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

What to actually do

1. Hand it to a person

   The route this page recommends

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

2. Use a tool built for this

   Second choice

3. Do it yourself

   The distant third

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

   How to actually do it

   1. Open the official websites for the payroll products you are considering and collect their current feature, integration, support, data export and pricing information.
   2. Gather your business details, including employee numbers, pay frequency, employee types, pension scheme, accounting software, payroll experience and need for accountant access.
   3. Paste those details and the supplier information into the prompt, keeping each product's claims clearly attributed to its official source.
   4. Ask the model to produce the requirements summary, comparison table, shortlist and recommendation, and to mark every unverified claim.
   5. Compare the drafted table against each supplier's current official documentation, especially PAYE submissions, pension handling, director pay, integrations, user permissions, migration and cancellation terms.
   6. Send the model's supplier questions to the shortlisted providers and add their written answers to the comparison.
   7. Ask a UK payroll adviser or accountant to check the final choice if your payroll is complex, then run a trial or demo before purchasing.

   Prompt

   Help me choose payroll software for a UK business. This is not professional advice, and do not present your recommendation as a substitute for a payroll adviser or accountant in a serious or complex case.
   
   Use only the information I provide and clearly label anything that needs checking. Do not invent prices, features, HMRC rules, integrations or compliance claims. Ask no more than five essential follow-up questions before making the comparison.
   
   Business details:
   - Business type: [limited company / sole trader / other]
   - Number of employees now: [number]
   - Expected employee number in 12 months: [number or unknown]
   - Pay frequency: [weekly / fortnightly / four-weekly / monthly]
   - Employee types: [standard employees, directors, irregular workers, contractors, other]
   - Workplace pension provider or scheme: [details or none]
   - Existing accounting software: [name or none]
   - Bank or payment integration needed: [details or none]
   - Payroll experience in-house: [none / basic / experienced]
   - Need for accountant or bureau access: [yes / no / explain]
   - UK locations and special arrangements: [details]
   - Budget and preferred pricing model: [details]
   - Required features: [list]
   - Features I can do without: [list]
   
   Produce:
   1. A concise requirements summary.
   2. A shortlist of suitable payroll software options, using only options whose current features I can verify from official supplier pages or other sources I provide.
   3. A comparison table covering payroll processing, PAYE and related submission support, workplace pension handling, director or irregular-pay support, accounting integrations, user access, support, data export, migration and cancellation terms.
   4. For each option, state what I must verify myself and link to the relevant official page where available.
   5. A recommendation with the trade-offs and the conditions that would change it.
   6. A practical trial checklist and questions to send to each supplier.
   7. A final warning identifying any point that needs confirmation from a UK payroll adviser or accountant before purchase.
   
   Do not calculate payroll, give tax advice or claim that software removes my legal responsibility for accurate payroll records and filings.

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