Solutions Payroll

UK payroll software · all 177 products HMRC recognises · checked 25 September 2026

Every payroll product HMRC recognises, and which suppliers publish a price

HMRC keeps the definitive list of payroll software approved for PAYE, then states it cannot recommend one product over another and tells you to consider which features you need. It gives you a supplier name and a product name to do that with. This site takes that same list and adds what is missing.

  • See all 177, not the usual twenty Every recognised product in one table you can filter, including the ones that pay nobody a commission.
  • Find the 6 free ones HMRC recognises 6 products that cost nothing if you employ fewer than ten people. One of them is HMRC’s own.
  • See who will tell you the price Only 10% of these suppliers publish pricing. We checked all 144 and say which.
Narrow it down to what fits you Browse all 177 No sign-up. Nothing to fill in.
10%of suppliers publish a price
177products HMRC recognises
48quote or demo only
6free for under 10 staff

HMRC publishes the definitive list of payroll software it recognises, then says it cannot recommend one product over another and tells you to consider which features you need. It gives you a supplier name and a product name to do that with. This site adds the rest.

Start with the question you arrived with

HMRC splits its own list into free and paid-for. Those two, and the tool that narrows all 177 down to what fits you, are where most people should begin.

Free payroll software All 6 HMRC recognises, for employers with fewer than ten staff Paid-for payroll software The other 171 products, the whole recognised list Build a shortlist Narrow the list by headcount and what you need it to do

What the list actually contains

A third of HMRC’s list is not what a small employer is shopping for. P11D tools, filing-only software and full HR platforms all sit on the same page as ordinary payroll, under the same heading, with nothing to tell them apart. Here is the breakdown, worked out from what each product calls itself.

What it isProductsShareWhy it matters
Payroll for employers 134 76% What most people mean by payroll software
HR system that includes payroll 16 9% Sold per employee across the whole platform, so payroll is rarely priced alone
P11D, expenses and benefits 12 7% Does not run payroll. Easy to buy by mistake
RTI filing only 9 5% Gets submissions to HMRC. Does not calculate pay
For bureaux and agents 3 2% Built to run many clients, not one employer
Umbrella and contractor 2 1% A different job with different rules

The free six

If you employ fewer than ten people, HMRC recognises six products that cost nothing, and one of them is HMRC’s own Basic PAYE Tools. Every other comparison page treats free software as a footnote. It is the first thing a small employer should see.

All 6 free products HMRC recognises, for employers with fewer than ten employees.
Product Supplier Pricing Their page
Primo Payroll Accentra Technologies Ltd Price published Pricing
Enrolpay Small Payroll Enrolpay Ltd No pricing found Supplier
RTI Lite Hartigan Software Design Ltd No pricing found Supplier
Basic PAYE Tools HMRC No pricing found Supplier
1 A Simple Payroll IT Contractors Ltd (1 A Simple Payroll) No pricing found Supplier
Stansoft Linux Stansoft No pricing found Supplier

How open the market is about pricing

This is the part no other comparison site reports, because it does not flatter anybody. Of the 177 products on HMRC’s list, 17 come from suppliers who publish a price on their own site. 48 ask you to request a quote or book a demo instead. For 104 we read the site and found neither. A further 8 declined our automated request, which tells you about their bot policy and nothing about their product.

The full transparency report has the method, the counts and the download.

HMRC list and supplier sites checked 25 September 2026 Download the whole list (CSV)

Source: HMRC’s list of payroll software recognised for PAYE, used under the Open Government Licence, plus each supplier’s own published pages. We report what is published. We are not accountants and nothing here is advice about which product suits your business.