Sage Payroll
QuickBooks Payroll
Comparison
Sage Payroll vs QuickBooks Payroll
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
£12/mo
Starting price
US$50/mo
At a glance
Who wins, category by category
Category-by-category winners based on verified user ratings, each scored out of 5.
Sage Payroll
QuickBooks Payroll
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.
Sage PayrollPositive sentiment
- Positive86%
- Neutral9%
- Negative5%
QuickBooks PayrollPositive sentiment
- Positive79%
- Neutral14%
- Negative7%
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.
Sage Payroll
£12/month
QuickBooks Payroll
US$50/month
Prices are shown in each vendor's billing currency and aren't directly comparable — check the live exchange rate before deciding.
Sage Payroll
Free trialUK cloud payroll with a four step pay run, automatic tax and NI calculations, RTI submissions to HMRC, pension auto enrolment, payslips, HR essentials and Sage Copilot on every plan.
- HMRC recognised RTI submissions
- Pension auto enrolment
- Sage Copilot anomaly detection
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
Features
Full feature comparison
Every data point we track for Sage Payroll and QuickBooks Payroll, side by side.
Head to head
Verified data & user ratings
- HMRC recognised RTI submissions
- Pension auto enrolment
- Sage Copilot anomaly detection
- Automatic tax filing and payment
- QuickBooks accounting integration
- Direct deposit
Voices
What real users say
The strongest praise and the most common complaint, pulled from verified reviews of each product.
Sage PayrollKrishnan Iyer
Practice Owner, 2-10 employees
“Never once had an RTI submission fail or go missing in three years, which I cannot say for every product I have used. Auto enrolment assessments are right every time. The price per company is sensible for bureau style use.”
Barry Huckerby
Owner, 11-50 employees
“Entering variable hours for twenty drivers weekly is tedious. Import template is strict and rejects files for formatting quibbles. Support twice suggested things I had already told them I tried. Considering whether a driver focused system suits us better.”
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.”
Our verdict
Sage Payroll leads 3/5Which should you choose?
On the data we track, Sage Payroll leads in 3 of 5 categories. Weigh that against your budget and the features that matter most to your team.