Best payroll service providers (UK 2025)

Running payroll sounds simple: pay people on time and stay compliant. But for small and growing UK businesses, it’s rarely that straightforward. From HMRC compliance to handling pensions, sick leave, and year-end reporting, payroll can take time and energy.

In this article, we’re looking at the best payroll service providers in the UK. We’ll walk through what they offer, who they’re best for, and how they compare to help you choose. We’ll also show how Wise Business can help send international payments without the high costs and delays that come with traditional banking.

💡 Learn more about Wise Business

Best payroll service

A payroll provider handles the entire payroll process for you. That means calculating wages, deducting tax and National Insurance, submitting reports to HMRC, managing pensions, handling maternity or sick leave, and ensuring everyone’s paid correctly and on time.

For small and midsized businesses, using a payroll service saves time, reduces errors, and removes the risk of falling out of compliance. Here are some of the main services you can expect from payroll service providers in the UK:

• Processing pay runs (monthly, weekly, or custom)
• RTI (Real Time Information) submissions to HMRC
• Payslip generation and distribution
• Pension auto-enrolment and contributions
• Handling statutory payments (maternity, paternity, sick pay)
• Year-end reporting and P60s
• Optional extras like employee portals or HR integrations

In the following sections, we’ll cover the following payroll providers:

• Moorepay
• Payescape
• MHR
• Frontier Software
• Just Payroll
• Zellis

Payroll providers: overview

We will discuss each payroll provider's strengths and weaknesses. Here's a quick side-by-side look.

Provider	Monthly fee	Best known for
Moorepay	Custom	Comprehensive payroll and HR solutions
Payescape	Varies, starts at £53¹	Cloud-based payroll, managed payroll, outsourcing payroll, HR, and time management solutions
MHR	Custom	Automated payroll, real-time payroll, HR software, managed payroll service
Frontier Software	Custom	Global compliance, payroll outsourcing services, comprehensive HR and payroll software
Just Payroll	Custom	Fully managed payroll services, Bacs-approved bureau status, UK compliance, and international payroll support.
Zellis	Contact sales	AI-enabled HR, workforce management and payroll software and services

Comparing payroll service providers

Each payroll provider brings something slightly different to the table. Some are better for straightforward payroll, while others are built for bigger and/or international teams. Let’s see how they compare.

• Simple and reliable payroll: Moorepay and Payescape make payroll easy for small businesses. Moorepay offers clear, structured services with 24/7 support, while Payescape is a cloud-based solution that provides everything in one place.
• Built for larger corporations: MHR and Zellis are well-suited for large enterprises with complex payroll requirements.
• Pricing: Pricing is typically custom. Most providers will give you a quote based on employee count and the kind of support you need.
• Integration: Fortunately, all the payroll providers listed here connect with HR and finance systems. This makes syncing payroll data across departments easier and reduces manual input.
• Best for international teams: Just Payroll and Frontier are great for businesses with international teams. Just Payroll handles UK and international payroll with personalised service, while Frontier Software supports payroll in 26 countries² and can handle multiple currencies.

If your payroll provider doesn’t handle international transfers, try Wise Business. You can send money to over 140+ countries all at the mid-market exchange rate with no markups.

💡 Learn more about Wise Business

Moorepay

Moorepay has been around since 1966 and has over 500 team members; that scale translates into well-defined systems.³

They’re part of the Zellis Group⁴ and are HMRC and Payroll Assurance Scheme accredited. In 2023, they won the CIPP’s Payroll Service Provider of the Year award.

Best for: UK businesses that want reliable payroll services, integration with core finance and HR systems and 24/7 support.

Services

Moorepay is best known for combining sector-wide compliance standards with strong automation. It handles complex pay adjustments, including net-to-gross calculations, maternity or sick leave, and over/underpayments, with built-in error validation aligned to FCA and Bacs requirements.

Moorepay’s platform generates essential statutory reports (P45s, P60s, and P11Ds), along with optional general ledger files and custom, audit-ready outputs that support reconciliation and year-end review.

While ideal for UK operations, Moorepay doesn’t support global payroll. If your team includes overseas employees or contractors, you’ll need a cross-border payment solution like Wise Business to manage international disbursements efficiently.

💡 Learn more about Wise Business

Pricing and integration

Pricing is custom and starts at around £5 - £8 per employee per month.⁶ Additional services, such as custom reports, may add between £100 and £300 to annual costs.

Moorepay integrates well with Enterprise Planning Solutions (ERPs), Customer Relationship Management Systems (CRMs), and time-tracking tools.⁷ These integrations reduce manual data entry and improve data consistency across departments.

Payescape

Payescape has been simplifying payroll for UK businesses since 2006.⁸ With ISO 27001 certification, HMRC and Bacs approval, and a 98% client retention rate, it’s designed for UK businesses that want a reliable, no-fuss system to run payroll anywhere, anytime.

Best for: Businesses looking for an intuitive cloud-based payroll service.

Services

Unlike more complex enterprise tools, Payescape integrates payroll, HR, and time tracking into one lightweight platform, with no need to juggle multiple systems.

It's built-in self-service portal empowers employees to view payslips and update personal info, reducing admin overhead. Payescape’s cloud-based service lets you manage taxes, HMRC filings and auto-enrolment from anywhere with any device.

Pricing and Integration

Pricing starts at £53 a month, plus about £3.20 per employee¹. Which means a team of 30 would pay roughly £149. That makes it a solid choice for smaller businesses that want a clear monthly cost. It’s time and attendance tool is called TimeEscape,⁹ which is fully integrated for real-time data sharing, routine automation, and increased efficiency. They also support external integrations with third-party tools like Xero and QuickBooks.

MHR

MHR provides payroll services with over 40 years of experience and a 99.98% payroll accuracy rate.¹⁰ Their team of CIPP- and IPASS-accredited experts processes payroll for over 10% of the UK and Ireland workforce.

Best for: Small businesses and large or growing enterprises that need real-time payroll with built-in compliance.

Services

They handle full responsibility for international payroll, from input and calculations to reporting and compliance, pension administration, and even emergency cover, helping you avoid errors. Their payroll software, People First,¹¹ allows employees to view their estimated monthly pay.

Pricing and Integration

Pricing depends on the package, but smaller businesses might pay anywhere from £200 to £1,000 per month.¹² Cost varies based on the number of employees and the services you need. MHR integrates with tools like CloudPay to simplify payroll.

Frontier

Frontier’s Pay supports payroll in over 26 countries², allowing you to manage global pay runs from one platform. For instance, if your business operates in the UK, Singapore, and the US, you can handle all payroll activity within a single, unified system.

Best for: Businesses that operate internationally and need a unified platform for global payroll compliance.

Services

Frontier handles everything from calculations and payslip generation to legal compliance in each country it serves. They ensure that tax codes, deductions, and employment legislation are always updated.

You can securely input payroll data into their platform, from any location, and employees have access to self-service tools to view payslips and update details.

Pricing and Integration

Pricing is custom, so you’ll need to contact their team. You can easily integrate it with your legacy systems. Their native API or pre-built Workato connector¹³ makes it possible to connect applications, automate tasks and get real-time data.

Just Payroll

Just Payroll Services offers both UK and global payroll, but its standout feature is the level of personal service it provides. They assign dedicated account managers to handle your accounts, answer questions, and deal with pay cycle issues.

Best for: Businesses that value direct, personal support and need UK and international payroll in one place.

Services

Their global payroll services cover 130+ countries and offer in-country set-up and employee payments.¹⁴ They offer tools for employee self-service and payroll reporting, such as journal and remittance reports. They’re also a Bacs-approved bureau, which means payments are processed securely and efficiently.

Pricing and Integration

Pricing is fully bespoke. With integration to fit your current systems.

Zellis

Zellis serves some of the UK and Ireland’s largest employers. Like Moorepay, Zellis is part of the Zellis Group but focuses on larger businesses with more than 1,000 employees. They earned the Payroll Software Supplier of the Year title at the Global Payroll Association Awards 2024.¹⁵

Best for: Mid-size to large businesses across UK territories with complex payroll needs.

Services

Zellis delivers more than payroll processing. It automates over 400 compliance checks, including National Minimum Wage enforcement, pension auto-enrolment, P11Ds, off-payroll working regulations, and CEO pay ratio reporting.¹⁶ Their Faster Payments integration enables real-time payroll transfers, cutting errors and improving flexibility.

Reporting is a standout feature: finance teams gain access to 200+ templates and custom dashboards powered by the Zellis Intelligence Platform. The system also includes configurable self-service portals (MyPay and MyView), seamless Microsoft 365 integration, and dedicated modules for pensions and total reward statements.¹⁵

Pricing and Integration

Pricing is custom and starts around £200 a month for smaller teams¹⁷, but it quickly scales based on requirements. Zellis allows integration with HR systems like Rotageek for integrated scheduling or Eploy for talent acquisition.¹⁸

How to choose the right payroll service provider

Finding the right payroll provider starts with knowing what your business actually needs. Below are tips to help you choose:

• Start with your setup: Think about how many people you pay, how often, and where they’re based.
• Stick to the basics: If it’s just UK payroll and nothing fancy, you only need tax, pensions, payslips, and HMRC covered.
• Choose flexibility: Multiple pay runs, international teams, or odd schedules? You’ll need custom reports and proper system integration.
• Confirm integration: Payroll should link with your HR and accounting tools—manual work is a waste of time.
• Ask about support: Will you get a real person when something goes wrong? How fast do they reply?
• Consider international payments: Are you paying people in different countries? Most providers won’t handle the transfer for you. Fortunately, Wise Business works with payroll providers to send international payments without delays.

Send international payments with Wise Business

Open a Wise Business account and you’ll be able to pay international employees in their own currency. You can send to 140+ countries in just a few clicks using the Batch Payments tool or even automate the process entirely using the Wise API.

Wise payments are fast¹⁹ and secure (even for large amounts). Best of all, you’ll only pay low, transparent fees and always get the mid-market exchange rate.

Get started with Wise Business 🚀

FAQs - best payroll service

Are you deciding whether to outsource payroll or keep it in-house? These common questions will help clarify your options.

What does a fully managed payroll service include?

A fully managed payroll service takes care of the entire payroll process from start to finish. This usually covers calculating salaries and processing statutory deductions. They also handle auto-enrolment for pensions, generate payslips, and submit RTI to HMRC.

Is it cheaper to outsource or manage payroll in-house?

Outsourcing payroll can be more cost-effective for small to midsized businesses that don’t have dedicated payroll staff. It reduces time spent on admin, lowers the risk of mistakes, and avoids the cost of payroll software and training.

What’s the difference between payroll software and a managed payroll service?

Payroll software gives you the tools to run payroll yourself, while a managed service handles it for you. With managed payroll, the provider handles calculations, files with HMRC, and manages every technicality. You still review and approve pay runs, but they handle the rest. It’s a good option if you want to save time and reduce the risk of mistakes.

Sources used in this article:

1. Payscape Pricing – Payroll Prices
2. Frontier supported countries – Frontier
3. About Us – Moorepay
4. Managed Payroll Services – Moorepay
5. Moorepay (Zellis Group) – Zellis
6. Moorepay Pricing – Payroll Prices
7. Moorepay Integration – Moorepay
8. Payescape About Us – Payescape
9. Time and Attendance Software – Payescape
10. MHR Outsourced Payrolls – MHR
11. People First – MHR
12. MHR Cost – Payroll Prices
13. Integration Frontier Software – Frontier
14. Just Payroll services – Just Payroll
15. Zellis – Zellis About
16. Payroll Software – Zellis
17. Zellis Cost – Payroll Prices
18. Zellis Integration – Zellis
19. Transaction speed claimed depends on individual circumstances and may not be available for all transactions.

Sources last checked on 27/06/2025