State of Payroll Software in the United Kingdom, Q3 2026

We track 13 payroll software providers in the United Kingdom: 10 with a published price and 3 quoting on request. Every price below comes from the vendor's own pricing page as our records stood on 1 Oct 2026, and this page will not be updated as those prices change.

How many payroll software providers publish a price?

A provider counts as publishing a price when its pricing page gives enough to estimate a monthly bill without contacting sales. One that shows a headline or starting rate and quotes for the rest is counted as quoting on request. On that test, 77% of this market can be priced without asking.

Each figure above counts every provider that publishes that one number, including any that quote for the rest of their pricing, so the sample behind each figure differs.

What does payroll software cost in the United Kingdom?

Estimated monthly bill at each business size in the table, from the same cost engine as our live comparison table. Providers that quote on request are left out; an unknown price is never counted as zero.

For the largest business size in the table (growing business), the dearest option with a published price costs 13 times the cheapest, £433.40 against £33 a month.

How we compiled this report

Prices come from vendors' own pricing pages only, never from review sites or directories, and no commercial relationship with a vendor changes a figure here. Definitions, limitations and corrections: how we compile these reports.

Conclusion

The median payroll bill for a twenty-person UK business, on published prices, is £55.50 a month. The dearest published option at the same headcount is £433.40. Both come from public price lists, and the distance between them is the point of this report.

Ten of the thirteen providers publish a price, so this is a market a business can mostly cost without a sales call. The per-employee fee is where it divides: the median is £2.70 a month, the floor is nothing and the ceiling is £21.67. The base fee runs from nothing to £43, with a median of £15. Put the two together and the modelled bill at one employee is £12 to £43, about 3.6 times between cheapest and dearest. At four employees it is £12 to £86.68, about 7.2 times. At twenty it is £33 to £433.40, about 13.1 times, and the top of that range is nothing more exotic than twenty employees at £21.67.

The ratio roughly doubles between each of those rows, and nothing on a one-person price page warns of it. For a business that intends to hire, the per-employee line is the one to read first, since it is the part of the price that grows with every hire.