Best payroll software UK. Guide for all business sizes

If your business has employees, you’ll need to get to grips with payroll. The good news is that there are tools and software available to make it easier.

But which is the best payroll software for UK businesses? In this guide, we’ll run through the best options for organisations of different sizes, and for different business types. We’ll cover prices, features and more, so you can make an informed decision.

Whatever your business needs, there’ll be a solution available to streamline payroll processing - and we’ll help you find it.

We’ll also look at a solution ideal for global companies of all sizes - Wise Business. It offers convenient international mass payout tools, so you can pay staff all over the world for low fees and great exchange rates.

💡 Learn more about Wise Business

Best payroll software for small business UK

So, what should you be looking for in payroll software? Small businesses will need to focus on getting the essential payroll services they need, for a low cost - without paying extra for tools they don’t need.

The main features to look for include:

• Ease of use - ideally, no payroll training or experience required to use it.
• Security - your company finance data needs to be safeguarded, as well as confidential employee information.
• Reporting tools - it should be easy to create reports for analysis and for your accounting records.
• Customer support - you need to be able to get help when you need it.
• HMRC certified and Making Tax Digital (MTD) compliant.
• Affordable, flexible pricing - with a pricing model that suits the needs of your business and can be scaled up/down as required

Sage Payroll

Sage Payroll (part of the Sage Business Cloud suite of products) is a popular solution for small businesses, from a trusted name in accountancy software.

Features include the following:¹

• Manage payroll for up to 150 employees
• Fully HMRC compatible solution
• Self-serve payslips and P60s for employees in the Sage app
• Reporting and analytics tools
• 4-step pay run, with workflows and automation
• 24/7 expert support
• Automatically assess and enrol staff into workplace pensions
• Real-time collaboration with your accountant
• Easy setup and import
• Built-in AI-powered assistant, Sage Copilot - helping to catch errors and anomalies before payday
• Links with Sage Accounting software, where you can automatically track your payroll data.

Higher tier plans offer additional HR features, such as timesheet features, shift scheduling, and performance management tools.

Sage payroll plans and pricing

Sage also has simple pricing tiers available to suit the size and needs of your business. Each comes with payroll for 5 employees included as standard, then you can add more (up to a maximum of 150) for an extra cost.

Here’s what you need to know and Sage payroll pricing:¹

Xero Payroll

Another big name in the world of accounting software, Xero’s cloud-based payroll solution is ideal for small businesses. It’s HMRC-recognised and offers online automation tools to make tax, payroll and pension calculations easier.

Features of Xero Payroll software include the following:²

• Automated payroll calculations, Real Time Information (RTI) submissions and payslips
• Online employee self-service tools through Xero Me app - including viewing payslips, submitting timesheets and requesting leave
• Track hours with built-in timesheets
• Accurate digital pay records and easy submission to HMRC
• Manage CIS scheme deductions and submit returns
• Automatically assess, enroll, and manage workplace pensions contributions
• Flexible pay cycles and tailored working patterns
• 24/7 online support.

Xero Payroll plans and pricing

Xero Payroll is included with some of its plans, up to a limited number of employees - although you can add more for an extra cost. Here’s what you need to know about Xero Payroll pricing:²

Best payroll software for medium business UK

If you manage a medium-sized business or your startup is growing, you may need a scaled-up payroll solution.

Medium-sized organisations are likely to need additional features, particularly when it comes to automating tasks and making bulk payments. The more employees, the more complicated and time-consuming payroll can be.

Key factors to look out for when choosing payroll software include:

• Scalability - will the software be able to scale up as your business grows?
• Integration with HR and other accounting tools
• Performance and reliability - you need software that is fast, effective and with minimal downtime.
• Smart automation tools - to save you time and money when processing large volumes of payroll data.
• Custom reporting tools
• Employee self-service capabilities
• Automated tax filing
• HMRC compliance.

QuickBooks Payroll Premium

Premium Payroll from Intuit QuickBooks is a step up from its standard Core payroll software. It’s cloud-based, HMRC-recognised software designed for growing businesses that need more than basic payroll, offering extras including time tracking, employee self-service, and job and shift scheduling.

Features include:³

• Automatic pay runs for directors or salaried employees
• Multiple pension schemes, plus easy assessment, auto-enrolment and automatic submissions with NEST and SMART
• Employee portal and employee access
• HMRC-recognised RTI submissions
• Document upload and sharing
• Automatic journal creation
• Payslip creation and distribution
• Time tracking
• Job and shift scheduling
• Statutory payments
• Advanced reporting
• Mobile app.

If your business is larger, or you need more advanced features, there’s an additional tier - QuickBooks Payroll Elite.

This comes with extras such as detailed reports and project tracking, project-based collaboration and geofencing technology (for automatic location-based clocking in and out). It’s billed as a “complete workforce solution”, including project profitability, mobile teams and client billing advanced functionality.³

QuickBooks payroll plans and pricing

QuickBooks Payroll is only available as an add-on when you sign up for a QuickBooks monthly plan:³

QuickBooks plans also offer discounts for new customers. At the time of writing, there’s a 90% discount for the first 6 months on both plan fees and payroll plan costs.³

Best payroll software UK for large companies

For larger organisations, payroll becomes significantly more complex. Automated tax filing and compliance with UK payroll regulations both become much more important, along with performance, reliability and security. Plus, integration with HR and accounting tools. The software should also comply with UK data protection laws.

And to save time and resources, features such as employee self-service and automated reporting will also be crucial.

Moorepay Payroll Software

Moorepay Payroll Software is a cloud-based solution built using the latest Microsoft Azure technology. It’s HMRC recognised, as well as being accredited by the CIPP’s Payroll Assurance Scheme.

It’s also award winning, being named CIPP Payroll Service Provider of the Year 2023 and Payroll and HR Software Product of the Year 2022 by The Rewards. It’s used by the likes of Mountain Warehouse, Naked Wines and Arnold Clark.⁴

Moorepay’s main features include:⁵

• Automated calculations
• A full-featured, user-friendly payroll dashboard
• API connections and integrations through Moorepay Marketplace, so it can be used alongside existing business software and tools
• Seamless integration with Microsoft Office 365
• New starter wizard tool
• Rapid employee searching
• Timesheets and expenses
• Reporting and analytics
• Auto-enrolment ready
• Reminders and alerts
• Self-service mobile app for employees.
• Free technical support over email or phone - no need to raise a ticket.

Moorepay also has a Payroll Outsourcing solution available.

Moorepay Payroll plans and pricing

Moorepay Payroll doesn’t have standardised pricing, so you’ll need to get a custom quote for a solution that meets the needs of your organisation. You can also book a demo first.

Best global payroll software

If your business has teams based in other countries, or uses remote freelancers and contractors spread across the globe, you’ll need an international payroll solution

Managing payroll between countries and currencies will inevitably be complicated. You’ll need access to a number of additional features to help you manage and streamline payroll processing. This includes:

• Support for cross-border payments and wide country coverage
• Compliance with local labour laws and tax regulations
• Tools for international hiring and onboarding
• Enhanced data security standards.

Workday Payroll

Workday Payroll is a cloud-based payroll management software that brings together HR, workforce management, and finance into a single unified platform. It can help larger organisations automate wage calculations, tax compliance, and reporting across multiple countries, while also updating records instantly when staff change roles or log hours.

It’s HMRC-recognised and used by companies such as Coventry Building Society, Equifax and the British Heart Foundation.⁶

Key features include:⁶

• AI-powered connected global payroll suite, where real-time integrations from 180+ countries (via trusted partners) can be managed in one place
• Advanced reporting and analytics
• Mobile-first employee self-service
• Workday Payroll Agent, a built-in AI assistant designed to automate routine tasks, flag errors and answer employee payroll questions
• Bidirectional global payroll APIs
• Synced HR transactions and payroll
• Continuous payroll processing
• Anytime audit with AI anomaly detection
• Compliance updates dashboard.

Workday Payroll plans and pricing

Workday doesn’t publish a fixed official price list, so you’ll need to contact the sales team to discuss your needs and get custom pricing information.

Remote Global Payroll

Remote Global Payroll offers international payroll, benefits, taxes and compliances services for businesses of all sizes. It’s used by companies and organisations such as Octopus Energy, OakNorth, Hello Fresh, Soundcloud, Oxfam and many more.

Key features include:⁷

• A global platform for distributed teams
• International payroll processing hub, bringing together payroll, benefits, holidays, taxes and HR data all in one streamlined platform
• Access to in-country local labour law experts to help mitigate compliance risks
• Scalable payroll with AI-powered workflows and automatic payments
• Onboarding platform, including data collection and digital contracts
• Payroll approvals, benefits management and employee documentation
• Simple invoicing across multiple countries
• Employee self-serve tools
• Remote IP Guard to protect your intellectual property.

Remote payroll plans and pricing

Remote Payroll pricing is really straightforward, costing a flat €23 EUR per employee, per month. It also offers discounts for eligible startups and social purpose organisations.⁸

Manage payroll globally the smart way, with Wise Business

Wise Business offers a quick, easy and affordable way to make global payments in 40+ currencies at mid-market exchange rates. A powerful solution for international payroll – it’s an organised and fast way to pay people all over the world.

Sign up for a Wise Business account and you’ll get access to a cheaper way to make bulk global payments. If you’re making payments in multiple currencies, you’ll always get the mid-market exchange rate and there's just a transparent fee to convert between currencies - so there's no surprises.

Wise is simple to use, and can save you time and money. Make up to 1,000 payments to multiple currencies with the click of a button. There’s no need to manually pay out to vendors or employees. Just fill in one spreadsheet and Wise’s smart tech will do the rest. Payroll can be automated with the open API, with large volumes of payments distributed in seconds.

You can automatically sync your activity with accounting software such as Xero and Quickbooks to manage your accounting needs seamlessly - and to meet HMRC and Making Tax Digital compliance requirements.

Here's everything you can leverage with the account. With Wise Business, you can:

• 🌍 Send money to 70+ countries and pay overseas invoices at the mid-market exchange rate with low, transparent fees and no hidden exchange rate markups (product availability varies by region)
• 📥 Receive payments in 24 currencies and counting
• 💵 Get local account details for 8+ currencies, including USD and EUR, to let your customers pay in a currency they know and trust - convenience for them and peace of mind for you
• 💰 Hold money in 40+ currencies
• 🔁 Convert currencies anytime at the mid-market exchange rate with low, transparent fees
• ⚡ Use the batch payments tool to create and send up to 1,000 payments in a single transfer
• 👥 Run payroll and make international payments for up to 1,000 employees all over the world - including paying suppliers using local payment methods like ACH, SEPA, and Faster Payments
• 💳 Get business debit cards with 0.5% cashback for you and your team to keep track of team expenses and spend all over the world, with real-time visibility and categorisation. See full cashback terms and conditions
• 🏢 Manage cash in 55+ currencies across international offices from a single business account and move money between business accounts in seconds (exact speeds can vary depending on individual circumstances and may not be the same for all transactions)
• 🧾 Connect and sync every business transaction to your favourite accounting software, including Xero, Quickbooks, and more
• 🔐 Create your own payment approvals process to manage your team better with customised access for different team members, roles and permissions
• 📑 Create custom professional invoices and schedule invoice payments for future dates
• 📈 Earn variable returns on GBP, USD and EUR with Wise Interest (Growth not guaranteed. Your balance will go down in the event of a government default or interest rates going negative.)
• 🔗 Create payment links and QR codes to get paid easily (Card payment acceptance for new Wise Business customers is currently unavailable. Payment methods subject to eligibility and availability.)
• ⚙️ Automate payouts with the Wise API (comes with 24/7 customer support, a sandbox account to test integrations, API tokens, and clear documents on how to implement and make the most of our API)

Make the wise choice when selecting a business account for your domestic and global needs.

Be Smart, Get Wise.

Register for Wise Business ✍️

Wise Interest disclaimer: Growth not guaranteed. Your balance will go down in the event of a government default or interest rates going negative. Taxes may apply. 3.32% variable rate on GBP is based on 7 day performance as of 05 Aug 2026. For full 5-year past performance and fund information, visit https://wise.com/interest. Investments are offered by Wise Assets UK Ltd. (FRN 839689)

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Best free payroll software UK

If budget is a concern, there are free payroll tools out there. These will inevitably have their limitations, but could still be helpful for new businesses trying to get off the ground.

HMRC Basic PAYE Tools

One of the most commonly used types of free payroll software is HMRC Basic PAYE Tools. It lets you do most standard payroll tasks, including:

• Calculating tax and NI for your employees
• Submitting to HMRC
• Recording employee details
• Producing an ‘employer payment record’ showing how much you need to pay HMRC each month
• Helping you calculate statutory payments
• Producing payslips to print off and give to employees
• Allowing you to claim the NIC Employment Allowance.

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After reading this guide, you should have a better idea of your options when it comes to payroll software. We’ve looked at solutions for businesses of all sizes, including those which have globally-dispersed teams. And of course, free payroll solutions.

Armed with this information, you should be all set to compare options and choose the right one for your organisation.

And, don't forget you can sign up to Wise Business for free and begin payroll right away - to up to 1,000 employees at once.

Get started with Wise Business 🚀

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Sources used:

1. Sage - Sage Payroll
2. Xero - Payroll Software for Small Business
3. QuickBooks - QuickBooks Pricing & Costs
4. Moorepay - Payroll Solutions
5. Moorepay - Cloud Payroll Software UK
6. Workday - Enterprise Payroll System Software
7. Remote - Global Payroll
8. Remote - Pricing
9. HMRC - Basic PAYE Tools

Sources last checked on date: 14-Aug-2026