Payslip Software: A Practical Guide to Digital Payslips

Payslip software creates a pay statement for each employee every pay period and gets it to them, usually online rather than on paper. For a small business, the main questions are simple. What must a payslip show? Can it be sent electronically? Does the tool also handle payroll tax filing, or do you need something else for that?

This guide answers those questions, sets out the UK and US rules with links to official sources, and compares a few tools on price and features. Payrun, one of the tools covered, is our own product. We say plainly what it does not do.

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What is payslip software?

A payslip (called a pay stub or wage statement in the US) is the record an employee gets each payday showing what they earned, what was taken off, and what they were actually paid.

Payslip software produces those records from your payroll data and delivers them. In practice it comes in three forms:

• Full payroll software with payslips built in. It calculates pay and deductions, produces payslips, and often files payroll taxes too. Most UK and US payroll vendors work this way.
• HR or payroll tools with an employee self-service area. Payslips are generated as part of a pay run and employees log in to view or download them. Some of these tools file taxes and some do not.
• Free payslip generators. You type figures into a web form and download one payslip at a time. They are useful for a one-off, but they do not calculate tax, keep records or scale past a handful of staff.

Which one you need depends mostly on two things: how many people you pay, and whether you already have a way to file payroll taxes.

How digital payslips work

Most payslip software follows the same basic steps:

1. Set up employee pay details. Salary or hourly rate, pay frequency, and any regular deductions or benefits.
2. Run payroll for the period. The software calculates gross pay, deductions and net pay. Hours from timesheets may feed in if pay varies.
3. Review and approve. A manager or finance lead checks the figures before anything is released.
4. Publish payslips. Each employee gets a payslip, either by email, as a PDF, or in an online portal or mobile app.
5. Keep the record. Past payslips stay available to the employer and, ideally, to the employee for later reference.

Paying the money itself (bank transfer or direct deposit) and filing payroll taxes are separate jobs. Some tools do all three; some only do the first part. Check this before you buy.

Payslip rules in the UK and US

Rules decide what your payslips have to contain. Software helps you meet them, but the obligation stays with the employer. This section is a summary, not legal advice. Check the linked official pages for your situation.

United Kingdom

• Who gets one. Employers must give a payslip to employees and workers. Since 6 April 2019, the right covers workers as well as employees (SI 2018/529). GOV.UK lists some exceptions, such as contractors and freelancers who are not workers (GOV.UK: Payslips).
• When. Payslips must be provided on or before payday (GOV.UK: Payslips).
• What it must show (GOV.UK: Payslips; GOV.UK: Running payroll, payslips): earnings before and after any deductions (gross and net pay); the amount of deductions that may change each pay period, such as tax and National Insurance; and the number of hours worked, if pay varies depending on time worked.
• Hours for variable pay. The hours requirement came into force on 6 April 2019 (SI 2018/147).
• Fixed deductions. Deductions that are fixed in amount, such as repaying a season ticket loan, must be explained either on the payslip or in a separate written statement sent before the first payslip and updated every year (GOV.UK: Payslips).
• Electronic payslips are allowed. Employers can choose printed or electronic (online) payslips (GOV.UK: Payslips).

Separately, GOV.UK says UK employers "must get payroll software that reports PAYE information online, unless you're exempt", and can choose from HMRC-recognised products (GOV.UK: Find payroll software). A payslip-only or self-service tool does not replace that.

United States

• No federal pay stub requirement. The U.S. Department of Labor says the Fair Labor Standards Act requires employers to keep accurate records of hours worked and wages paid, but "does not require an employer to provide employees pay stubs" (DOL: FLSA FAQ).
• State law fills the gap, and it varies. Many states set their own wage statement rules. California is one of the most detailed. Its Labor Code section 226(a) requires an itemized statement showing, among other things, gross wages, total hours worked (except for salaried exempt employees), all deductions, net wages, the pay period dates, the employee's name and last four digits of their SSN or an employee ID, the employer's legal name and address, and every hourly rate in effect with the hours at each rate (California DIR: Paydays, pay periods and wage statements).
• Electronic pay stubs. Whether electronic statements are acceptable also depends on the state. In California, the Labor Commissioner's office indicated in a 2006 opinion letter that electronic statements can be acceptable if, among other conditions, employees can print them at no cost, can choose paper instead, and records are kept securely for at least three years (DLSE opinion letter 2006.07.06). Check your own state's labor department before going paperless.
• Taxes are separate. US employers also have federal, state and sometimes local payroll tax deposits and filings. Some payroll products include those; others leave them to you or an accountant.

What a payslip should show: checklist

Use this as a starting point and add anything your country or state requires.

• Employer's name (and address, where required, for example in California)
• Employee's name and an employee ID
• Pay period dates and pay date
• Gross pay, broken down if there is overtime, commission, bonus or back pay
• Hours worked and the rate for each, if pay varies with time worked
• Each variable deduction, such as income tax, National Insurance or Social Security and Medicare, and pension or retirement contributions
• Fixed deductions, or a reference to the separate statement that explains them (UK)
• Net pay
• Year-to-date totals (not always required, but employees find them useful)

Paper, email, PDF or self-service portal?

For most small teams, a self-service portal is the tidiest option: employees log in, see the current payslip and past ones, and download a copy when they need proof of income. Whatever method you choose, keep a way for someone to get a printed copy, and make sure former employees can still request theirs.

How to choose payslip software

Ask these questions before you sign up for anything:

1. Does it file payroll taxes, or only produce payslips? If it does not file, who will? In the UK, you will still need HMRC-recognised software for RTI. In the US, you will need a tax-filing service or an accountant.
2. Does it match your local payslip rules? For example, can it show hours and rates for hourly staff, and itemise each deduction?
3. How do employees get their payslips? Email, PDF download, web portal, mobile app, or several of these?
4. What happens when someone leaves? Can they still access or request old payslips?
5. Who can see what? Look for role-based access, so managers and employees see only what they should, and an approval step before payslips are released.
6. What will it cost at your headcount? Pricing is usually a base fee plus a per-employee fee, or a per-user fee only. Work it out for your real team size, and check whether a listed price is a promotional rate.
7. What else do you need from the same tool? Leave, attendance and employee records in the same system can save you from re-typing data into payroll.

Payslip software compared

Prices from each vendor's own pricing page, checked 26 October 2026. Prices change; confirm before buying. Payrun is our product.

Sources: Payrun pricing, Patriot Software payroll pricing, Square Payroll pricing, Gusto pricing.

UK note: for UK employers, HMRC-recognised payroll products such as BrightPay, Sage Payroll and IRIS include payslips alongside RTI filing. We have not listed their prices because they were not shown on the pages we checked.

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Where Payrun fits

Payrun is our product, so weigh this section accordingly.

Payrun is HR and payroll software for small businesses. Its payroll module, available on the Pro and Ultimate plans, calculates salaries, deductions and benefits using payroll rules you set, includes approval workflows, and lets employees securely view and download their payslips from a self-service portal (Payrun payroll management). The same account covers leave, attendance, hiring, employee records, expenses and assets (Payrun features). Payrun has iOS and Android apps and is available to businesses worldwide.

What Payrun does not do: it does not file payroll taxes. It does not submit RTI to HMRC in the UK, and it does not make US federal, state or local payroll tax filings or deposits. If you need those, use HMRC-recognised payroll software (UK) or a tax-filing payroll service or accountant (US) alongside or instead of Payrun.

Pricing (Payrun pricing, checked 26 October 2026), per user per month:

There is a 14-day free trial with no credit card required.

Payrun is a reasonable fit if you want payslips, payroll calculations and employee self-service in the same place as your HR records, and you already handle tax filing another way. If you want one product that also files your payroll taxes, a full-service payroll provider is the better choice.

See how Payrun handles payroll