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 payroll provider we list at 1, 3, 5, 10 and 25 employees, through the same cost engine as the payroll software comparison. The picks are providers that publish a price we can cost and that run UK PAYE for a small employer, and the table above ranks them live at your own headcount. Affiliate status never changes the order.
Payroll is the one piece of software the law more or less requires once you employ someone, because HMRC expects a report on or before every payday. What it does not require is that you pay for it. This guide is for a UK business with a handful of employees, or a director paying a salary through their own company: what HMRC and The Pensions Regulator ask of you, what payroll software costs from 1 employee to 25, and when a bureau that runs payroll for you is worth a quote.
Do you need to pay for payroll software?
Not necessarily. HMRC's Basic PAYE Tools is free payroll software for businesses with fewer than 10 employees. It works out tax and National Insurance, sends your Full Payment Submission to HMRC and can create payslips, and you need to be registered as an employer with a PAYE Online login to use it.
What it does not do is pensions. HMRC's user guide says the tool does not support auto-enrolment, does not check who is eligible, does not work out pension contributions and does not send anything to your pension provider. Once anyone qualifies for a workplace pension, you need another route for that part: your pension provider's own tools, or payroll software that does it for you. The same guide says Basic PAYE Tools is not designed for agents or bookkeepers.
Whatever software you use, these are the payroll duties of a UK employer:
| Obligation | When | Source |
|---|
| Register as an employer | Before the first payday, and no more than 2 months before you start paying people | HMRC |
| Send a Full Payment Submission (FPS) | On or before every payday, including everyone you pay | HMRC |
| Give each employee a payslip | On or before payday, showing hours worked if pay varies with time | GOV.UK |
| Send an Employer Payment Summary (EPS) | By the 19th of the next tax month to claim reductions such as statutory pay, and for any tax month in which you paid nobody | HMRC |
| Pay HMRC | By the 22nd of the next tax month (the 19th by cheque), or quarterly by arrangement | HMRC |
| Assess staff for a workplace pension | On your duties start date, the day your first member of staff starts | The Pensions Regulator |
| Write to staff about auto-enrolment | Within 6 weeks of your duties start date | The Pensions Regulator |
| Declare compliance | Within 5 months of your duties start date | The Pensions Regulator |
| Keep payroll records | For 3 years from the end of the tax year they relate to | HMRC |
| Give a P60 | By 31 May, to everyone you employ on 5 April | HMRC |
| Give a P45 | When someone leaves | HMRC |
Payroll software pricing in the UK at 1, 3, 5, 10 and 25 employees
At one employee the spread is mostly base fees. By 25, the rate per employee decides most of the bill, apart from providers that include a block of employees in one price. The table prices every payroll provider we list at five headcounts, through the same cost engine as the comparison above.
| Provider | 1 employee | 3 employees | 5 employees | 10 employees | 25 employees |
|---|
| Sage | £12 | £12 | £12 | £24 | £46 |
| Xero | £19.50 | £22.50 | £25.50 | £33 | £55.50 |
| Deel | £21.67 | £65.01 | £108.35 | £216.70 | £541.75 |
| Papaya Global | £21.67 | £65.01 | £108.35 | £216.70 | £541.75 |
| Remote | £21.67 | £65.01 | £108.35 | £216.70 | £541.75 |
| QuickBooks Online | £22.50 | £25.50 | £28.50 | £36 | £58.50 |
| Employment Hero | £30 min | £30 min | £30 min | £30 min | £75 |
| FreeAgent | £33 | £33 | £33 | £33 | £33 |
| Rippling | from £37 | from £51 | from £65 | from £100 | from £205 |
| Staffology | £43 | £43 | £43 | £43 | £53.75 |
| BrightPay | Get quote | Get quote | Get quote | Get quote | Get quote |
| Moorepay | Get quote | Get quote | Get quote | Get quote | Get quote |
| Payoneer Workforce Management | Get quote | Get quote | Get quote | Get quote | Get quote |
Estimated monthly cost in pounds on each provider's entry 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.
The published prices come in five shapes:
- Payroll added to an accounting plan. Xero and QuickBooks charge per employee for payroll on top of an accounting subscription, so the accounting plan sets the floor of the bill and payroll adds a little per employee.
- Payroll included in the subscription. FreeAgent's per-employee cell reads £0 (included), so its price stays put as you hire.
- Headcount bands. Sage prices payroll in bands, each with its own charge per employee, so the cost moves in steps rather than a straight line.
- An allowance, then a charge per payslip. Staffology's fee is £43/mo (up to 20), and above that allowance it charges £2.15/payslip.
- Per employee from the first. Deel (£22/emp/mo (Global Payroll)), Papaya Global (£22/emp/mo (Payroll Plus)) and Remote (£22/emp/mo (Payroll)) charge for every employee with no base fee. Their global payroll cells read Yes (100+ countries), Yes (160+ countries) and Yes (global): they are built for teams in several countries.
UK payroll providers with transparent per-employee pricing
Deel, Employment Hero, FreeAgent, Papaya Global, QuickBooks Online, Remote, Rippling, Sage, Staffology and Xero publish a price we can cost, out of the 13 payroll providers we list. BrightPay, Moorepay and Payoneer Workforce Management price on request.
Some of the quote-only names are outsourced services, where a bureau runs the payroll and you send it hours and changes. Someone else presses the button, answers the employee who thinks their tax code is wrong and handles year end. Because that is priced on request, the only way to compare it is quote against quote, which the next section sets out.
How to compare payroll bureau quotes
Ask every bureau the same questions, in writing, so the quotes line up:
| Ask | Why it changes the bill |
|---|
| What do you charge per payslip or per employee, and is there a monthly minimum? | A low rate with a high minimum can cost a small team more than a higher rate with none |
| What do starters, leavers, year end and P60s cost? | Some quotes look low because these are charged as extras |
| Are pension submissions and auto-enrolment letters included? | If they are extras, every pay run with a pension deduction costs more |
| Do you charge per pay run, and what if I pay weekly? | Weekly pay can mean four or five runs a month instead of one |
| How do I send changes, and by when before payday? | A late change can mean a correction run, sometimes charged |
| What is the notice period, and how do I get my records out? | You must keep payroll records for 3 years whoever holds them |
A bureau takes the work, not the responsibility. HMRC deadlines, and the duty to declare pension compliance, stay with you as the employer.
If you are on the other side of that arrangement, an accountant or bureau running payroll for clients, our guide to payroll software for accountants and payroll bureaus covers per-payslip pricing and RTI as an agent.
If you already use Xero, QuickBooks, Sage or FreeAgent for your books, payroll from the same supplier saves a monthly journal and keeps wages, tax and pension costs in the ledger without re-keying. If your books live somewhere else, or an accountant runs payroll for you, a payroll-only tool that exports to your accounting software works just as well.
| Provider | Accounting integration | Contract | Built for |
|---|
| Sage | Sage (native) | No | Small UK business to ~150 emp |
| Xero | Xero (native) | No | Xero accounting users / SMB |
| QuickBooks Online | QuickBooks (native) | No | QuickBooks users / small SMB |
| Employment Hero | Xero, QBO, Sage | No | Growing SMB (HR + payroll) |
| FreeAgent | FreeAgent (native) | No | Sole traders / micro Ltd / contractors |
| Staffology | Xero, Sage, QBO (API) | No | Accountants, bureaus, scaling SMB |
| BrightPay | Xero, Sage, QBO | No | Micro to mid SMB + bureaus |
"Native" means payroll is part of that accounting product. If an accountant or bookkeeper runs your payroll, they may already work in one of these, so ask which before you choose your own. Check the contract column before you sign, and keep your own export of payroll records, because the duty to keep them for 3 years outlasts any subscription.
If you are still choosing the accounting software itself, our guide to accounting software for small business compares how each provider sells payroll, users and VAT once you have staff.
How much does premium payroll software cost in the UK?
There is no single premium price. Paid payroll software publishes its prices, which the cost table above works out at each headcount, while bureau and managed services price on request.
What you get at that price comes down to three extras: Construction Industry Scheme (CIS) support for paying subcontractors, an app or portal where staff see their own payslips, and connections to the pension scheme you chose.
| Provider | CIS | Employee self-service | Pension schemes |
|---|
| Sage | Yes (Standard) | Yes | NEST + major |
| Xero | Yes (add-on) | Yes | NEST + major |
| QuickBooks Online | Yes | Yes | NEST + major |
| Employment Hero | Yes | Yes | NEST + major |
| FreeAgent | Yes | Limited | NOW:Pensions, Penfold |
A plan name in brackets means the feature starts on that plan, not the entry plan the cost table prices, and "add-on" means an extra charge. "NEST + major" means the software connects to NEST and other large workplace pension schemes; if you have already chosen a scheme, check it is on the provider's own list.
Employees and contractors on one payroll
Only employees go through PAYE. A self-employed freelancer or contractor usually invoices you and sorts out their own tax, so they do not appear on your payroll at all, and HMRC's employment status tool is the place to check which side of that line someone falls. Construction is the exception that touches your payroll software. Under the Construction Industry Scheme, a business paying subcontractors for construction work must register before taking on the first one, usually deducts money from their payments and passes it to HMRC, and files a monthly return. HMRC also expects you to check whether the person should be employed instead. If that is your business, the CIS column above matters more than any other. For paying contractors at home or abroad, see our guide to payroll software for contractors.
Pension auto-enrolment through your payroll software
Your duties start on the day your first member of staff starts work, and good payroll software does most of the repeat work. Each pay run it should check every employee's age and earnings, enrol the ones who qualify and send the contributions to the scheme.
The rules it applies, from GOV.UK's employer guide to workplace pensions and its page on what employers and staff pay:
- Who must be enrolled: staff aged 22 to State Pension age who earn at least £10,000 a year and normally work in the UK. Anyone else can ask to join.
- What counts: in most schemes, contributions are worked out on earnings between £6,240 and £50,270 a year.
- The minimum: 8% in total, of which at least 3% comes from you as the employer.
The software does not take the legal duty off you. The Pensions Regulator says the declaration of compliance is your responsibility even when someone else completes it, and every three years you must re-enrol staff who have left the scheme and re-declare. When choosing a scheme, The Pensions Regulator suggests checking whether it will work with your payroll, so look at the pension column above before you sign with either.
Employer National Insurance and the Employment Allowance, 2026/27. HMRC's rates and thresholds for employers set employer National Insurance at 15% on each employee's earnings above £5,000 a year. The Employment Allowance takes up to £10,500 a year off that bill, claimed by answering "Yes" to the Employment Allowance indicator on your EPS. A company whose sole director is the only employee you pay employer National Insurance on cannot claim it.
Changing payroll software, and the rest of the payroll year
You can change software during the tax year, but tell the new one properly. GOV.UK warns that some payroll software will not let you carry on with the same employee payroll IDs. If yours cannot, put "Yes" in the Payroll ID changed indicator for each employee on your next FPS; if you do not, your PAYE bill may be worked out wrongly and records can be duplicated.
The dates that are not in the duties table above:
- April. The tax year starts on 6 April and new rates apply, including, from 1 April 2026, a National Living Wage of £12.71 an hour at 21 and over. Since 6 April 2026, Statutory Sick Pay is due from the first day of sickness with no lower earnings limit, so a part-time employee who never qualified before may now be due it. Update the software before the first pay run.
- 6 July. Report any employee expenses and benefits.
- Quarterly payment. If you usually pay HMRC less than £1,500 a month, you may be able to pay quarterly instead of monthly.
- Every three years. Re-enrol and re-declare for your workplace pension.
- At 10 employees. Basic PAYE Tools is no longer an option, so you will need other payroll software.
- A £3 million pay bill. You start paying the Apprenticeship Levy, reported each month on your EPS.
Hiring your first people and wondering what else comes with them? Our guide to HR software for startups covers right to work checks, written statements and what an HR system costs as the team grows, and for staff abroad, see the payroll guide for global teams.
