Employment Hero vs Talenox (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 Talenox if

• Fits if you run a team in Singapore, Malaysia or Hong Kong and want payroll cheap
• Works for businesses of 5 to 50 who want payroll, leave and claims together

Look elsewhere if

• Not for you if you are outside its localised countries: it is a manual, basic system there
• Tight if you pay monthly: $10 for 5 people and $2 each, double the annual price
• Skip it if you have over 50 staff: you are sent to a custom-priced Pro plan
• Watch out: Singapore, Malaysia and Hong Kong each have separate local-currency plans

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.

Talenox

• Prices are listed in US dollars; Singapore, Malaysia and Hong Kong each have separate local-currency plans.
• The site says it is localized for selected countries only and works as a manual, basic HR system elsewhere.
• Teams above 50 employees are pointed to the custom-priced Pro plan.
• Annual billing is half the monthly price on the pricing page.

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.

Talenox

Payroll processing

Single or multiple pay runs a month, with pay items adjustable to each country's requirements and payslips that employees can view online.

Payroll reports and exports

Management payroll, variance and pay-item reports, plus bank file exports and payroll entries pushed to Xero or QuickBooks Online.

Leave management

Pre-loaded statutory leave types, custom leave types, different policies per employee group and a calendar view.

Expense claims

Employees submit receipts for approval, and approved claims sync into payroll.

Employee profiles

Employee and company records with job history, salary details, custom fields and cost centers, across multiple entities.

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.

Talenox

• Payroll$5

  per month for 5 employees, then $1 each, annual

  Payroll with country-specific pay items, custom payslips and reports, and Xero or QuickBooks Online entries. Monthly billing: $10 base, $2 per extra employee.

• Leave$5

  per month for 5 employees, then $1 each, annual

  Leave requests and approvals with custom types, per-group policies and several approvers. Monthly billing: $10 base, $2 per extra employee.

• Suite$15

  per month for 5 employees, then $3 each, annual

  Payroll, Leave and Claims together, with unpaid leave and claims syncing into payroll. Monthly billing: $30 base, $6 per extra employee.

• ProCustom

  For teams of 50 to 1,000 or more people that want more customizable, enterprise-grade HR and payroll; sold through a demo.

Employment Hero

No public discounts listed.

Talenox

• Annual discount

  50% off with annual billing

  The pricing page shows annual billing at half the monthly price, for example Payroll at US$1 per employee per month against US$2 billed monthly.

• Startups

  Startup pricing for 1 to 5 employees

  The pricing page says affordable options exist for new businesses with 1 to 5 employees, subject to eligibility, and asks you to contact sales.