How we compare payroll software
We list 10 payroll platforms available to Australian employers, of which 7 providers publish a price. Every figure comes from the vendor's own pricing page.
Enter your headcount and the calculator works out each platform's monthly cost from its base fee, its per-employee fee and any monthly minimum or plan band it publishes. Enter your current cost to see the difference. Commission does not change the order.
Award interpretation in payroll software
If your staff are covered by a Modern Award, and in hospitality, retail, care and construction they almost certainly are, check this before price. Award interpretation means the software applies base rates, penalty rates, overtime, allowances and casual loading from the roster automatically. Without it, someone in your business does that arithmetic by hand every pay run and carries the liability when it is wrong.
The answers are not a plain yes or no, so read the wording. Single Touch Payroll is mandatory, and Phase 2 requires pay to be itemised into categories such as overtime, bonuses, allowances and leave. It is table stakes rather than a differentiator. What does differ is how much of that categorisation the software sets up for you, which is a setup cost worth asking about during a trial.
| Provider | Award interpretation | STP Phase 2 |
|---|---|---|
| Deel | Limited | Yes |
| Employment Hero | Yes (100+ awards) | Yes |
| MYOB | Via integration | Yes |
| Papaya Global | No | Not stated |
| Payoneer Workforce Management | Limited | Via EOR |
| QuickBooks Online | Yes (EH engine) | Yes |
| Remote | Limited | Yes |
| Rippling | Yes | Yes |
| Sage | Limited | Yes |
| Xero | Limited | Yes |
Treat a platform without full award interpretation as cheaper on the page and dearer in practice, unless nobody you employ is on an award.
Base fee and per-employee fee: how payroll software is priced
Pricing here is built from a base fee, a fee per employee or both, and Xero uses plan bands instead. A monthly minimum changes the arithmetic for a small team: below the floor, the per-employee rate is not what you pay. Casuals count as employees for billing, so the bill follows headcount, not hours.
| Provider | Monthly base fee | Per-employee fee /mo |
|---|---|---|
| Deel | $0 | $40/emp/mo |
| Employment Hero | $100/mo min | $10/emp/mo (Payroll) |
| MYOB | $15/mo (Payroll Only, up to 4 emp) | $3/emp on Lite/Pro |
| Papaya Global | $0 | $40/emp/mo (Payroll Plus) |
| Payoneer Workforce Management | Quote | Quote |
| QuickBooks Online | $33/mo (Simple Start) | $6/emp/mo |
| Remote | $0 | $40/emp/mo |
| Rippling | Quote | Quote |
| Sage | Quote | Quote |
| Xero | $78/mo (Grow) | Plan-based |
Xero prices payroll by plan rather than per head. Its base fee is the accounting plan payroll requires, and that plan sets how many people you can pay. Enter your real headcount rather than reading the per-employee column, because the ranking between platforms changes as a team grows.
Payroll software bundled with accounting, or standalone
Xero and QuickBooks both run payroll, and neither does it without a paid accounting subscription. The base fee shown for them is that accounting plan, because it is what you would actually pay. That is the right route if you needed the accounting anyway, and an expensive one if you did not.
A standalone payroll platform charges once for payroll and integrates with the accounting you already run. It suits an employer whose accounting is settled, and particularly one where award interpretation matters more than ledger integration.
Global payroll software for a domestic Australian team
Some platforms here are built to pay staff in countries where you have no legal entity, and they are priced for that job. They earn their fee when you pay someone overseas and are poor value when you do not.
| Provider | Global/remote hiring |
|---|---|
| Deel | Yes (150+ countries) |
| Employment Hero | No |
| MYOB | No |
| Papaya Global | Yes (160+ countries) |
| Payoneer Workforce Management | Yes (160+ countries) |
| QuickBooks Online | No |
| Remote | Yes (global) |
| Rippling | Add-on (own entities or EOR) |
| Sage | No |
| Xero | No |
Mistakes to avoid when buying payroll software
Reading a per-employee rate without the monthly minimum. Below the floor, the rate is not what you pay.
Treating Xero or QuickBooks payroll as a standalone price. The accounting subscription is part of the cost.
Buying a global platform for a purely Australian team.
Assuming award interpretation is included because payroll is. Read the wording in the table above.
Counting only permanent staff. Casuals are billed too.
Choosing a platform you might have to abandon mid-year. Payroll is the system you cannot run late, and a cheap platform you leave in March is not cheap.