QuickBooks Payroll
BrightPay
Comparison
QuickBooks Payroll vs BrightPay
A data-driven, side-by-side comparison for UK businesses. Provider data is verified by our research team and every review is moderated before publishing.
Updated 5 July 2026
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Starting price
US$50/mo
Starting price
£10/mo
At a glance
Who wins, category by category
Category-by-category winners based on verified user ratings, each scored out of 5.
QuickBooks Payroll
BrightPay
Analytics
Ratings, visualised
The four dimensions every reviewer rates, shown two ways — bars for side-by-side magnitude, gauges for the head-to-head on each.
Rating by category
Head to head by category
Sentiment
How reviewers feel
Positive (4 to 5 stars), neutral (3 stars) and negative (1 to 2 stars) sentiment across all verified reviews.
QuickBooks PayrollPositive sentiment
- Positive79%
- Neutral14%
- Negative7%
BrightPayPositive sentiment
- Positive86%
- Neutral9%
- Negative5%
Pricing
Pricing compared
Entry price, free plans and trials at a glance. A lower starting price is not everything, but it is where most UK businesses begin.
QuickBooks Payroll
US$50/month
BrightPay
£10/month
Prices are shown in each vendor's billing currency and aren't directly comparable — check the live exchange rate before deciding.
QuickBooks Payroll
Free trialCloud payroll from Intuit that runs inside QuickBooks, with automated tax calculation and filing, direct deposit, employee self service and full service tax penalty protection on the higher tiers.
- Automatic tax filing and payment
- QuickBooks accounting integration
- Direct deposit
BrightPay
Free trialHMRC-recognised UK payroll with full RTI submissions, automatic enrolment and a cloud employee portal, trusted by thousands of employers and bureaus.
- RTI submissions to HMRC
- Automatic enrolment
- Employee self-service app
Features
Full feature comparison
Every data point we track for QuickBooks Payroll and BrightPay, side by side.
Head to head
Verified data & user ratings
- Automatic tax filing and payment
- QuickBooks accounting integration
- Direct deposit
- RTI submissions to HMRC
- Automatic enrolment
- Employee self-service app
Voices
What real users say
The strongest praise and the most common complaint, pulled from verified reviews of each product.
QuickBooks PayrollDanielle Barrington
Bookkeeper, 11-50 employees
“The QuickBooks accounting integration means zero double entry.”
Jessica N.
Bookkeeper, 2-10 employees
“HR tools are basic.”
BrightPayCharlotte V.
Payroll Administrator, 501-1000 employees
“Excellent value compared with the bigger payroll names.”
Olivia M.
Managing Director, 2-10 employees
“The extras added up.”
Our verdict
BrightPay leads 5/5Which should you choose?
On the data we track, BrightPay leads in 5 of 5 categories. Weigh that against your budget and the features that matter most to your team.