Made for South African buyers. Every price in rand, read from the vendor.
In depth review
SimplePay · Payroll software
Cloud payroll that a person without an accounting background can run, quoted by headcount.
SimplePay is South African cloud payroll with one plan and every feature switched on. You enter your company details and the site quotes you instantly, by number of employees, excluding VAT. At ten employees the quote is R235.50 a month, which is R23.55 each. A 30 day free trial includes full support, and PAYE, UIF and SDL are calculated for you.
Ten employees
R235.50
A month, excluding VAT
Per employee at ten
R23.55
The rate falls or rises with headcount
Plans
1
Every feature is in it
Free trial
30 days
Full access and support
Connects to
Xero, QuickBooks
Accounting packages
Figures marked as a vendor's own are that vendor's claims about itself and are not tested here.
Every plan SimplePay lists, in rand, with a button to its own pricing page.
Plan
R23.55
per employee a month
R235.50 a month for ten employees, excluding VAT. The rate depends on your headcount and the site quotes it instantly.
Each button opens the vendor's own page in a new tab, where you buy or sign up. Prices are the vendor's, shown in rand.
SimplePay lists 1 priced plan: The One Plan at R23.55 /employee. Every figure is shown in rand.
The vendor states a VAT basis, so both footings are known: The One Plan is R23.55 excluding VAT, R27.08 including VAT. A business registered for VAT claims the VAT back, so the figure excluding VAT is its real cost.
Prices exclude VAT. Multiple companies are billed separately. Employers above 500 employees and bureaus are quoted individually.
Read from simplepay.co.za/pricing on 11 October 2026.
A plan priced per user or per employee shows the price of one. Both VAT footings are shown where the vendor states its basis.
Opens the vendor's own page in a new tab. Nothing is bought on this site.
From R23.55 /employee /mo
Starting prices of the priced products in the same category, cheapest first. This is a price sort, not a ranking: the cheapest product is not the best one, and some are priced per user, some per month and some excluding VAT.
Bar lengths use a square root scale, so a very high price does not flatten the rest. The figures are exact.
The middle starting price of the paid products here is R60.
Price on request, so not charted: PaySoft, PaySpace, Sage Pastel Payroll.
A dot is one plan. Free plans and plans on request have no price to place. A per user price is the price of one user.
2 official videos from SimplePayZA on YouTube. Software Register did not make or edit them. They are the vendor's own account of the product, so read them beside the prices and limits on this page.
An introduction to SimplePay
Overview, 1:39, published 14 April 2022. From the SimplePayZA channel on YouTube.Made for South Africa
A video loads from YouTube only when you press play. The still picture before that comes from YouTube's image servers.
SimplePay describes itself as cloud payroll software for South African employers and targets small to mid sized businesses. Its sign up page says that even a non accounts person can use the program, and it carries a section for accountants, which suggests that accounting firms are a real part of its audience.
The plan includes PAYE, UIF and SDL calculations, unlimited custom income and deduction items, leave management with custom policies, an employee self service portal, mobile apps, two factor authentication and role based access. Payslips can be issued through the portal and payment files can be generated for your bank.
Compliance is the point of the product. SimplePay says it keeps employers compliant with SARS and the Department of Labour. It is listed on the Xero marketplace as a local payroll app, and Xero names SimplePay among the local apps that connect to it. The features page does not mention COIDA, time and attendance or a Sage integration, so confirm those if you need them.
The lack of a published per employee rate means you cannot compare it with PaySpace or Sage Payroll without running the quote yourself. Larger employers and bureaus cannot use the standard plan. The page does not describe time and attendance, so a business with shift work will need a separate tool.
Against PaySpace, SimplePay is simpler and aimed at smaller employers, while PaySpace offers tiers up to multinational payroll. Against Sage Payroll, SimplePay is quote driven while Sage publishes an annual price, and Sage connects natively to Sage Accounting. See the full comparisons.
Strengths
Limits
Best for
Think twice if
In short
A strong first look for a small employer that wants payroll it can run alone. Run the quote for your headcount, use the 30 day trial, and ask about the arrangement if you have several companies.
Start where the vendor sells it, and keep this page open beside you for the limits.
From R23.55 /employee /mo
SimplePay quotes by headcount. For ten employees the quote on its site is R235.50 a month, or R23.55 each, excluding VAT. Run the quote for your own number of employees, because the rate changes with it.
No. SimplePay's prices exclude VAT, so a VAT registered business claims it back and a business that is not registered adds 15 percent.
SimplePay starts at R23.55 /employee per employee a month. It lists 1 priced plan, from R23.55 /employee to R23.55 /employee.
Yes: SimplePay offers a free trial.
SimplePay's own page lists these: EMP201, EMP501, IRP5, IT3(a), e@syFile, UIF, SDL. Ask the vendor to show the step that reaches SARS in a trial, because preparing a return and submitting it are different jobs.
Built for South African employers: PAYE, UIF and SDL, with tax certificates for SARS e@syFile.
On this register the closest are PaySoft, PaySpace, Sage Pastel Payroll, Sage Payroll. Each has its own page, and the compare tool sets any two side by side.
South African guides that help you weigh SimplePay: what the rules ask, what to test and what to put in writing.
From payslip to EMP501
Payroll is the one kind of business software where a mistake reaches your staff and SARS in the same month. These are the checks that matter in South Africa, from the payslip to the EMP501.
Read the guideDue by the 7th of every month
EMP201
South African payroll produces a chain of statutory documents. A mistake in one link costs penalties in the next.
Read the guideThe day the EMP201 is due, every month
7th
VAT, payroll, provisional tax and the annual returns each have their own rhythm. One page showing what falls when, and what your software should do about it.
Read the guideEvery price and fact on this page was read from the vendor's own pages, researched on 11 October 2026. A figure the vendor states about itself is marked as the vendor's. This review gives no score and no rank, and a vendor cannot pay to change it. Read how the register works.
Something wrong on this page? Suggest a correction, with a link to the vendor's page that shows it.
SimplePay is priced as above. Go to the vendor to buy or to ask, or compare it with another product first.
From R23.55 /employee /mo
Use SimplePay? Tell other South African buyers what it does well, where it falls short and who it suits. An editor reads each review before it appears, and it is published as written.
SimplePay
From R23.55 /employee /mo
