Compare HR and payroll platforms, 2026

The best HR platform for UK employers is the one that does it all

We compared HBHR with Access, IRIS and MHR, across 65 capabilities, using each supplier's own public information. Here is where everyone stands.

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Overall coverage

How the platforms stack up

Coverage across 65 HR, payroll, time and AI capabilities. Pick any platform to see the full side by side.

  1. 97 out of 100 Our platform
  2. Access People XD 83 out of 100 Compare with HBHR : Access
  3. IRIS IRIS HR 77 out of 100 Compare with HBHR : IRIS
  4. MHR iTrent 74 out of 100 Compare with HBHR : MHR

Fully included scores 1, limited or add on scores a half, not offered scores 0. Based on public information, September 2026. Spotted something out of date? Tell us and we will check it.

Only with HBHR

What Access, IRIS and MHR do not include as standard

Category by category

Where HBHR goes further

Scores by area, out of 100. Scroll sideways on a phone.

Scores out of 100 by category
Area Access IRIS MHR
Core HR 100 100 100 94
Leave and absence 100 100 100 100
Time and rotas 100 100 83 67
Payroll 92 83 71 79
Hiring and onboarding 100 88 88 100
Performance 100 75 83 50
Learning 100 100 50 100
Reporting 100 100 83 83
AI 100 75 17 8
Compliance 90 55 80 80
Platform 100 80 80 80

Head to head

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Fully included scores 1, limited or a paid add-on or integration scores a half. Public information, September 2026.

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What customers say

Rated by the people who use it

Switching stories

The transition from our old system to HBHR was seamless.

Charlotte Langley Head of Colleague Experience · Inspired Pet Nutrition Case study
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HealthBox are such a breath of fresh air in the world of HR/Payroll systems. They are completely different to my experience with other systems in so many (positive) ways.

Emily Whiter YMCA
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We have been using HBHR for around 6 months. The platform itself is very user friendly for both admins and users, and is easy to adapt to your needs.

Hannah Clifton Miele

Having tried other HR software I have to say that I think Healthbox HR is the best on the market.

Diane Page Dumbarnie Links

We transitioned to HealthboxHR to find a more cost-effective solution for managing our workforce.

Jane Burton Delamode

Exceptional Support We switched over from an American HR platform to HBHR in search of a better feature for booking time off.

Lisa Tucker Intelleck

We’ve had a very positive experience with HealthBoxHR. The system brings all HR processes into one place, making day-to-day tasks much more efficient and reducing manual work.

Shelley Jenkins Frontier Medical Group

We have just rolled out HealthBox HR and have had an excellent experience so far.

Shane Lynch ProStrategy

We moved to HealthBoxHR about a year ago.

Laura Aslte-Sander UTP/MyPros

Great engagement and full support offered all the way through the transaction process from our previous HR platform to Healthbox HR.

Clare Rose Robins Foundation

We have been using Healthbox HR for over 12 months, and on the whole the experience has been a very positive one.

Dan Watton Grainger & Worrell

I was approached by HealthBoxHR in relation to this new platform; naturally sceptical i tentatively agreed to a meeting to be introduced to the software and was blown away almost immediately by what it can do.

Alistair Express Appliances

We have just launched HealthBox HR so it's still early days but the support we have received from the HealthBox team during the implementation phase is second to none!

Andra Westbank

We have recently started using HealthBox HR and I have been very impressed with the implementation and support we have received.

Sian Farrington G2 Legal

We were searching for a HR & Payroll Platform that met our needs being an SME in the construction industry.

Steve Johnson Beaver Bridges

Excellent service from HealthBox HR from the initial sign up and ongoing, nothing is too much trouble. Great platform to use, does exactly what it says on the tin.

Nicola Hayes Schuelke

I have been using HBHR for about 8 months now. When looking for a HRIS I feel like HBHR stood out from the rest.

Ella Holland Huler

HealthboxHR does just want you would expect and more. The functionality is great and the app works really well for our teams.

Anne Davison Jungle IT

We have had a great experience with Health Box HR from the initial Sales meetings (they were very reactive to all our questions and queries) to the support we receive, which is still going strong.

Klara O'Malley Irish Heart Foundation

We've been using HealthboxHR for a while now, and it's made a noticeable difference in how we manage our HR tasks.

Stephen Gillespie Smart Impact

We have been using HBHR for around 6 months now and its helped to streamline our processes and manage some of the more mundane HR tasks more efficiently.

Inderjit Marwaha RK Wholesale

We launched HBHR to our employees a few month ago and have had a great response to our new platform, not all modules are live yet and I think the phasing of modules is a great feature of HBHR.

Megan Blackburn Bartec

Since implementing HealthboxHR, we have been thoroughly impressed by the platform's dependability and the outstanding service levels provided by the team, it has been a real game changer for our company, and we have found the platform to be exceptionally reliable with no outage time.

Liz Hendriks Naafi

Having all our employees information central, homepage with all main info in one page, really helpful team

Dovi Jakelaityte 361 Degrees Gartner

58 reviews from 38 organisations

Questions

Choosing an HR platform

What is the best HR and payroll platform for UK employers?

It depends on what you need connected. If you want HR, payroll, time and attendance and team chat in one platform, HBHR scores 97 out of 100 across the 65 capabilities in our comparison. If you only need core HR records, most of the platforms here will do the job.

How did you score each platform?

We check 65 capabilities against each supplier's own website, pricing pages and product documentation. Fully included scores 1, limited or add on scores a half. Every claim is reviewed before it goes live, and we recheck suppliers every week.

Is it hard to switch from my current platform?

A named onboarding lead moves your data, sets up payroll and runs parallel pay runs with you before you switch over.

See what switching saves you

Put in your headcount, average salary and HR team size. The calculator shows your yearly saving, and a demo shows how it works for your team.

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