PayHero Review: Pricing, Features, Pros and Cons for NZ Payroll

PayHero is a New Zealand-built payroll platform that has carved out a strong niche by solving one of the most frustrating problems Kiwi employers face: accurately calculating leave entitlements for employees with irregular hours. If you run a hospitality venue, retail store, or seasonal operation with variable-hour staff, this is one of the few payroll tools that handles the NZ Holidays Act correctly without requiring manual workarounds.

Built by Wellington-based FlexiTime and led by CEO Robert Owen, PayHero is a cloud-only product designed exclusively for the New Zealand market. It won’t work for Australian or international payroll. But within its lane, it delivers a focused, compliance-first experience with automated payday filing, employee self-service, and tight Xero integration. Pricing starts at NZ$4 per employee per month, making it accessible for small teams while scaling up for larger operations.

We found PayHero strongest in compliance and accuracy for complex hourly scenarios, and weakest in breadth of integrations and support availability. Here’s the full breakdown.

What Is PayHero?

PayHero is cloud-based payroll software developed by FlexiTime, a private company founded in 2008 and headquartered in Wellington, New Zealand (11 Chews Lane, Willis Street). The platform is built specifically around New Zealand employment legislation, including the Holidays Act 2003 and IRD payday filing requirements.

FlexiTime also develops Droppah (rostering and time tracking) and Karmly (contractor and recruitment management), which integrate directly with PayHero. The company has won ICNZB Payroll Software Partner of the Year, as voted by members of the Institute of Certified New Zealand Bookkeepers, which signals credibility within the NZ accounting and bookkeeping community.

PayHero Key Features

Holidays Act Compliance

This is PayHero’s headline differentiator. New Zealand’s Holidays Act is notoriously complex, particularly for employees with variable hours, and many payroll systems get it wrong. PayHero stores leave in weeks rather than hours or days, which is the method recommended by MBIE (Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment) for accurately calculating entitlements for irregular workers.

Public holiday entitlements are auto-calculated based on each employee’s actual work patterns, not assumptions. When legislation changes, PayHero applies updates automatically. For businesses in hospitality, horticulture, or retail with casual and part-time staff, this alone can justify the cost over simpler payroll tools.

AutoPilot Pay Runs

AutoPilot automates the pay run process. On payday, you receive an email with a draft pay summary. If everything looks correct, you confirm with a single click. PayHero then processes the pay, files with IRD, syncs to Xero, and sends payslips to employees, all without logging into the system.

This feature is particularly useful for businesses with predictable, recurring payrolls (salaried staff, consistent rosters). For employers managing multiple sites or franchises, it reduces the administrative overhead of running payroll to near-zero on routine weeks.

Automated Payday Filing

PayHero integrates directly with Inland Revenue (IRD) for automatic PAYE filing after every pay run. This eliminates the need to manually submit employment information to IRD and reduces the risk of late or incorrect filings. The integration is built in, not a bolt-on, and works across all pricing tiers.

Employee Self-Service App

Employees get their own mobile app where they can submit timesheets, view leave balances, request leave, claim expenses (with photo receipt uploads), view payslips, and update personal details. This shifts routine admin tasks away from managers and payroll administrators.

For businesses with distributed teams or remote workers, the self-service app reduces back-and-forth communication. Employees can see their own leave entitlements directly, which is a feature praised by employers in the hospitality sector who deal with frequent leave queries.

Time Tracking and GPS

PayHero includes online timesheets, mobile timesheets with GPS tracking, and clock-in/clock-out functionality. Rest and meal breaks can be auto-managed according to work patterns. Timesheet approvals flow through managers before hitting the payroll.

For more advanced time and attendance needs (photo time clock, roster management), PayHero connects to Droppah, FlexiTime’s dedicated rostering app. It’s worth noting that the clock-in feature was previously built into PayHero via an app called “Shift” but has since been moved to Droppah. Some existing customers found this transition frustrating, though Droppah is free for businesses with fewer than 10 employees and offers more advanced scheduling capabilities.

HR and Onboarding

PayHero includes basic HR functionality: organizing employees into teams, assigning managers, storing documents, and running onboarding workflows. New employees can complete onboarding digitally, including e-signing company policies and completing surveys. Employers can monitor completion rates across their team.

This isn’t a full HRIS replacement, but it covers the essentials that a small-to-medium business needs without requiring a separate HR platform.

Reporting

The reporting module offers customizable graphs and tables covering payroll costs, leave balances, tax summaries, and more. For businesses that need deeper analytics, PayHero integrates with Power BI for business intelligence reporting and LiveRem for salary benchmarking against the NZ market.

Multi-Rate and Multi-Frequency Pay

PayHero supports multiple pay frequencies (weekly, fortnightly, monthly) within the same account, along with different pay rates per employee. It handles hourly and salaried staff, expenses, commissions, bonuses, and employee loans. This flexibility is essential for businesses like trades firms or franchises where pay structures vary significantly across roles.

PayHero Pricing and Plans

PayHero’s pricing is transparent and published on their website. All prices are in New Zealand Dollars (NZD), excluding GST. Billing is monthly in arrears based on actual usage: you only pay for employees who were paid or had timesheet entries that month. Seasonal businesses benefit here, as you’re not charged for inactive employees during off-months.

Optional add-ons include extra teams at NZ$9 per team per month. A 14-day free trial is available with no credit card required. Enterprise pricing is available by contacting sales directly. Payment is accepted via Visa, MasterCard, or direct debit.

For a small business with five employees on the Origin plan, the monthly cost works out to NZ$39 (the $19 base plus $20 for five employees). That’s reasonable for the NZ market, though independent reviewers have noted PayHero sits at the pricier end compared to alternatives like Smartly or Crystal Payroll. The compliance accuracy for variable-hour staff may justify the premium for businesses where that’s a genuine concern.

Integrations

PayHero’s integration ecosystem is focused rather than sprawling. It connects with a curated set of NZ-relevant tools rather than offering a massive app marketplace. Here’s what’s available:

• Xero: Automatic payroll transaction sync, account code mapping, and tracking categories. This is the flagship integration and is tightly built.
• Droppah: Staff rostering, time tracking, and attendance (also built by FlexiTime).
• Karmly: Recruitment and contractor management with timesheet, leave, and expense data sharing.
• Inland Revenue (IRD): Automated PAYE payday filing directly to IRD.
• Akahu: Secure bank connection for processing employee payments.
• MyHR: Employee onboarding, leave, and payroll data sharing with the MyHR platform.
• Power BI: Business intelligence and advanced reporting.
• LiveRem: Salary benchmarking against NZ market data.
• Dataphyll: Fruit harvest management and timesheet sync (for horticulture businesses).
• Invoxy: Professional services time tracking.
• TimeDock: Physical time clocks and NFC-based clock-in.
• Timecloud: Cloud-based time and attendance.
• WorkflowMax: Job management and project costing.
• Infocare Solutions: Aged care workforce management.

PayHero also offers an API for custom integrations. However, there is no mention of Zapier, Make, or other middleware connectors, so businesses relying on those tools for automation should confirm compatibility directly with PayHero. The integration set is NZ-focused by design, which is a strength for the local market but a limitation for anyone needing connections to global platforms.

Customer Support

PayHero provides support via phone, email (support@payhero.co.nz), and screenshare sessions. The support team is based in Wellington, New Zealand, and is available during business hours: 9am to 5pm, Monday through Friday (NZ time). There is no 24/7 support, weekend support, or live chat mentioned in current materials.

Self-service resources include an online Support Centre with in-depth articles and tutorial videos. PayHero also offers to help new customers run their first pay, which is a practical onboarding touch for businesses transitioning from another system or from manual payroll.

Support quality is a point of genuine divergence in feedback. Many find the support team highly responsive, with some reporting replies within the hour. The support is frequently praised by bookkeepers and accountants who recommend PayHero to their clients. However, a small number of customers have reported negative experiences, particularly around payroll migration errors and account suspension handling. CEO Robert Owen actively responds to feedback, including detailed public replies to complaints, which suggests the company takes reputation seriously even if individual support experiences can vary.

For businesses that need after-hours payroll support (common in hospitality), the Monday-to-Friday, 9-to-5 window is a real constraint worth factoring in.

Pros and Cons

Based on our analysis of PayHero’s feature set, pricing, and real-world usage patterns, here are the key strengths and weaknesses to consider.

Who Should Use PayHero?

PayHero is built for New Zealand businesses, full stop. If you’re outside New Zealand, this product isn’t for you. Within NZ, it fits a specific profile well.

Best fit: Businesses with 5 to 200 employees that include hourly, casual, or variable-hour workers. Hospitality, retail, trades, manufacturing, horticulture, farming, and franchise operations will get the most value from PayHero’s compliance engine and leave calculation accuracy. Bookkeeping and accounting firms managing payroll for multiple NZ clients should also evaluate PayHero’s partner program.

Good fit: Small businesses (1 to 10 employees) on the Origin plan who want compliant payroll without spreadsheet risk. Seasonal businesses benefit from usage-based billing, paying only for months when employees are active.

Not the best fit: Businesses that are purely salaried with no variable-hour complexity may find PayHero’s pricing premium unnecessary compared to simpler options like Xero’s built-in payroll module. Companies needing extensive global integrations, multi-country payroll, or 24/7 support should look elsewhere. Organisations wanting a full-suite HRIS with recruitment, performance management, and benefits administration will outgrow PayHero’s HR capabilities and should consider platforms like Employment Hero.

PayHero Alternatives

Smartly: Used by over 22,000 New Zealand businesses, Smartly is the most widely adopted NZ payroll platform. It offers a broader feature set for larger enterprises and a more established support infrastructure. However, it can be more complex to set up and may be overkill for small businesses that just need accurate, compliant payroll. Choose Smartly if you’re a mid-to-large NZ business that wants a more established market leader.

Employment Hero: An Australian-born platform with strong NZ presence, Employment Hero combines payroll with a fuller HR suite including recruitment, performance reviews, and benefits. It’s the better choice if you need an all-in-one HR and payroll platform. However, its NZ Holidays Act compliance for variable-hour workers may not be as refined as PayHero’s purpose-built approach. Choose Employment Hero if HR management matters as much as payroll.

PaySauce: Another NZ-built payroll platform designed for small businesses, PaySauce competes directly with PayHero on price and simplicity. It has a mobile-first design and targets industries like agriculture and trades. PaySauce may be simpler to use for very small teams but lacks some of PayHero’s deeper reporting and integration options. Choose PaySauce if you want the simplest possible NZ payroll for a very small team.

Crystal Payroll: A cost-effective NZ payroll option that appeals to businesses looking for straightforward, affordable payroll processing. It tends to be cheaper than PayHero but offers fewer advanced features around leave compliance and time tracking. Choose Crystal Payroll if budget is the primary concern and your leave calculations are straightforward.

Xero Payroll: If you already use Xero for accounting, the built-in payroll module avoids integration complexity entirely. It handles basic NZ payroll well and is included with some Xero plans. However, it lacks PayHero’s depth in leave calculations for variable-hour staff, time tracking, and employee self-service. Choose Xero Payroll if your team is small, salaried, and you want everything in one accounting platform.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is PayHero only for New Zealand businesses?

Yes. PayHero is built exclusively for New Zealand payroll, including NZ Holidays Act compliance, IRD payday filing, and NZD currency. It cannot be used for Australian, UK, or other international payroll.

Does PayHero handle the Holidays Act correctly for casual and variable-hour employees?

This is one of PayHero’s core strengths. It stores leave entitlements in weeks (the method recommended by MBIE) and automatically calculates public holiday entitlements based on actual work patterns. This approach is specifically designed to handle the complexity that trips up many other payroll systems with irregular-hour staff.

Does PayHero offer a free trial?

Yes. PayHero offers a 14-day free trial with no credit card required. You can set up your business and run a test pay during the trial period.

How does PayHero’s usage-based billing work?

You’re billed at the start of each month for the previous month’s usage. Your charge is the base fee plus a per-employee fee for each unique employee who was either paid or had a timesheet entry that month. Inactive or seasonal employees don’t incur charges during months they’re not used.

Does PayHero integrate with Xero?

Yes. Xero is PayHero’s primary accounting integration. Payroll transactions sync automatically, with support for account code mapping and tracking categories. The integration is native and well-regarded by bookkeepers and accountants in the NZ market.

What happened to the PayHero clock-in app (Shift)?

The original Shift clock-in app has been retired and replaced by Droppah, FlexiTime’s dedicated rostering and time tracking app. Droppah offers more advanced scheduling and attendance features. It’s free for businesses with fewer than 10 employees and integrates directly with PayHero.

Can PayHero process payments to employee bank accounts?

PayHero integrates with Akahu for secure bank connections to process employee payments. It also supports standard bank file exports for uploading to your bank’s payment system.

The Bottom Line

PayHero does one thing very well: compliant, accurate payroll for New Zealand businesses with complex hourly workforces. Its approach to the Holidays Act, particularly leave calculations for variable-hour employees, is genuinely best-in-class within the NZ market. The AutoPilot feature, direct IRD filing, and solid Xero integration make it a practical, time-saving choice for businesses that want to get payroll right without becoming payroll experts.

The tradeoffs are real. Support is limited to business hours. The integration ecosystem is small compared to global platforms. The HR features, while useful, won’t replace a dedicated HRIS. And the pricing, while fair for what you get, sits above the cheapest NZ options. If your payroll is simple and your staff are all salaried, you’re paying a premium for compliance features you may not need.

For hospitality operators, retailers, trades businesses, farmers, and franchise owners in New Zealand who employ variable-hour staff, PayHero is one of the strongest payroll choices available. We rate it 4.0 out of 5, with its compliance depth and ease of use pulling it ahead of most competitors, held back slightly by its limited support hours and narrower integration ecosystem. If you match PayHero’s target profile, start with the 14-day free trial and run a test pay. You’ll know quickly whether it fits.