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An employer asks before choosing payroll software: whether the price is visible before contact, whether the software can be tried, whether the income register notification is handled by the software and whether help is available by phone. These decide 50 points out of a hundred.
Score shows how the company does on our comparison criteria, on a 0–100 scale. Rankings cannot be bought.
Basic metrics · 67.8
+ The service is completely free: 'Palkka.fi is a free payroll software', so the price is fully transparent and there is no monthly fee or transaction fee
Basic metrics: 67.8, rank 4 · ▲ 3 places
Basic metrics · 73.3
+ Pricing is publicly displayed online: a Starter package for a small business at a fixed 39 or 69 euros/month, and scalable tiers by turnover (19-81 euros/month, VAT 0%) shown directly on the page
Basic metrics: 73.3, rank 3 · ▲ 1 place
– Phone service opening hours: The phone service opening hours were not found on the front page or on the support and customer service pages in the sitemap.
Basic metrics · 82.1
+ The price is displayed exceptionally clearly: self-service 15 euros per paid salary (VAT 0%), online salary 0.99 euros each, no monthly fee and no opening fee
Basic metrics: 82.1, rank 1 · ▼ 2 places
– Trial before committing: A free trial or demo is not mentioned on the front page, in the price list or in the terms of use.
Basic metrics · 76.2
+ The price list is publicly displayed and itemised: monthly fee from 4.00 euros/month, payslips 6.99 euros each and scalable tiers (25.90 and 82.90 euros/month) are shown directly on the page
Basic metrics: 76.2, rank 2 · ▼ 2 places
– Income register notification from the software: A income register notification is not mentioned on the front page, the online payroll page or the Tehopalkat page.
Basic metrics · 58.9
+ In payroll, reporting directly to the Incomes Register via an interface without separate software or portals, and the reporting can be automated
Basic metrics: 58.9, rank 6 · ▲ 1 place
– Trial before commitment: a trial or demo is not mentioned on the front page, the salary page or the customer service page.
Basic metrics · 59.0
+ Payroll automation described comprehensively: after approval, payments, accounting entries, payslips and notifications to the Incomes Register are handled fully automatically, according to the page
Basic metrics: 59.0, rank 5 · ▼ 1 place
– Telephone service opening hours: The telephone service opening hours were not found on the front page or the payroll page.
Weights are fixed. All companies are measured on the same scale. Read the full methodology.
| Buying motive | What is measured | Scale | Weight |
|---|---|---|---|
| Price is shown before purchase QUESTIONCan I see the price of payroll on the page without getting in touch? | Whether the company publishes the price of payroll in euros on its own page. | Price published = 100, only part of the price or price depends on another programme = 50, no price = 0. | 22 p |
| Trial before commitment QUESTIONCan I get to know the programme myself before I buy? | How the company lets you try out the programme. | Free service = 100, free trial = 70, only presentation or demo = 20, neither = 0. | 12 p |
| Telephone service opening hours QUESTIONCan I get help by phone with a payroll run in a hurry? | Telephone service opening hours in hours per working day. | 8 hours or more = 100, 0 hours = 0, in between directly proportional. | 8 p |
| Incomes Register notification from the program QUESTIONIs the Incomes Register notification sent automatically from the software? | Whether the company states on its own page that the income register notification is sent automatically from the software. | Yes = 100, not stated = 0. | 8 p |
| Basic metrics | Digital quality, transparency, reachability and AI quality score | Basic metrics × 0.5 | 50 p |
We scored 6 payroll and payroll administration software products for SMEs on 20 metrics: technical quality, transparency, reachability and AI quality. The most important question: is the price, the monthly fee or the price per payslip, visible before you have to contact sales?
Payroll and payroll administration software handle an SME's salary payment, side costs and statutory notifications to the Incomes Register. The six services in the comparison differ in pricing transparency, automation and target group. Palkkaus.fi and Palkka.fi focus on simple salary payment for small employers, Netvisor and Procountor offer payroll as part of broader financial administration, Fennoa is aimed mainly at accounting firms and Lemonsoft is an ERP package for industrial companies and SMEs.
Price (monthly fee or price per payroll run) shown publicly without making contact (30), free trial or free tier available (15), automation of Incomes Register submissions stated (15), collective agreement (TES), side-cost and holiday pay automation described (15), Finnish-language customer support mentioned (10), business ID (Y-tunnus) or owning company displayed (10), help centre, guides or FAQ available (5)
Transparency is 30% of the basic metrics, i.e. 15% of the total points · these metrics make up its 100 points · the full formula and the other pillars
How to read the comparison correctly: Half of the points come from buyer's questions, i.e. things the buyer finds out before deciding. The other half measures how openly the company publishes its prices, terms and contact details. Clear differences in points indicate a genuine difference: one tells you the price immediately, another only after logging in. Close scores should not be read as a ranking order, because every measurement has a margin of variation. The measurement accuracy and the full calculation formula are open in the methodology.
Customer experience is brought into the assessment separately. We also collect customer feedback and customer experiences about companies through separate surveys. The survey results will be added to the overall assessment later.
The key question is price transparency. The price of payroll software is either a monthly fee or a fee per payslip, and many state it only after contact. We measure whether the price is publicly displayed before you have to register or provide your company details. Pricing typically grows with the number of employees, so a cheap starting price does not always reflect an SME's real monthly cost.
The Incomes Register and non-wage labour costs are the biggest source of errors in payroll. Pay must be reported to the Incomes Register within five days of payment, and side costs, collective agreement (TES) increases and holiday pay are easily calculated wrongly by hand. We separate out as its own metric whether the software states that it handles Incomes Register notifications and automation of side costs and holiday pay, because these are what determine how much manual work is left for the employer.
Why are there six software products on the list? Included were payroll solutions actively operating on the Finnish market that have an independent owner. Products of the same owner were counted once: the Finago product family brings Procountor, Isolta Arkhimedes and Heeros under the same owner, and Netvisor belongs to the Visma group. The free Palkka.fi, maintained by the state, is included as a reference point for price and functionality.
Every company is measured with the same public formula: half of the points come from buyer's questions and half from basic metrics, which have four pillars: technical quality, transparency, reachability and AI quality score. Ranking cannot be bought, and you can see the origin of each point on the company's profile. Read the full methodology →
It depends on the number of salaries. For occasional salary payments, the free Palkka.fi or the per-salary Palkkaus.fi (15 euros/salary) is the cheapest. For regular payroll as part of financial administration, Netvisor and Procountor show prices online and handle Incomes Register notifications automatically.
It varies. Palkkaus.fi, Netvisor and Procountor publish the price or a per-payroll-calculation fee on their websites. Fennoa and Lemonsoft do not show a price in euros but direct you to request a quote or book a demo. Palkka.fi is entirely free of charge.
Yes, all six services compared report salary data to the Incomes Register electronically. Netvisor, Procountor, Fennoa, Lemonsoft and Palkkaus.fi generate the report automatically when salary is paid, and the free Palkka.fi also reports the data directly to the Incomes Register.
Yes. Palkka.fi is a free service maintained by the Tax Administration together with the pension insurance companies, the Employment Fund and Valion Eläkekassa. It is aimed especially at small employers and households, but its functions are narrower than those of paid services.
Usually a monthly fee plus a per-payslip fee. For example, in Procountor payslips are charged separately (6.99 euros each) on top of the monthly fee, and Netvisor's price scales with turnover and transactions. Palkkaus.fi charges only for the wages paid, with no monthly fee.
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