The 5 best HR and payroll software platforms for small businesses in 2026

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Featured – HiBob: Simplifies & automates

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Moorepay: Cloud-based compliance

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Rippling is the best HR and payroll software for small businesses thanks to multi-currency management and automatic device deployment for new hires.

Our findings are based on detailed analysis into a variety of platforms, carried out alongside an independent reviewer. But remember, the best software for you depends on your specific needs.

Streamlining your HR and payroll into a single software solution is a smart way to improve efficiency and compliance. Plus, with the Employment Rights Act now enforced, you’ll need a system that can adapt to them quickly.

Comparison table: the top HR and payroll systems

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	Provider	Best for	Pricing	HMRC Compliant
FEATURED SPONSOR	BEST ALL ROUND
HiBob	Rippling	IRIS Software	ADP	Moorepay	MHR iTrent
Not yet assessed	Startups with rapid hiring plans	Seasonal businesses	Startups hiring globally	Firms without an internal HR team	Mid-market to large-scale businesses
Quote-based	From £7-£8 per employee, per month	£43 per month (base fee)	Quote-based	Quote-based	Quote-based

1. Rippling: Best for remote-first teams

Cost: From £7-£8 per employee, per month
Free trial: A free demo is available
Location: London, UK

Rippling is the best software for remote teams hiring international staff, as its automated device deployment makes it easy to onboard, manage, and support employees anywhere in the world from a single platform.

When a remote hire is added, Rippling can automatically ship a pre-configured MacBook to their home address and set up their Slack, GitHub, and Google Workspace accounts with the right permissions.

Rippling also handles payroll in 185+ countries and 50+ currencies, allowing businesses to pay international contractors and employees in a single dashboard without setting up legal entities. However, if you’re looking for a simple UK payroll, Staffology would be a better fit.

Which business would we recommend Rippling to?

We’d recommend Rippling to mid-market firms (50-500 employees) that want to automate onboarding without hiring a large operations team, as it can help firms scale with 50% less headcount in admin roles.

Rippling brings HR, payroll, IT and device management into a single platform to reduce repetitive manual work, onboard employees faster, and allow teams to spend less time switching between disconnected systems as the business grows.

How much does Rippling cost?

Rippling’s pricing starts from around £7-£8 per employee, per month. 

However, there are optional modules based on specific business needs that can add to the cost. These include:

• Payroll Cloud: From around £28 per month
• Global EOR services: Roughly £400 per employee, per month
• Contractor management: Pricing for paying international contractors typically starts at £23-£31 per month
• Additional modules: Features like Device Management (IT Cloud), Expense Management (Finance Cloud), and Benefits Administration are priced separately through custom quotes

Berkay Kinaci is the COO at Speaktor, where he leads operations on an AI-powered platform that helps businesses and content creators make the most out of voice technology:

My experience using Rippling:

Rippling was great for us when we were just starting out and only had 15 members on our team. It’s really easy to use and tidy, which is great for a new business that doesn’t have an HR staff. You can handle onboarding, payroll, time off, and even benefits all from one dashboard. We did most of the work ourselves without aid.

Berkay Kinaci

2. Staffology Payroll by IRIS: Best for accounting firms

Cost: £43 per month (base fee)
Free trial: 14 days
Location: Slough, UK

Staffology is the best choice for accounting firms, as it automates the entire multi-client payroll process, helping businesses manage multiple client accounts with less manual effort.

Through Staffology Bureau, which is a specialised version of the Staffology payroll system, firms can manage hundreds of clients from a single dashboard. Once logged in, staff can switch between different employer accounts without needing to re-authenticate repeatedly.

The system also monitors every Full Payment Submission (FPS) and Employer Payment Summary (EPS), meaning that if a submission fails, the dashboard immediately flags the affected client with a visual alert, making it easy for payroll teams to spot and resolve the issue in seconds.

Which business would we recommend Staffology to?

As well as accounting firms, we’d recommend Staffology to construction firms, as it handles both standard PAYE employees and Construction Industry Scheme (CIS) subcontractors at the same time.

For subcontractors, it automates status verification with HMRC, calculates deductions, distributes payment statements, and submits monthly CIS300 returns from the platform. While Rippling can onboard and pay standard independent contractors quickly, it doesn’t have the same native CIS support that Staffology offers.

How much does Staffology cost?

For Staffology, expect to pay:

• £43 per month for up to 19 payslips
• £2.15 per payslip, per month, in addition to the £43 base fee, for 20 to 50 payslips

If you process more than 50 payslips, you’ll need to contact the Staffology team for a quote.

The low-per-employee cost is beneficial for avoiding paying for inactive employees during the off-season. That said, due to the fact that Staffology costs £43 per month minimum, it may be cheaper for teams with fewer than five employees to invest in a cheaper choice like Rippling.

3. ADP UK: Best for healthcare businesses

Cost: Quote-based (not publicly available)
Free trial: No
Location: Staines-upon-Thames, UK

ADP UK is the best choice for healthcare businesses as it accurately calculates wages across different overtime rates and shift patterns, which is ideal for those handling complex or rota-based workforces.

ADP’s system can assign different hourly rates to a single staff member depending on the role they perform during a shift (such as someone working 30 hours as a Registered Nurse, but also picking up additional “bank” shifts as an Advanced Nurse Practitioner). It also automatically applies “premiums” for less desirable hours (such as a 10% increase for night shifts or an extra £2/hour for weekend work).

ADP’s global system also operates across 140 countries, which is useful for healthcare firms hiring staff overseas. This includes built-in international background checks and payment systems for different countries, whereas MHR iTrent is strictly built for UK and Irish domestic setups.

Which business would we recommend ADP UK to?

ADP UK is also a strong fit for growing firms that need to automate core HR and payroll tasks beyond what simple accounting software can provide. For fast-growing, medium-sized businesses (20-250 staff), it replaces several disconnected apps with a single secure platform that provides the insights needed for the next stage of growth.

How much does ADP cost?

ADP provides bespoke pricing to its clients, rather than set pricing. However, its pricing generally consists of two parts: a base subscription fee, plus an additional flat fee per employee, per pay run, or per month.

Gizem Sultan Kartalcik is an HR specialist at Transkriptor with a Masters in Human Resources Management from Northeastern University:

My experience using ADP:

I had the opportunity to use ADP UK during a project that required managing both HR and payroll functions across different teams. One of the most helpful features was the centralised dashboard, which made it easy to keep track of employee data, time off, and payment schedules without switching between tools. It saved time and helped reduce manual errors.

Gizem Sultan Kartalcik

4. Moorepay: Best for firms with shift-based operations

Cost: Quote-based (not publicly available)
Free trial: No
Location: Manchester, UK

Moorepay is ideal for businesses with employees on a shift-based schedule, such as healthcare and hospitality, as its Time & Attendance module allows firms to record working time, manage rotas, track attendance, and feed approved hours directly into payroll – reducing manual administration and payroll errors.

Moorepay’s self-service lets employees access their own payslips and P60s, reducing HR-related support requests by up to 60%. It also automates tax calculations, RTI submissions, and payroll reporting – helping businesses cut down on manual admin and reduce potential errors.

Which business would we recommend Moorepay to?

We’d recommend Moorepay to established SMEs with 30+ employees that need a single source of truth for HR and payroll data. In particular, it’s designed for businesses that have outgrown basic accounting add-ons, but aren’t large enough to need the complex infrastructure of an enterprise giant.

However, its quote-based pricing and structured implementation process mean it isn’t as cost-effective for micro-teams with under 25 staff. In this case, Staffology would be a better fit.

What does Moorepay cost?

Moorepay doesn’t have a set pricing structure, but it will be able to provide you with a custom quote best suited to your business. However, it offers discounts when you bundle payroll and HR into a single monthly package, which typically starts at around £100 per month for small teams.

5. MHR iTrent: Best for mid-market to large-scale businesses

Cost: Quote-based (not publicly available)
Free trial: A free demo is available
Location: Ruddington, UK

MHR iTrent is best suited for mid-market to large-scale businesses, specifically for its fully integrated Learning Management System (LMS) that features over 30,000 training modules – ideal for companies focused on employee development, upskilling, and retention.

iTrent’s Salary Modelling and People Analytics tools allow leadership teams to “stress-test” different pay scenarios and forecast workforce costs, which helps them make more confident decisions around budgeting, hiring, and long-term workforce planning.

Which business would we recommend MHR iTrent to?

We’d also recommend MHR iTrent to mid-market multi-location businesses, as it allows firms to run completely separate payrolls with distinct HMRC employer references, pay scales, and benefit structures. However, if you’re operating cross-border offices (such as a headquarters in London and a sales office in New York), ADP UK would be the better option.

Its Time and Attendance module also automatically tracks hours worked across different locations. For example, if an employee moves from a store in Manchester to cover shifts in Liverpool, the system automatically assigns their hours, including any location-specific shift premiums, to the correct cost centre and site budget.

How much does MHR iTrent cost?

MHR iTrent doesn’t publicly list the cost of its HR and Payroll software, instead it can provide your business with a bespoke quote. However, for the core iTrent Standard HRM and Payroll modules, the cost per employee, per month (PEPM) decreases as headcount increases. Here’s an example:

Our methodology: how we tested HR and payroll software

At Startups, it’s important to us that the product recommendations we make to small businesses are useful, accurate, and based on thorough product testing.

We tested 10 payroll and HR systems across seven categories of investigation, which cover the most frustrating aspects of managing HR and payroll according to real-life users:

• Core functionalities (25%): how well a platform performs basic payroll processing, HMRC RTI submissions, and automated tax calculations.
• Additional standout features (25%): specialised tools that make a software stand out from its competitors (such as 90-second onboarding or advanced LMS).
• Usability & UX (10%): how user-friendly a platform is, its learning curve, and ease-of-use for non-technical founders.
• Onboarding & Implementation (10%): how long it takes to set up, data migration support, and time-to-first-pay-run.
• Customer support (10%): access to human experts, advice lines, and response times for urgent payroll issues.
• Value for money (10%): transparency of pricing and the total cost of ownership as the business scales.
• Customer reviews (10%): real-user sentiment and reliability scores from platforms like TrustPilot.

How to choose an integrated HR and payroll software

Because of how big the payroll and HR software market is, it’s always a good idea to have a list of criteria you can use to evaluate each provider. That way, you won’t end up with a product that complicates, rather than simplifies, your HR and payroll processes.

To determine our list of the top software, I worked with an independent research team to examine each supplier in detail and judge how well they met the following criteria. I’d recommend using these factors to examine how suitable a software platform may be for you.

• Onboarding: you should look for providers that offer learning materials during setup, such as live training and tutorials.
• User support: explore the resources available to help you understand complex payroll processes, such as support channels (such as phone, email, and live chat).
• Security: look for software providers with strong security features such as ISO 27001 certification and data encryption, and find out where your data will be stored.
• Customisation: look for software that can be tailored to your business’s specific needs, from making payslip amendments to building custom reports.
• Scalability: look for software that can accommodate your evolving needs. For example, investigate how easy and expensive it is to add new employees.
• Employee experience: keep an eye out for self-service tools, like mobile apps, that your staff can use to reduce admin time for managers. Ideally, the mobile app should allow your employee to download specific HMRC documents, like P60s or P45s.
• Automatic updates: with the Employment Rights Act 2025 in full swing, you should select a system that automatically updates itself to stay compliant with changes in government legislation.

The data migration process: moving from a standalone to integrated system

The timeline for migration will differ depending on your business size and complexity, but generally, you should plan for this to take about three to six months for an SME. A successful migration typically involves:

1. Planning stage: audit your current workflows, notify all the key stakeholders, and determine your ‘go-live’ date for the new system.
2. Set-up stage: begin building out the skeleton of your new system, including organisational structures and pay groups.
3. Data migration stage: you will need to extract the data from the old system, ensure it’s correctly formatted, and then import it to the new system.
4. Parallel run stage: run both your new and old systems in parallel for at least a month: compare the data, if it’s not identical, you know you have an issue.
5. Training stage: start training the key administrators to use the new system, train your staff to use the self-service portal, and prepare for your first official pay run on the new system.

When moving from a standalone system to an integrated one, you will most likely need to consolidate your data. Your new provider should hopefully be able to assist you with this, but typically, you should gather:

• Your core employee data for HR
• All relevant payroll and tax data
• Benefits and time data to help connect payroll and HR together

What to avoid in HR and payroll software

1. No customisation: SMEs should have a system with customisation features, such as the option to build bespoke reports. Open AI provision will also let you link existing software using custom integrations to ensure data is shared between your arsenal of business tools.

2. Data risk: every payroll software brand should have at least two of the below:

• Encrypted data storage
• ISO 27001 certification 
• CIPP accreditation 
• Data stored at a UK-based centre 
• Clean history of data breaches in the last two years

3. Poor scalability: our research team looks for scalable pricing tiers, or per-employee billing, when finding the best payroll systems, as this will let users hire more staff without instantly blowing their budget. 

4. Bad user experience: businesses should invest in a platform with ready-made tutorials and training materials, or live training sessions. Responsive customer support teams, with at least two different contact channels, can also help to address common challenges. 

New and incoming HR and payroll laws for 2026

The landscape of HR and payroll is constantly evolving, with new laws and regulations introduced regularly. Staying informed about the latest developments is crucial for HR professionals to ensure compliance and avoid costly penalties.

The Employment Rights Act 2025 – a package of employment law reforms first announced in 2024 – officially came into effect in April 2026.

Here’s a need-to-know summary of the bill for employers in 2026, based on the current government roadmap:

Law changes as of April 2026:

• Employers with over 250 employees must publish equality action plans. While this is currently voluntary, it will become mandatory in 2027.
• The ERA has removed any length-of-service requirement for parental and paternity leave.
• Statutory sick pay (SSP) is now payable from the first day of sickness, and is payable for the first three qualifying days of sickness. The lower earnings limit has also been removed.

Law changes taking effect in October 2026:

• Stronger legislation to prevent sexual harassment in the workplace is due to be introduced, and in addition to this, employers will be liable if their employees are harassed by third parties.
• Employers will be obligated to notify their employees that they have a right to join a trade union.
• Stronger regulations around tipping are due to be introduced, requiring employers to consult with a trade union (or an elected representative) prior to producing a written version of their tips policy.

Law changes taking effect in January 2027:

• Tighter restrictions on ‘fire and rehire’: the government plans to amend the law on unfair dismissal.
• The qualifying period to claim unfair dismissal will be slashed from two years to six months.
• Reforms for zero-hour contracts, including workers being given the right to a contract that reflects the regular hours they’ve consistently worked over a baseline period, employers being required to give reasonable notice of shift changes, and mandatory compensation to employees if a shift is cancelled, moved, or cut at short notice.

Summary: which HR and Payroll software should you choose?

Our choice for the best integrated HR and payroll software system for small businesses is Rippling.

Using its 90-second onboarding features, businesses hiring more employees can benefit from its automated setup process, including collecting documents, managing e-signatures for offer letters, and handling payroll compliance tasks.

Read next: What is HR?