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KeyPay vs Employment Hero

These are no longer competitors — one now powers the other, and that changes the question you're really asking.

First, the thing most comparisons miss

KeyPay and Employment Hero are the same family. Employment Hero acquired KeyPay, and the product now trades as Employment Hero Payroll (you'll still see the KeyPay name in older material and in some partner channels). So the real comparison is not between two rivals — it is between running the payroll engine on its own versus adopting the full Employment Hero HR platform with that engine inside it.

What the payroll engine (KeyPay / Employment Hero Payroll) does well

  • Award interpretation. Its rules engine for Modern Awards is one of the strongest in the Australian market — it applies your award's current rates, penalties and allowances from timesheet data rather than relying on manual calculation. Always confirm classifications against the Fair Work Ombudsman's published pay tools.
  • Automation. Pay runs can be heavily automated once rules are configured, including STP reporting and superannuation processing on the ATO's required cadence.
  • Rostering and time capture. Built-in rostering, timesheets and employee self-service cover many workforce needs without a separate tool.
  • Accounting integrations. It journals cleanly into Xero, MYOB and QuickBooks — in fact it is the engine behind QuickBooks' Australian payroll.

What the full Employment Hero platform adds

  • HR core. Employment contracts, policy acknowledgement, digital onboarding, document storage and compliance workflows.
  • Performance and engagement. Reviews, goals, surveys and recognition tools.
  • Benefits and perks. Discounts and financial-wellbeing features for employees.
  • Applicant tracking. Basic recruitment workflows to get candidates from advert to signed contract.

The trade-off is cost and complexity: the platform is priced per employee across more modules, and you are adopting a whole HR system, not just payroll. Check Employment Hero's current plans for what each tier includes.

How to choose

  • Choose payroll-only if your pressing problem is paying people correctly under awards, you already have (or don't yet need) HR processes, or you want the engine embedded via your accounting platform.
  • Choose the full platform if you are also wrestling with onboarding paperwork, scattered contracts and policies, or you are scaling headcount and need HR structure to keep pace.
  • Either way, get the setup right. The award-interpretation engine is only as accurate as its configuration. Misclassifying an employee or applying the wrong award is a compliance risk regardless of software — this is general information, and award classification questions are worth checking with the Fair Work Ombudsman or a workplace-relations adviser.

Implementation matters more than the licence

Most payroll problems we see are not software problems — they are configuration and process problems: rules never tested against the award, timesheets approved without review, super processed late. Whichever option you pick, budget real time for parallel pay runs before going live, and document who owns each step of the pay cycle. If payroll is one of several people-processes you are trying to get out of your own head, see our people services and the broader case for a connected back office.