Hospitality payroll is harder than the headcount suggests. Hours change every week, staff turnover is high enough that onboarding and leavers are a constant rather than an occasional task, and holiday pay for irregular hours workers has to be calculated on an averaged basis rather than a flat weekly figure. A payroll product designed around salaried office staff makes all three of those into manual work.
We have ranked these on how well they cope with variable hours and rapid churn, how much of the starter and leaver admin they absorb, and what they really cost excluding VAT for a workforce whose size moves with the season.
What hospitality operators should look for
Variable hours are the first test. Your software needs to take hours in easily each period, ideally imported from whatever you use for rotas rather than keyed in twice, and it needs to handle the averaging that holiday pay for irregular hours workers requires. This calculation is the single most common source of underpayment claims in the sector, and doing it in a spreadsheet alongside payroll is how businesses end up with a liability they did not know about. Ask specifically how a product calculates holiday pay for a worker whose hours differ every week, and be unsatisfied with a vague answer.
Turnover is the second test, and it is where the time actually goes. In a business where a meaningful share of staff change every quarter, the payroll admin around starters and leavers matters more than any feature used at run time: collecting new starter details without paper, issuing a P45 promptly, getting a new employee onto the right pension assessment, and handling the student and part time cases hospitality sees constantly. Employee self service earns its place here more than anywhere, because staff checking their own payslips and updating their own details removes a stream of interruptions from a manager who is running a venue rather than an office. Finally, look for payroll that connects to HR or onboarding, since in this sector the two jobs are genuinely the same job.
How we assessed these tools
Every product here was judged on the things that actually decide whether software works for a UK business: the real published price excluding VAT, how it handles HMRC obligations such as Making Tax Digital, RTI or CIS where relevant, the depth of the core job it is bought for, how quickly a non specialist can get productive, and the quality of UK support. We read each vendor's own pricing pages rather than repeating third party figures, and we weight verified user ratings from people who run these tools day to day.
We also try to be honest about fit rather than crowning a single winner, because the right tool for a ten person business is rarely the right tool for a two hundred person one. Each entry below carries its real starting price, its current Assaylist rating and a clear note on who it suits and where it falls short, so you can match the software to your own situation rather than to an average. Where we earn a commission from an outbound link we say so, and it never changes the order of this list.
The best options ranked
1. PayFit
PayFit handles variable hours and a moving headcount better than most, and combines payroll with the employee self service that a shift based workforce genuinely uses. Staff checking their own payslips on a phone is not a luxury in hospitality, it is what stops a duty manager fielding the same question forty times a month.
What you get: A modern European payroll and HR platform popular with growing UK companies, combining automated payroll with light HR features. Per employee pricing on top of a base fee. It holds a 4.2 out of 5 rating across 245 reviews on Assaylist.
Pricing: The plans run Light at £29, Standard at £59 and Premium at £119 per month, excluding VAT.
Why we rate it:
- Heavy payroll automation
- Light HR bundled alongside
- Modern, clear interface
- Employee self service
Bear in mind: it sits above the cheapest options on price, which matters when your headcount is large and your margins are not.
Read our full PayFit review →
2. Employment Hero
Employment Hero puts onboarding, HR records and payroll on one platform, which is exactly the shape of the problem in hospitality where hiring is continuous. Getting a new starter from offer to first payslip without paper, repeatedly and quickly, is where it earns its keep in a venue.
What you get: An Australian built platform that has grown fast in the UK, bundling HR, payroll and employee benefits. Notable for a free payroll option and per employee pricing. It holds a 4.1 out of 5 rating across 273 reviews on Assaylist.
Pricing: The plans run Free Payroll at free, Core Payroll at £3, HR Essentials at £4 and HR Engage at £7 per user per month, excluding VAT.
Why we rate it:
- Genuinely free payroll tier
- HR, payroll and benefits in one
- Well built employee app
- Per employee pricing that starts low
Bear in mind: the all in one breadth means it is good across the board rather than the deepest payroll engine here.
Read our full Employment Hero review →
3. Onfolk
Onfolk keeps payroll and people data together in a modern British product priced well below the platforms, which suits a growing hospitality group that has outgrown basic payroll but cannot justify enterprise pricing. The automation around starters and leavers is the part hospitality operators notice.
What you get: A newer UK platform combining payroll and HR in one place, aimed at scaling companies that want both handled together with heavy automation and a clean interface. It holds a 3.9 out of 5 rating across 238 reviews on Assaylist.
Pricing: The plans run Onfolk at £5 per user per month, excluding VAT.
Why we rate it:
- Payroll and HR in one platform
- Heavy automation
- Modern, clean interface
- Posts to accounting automatically
Bear in mind: it is a newer product with a smaller footprint, so check it covers your specific pay rules before committing a large team.
Read our full Onfolk review →
4. Pento
Pento is built around running payroll quickly and repeatedly rather than as a monthly event, which fits an operation where the numbers are not final until close to payday. For a group processing several sites with hours arriving late, that responsiveness is the differentiator.
What you get: A newer UK payroll platform built for in house teams rather than bureaus, with heavy automation and clean integrations into accounting and HR systems. It holds a 4.1 out of 5 rating across 286 reviews on Assaylist.
Pricing: The plans run Pento at a quoted price per month, excluding VAT.
Why we rate it:
- Heavy automation for in house teams
- Clean accounting and HR integrations
- Modern, clear interface
- Posts to the ledger automatically
Bear in mind: pricing is quoted rather than published, so budgeting means a conversation rather than a calculator.
Read our full Pento review →
5. Sage Payroll
Sage Payroll is the cost effective choice for a single site operator, and its error checking is a genuine safety net when payroll is being run by a manager between shifts rather than by a payroll specialist. For a pub, cafe or small restaurant it does the job without fuss.
What you get: Sage's cloud payroll for start ups and small businesses. Three tiers, five employees included on each, with pension auto enrolment and HMRC notices built in. It holds a 4.0 out of 5 rating across 266 reviews on Assaylist.
Pricing: The plans run Payroll Essentials at £12, Payroll Standard at £23 and Payroll Premium at £34 per month, excluding VAT.
Why we rate it:
- Pension auto enrolment built in
- Payroll anomaly detection
- Automated HMRC notices
- HR features at every tier
Bear in mind: the included headcount means the real cost rises quickly for a large hourly workforce.
Read our full Sage Payroll review →Comparison at a glance
Here is how the shortlist compares on what it is best for, the starting price excluding VAT and the current Assaylist rating.
| Software | Best for | Starting price | Rating |
|---|---|---|---|
| PayFit | Best overall for hospitality | From £29 / month | 4.2 |
| Employment Hero | Best for high turnover | From £3 per user / month | 4.1 |
| Onfolk | Best modern value | From £5 per user / month | 3.9 |
| Pento | Best for fast moving payrolls | Custom pricing | 4.1 |
| Sage Payroll | Best low cost option | From £12 / month | 4.0 |
How much should you budget?
Model this on headcount rather than sites, and model it at your busiest point rather than your average. A hospitality business with thirty staff through the summer and eighteen in February pays for thirty when it matters, and per employee pricing is unforgiving of that seasonality. Ask every vendor how their pricing treats a headcount that moves, because some charge on employees paid in the period while others charge on employees on record, and the difference across a season is significant.
A single site operator should budget roughly twelve to thirty five pounds a month excluding VAT with a small charge per additional employee. A multi site group with a hundred or more staff is realistically in the low hundreds a month, and platforms such as PayFit and Pento sit at the upper end of that because they are bundling employee self service and HR alongside. Weigh that against the administrative time saved, since in a sector with this much churn the onboarding automation frequently costs less than the manager hours it replaces.
Our verdict
For most UK hospitality businesses of any size, PayFit is the strongest all round choice, because it handles variable hours properly and the employee self service genuinely reduces the interruptions a duty manager absorbs. Employment Hero is the better pick where turnover is the dominant problem, since it treats onboarding and payroll as one continuous process rather than two systems.
Growing groups watching costs should look at Onfolk, which delivers modern payroll and people data together well below platform pricing, and Pento suits an operation where hours land late and payroll has to move quickly. A single site operator running payroll between shifts will be well served by Sage Payroll, whose checking catches the errors that matter most when nobody in the building is a payroll specialist.
The bottom line
Two questions decide this. First, how your hours reach payroll, because anything that means keying rota data in twice will cost you more in time than the subscription saves. Second, how the software calculates holiday pay for irregular hours workers, since that is the sector's most common and most expensive mistake. PayFit is the safe strong choice for most operators, Employment Hero where churn dominates, and Sage Payroll for a single site keeping costs down. Price it at your summer headcount, not your winter one.
Frequently asked questions
What is the best payroll software for a UK restaurant or pub?
PayFit is the strongest all round choice for hospitality because it handles variable hours well and includes employee self service that shift workers actually use. For a single site operator watching costs, Sage Payroll is a capable and forgiving low cost alternative with strong error checking.
How does payroll software handle variable hours?
Good hospitality payroll accepts hours per pay period, ideally imported from your rota system rather than keyed in twice, and calculates pay and holiday accrual from them. The important part is the averaging required for holiday pay for irregular hours workers, so ask each vendor specifically how it performs that calculation.
How is holiday pay calculated for irregular hours workers?
It is based on average earnings over a reference period rather than a flat weekly figure, which is why doing it in a spreadsheet beside payroll goes wrong so often. Software that performs the averaging automatically removes the sector's most common source of underpayment claims, so treat it as a requirement rather than a nice to have.
Does hospitality payroll software handle high staff turnover?
The better products do, by treating starters and leavers as routine rather than exceptional. Employment Hero is particularly strong here because onboarding and payroll sit on the same platform, so a new starter moves from offer to first payslip without paper. In a high churn sector this admin is where most payroll time actually goes.
How much does payroll cost for a hospitality business?
A single site operator should budget roughly twelve to thirty five pounds a month excluding VAT plus a small charge per additional employee. A multi site group with a hundred or more staff is realistically in the low hundreds a month. Price it at your peak seasonal headcount rather than your average, because per employee pricing is unforgiving of seasonality.
Prices were checked against each vendor's UK pricing on 7 August 2026 and exclude VAT unless stated. Vendors change pricing, so confirm the current figure on the vendor's own site before you buy. Some links are commercial; where we earn a commission it never affects our ratings or the order of this list.
