Every European payroll tool reviewed
Amsterdam, Netherlands
Per employee per month, published
Free trial
Best for: Dutch employers under about fifty people who want to run payroll themselves
Employes is the smallest vendor in this category and the easiest to actually start with, which is why it leads it.
Shine Employes B.V. in Amsterdam sells directly to employers rather than through accountants, publishes a per-employee price instead of quoting one, and covers the full Dutch cycle: gross to net, payslips, the wage tax return and the payment file. For a company of ten or twenty people that has outgrown a spreadsheet and does not want a sales process, that combination is rarer than it should be.
The limits follow from the same choices. It is a Dutch product for Dutch payroll — if you employ anyone outside the Netherlands, this is not the system for them, and there is no pretence otherwise.
It is also a small company, which is worth weighing for a system that has to work correctly every single month and that regulators fine you for getting wrong. Ask what happens to your data and your filings if the company changes hands, the same question you would ask any vendor holding your payroll.
What Employes does well
- Published per-employee pricing, no sales call needed to start
- Runs the full Dutch cycle including filing, not just calculation
- Sold directly to employers rather than through an accountant
- Dutch company, Dutch hosting
Where Employes falls short
- Netherlands only
- Small vendor for a system that must be right every month
- Fewer HR features around the payroll than the larger suites
Standout feature. A price on the website: in a category where almost everything is quoted, being able to work out what payroll costs before speaking to anyone is the whole product.
Freiburg, Germany
Founded 1998
Per employee per month, modular
Demo on request
Best for: German mid-sized companies wanting HR, time and expenses in one place with payroll prepared for the accountant
HRworks GmbH has been building German HR software from Freiburg since 1998, and the scope reflects a company that grew with its customers rather than around a single feature: personnel files, time tracking, absence, travel expenses and payroll preparation in one modular system, priced per employee per month.
The word that matters there is preparation. HRworks assembles the payroll and hands it over; the statutory filing is typically done by the accountant or a payroll bureau, usually in DATEV.
For a German mid-sized company that already works that way, this is exactly the right shape and removes the double entry between HR and payroll. If you were hoping to bring filing in-house and drop the accountant, it is the wrong product, and no amount of module configuration changes that.
What HRworks does well
- HR, time tracking, absence and travel expenses in one system
- German company since 1998, German hosting
- Modular per-employee pricing
- Fits the accountant-files-it model that most German companies already use
Where HRworks falls short
- Prepares payroll rather than filing it
- Germany focused
- Pricing depends on which modules you take, so comparison needs a quote
Standout feature. Travel expenses taken seriously: a module most HR suites treat as an afterthought, in a market where it is a monthly reality.
Amsterdam, Netherlands
Founded 2010
Per payslip per month
Demo on request
Best for: Dutch accountants and the employers they serve, at any size
Nmbrs is the product a large share of Dutch accountancy firms run their payroll on, and its per-payslip pricing tells you who it was designed for: a bureau processing many employers rather than one employer processing itself. Employers use it directly too, usually alongside their accountant, and the split of responsibilities between the two is a genuine strength rather than a compromise.
One fact belongs in any shortlist. Nmbrs Payroll B.V. is registered in Amsterdam and has been part of the Norwegian Visma group since 2020. Both sit inside the EEA, so nothing about jurisdiction changes, but it is no longer an independent Dutch company and the roadmap now belongs to a group with many payroll products in it. Whether that is reassuring or not depends on what you value; either way you should know it before signing rather than after.
What Nmbrs does well
- The default in a large part of the Dutch accountancy market
- Per-payslip pricing that suits both bureaus and employers
- Clean split of tasks between accountant and employer
- Dutch entity, Dutch hosting
Where Nmbrs falls short
- Part of the Visma group since 2020, no longer independent
- Netherlands only
- Pricing is quoted rather than published
Standout feature. Built for the accountant and the employer at once, which is how Dutch payroll actually works rather than how software usually assumes it does.
Karlsruhe, Germany
Founded 2014
Per employee per month, published plans
Free trial
Best for: Shift-based businesses where the payroll problem starts with the rota
Papershift GmbH in Karlsruhe approaches payroll from an unusual end: rostering. For hospitality, retail, care and logistics, the hard part is not the gross-to-net calculation but knowing who actually worked which hours, at what surcharge, with which breaks. Papershift builds the schedule, records the time against it, applies the rules, and produces the numbers payroll needs.
That makes it a different purchase from the rest of this list, and comparing it on payroll features alone will mislead you. It prepares payroll rather than filing it, and a salaried office team with predictable hours will find most of it unused. For a company running shifts, the alternative is not another payroll product but a spreadsheet plus a monthly argument, and that comparison is far more favourable.
What Papershift does well
- Rostering, time tracking and surcharge rules built together
- Published per-employee plans and a free trial
- German company, German hosting
- Strong fit for hospitality, retail, care and logistics
Where Papershift falls short
- Prepares payroll, does not file it
- Little value for a salaried team with fixed hours
- Germany focused
Standout feature. It starts at the rota: for shift work, the payroll error is almost always made weeks before payroll runs.
Paris, France
Founded 2015
Per employee per month, quoted
Demo on request
Best for: Companies employing people in more than one European country
PayFit SAS in Paris is the closest thing in this category to a multi-country answer, running statutory payroll in France, Spain, Germany and the United Kingdom rather than holding data for partners to process. For a company with people in two or three of those, that is the difference between one system and three, and it is the main reason to look past a purely national vendor.
The trade-offs are the ones that come with breadth. Depth in any single market does not match the local specialist — a French accountant will know Silae better, a Dutch one Nmbrs — and pricing is quoted per employee rather than published, so comparison needs a conversation. It is also worth checking exactly which countries PayFit files in itself versus supports through a partner, because that list is shorter than the marketing list and it is the one that matters.
What PayFit does well
- Runs statutory payroll in several European countries, not just one
- French company, EU hosting
- One system for a workforce spread across borders
- Employee self-service alongside the payroll engine
Where PayFit falls short
- Pricing quoted rather than published
- Less deep in any single market than the local specialist
- The supported-country list and the files-it-itself list are not the same
Standout feature. Actually multi-country: it files rather than forwards, which is the line most payroll vendors quietly do not cross.
Tilburg, Netherlands
Sold through accountants and payroll bureaus; pricing on request
Demo on request
Best for: Dutch employers whose payroll runs through an accountant or a payroll bureau
Loket is the other engine underneath a large part of Dutch payroll, sitting alongside Nmbrs in the offices of accountants and payroll bureaus rather than being sold to employers directly. Employers do work in it, but usually as one half of an arrangement with their accountant, and the split of tasks between the two is the thing it is built around. It runs the full Dutch cycle, including the wage tax return and the pension reporting.
It is part of Van Spaendonck, a Dutch organisation based in Tilburg, and the same address appears on Loket's own contact page.
Worth noting for a directory that checks these things: Loket does not publish its legal form or its Chamber of Commerce number anywhere on its site, so what we can confirm is the Dutch address and the Dutch parent rather than a registered entity. Pricing is not published either, which follows from selling through professionals rather than to employers.
What Loket does well
- Runs the full Dutch payroll cycle including filing
- Widely used across Dutch accountancy and payroll bureaus
- Clear division of work between employer and accountant
- Dutch organisation, Dutch hosting
Where Loket falls short
- Legal entity and KvK number are not published on the site
- Sold through accountants and bureaus rather than directly
- No published pricing
- Netherlands only
Standout feature. The bureau half of Dutch payroll: if your accountant does not run Nmbrs, there is a fair chance this is what they run instead.
France
Founded 2007
Sold through accountants; pricing on request
Demo on request
Best for: French employers whose payroll runs through an accounting firm
SILAEXPERT SAS built the engine that a very large share of French payroll runs on, and it reaches employers almost entirely through accounting firms rather than directly. French payroll is among the most complex in Europe — collective agreements, a dense set of contributions, the DSN filing — and Silae exists to make that tractable at bureau scale.
That distribution model is the thing to understand. You do not really buy Silae; your accountant does, and you work in it alongside them. If your firm already runs Silae, the practical decision is made and the product is a good one. If you want to bring payroll in-house and drop the intermediary, this is not the route, and pricing is not published because you are not the buyer. Outside France it is not the answer at all.
What Silae does well
- Deep coverage of French payroll law, collective agreements and DSN
- Established French company, French hosting
- Proven at bureau scale across many employers
Where Silae falls short
- Sold through accounting firms, not to employers directly
- No published pricing
- France only
Standout feature. It speaks French payroll natively — collective agreements and DSN are the product, not a localisation layer.
Barcelona, Spain
Founded 2016
Per employee per month, published plans
Free trial
Best for: Growing companies in Spain and southern Europe wanting HR and payroll in one suite
Everyday Software, S.L. in Barcelona sells Factorial as a broad HR platform — people data, absence, time tracking, recruitment, documents and expenses — with payroll attached rather than at the centre. For a company that needs the HR layer first and the payroll second, that ordering is the right way round, and the published per-employee pricing and free trial make it easy to test.
Read the payroll part carefully for your own country, though. Coverage varies by market and in several countries Factorial prepares payroll for an accountant or a partner rather than filing it itself. That is not a flaw so much as the normal shape of this category, but it does mean that comparing Factorial with PayFit on price alone compares two different products. It is strongest in Spain, which is also where the company is.
What Factorial does well
- Broad HR suite rather than payroll with HR bolted on
- Published per-employee pricing and a free trial
- Spanish company, EU hosting
- Good fit for a growing team that needs the HR layer first
Where Factorial falls short
- Payroll coverage and whether it files varies by country
- Strongest in Spain; thinner elsewhere
- Broad rather than deep on the payroll engine itself
Standout feature. HR first, payroll attached — the right order for a company whose problem is people admin rather than the wage calculation.
Nuremberg, Germany
Founded 1966
Member cooperative; pricing per product
Through your accountant
Best for: German companies whose tax adviser runs their payroll, which is most of them
DATEV eG is not a software company in the ordinary sense. It is a cooperative in Nuremberg, founded in 1966 and owned by German tax advisers, accountants and lawyers, and it is the infrastructure that a very large share of German payroll and bookkeeping actually runs on. If your Steuerberater files your payroll, there is a strong chance it happens in DATEV whether or not you have ever seen the interface.
That makes it the odd entry here and the one hardest to compare. There is no per-employee price to quote because the members are the owners and products are priced per module through the adviser. There is no signup, because you reach it through a professional.
What it offers instead is a degree of continuity and regulatory alignment that no venture-funded vendor can match, from an organisation that is structurally German and answerable to its own members. If you want payroll in-house with a price on a website, look at the top of this list instead.
What DATEV does well
- The backbone of German payroll and bookkeeping, deeply aligned with the law
- Cooperative owned by its member advisers, not by investors
- German organisation, German data centres, founded 1966
- Continuity that no venture-funded vendor can match
Where DATEV falls short
- You reach it through your tax adviser, not directly
- No published per-employee pricing
- The interface shows its age next to newer products
Standout feature. Owned by the profession that uses it: a cooperative structure means the roadmap answers to advisers rather than to investors.
Newcastle upon Tyne, United Kingdom
Founded 1981
Payroll Essentials from £12/month excl. VAT for up to 5 employees (+£2.40/employee), Standard from £23 (+£4.40/employee), Premium from £34 (+£6.40/employee); up to 150 employees; free for the first month
1-month free trial
Best for: UK small businesses wanting straightforward, HMRC-compliant payroll
Sage (UK) Ltd has been building British payroll software since 1981, and Sage Payroll is the modern, cloud version of that four-decade relationship with HMRC: RTI submissions, P60s and P45s, and pension assessment and auto-enrolment all run inside the product rather than as an add-on.
Pricing is published and scales with headcount — Essentials starts at £12 a month excluding VAT for five employees, with Standard and Premium adding HR features — and a genuine one-month free trial lets you run a real pay cycle before paying anything. For a UK company outgrowing spreadsheets, it is a straightforward first payroll system.
The scope is deliberately UK-only, which is the trade to make peace with: nothing about Sage Payroll helps you pay anyone outside Britain, and past 150 employees you are pointed at Sage 50 Payroll or a larger product instead.
It also sits inside a much bigger group — Sage plc reports well over £2 billion in annual revenue — which cuts the other way from the smaller vendors on this list: less personal, but backed by decades of continuity a five-year-old payroll startup cannot offer. Ask what its AI "Copilot" actually automates versus what it merely flags, before relying on it.
What Sage Payroll does well
- Published per-employee pricing, genuine 1-month free trial
- RTI, pensions, P60s and P45s handled inside the product
- Over 40 years of UK payroll and HMRC experience
- Scales from 5 to 150 employees without switching products
- UK-based support
Where Sage Payroll falls short
- United Kingdom only
- Outside the EEA, so a separate case for GDPR transfers
- Beyond 150 employees you need a different Sage product
- Large listed vendor rather than a specialised payroll boutique
Standout feature. Forty-plus years of RTI and HMRC compliance built into a product still priced for a five-person team.
Hørsholm, Denmark
Founded 2016
DKK 100/month base fee + DKK 27 per payslip; HR module +DKK 15/employee; e-Boks delivery +DKK 3/payslip
Free demo on request
Best for: Danish SMEs wanting payroll that reports itself automatically
Zenegy Danmark ApS in Hørsholm builds payroll around one idea: once the numbers are right, the reporting should not be manual work.
Salary, tax, pension, ATP and holiday pay are calculated and paid out, and the results go straight to eIndkomst and SKAT without a separate submission step; a zero-report goes out automatically in months with nobody to pay. Pricing follows the same logic — DKK 100 a month plus DKK 27 per payslip, no per-employee minimum, unlimited users included — which makes it easy to start small and cheap and let the cost grow with headcount rather than a sales tier.
It is a Danish product for Danish payroll, full stop, and the company itself is young and small next to DATEV or Sage: founded in 2016, with payroll as one module alongside its own accounting and expense tools rather than a category leader with decades behind it.
That combination — modern, automated, not yet proven at large scale — is exactly what it looks like, and worth weighing for a system a regulator will fine you over if a filing goes wrong. Outside Denmark, look elsewhere entirely.
What Zenegy does well
- Automatic reporting to SKAT via eIndkomst, not a manual export
- Per-payslip pricing with no employee minimum
- Payroll, accounting and expenses in one Danish platform
- Automatic zero-reporting when nobody is paid that month
- Unlimited users included in the base subscription
Where Zenegy falls short
- Denmark only
- Small, young vendor next to the established names here
- No published free trial for the payroll product specifically
- Fewer HR features than the larger suites in this category
Standout feature. Payroll that files itself: the eIndkomst report is a side effect of running payroll correctly, not a separate task.
Antwerp, Belgium
Founded 1945
Enterprise payroll and HR services; quoted per organisation, not published
Demo on request
Best for: Large employers running payroll across several European countries
SD Worx traces back to 1945 in Antwerp, founded to help small Belgian businesses handle payroll and social legislation, and it has grown since into one of the largest independent payroll and HR groups in Europe: subject-matter expertise in around 30 countries, delivered through SD Worx's own legal entities rather than a network of local partners.
For a company employing people in several European countries at once, that is the practical alternative to running three or four national vendors side by side, with one relationship and one platform instead.
None of that comes with a price on the website. SD Worx sells to medium and large organisations through account managers and quotes, not to a company of ten signing up on a Tuesday, and the sales process reflects that.
Ownership is worth noting too: WorxInvest, the Belgian holding company descended from SD Worx itself, holds 77.5%, with CVC Capital Partners — a European investment manager — holding the rest since 2023. It stays inside the EU on both counts, but it is a different kind of company from the founder-led vendors elsewhere on this list.
What SD Worx does well
- Statutory payroll expertise in around 30 European countries
- Own legal entities rather than local partners
- Nearly 80 years of continuity, majority Belgian-owned
- HR, pay and time management on one platform
- Built for multi-country employers, not a single market
Where SD Worx falls short
- No published pricing; enterprise sales process throughout
- Not aimed at small companies running payroll themselves
- Minority stake held by a private equity investor since 2023
- Breadth across 30 countries trades off against local depth
Standout feature. One European payroll relationship instead of four: its own entities in around 30 countries replace the usual patchwork of local partners.
Oslo, Norway
Founded 2000
Enterprise managed payroll; quoted per organisation, not published
Demo on request
Best for: Nordic and multinational enterprises outsourcing payroll entirely
Zalaris ASA has run payroll from Oslo since 2000, and it sells something different from every other product in this category: not software you operate yourself, but a managed service where Zalaris consultants run your payroll and file it, with in-country compliance built into the delivery rather than a self-service interface.
Carlsberg, for one, uses Zalaris to deliver HR and payroll across Denmark, Sweden and Norway from a single provider, and that Nordic-and-beyond reach — Zalaris states coverage across more than 150 countries — is the whole pitch for a multinational tired of stitching together local vendors.
That model has a cost most of this list does not: nothing is published, there is no sign-up, and you reach Zalaris through a sales conversation the way you would a Big Four outsourcing deal, not through a pricing page.
It is also a company in transition — Norvestor, a Norwegian private equity firm, completed a majority acquisition of Zalaris in 2026 after a period as a listed company on the Oslo stock exchange. Still Norwegian, still inside the EEA, but worth knowing before signing a multi-year contract with a new owner.
What Zalaris does well
- Full managed payroll service, not self-service software
- In-country compliance across more than 150 countries
- Proven at large multinational scale (e.g. Carlsberg Nordics)
- SAP SuccessFactors integration for enterprise HR stacks
- Norwegian company since 2000
Where Zalaris falls short
- No published pricing; a sales process, not a sign-up
- Not aimed at small or mid-sized employers at all
- Recently changed hands to Norvestor private equity
- Norway sits in the EEA but outside the EU
Standout feature. Payroll you hand off entirely: Zalaris runs it for you across 150-plus countries rather than giving you software to run it yourself.
