Payroll · United Kingdom
Xero pricing: what it actually costs per employee at 5, 10, 25 and 50
At 10 employees, the cheapest plan Xero publishes is Ignite (+ Payroll add-on): £33 a month — £3.30 per employee per month, base fee included.
- Price statusPublished list price
- Prices read onchecked 2026-09-27
- Last recorded change2026-09-07 · what changed
Cheaper at this headcount: Sage Payroll at £24 a month on its Payroll Essentials plan.
On its cheapest published plan, Xero costs £33 a month for 10 employees, which is £3.30 per employee per month.
At 5 employees the same plan works out at £5.10 per employee — the headline figure of £1.50 assumes the base fee is spread over more people.
What the vendor publishes
| Plan | Base / month | Per employee / month | Eligibility as published | What the vendor states |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ignite (+ Payroll add-on) | £18 | £1.50 | No headcount condition published | Regular base price "£18" per month excl. VAT; payroll add-on "Payroll for £1.50 per person". New customers get "90% off for the first 6 months" on the base plan (standard price recorded, promo excluded). |
| Grow (+ Payroll add-on) | £39 | £1.50 | First 1 included in the base fee | Regular base price "£39" per month excl. VAT; includes "Payroll for 1 person", "£1.50 per additional person". Promo excluded. |
| Comprehensive (+ Payroll add-on) | £55 | £1.50 | First 5 included in the base fee | Regular base price "£55" per month excl. VAT; includes "Payroll for 5 people", "£1.50 per additional person". Promo excluded. |
| Ultimate (+ Payroll add-on) | £70 | £1 | First 10 included in the base fee | Regular base price "£70" per month excl. VAT; includes "Payroll for 10 people", "£1 per additional person". Promo excluded. |
What that works out at per employee
Vendors quote a per-employee fee and a base fee separately. What you actually pay per employee is both of them divided by your headcount, so the smaller your team, the further the real figure sits above the advertised one. This table is Xero's published prices put through that division.
| Plan | 1 | 5 | 10 | 25 | 50 | 100 | 250 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ignite (+ Payroll add-on) | £19.50 | £5.10 | £3.30 | £2.22 | £1.86 | £1.68 | £1.57 |
| Grow (+ Payroll add-on) | £39.00 | £9.00 | £5.25 | £3.00 | £2.25 | £1.88 | £1.65 |
| Comprehensive (+ Payroll add-on) | £55.00 | £11.00 | £6.25 | £3.40 | £2.45 | £1.98 | £1.69 |
| Ultimate (+ Payroll add-on) | £70.00 | £14.00 | £7.00 | £3.40 | £2.20 | £1.60 | £1.24 |
Columns are employee counts. Scroll sideways on a phone.
No other adjustment is applied. We do not add estimated tax-filing fees, discounts, or promotional pricing. The full method is at Method.
Where the base fee stops mattering
On Ignite (+ Payroll add-on), the £18 base fee is 71% of the monthly bill at 5 employees and 19% at 50. That is the whole of why the effective figure falls as a team grows: the fee does not change, the number of people carrying it does.
Against Sage Payroll — the cheapest published alternative at 10 employees — the ordering turns over at 114 employees: below that Sage Payroll has the lower monthly total, from there Xero does. That is arithmetic on two published prices, not a recommendation; the comparison shows both at every headcount.
Who this suits, and who it does not
- If price is the only thing you are deciding on, Sage Payroll is cheaper at 10 employees (£24 against £33) — see its figures.
- If your headcount is under 5, the base fee of £18 dominates the bill. Check the per-employee column at your actual size before comparing anything.
- If you are not ready to decide, wait. Published prices change without notice and the figures here are only as current as 2026-09-27. Confirm on the vendor's own page before you sign.
Price history
| Date | Plan | What changed | Was | Now |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2026-09-07 | Ignite (+ Payroll add-on) | Monthly base fee price change on the vendor's page — The UK pricing page now shows "Then £18 per month" as the regular price for this plan (excl. VAT). Our 2026-08-20 reading recorded £16. The payroll per-person price is unchanged. | £16 | £18 |
| 2026-09-07 | Grow (+ Payroll add-on) | Monthly base fee price change on the vendor's page — The UK pricing page now shows "Then £39 per month" as the regular price for this plan (excl. VAT). Our 2026-08-20 reading recorded £37. The payroll per-person price is unchanged. | £37 | £39 |
| 2026-09-07 | Comprehensive (+ Payroll add-on) | Monthly base fee price change on the vendor's page — The UK pricing page now shows "Then £55 per month" as the regular price for this plan (excl. VAT). Our 2026-08-20 reading recorded £50. The payroll per-person price is unchanged. | £50 | £55 |
| 2026-09-07 | Ultimate (+ Payroll add-on) | Monthly base fee price change on the vendor's page — The UK pricing page now shows "Then £70 per month" as the regular price for this plan (excl. VAT). Our 2026-08-20 reading recorded £65. The payroll per-person price is unchanged. | £65 | £70 |
The same entries, next to every other vendor's, are on the price history (RSS).
Where each figure comes from
Every figure above is either a number Xero publishes or a gap it leaves. Field by field: what we hold, which of the vendor's own pages it was read from, the day it was read, and the vendor's wording where we have it. Nothing in this table comes from a third party, and no blank is filled with an estimate.
Show the source of every figure on this page (20 fields)
| Plan | Field | What we hold | Read from | Read on | The vendor's wording |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| — | Free trial | 30 days | the pricing page | 2026-09-27 | |
| Ignite (+ Payroll add-on) | Monthly base fee | £18 | the pricing page | 2026-09-27 | |
| Ignite (+ Payroll add-on) | Per-employee fee | £1.50 | the pricing page | 2026-09-27 | |
| Ignite (+ Payroll add-on) | Direct deposit | Add-on | the pricing page | 2026-09-27 | "Make online bill and payroll payments (domestic) for £0.20 per payment††" |
| Ignite (+ Payroll add-on) | Conditions on the price | — | the pricing page | 2026-09-27 | Regular base price "£18" per month excl. VAT; payroll add-on "Payroll for £1.50 per person". New customers get "90% off for the first 6 months" on the base plan (standard price recorded, promo excluded). |
| Grow (+ Payroll add-on) | Monthly base fee | £39 | the pricing page | 2026-09-27 | |
| Grow (+ Payroll add-on) | Per-employee fee | £1.50 | the pricing page | 2026-09-27 | |
| Grow (+ Payroll add-on) | Eligibility | First 1 included in the base fee | the pricing page | 2026-09-27 | |
| Grow (+ Payroll add-on) | Direct deposit | Included | the pricing page | 2026-09-27 | "Make online bill and payroll payments (domestic) for up to 5 payments" |
| Grow (+ Payroll add-on) | Conditions on the price | — | the pricing page | 2026-09-27 | Regular base price "£39" per month excl. VAT; includes "Payroll for 1 person", "£1.50 per additional person". Promo excluded. |
| Comprehensive (+ Payroll add-on) | Monthly base fee | £55 | the pricing page | 2026-09-27 | |
| Comprehensive (+ Payroll add-on) | Per-employee fee | £1.50 | the pricing page | 2026-09-27 | |
| Comprehensive (+ Payroll add-on) | Eligibility | First 5 included in the base fee | the pricing page | 2026-09-27 | |
| Comprehensive (+ Payroll add-on) | Direct deposit | Included | the pricing page | 2026-09-27 | "Make online bill and payroll payments (domestic) for up to 10 payments" |
| Comprehensive (+ Payroll add-on) | Conditions on the price | — | the pricing page | 2026-09-27 | Regular base price "£55" per month excl. VAT; includes "Payroll for 5 people", "£1.50 per additional person". Promo excluded. |
| Ultimate (+ Payroll add-on) | Monthly base fee | £70 | the pricing page | 2026-09-27 | |
| Ultimate (+ Payroll add-on) | Per-employee fee | £1 | the pricing page | 2026-09-27 | |
| Ultimate (+ Payroll add-on) | Eligibility | First 10 included in the base fee | the pricing page | 2026-09-27 | |
| Ultimate (+ Payroll add-on) | Direct deposit | Included | the pricing page | 2026-09-27 | "Make online bill and payroll payments (domestic) for up to 15 payments" |
| Ultimate (+ Payroll add-on) | Conditions on the price | — | the pricing page | 2026-09-27 | Regular base price "£70" per month excl. VAT; includes "Payroll for 10 people", "£1 per additional person". Promo excluded. |
The same record, for every vendor, is the sources column of plans.csv on the data page.
Where to check this yourself
Go to Xero and open its pricing page. Everything above comes from https://www.xero.com/uk/pricing/, read on 2026-09-27.
Related
- Xero compared with Sage Payroll
- Xero compared with Staffology
- Alternatives to Xero
- Put your own headcount against Xero in the calculator
- What payroll software costs, and where the money goes
Written by Kaz, independent publisher.
Page last updated: 2026-10-03. Sources: vendor pricing pages only. Figures checked between 2026-08-20 and 2026-10-03. I have not used these products. Nothing here is a personal test result.
Ranking method and formulas: Method. Listing position on this site is not for sale.
Corrections: contact form.