MHR Payroll Review: Is MHR right for your business?

In our MHR payroll review, we found its flexible pricing and end-to-end management make it ideal for growing businesses with unique reporting needs. While its pricing is entirely bespoke, MHR’s platform combines payroll, HR and finance, with advanced features like real-time processing and AI-driven security.

As a result, it ranks highly on our list of best payroll solutions for small businesses. Read on for the complete run-down on what it could offer your team.

What Is MHR Payroll?

MHR provides payroll, HR and finance software for businesses of all sizes and industries. It’s a highly flexible, highly configurable platform that tailors its services to meet the unique needs of complex businesses, such as industry-specific compliance or advanced data security requirements.

In addition to its software solutions, MHR also offers fully outsourced payroll services for businesses seeking a cleaner, hands-off solution.

How Much Does MHR Payroll Software Cost?

MHR’s payroll software comes in three separate tiers, each one catering to a slightly different market. Unlike competitors such as 1 2 Cloud Payroll, MHR doesn’t reveal its pricing upfront.

Note: ‘Number of users’ is an estimate from our payroll experts. These figures haven’t been sourced from MHR

What is the People First plan?

The People First plan is MHR’s core payroll, HR and finance software. Its focus is on real-time payroll processing and automation, allowing you to stay up-to-date on tax compliance and run payroll with reduced errors.

People First is ideal for startups and small businesses that need a bit more than a standalone payroll software solution. Pricing is fully bespoke.

What is the iTrent plan?

The iTrent plan has essentially the same offerings as the People First plan, only with a much higher degree of configuration and flexibility. You can use iTrent to customise your own payroll, HR and finance platform that best suits your business’s needs.

iTrent is ideal for large and medium-sized businesses that may have unique needs – like high-security standards or advanced customisations – which can’t be met by a cookie-cutter payroll software solution. Pricing is fully bespoke.

What is the MHR ERP plan?

The MHR ERP plan significantly broadens its offerings compared with the previous two plans. It’s a full enterprise resource management solution with a focus on automating and increasing efficiency for all critical areas of your business, including payroll.

MHR ERP is ideal for the largest and most complex enterprises looking for an all-in-one management solution. Pricing is fully bespoke.

What Features Does MHR Offer?

MHR’s key features include real-time payroll processing (showing transactions as they occur), a fully customisable interface (under the iTrent plan), and the bundling of payroll, HR and finance software into one solution. Let’s detail them below:

• Real-time payroll processing: Unlike other providers that require constant refreshes and periodic updates, MHR processes payroll in real time. You’ll be able to see every transaction as soon as it occurs, which means your reporting will always be as current as your actual operations.
• Customisable interface: Under the iTrent plan, you can design your own payroll software interface. You can remove any unnecessary buttons and menus, and add new ones that speed up your workflow.
• Payroll, HR and finance in one: Although this might not be essential for small businesses looking to minimise overheads, all of MHR’s payroll plans come with HR and finance software built-in. For most businesses, this is a boon, as integrations will be less painful, and important information can be contained in one solution.

MHR Managed Payroll vs Software

MHR offers two distinct ways to run payroll: (1) you run payroll in MHR’s software (e.g. People First, iTrent or MHR ERP) or (2) MHR runs payroll for you via a fully managed (outsourced) payroll service. The right model depends on your in-house expertise, the complexity of your organisation and the level of control you want to retain.

What you get with the software (People First/iTrent/MHR ERP)

• Ownership and control: Your team configures pay groups, calendars, and rules, then runs payroll cycles in-house.
• Configurability: Advanced options (particularly in iTrent) for custom workflows, interfaces and reporting.
• Integrations: Payroll sits alongside HR and finance, reducing rekeying and improving audit trails.
• Ongoing tasks your team handles: Data entry and changes (new starters/leavers), gross-to-net processing, checks and approvals, real time information (RTI) submissions to HMRC (FPS/EPS), auto-enrolment actions, issuing payslips, and year-end tasks (e.g. P60/P11D).
• Best for: Organisations with payroll expertise that want fine-grained control, custom reporting and tight in-house turnaround.

What you get with Managed Payroll (fully outsourced)

• End-to-end processing: MHR’s payroll specialists run the full cycle based on your inputs and approvals.
• Compliance handled for you: HMRC filings (RTI), statutory updates, and legislative changes are administered by the provider.
• Service model: Typically includes defined cut-offs, validations, exception handling and agreed service levels.
• Your responsibilities: Provide accurate inputs (hours, changes, approvals) on time. MHR executes processing and submissions.
• Best for: Teams with limited capacity or complex requirements who prefer guaranteed processing and compliance without expanding headcount.

Side-by-side comparison

How to decide

• Capacity: If you lack experienced payroll staff or backup cover, managed payroll reduces operational risk.
• Complexity: Multiple entities, pay groups or intricate rules push many teams toward outsourcing.
• Control and speed: If you need same-day in-house changes and bespoke reports on demand, software control may suit better.
• Total cost: Balance software fees and internal headcount versus a service fee that includes processing and compliance.

For more on when outsourcing makes sense, see our guide to the benefits of outsourcing payroll.

What Security Controls Does MHR Offer?

People First (entry plan): MHR does not publicly list advanced security features for People First. In practice, buyers should confirm baseline controls during procurement (for example, transport layer security) TLS for data in transit, role-based access and permissions, audit trails, and UK GDPR compliance terms). If you require MFA and user-behaviour analytics, choose iTrent or MHR ERP with iTrent Shield.

iTrent/MHR ERP: Higher tiers add iTrent Shield, which includes MFA  and user-behaviour analytics to flag anomalous activity, alongside commonly cited certifications (e.g., SOC 2, ISO 27001, ISO 9001).

What Are MHR’s Support Resources Like?

MHR offers a tremendous amount of support resources, organising its offerings into five categories: Knowledge Hub, downloads, case studies, events and webinars, and MHR Labs.

• Knowledge Hub: This is where you can find broad help resources, like financial checklists and logistics guides.
• Downloads: Here you can download more technical documents, like whitepapers and formal reports. 
• Case studies: This is where you can read proof of how MHR’s software solutions have benefited other businesses in the past.
• Events and webinars: Here you can register for remote and in-person events from MHR’s team and other industry authorities.
• MHR Labs: This is one of MHR’s newest offerings – a ‘lab’ with opinions and useful advice from MHR experts, covering cutting-edge topics like AI.

MHR’s support resources vastly exceed those of the competition. Even our other favourite payroll software providers like Iris Staffology, ADP and Moorepay only offer standard resources, like one-off guides and blog posts.

How Conducive Is MHR For Scaling Your Businesses?

MHR scales effectively for growing businesses due to its bespoke pricing model and tiered plans, which bundle HR and finance software from the start, and will cater to an increasing number of employees. MHR will scale with you, removing the need to change providers.

And even in its base plan, People First, MHR’s payroll software solutions come part and parcel with HR and finance software. While this isn’t ideal for every business, it means businesses are less likely to need new software for HR or finance as they expand.

However, it’s important to note that MHR doesn’t advertise compatibility with international payroll systems, so if you’re looking to expand your business into multiple countries, you might want to go with a more globally-focused provider, like Frontier.

What Customer Support Does MHR Offer?

MHR gets high marks from us for its customer support, for three reasons:

1. MHR offers full implementation support upon purchase, with the choice between in-person or remote options.
2. MHR guarantees a dedicated account manager for as long as you use its software.
3. MHR’s customer help centre assists customers via phone and live chat.

The only downside is MHR’s baffling lack of email support, a service offered by literally every other payroll software provider on the market.

What Alternatives Are There to MHR?

There are several payroll software options on the UK market that are worth considering alongside MHR. Here’s a quick rundown before we compare MHR to two top-rated alternatives.

MHR vs Moorepay

• Where MHR is stronger: Deep configuration and custom reporting needs; option to mix software with managed payroll; advanced analytics (e.g. salary modelling) and cross-system data sharing.
• Where Moorepay is stronger: Provider-led onboarding and setup; access to UK payroll advice and resources; employee self-service mobile app; straightforward move from another provider.
• Key differences: Both are PAS-accredited and quote-based; Moorepay offers payroll advice and a mobile app; MHR offers broader configurability and analytics but no live training or compliance advice.

MHR vs Iris Staffology

• Where MHR is stronger: Custom report building and richer analytics; option for fully managed payroll; complex multi-entity or unusual approval chains.
• Where Iris Staffology is stronger: Transparent entry pricing from £39 per month; extensive third-party integrations (e.g. Sage, Xero, QuickBooks, AccountsIQ); extensive training features; HMRC-recognised cloud software.
• Key differences: Staffology lacks a custom report builder and a payroll changes report (and not all year-end steps are covered); MHR is bespoke-priced, more configurable and can run payroll for you.

How We Reviewed MHR Payroll