This is what we found from our good-faith research on each company's own website on 26 October 2026. Prices change, and plans and discounts vary, so we may have missed something. If you think we've made a mistake, let us know and we will correct it and note the change on this page.
Payroll systems in New Zealand charge in different ways: per employee, per pay run, in bands of staff, or with a monthly cap. That makes them hard to compare at a glance, so we worked out what nine of them cost each month for every team size from 1 to 100 employees. This page has the results, every price we used, our assumptions and links to each company's pricing page, so you can check our working.
The short version
- For a team of 20 paid weekly, RosterMates payroll costs $1.50 per employee a month ($30). The other eight cost $2.50 to $12.98 per employee ($49.90 to $259.50 a month).
- That's $238.80 a year less than the next cheapest for a team of 20 (Crystal at $49.90 a month). The video rounds this to $239.
- With weekly pay, RosterMates' Payroll Only plan is the cheapest in this comparison at every team size from 1 to 100.
- It isn't the cheapest in every situation. See where RosterMates isn't the cheapest below.
Cost per employee for a team of 20
| # | Payroll system | Per employeeper month | Totalper month |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | RosterMates (Payroll Only) | $1.50 | $30 |
| 2 | Crystal | $2.50 | $49.90 |
| 3 | Xero | $5.85 | $117 |
| 4 | Employment Hero | $7.00 | $140 |
| 5 | PaySauce | $7.50 | $150 |
| 6 | PayHero | $7.95 | $159 |
| 6 | Thankyou | $7.95 | $159 |
| 8 | iPayroll | $11.10 | $222 |
| 9 | Smartly | $12.98 | $259.50 |
Monthly cost at different team sizes
Total monthly cost in NZD, excluding GST, with weekly pay. The lowest price at each size is in bold. "No price" means the company doesn't publish one at that size.
| Payroll system | 1 staff | 5 staff | 10 staff | 20 staff | 30 staff | 50 staff | 100 staff |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| RosterMates | $15 | $15 | $15 | $30 | $45 | $75 | $150 |
| Crystal | $19.90 | $19.90 | $29.90 | $49.90 | $69.90 | $109.90 | $209.90 |
| Xero | $41 | $57 | $77 | $117 | $157 | $215 | $315 |
| Employment Hero | $70 | $70 | $70 | $140 | $210 | $350 | $700 |
| PaySauce | $45.50 | $67.50 | $95 | $150 | $205 | $315 | $590 |
| PayHero | $28 | $44 | $64 | $159 | $219 | $339 | $639 |
| Thankyou | $32 | $64 | $79 | $159 | $159 | $259 | $399 |
| iPayroll | $54.80 | $90 | $134 | $222 | $310 | $486 | No price |
| Smartly | $61.90 | $103.50 | $155.50 | $259.50 | $363.50 | No price | No price |
The numbers for every team size from 1 to 100 are in a spreadsheet you can download: monthly cost by team size (CSV). One row per payroll system, one column per number of employees.
The prices we used
| Payroll system | Price used | Source |
|---|---|---|
| RosterMates | Payroll Only plan: $1.50 per employee per month, $15 minimum (which covers up to 10 staff). Same price at any pay frequency. | rostermates.com/nz/pricing |
| Crystal | Self Service, paid monthly: $19.90 for 1 to 5 staff, plus $10 for every extra 5 staff. Paying yearly works out about 17% less. Crystal's one-off $50 registration fee isn't included. | crystalpayroll.com |
| Xero | The cheapest Xero plan with payroll at each size: Ignite, $37 + $4 per person, up to 39 staff, then Ultimate, $135 (10 people included) + $2 per extra person. Xero's prices include its accounting software. | xero.com |
| Employment Hero | Payroll plan: $7 per employee per month, billed for at least 10 users. | employmenthero.com |
| PaySauce | Standard plan: $40 base + $5.50 per employee per month (unique employees paid that month). Its calculator stops at 50 staff; above that we used the same formula. | paysauce.com |
| PayHero | The cheapest plan at each size: Origin, $24 + $4 per employee, up to its 10-employee cap, then Super, $39 + $6 per employee. | payhero.co.nz |
| Thankyou | 2 Day Plan: $6 per pay + $2 per employee per pay, × 4 weekly pays, capped each month at $44 (1 to 3 staff), $79 (4 to 10), $159 (11 to 30), $259 (31 to 50) and $399 (51 and over). Free for registered charities. | thankyoupayroll.co.nz |
| iPayroll | Standard plan: $11.50 weekly base + $2.20 per employee, every pay run, × 4. No price at 100 staff: iPayroll's calculator shows "Please contact us for Enterprise pricing" from 100 staff. | ipayroll.co.nz |
| Smartly | Payroll plan: $51.50 a month platform fee + $2.60 per employee per pay run, × 4. No price above 30 staff: Smartly's calculator stops at 30 and asks you to talk to its team about a tailored plan. | smartly.co.nz |
Our assumptions
- NZD, excluding GST.
- Weekly pay, 4 pay runs a month. Smartly, iPayroll and Thankyou charge per pay run, so their price depends on how often you pay. Some months have five weekly paydays; we used four for everyone.
- Monthly billing. Some companies, such as Crystal, charge less if you pay yearly. We used monthly prices for everyone.
- Subscriptions only. One-off costs such as registration, setup or training fees aren't included for anyone.
- Team size is the number of employees paid each month.
Where RosterMates isn't the cheapest
The chart is for weekly pay and teams of up to 100. Outside that, other systems can cost less than our $1.50 per employee:
- Paying monthly or fortnightly. The systems that charge per pay run (Smartly, iPayroll and Thankyou) cost less if you pay less often. For example, Thankyou costs $6 + $2 per employee for a monthly pay, which is less than our $15 minimum for 1 to 4 staff.
- Very large teams. Thankyou caps its monthly price at $399, so from 266 staff it costs the same as RosterMates payroll or less.
- Registered charities. Thankyou is free for registered charities.
Found a mistake?
This comparison is what we found from our good-faith research on each company's website on 26 October 2026. We've tried to be fair to everyone in it, and we'd rather be corrected than be wrong. If you think a price, plan or assumption here is wrong or out of date, let us know, ideally with a link to where you found it. We'll check it, correct this page if we got it wrong, and note what changed and when.
RosterMates payroll covers PAYE, KiwiSaver, ESCT, student loans, payday filing with Inland Revenue, a bank batch file for ANZ, ASB, BNZ, Kiwibank or Westpac, and emailed payslips. It's included in our $8 Everything plan, or $1.50 per employee on its own. Try it free for 30 days: no card, no lock-in, and our NZ team will set it up for you.
Sources
- RosterMates pricing
- Crystal Payroll pricing
- Xero pricing plans (NZ)
- Employment Hero pricing (NZ)
- PaySauce pricing
- PayHero pricing
- Thankyou Payroll pricing
- iPayroll pricing
- Smartly plans
Prices checked on each company's website on 26 October 2026. If something here is wrong or out of date, tell us; we will correct it and note the change.
