Free payroll software vs £465.60/year for 10 employees.

QuickBooks Payroll is an add-on that requires a QuickBooks Online accounting subscription. Using Simple Start annual billing plus Core Payroll puts a 10-employee team at £465.60/year inc VAT. FreePayroll is free — standalone, purpose-built for UK payroll, forever.

Annual cost (10 employees)

FreePayroll£0QuickBooks Payroll£465.60

Employee limit

FreePayrollUnlimitedQuickBooks PayrollPer person fee

Accounting sub required?

FreePayrollNoQuickBooks PayrollSimple Start + Core Payroll

Typical annual cost

Annualised using QuickBooks Online Simple Start plus Core Payroll. Default view includes VAT.

Employees

QuickBooks Payroll

1 employee£0 / year£297.12 / year

5 employees£0 / year£372 / year

10 employees£0 / year£465.60 / year

25 employees£0 / year£746.40 / year

50 employees£0 / year£1,214.40 / year

100 employees£0 / year£2,150.40 / year

Default view includes VAT at 20%. Base list prices come from Intuit's live UK billing data: QuickBooks Online Simple Start at £172/year ex VAT on annual billing, plus Core Payroll at £5/month + £1.30 per employee per pay period. Introductory and one-off discounts are excluded. Pricing checked on March 27, 2026.

Feature comparison

Feature

QuickBooks Payroll

Annual costFree foreverFrom £297.12/year inc VATSimple Start + Core Payroll required

Per-employee pricingFlat rate — unlimited employees£1.56/employee/month inc VAT

Accounting subscription requiredStandalone — no other software neededRequires QuickBooks Online subscription

Built specifically for UK payrollUK-first from the ground upUS-built platform adapted for UK

Unlimited payrolls & employees

HMRC FPS & EPS submissions

Tax and NI calculations

Weekly, fortnightly, four-weekly & monthly pay runsPremium & Elite only

Custom payments & deductions

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 and integration (NEST on Core; more providers on Premium/Elite only)

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—

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

Employee self-serve portal—Premium & Elite

Xero journal integrationPro—

Sage journal integrationPro—

QuickBooks accounting integration—Native (required)

The honest difference

FreePayroll

A standalone UK payroll product built from the ground up for British businesses and HMRC compliance. Free for every employee, every pay run. Auto Enrolment is included end-to-end through Collegia Pension — no separate account, no integration to configure, no second bill. Everything you need in one place, at no cost.

Who FreePayroll is best for

UK businesses that want dedicated, HMRC-compliant payroll software without being tied to an accounting platform. Ideal for SMEs that don't use QuickBooks for accounting — or who do, but want to run payroll separately at zero cost. Particularly strong for businesses where Auto Enrolment needs to just work without a separate pension provider.

QuickBooks Payroll

A payroll add-on within the QuickBooks Online ecosystem, originally built for the US market and adapted for UK compliance. Works best if you're already a QuickBooks Online customer. Payroll is not available as a standalone product — you must pay for a QBO accounting subscription too, meaning two subscriptions and a higher annual total as your team grows.

Who QuickBooks Payroll is best for

Businesses already using QuickBooks Online for accounting who want payroll integrated into the same platform. The combined cost can make sense if the QBO accounting subscription is already being paid. Less suited to businesses who just need standalone payroll, or who have a larger and growing team where per-employee fees compound quickly.

One product. One bill. The bill is £0.

FreePayroll is standalone payroll software built for UK businesses. No accounting subscription required, no per-employee fees, and no second pension provider to manage.

Start for free