# BrightPay review (2026): is it worth £7.00 a month, billed yearly?

> UK cloud payroll with HMRC submissions and auto-enrolment

Checked Nov 12, 2026 · graded Nov 12, 2026 by ToolGPA.

BrightPay is UK payroll software, now sold by Bright from brightsg.com, that sends RTI submissions to HMRC and manages auto-enrolment pension duties. It processes payroll for up to 300 employees per employer and has employee and manager portals. Pricing is a published calculator based on team size, with a free trial.

- **Category:** Payroll
- **Made by:** Bright
- **Website:** https://brightsg.com/products/brightpay-sme
- **Runs on:** Web
- **Who should skip it:** Skip it if you pay staff outside the UK, as it is built around HMRC and UK rules.
- **Facts last checked:** Nov 12, 2026

## Pricing

As of Nov 12, 2026, BrightPay is a paid product with a free trial, starting at £7.00 per month, billed annually (£8.25 billed monthly), + VAT.

- **Pricing model:** Free trial
- **Free plan:** None.
- **Free trial:** Free trial with full access for your business.

| Plan | Price | What you get |
| --- | --- | --- |
| 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. |

Read from https://brightsg.com/products/brightpay-sme on Nov 12, 2026. Prices change, so confirm with BrightPay before buying.

## Ways to pay less

- **Save 15% with annual billing** (Annual discount): The pricing calculator shows a 15% saving on annual billing against monthly billing, so the entry price is £84 a year plus VAT. Source: https://brightsg.com/products/brightpay-sme

## Key features

- **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.

## Good for

- UK small businesses that run their own payroll
- Accountants and bureaus running payroll for several employers

## Worth knowing

- 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.

## ToolGPA grades

**GPA: 2.6 out of 4**, graded Nov 12, 2026. BrightPay Cloud is UK payroll software at GBP 7 a month plus VAT for one employer and a few employees, with HMRC submissions and an employee app. It is built for UK payroll, with a cap of 300 employees, and its trial length is not stated.

- **Value for money: B.** GBP 7 a month billed annually for one employer, with per-employee charges from the fourth employee at GBP 2.10. Five employees come to roughly $14, inside the cheapest quarter ($20).
- **Free plan and trial: C.** A free trial with full access, but the page does not state its length or whether a card is needed. There is no free plan.
- **Features: B.** HMRC submissions, automatic payroll checks, employee and manager portals, AI assistants, payments and accounting journals.
- **Ease of use: C.** No store rating on record. Payroll setup means entering employees, pensions and tax details.
- **Platforms and integrations: B.** Web, an employee app and links to Xero, QuickBooks, Sage and Zoho Books.

These are ToolGPA's own grades. Graded from this listing, whose facts were read from BrightPay's own pages on 12 November 2026. Not based on using the product, and shorter than our full reviews.

## Where it stands among payroll services

- BrightPay's GPA of 2.6 is higher than 35 of the 40 other payroll services we grade, and level with 3.
- It stands best on value for money (B, above 28 of 40) and worst on ease of use (C, above 1).
- Its paid plans start at about $9.38 a month, against a middle price of $29 for the category: 3 of the 24 others that charge start lower.
- On features, ease of use and platforms it scores 2.7 out of 4. 1 tool scores higher and costs less.

The category's chart of price against score: https://toolgpa.com/charts/payroll

## Keep it, or make your own?

**Keep it.** To replace BrightPay you would be making payroll taxes worked out and filed with the government for you. That is not a weekend's work, with an AI app builder or without one. It is one of the better ones too: its GPA of 2.6 is higher than 35 of the 40 other payroll services we grade. It costs $112.55 a year.

- You could make: Time off and employee records: an app builder makes these well.
- You could not: Payroll taxes worked out and filed with the government for you.
- You could not: It plugs into other products, Xero, QuickBooks and Sage among them.
- You could not: AI features, unless you pay a model provider for each request yourself.
- You could not: The depth: we grade its features B, which means it covers the whole job.

A judgement by ToolGPA from this listing, by rules that are the same for every tool. Nothing was built to test it.

## Works with

Xero, QuickBooks, Sage, Zoho Books, BrightBooks, Modulr, TimeKeeper, BrightCIS

**Tags:** Payroll, Time off, Employee records, AI features

## Alternatives

- [OnPay](https://toolgpa.com/tools/onpay): US payroll with published prices, plus HR and time add-ons. [Compare](https://toolgpa.com/compare/brightpay-vs-onpay)
- [Wagepoint](https://toolgpa.com/tools/wagepoint): Canadian payroll with T4s, ROEs and optional time tracking. [Compare](https://toolgpa.com/compare/brightpay-vs-wagepoint)
- [Eddy](https://toolgpa.com/tools/eddy): HR records, time tracking and US payroll for small businesses. [Compare](https://toolgpa.com/compare/brightpay-vs-eddy)
- [Employment Hero](https://toolgpa.com/tools/employment-hero): Payroll, HR and hiring for Australia, NZ, the UK and Asia. [Compare](https://toolgpa.com/compare/brightpay-vs-employment-hero)
- [Payfit](https://toolgpa.com/tools/payfit): Managed UK payroll and HR with an AI assistant. [Compare](https://toolgpa.com/compare/brightpay-vs-payfit)

## Sources

The prices, plans, platforms and features above were read from these pages on Nov 12, 2026:

- https://brightsg.com/products/brightpay-sme
- https://brightsg.com/products/brightpay-bureau
- https://www.brightpay.co.uk/

Page: https://toolgpa.com/tools/brightpay
Listed by ToolGPA (toolgpa.com).