Frontier Payroll Review: Features, Pricing, Pros & Cons

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Frontier is a highly customisable payroll solution for UK businesses with international employees. This cloud-based payroll software helps your business pay employees and stay compliant across 26 countries.

With Frontier, you can customise your payroll process with approval workflows and expense reimbursements. The platform includes detailed reports and a self-service portal for employees. However, keep in mind that Frontier doesn’t have an API, making it difficult to develop integrations with your existing business software.

Keep reading our Frontier payroll review to find out if this platform is right for your business.

Best for	International businesses
Cost	Bespoke
Features	Multi-currency support and customisable payroll approval workflows
Data security	User access control, audit logs, data encryption
Support resources	Offers on-demand webinars, but no online knowledge base
Scalability	Supports 26 countries, custom approval workflows and integrations available
Customer support	Multiple international help desks available by phone and email
Pros	Automated compliance in 26 countries Responsive customer support Flexible solution for complex payroll needs
Cons	No API for integrations Bespoke pricing only

What Is Frontier Payroll?

Frontier provides a cloud-based payroll and HR solution for businesses. The company operates in 26 countries, including the UK, Australia, New Zealand, Singapore, Malaysia and many other Commonwealth countries.

Businesses can manage payroll on their own using Frontier’s cloud-based payroll solution. The company also offers payroll outsourcing, HR software and workforce management tools.

Frontier Payroll in-house software vs managed outsourcing

Frontier offers both payroll software and an outsourced payroll service, as well as combined solutions. It’s important for businesses to know the differences between the three options, so they can find the best match for their needs.

Payroll software – This option lets you manage your payroll processes in-house, using Frontier’s software. You get full control over payroll data, calculations, reporting and HR processes. This is typically the best choice for smaller businesses with an existing payroll team that prefers hands-on management.
Managed outsourcing – With managed payroll, Frontier’s team handles processes on your behalf. This includes handling compliance tasks, payslips, reports, and legislative updates. Due to the reduced administrative burden and expert oversight, this method is best for businesses that want to save time and don’t have a dedicated payroll team.
Combined solution – You can also opt for a hybrid approach where your team uses Frontier software to manage day-to-day payroll tasks, while also relying on Frontier for selected outsourced services, like multi-country payroll processing and complex compliance checks. This option is a good fit for businesses with partial in-house payroll capabilities who also want flexibility and support.

How Much Does Frontier Payroll Cost?

Frontier offers bespoke pricing for its payroll software. The company customises its platform to suit your business’s needs.

Pricing will vary based on the following factors:

The number of employees
The countries your business operates in
The integrations required for existing software
Whether you need features like approval workflows and expense reimbursement
The level of training and support your payroll team needs

Frontier can be pricey compared with solutions with standard pricing tiers, like IRIS or ADP. However, if you have employees in multiple countries, Frontier provides better compliance support and multi-currency payment options than many of its competitors.

How do you get a price quote from Frontier Payroll?

To get a quote from Frontier, simply contact their sales team via email at sales@frontiersoftware.com or by phone at +44 1276 456902 for the UK region. You can also request a form on their website under “Contact Us”.

You’ll be required to enter information about your business size, number of employees, countries of operation and potential integration options, to make sure these details are at hand before you begin the process.

What Features Does Frontier Payroll Offer?

Frontier offers a crop of useful capabilities to help businesses streamline their payroll processes. Here’s a deeper look into the provider’s core features:

Frontier’s core features	What does it do?
Core payroll	Frontier supports multiple payment options, multiple pay rates, one-time payments/deductions and benefits like pensions, allowing businesses to manage core payroll processes with ease
Multi-currency support	Frontier allows payroll to be processed in multiple currencies across its 26 supported countries. This makes it easier for businesses with international employees
Custom pay schedules	With the provider, businesses can set up standard or custom pay schedules. This caters well to businesses with specific or regularly changing payroll cycles
Integrated time/attendance	Frontier integrates seamlessly with time and attendance tools to automatically calculate pay, including overtime and leave pay
Payroll verification	Customisable approval workflows with one or more approvers, multiple approval levels, and checks to prevent errors on payslips, reducing costly payroll reruns
Expense management	Manages employee expense claims with custom rules for required documentation and approvals. Reimbursements can be processed in any currency.
Employee self-service	Employees can view payslips, submit timesheets and request leave via the self-service portal, even if you don’t choose to integrate time and attendance software
Reporting and analytics	Standard reports for gross/net pay, overtime, taxes, expense reimbursements, gender pay gaps and more. Also allows creation of custom reports for deeper insights into payroll data

Frontier Payroll: Pros and Cons

Frontier is a reliable payroll system, but it won’t be ideal for every business type. Learn more about Frontier’s strengths and weaknesses to learn whether it’s a good fit for you.

Pros:

Customisable payroll – Frontier allows businesses to create tailored approval workflows, expense reimbursement rules and multi-level approval systems, helping users to reduce errors and streamline payroll administration as a result.
Employee self-service and reporting – Employees are able to access payslips, submit timesheets and request leave via the portal using the self-service portal. Managers can also generate detailed reports on gross/net pay, tax, overtime, and expenses to gain insights and maintain compliance.
Strong international support – Frontier automates payroll compliance across 26 countries and supports multiple currencies, making it ideal for businesses with international employees or plans for overseas expansion.

Cons:

No API for integrations – Frontier does not offer an API. This means that integrating with other business software can be difficult and may require support from the Frontier team.
Bespoke pricing only – Pricing is customised per business and can be higher than competitors’ with fixed-tier plans, making it less predictable for budgeting purposes.
Limited security and support features – Frontier does not support single sign-on (SSO), lacks a live chat option and has no knowledge base or video tutorials. This may limit convenience and user-friendliness for some companies.

How Secure Is Frontier Payroll?

Frontier has a strong security profile. Here are just some features it offers, designed to keep data safe. Frontier:

Uses encryption to protect all payroll data, including employees’ payment information.
Allows access controls by department or individual employees, giving you tight control over who can view sensitive payroll data.
Maintains an audit log of all logins and data entries, making it easy to track access and monitor changes to payslips.

However, one limitation to note is that Frontier does not support SSO, unlike competitors such as ADP, which could increase the risk of password theft.

What Support Resources Does Frontier Payroll Offer?

How much support you get from Frontier depends on your contract. The company offers a basic onboarding for all customers that includes a software demo and access to customer support. Frontier offers live training and partially managed payroll solutions for companies that need extra support administering payroll.

Frontier doesn’t have an online knowledge base or video tutorials for its payroll software. However, this is also the case for several major payroll platforms, including IRIS and MHR.

Frontier does have on-demand webinars that teach your payroll team about the latest trends in payroll administration and highlight updates to Frontier’s software.

Is Frontier Payroll Scalable?

Frontier is a highly scalable software that can support your business as it grows. In fact, there’s no limit to the number of employees you can add to your plan. Here’s how its scalability compares across different core areas.

Scaling area	Frontier’s capabilities
Workflow scaling	Unlimited employee capacity, plus tools for approval workflows, expense reimbursements and detailed user-permission controls to stay organised as headcount increases
Internal scaling	Supports payroll in 26 countries and multiple currencies – including less-served regions such as Samoa, Fiji, Kiribati, and Vanuatu – making it suitable for international expansion
Integration scaling	Offers integrations with many major HR and time-and-attendance tools. However, there’s no API, so custom integrations are difficult and must be discussed with Frontier’s support team

What HR or time and attendance software does Frontier Payroll integrate with?

Frontier Payroll integrates with its own HR and time and attendance systems, including:

The ichris HR platform
The TA21 Time and Attendance module

These tools handle employee data, shift patterns, overtime, absences and feed directly into payroll for automated calculations. Unfortunately, Frontier does not currently offer APIs for integration with third-party HR or time and attendance software.

What Is Frontier Payroll’s Customer Support Like?

Frontier offers customer support by phone and email. The company has support centres in the UK, Australia, New Zealand, Malaysia and Singapore, so help is available nearly 24/5. In our experience, the UK support centre was very responsive and helpful.

The only drawback to Frontier’s customer support is that there’s no live chat option. This lack of chat support is common, as competitors like IRIS, ADP, and Advanced also do not offer a live chat option.

How We Reviewed Frontier Payroll

We regularly research a wide range of market-leading payroll products and services to evaluate them in terms of functionality, usability, data security and customer support, so we can make the most useful recommendations for UK businesses.

Our rigorous research process means these products have been scored and rated in five main categories of investigation and 10 subcategories — in fact, we covered 56 areas of investigation in total. We then gave each category score a ‘relevance weighting’ to ensure the product's final score perfectly reflects the needs and requirements of Expert Market readers.

Our main testing categories for payroll products and services are:

Control: The level of customisation and flexibility provided by the payroll software in managing and processing payroll, such as the ability to define pay periods, set up tax withholding rules and manage employee data.
Data security: The measures and protocols implemented by the payroll software to ensure the confidentiality, integrity and availability of sensitive payroll information.
Expertise: The level of knowledge and guidance provided by the payroll software vendor or support team. This can include resources such as documentation, tutorials and training materials.
Scalability: The ability of the payroll software to accommodate the growth and changing needs of a business, including the capacity to handle an increasing number of employees and support multiple locations or entities.
Customer support: The various channels and methods available for users to seek assistance and support from the payroll software vendor, such as email or ticket-based support, phone support, or live chat.

Is Frontier Payroll Worth It?

Frontier’s cloud-based payroll software is an excellent choice for businesses with international employees or with plans for overseas expansion. It supports payroll in 26 countries and handles compliance with local laws automatically.

The platform is highly customisable, supporting approval workflows, multiple payroll schedules and complex benefits administration.

Frontier’s bespoke pricing can be more expensive than fixed pricing options from competitors like IRIS and ADP. However, for paying employees around the world, Frontier’s streamlined platform is well worth the cost for international businesses.

Frontier Payroll FAQs

What countries does Frontier Payroll support?

Frontier can help you administer payroll in 26 countries: American Samoa, Australia, Brunei, Cook Islands, Falkland Islands, Fiji, French Polynesia, Guernsey, Hong Kong, India, Ireland, Isle of Man, Jersey, Kiribati, Malaysia, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Philippines, Samoa, Singapore, Solomon Islands, St Helena, Tonga, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom and Vanuatu.

Does Frontier Payroll offer integrations?

Frontier has ready-made integrations for a wide range of common time and attendance and HR software platforms. If you need a custom integration, the company may be able to develop it for you at an additional cost. Frontier doesn’t have an API, which can make developing your own integrations challenging.

What payroll reports does Frontier Payroll have?

Frontier has a variety of standard payroll reports, including reports for gross pay, overtime pay, taxation, expense reimbursements and gender pay differences. You can also create your own custom payroll reports.

Does Frontier Payroll support payroll in the US or Canada?

Frontier operates in 26 countries, including the UK, Australia, New Zealand and Singapore. However, Frontier Payroll does not currently support payroll in the US or Canada.