Payroll and HR software priced per employee: what ten people cost

Most payroll and HR products charge per employee per month. That makes a quick sum possible: multiply by your headcount. The sum goes wrong when you add up a payroll price and an HR price as if they bought the same thing.

Payroll runs your salaries. HR runs your people.

Payroll software calculates pay, PAYE, UIF and SDL and produces the returns and certificates SARS asks for. HR software holds employee records, leave, onboarding and performance. Some products do both. Many do one, and connect to the other.

A ten person business, a month

SimplePay's R23.55 is for a ten employee business, and its calculator gives your own figure for your own headcount. Add VAT at 15 percent and ten employees come to about R271 a month. Sage HR's core price is R28 per employee, with Timesheets and Performance at R14 and Expenses at R10 per employee on top. PeopleHR lists its Starter plan in pounds, shown here at about R66 per employee.

Banded and flat prices

• Sage Payroll prices by employee band. The first band, one to two employees, starts at R97 a month including VAT, or R1 080 a year.
• BambooHR lists a flat monthly rate for companies of 25 or fewer, and a per employee rate above that. Its payroll and benefits add ons are for US employees.
• PaySpace gives its per employee rate in a demo.

Questions to put to a vendor

• Does the price include VAT, and does it include every statutory return, or only the payslip?
• What happens to the price when you add a second company?
• Does leave accrue under the BCEA, and can you produce the record in a dispute?

See SimplePay against PaySpace, Sage Payroll against SimplePay and Sage HR against BambooHR, or read the guide to payroll returns.