Search SoftGids

Search software and articles

Sage Pastel Payroll logo

Sage Pastel Payroll reviews

4,1251 verified reviews
Write a review

Showing 181 to 200 of 251 reviews

DP

Denise Pillay

Payroll Manager

14 January 2026

Mining · 11–50 employees South Africa Used for 1–2 years

Mostly happy in Vanderbijlpark, a few gripes

Good dependable payroll that shows its age at every login. Everything lives on one machine so remote payroll means remote desktop. It caters up to 500 employees on one licence so we have headroom for years.

Pros

EMP201 figures straight off a report

1 people found this review helpful
SS

Sipho Smith

Bookkeeper

2 January 2026

Construction · 51–200 employees South Africa Used for Less than 6 months

Good but not perfect for our Cape Town team

Happy with the payroll, tired of the annual admin around it. The interface is pure desktop nostalgia and not in a charming way.

Pros

IRP5 and IT3a certificates in a few clicks

Cons

Annual licence model, no monthly option

1 people found this review helpful
DP

Devan Perumal

1 January 2026

South Africa Used for 6–12 months

Not what we hoped for our Gqeberha business

The cloud alternatives do the same job with none of this ceremony. Licence reactivation after a hardware change took days of back and forth. We paid consultant hours just to apply the annual update correctly.

Cons

Recovery from data issues is slow and stressful

1 people found this review helpful
CB

Cheryl Booysen

Financial Director

25 December 2025

South Africa Used for 6–12 months

Doing the job for us in Kimberley

As the only admin person in a Klerksdorp firm, I need payroll that does not fight me. The GL integration posts salary journals into Pastel accounting automatically.

Pros

SARS statutory tables always current; uIF declarations generated automatically

1 people found this review helpful
IN

Ilse Naidoo

30 November 2025

Hospitality · 1–10 employees South Africa Used for 1–2 years

Recon season went from two weeks to two days

Switched from manual wage books 2 years ago and never looked back. It handled the ETI rules correctly when even our accountant was unsure. Every SARS code change over the years has arrived on time in an update.

Pros

ETI calculated correctly

Cons

Training needed for new payroll staff

1 people found this review helpful
CL

Charmaine Le Roux

Financial Manager · Roux Accountants Services

22 November 2025

Accounting · 51–200 employees South Africa Used for 2+ years

Good but not perfect for our Midrand team

A good product that Sage clearly wants you to outgrow. The interface is pure desktop nostalgia and not in a charming way. Moving between the licence tiers is a bigger price jump than headcount justifies.

Pros

IRP5 and IT3a certificates in a few clicks

1 people found this review helpful
CN

Charmaine Naicker

HR Administrator · Umhlanga Consulting

12 October 2025

Accounting · 1–10 employees South Africa Used for 1–2 years

Working well for our 4 person team

Our accountant checks the EMP201 figures monthly and they have never been out. Termination payouts with leave encashment calculate correctly first time.

Pros

Leave, loans and garnishees all handled

Cons

Tied to one machine without hosting

1 people found this review helpful
MM

Moegamat Mahlangu

Payroll Administrator · Somerset West Logistics

8 October 2025

Logistics · 11–50 employees South Africa Used for 6–12 months

Solid choice for a Vereeniging employer

Happy with the payroll, tired of the annual admin around it. Custom reports beyond the standard set need more patience than they should. You can rerun and check a payslip before committing, which has saved me twice.

Pros

Handles weekly, fortnightly and monthly runs

Cons

Tied to one machine without hosting

1 people found this review helpful
MG

Marlene Gumede

29 September 2025

Construction & Trades · 11–50 employees South Africa Used for 6–12 months

Working well for our 22 person team

IRP5s for all our staff printed and reconciled in a single afternoon. Leave balances finally match reality because everything is captured in one place.

Cons

Training needed for new payroll staff

1 people found this review helpful
LE

Lindiwe Erasmus

Payroll Administrator · Erasmus Mining and Sons

10 September 2025

Mining · 1–10 employees South Africa Used for 2+ years

EMP501 recon exports straight into e@syFile

As the only admin person in a Bloemfontein firm, I need payroll that does not fight me. Our consultant is one phone call away and knows the product inside out.

Pros

Strong consultant network countrywide

Cons

Year end update process is a ritual

1 people found this review helpful
KV

Khanyisile Van der Merwe

Payroll Manager

9 July 2025

Retail South Africa Used for 6–12 months

Serving our Kimberley operation well

Our accountant checks the EMP201 figures monthly and they have never been out. Bulk increases across the wage staff took minutes instead of a day. Our consultant is one phone call away and knows the product inside out.

Pros

Strong consultant network countrywide; leave, loans and garnishees all handled

1 people found this review helpful
PM

Palesa Marais

Payroll Manager · Garden Route Foods

15 May 2025

Food & Beverage · 51–200 employees South Africa Used for 1–2 years

Never missed a payday in 2 years

A good product that Sage clearly wants you to outgrow. Support in tax season means long waits, plan your questions early. The 20 percent discount for having Pastel accounting made the renewal easier to swallow.

Pros

Bulk increases are quick

1 people found this review helpful
ZV

Zaid Van Wyk

Payroll Manager · Garden Route Supplies Solutions

6 May 2025

Wholesale · 11–50 employees South Africa Used for 2+ years

Not what we hoped for our East London business

We sat without working payroll for three days in January and support could not help. Every question ends with a suggestion to book paid consulting. We paid consultant hours just to apply the annual update correctly.

Cons

Updates have broken working setups

1 people found this review helpful
KH

Kiara Hendricks

HR Manager

27 April 2025

Healthcare · 201–500 employees South Africa Used for 1–2 years

Serving our Worcester operation well

February used to mean overtime for me, now the EMP501 recon is days not weeks. Our consultant is one phone call away and knows the product inside out. Ten years from now it will probably still be running our wages.

Pros

IRP5 and IT3a certificates in a few clicks

1 people found this review helpful
AR

Ayanda Rikhotso

Accountant · Southern Cross Steel Studio

18 April 2025

Construction · 1–10 employees South Africa Used for 2+ years

Never missed a payday in 7 years

Does the statutory heavy lifting well and the everyday conveniences poorly. The interface is pure desktop nostalgia and not in a charming way. EMP201 figures come straight off a report, I capture them on eFiling and I am done.

1 people found this review helpful
MD

Moegamat Damon

Bookkeeper · Legacy Farming SA

2 March 2025

Agriculture · 11–50 employees South Africa Used for 6–12 months

Decent fit for a 45 person company

We trust the numbers completely, the workflow less so. Everything lives on one machine so remote payroll means remote desktop. The GL integration posts salary journals into Pastel accounting automatically.

Cons

Annual licence model, no monthly option

1 people found this review helpful
CM

Chantal Makhubela

Practice Owner · Kalahari Packaging Solutions

28 November 2024

Manufacturing · 51–200 employees South Africa Used for Less than 6 months

Good but not perfect for our Klerksdorp team

Does the statutory heavy lifting well and the everyday conveniences poorly. Everything lives on one machine so remote payroll means remote desktop.

Cons

Year end update process is a ritual

1 people found this review helpful
TA

Thandiwe Abrahams

HR Manager

11 October 2024

South Africa Used for 1–2 years

Mostly happy in Mossel Bay, a few gripes

The engine is right, the experience around it is dated.

Pros

EMP501 export works perfectly with e@syFile; bank files for all the major SA banks

Cons

Licence tier jumps are steep

1 people found this review helpful
TV

Thandiwe Van der Merwe

Financial Director

5 October 2024

Healthcare · 1–10 employees South Africa Used for 6–12 months

Old school and proud of it, works every month

Solid product carrying the weight of its desktop roots. Everything lives on one machine so remote payroll means remote desktop.

1 people found this review helpful
WP

Warren Pillay

Practice Owner

12 September 2024

Retail · 11–50 employees South Africa Used for 2+ years

Happy customer in Klerksdorp

The bank file exports for Nedbank and the whole wage run pays out in one go. Backups are quick and restoring a period to check history actually works. Payroll is the one thing you cannot get wrong and this gets it right.

1 people found this review helpful