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Verified ratings, feature-by-feature comparison and rand pricing — everything a South African business needs to pick between these two.
The payroll most established South African employers still call Sage VIP
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Ratings
Verified user ratings across every dimension — BrightPay against Sage Payroll Professional, nothing weighted.
Dimensions won
1 – 1
BrightPay vs Sage Payroll Professional, across 5 rating dimensions
Widest rating gap
+0,2
Sage Payroll Professional leads on ease of use
Verified reviews
259
201 for BrightPay, 58 for Sage Payroll Professional
201 verified reviews
58 verified reviews
Overall
Ease of use
Value for money
Customer service
Functionality
Who South African reviewers actually write about.
Cheapest paid plan, shown per month.
BrightPay
Custom pricing
Sage Payroll Professional
Custom pricing
Head to head
Row by row, with the stronger score highlighted. Straight from verified reviews.
| BrightPay | Sage Payroll Professional | |
|---|---|---|
| Overall rating | 4,1 | 4,1 |
| Reviews | 201 | 58 |
| Ease of use | 4,0 | 4,2 |
| Value for money | 4,1 | 4,0 |
| Customer service | 4,0 | 4,0 |
| Functionality | 4,1 | 4,1 |
| Starting price | Custom pricing | Custom pricing |
| Free trial | Yes | No |
Features
Everything each product ships, side by side. No marketing gloss.
| Feature | BrightPay | Sage Payroll Professional |
|---|---|---|
| UK PAYE against current HMRC rules | ||
| Real Time Information submissions | ||
| Automatic enrolment for workplace pensions | ||
| Statutory sick and parental pay | ||
| Employee self service app | ||
| Client portals for bureaus | ||
| Payslip design and delivery | ||
| CIS for construction clients | ||
| Journal export to accounting software | ||
| Automatic cloud backups | ||
| PAYE, UIF and SDL calculations at current rates | ||
| EMP201 and EMP501 statutory reporting | ||
| IRP5 and IT3(a) certificate generation | ||
| e@syFile and ACB bank file exports | ||
| Employment Tax Incentive automation | ||
| Multiple pay frequencies and companies | ||
| Retrospective and pro rata calculations | ||
| Leave and loan management | ||
| Custom payslip and report layouts | ||
| General ledger integration with Sage accounting |
Pricing
Every plan from both vendors, priced as South African teams actually pay.
Priced per employers and employees under management from the 2026/27 tax year. Bureau options for practices.
Calculator based
no card needed
Straight from the vendor
These are list prices in rand and vendors adjust them from time to time. Check with Bright for the figure you'll actually pay.
Verdict
BrightPay edges this comparison on verified user ratings (4,1 vs 4,1), but the right choice depends on your workflows: Sage Payroll Professional remains a strong pick where its strengths — Full SARS statutory compliance maintained automatically and e@syFile exports for EMP501 reconciliation season — match your priorities. Shortlist both, take the free trials where offered, and test against a real month of your own data.