In 2026, per-employee HR platforms list between roughly A$4.50 and A$25 per user per month — about $810 to $4,500 a year for a 15-person team, before add-ons. Flat-priced software like Fitz HR runs $0–$899 a year regardless of headcount ($249–$449/year covers most small businesses). The bigger the share of casuals on your books, the more per-user pricing penalises you — it bills heads, not hours.
The Two Pricing Models
Per employee per month is the dominant model: Employment Hero lists from around $8 per employee/month, Deputy (a rostering tool, not HR) from around $4.50 per user/month, and Sentrient’s HR Management System is listed on Capterra at around $25 per user/month (all July 2026 published/listed prices). The number looks small because it’s quoted per head — the annual bill is the number times your headcount times twelve.
Flat annual pricing charges for the product, not the headcount. Fitz HR’s published plans are Free ($0), Starter ($249/year), Pro ($449/year) and Business ($899/year) — the same price whether you employ 4 staff or 40.
The Arithmetic for a 15-Person Team
| Platform (published/listed price) | Model | 15 staff, annual |
|---|---|---|
| Fitz HR Starter / Pro | Flat | $249 / $449 |
| Deputy (~$4.50/user/mo)* | Per user | ~$810 |
| Employment Hero (~$8/employee/mo) | Per employee | ~$1,440 |
| Sentrient HRMS (listed ~$25/user/mo) | Per user | ~$4,500 |
| BrightHR | Undisclosed | Requires sales call |
*Deputy is rostering/workforce management, not HR compliance software — included because owners often compare the numbers. Prices are the vendors’ published or directory-listed figures as at July 2026 and may change; check each vendor. These platforms also do different jobs — see the fit question below.
The Casual-Headcount Trap
Per-user billing has a structural bias against exactly the businesses that need compliance help most. Award-covered industries — hospitality, retail, community services and NDIS, childcare — run casual-heavy rosters. A cafe with 15 staff on the books might roster the equivalent of six full-timers, but per-user software bills all fifteen, including the uni student who works Sunday brunch.
Flat pricing inverts that: the more casual and shift-based your workforce, the better the deal — and casual, shift-based workforces are where award mistakes (wrong penalty rates, stacked loadings, missed casual conversion) actually happen.
Price Is Only Half the Question — Fit Is the Other
The platforms above do different jobs, and the honest comparison says so:
- Rostering & time tools (Deputy, Tanda, RosterElf) schedule shifts and feed payroll. They don’t answer HR questions or produce defensible documents.
- HR lifecycle platforms (Employment Hero, Sentrient) handle onboarding, reviews, training records and policies across all industries. Award-specific pay guidance is not their core job — see our full Employment Hero and Sentrient comparisons.
- Award-grounded HR (Fitz HR) answers the money-and-process questions — what to pay under your award, how to manage a warning or dismissal, which document to issue — from the award itself, verified against the Fair Work Ombudsman Pay Guides.
Whatever you pay for HR software, compare it to the cost of getting one decision wrong: a typical unfair dismissal claim runs $10,000–$50,000+ once legal fees land, and Fair Work penalties for award non-compliance reach $93,900 per contravention for companies. Every option in the table costs less than 5% of one bad outcome — the question is which one prevents your likeliest bad outcome.
Frequently Asked Questions
How much does HR software cost for a small business in Australia?
Why is per-employee HR software expensive for casual-heavy teams?
Is free HR software good enough to start with?
Related Reading
See the full comparisons — Fitz HR vs Employment Hero, Fitz HR vs Sentrient, Fitz HR vs BrightHR — and the cost-of-getting-it-wrong guides on unfair dismissal costs and underpayment consequences.
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