Best Payroll Software for 2026

Thinking about switching payroll software? With so many options out there, it can feel overwhelming to find the right fit for your business and team. Let’s make it easier!

In this guide, we look at the top payroll software providers, comparing:

1. What it does best and how that helps you
2. What the app is going to cost you
3. How it can connect to other apps you're using (like Xero, QuickBooks and more)
4. If it's designed to work for a specific audience/business

Whether you're a business owner, accounting firm, or payroll bureau, here are the top payroll software providers for 2026, broken up into a few categories:

• Free plans
• Small businesses and start-ups
• Large companies
• Accountants and payroll bureaus
• Combining payroll and HR features
• For automation
• For connecting to other apps

Best free payroll software 

WINNER: Employment Hero

Out of our top picks, Employment Hero is the only payroll software to offer a free plan. With their free plan, you get:

• Automatic pay runs and payslip generation
• Manage multiple pay schedules and benefits
• PensionSync integration
• Allowances

If you decide to upgrade to a paid plan, you can let the Employment Hero team handle your payroll or use features like multi-PAYE and pay conditions yourself.

VIEW EMPLOYMENT HERO PLANS

Best payroll software for small businesses and start-ups

When we talk about small businesses, we’re defining this as teams with 10 or fewer employees on payroll.

WINNER: SafeHR

SafeHR is great for small businesses, making it easier to save time, stay compliant, and track attendance whilst managing your team’s daily tasks. Plus, it grows with your business, thanks to simple pay-per-employee pricing (£25 minimum charge).

You get both payroll and HR tools at your fingertips:

• Payroll and expense management
• Holiday, absence and time sheet tracking
• Appraisals
• Reporting on payroll, time tracking, organisation reports etc

SafeHR integrates with Xero and QuickBooks, making it easy to sync payroll. You can also upgrade to on-hand expert HR support to guide you whenever you need it.

GO TO SAFEHR

TOP PICKS

Xero Payroll

If you’re already using Xero for your accounting, their payroll module is a bit of a no-brainer. Keeping your numbers in one place makes reconciliation much easier and saves you from jumping between different apps.

It handles the heavy lifting like tax and pension calculations automatically, a massive time-saver for small business owners who’d rather focus on growth than paperwork. While it might not have every single bell and whistle of a standalone system, the convenience usually outweighs that for most startups.

GO TO XERO PAYROLL

QuickBooks Payroll

If you have QuickBooks as your accounting software, QuickBooks Payroll means you can avoid juggling multiple apps, saving precious time and reducing errors.

You can benefit from automatic calculations, including contractor and subcontractor deductions and can file CIS taxes straight to HMRC. Having accounting and payroll in-house is great for small teams, with the option to upgrade to standalone payroll apps as you grow.

GO TO QUICKBOOKS PAYROLL

Best payroll software for large companies

WINNER: Staffology

Staffology handles the complex needs you have with larger teams. Its automated features ensure efficiency, and it connects to your favourite apps so you have real-time accuracy.

With Staffology you have:

• Real-time calculations and instant HMRC updates
• Batch processing for multi-company setups
• Customisable additions and deductions
• Automated pension management and compliance checks

GO TO STAFFOLOGY

TOP PICKS

Sage

Sage Payroll offers robust features that prioritise accuracy and compliance. Large teams can benefit from a package that's up to 150 employees, before transitioning to Sage People Payroll when managing teams in the thousands.

With Sage, you have:

• Automated entry of approved timesheet data
• Easily add, remove, or exclude employees and payments with bulk actions
• Update payments and deductions in one step

GO TO SAGE PAYROLL

BrightPay

BrightPay offers flexibility when managing payroll for larger teams. You can set standard payroll schedules as defaults while also customising them to meet unique requirements across different entities, departments, or even individual employees.

With BrightPay you can:

• Run weekly, fortnightly, four-weekly, monthly, quarterly and yearly payroll simultaneously
• Allocate an employee's pay across different departments
• Create custom additions and deductions which you can set to repeat
• Auto zeroise pay items
• Download and apply PAYE coding notices in batches

And more! With pay per employee pricing, BrightPay can scale as your company does.

GO TO BRIGHTPAY

Best payroll software for accountants and payroll bureaus

WINNER: FreshPay

Designed by payroll professionals for payroll professionals, FreshPay boasts several features that make managing client payroll much easier:

• See payroll teams' workloads and capacity
• View clients and their setup progress and upcoming deadlines
• Set up Director payroll once and it processes each payday without any work
• Bulk edit payroll with hourly rates, reimbursements, overtime and more

Even pricing is tailored for accountants and payroll bureaus. Instead of charging per employee, you pay per employer. Add an unlimited number of employees to each employer at no extra cost. You can bolt on the Director payroll module when you have a client that needs it. You can add unlimited users from your firm/bureau in your account with varying permission levels.

GO TO FRESHPAY

TOP PICKS

Staffology

Staffology allows you to white-label the software, ensuring your firm's branding is front and centre whenever clients log in and interact with the platform.

Tasks appear automatically for your payroll team to handle, and they can use Staffology's auto-pilot feature to handle payroll tasks and free up their time.

GO TO STAFFOLOGY

Employment Hero

Using Employment Hero's bureau dashboard, you can manage unlimited clients with one annual flat fee. Access automated pay run scheduling, automatic calculations and a full audit of payroll actions.

With clients uploading data straight into Employment Hero, you can get rid of spreadsheets and get employee data over email.

GO TO EMPLOYMENT HERO

Buddy HR

Buddy HR is designed to simplify payroll for you and your clients. Its parallel run validation feature ensures a smooth and accurate migration.

Manage all your clients from a single portal, allow them to input data directly, and get payroll approved, all within Buddy. Coming soon, you'll be able to invoice clients directly inside Buddy.

GO TO BUDDY HR

Best payroll software for combining payroll and HR features

WINNER: SafeHR

SafeHR provides everything you need to manage HR for your business. With flexible, pay-per-employee pricing, you get all the tools in one subscription and can upgrade for HR support whenever needed.

With SafeHR you can:

• Recruitment and onboarding
• Payroll and expenses
• Performance management
• Health and safety
• Time tracking
• Staff engagement
• Training and CPD
• Holiday and absence management

GO TO SAFEHR

TOP PICKS

Employment Hero

With Employment Hero you can create customised experiences for your company and team. It's a great solution to get that unique feel without building a custom HR software for your business. You can get:

• Custom branding
• API access
• Custom fields
• Goal setting
• Milestone recognition

And more! Depending on the plan you choose, you can also access representation in claims and managed payroll.

GO TO EMPLOYMENT HERO

Payfit

PayFit is an all-in-one platform that integrates HR and payroll to save time. The software automates routine tasks and manages compliance, making it a practical choice for growing businesses.

• Create and manage contracts
• Automate onboarding tasks, collect documents, and customise questionnaires for new hires.
• Build organisational charts and maintain an updated employee directory
• Handle arrivals, promotions, and departures with automated workflows and reminders.

GO TO PAYFIT

Best payroll software for automation

WINNER: FreshPay

Automation is more than just a buzzword with FreshPay, the entire payroll software has been designed to help you get payroll processes running seamlessly in the background.

With FreshPay you can:

• Automate everything after you've finalised payroll, including FPS to HMRC, EPS accounting for any changes you make, payslips, pensions and reports
• Automate the entire Auto Enrolment process, including assessments, sending pension letters to employees, and submissions to pension providers
• Set up Director payroll once, and see it process automatically for the rest of the year, including FPS to HMRC, sending payslips, posting journals and creating reports

GO TO FRESHPAY

Want to automate your payroll? 👉 Our guide shows you 👈 how to build workflows with your favourite software, from payroll creation to sending payments.

Best payroll software for connecting to other apps

Whilst payroll software from big accounting companies may seem like the obvious choice, we’re focusing on integrations that support and improve payroll. Many of their integrations are designed for other accounting tasks, not payroll specifically.

WINNER: Employment Hero

Employment Hero boasts seven integrations with accounting software:

• Xero
• QuickBooks
• Sage
• Freshbooks
• Netsuite
• Zoho Books
• Free Agent
• Quickfile

You can also connect Employment Hero to Xero Payroll, Telleroo, Deputy, Square, Roubler, Infra Hub, Go1, Slack, NoahFace, PowerBI via SyncEzy, Google Workspace and Microsoft 365. 

VIEW EMPLOYMENT HERO INTEGRATIONS

TOP PICKS

BuddyHR

Buddy integrates with the accounting software providers:

• Xero
• QuickBooks
• Free Agent

Buddy also connects to Nest Pensions, Smart Pensions, The People’s Pension, Telleroo, Workforce, Deputy, Punch Clock and Bamboo HR.

VIEW BUDDY INTEGRATIONS

SafeHR

SafeHR integrates with the accounting software providers:

• Xero
• QuickBooks
• Xledger

SafeHR also connects to PensionSync, Xledger, App Advisory Plus, Telleroo, Planday, Deputy, Office 365, Apple Calendar and Google Calendar.

VIEW SAFEHR INTEGRATIONS