BrightPay vs Employment Hero (2026): which should you pick?

Pick BrightPay if

• Fits if you run payroll for a UK small business
• Works for accountants who want links to Xero, QuickBooks or Sage

Look elsewhere if

• Skip it if you pay staff outside the UK, as it is built around HMRC and UK rules
• Watch out: prices are in pounds plus VAT, and the entry price is for one employer and one employee
• Watch out: per-employee charges start at the fourth employee, falling in bands above 750
• Too light for larger employers, as payroll is capped at 300 employees at standard pricing

Pick Employment Hero if

• Fits if you run payroll in Australia and need award interpretation and STP
• Works for teams of 10 or more with staff in Australia, the UK, New Zealand or Singapore

Look elsewhere if

• Skip it if your staff are in the US, as there's no US edition
• Tight if you have fewer than 10 people, since every plan bills for at least 10
• Pricey if you want payroll run for you: Managed Payroll is A$20 an employee a month, A$400 at least
• Watch out: rostering with time and attendance is A$4 an employee a month on top
• Watch out: prices are in Australian dollars, and there's no free plan or trial on record

BrightPay

• Prices are in pounds and shown plus VAT; the entry price is for one employer and one employee.
• Per-employee charges start at the fourth employee: £2.10 each for employees 4 to 10 on monthly billing, falling in bands to £0.12 above 750.
• Payroll is capped at 300 employees per employer at standard pricing.
• Built for UK payroll (HMRC, RTI, auto-enrolment); the vendor also publishes Ireland versions of its pages.

Employment Hero

• Runs payroll in Australia, New Zealand, the UK, Singapore, Malaysia and Canada, each on its own site; there is no US edition.
• Prices here are the Australian site's, in Australian dollars; the UK site lists HR Essentials at £6 and HR Engage at £9 a user from 1 November 2026.
• Every plan has a 10-user minimum, billed on the higher of the agreed number of users or the active users.
• Managed Payroll costs A$20 per employee a month (A$400 minimum), and rostering with time and attendance A$4 per employee a month.

BrightPay

HMRC submissions

RTI submissions go to HMRC straight from BrightPay on every pay run, and auto-enrolment duties are assessed with alerts for pending actions.

Automatic payroll checks

Flags NI category changes, minimum wage shortfalls for hourly staff and pension contributions below the minimum before a run is finalized.

Employee and manager portals

Employees see payslips and book annual leave, and line managers handle leave requests and team details in their own portal.

AI assistants

Oscar collects new-starter details for approval, BrightAsk answers UK payroll questions, and a payslip comparator explains changes between payslips.

Payments and accounting journals

Pays through a Modulr account and exports payroll journals to Xero, QuickBooks, Sage, Zoho Books, BrightBooks and other packages.

Employment Hero

AI Payroll Agent

Hero AI prepares pay runs and flags anomalies for a person to approve, using the timesheet, leave and employee data already in the platform.

Australian payroll compliance

Handles Single Touch Payroll Phase 2, SuperStream, award interpretation and penalty rates, and pays super every pay run through HeroClear.

Payroll in other countries

Regional editions file UK RTI submissions with HMRC, New Zealand payday filing with Inland Revenue, Singapore CPF reports and Malaysian EPF and PCB.

Rostering and time and attendance

An add-on builds rosters, records hours with time clocks and geofencing, allows shift swaps and feeds approved hours into pay.

HR and recruitment

HR plans cover leave, records, onboarding and performance reviews, and job posts reach Employment Hero's own pool of more than 2.3 million candidates.

Employment Hero Work app

Employees view payslips and timesheets, apply for leave and check upcoming shifts from the iPhone and Android app.

BrightPay

• BrightPay Cloud£7.00

  per month, billed annually (£8.25 billed monthly)

  Entry price shown for one employer and one employee, plus VAT; per-employee charges apply from the fourth employee.

Employment Hero

• PayrollA$10

  per user / month, minimum 10 users

  Unlimited pay runs, tax calculations, award interpretation, payroll reports and employee self-service. Australian site price.

• HR EssentialsA$11

  per user / month, minimum 10 users

  HR only, without payroll: leave, employee records, documents, onboarding and offboarding, and policy tools.

• HR EngageA$15

  per user / month, minimum 10 users

  HR Essentials plus recruitment, expenses, performance reviews, learning management and the recruitment agent. No payroll.

• Employment UnlimitedCustom

  Payroll with HR Elite, the Employee Assistance Program, HR advisory, a learning bundle, team chat and priority support. Sold through sales.

BrightPay

• Annual discount

  Save 15% with annual billing

  The pricing calculator shows a 15% saving on annual billing against monthly billing, so the entry price is £84 a year plus VAT.

Employment Hero

No public discounts listed.