Employment Hero vs BrightPay

BrightPay Desktop is ending soon. If your move to BrightPay Cloud means higher costs, employee caps and manual HMRC work — it’s time to look at a platform built for scale from day one.

Over 350,000 businesses trust Employment Hero to manage HR, payroll and recruitment. Use smarter tools, faster workflows and reach a global workforce.

Data as of 13 February 2026.

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Questions to ask when comparing Employment Hero vs BrightPay

Does BrightPay have employee limits?

No, not easily. BrightPay Cloud caps at 300 employees per file, forcing growing businesses to split payrolls and manually merge HMRC reports. Employment Hero has no employee limits and handles 1,500+ employees in a single pay run.

Is BrightPay integrated with HR and time tracking?

No, BrightPay users often rely on multiple disconnected systems. This fragmentation can create administrative bottlenecks and increase the risk of manual data entry errors.

Employment Hero consolidates everything into one system. When an employee clocks in, the data flows directly to the timesheet and into payroll automatically, eliminating the need for CSV exports or double entry.

Does BrightPay include HR features?

No. While BrightPay offers self-service modules, it lacks a fully integrated HR and payroll experience. HR features are often treated as non-integrated add-ons, which can lead to inefficiencies.

In contrast, Employment Hero provides a unified source of truth. Our platform offers a centralised HR system with automation, compliance tools and employee self-service features—all in one portal. This reduces admin time and improves overall efficiency for the entire workforce.

Is BrightPay easy to implement?

BrightPay’s migration from desktop to cloud can be a forced and stressful process for many businesses. While the cloud version offers enhanced functionality, users have reported price increases and a lack of feature parity with the desktop version during the transition.

Employment Hero simplifies the migration process with specialised paths designed for BrightPay users. Our short implementation window includes parallel runs to ensure total data accuracy and HMRC compliance before you fully switch over.

Disclaimer: Information is accurate as of the publication date. Product features and pricing are subject to change by the respective providers. While we review this data periodically, users should verify current details directly with the competitor.

How Employment Hero compares to BrightPay

All-in-one HR and Payroll

A unified source of truth. Employment Hero connects HR and payroll on a single platform, so employee records, leave balances, contracts and pay data all live in the same place.

There’s no re-keying between systems, no manual exports and no reconciliation at month end. For bureaus and direct clients alike, fewer moving parts means fewer places for things to go wrong.

HR + payroll in one system: employee records, contracts, leave and pay synced automatically

Digital onboarding with right-to-work checks completed before day one

Native time tracking flows directly to payroll: no CSV imports

Employee self-service app plus performance management and LMS built-in

BrightPay

Payroll solution: HR, onboarding, and recruitment require separate tools

No native time tracking: T&A data requires manual import

Employee portal for payslips and leave, but no integrated performance or LMS

Unlimited Employee Capacity

A cap on employees is a cap on growth. One of the most common concerns we hear from businesses looking to move to cloud payroll is what happens when their headcount grows or fluctuates.

Whether you’re a bureau scaling your client base or a business going through a period of rapid hiring, your payroll platform should grow with you without triggering a pricing step-change or a system migration.

Unlimited employees: no caps, no custom quotes as you scale

Pay only for active employees in each pay run

Bureau pricing: £1,000 flat for unlimited clients and employees

BrightPay

300-employee cap per employer and custom pricing above this threshold

Bureau plans capped at 300 employers OR 2,000 total employees

Charged on highest employee count in period, not active employees only

Automated Data Flow

Compliance doesn’t wait for manual processes. HMRC tax code changes, pension contributions, RTI submissions and auto-enrolment letters all run to fixed deadlines.

When payroll and HR data live in disconnected systems, someone has to manually bridge the gap, and that’s where mistakes happen. Automated data flow removes those manual steps from the equation, reducing both admin time and compliance risk.

HMRC tax codes, FPS/EPS, and pension submissions fully automated

Clock-in/out, timesheets, and leave balances flow directly to payroll

P60s and P11Ds generated and distributed in-platform

Zero manual exports or file imports for compliance

BrightPay

Automated FPS and EPS submissions on cloud and desktop

Pension integrations vary by provider and some require manual file exports

No native time tracking: T&A requires manual import

CIS integration not available on Cloud (separate BrightCIS product)

See what our customers are saying

“When I opened roles and added more filtering questions, the number of applicants reduced instantly, which was great. We were able to focus only on the most relevant candidates and drastically reduce time wasted reviewing unsuitable applications.”

5ab Care

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“I have many new joiners that have said that this is the smoothest onboarding journey they’ve ever been through.They’ve enjoyed the recruitment process, it’s nice being kept updated.”

Thornton and Lowe

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“We needed a system that could unify our workforce, giving visibility and consistency across three different locations. Employment Hero was the only platform that ticked all the boxes.”

Branchspace