KeyPay Review Australia 2026
Best Payroll for Modern Award Complexity & Multi-Client Management
KeyPay remains the award-heavy payroll engine used by AU accountants, now inside Employment Hero. Plus is the SKU with pre-built award interpretation; Standard is STP and super without that engine. The keypay.com.au pricing page no longer lists $4/$6 — treat current cost as quote. Hosting is AWS Sydney on the trust page. Pair it with Xero or MYOB for BAS.
- Best for
- Accountants and employers who need Plus-plan award interpretation and multi-client payroll, and who will get a current quote.
- Not ideal for
- Sole traders with no employees, businesses needing full accounting (invoicing, BAS, bank feeds) in one platform, very small businesses (1-3 employees) where the per-employee cost may not justify a standalone payroll tool versus Xero's built-in payroll.
Some links to KeyPay may be affiliate links. If you buy or sign up, SoftwareHQ may earn a commission at no extra cost to you. That does not change this editorial score. Affiliate disclosure
Overview
KeyPay is cloud payroll built for au accountants and bookkeepers. Founded in 2012 and headquartered in Sydney, NSW, it serves Australian businesses with local data hosting and AU-based support.
Feature highlights
These highlights come from vendor documentation and editorial analysis of public sources. They are not firsthand test results or a claim that every listed capability was exercised in a trial.
- Modern Award Auto-Interpretation
Plus-plan vendor copy: pre-built Modern Awards that calculate base rates, penalties, overtime, loadings and allowances from classification and hours. Standard does not include award interpretation. Not a Fair Work certification. Public Plus price is quote-only.
- Pay Conditions Engine
A configurable rules engine for businesses operating under Enterprise Agreements or custom pay conditions that don't fit standard Modern Awards. Define custom pay rules, shift penalties, overtime thresholds, and allowance triggers using a visual rule builder — no coding required. Rules are applied automatically each pay run, ensuring consistency and auditability. Particularly valuable for large employers with negotiated EBAs.
- STP Phase 2 & ATO Compliance
Pricing matrix lists Single Touch Payroll reporting on Standard and Plus. Vendor feature copy, not an ATO product-register extract. Do not treat 'ATO-certified' marketing as a register listing we opened.
- Multi-Client Payroll Dashboard
Purpose-built for accountants and bookkeepers managing payroll across multiple businesses. A single login provides access to all client payrolls with a consolidated dashboard showing upcoming pay runs, overdue super payments, and compliance alerts. Switch between client businesses instantly. White-label portal available for partners. This multi-client architecture is KeyPay's key advantage over Xero Payroll or MYOB Payroll, which require separate logins per business.
- Automated Super Payments
Pay superannuation to all major Australian super funds directly from KeyPay via the built-in KeyPay Super clearing house — no third-party gateway required. Supports employer SG contributions, salary sacrifice, voluntary contributions, and spouse contributions. Batch processing across multiple employees and funds in a single payment. Payday Super ready from 1 July 2026 with auto-scheduling aligned to new 7-day payment windows.
- Employee Self-Service & WorkZone App
Employees access their own portal to view payslips, submit timesheets, apply for leave, update personal details (bank accounts, tax file declarations, super fund choice), and access payment summaries — reducing admin overhead for payroll managers. The WorkZone mobile app extends this to iOS and Android, allowing clock-on/clock-off, GPS-verified timesheets, and leave requests from the field.
AU Compliance Scores
These scores apply to Australian tax, payroll and banking capabilities where they are relevant to KeyPay. They are SoftwareHQ editorial judgements from public documentation, not firsthand product tests.
Not applicable means this product type is not scored on that dimension (for example BAS lodgement on a CRM). Not supported means the vendor does not offer it. Unknown means we could not verify it from public sources — that is not the same as unsupported.
Payroll-only. BAS stays in the connected accounting product.
Pricing matrix lists Single Touch Payroll reporting on Standard and Plus. Vendor feature copy, not an ATO product-register extract. Do not keep an 'ATO-certified' claim without a register extract.
Automated super payments are listed on Standard and Plus. Employment Hero (same engine) documents HeroClear for the 7-business-day Payday Super window. KeyPay's own pricing page does not separately certify Payday Super; treat super automation as vendor feature copy.
Award interpretation is Plus-only on keypay.com.au/pricing and /feature/automation-for-awards. Vendor copy: pre-built modern awards kept up to date with Fair Work. Not a Fair Work certification. Standard does not include it.
Not an accounting tool — no GST/BAS features.
Not applicable — payroll only.
When this was checked
Status as of (page snapshot) against a 90-day review target. Checked dates are not updated when the site is rebuilt.
Editorial article date: . That is not proof that pricing, hosting, or compliance was re-checked.
- PricingVerified
Verified — checked 8 September 2026.
Standard vs Plus feature matrix; unlimited employees/clients; awards on Plus only. No dollar amounts published. Feature footers: per active employee/month including GST. Quote-only.
- HostingVerified
Verified — checked 8 September 2026.
AWS Asia Pacific (Sydney); ISO 27001 (public cert dated July 2021); PCI; encryption in transit and at rest; mandatory 2FA since March 2022.
- Bank feedsNot applicable
Not applicable.
Payroll-only.
- BAS lodgementNot applicable
Not applicable.
Payroll-only. BAS is in the accounting product.
- GST handlingNot applicable
Not applicable.
Payroll-only.
- Modern AwardsVerified
Verified — checked 8 September 2026.
Vendor: pre-built modern awards, kept up to date. Plus-only on the pricing matrix. Not Fair Work certification.
- Payday SuperVerified
Verified — checked 8 September 2026.
Automated super payments listed on both plans. Payday Super 7-day window is documented on Employment Hero HeroClear pages for the same engine, not as a KeyPay ATO certificate.
- STP Phase 2Verified
Verified — checked 8 September 2026.
Single Touch Payroll reporting listed on Standard and Plus. Not an ATO register extract.
- SuperannuationVerified
Verified — checked 8 September 2026.
Automated super payments listed on Standard and Plus.
Pricing (AUD)
All prices below are in Australian dollars and include GST. Verified — checked 8 September 2026. Source: keypay.com.au/pricing.
- Employees: unlimited
- Clients: unlimited
- Employees: unlimited
- Clients: unlimited
Estimate first-year cost for KeyPay
Observed price changes
Recorded when a listed price changed. This is not a complete vendor timeline.
- AU pricing page no longer publishes Standard/Plus dollar amounts (previously stored $4/$6 incl. GST per employee).
- Standard · $4 · AU pricing page no longer publishes Standard/Plus dollar amounts (previously stored $4 Standard / $6 Plus incl. GST per employee). Feature matrix remains.
- Standard · $3 → $4 · Per-employee rate increased from $3 to $4 following Employment Hero acquisition integration
- Standard · $2.50 → $3 · First price increase post-Employment Hero acquisition in 2022
Pros & Cons
Pros
- Plus plan lists pre-built Modern Award interpretation and a pay conditions engine
- STP reporting and automated super payments listed on Standard and Plus
- Unlimited employees and clients on the published feature matrix
- AWS Sydney hosting on the trust page, with ISO 27001 and PCI copy
- Native accounting journals to Xero, MYOB and QuickBooks on the integrations page
- Built for accountants running many client payrolls
Cons
- AU pricing page is quote-only — previously stored $4/$6 per employee cannot be re-confirmed
- Payroll-only: no BAS, GST, invoicing or bank feeds
- Award interpretation is Plus, not Standard
- No phone support on the pages opened this check
- KeyPay is now Employment Hero — standalone KeyPay buyers are pushed to EH sales
How this review was made
Reviews separate vendor documentation, editorial analysis and firsthand records. They are not interchangeable.
- Vendor documentation — Public pages from KeyPay and other sites. Recorded HTTP(S) URLs are listed under Sources. A source URL is a document we recorded, not a claim that every sentence on this page was checked against that URL.
- Editorial analysis — SoftwareHQ's written verdict and scores for Australian buyers. The header score is an editorial assessment, not a user-review average, not a lab result, and not a number derived from how many evidence records exist.
- Firsthand records — This review has no firsthand observation records, trial walkthroughs, or screenshots from a logged-in SoftwareHQ account. Missing tests stay not tested.
This page does not rank products by speed or security from documentation or from evidence count.
Checked by SoftwareHQ Editorial Team. There is no named author profile for this page; attribution stays with the SoftwareHQ editorial team. How we test and the editorial policy for scoring, independence and affiliate rules.
Sources
Public pages recorded when this review was compiled. They are not a checklist that every claim was verified, and they are not evidence of hands-on product testing.
- Keypay pricing
- Keypay Trust Security
- Keypay Automation For Awards
- Keypay Employee Portal
- Keypay Single Touch Payroll Reporting
- Keypay Integration
KeyPay Alternatives
If KeyPay doesn’t quite fit your needs, consider these alternatives for Australian businesses:
- Xero — Australia's most popular cloud accounting platform. From $37/mo inc GST.
- MYOB — Australia's original business management platform. From $35/mo inc GST.
- Employment Hero — All-in-one HR, payroll and benefits platform for AU businesses. From $10/employee/mo ex GST.
- Payroller — Simple payroll for AU small business. Free plan available.
- Reckon One — Australian-built cloud accounting with flat-rate payroll. From $24/mo inc GST.
Related Comparisons
Migration Guides
Step-by-step switching guides involving KeyPay for Australian businesses.