UK. Built from HMRC's recognised software list
Which is the best payroll software for a UK small business?
Ten products sit on HMRC's free payroll software list, recognised for businesses with fewer than 10 employees. Others cost from a few pounds a month, and two of the best known publish no price at all. This table records what each supplier states on its own page, with the date we checked, and says plainly where a supplier states nothing.
| Option | gov.uk, updated 3 July 2026 | supplier's own page, 15 Aug 2026 | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Basic PAYE Tools HMRC's own free tool, under 10 employees | Free list, published by HMRC itself | Free | Fewer than 10 employees, stated by gov.uk | Not mentioned on gov.uk, which describes tax, National Insurance and HMRC submissions only | Sends payroll information to HMRC. gov.uk does not say it produces payslips, and says it is not designed for agents or bookkeepers |
| Collegia FreePayroll Free cloud payroll with a pension attached | Free list, as Collegia Partners Ltd | Free. Supplier states no credit card and no trial period | HMRC lists the free products for under 10 employees. The supplier states no employee limit | Yes. Auto-enrolment through Collegia's own pension, described as built in | Yes. Payslips, P45s and P60s, with FPS and EPS submitted to HMRC |
| Employment Hero Free Payroll Free cloud payroll without a headcount cap | Free list, as Employment Hero (UK) Ltd | £0 a month, stated as free forever with no trial period | HMRC lists the free products for under 10 employees. The supplier states unlimited employees | Yes. Assess, enrol and re-enrol staff, with pension contributions submitted | Yes. Payslips generated and sent automatically, RTI auto-submitted to HMRC |
| Primo Payroll A free tier with paid support if you need it | Free list, as Accentra Technologies Ltd | Essentials Free Plus at £0. Paid Essentials tiers at £24.99 and £49.99 a year, mainly buying support | 10 employees on the free tier | Yes. Described as a fully automated auto-enrolment solution with contributions calculated and processed | Yes. Payslips produced, with RTI submissions tracked in the system |
| Moneysoft Payroll Manager Fixed annual cost, CIS included | Paid-for list, as Moneysoft Limited | £95 a year excluding VAT for Payroll Manager 20. £190 and £285 for the 100 and 250 versions | Up to 20 employees or subcontractors for one employer, leavers in the tax year included | Yes. Assessment report, output files for major providers and a direct link to NEST | Yes, and CIS subcontractors are handled in the same product |
| Xero Payroll Payroll bolted onto bookkeeping you already do | Paid-for list, as Xero | Plans at £16, £37, £50 and £65 a month excluding VAT, with introductory rates for the first 6 months | Ignite at £16 includes no payroll people and charges £1.50 per person. Grow at £37 includes one person | Yes. Automatic enrolment and re-enrolment, submitting contributions directly to Nest and The People's Pension | Yes, through the Xero Me app or email. RTI filed after every pay run |
| FreeAgent Free with a NatWest, RBS, Ulster or Mettle account | Paid-for list, as FreeAgent Central Ltd | £19 a month for sole traders, £27 for partnerships, £33 for limited companies, with introductory rates. Free while you hold a qualifying NatWest, Royal Bank of Scotland, Ulster Bank or Mettle account | No per-employee charge: add as many employees as you need at no extra cost | Partial. It calculates pension contributions from default settings. The payroll page does not describe auto-enrolment assessment or submissions to a pension provider | Yes. Payslips and P60s generated, RTI submitted directly to HMRC |
| IRIS Staffology Payroll Growing headcount priced per payslip | Paid-for list, as IRIS. HMRC's IRIS Payroll Basics link now redirects here | £43 a month for 19 payslips or fewer, plus £2.15 per payslip from 20 to 50. Above 51, quote only. All prices subject to VAT | 19 payslips a month on the flat fee | Not described on the product page we checked | Yes, through an e-payslips portal with P60s. Priced by the number of RTI submissions in the billing period |
| BrightPay Widely used by UK bureaux and their clients | Paid-for list, as Bright Software Group Ltd | Not published. The pricing page offers annual and monthly plans and sends you to an on-site quote calculator | Not published. Above 250 employees for a single employer is quote only | Yes. Auto-enrolment tasks automated, with contribution submissions to providers including NEST, The People's Pension and Smart Pension | Yes, including an employee self-service portal. The site describes itself as RTI and HMRC recognised |
| PayFit UK Payroll and HR together, sales-led | Paid-for list, as PayFit Ltd | Not published. The site has no pricing page: it routes you to a demo booking | Not published. The site segments by under 25 employees and 25 or more | Yes. Pension submissions sent automatically alongside RTI, and auto-enrolment listed among the tasks it automates | Yes. Payslips sent and stored automatically, RTI submissions sent automatically to HMRC |
Every free payroll product on HMRC's recognised list, and what its supplier actually says
Last updated
HMRC's list names ten free payroll products and states they are recognised for businesses with fewer than 10 employees. It does not say what each one includes. This table follows the link gov.uk publishes for each supplier and records what we could read there.
Column one and two are copied verbatim from the free payroll software table on gov.uk's 'Find payroll software that is recognised by HMRC' page, last updated 3 July 2026, which states that this free software is recognised by HMRC for businesses with fewer than 10 employees. Column three records only what we could read on the supplier's own page on 15 August 2026, reached through the link gov.uk publishes for that supplier. Where a supplier's page stated no price or no limit, the row says so rather than filling the gap. HMRC states it cannot recommend one product over another, and neither do we: nothing in this table is a rating.
| Product | Supplier, in HMRC's wording | What the supplier's own page said, 15 August 2026 |
|---|---|---|
| Basic PAYE Tools | HMRC | Free download for Windows, macOS and Linux. gov.uk states it is for businesses with fewer than 10 employees, that it performs most payroll tasks, and that it is not designed for agents or bookkeepers. |
| Collegia FreePayroll | Collegia Partners Ltd | Free, with the supplier stating no employee limit. Payslips, P45s, P60s, FPS and EPS, with Collegia auto-enrolment pension built in. |
| Employment Hero Free Payroll | Employment Hero (UK) Ltd | £0 a month with unlimited employees stated. RTI submissions, payslip generation and auto-enrolment listed as included. |
| Primo Payroll | Accentra Technologies Ltd | Essentials Free Plus tier at £0 for 10 employees. Paid Essentials tiers at £24.99 and £49.99 a year add email and phone support. |
| Enrolpay - Small Payroll | Enrolpay Ltd | Described on the supplier's site as free payroll software for companies with less than 10 employees, with employee access to payslips, holidays and pension documents. |
| RTI Lite | Hartigan Software Design Ltd | A Windows desktop submission tool rather than a full payroll: free for 1 to 9 employees, £121 a year excluding VAT for 10 to 16. It takes data from an existing payroll package or an Excel template and sends FPS and EPS. |
| 1 A Simple Payroll | IT Contractors Ltd | Price shown as free. Cloud platform for RTI e-filing and payslips, with tips and tronc calculation as its focus. |
| IRIS Payroll Basics | IRIS Software Ltd | HMRC's link redirects to the IRIS Staffology Payroll page, priced from £43 a month plus VAT. We found no page for a free IRIS Payroll Basics product. |
| Stansoft Linux | Stansoft | Accounting and payroll software for the Linux platform, covering UK PAYE RTI. The supplier's own page describes it as suited to people comfortable with the command line. |
| 1st FREE+ Payroll & HR | 1st Money (GB) Ltd | HMRC's link redirects to the supplier's home page, where the payroll product is described in United States terms. We could not verify a UK free tier from it. |
- HMRC's list of recognised payroll software names ten free products and states they are recognised for businesses with fewer than 10 employees (gov.uk, last updated 3 July 2026).
- HMRC publishes its own free payroll software, Basic PAYE Tools, as a download for Windows, macOS and Linux, for businesses with fewer than 10 employees.
- Recognition means the software can be used to report PAYE to HMRC online. gov.uk states plainly that HMRC cannot recommend one product or service over another.
- Of the ten products compared here, two publish no price at all: BrightPay quotes through an on-site calculator and PayFit through a demo booking (checked 15 August 2026).
- Two of the free-list entries are narrower than they look: RTI Lite is a submission tool that takes data from an existing payroll package, and HMRC's link for IRIS Payroll Basics now redirects to a paid product.
Cite this page
“Every free payroll product on HMRC's recognised list, and what its supplier actually says”, Payroll Software Compare, https://payrollsoftwarecompare.co.uk/ (updated 2026-08-15). Column one and two are copied verbatim from the free payroll software table on gov.uk's 'Find payroll software that is recognised by HMRC' page, last updated 3 July 2026, which states that this free software is recognised by HMRC for businesses with fewer than 10 employees. Column three records only what we could read on the supplier's own page on 15 August 2026, reached through the link gov.uk publishes for that supplier. Where a supplier's page stated no price or no limit, the row says so rather than filling the gap. HMRC states it cannot recommend one product over another, and neither do we: nothing in this table is a rating.
How we chose and ordered these
Every option here is drawn from gov.uk's list of payroll software recognised by HMRC (last updated 3 July 2026), filtered to products aimed at small and medium UK employers whose own website we could read on 15 August 2026. The order is by what it costs a small employer to start: free products first, then products with a published price from lowest to highest, then products that publish no price at all. Every price is copied from the supplier's own page on that date rather than estimated, and where a supplier publishes nothing we say so, because 'quote only' is a real answer to 'what does it cost'. What this comparison does not do: it does not score, rate or test the software, it carries no reviews or ratings, and it is not a ranking by quality. Two widely used recognised products, Sage and QuickBooks, are absent because their websites refused our checks, and we do not publish a row we cannot source. HMRC's paid-for list runs to well over 150 products, so a product's absence here means we have not covered it, not that it is unsuitable. We take no commission from any supplier on this page.
- Basic PAYE Tools gov.uk
- Collegia FreePayroll freepayroll.ai, the site HMRC links
- Employment Hero Free Payroll employmenthero.com, the page HMRC links
- Primo Payroll primopayroll.co.uk pricing
- Moneysoft Payroll Manager moneysoft.co.uk prices
- Xero Payroll xero.com UK payroll
- FreeAgent freeagent.com payroll, the page HMRC links
- IRIS Staffology Payroll iris.co.uk Staffology Payroll
- BrightPay brightpay.co.uk
- PayFit UK payfit.com payroll, the page HMRC links
Payroll Software Compare is an independent site operated by Ellul Solutions Ltd. It is not affiliated with, endorsed by or connected to HMRC or any software supplier named here, and nothing on it is tax, accounting or legal advice. We take no commission from any supplier in this comparison and carry no paid placements. Supplier prices and features change without notice: every figure carries the date we read it on the supplier's own page, and you should confirm the current position there before buying.
Choosing or switching payroll software?
Tell us the shape of your payroll and we'll introduce you to a payroll software specialist or bureau who handles setup and mid-year migrations.
Common questions
Does payroll software have to be HMRC-recognised?
No rule names a particular product. The duty is to report your employees' pay and deductions to HMRC on or before their payday. HMRC publishes a list of software it recognises for reporting PAYE online, and choosing from that list is the simplest way to be confident the submission will be accepted. HMRC states that it cannot recommend one product or service over another.
Is there free payroll software that HMRC recognises?
Yes. gov.uk's recognised software page carries a free table with ten products on it, and states that this free software is recognised by HMRC for businesses with fewer than 10 employees. HMRC's own Basic PAYE Tools is one of them, as a free download for Windows, macOS and Linux. The list was last updated on 3 July 2026.
Is HMRC's Basic PAYE Tools enough to run a small payroll?
gov.uk says it performs most payroll tasks, including working out tax and National Insurance and sending that information to HMRC, and that it is for businesses with fewer than 10 employees. It also says the tool has some limitations and is not designed for agents or bookkeepers. The gov.uk page does not describe payslip production or pension auto-enrolment, so check those against your own duties before relying on it alone.
Which payroll software handles pension auto-enrolment?
Auto-enrolment is a separate duty from PAYE and HMRC recognition says nothing about it. Of the products compared here, Collegia FreePayroll, Employment Hero Free Payroll, Primo Payroll, Moneysoft Payroll Manager, Xero Payroll, BrightPay and PayFit all describe assessment or contribution submissions on their own pages. FreeAgent's payroll page describes calculating pension contributions but not auto-enrolment assessment or provider submissions, and the IRIS Staffology Payroll page we checked does not mention it. Check the supplier's current page before you rely on this.
How much does UK payroll software cost?
The published prices we could read on supplier pages on 15 August 2026 ran from £0 to £43 a month plus VAT. Examples: Moneysoft Payroll Manager £95 a year excluding VAT for up to 20 employees, Xero from £16 a month excluding VAT plus £1.50 per payroll person, FreeAgent £19 to £33 a month, IRIS Staffology Payroll £43 a month plus VAT for up to 19 payslips. BrightPay and PayFit publish no price and quote instead.
Why are Sage and QuickBooks not in the comparison?
Both are on HMRC's recognised list of payroll software. Neither website would answer our automated checks, so we could not read a current price or feature list from the source, and we do not publish a row we cannot verify. That is a limitation of this comparison, not a judgement on either product.
Can I switch payroll software part way through a tax year?
Yes, and it is common. The practical work is carrying year-to-date figures across accurately for every employee, keeping your PAYE reference and pension scheme details aligned, and making sure only one system files a Full Payment Submission for a given pay period. Ask any supplier you are considering what its mid-year import needs from your current system before you commit.
The detail
Sourced, dated, kept current.
Free payroll software UK: what HMRC actually recognises
HMRC's list names ten free payroll products, recognised for businesses with fewer than 10 employees. What each one is, what the limit really means, and where free stops.
How much does payroll software cost in the UK?
Published UK payroll software prices we could read on supplier pages, from £0 to £43 a month, plus the two big names that publish nothing and what drives a quote.
What HMRC-recognised payroll software means (and does not)
HMRC recognition means the software can report PAYE online. It is not an endorsement, not a quality rating, and not a legal requirement to use one named product.
Payroll bureau software for accountants: what changes
Running payroll for clients changes the buying question from headcount to number of employers. What multi-company pricing looks like and why HMRC's free tools are out.
Payroll software for a small business: what you actually have to buy
HMRC's free tool stops at fewer than 10 employees. What a small UK employer needs from payroll software, and what the free route leaves you to do by hand.
Cloud based payroll software: what changes and what does not
Cloud payroll changes who holds the data and what happens when you leave. What HMRC requires either way, and what to ask before migrating.
Sources
Start from the list, not the ads
Ten free products on HMRC's list, eight suppliers that publish what they charge and two that will not, each traceable to the page it came from.