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

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

Pick SimplePay if

• Fits if you run payroll for a South African business of up to 500 people
• Works for owners who want one plan with every feature included

Look elsewhere if

• Not for you if you run payroll outside South Africa: it is built around SARS rules
• Pricey if you add VAT: the prices shown exclude VAT
• Watch out: accountants, bureaus and firms over 500 employees must request a quote
• Watch out: each extra company is billed separately and needs its own quote

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.

SimplePay

• Prices are in South African rand and exclude VAT.
• Companies with more than 500 employees, and accounting firms or bureaus running payroll for clients, must request a quote.
• Multiple companies are billed separately, each needing its own quote.
• The site says its ISO 27001 certification is still in progress.

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.

SimplePay

Payroll processing

Calculates salaries, wages and tax from employee data and produces payment files to upload to your bank.

Statutory calculations and filing

Handles PAYE, UIF and SDL, with EMP201 and UIF declaration data, and tax certificate exports for eFiling or e@syFile.

Leave management

Custom annual leave policies, built-in sick and family responsibility leave, and approvals through self-service.

Employee self-service

Employees see payslips, request leave, log expense claims and submit banking and address changes through the website or the mobile app for iOS and Android.

Flexible pay structures

Supports variable pay rates, bonuses, commissions and unlimited custom income and deduction items.

Accounting integrations and API

Connects to Xero and QuickBooks and offers an API for other systems.

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.

SimplePay

• The One PlanR70

  per month, plus R19.50 per employee (first 5)

  All features. Per-employee rate falls to R13.60 for employees 6 to 10, R11.00 for 11 to 300 and R8.75 from 301; 10 employees come to R235.50 a month, excluding VAT.