Smartly

What Smartly does

Smartly is a New Zealand–based fintech that provides cloud payroll and people management software to Kiwi small and medium enterprises. Founded in 2004 as SmartPayroll and rebranded to Smartly in 2022, the platform is purpose-built for NZ-specific employment legislation — most notably the Holidays Act 2003 leave calculations, IRD payday filing, PAYE/kiwiSaver deduction handling, and a PAYE intermediary service operated via Datacom's trust account. The product is ISO27001 certified, hosted on Datacom's cloud infrastructure, and integrates natively with Xero for job costing and financial reporting.

The offering is structured around two payroll delivery modes — a DIY Payroll plan (subscription, NZ$51.50/month platform fee plus NZ$2.60 per employee per pay run) and a Smartly-run Managed Payroll service (NZ$6.20 per employee per month with a NZ$365 monthly minimum) — plus an optional People Management add-on (NZ$10 per employee per month on DIY) that bundles digital onboarding, e-signed employment contracts, employee profiles, document storage, an org chart, and embedded legal-advice access. Specialized modules address the payroll needs of specific verticals, including piece-rate and seasonal workforce support for agriculture (1,800+ agri employers, 12,000+ agri employees), construction job costing, hospitality variable-hour leave, retail one-touch pay, and professional services time/job allocation.

The go-to-market is hybrid: self-serve online sign-up (DIY) and direct sales (Managed), augmented by a 400+ firm accountant and bookkeeper referral channel and an extensive content-marketing and webinar program. Smartly serves over 22,000 Kiwi SMEs across construction, hospitality, agriculture, retail, and professional services, operates from Lower Hutt with a secondary team in Auckland, employs just over 200 people, and is privately held as a strategic operating subsidiary of Datacom.

Name

Smartly

Legal name

Smartly Limited

Website

https://smartly.co.nz

Company type

Private

Founded year

2004

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

51–100 employees

Short description

Smartly is a New Zealand–headquartered fintech providing cloud-based payroll and people management software to over 22,000 Kiwi SMEs, with NZ-specific compliance (Holidays Act, IRD payday filing, PAYE intermediary), Xero integration, and a subsidiary of Datacom since 2020.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Payroll Software

NAICS

Payroll Services (541214), Accounting, Tax Preparation, Bookkeeping, and Payroll Services (5412)

SIC

Services-Prepackaged Software (7372), Services-Computer Processing & Data Preparation (7374)

akta.pro primary industry

Payroll Software & Payroll-as-a-Service (SaaS) (BPACAIAB)

akta.pro secondary industries

Managed Payroll Services (Full-Service Payroll Outsourcing) (BPAAAHAA), Employer Payroll Processing (SMB & Enterprise) (FSAMAKAA)

Keywords

• Payroll software
• People management
• Payroll automation
• HR software
• Employee management

Headquarters

HQ city

Lower Hutt

HQ country

New Zealand

HQ region

Oceania

Offices2 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Software

Cost components

Personnel, Technology or R&D, Marketing or Sales, Operations, Infrastructure

Revenue model

1. DIY Payroll Plan (Platform + Per-Employee Fee): Base monthly platform fee of $51.50 plus $2.60 per employee per pay run. Supports weekly, fortnightly, and monthly pay cycles. Includes automated PAYE, employee payments, IRD filing, timesheets, labour costing, Xero integration, and employee app access.
2. DIY Payroll + People Management Add-on: Base monthly platform fee plus $2.60 per employee per pay run for payroll, plus $10 per employee per month for People Management add-on. Includes digital onboarding, e-signed contracts, expiry alerts, HR task reminders, org chart, and access to HR templates.
3. Smartly-run Managed Payroll: Smartly manages the full payroll process. Priced at $6.20 per employee per month with a minimum monthly fee of $365. Includes dedicated account manager, full compliance handling, and payroll admin tasks performed by Smartly specialists.
4. Smartly-run Payroll + People Management: Managed payroll combined with People Management add-on. Pricing is custom/tailored for businesses with specific needs. Offered as a bundled managed service.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion3 records

Distribution channels5 records

Marketing channels8 records

Core offering

Smartly provides cloud-based payroll and people management software purpose-built for New Zealand SMEs. The platform automates payroll calculations, payments to employees and the IRD, KiwiSaver and other deductions, Holidays Act 2003 leave compliance, and payday filing. It is offered in two delivery models — DIY Payroll (self-service software) and Managed Payroll (fully outsourced payroll run by Smartly's specialists) — with an optional People Management add-on covering hiring, onboarding, document storage, HR compliance templates, and an org chart.

Product overview

Smartly is a unified payroll and people management platform designed for New Zealand SMEs. The platform consists of two core payroll options (DIY Payroll for self-service and Managed Payroll for fully outsourced processing) plus an optional People Management add-on module that integrates directly with payroll to provide HR functionality including hiring, onboarding, document storage, and compliance tracking.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• DIY Payroll Self-service cloud payroll software for New Zealand SMEs to process payroll themselves. Includes automated PAYE and staff payments, payday filing to IRD, KiwiSaver and other deductions, digital timesheets, labour costing by job and department, leave management with automated Holidays Act compliance, comprehensive reporting, Xero integration, and an employee self-service mobile app.
• Managed Payroll Fully outsourced payroll service in which Smartly's team of payroll specialists runs payroll on behalf of the customer. Includes a dedicated account manager handling data entry, payroll administration, IRD compliance and payday filing, employee payments, and KiwiSaver and other deductions. Targets NZ businesses that want to outsource payroll rather than run it themselves.
• People Management HR software add-on module that connects employment data directly with Smartly Payroll. Features include digital candidate management and offer letters, e-signed employment contracts, automated onboarding task reminders, employee profiles and document storage for personal details, employment history, certifications and licences, training records, HR task reminders and reports, a live org chart, 50+ HR compliance templates and policies, and free 15-minute legal advice per issue from employment law firm Ashcroft Mitchell McGregor.

Quantifiable outcome

• Payroll processing time reduced from 6 hours to 20 minutes for small businesses
• +4 more outcomes

Named customers22 records

Segments7 records

Ideal customer profiles5 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration2 records

Feature15 records

Partnerships

Seven partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• XerocoreTechnology or IntegrationSmartly integrates with Xero accounting software. Payroll data flows automatically from Smartly into Xero. Jobs and departments can be matched to Xero reporting for seamless job costing and financial reporting. A Xero integration guide is available.
• Ashcroft Mitchell McGregor (Employment Law Firm)minorStrategic or Co-development PartnerPeople Management subscribers receive 15 minutes of free legal advice per issue from Ashcroft Mitchell McGregor employment law experts. This is a co-developed HR support feature available to all People Management customers, providing quick expert support without surprise legal fees.
• SBA (NZ Accounting Firm)coreChannel Partner/ Reseller/ DistributorSBA provides small businesses across New Zealand with expert accounting services and year-round financial support. SBA recommends Smartly to its SME clients and has featured customer testimonials about Smartly. Brad Evans, Client Partner at SBA, has provided a testimonial on the Smartly website.
• Sidekick Chartered AccountantscoreChannel Partner/ Reseller/ DistributorSidekick is a forward-thinking advisory firm based across New Zealand supporting small businesses with accountancy and business advisory needs. Ric Thorpe, CEO, has provided testimonials about Smartly's ease of payroll, seamless transition, and excellent customer support.
• PKF (NZ Accounting Firm)minorChannel Partner/ Reseller/ DistributorPKF is an accounting firm that uses Smartly and refers the product to its SME clients. PKF logo appears in Smartly's customer testimonials section.
• BDO (NZ Accounting Firm)minorChannel Partner/ Reseller/ DistributorBDO is an accounting firm that uses Smartly and appears in Smartly's customer testimonials and logo carousel.
• Rival AccountingminorChannel Partner/ Reseller/ DistributorRival Accounting is a New Zealand accounting firm that partners with Smartly and appears in Smartly's customer testimonials section.

Scale indicators7 records

Recent moves8 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Emerging players

• Deel: Deel is a global payroll, EOR, and contractor management platform rapidly expanding into ANZ. While its primary focus is global/remote employment, it increasingly competes with NZ payroll providers for SMEs with cross-border workforces.
• KeyPay: KeyPay is an Australia-based cloud payroll and workforce management platform serving SMEs. It overlaps with Smartly's payroll and people management offering, particularly for businesses operating across both Australia and New Zealand.
• Rippling: Rippling is a US-headquartered unified workforce management platform (payroll, HR, IT, finance) expanding internationally. It represents an emerging global competitor targeting the same SME/mid-market payroll-and-people-management category Smartly operates in.
• Employment Hero: Employment Hero is a fast-growing Australia/NZ-headquartered HR, payroll, and employee benefits platform. It is an emerging player competing with Smartly for ANZ SMEs with broader HR and benefits functionality beyond pure payroll.

Direct peers

• Crystal Payroll: Crystal Payroll is a New Zealand payroll provider offering both SaaS and managed payroll services to local SMEs. It is a direct domestic competitor with overlapping product and target market.
• PaySauce: PaySauce is a New Zealand-born cloud payroll and workforce management SaaS targeting SMEs. It is the closest direct competitor to Smartly in the Kiwi payroll market, offering similar DIY and managed options and targeting overlapping customer segments including agriculture and hospitality.
• Ace Payroll: Ace Payroll is an established NZ payroll software provider serving SMEs and mid-market employers. It is a direct domestic competitor offering both software and managed payroll services across New Zealand.
• FlexiTime: FlexiTime is a New Zealand cloud-based payroll and timesheet platform serving small businesses. It competes directly with Smartly's DIY tier for micro and small NZ employers wanting low-cost, self-serve payroll.

Broad incumbents

• Xero (Payroll): Xero dominates NZ cloud accounting and sells an integrated payroll module to its existing NZ customers. It is both Smartly's deepest integration partner and a broad incumbent competitor that could intensify its payroll push at any time.
• MYOB: MYOB is a major Australia/NZ accounting and payroll incumbent with a large installed SME base. It is a broad incumbent competing with Smartly across accounting + payroll bundles for the same NZ SME customer segment.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat6 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Xfacebook.com/SmartlyNZ
• YouTubeyoutube.com/channel/UCN7KhhZyARYymOpfWQJSJng
• Facebookfacebook.com/SmartlyNZ
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/smartlynz
• Instagraminstagram.com/smartlynz

Compliance1 record

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles7 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Smartly