As of 13 August 2026, AI can only partly choose payroll software for your UK small business.

What to actually do

1. Use a tool built for this

   The route this page recommends

2. Do it yourself

   Second choice

   A chat interface, chat-fluent skill, and roughly 30 minutes until you can act on the result.

   How to actually do it

   1. Open GOV.UK guidance on running payroll and your current payroll, pension and accounting records, then write down your employee count, pay frequency, director arrangements, pension provider, integrations and required statutory payments.
   2. Open the official websites of at least three payroll suppliers and copy their current feature, support, contract and pricing details into the chatbot prompt, keeping each source link beside the claim.
   3. Paste the completed prompt into a chatbot and ask it to produce the requirements list, comparison table, unknowns and single recommendation.
   4. Open each cited supplier page and GOV.UK guidance, then compare the chatbot's claims about RTI, pensions, statutory payments, integrations, exports and contract terms against the source pages.
   5. Contact the recommended supplier with the generated checklist and obtain written confirmation of any unknown feature, migration limit, support term, price or payroll compliance claim.
   6. Ask your accountant or payroll adviser to check the final shortlist if your business has directors, irregular pay, benefits, pension complications or multiple payroll groups, then choose the supplier and retain the evidence.

   Prompt

   Help me shortlist and choose payroll software for my UK small business. Use only current, checkable information from official supplier pages and GOV.UK, and include the source link and access date for every important claim. If you cannot verify a feature, price, tax-year capability, HMRC recognition, pension integration or support term, mark it as unknown rather than guessing.
   
   My requirements:
   - Business type: [limited company, sole trader or other]
   - Number of employees now: [number]
   - Expected employee count in the next year: [number]
   - Pay frequency: [weekly, fortnightly, four-weekly or monthly]
   - Directors on payroll: [yes/no and number]
   - Workplace pension scheme: [provider or not chosen]
   - Need automatic enrolment support: [yes/no/not sure]
   - Need holiday, sick pay, statutory payments or benefits handling: [list]
   - Need timesheet or accounting integration: [systems]
   - Need pension, HR, expenses or payment integrations: [list]
   - Payroll operator: [me, colleague, accountant or bureau]
   - Required support: [email, telephone, live chat or other]
   - Budget and preferred contract: [details]
   - Any current payroll or migration data: [details]
   
   First list the requirements that matter for this business and identify any missing answers that could change the recommendation. Then compare at least three suitable UK options in a table covering payroll calculations, RTI submissions, pension support, statutory payments, director payroll, integrations, number of employees supported, support, data export, contract terms and total known cost. Separate confirmed facts from marketing claims and unknowns. Flag any requirement that needs confirmation from the supplier or an accountant. Recommend one option only if the evidence supports it, explain the trade-offs, and give me a supplier-checklist of questions before I buy. Do not give tax or legal advice, do not invent prices or compliance claims, and state plainly that this is not professional advice.

   Open it prefilled in ChatGPT or Claude, or copy it into Gemini, which takes no prefill link.

3. Hand it to a person

   The distant third

   A person who owns the outcome does this end to end, worth it when the failure is dear.