There is genuinely free payroll software for UK employers; HMRC makes some. Here is what it covers, where it stops, and why PayAdjust gives you 30 days free with every feature instead of a free tier with most of them removed.
Cancel before the trial ends and pay nothing
30-day free trial
HMRC filing, pensions, employee portal, all of it
HMRC publishes free payroll software called Basic PAYE Tools. It is built for employers with fewer than 10 employees, it is desktop software, and it does the core job: record pay, calculate tax and NI, and send the FPS. Plenty of very small employers use it happily.
What free software tends not to do is the rest of being an employer: assess staff for a workplace pension, work out statutory sick and maternity pay from dates, give employees somewhere to see their own payslips and P60s, or file the EPS scenarios that save you money. Those gaps are usually where paid payroll software earns its fee, and they are why PayAdjust offers the whole product free for a month rather than a permanent free tier with the useful parts removed.
Every feature is live in your trial: HMRC filing, auto-enrolment, statutory pay, the employee portal and the AI advisor. You find out whether it fits before you pay.
The base price includes 10 employees and every feature. There is no tier to upgrade to and no per-filing fee. See pricing.
Free tools give your staff nothing. PayAdjust gives each employee a login for payslips, P60s, holiday and pension changes, at no extra cost per user.
HMRC’s free tool is recognised, and so is PayAdjust. Whatever you choose, check it is on the GOV.UK list before you file with it.
The items below are where free payroll software most often stops, and what PayAdjust does for each.
Automatic assessment every month, enrolment, opt-out and refund tracking, re-enrolment every three years, and a contribution schedule for your provider.
SSP, SMP, SPP, SAP, ShPP and parental bereavement pay worked out from the absence dates, with recovery filed on your EPS.
A secure portal per employee with current and past payslips, P60s and P45s. Nothing to email, nothing to re-send.
Filed as EPS submissions in one click. Claims that free tools make you work out and type in by hand.
Requests, approvals and balances in the same place as payroll, so they land on the right payslip.
An AI advisor with each employee’s real figures answers the “why has my tax changed” questions that otherwise come to you.
Every change and submission in an audit log, with HMRC marks stored and CSV exports of everything.
Invite employees by email. They fill in their own address, NI number and bank details, so you never chase a form.
Create the month and every payslip is calculated: PAYE, National Insurance, pension, student loans and statutory pay.
Release payslips for preview. Employees see their pay before payday and can adjust pension contributions with live tax impact.
Approve the run, file the FPS with HMRC in one click, download the BACS file and pension schedule. Done until next month.
Everything included
Includes 10 employees, then £2/month each. Pay annually and save 40%.
| Employees | Monthly | Annual |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | £15/mo | £108/yr |
| 5 | £15/mo | £108/yr |
| 10 | £15/mo | £108/yr |
After the trial, most small employers pay the base price. You will not be charged until the 30 days are up, and you can cancel before then.
Full pricing detailsBasic PAYE Tools is free software from HMRC for employers with fewer than 10 employees. You install it on a Windows, Mac or Linux computer, enter each employee and their pay, and it calculates tax and National Insurance and sends the FPS and EPS to HMRC. It is updated each tax year and it is, by definition, recognised.
Its limits are the things it was never meant to do. It does not assess employees for workplace pension auto-enrolment or produce provider schedules. It does not give employees any access of their own. Data entry is by hand, period by period, and it cannot import a file from another system. If you have one or two employees on simple salaries and no pension duties to worry about, it may be all you need. Most employers outgrow it the first time someone goes on maternity leave.
Some commercial products offer a free plan. These are typically capped at a small number of employees, hold back features such as pension assessment or employee self-service, or offer no support. They exist to move you to a paid tier once you need something. That is a reasonable business model, but compare the paid tier you would actually end up on, not the free one.
The price of software is rarely the biggest cost of running payroll. The bigger ones are the time spent typing figures and answering questions, the mistakes that come from manual entry, and the penalties for late or incorrect filing. A missed FPS costs more in one month than most payroll software costs in a year. If a free tool means you are working out statutory maternity pay from a table and hoping, it is not free.
The trial includes everything, with up to 10 employees, for 30 days. You set up billing when you sign up so there is no interruption if you stay, but nothing is charged until the trial ends, and cancelling before then costs nothing. If you are weighing it against Basic PAYE Tools, the fair test is to run one real month in both.
Payroll software for
Hired your first person? Here is the PAYE scheme, pension duty and FPS you now owe, done for you.
Payroll software for
For owners who run payroll themselves and want it to take minutes, not an afternoon.
Payroll software for
Pay yourself a salary through your limited company with director NI handled properly.
Payroll software for
From the founders’ salaries to the fiftieth hire, with pricing that scales by headcount.
30-day free trial · No contracts
Set up in an hour, file with HMRC in one click, and give your people a payslip they can read.
Start 30 days free