Annual cost (10 employees)
FreePayroll£0Sage Payroll£288
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SageFree payroll software vs £288/year for 10 employees.
Sage Payroll Essentials includes 10 employees, then charges £1.56 each for employees 11-25 and £1.20 each from employee 26 onward. FreePayroll is free — for every employee, every pay run, forever.
Employee limit
FreePayrollUnlimitedSage PayrollBanded by headcount
Accounting sub required?
FreePayrollNoSage PayrollNo separate accounting subscription
What you'd actually pay
Sage Payroll Essentials includes 10 employees, then charges £1.56 each for employees 11-25 and £1.20 each from employee 26 onward. Default view includes VAT.
EmployeesSage Payroll
Sage Payroll1 employee£0 / year£288 / year
5 employees£0 / year£288 / year
10 employees£0 / year£288 / year
25 employees£0 / year£568.80 / year
50 employees£0 / year£928.80 / year
100 employees£0 / year£1,648.80 / year
Default view includes VAT at 20%. Base Sage Payroll figures shown are Sage Payroll Essentials at £20/month ex VAT with Sage's current extra-employee rates. Introductory and one-off discounts are excluded. Pricing checked on March 27, 2026.
Feature comparison
FeatureSage Payroll
Sage PayrollAnnual costFree forever£288-£1,648.80/year inc VATBanded by headcount
Per-employee scalingFlat rate — unlimited employeesCost rises with headcount
Standalone — no accounting software needed
Unlimited payrolls & employees
HMRC FPS & EPS submissions
Tax and NI calculations
Weekly, fortnightly, four-weekly & monthly pay runs
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 manual file upload each pay run (direct submission only for NEST, Smart & Peoples Pension)
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 payslipsProAdd-on
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 integrationProNative
The honest difference
FreePayroll
A standalone payroll product with a flat cost: £0. Auto Enrolment is built in end-to-end through Collegia Pension — no separate account to open, no file to export and upload, no risk of a broken connection derailing submissions. Core payroll stays free whether you have 1 employee or 150.
Who FreePayroll is best for
Any UK business that wants fully compliant payroll software at zero cost — particularly those growing their team and unwilling to see payroll costs scale with headcount. Also ideal for businesses that want pension Auto Enrolment handled completely without a separate provider account or integration.
SageSage Payroll
A well-established UK payroll product with a strong reputation and a wide feature set. But once you move beyond 10 employees, Sage starts layering in extra employee charges, so payroll cost rises as your team grows. Auto Enrolment also requires a separate pension provider account; Sage generates the contribution file, but you still need to upload it manually unless using NEST, Smart Pension, or Peoples Pension.
Who Sage Payroll is best for
Businesses with a stable, smaller headcount that already use Sage Accounting and want everything within the Sage ecosystem. The cost model is transparent, though it does increase as you hire. Best suited to businesses comfortable managing pension submissions separately.
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 pay run, forever. No headcount-based fees, no billing surprises, no pension provider to manage separately, and no need to upgrade just because you hired again.
Start for free