SimplePayPayroll
South African small and medium employers
The assessment
What SimplePay is, honestly
SimplePay does one thing and does it with unusual clarity. It runs South African payroll, keeps up with the annual tax year changes, and produces the submissions SARS expects without turning the process into a project. The interface is plain in the way good tools often are.
It is priced per employee with no licence fee, which suits businesses with fluctuating headcount and suits bookkeeping practices running several client payrolls. Support has a reputation locally that is genuinely earned, and for payroll that reputation matters more than feature lists.
The balance
Where it is strong, and where it is not
What works well
- 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
What to consider
- 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
Capability
What it does better than most
Statutory calculations maintained against the current tax year, including the mid year changes that catch out spreadsheet payrolls.
IRP5 and IT3(a) certificates export in the format e@syFile expects, which turns reconciliation season into an afternoon rather than a week.
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.
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.
Posts the payroll journal into Xero and QuickBooks directly, which removes the monthly manual journal and the errors that come with it.
Setup and support
Getting it running, and getting help
What implementation actually involves
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.
What happens 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.
What it costs
How the money actually works
About R235.50 a month excluding VAT for ten employees, which works out near R23.55 per employee. The rate falls as headcount rises and there is no licence fee, so the cost tracks the size of your payroll rather than a plan you have to guess at in advance. A free trial is offered but the length is not published, so ask when you sign up. Practices running client payrolls should request a bureau quote rather than paying per company.
Local view
What changes in South Africa
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.
How we scored it
Where the number comes from
Plain and fast. A payroll run is genuinely a short task.
Focused on payroll and leave. It does not try to be an HR system.
Per employee with no licence fee, so cost tracks the size of the payroll.
Support has a strong local reputation and it is earned.
Built for SARS and the local tax year rather than localised afterwards.
The headline score is the mean of these five. Each number is a judgement, not a measurement, and the reason for it is written beside it so you can disagree with it.
Against the category
How it compares with its peers
The bar is SimplePay. The vertical line is the average of the 6 products we have reviewed in payroll and hr. The figure on the right is the difference.
Cost over time
What it really costs over three years
Head to head
Against its closest rival
| Dimension | SimplePay | PaySpace |
|---|---|---|
| Overall | 9.0 | 8.6 |
| Everyday use | 9.1 | 8.2 |
| Depth of features | 8.2 | 9.2 |
| Value for money | 9.0 | 7.9 |
| Support and skills | 9.2 | 8.4 |
| South African fit | 9.6 | 9.3 |
| Entry price | R235.50 | On request |
PaySpace is the closest scoring product to SimplePay in payroll and hr. Prices are compared as published, and a quoted product cannot be scored on price.
Alternatives
What to look at instead
- 1
PaySpace
Larger employers and regional payroll operations
8.6On request - 2
Sage Payroll
Small South African employers who want statutory updates handled for them
8.6R97 - 3
Sage Pastel Payroll
Payroll administrators who want proven local compliance on their own server
8.4On request - 4
Sage 300 People
Medium and large employers with complex pay structures and HR needs
8.4On request
Common questions
What buyers always ask
01How much does SimplePay cost in South Africa?
R235.50 per month for 10 employees. One plan, excl. VAT, about R23.55 per employee.
02Does SimplePay offer a free trial?
A trial is offered but the length is not published, so ask when you sign up.
03Can you book a demonstration of SimplePay?
No demonstration is advertised. The trial is the way to evaluate it.
04Is SimplePay a good fit for a South African business?
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.
05Who is SimplePay best suited to?
South African small and medium employers. 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.
Answered from this product record, so these can never drift from the figures above.
Still deciding? Ask us directly
Final view
Should it make the shortlist?
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.