Sage Payroll compared with SimplePay

Sage Payroll

PAYE, UIF and SDL calculations

Statutory deductions maintained against the current tax year, including the changes that arrive mid year and break spreadsheet payrolls.

Email payslips

Payslips sent directly to employees rather than printed and handed out, which removes the most tedious hour of a payroll month.

Leave management

Leave tracked against South African statutory minimums with balances visible to employees, so the annual leave argument happens less often.

ACB payment files

Produces the bank payment file South African banks expect, so the salary run is a file upload rather than manual capture of every account.

Sage Accounting integration

Posts the payroll journal straight into Sage Accounting, removing the monthly manual journal and the mistakes that come with re keying it.

SimplePay

PAYE, UIF and SDL

Statutory calculations maintained against the current tax year, including the mid year changes that catch out spreadsheet payrolls.

SARS e@syFile integration

IRP5 and IT3(a) certificates export in the format e@syFile expects, which turns reconciliation season into an afternoon rather than a week.

Employee self service

Staff retrieve their own payslips, submit leave and update banking details for approval. That removes the most common interruption in a payroll administrator's month.

Leave management

Annual, sick and family responsibility leave are configured to South African statutory minimums out of the box, with room for your own policy on top.

Accounting integration

Posts the payroll journal into Xero and QuickBooks directly, which removes the monthly manual journal and the errors that come with it.

Sage Payroll

What it takes to start

Straightforward. Capture the company, the employees and their year to date figures, and the statutory calculations follow. A small payroll is live in an afternoon. Run one cycle in parallel with whatever you are leaving, because opening leave balances and loan balances are where migrations go wrong.

When something breaks

Online and telephone support from Sage, plus the partner network. Because the product is aimed at small employers, the support questions tend to be routine and the documentation covers most of them. Statutory updates arrive without you doing anything, which is the support that matters most in payroll.

SimplePay

What it takes to start

One of the easiest payroll migrations in this market. You capture employees, opening year to date figures and leave balances, and the product checks the arithmetic as you go. A small payroll is live in an afternoon. Do the first run in parallel with your old system for one cycle, which is standard practice and catches the leave balance errors that always appear.

When something breaks

Support is the reason many bookkeepers stay. It is local, it is staffed by people who understand South African payroll, and the answers are specific rather than scripted. Free online training is included. For a payroll product that matters more than any feature, because the questions arrive at month end and cannot wait.

Sage Payroll

• Priced in clear headcount bands, so the monthly figure is easy to predict
• PAYE, UIF and SDL calculations and the statutory updates are handled for you
• Unlimited companies and unlimited users on every band

• Crossing a headcount band raises the monthly fee in a step, not gradually
• HR depth is thin next to a full people system
• Very large or complex payrolls will outgrow it and land on Sage 300 People

SimplePay

• IRP5 and IT3(a) certificates export in the format e@syFile expects, which shortens reconciliation season
• Priced per employee with no licence fee, so the cost follows the size of your payroll
• Employee self service removes the most common interruption in a payroll administrator month

• It is payroll and leave, not an HR system, so performance and recruitment need another tool
• A free trial is offered but the length is not published, so you have to ask
• Above five hundred employees or as a payroll bureau you need a separate quote

Sage Payroll

This is built for South African statutory reality rather than adapted to it, which shows in the UIF declaration and the ACB payment file. The band pricing is honest but watch the step when you hire past a threshold. If you run several small companies the unlimited company allowance makes it very good value for a bookkeeping practice.

SimplePay

This is a South African product built for South African statutory reality rather than a global payroll with a local module bolted on, and the difference shows every February when the tax year changes. PAYE, UIF and SDL are maintained for you, the e@syFile export works, and the support team understands what you are asking without a translation layer. It posts the payroll journal into Xero and QuickBooks directly, which removes the monthly manual journal that causes most payroll to ledger differences. For most South African small employers this is the sensible default.

Sage Payroll

A straightforward and fairly priced payroll for a small South African employer, and unusually good value for a bookkeeping practice thanks to the unlimited company allowance.

SimplePay

The default recommendation for South African small business payroll, and the one most local bookkeepers reach for first. Nothing about it is flashy, which is exactly right for payroll.