--- title: "Bright Reviews, Pros and Cons - 2026 Software Advice" description: "Reviews of Bright. Learn how real users rate this software's ease-of-use, functionality, overall quality and customer support. Talk to our advisors to see if Bright is a good fit for you!" source_url: "https://www.softwareadvice.com/hr/thesaurus-brightpay-profile/reviews/" page_type: "reviews" language: "en" --- 1 million+ businesses helped. Get advice Get Free Advice [Home](https://www.softwareadvice.com/) / [Payroll Software](https://www.softwareadvice.com/hr/payroll-software-comparison/) / [Bright](https://www.softwareadvice.com/hr/thesaurus-brightpay-profile/) / Bright Reviews Software Advice offers objective insights based on verified user reviews and independent product and market research. When our advisors match you to a software provider, we may earn a referral fee. [Overview](https://www.softwareadvice.com/hr/thesaurus-brightpay-profile/) Reviews [Alternatives](https://www.softwareadvice.com/hr/thesaurus-brightpay-profile/alternatives/) # Bright User Reviews ## Reviews summary - Overall rating: 4.9/5 - Total reviews: 350 ### Secondary ratings - Ease of use: 4.8/5 - Customer support: 4.8/5 - Value for money: 4.8/5 - Functionality: 4.7/5 ### Rating distribution - 5 stars: 307 reviews (88%) - 4 stars: 36 reviews (10%) - 3 stars: 7 reviews (2%) - 2 stars: 0 reviews (0%) - 1 star: 0 reviews (0%) ### Most mentioned pros - We also take advantabe of BrightPay connect to allow our staff to view their payslips on the BrightPay app. - I've used Bright Payroll and CIS software for quite a few years now and it is trouble free, easy to use, easy to navigate and the help section is second to none. - The navigation is clear, and takes some of the stress out of payroll. ### Most mentioned cons - The worse bit for me was setting up the templates or adjusting them. As i am with ICB, there are certain paragraphs that I needed in there and i had to do it manually and check each template which took its time. - Takes ages to navigate pages and download documents which can be frustrating. ## Bright customer reviews Showing reviews 1-25 of 350 (page 1). ### Brightpay - employee portal winner - Overall rating: 4/5 - Reviewer: Claire R. - Verified reviewer: Yes - Industry: Accounting - Company size: 2-10 employees - Product usage: Used weekly for less than 6 months - Reviewed: January 2023 - Review source details: This reviewer was invited by us to submit an honest review and offered a nominal incentive as a thank you. #### Ratings breakdown - Ease of use: 4/5 - Value for money: 4/5 - Functionality: 4/5 #### Pros That employees can access their own payroll portal #### Cons Hasn't yet adapted for the recent ruling relating to holiday pay #### Reasons for switching to Bright As wanted software that had an employee portal. #### Vendor response Hi Claire, thank you for your review and we are delighted to hear that you are using the BrightPay Connect employee portal. Please ensure you have ran the latest upgrade, which will be prompted on the main BrightPay screen. Replied January 2023 --- ### Second to None, simply the best. - Overall rating: 5/5 - Reviewer: LESLEY ANN V. - Verified reviewer: Yes - Industry: Accounting - Company size: Self-Employed - Product usage: Used weekly for more than 2 years - Reviewed: April 2026 - Review source details: This review was submitted organically. No incentive was offered It's made the management of running the payroll for all my clients so much easier. I love the layout, it's not complicated and so easy to navigate. I wouldn't change to anyone else. #### Ratings breakdown - Ease of use: 5/5 - Value for money: 5/5 - Customer support: 5/5 - Functionality: 5/5 #### Pros I've used Bright Payroll and CIS software for quite a few years now and it is trouble free, easy to use, easy to navigate and the help section is second to none. The support is excellent and quick and the employee management is very easy to keep up to date. It's excellent value and I qould recommend this software without hesitation. I love the layout, which makes so easy to use. #### Cons I've just moved over to the cloud and I didn't think I would like it but I love it. I was dreading it thinking it would be so different but they have made it so easy to change over and the support was second to none. #### Reasons for switching to Bright Sage backup was becoming tiresome and lengthy. The product was overpriced and much more complicated to navigate. Pricing structure was rediculous for a very small company. --- ### Comprehensive but simple to use payroll software - Overall rating: 5/5 - Reviewer: Calum B. - Verified reviewer: Yes - Industry: Professional Training & Coaching - Company size: 2-10 employees - Product usage: Used unspecified for more than 2 years - Reviewed: July 2019 - Review source details: This reviewer was invited by us to submit an honest review and offered a nominal incentive as a thank you. I've been using this for several years. Support when needed has been quick and efficient. #### Ratings breakdown - Ease of use: 4/5 - Value for money: 4/5 - Customer support: 5/5 - Functionality: 4/5 #### Pros Straightforward to use. Provides a basic employee overview as well. #### Cons Not automatically backed up. Have to pay extra for cloud option. --- ### Best payroll software - Overall rating: 5/5 - Reviewer: Emily G. - Verified reviewer: Yes - Industry: Accounting - Company size: 2-10 employees - Product usage: Used monthly for more than 2 years - Reviewed: April 2026 - Review source details: This reviewer was invited by us to submit an honest review and offered a nominal incentive as a thank you. Always happy to use Bright and when we get new payroll clients we will put them on Bright for ease. Client support is also quick and readily available. #### Ratings breakdown - Ease of use: 5/5 - Value for money: 5/5 - Customer support: 5/5 - Functionality: 5/5 #### Pros Brightpay is so simple to use and figure out where features are. The navigation is clear, and takes some of the stress out of payroll. Staff also like the ease of the employee portal, as well as being able to see their holiday allowance. The ability to link to HMRC and Nest is helpful too. #### Cons I like the new cloud software but it seems to have a lot of bugs. They look to be resolved quickly but when submitting time sensitive information it can add to the pressure. #### Reasons for switching to Bright Xero payroll is not as developed as Bright and it's more difficult to make changes to payroll. We mostly use Brightpay now but are trying to switch Xero payroll customers to bright --- ### user friendly, cost effective software - Overall rating: 4/5 - Reviewer: Christine D. - Verified reviewer: Yes - Industry: Accounting - Company size: 11-50 employees - Product usage: Used daily for less than 12 months - Reviewed: June 2026 - Review source details: This review was submitted organically. No incentive was offered Very positive, seems like a nice company to deal with. We have had the opportunity to meet some of the staff at roadshows. #### Ratings breakdown - Ease of use: 4/5 - Value for money: 5/5 - Customer support: 5/5 - Functionality: 4/5 #### Pros user friendly, easy accessible support, clear pricing strategy. The in-product support in brilliant and always links to the knowledge base articles - or on to a support ticket if necessary. #### Cons It was a little clunky to migrate data and some elements had to be handled manually (e.g. employment data from P45s) #### Reasons for switching to Bright they were getting too big, too expensive, too impersonal and too complicated --- ### 10/10 amazing software - Overall rating: 5/5 - Reviewer: Faizan S. - Verified reviewer: Yes - Industry: Accounting - Company size: 51-200 employees - Product usage: Used daily for more than 2 years - Reviewed: August 2025 - Review source details: This review was submitted organically. No incentive was offered Amazing software, the best payroll software i have ever used and i have numerous clients who also love the employer portal side of things too. #### Ratings breakdown - Ease of use: 5/5 - Value for money: 5/5 - Customer support: 5/5 - Functionality: 5/5 #### Pros Very easy to use and user-friendly, can be utilised by novices or experienced professionals relatively easily. #### Cons The change to a cloud version - i preferred the desktop version, however this isn't a deal breaker at all. #### Reasons for choosing Bright Seemed more user friendly during our demo #### Reasons for switching to Bright We were not enjoying our experience as a firm with sage, luckily this was recommended to me by a friend. --- ### BrightPay - Best Payroll software we have used - Overall rating: 5/5 - Reviewer: Darren F. - Verified reviewer: Yes - Industry: Hospital & Health Care - Company size: 51-200 employees - Product usage: Used weekly for more than 2 years - Reviewed: February 2025 - Review source details: This reviewer was invited by the software vendor to submit an honest review. We have been using BrightPay for the last 4 years. We moved over from Sage due to them increasing their prices. We are so glad we made the move, not only have we saved money, but the software is excellent. We have never had any issues and it integrates faultlessly with Xero accounts. We use it for 2 payrolls and have the bureau version. We would not hesitate to recommend BrightPay and have already done so to many of our business friends. We also take advantabe of BrightPay connect to allow our staff to view their payslips on the BrightPay app. We also use the app for bookig and monitoriin of holidays. #### Ratings breakdown - Ease of use: 5/5 - Value for money: 5/5 - Customer support: 5/5 - Functionality: 5/5 #### Pros Simple, easy to use and has all the features you need plus more #### Cons The only thning we don't like is when sick leave spans 2 tax years. You have to do a manual adjustment. Only happened to us a couple of times over 4 years and they may have solved/addressed this quirk #### Reasons for choosing Bright WE took advantage of the trial period and ran one of our payrolls side by side to get an idea of what it could do, didn't let the trial expire and purchase the full version the follwing month #### Reasons for switching to Bright Sage pricing is ridiculous, the price kept increasing year on year and every thing is an added extra or was when we left. --- ### Superb product for accountants - Overall rating: 5/5 - Reviewer: Rasa M. - Verified reviewer: Yes - Industry: Accounting - Company size: Self-Employed - Product usage: Used daily for more than 2 years - Reviewed: August 2022 - Review source details: This reviewer was invited by the software vendor to submit an honest review and offered a nominal incentive as a thank you. #### Ratings breakdown - Ease of use: 5/5 - Value for money: 5/5 - Customer support: 5/5 - Functionality: 5/5 #### Pros I have tried and tested quite a few software before I came across Accountancy manager. One had a client database but required extensive work to set up tasks, especially those that are requiring, preset specific templates, another had some features that were required in Practice (i.e. Letters of engagement), but not others, so in fact, my practice and tasks were managed across 3-4 CMR's and client management software, that in combination served my practice management needs. AM was revolutionary, for it had all of the features I wanted and needed in one software. #### Cons I find filters bit cumbersome. Guess it's a very low price to pay. #### Reasons for choosing Bright Because the Accountancy manager had everything I needed and wanted in one place. #### Reasons for switching to Bright Because the Accountancy manager had everything I needed and wanted in one place. --- ### Comprehensive suite of accounting practice software - Overall rating: 4/5 - Reviewer: Peter S. - Verified reviewer: Yes - Industry: Accounting - Company size: Self-Employed - Product usage: Used daily for more than 2 years - Reviewed: June 2026 - Review source details: This review was submitted organically. No incentive was offered Overall experience is good. Software does what I need it to do, it is generally intuitive and the system enables me to streamline my processes and ensures I don't miss important deadlines. #### Ratings breakdown - Ease of use: 5/5 - Value for money: 5/5 - Customer support: 4/5 - Functionality: 4/5 #### Pros Comprehensive suite of products for accountants - including payroll, practice management, accounts and tax return production. #### Cons Products don't yet all talk to each other, but I know that functionality is coming along in due course. --- ### Prompt / Helpful Team - Overall rating: 5/5 - Reviewer: Marie M. - Verified reviewer: Yes - Industry: Transportation/ Trucking/ Railroad - Company size: 11-50 employees - Product usage: Used weekly for more than 2 years - Reviewed: June 2026 - Review source details: This review was submitted organically. No incentive was offered I would consider Bright the best company in any field to deal with. They handle everything quickly and seamlessly. #### Ratings breakdown - Ease of use: 5/5 - Value for money: 5/5 - Customer support: 5/5 - Functionality: 5/5 #### Pros Consistently excellent service. Any query I've raised has been handled promptly, professionally, and with straightforward clear communication. [sensitive content hidden] helped me recently and like the rest of the team, she was approachable and supportive, making the entire process seamless. Highly recommended. #### Cons I dont have any negative comment to make about Bright.. --- ### A software package that does what it says - Overall rating: 5/5 - Reviewer: Lesley W. - Verified reviewer: Yes - Industry: Staffing and Recruiting - Company size: Self-Employed - Product usage: Used monthly for more than 2 years - Reviewed: February 2025 - Review source details: This reviewer was invited by the software vendor to submit an honest review. Good experience the software is easy to use #### Ratings breakdown - Ease of use: 5/5 - Value for money: 5/5 - Customer support: 5/5 - Functionality: 5/5 #### Pros The software is easy to use and the support team respond quickly #### Cons Nothing to report, the software does what it says --- ### Excellent piece of software! - Overall rating: 5/5 - Reviewer: Sarah G. - Verified reviewer: Yes - Industry: Accounting - Company size: Self-Employed - Product usage: Used daily for less than 12 months - Reviewed: August 2022 - Review source details: This reviewer was invited by the software vendor to submit an honest review and offered a nominal incentive as a thank you. Excellent software, saves me so much time with onboarding new clients and chasing paperwork, documents etc. I couldn’t be without it now #### Ratings breakdown - Ease of use: 5/5 - Value for money: 5/5 - Customer support: 5/5 - Functionality: 5/5 #### Pros The task list is my first “Go to” every single day! It’s great as a diary for knowing what needs to be done by specific dates and keeps my workflow running smoothly #### Cons The extra charge for other members of staff. I think upto 3 staff users should be included in the one monthly fee originally quoted --- ### Fantastic payroll software that has thought of everything - Overall rating: 5/5 - Reviewer: Verified Reviewer - Verified reviewer: Yes - Industry: Accounting - Product usage: Used weekly for more than 2 years - Reviewed: March 2018 - Review source details: This reviewer was invited by us to submit an honest review and offered a nominal incentive as a thank you. Great software and functionality. Very feature rich as well as being easy to use. Good value for money and the support is efficient and thorough, both telephone customer service and support bank of self-help tools. #### Ratings breakdown - Ease of use: 5/5 - Value for money: 5/5 - Customer support: 5/5 - Functionality: 5/5 #### Pros The auto-enrolment functionality is a dream, making light of the entire process from identifying staging dates, right through to generating enrolment letters for staff. The user interface is simple yet detailed and easy to navigate and customise. #### Cons I have been caught out a few times by alterations to the pay of an employee in one month/pay period which do not automatically revert to the stated basic pay the following month. It would be better if it did automatically revert or the system prompted you to choose how many periods/months should reflect that change. --- ### Core software for efficient, effective client service - Overall rating: 5/5 - Reviewer: Sarah M. - Verified reviewer: Yes - Industry: Accounting - Company size: Self-Employed - Product usage: Used daily for more than 2 years - Reviewed: August 2022 - Review source details: This reviewer was invited by the software vendor to submit an honest review and offered a nominal incentive as a thank you. AM is essential to the day to day management of my business #### Ratings breakdown - Ease of use: 5/5 - Value for money: 5/5 - Customer support: 5/5 - Functionality: 4/5 #### Pros The timeline allows easy management and monitoring of deadlines and progress #### Cons I use taxfiler - it would be great if tax due/payments on account could integrate with the client record in AM --- ### The Sole Practitioner - Overall rating: 5/5 - Reviewer: Mark E. - Verified reviewer: Yes - Industry: Accounting - Company size: Self-Employed - Product usage: Used daily for less than 12 months - Reviewed: September 2019 - Review source details: This reviewer was invited by the software vendor to submit an honest review and offered a nominal incentive as a thank you. Overall, AccountancyManager has allowed me to organise my practice, keep control on all reporting deadlines, streamlined admin tasks, given a professional look and feel to clients and made my life much easier. I wouldn't/couldn't be without it #### Ratings breakdown - Ease of use: 5/5 - Value for money: 5/5 - Customer support: 5/5 - Functionality: 5/5 #### Pros Ease of use - it does all the essentials straight out of the box without the need for lots of customisation Easy to import existing clients using spreadsheets Client client onboarding is well thought out and with the production of letters of engagement and proposal emails saves me a lot of time Client portal works well together with esigning of documents Email reminders are brilliant timesavers HMRC authorisation also saves me time rather than going to the HMRC site Excellent and speedy support The software does what you need it to do and is not big and bloated like other packages #### Cons Could do with a lower cost for additional users or specifically part time users Would like to be able to have more reporting flexibility on the task list --- ### Outstanding Software - Overall rating: 5/5 - Reviewer: Kellie B. - Verified reviewer: Yes - Industry: Accounting - Company size: Self-Employed - Product usage: Used daily for less than 2 years - Reviewed: August 2019 - Review source details: This reviewer was invited by the software vendor to submit an honest review and offered a nominal incentive as a thank you. I am so glad I found this piece of software, my life is so much simpler now and I have everything in once place. The support team are quick to answer any queries, I couldn't recommend this piece of software enough #### Ratings breakdown - Ease of use: 5/5 - Value for money: 5/5 - Customer support: 5/5 - Functionality: 5/5 #### Pros This software is very easy to use, saves time, tracks tasks, emails clients for missing records, free document portal. Most of my administration is now automated thanks to Accountancy Manager #### Cons You can't have more than 1 email address associated with Accountancy Manager. Ie: The accountant uses Accountancy Manager so my client cannot use Accountancy Manager with me for his payroll reports as his email address is already been used. --- ### Must have for busy accountancy practice - Overall rating: 5/5 - Reviewer: Wendy B. - Verified reviewer: Yes - Industry: Accounting - Company size: 2-10 employees - Product usage: Used daily for less than 2 years - Reviewed: August 2019 - Review source details: This reviewer was invited by the software vendor to submit an honest review and offered a nominal incentive as a thank you. Brilliant software for a buy accountant practice - keeps all tasks in order and makes managing deadlines easy. Getting proposals to potential clients is a dream once you have everything configured/customised to your ways or working - 5 minutes after talking to a prospect you can have a full proposal with T&C's in their inbox. #### Ratings breakdown - Ease of use: 5/5 - Value for money: 5/5 - Customer support: 5/5 - Functionality: 5/5 #### Pros Ease of use, support, regular software upgrades, never miss a deadline, client on-boarding, proposal management, customisation #### Cons Nothing major - perhaps the only minor item is cut and paste functionality can be a bit erratic when using templates. But this is minor.... --- ### Accountants review - Overall rating: 5/5 - Reviewer: Malek A. - Verified reviewer: Yes - Industry: Accounting - Company size: 2-10 employees - Product usage: Used daily for less than 2 years - Reviewed: August 2019 - Review source details: This reviewer was invited by the software vendor to submit an honest review and offered a nominal incentive as a thank you. #### Ratings breakdown - Ease of use: 5/5 - Value for money: 4/5 - Customer support: 5/5 - Functionality: 4/5 #### Pros The ease if use. Automations invoicing section is great Very professional #### Cons emails, when you copy and paste to the email box in AM, it does not do a great job at it. Creating tables is not as easy and clean as others. --- ### Excellent Software - Overall rating: 5/5 - Reviewer: Kandarp S. - Verified reviewer: Yes - Industry: Accounting - Company size: 2-10 employees - Product usage: Used daily for less than 2 years - Reviewed: August 2019 - Review source details: This reviewer was invited by the software vendor to submit an honest review and offered a nominal incentive as a thank you. It saves a lot of my time. #### Ratings breakdown - Ease of use: 3/5 - Value for money: 4/5 - Customer support: 5/5 - Functionality: 4/5 #### Pros 1. Connection with Companies house 2. Automatic emails 3. Ease of creating engagement letters #### Cons Template customisation. You can't simply copy and paste directly to the software due to the HTML issues. I had to copy the contents first to notepad and then to the software. However, the support team was brilliant. They did a lot of work for many of my templates. --- ### Best thing we ever did - Overall rating: 5/5 - Reviewer: Sharon B. - Verified reviewer: Yes - Industry: Accounting - Company size: 11-50 employees - Product usage: Used daily for less than 12 months - Reviewed: August 2019 - Review source details: This reviewer was invited by the software vendor to submit an honest review and offered a nominal incentive as a thank you. The time saved with automatic chasing means that we have more time available for our clients. #### Ratings breakdown - Ease of use: 5/5 - Value for money: 5/5 - Customer support: 5/5 - Functionality: 5/5 #### Pros Easy to use, excellent fro chasing for information automatically which saves us so much time. #### Cons The implementation process, the import from digita database was not straightforward. #### Reasons for choosing Bright Much better overall product --- ### The best helper! - Overall rating: 5/5 - Reviewer: Simona C. - Verified reviewer: Yes - Industry: Accounting - Company size: 2-10 employees - Product usage: Used daily for less than 2 years - Reviewed: August 2019 - Review source details: This reviewer was invited by the software vendor to submit an honest review and offered a nominal incentive as a thank you. Using this software is helping me save time, it brings to my attention tasks that need sorting out daily, monthly and overall I do not see myself working without AM in the future. #### Ratings breakdown - Ease of use: 5/5 - Value for money: 5/5 - Customer support: 5/5 - Functionality: 5/5 #### Pros The fact that I have everything in one place and helps me organize my workload. #### Cons Can not think of anything, or at least I have not encountered so far any fault. --- ### Thumbs up for BrightPay - Overall rating: 5/5 - Reviewer: George K. - Industry: Accounting - Product usage: Used unspecified for more than 2 years - Reviewed: July 2016 - Review source details: This review was submitted organically. No incentive was offered #### Ratings breakdown - Ease of use: 5/5 - Value for money: 5/5 - Customer support: 4.5/5 - Functionality: 5/5 #### Pros I like that's it's so easy to use. You don't need to have payroll experience. Brightpay alerts you need to send through your RTI and pension contributions. It also is free for auto enrolment. My previous payroll software were charging extra for auto enrolment. I've been using Brightpay for over 3 years. I pleased to say they have never increased their prices. It's an excellent product. The developers clearly have the end user in mind. If you get stuck their help guides are fantastic. 10/10 #### Cons There's nothing I don't like about it. Brightpay keeps up to date. New features are being added all the time. I can't think of a single thing that I don't like about it. --- ### Best Software!!!!! - Overall rating: 5/5 - Reviewer: Jadwiga D. - Verified reviewer: Yes - Industry: Accounting - Company size: 2-10 employees - Product usage: Used daily for less than 2 years - Reviewed: August 2019 - Review source details: This reviewer was invited by the software vendor to submit an honest review and offered a nominal incentive as a thank you. We run Tax Returns and MTD VAT returns using this software and we found it so easy to use that we definitely save a lot of time comparing to software we used before. #### Ratings breakdown - Ease of use: 5/5 - Value for money: 5/5 - Customer support: 5/5 - Functionality: 5/5 #### Pros Functionality, reliability and excellent customer service #### Cons Price could be a little bit more affordable --- ### Easy to use, easy to understand - Overall rating: 5/5 - Reviewer: Mantas V. - Verified reviewer: Yes - Industry: Accounting - Company size: 11-50 employees - Product usage: Used daily for less than 2 years - Reviewed: August 2019 - Review source details: This reviewer was invited by the software vendor to submit an honest review and offered a nominal incentive as a thank you. We can prioritize our work schedule and assign different work task to each employee #### Ratings breakdown - Ease of use: 5/5 - Value for money: 5/5 - Customer support: 4/5 - Functionality: 5/5 #### Pros Very easy to use and to understand, high quality support #### Cons Customer service could have a webchat, sometimes AM becomes laggy --- ### Am review - Overall rating: 5/5 - Reviewer: Jaime H. - Verified reviewer: Yes - Industry: Accounting - Company size: Self-Employed - Product usage: Used daily for less than 2 years - Reviewed: August 2019 - Review source details: This reviewer was invited by the software vendor to submit an honest review and offered a nominal incentive as a thank you. Reminders sent automatically #### Ratings breakdown - Ease of use: 5/5 - Value for money: 5/5 - Customer support: 4/5 - Functionality: 4/5 #### Pros The automation for reminders sent to clients #### Cons Needs to link to software e.g. xero For invoices #### Reasons for choosing Bright Member of bookkeeper alliance ## More reviews [Next reviews](https://www.softwareadvice.com/hr/thesaurus-brightpay-profile/reviews/?page=2) --- Bright Reviews, Pros and Cons - 2026 Software Advice