Per-user pricing calculator
Per-employee software looks cheap at a few pounds a head. Put your own numbers in and see what it costs by the time there are twenty of you.
| Team | Per user | Teamli | Difference |
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Teamli prices are the published plans on our pricing page and include every module on every plan. The other side is whatever you type in, so check it against your own bill.
Why headcount is the number that matters
A price per employee reads as a small number, and it is - once. The trouble is that it is the only part of the bill that moves, and it moves in the same direction as the business. Win a contract, take on four people and an administrator to run the paperwork, and the software bill goes up by five seats on the day they start.
HR software makes this worse than most, because it bills for people who never use it. A job management tool charges for the people doing the work; an HR system holds a record for everybody - the part-timer on eight hours a week, the apprentice, the seasonal staff you take on twice a year, the person on maternity leave. Every one of them is a billable seat for the twelve months their record exists, whether they log in or not.
How to compare two quotes properly
- Count every employee record, not just the logins. Most HR tools bill per person on the system, including people who never sign in.
- Include the people you would rather not pay for. Part-timers, seasonal staff and anyone on long-term leave still hold a record.
- Put both sides on the same VAT basis, and both on the same billing period - annual against annual.
- Add the extras. Minimum seat counts, module add-ons, extra storage and paid onboarding all belong in the total.
- Check what is gated. A cheap seat on a plan that does not include the one module you bought it for is not cheap.
Where Teamli sits
Teamli is priced by plan rather than by employee: £10 a month for up to 5 people, £30 for up to 20 and £50 for up to 50, on annual billing, with the whole platform included at every level. Hiring does not change the bill until the team outgrows the plan, and no module sits behind a higher tier. Whether that works out cheaper for you is what the calculator above is for - the full pricing is here, and the comparison is here.
Questions about per-user pricing
What is per-user pricing?
Per-user pricing - also called per-employee or per-seat pricing - charges you a monthly fee for every person on the system. Forty people on a £4 seat is £160 a month, whether or not all forty log in this year. Most HR tools add a platform fee on top of the seats, and some include a handful of employees in that fee before the per-seat price starts.
Why does per-user pricing get expensive?
Because the bill grows with headcount rather than with the value you get. An HR system holds a record for everyone - the part-timer, the apprentice, the seasonal staff, the person on maternity leave - so every one of them is billable, whether or not they ever open it. Taking on five people in a good quarter puts the software bill up on the day they start.
How is Teamli priced instead?
By plan, based on the size of the team. £10 a month covers up to 5 people, £30 a month covers up to 20 and £50 a month covers up to 50, all on annual billing, with every module included at every level. Taking on your sixth person does not change the bill until the team outgrows the plan, and nothing sits behind a higher tier.
Should I compare prices including or excluding VAT?
Compare excluding VAT, and make sure both sides are on the same basis. Software prices are usually shown excluding VAT for business customers, and if you are VAT-registered you reclaim it anyway, so including it on one side and not the other makes the comparison meaningless.
Does the cheapest option always win?
No, and it should not. Price is one input. If a tool does something your business genuinely needs - payroll, right-to-work checks, an occupational health integration - then paying per employee for it may be the right call. The point of this calculator is to put a number on what that decision costs over a year, so it is a decision rather than a surprise.
Are the other tools’ prices built into this calculator?
No. You type in what you pay, because published prices change and a number baked into this page would be out of date before long. Take the figure off your last invoice or the supplier’s current pricing page and the sum will be right for you.
Every module, on every plan.
Priced by team size, not by seat. Start a free trial and see the whole platform.