Prices checked November 2026

Cheapest HR software in the UK

The cheapest option is the one that stays at £0 for your headcount, or the narrowest tool that still does the job. We are free up to 5 people. We are not the cheapest choice at 10.

Start free Our pricing

Free for up to 5 active employees. Pro is a 14-day trial, with no card to start. We do not run payroll.

Start with the headcount, then the job

“Cheapest HR software” mixes three different offers: a permanent free plan, a per-person price, and a price for the whole business. At 5 employees our Free plan is £0, HollyHR’s Free plan is £0, and Zoho People’s free edition is £0 if you are inside the cap their page states. At 10 employees HollyHR is still £0. We charge £30 a month on Pro, because Free stops at 5 and Pro charges every employee.

BreatheHR at that size is £24 a month excluding VAT for the business, before add-ons. CharlieHR is £47 a month excluding VAT. PeopleHR Starter is £4 per employee per month. BrightHR’s Core price on the page is higher than any of those at both 5 and 10, on a 36-month term excluding tax. Timetastic is cheaper per person and does less.

Price table

Every figure is from the provider’s own pricing page in November 2026. Where the page did not state VAT, or a 10-person total was not rendered on screen, the cell says so. We have left out products whose current price we could not read, rather than repeat an old number.

UK small-team prices checked in November 2026. Not a feature ranking.

Provider	5 employees	10 employees	What that price covers
CitoHR	£0 on Free. Pro, if you choose it, is £15 a month.	£30 a month on Pro. Free stops at 5 active employees.	Free is a permanent £0 plan for up to 5 active employees. Pro is £3 per employee per month, charged for every employee, with a 14-day trial and no card to start. We do not run payroll.
HollyHR	£0 on Free.	£0 on Free. Standard, if you choose it, is £20 a month.	Free covers up to 10 active employees. Standard is £2 per active employee per month, or £20 a year, including the first 10. Prices are before tax. Plus is listed as coming soon and is not for sale.
Zoho People	£0 if you are inside the free edition cap.	See their site. The free edition does not cover 10 users.	The global pricing page says the free edition is forever free for up to 5 users. A US-only line on the same page says 3. Paid edition prices are on that page and are not copied here.
BreatheHR	£24 a month, excluding VAT.	£24 a month, excluding VAT.	Per business, not per person. Micro is 1–10 people at £24 a month. The next band, 11–20, is £44. Add-ons are extra and start from £11 a month for rota, £15 for learning, £16 for recruitment, £14 for expenses and £12 for health and safety. 14-day trial, no card until you subscribe.
CharlieHR	£47 a month, excluding VAT.	£47 a month, excluding VAT.	Per business. 1–4 people is £21 a month, 5–9 and 10–14 are £47, and 15–29 is £108. Prices exclude VAT. AskCharlie is part of Charlie Grow, a separate add-on (£226 a month for 5–9 people, £346 for 10–14). Charlie Recruit starts from £55 a month. 7-day trial. No permanent free plan.
PeopleHR	£20 a month on Starter, if £4 applies to each employee.	£40 a month on Starter, on the same basis.	Starter £4, Core £6.25, Pro £9.25 and Elite+ £11, each per employee per month. The page does not state a minimum headcount or whether VAT is included, so the 5- and 10-person totals are £4 multiplied by headcount. 14-day trial, no card. Payroll is a separate package on the same page.
BrightHR	£83.35 a month excluding tax for Core, £16.67 per employee.	£107.00 a month excluding tax for Core, £10.70 per employee.	The page loads with 5 employees selected and shows those Core totals on the 36-month term sold online. The 10-person figure is that page’s Core tier for a headcount up to 10, the same tier list that matches the 5-person total on screen. The FAQ still says prices start from £3.00 per person and that an accurate quote needs a demo. Enhanced and full packages cost more.
Timetastic	£6.00 a month on Business, if £1.20 applies to each user.	£12.00 a month on Business, on the same basis.	For UK and Ireland visitors the page’s own script shows Business £1.20, Pro £2.00 and Rota & Time Clock £4.00 per user per month. Before that script, the markup shows $1.50, $2.50 and $5.50. The page does not say whether the pound figures include VAT. This is leave software, with rotas and a time clock on the top plan, not a full HR record. 30-day trial, no card.

How to read a cheap price

A per-business band looks expensive at 2 people and reasonable at 10. BreatheHR’s £24 and CharlieHR’s £47 do not change between 5 and 10. Our price does, because it is per employee. HollyHR’s Standard price, if you leave Free, is £2 per active employee and also charges the people who were free.

VAT is extra where the vendor says so. BreatheHR and CharlieHR say their prices exclude VAT. HollyHR’s prices are before tax. PeopleHR, BrightHR’s FAQ “from £3.00”, and Timetastic’s pound figures need the caveat in the table. BrightHR also sells 24, 36 and 60 month terms. Pro with us is monthly, and you can cancel.

Then check the missing module. We do not run payroll. Rotas and visa reminders are on Pro, not Free. The 5-employee page and the 10-employee page spell out which plan you would be on. Named comparisons sit on the alternatives pages and the feature comparisons.

Questions about cheap HR software

What is the cheapest HR software in the UK?

It depends on headcount. At 5 people, our Free plan, HollyHR’s Free plan and Zoho People’s free edition are £0, with the caveat that Zoho’s page also has a US-only line saying 3 users. At 10 people, HollyHR Free is still £0 and ours is not: Pro is £30 a month. BreatheHR is £24 a month excluding VAT for 1–10 people, before add-ons.

Are you the cheapest paid HR system?

Not in every row. Pro is £3 per employee per month, £15 for 5 people and £30 for 10, charged for every employee. That is less than CharlieHR’s £47 band and PeopleHR Starter at £4 per employee, and less than the BrightHR Core totals in the table. It is more than HollyHR Free at 10 people, and more than BreatheHR’s £24 Micro price before VAT and add-ons.

Is a leave app the same as HR software?

No. Timetastic’s UK Business price is £1.20 per user per month and is the cheapest per-person figure in this table. It is leave software, with rotas on a higher plan. It does not replace a staff record, policies and onboarding. We say so because a lower price for a narrower product is not a like-for-like saving.

Does the cheapest option run payroll?

Do not assume it does. We do not run payroll on Free or on Pro. A file you can export for an accountant is not RTI. If payroll is the requirement, budget for payroll software or a bureau as well as the HR record.

How often do these figures change?

These were checked in November 2026 on each vendor’s pricing page, linked below. Bands, VAT and add-ons move. Use the vendor’s page before you buy, and our pricing page for our own plans.

Sources

Prices were read from each provider’s own pricing page in November 2026. If a live page disagrees with this one, follow the live page.

Practical reading on the topics UK teams search for when they are choosing HR software.