment, runs the pension assessment; the HR tool connects to it. One system makes sense when you have not chosen payroll yet and want a single employee record:
| Provider | Payroll | Pension auto-enrolment |
|---|
| Connecteam | No (integration) | No |
| Breathe | Integration | Via integration |
| Deel | Native (global) | Yes |
| Employment Hero | Native (UK PAYE) | Yes |
| CharlieHR | Integration | Via integration |
"Integration" means the payroll tool you connect does the HMRC filing and the pension assessment, not the HR tool. That works, but it means two logins and two places a bank detail or salary can disagree. Payroll from Deel or Employment Hero is priced separately from their HR plans, so cost it in our payroll software comparison before you treat one system as the cheaper route.
Whichever you choose, the pension declaration is yours. The Pensions Regulator says it is your legal duty to make sure the declaration of compliance is completed on time and correctly, even if someone else fills it in for you.
Applicant tracking, performance reviews and time tracking are where entry plans differ. A team of three hires through email and gives feedback over coffee. A team of thirty is often running several open roles and wants a review cycle people can see.
| Provider | Applicant tracking | Performance reviews | Time tracking |
|---|
| Connecteam | No | Limited | Yes (Operations Hub) |
| Breathe | Add-on | Yes | Add-on |
| Deel | Add-on | Yes (Advanced+) | Yes |
| Employment Hero | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| CharlieHR | Add-on | Yes | Limited |
"Add-on" means an extra charge on top of the price in the cost table, and a plan name with a plus sign means the feature starts on that plan rather than the entry one. On a per-employee plan, moving up a tier later raises the rate for the whole team, so if you will be hiring every month, price the plan with recruiting in it now.
A remote team changes two legal steps rather than the software: how you check the right to work of someone you may never meet, and what the written statement says if they work abroad. The HR tool's job is to hold the evidence and handle leave and documents from a phone.
Right to work. An applicant who is not a British or Irish citizen can usually give you a share code to check online. British and Irish citizens cannot get a share code, so for them you either check original documents, such as a passport, or use an identity service provider that offers Identity Document Validation Technology (IDVT). For a hire you never meet in person, that second route is usually the practical one.
Written statement. If someone has to work outside the UK for more than a month, the principal statement must also say how long they will be abroad, what currency they will be paid in, any extra pay or benefits, and the terms of their return. A hybrid team working from home in the UK does not trigger that; a first hire spending the winter abroad does.
| Provider | Right to work | Global hiring | Mobile app |
|---|
| Connecteam | Not stated | No | Yes |
| Breathe | Yes (documents) | No | Yes |
| Deel | Yes | Yes (150+ countries) | Yes |
| Employment Hero | Yes | No | Yes |
| CharlieHR | Yes (documents) | No | Yes |
Where a right to work cell says documents, read it as somewhere to store the evidence, not a check the tool runs for you. The duty to check sits with you as the employer, and employing an illegal worker without a correct check can mean a civil penalty.
If your first hire lives in another country and you have no company there, the usual route is an Employer of Record, priced per person and far above an HR seat; Deel's is £448/emp/mo. Our guide to HR software for remote teams compares the Employer of Record providers, and payroll software for contractors covers paying people who are not employees.
The thresholds that change a UK startup's HR duties
The first-hire duties are in the table at the top of this page, and the payroll and pension thresholds, including the Employment Allowance, are in our payroll guide for small business. These are the later triggers:
- Five employees. Your health and safety policy has to be written down and shared with staff. Below five, it only has to exist.
- From 30 October 2026. Every employer must take all reasonable steps to prevent sexual harassment of its employees and must not permit harassment by third parties, according to the government's timeline. A written policy and a way to report it are the obvious first steps.
- From 1 January 2027. The qualifying period for unfair dismissal falls to 6 months for dismissals from that date, on the same timeline. Probation reviews that used to feel informal become worth writing down.
- Twenty redundancies. Making 20 or more employees redundant at one establishment within 90 days brings in the collective consultation rules.
- A £3 million pay bill. Above that you pay the Apprenticeship Levy at 0.5% of the pay bill, less a £15,000 annual allowance.
If you are moving off Deel, our guide to Deel alternatives for UK businesses compares the main options on the same live prices.