How Much Does Quickbooks Payroll Cost in 2025?

QuickBooks payroll software costs between £5 and £10 per month, plus £1.30 per employee.

However, it’s important to note that QuickBooks Payroll is only available as an add-on to QuickBooks Online, QuickBooks’ accounting software. For this reason, we only recommend QuickBooks’ payroll software to businesses looking for a combined accounting and payroll platform.

We’ve put together this comprehensive guide to all of QuickBooks’ Payroll options and how much they cost. It provides all the details you need on the features and pricing for each of QuickBooks’ payroll plans, and what is and isn’t available in the UK.

Summary of QuickBooks Payroll Costs

QuickBooks only offers two payroll software plans, the Core plan and the Advanced plan:

	Core Payroll Plan	Advanced Payroll Plan
Cost	£5 per month + £1.30 per paid employee per month	£10 per month + £1.30 per paid employee per month
Payroll Features	Real-time HMRC submissions, Weekly or monthly pay periods Statutory payments Auto pension enrolment Automatic pay runs Payslip creation and sharing Employee portal Reporting	Everything in Core Payroll plus: Calculates more types of statutory payments Auto-pension for up to 5 providers Fully customisable pay periods Employee self-service Advanced reporting
HR Features	None	Employee timesheets and rotas Leave management, expense management and employee satisfaction features Benefits management

The Core and Advanced payroll plans are only available as an add-on to QuickBooks Accounting. They can be added from the £16 per month Simple Start accounting software plan.

How Much Does Each QuickBooks Payroll Plan Cost?

QuickBooks offers two main payroll plans:

Core Payroll: £5 per month + £1.30 per employee
Advanced Payroll: £10 per month + £1.30 per employee

There’s also a Bureau Payroll plan, which is a standalone product for accountants and is separate from the main payroll add-ons.

How much does QuickBooks Core Payroll cost?

How much does it cost? £5 per month, plus £1.30 per paid employee, per month (excluding accounting payroll costs).
What features are included? Real-time HMRC submissions, weekly/monthly pay periods, automatic pay runs, statutory payments, and auto pension enrolment, employee portal and basic reporting.
Who’s it for? Businesses run by a single director or small employers seeking a fast and straightforward payroll solution.

QuickBooks’ Core Payroll costs £5 per month, plus £1.30 per employee, and is geared towards small businesses with basic payroll needs that only pay a handful of employees regularly and want an easy way to remain compliant with HMRC.

However, Core Payroll can only be used as an add-on for QuickBooks’ general accounting software. You’ll need to purchase at least the £16 per month Simple Start plan or higher to add it. It can’t be added to QuickBooks’ most basic accounting software plan, the £10 per month Sole Trader plan, designed for self-employed people doing their own taxes and payroll.

What features do you get on the QuickBooks Core Payroll plan?

User-friendly setup: Since Core Payroll integrates directly with QuickBooks’ accounting software, the setup process is generally quick and easy. If there are problems, you can find extensive support resources, including help articles, webinars, and customer service via online chat and phone.
HMRC compliance: Core Payroll features real-time information submissions to HMRC for compliance purposes.
Automated pay runs: You can schedule automatic pay runs for directors or salaried employees, along with notifications alerting them to any required actions.
Multiple pay schedules: Core Payroll allows you to accommodate your employees’ different payroll schedules. This means you can pay some employees weekly and others monthly.
Statutory payment compliance: Core Payroll supports compliance with three statutory payments (sick pay, maternity leave and paternity leave).
Simplified pension management: Core Payroll has tools for employee assessment, automatic enrolment and pension contributions, including direct submissions to Nest.
Employee portal: Employees can easily view and download payslips using an online portal, eliminating the need to hand them out in person or via email.

Is the QuickBooks Core Payroll plan worth the money?

The Core Payroll plan is worth it for very small businesses running basic payroll that need a simple, cheap solution.

However, larger small businesses or medium-sized businesses may find its feature set lacking for the sorts of tasks they need to perform, like setting up multiple different pension schemes or managing timesheets.

Another major downside is that it’s only available as an add-on for QuickBooks’ accounting software.

How much does QuickBooks Advanced Payroll cost?

How much does it cost? £10 per month, plus £1.30 per paid employee, per month.
What features are included? Everything in Core Payroll, plus more pension schemes and statutory payments, customisable pay frequency, employee self-service, HR features and advanced reporting.
Who’s it for? Employers with slightly more advanced payroll needs that also require basic HR capabilities and detailed, customisable reporting.

QuickBooks’ Advanced Payroll plan costs £10 per month, plus £1.30 per employee, and is tailored towards larger businesses that need customisable payroll functionality as well as reporting and HR features for employee compliance and well-being.

Like Core Payroll, Advanced Payroll is only available as an add-on for QuickBooks’ general accounting software. Again, you need to sign up for the Simple Start plan (£16 per month) or higher (up to £115 per month for the Advanced accounting plan) to get the add-on. You won’t be able to get it with the £10 per month Sole Trader plan.

What features do you get on the QuickBooks Advanced Payroll plan?

Customisable pay schedules: Choose from a variety of pay schedules, not just weekly or monthly, fortnightly, four weekly, quarterly or annually.
More pension options: Advanced Payroll allows you to easily set up multiple pension schemes with up to five providers – Nest, Smart Pension, The People’s Pension, NOW:Pensions and Aviva.
More statutory payments: Advanced payroll lets you easily calculate not just maternity, paternity and sick pay, but also adoption and parental bereavement payments.
Comprehensive deductions management: Advanced Payroll automatically handles deductions for your business, such as court orders, cycle-to-work schemes, salary sacrifice and benefits in kind (BIKs).
Employee self-service: Not only can employees view and download payslips from their online portal, but they can also input timesheets, rotas, leave and expense information.
Enhanced HR tools: Advanced Payroll contains valuable HR features for managing timesheets, rotas, leave and expenses, all from one unified dashboard.
Expanded reporting: Advanced Payroll includes over 30 additional reports beyond what’s available in Core Payroll, as well as customisable report creation and automatic delivery options.

Is the QuickBooks Advanced Payroll plan worth the money?

The Advanced Payroll plan is an affordable solution for larger small businesses (ones with 25 to 50 employees) that want to give their employees more options when it comes to pay frequency, pensions, benefits management and statutory pay.

Like the Core Payroll plan, the main drawback of QuickBooks Advanced Payroll plan is that it only works as part of QuickBooks’ general accounting software.

Many businesses large enough to need the feature set provided by Advanced Payroll may be looking for a standalone payroll solution and won’t want to make this jump over to QuickBooks for all of their accounting needs.

How much does QuickBooks Bureau Payroll cost?

Pricing for QuickBooks’ Bureau Payroll software is only quote-based.

Unlike the Core and Advanced Payroll add-on plans, QuickBooks Bureau Payroll is a fully standalone payroll solution geared towards independent accountants who run payroll for clients.

Its feature set includes:

Automated workflow enhancement
Mobile payroll management
Collaborative multi-user access

It can be used with QuickBooks as well as other accounting software solutions, including Xero, Sage, FreshBooks and FreeAgent.

How Much Does QuickBooks Accounting Software Cost?

QuickBooks has five accounting software plans that cost between £10 and £115 per month. However, the payroll add-on is only available from the £16 per month Simple Start plan.

Remember, QuickBooks’ main payroll plans, Core Payroll and Advanced Payroll, are only available as add-on products to QuickBooks’ accounting software.

For more details on how much QuickBooks Accounting costs, see our full pricing guide.

What Are the Best QuickBooks Payroll Alternatives?

If you’re looking for an integrated payroll and accounting software platform, but feel QuickBooks isn’t the right option for you, here are some alternatives:

Swipe right to see more

QuickBooks	Iris Staffology	TopSource	Sage	Xero

Price Range Accounting: From £16/month Payroll: From £5/month + £1.30/employee	Price Range From £39/month	Price Range Custom pricing	Price Range Accounting: From £21.60/month Payroll: From £10/month	Price Range Accounting: From £16/month Payroll: £1.50/employee/month
Key Features Accounting software with native add-on payroll tool	Key Features Integrates with several accounting tools: Sage Xero Reckon One AccountsIQ QuickBooks Twinfield	Key Features Payroll software/services with accounting service and accounting software integrations: Xero Sage MS Dynamics Navision Coda QuickBooks Tally	Key Features Offers native payroll, HR and accounting software	Key Features Accounting software with native payroll software add-on

See our full review for a more detailed look at the best accounting and payroll software platforms.

How We Reviewed QuickBooks 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.

Verdict

QuickBooks’ Core Payroll plan costs £5 per month, plus £1.30 per paid employee, per month, and its Advanced Payroll plan also costs £10 per month, plus £1.30 per paid employee, per month.

Both are only available as paid add-ons to a QuickBooks accounting software plan, with the cheapest plan payroll is available on being the £16 per month Simple Start plan.

Additionally, QuickBooks offers a Bureau Payroll plan, which is a standalone plan with custom pricing aimed at independent accountants managing payroll for multiple clients and across a variety of third-party accounting software.

For payroll-focused alternatives to QuickBooks Payroll, check out our article on the five best cloud-based payroll solutions.

QuickBooks Payroll: How Much Does it Actually Cost in 2025?