Sage Payroll's 22 bands: what 5, 25 and 100 employees pay

Most payroll products on the register charge a rate for each employee. Sage Payroll does not. It sells 22 bands of headcount, from one to two employees up to 200, and above 200 it charges a rate for each employee. Sage says every feature is in every band, with unlimited companies and users. The prices below include VAT, as Sage states them on its South African page.

What six sizes of business pay

A business registered for VAT claims the VAT back, so the middle column is its real cost. A business that is not registered pays the third. The per employee column is the price of the top of each band divided by its headcount, so a business at the bottom of a band pays more for each employee than the table shows.

Where the price jumps

Bands change in steps, so the cost of one more employee depends on where you stand. A business with ten employees that hires an eleventh moves from the 6 to 10 band at R430 to the 11 to 15 band at R641, a rise of R211 for one person. At 25 employees the next hire adds R143. At 100 the next adds R130. Above 200 each extra employee adds R22.37.

• From 10 to 11 employees: R430 to R641, a rise of R211 including VAT.
• From 25 to 26 employees: R1 018 to R1 161, a rise of R143.
• From 50 to 51 employees: R1 832 to R2 199, a rise of R367.
• From 100 to 101 employees: R3 225 to R3 355, a rise of R130.
• From 200 to 201 employees: R4 475 to R4 496.37, a rise of R21.37.

If you are close to the top of a band, a hire costs little. If you are at the bottom of the next one, it costs the whole step. That is worth knowing before a business plans a round of hiring.

Set beside a rate per employee

SimplePay prices by headcount too, but it quotes a rate for each employee on its own site: for ten employees the quote read on 11 October 2026 was R235.50 a month excluding VAT, which is R23.55 each, and the rate changes with headcount. Sage Payroll's band for 6 to 10 employees is R430 including VAT, which is R373.91 excluding. On the same footing, at ten employees, the figures are R235.50 and R373.91.

The figures are the vendors' own, and they do not describe the same product. SimplePay has one plan with every feature switched on, and quotes per company. Sage Payroll has every feature in every band, with unlimited companies and users. Which is the better fit depends on how many companies you run and what you need the product to produce. Read both reviews before you decide.

Yearly pricing is not the same as monthly times twelve

Sage's page also shows a yearly price for each band. Its headline says payroll from R1 080 a year, but the yearly toggle shows R1 164 for one to two employees. That is a difference on Sage's own page, and the review on the register records it. If you plan to pay yearly, ask Sage South Africa in writing which figure applies.

Work out your own bill

The Sage Payroll review has a calculator that takes your number of employees and shows the band, the monthly price with and without VAT, and the price per employee. For the returns payroll has to produce, read payroll returns: EMP201, EMP501 and IRP5 and a payroll software checklist.