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Comparison

Ghugi vs Moneysoft: how to send
payslips after payroll runs

Moneysoft Payroll Manager has been running UK payroll since 1994. It still does the job well — but it's desktop-only, and emailing the payslips it produces is a manual chore. Here's how Ghugi fits in.

Pick Moneysoft if…

  • You want cheap, no-frills UK payroll calculation — Moneysoft's Payroll Manager is £95/year + VAT for the basic licence (up to 20 employees) — one of the lowest prices in the UK market for full HMRC-compliant payroll.
  • You're a long-time accountant or bookkeeper — comfortable with Windows desktop software and don't need cloud sync, multi-device access, or web-based dashboards.
  • You don't mind manual payslip distribution — Moneysoft generates payslip PDFs, but you handle emailing or printing them yourself — that's part of the deal at this price point.
  • You prefer software that does one thing for years — Moneysoft has been around since 1994 with a stable interface that hasn't changed much — that consistency is a feature for many bookkeepers.

Pick Ghugi if…

  • You currently email Moneysoft payslips manually — Open Outlook. Attach the PDF. Type the right employee's email. Repeat 25 times. Ghugi automates the entire flow — drag in the folder, hit send.
  • You want GDPR-compliant encrypted delivery — Moneysoft has no built-in encryption or password protection on outgoing payslips. Ghugi locks every PDF with the employee's date of birth before sending.
  • You want a full audit trail of who got what, when — Moneysoft prints — Ghugi logs. Every email you send is recorded in a searchable history with timestamps — and on Ghugi-managed email, you also see delivery and bounce status.
  • You'd rather not maintain a Windows installation — Ghugi runs in any browser. Mac, iPad, work from a coffee shop — all fine. No Windows licence, no install, no "please update" pop-ups.

Plot twist: many of our customers use both. Moneysoft (or their accountant’s payroll) calculates the pay, Ghugi sends the payslips.

At a glance

Feature-by-feature comparison. We’ve tried to be fair — call us out on hello@ghugi.com if anything’s wrong.

FeatureGhugiMoneysoft
Full UK payroll calculation (PAYE/NI/RTI)—✓
Submits RTI to HMRC—✓
Built-in payslip email distribution✓Manual / external
DOB-encrypted PDF delivery (AES-256)✓—
Drag-in PDFs from any payroll source✓—
Custom email templates per organisation✓—
Full audit trail of every send✓—
Cloud-based, works on Mac / iPad / mobile✓Windows desktop only
Multi-user team access with roles✓Single user / licence
Starting price£15/mo (£150/yr)£95/yr + VAT (≈£7.92/mo)
30-day free trial, no credit card✓Free for 1 employee
UK-built and UK-hosted✓✓

When Moneysoft is the right choice

Long-running UK desktop payroll software (Payroll Manager), popular with accountants for sub-£100/year pricing.

You want the cheapest UK payroll software

Moneysoft Payroll Manager at £95/year + VAT (up to 20 employees) is genuinely one of the cheapest HMRC-compliant payroll tools in the UK. If your only constraint is calculator cost and you're happy emailing payslips manually, it's a reasonable choice.

You're a Windows-first accountant or bookkeeper

Moneysoft runs as a native Windows application. Familiar interface, no browser, no internet required to calculate the payroll. For accountants who've used it for a decade, switching away has a real switching cost.

You only need calculation, not delivery

Some bookkeepers run payroll for clients and hand the PDFs back to the client to distribute. Moneysoft is fine for that. Ghugi exists for the next step — the actual emailing.

When Ghugi is the right choice

Ghugi isn’t trying to be Moneysoft. We do one thing: get your payslip PDFs from “produced” to “in the employee’s inbox” without any portal, login, or manual forwarding.

You spend an hour every payday emailing payslips

Moneysoft produces the PDFs; you do the rest. Open Outlook, attach, double-check the email address, send, repeat. Ghugi reduces that to a single drag-and-drop with auto-matching.

You want password-protected payslips

Moneysoft doesn't encrypt PDFs on send. If a payslip email is forwarded or hits the wrong inbox, anyone can open it. Ghugi locks each PDF with the employee's date of birth — automatic, no extra steps.

You need an audit trail

If HMRC, an employee, or your accountant ever asks "when did you send Jane's June payslip?", Moneysoft can't tell you — it never knew. Ghugi keeps a timestamped record of every email you send — plus delivery and bounce status on Ghugi-managed email.

You're on a Mac, iPad, or working remotely

Moneysoft is Windows-only. Ghugi works in any modern browser — Safari on iPad, Chrome on a Chromebook, anywhere with internet. No VM, no "can you remote into the office PC".

Pricing, honestly compared

Here’s what the equivalent setup actually costs each way. They’re not apples-to-apples — Moneysoft calculates the payroll, Ghugi delivers it — but the totals are real.

Moneysoft Payroll Manager — basic licence

£95/yr + VAT

≈£7.92 / month equivalent · Payroll Manager 20 (up to 20 employees)

  • Full UK payroll calculation
  • RTI submission to HMRC
  • Payslip PDF generation
  • You handle distribution manually

Ghugi Starter — 25 employees

£15/mo

or £150/yr · Moneysoft + Ghugi together ≈ £23/mo for full payroll AND delivery

  • Bulk email payslips with DOB encryption
  • Works with Moneysoft PDFs out of the box
  • Full audit trail of every send
  • Multi-device, no Windows required
Start free trial — no card required

Common questions

Quick answers to what most Moneysoft users ask before switching.

Can I use Moneysoft and Ghugi together?
Yes. Moneysoft Payroll Manager calculates the payroll and exports payslip PDFs. You then drag those PDFs into Ghugi, which auto-matches each to the right employee and emails them with DOB encryption. Combined cost is around £23/month for the pair, which is still cheaper than full-cloud payroll suites.
Will Ghugi work with the PDFs Moneysoft generates?
Yes. Moneysoft's payslip PDFs include employee names which Ghugi's auto-matcher reads to assign each payslip to the right person. You can also override matches manually in the review screen before sending.
Do I have to stop using Moneysoft?
Not at all. Ghugi doesn't replace any part of what Moneysoft does — it picks up after Moneysoft has generated the PDFs, automating the email distribution step that Moneysoft leaves to you.
Is Ghugi more secure than emailing payslips from Outlook?
Significantly. Outlook sends plain-text attachments. Ghugi AES-256-encrypts every PDF with the employee's date of birth — if the email is forwarded or intercepted, the recipient can't open it without the DOB. That's the kind of 'appropriate technical measure' the ICO expects for personal data, and it reduces your reportable-breach risk.
Does Ghugi work on a Mac?
Yes. Ghugi runs entirely in the browser — Safari, Chrome, Edge, Firefox. Moneysoft is Windows-only, so a common Ghugi setup is to keep a Windows machine for the payroll calculation step and use Ghugi on Mac/iPad for the email-out step.

Stop emailing payslips like it’s 2005.

Start your 30-day free trial. No credit card. No onboarding call. Sending in 10 minutes.

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Already on Moneysoft? Keep Moneysoft for payroll. Add Ghugi for the email step.