Annual cost (10 employees)
FreePayroll£0BrightPay Cloud£282.24
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BrightPayFree payroll software vs £282.24/year for 10 employees.
BrightPay Cloud offers monthly and annual pricing. Using BrightPay's own UK cloud calculator for 1 employer, a 10-employee team comes to £282.24/year inc VAT on the annual plan. FreePayroll is free — for one employee or one hundred, every month, forever.
Employee limit
FreePayrollUnlimitedBrightPay CloudScales with headcount
Accounting sub required?
FreePayrollNoBrightPay Cloud1 employer annual plan
The cost of a growing team
These annual figures use BrightPay Cloud's own UK pricing calculator for 1 employer on the annual plan. Default view includes VAT.
EmployeesBrightPay Cloud
BrightPay Cloud1 employee£0 / year£100.80 / year
5 employees£0 / year£152.64 / year
10 employees£0 / year£282.24 / year
25 employees£0 / year£498.24 / year
50 employees£0 / year£829.44 / year
100 employees£0 / year£1,261.44 / year
Default view includes VAT at 20%. Base BrightPay Cloud figures come from BrightPay's own UK cloud calculator for 1 employer on the annual plan. Introductory and one-off discounts are excluded. Pricing checked on March 27, 2026.
Feature comparison
FeatureBrightPay Cloud
BrightPay CloudAnnual costFree foreverFrom £100.80/year inc VATBrightPay Cloud annual plan, 1 employer
Per-employee scalingFlat rate — any number of employeesCost rises as employee count grows
Pricing model£0 regardless of headcountCalculator-based monthly or annual pricing
Unlimited payrolls
HMRC FPS & EPS submissions
Tax and NI calculations
Weekly, fortnightly, four-weekly & monthly pay runs
Cloud-based — access anywhere
Bulk import employees & pay dataFree
Reopen & correct previous payrolls
Payroll health alerts before submission
Auto EnrolmentFully built in via Collegia Pension — included free, no separate account or integration neededRequires a separate pension provider account (at additional cost) and a working integration — if it breaks, so does your Auto Enrolment
Sick leave (SSP)
Maternity & paternity leave (SMP, SPP)
Statutory Bereavement Pay (SBP)—
P45, P60 & year-end documents
Payslip generation & email deliveryFree
Draft payslip preview before sendingFree—
Custom branded payslipsPro (£10/mo)
P32 Payroll Deductions ReportFree
Gross to Net reportFree
Cost of Employment reportFree
Pension Contributions reportFree
National Insurance SummaryFree
Multi-user accessFree
Two-factor authentication (2FA)Free
Xero journal integrationPro
Sage journal integrationPro
The honest difference
FreePayroll
A standalone cloud payroll product with a flat cost: £0. Auto Enrolment is fully built in through Collegia Pension — no separate pension account to open, no integration to configure, no risk of submissions failing due to a broken connection. HMRC submissions, payslips, and statutory leave are all included, and core payroll stays free regardless of headcount.
Who FreePayroll is best for
Any UK business that wants capable, compliant payroll at zero cost. Particularly valuable for businesses with variable headcount — hospitality, retail, construction, care — where a per-employee pricing model means unpredictable monthly costs.
BrightPayBrightPay Cloud
A well-regarded cloud payroll product with a solid feature set. But even on the annual plan, and even using the simplest 1-employer assumption, BrightPay Cloud pricing keeps climbing as your team grows. BrightPay's own calculator shows £282.24/year inc VAT at 10 employees and £1,261.44/year inc VAT at 100 employees.
Who BrightPay Cloud is best for
Businesses that want a mature cloud payroll product and are comfortable with a paid plan that scales as they add staff. It also makes sense for teams already committed to the Bright ecosystem.
Why pay more as you grow when
payroll can be free?
FreePayroll gives you everything you need to run compliant UK payroll — for any number of employees, any month, forever. No per-employee charges, no billing surprises when headcount peaks.
Start for free