BrightPay vs IRIS Payroll (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 IRIS Payroll if

• Fits if you are a UK employer already on IRIS Cascade HR
• Works for organisations that want software or outsourced payroll from the same vendor

Look elsewhere if

• Not for you if you want a price, because none is published
• Skip it if you employ outside the UK, since it covers English, Scottish and Welsh tax rates
• Too light for a payroll bureau, schools or GPs, as IRIS sells separate products for those
• Not for you if you want a free plan or trial, as none is listed

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.

IRIS Payroll

• No prices are published on the page.
• Supports English, Scottish and Welsh tax rates, so it serves UK payroll.
• It is a module of IRIS Cascade HRi; IRIS sells separate payroll products for bureaus, schools and GPs.

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.

IRIS Payroll

HMRC reporting

Sends RTI reports to HMRC and downloads coding and student or postgraduate loan notices.

Employee self-service

Employees see payslips and P60s in one place, with access rights controlled by the employer.

Direct HR integration

Changes employees make to their details in IRIS Cascade HRi flow into payroll automatically.

Reports

Pre-built reports include the Gender Pay Gap, plus real-time payroll data.

Outsourced option

Employers can have CIPP-qualified professionals run payroll instead of doing it themselves.

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.

IRIS Payroll

Pricing could not be confirmed. See iris.co.uk.

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.

IRIS Payroll

No public discounts listed.