Payroll Africa vs Sage Payroll
Sage Payroll (Pastel Payroll) is a long-established desktop-first SA payroll product. Payroll Africa is fully cloud, with no desktop install or annual licence to manage, and includes free onboarding and migration.
Payroll Africa Editorial · SARS Payroll Compliance Team
The Payroll Africa editorial team is composed of registered tax practitioners, payroll administrators and BCEA specialists who maintain the SARS PAYE, UIF, SDL and ETI engines that power the platform. Every article is reviewed against the current SARS BRS and Basic Conditions of Employment Act before publication.
- SARS registered tax practitioners
- SAPA-affiliated payroll administrators
- BCEA and LRA compliance reviewers
Last updated 01 Oct 2026
Sage Payroll vs Payroll Africa — feature comparison
How the two products compare on the features South African employers actually use monthly.
How to migrate from Sage Payroll to Payroll Africa
Migration is free. Our team handles every step and reconciles YTD balances to the cent.
- Export employees and YTD from Sage Pastel Payroll (backup or CSV)
- Send the file to our migration team
- We rebuild the YTD in Payroll Africa and reconcile to the cent
- Run parallel for one month if you'd like extra assurance
- Cancel your Sage licence after go-live
The Sage frustrations we hear most
From payroll administrators moving off Sage Payroll, Pastel Payroll and Sage 300 People:
- Payslips emailed one by one, and a queue of employees asking for reprints
- Manual exports to get a bank file or a management report into the right shape
- Report or field changes that need a consultant, a support ticket or IT
- Annual licence renewals and per-module add-ons that keep creeping up
- Desktop installs and backups that tie payroll to one machine
Sage vs Payroll Africa on pricing
Sage is generally sold as an annual licence plus modules and, on the larger products, support and consulting time. Payroll Africa is a published monthly price per employee band with everything included: R90 for up to 2 employees, R401 for 10, R1,712 for 50, R3,014 for 100 and R4,182 for 200, cancel any month.
Migration, onboarding, support, WhatsApp self-service and the AI payroll assistant are not add-ons — they are in every plan.
Running Sage and Payroll Africa in parallel
You do not have to switch blind. We load your employees and YTD, you run the same pay period on both systems, and we reconcile gross, PAYE, UIF, SDL and net to the cent. Only once the numbers match do you cancel Sage — most companies do this for one pay period.
Is Payroll Africa a good Sage Payroll alternative?
For South African SMBs (1–500 employees), yes. Payroll Africa is built in South Africa for South African tax law, priced per employee with no lock-in, and includes every SARS artefact Sage Payroll produces — plus WhatsApp payslips, auto runs and an AI payroll assistant.
Compare
| Feature | Payroll Africa | Sage Payroll |
|---|---|---|
| Cloud-native (no install) | ||
| Automatic SARS tax table updates | ||
| EMP201 + EMP501 + IRP5 exports | ||
| Auto payroll runs | ||
| WhatsApp payslip delivery | ||
| AI payroll assistant | ||
| Xero + QuickBooks native integration | ||
| Multi-user access included | ||
| Annual licence fee required |
Frequently asked questions
Related guides
Stop looking this up. Let payroll do it.
Payroll Africa applies vs Sage Payroll rules automatically every month — SARS PAYE, UIF and SDL, payslips, EMP201 and IRP5. From R90/month.
- No card required
- 30-day free trial
- Free migration from Sage, SimplePay, PaySpace or Excel
- Cancel anytime
Run Payroll Africa alongside your current system until you're happy to switch.