AIMM vs Payboy: Singapore Payroll Software Comparison (2026)

Quick answer: AIMM Payroll is cheaper for small SMEs with flat per-company pricing (S$0-S$69/month) vs Payboy's per-employee, per-module pricing (from S$3-3.50/employee/month). Payboy is better for shift-based F&B and retail businesses with scheduling needs and PSG eligibility. Choose AIMM for lowest cost, Payboy for shift scheduling.

If you are shortlisting Singapore payroll software and have narrowed it to AIMM Payroll and Payboy, this comparison is for you. Both are locally built for Singapore compliance, but they were designed for different buyers: AIMM optimises for the lowest possible cost with flat per-company pricing and a genuine free tier; Payboy optimises for shift-based F&B, retail, and hospitality businesses that need scheduling, clock-in attendance, and modular pay-per-use billing.

This guide compares the two on pricing at real headcounts, the full compliance surface (CPF, SDL, SHG, FWL, IRAS AIS, IR8A/IR21), integrations (Xero, QuickBooks Online), PSG eligibility, mobile access, shift scheduling, and where each genuinely wins. We are deliberately honest about AIMM's gaps — it is the younger product and several features are still in progress. All pricing figures were verified against each vendor's published pricing page in June 2026. For broader context, see our best payroll software for Singapore SMEs guide.

How the two pricing models differ

The single biggest difference between AIMM and Payboy is the pricing model, and it drives almost every other comparison in this guide.

AIMM Payroll uses flat per-company pricing. You pay one monthly fee for the whole company, and that fee does not move when you hire within a tier. There are four tiers — Free, Starter, Growth, and Business — each capping the number of employees but not charging per head. The result is a payroll bill you can budget on day one that only changes when you cross a tier boundary.

Payboy uses per-employee, per-module pricing. You select the modules you need (Payroll, Leave, Shift Scheduling, Attendance, Claims, and others) and pay a rate per employee per month for each module. The Payroll module starts from approximately S$3 to S$3.50 per employee per month. Stacking modules — adding scheduling, attendance, or leave — increases the per-employee cost further. Payboy's pricing page uses a pay-per-use calculator that returns a custom quote, so the exact figure depends on your module mix.

This means the two products diverge sharply as headcount grows. Below is the pricing comparison at the four headcounts SMEs most often ask about. The Payboy figures are payroll-module-only; adding scheduling or attendance pushes the cost higher.

AIMM vs Payboy: pricing comparison at 5, 10, 25, and 50 employees

The table below shows monthly cost for payroll-only at each headcount. AIMM's price is the flat tier fee; Payboy's is the per-employee payroll-module rate (shown as a range from S$3 to S$3.50 per employee per month, payroll module only).

How the math works. AIMM's price is fixed within a tier: 3 employees is S$0 (Free), 5 to 10 is S$9.90 (Starter), 11 to 50 is S$29 (Growth), and 51 to 200 is S$69 (Business). Payboy's payroll module multiplies by headcount: at 25 employees the payroll module alone is 25 x S$3 = S$75/month at the low end, and 25 x S$3.50 = S$87.50/month at the high end.

Two things to note about the Payboy column. First, these are payroll-module-only figures. Most Payboy customers add at least one more module — leave, shift scheduling, or attendance — which stacks another per-employee charge on top. A 25-employee F&B outlet running Payroll plus Shift Scheduling plus Attendance can easily pay double the payroll-only figure. Second, Payboy is PSG-eligible, so qualifying SMEs can recover up to 50% of subscription costs through the Productivity Solutions Grant. AIMM's PSG pre-approval is in progress, so the net-after-grant picture can favour Payboy for grant-eligible businesses today.

AIMM vs Payboy: full feature comparison

Sources. AIS status per the IRAS AIS software developers list at iras.gov.sg. PSG eligibility per the IMDA/GoBusiness PSG vendor list. Payboy pricing and module mix per the Payboy pricing page, verified June 2026. AIMM tier features per the AIMM Payroll pricing page.

Both tools cover the core Singapore compliance surface — CPF by age band and PR status, SDL, SHG funds (CDAC, MBMF, SINDA, ECF), FWL, IR8A/IR21 file generation, and GIRO bank files. Where they diverge is everything around that core: pricing model, scheduling and attendance, integrations, AI, and maturity. The next two sections break that down honestly.

Where AIMM wins

1. Lowest cost at almost every headcount

Flat per-company pricing means your payroll bill does not move when you hire. At 10 employees, AIMM Starter (S$9.90/month) is roughly 3x to 3.5x cheaper than Payboy's payroll module alone (S$30-35/month). At 50 employees, AIMM Growth (S$29/month) is roughly 5x to 6x cheaper than Payboy's payroll-only figure (S$150-175/month) — and that Payboy figure excludes any scheduling or attendance modules. If minimising payroll overhead is your priority, AIMM is structurally cheaper.

2. A genuine free tier

AIMM's Free plan covers up to 3 employees at S$0/month, with the same compliance engine as the paid tiers — CPF, SDL, SHG, FWL, and itemised payslips. Payboy has no free tier; it offers a 7-day free trial, which is repeatedly flagged as too short to properly evaluate the product. For early-stage startups, side businesses, and micro-SMEs, a genuine free tier beats a time-limited trial.

3. Predictable flat pricing

Per-employee pricing punishes growth — every hire on Payboy adds S$3 to S$3.50/month for the payroll module, plus more for each stacked module. AIMM's flat tiers mean hiring your 11th employee costs the same as your 10th, and your 25th the same as your 11th. Budgeting becomes trivial: your payroll cost is a known line item that only changes when you cross a tier boundary (3, 10, 50, or 200 employees).

4. AI co-pilot

AIMM's Growth tier (S$29/month) and above include an AI co-pilot that assists with pay-run setup, flags anomalies, and answers compliance questions in natural language. Payboy does not offer an equivalent AI assistant. As of June 2026, AI in Singapore payroll software is still rare — only a few vendors have substantive AI features — so this is a genuine differentiator for AIMM at its price point.

5. Audit trail included at Growth

AIMM's Growth tier and above include an audit trail of changes to payroll data, which matters for accountability and for surviving an IRAS query. This is included in the flat S$29/month fee rather than being a separately billed module.

Where Payboy wins

We said this guide would be honest, so here is where Payboy still has a genuine edge.

1. Shift scheduling and time attendance — purpose-built for F&B and retail

This is Payboy's core differentiator. Payboy was built for shift-based businesses — F&B, retail, hospitality, and services — where scheduling staff, tracking clock-ins, and reconciling hours against pay is a daily concern. Its shift scheduling and attendance modules are purpose-built, not bolted on. AIMM does not offer shift scheduling or time attendance. If your business runs on shifts rather than fixed monthly salaries, Payboy is the stronger fit by a wide margin, and AIMM is not a realistic substitute.

2. PSG-eligible today

Payboy is on the IMDA/GoBusiness PSG pre-approved vendor list, so qualifying SMEs can recover up to 50% of subscription costs through the Productivity Solutions Grant. AIMM is pursuing PSG pre-approval but is not yet listed. For a grant-eligible SME, the net-after-grant cost of Payboy can be substantially lower than the sticker price — and PSG eligibility can also make Payboy easier to get budget approval for. Note that PSG eligibility has criteria (at least 30% local shareholding, and company size/turnover caps), so verify your eligibility on the GoBusiness grant directory.

3. IRAS AIS vendor listed with direct API submission

Payboy is on the IRAS AIS software developers list and supports direct API submission (Category A). If you have 5 or more employees, AIS submission is mandatory, and a listed vendor submits directly to IRAS through the API with no manual file uploads. AIMM generates IR8A and IR21 files in the correct format but is not yet on the IRAS AIS vendor list — its AIS Category A certification is in progress. Until then, AIMM users submit via file generation rather than direct API. If direct API submission is a hard requirement or your filing season is imminent, an AIS-listed vendor like Payboy is the safer choice. See our IRAS AIS and IR8A filing guide.

4. Xero and QuickBooks Online integration

Both Payboy and AIMM offer live integration with Xero and QuickBooks Online, syncing payroll journals to the general ledger. For accounting-led SMEs where payroll-to-ledger sync is non-negotiable, both platforms can handle it. The differentiator is no longer integration availability — it is the broader ecosystem: Payboy pairs accounting sync with shift scheduling and time attendance, while AIMM pairs it with flat pricing and an AI co-pilot.

5. Mobile app

Payboy has a mobile app for employees to view payslips, request leave, and clock in for shifts. AIMM is currently web-based; a mobile app is planned. For shift-based businesses where employees need to clock in from a phone, Payboy's mobile app is part of the core workflow, not a nice-to-have.

6. PayBeyond cross-border payouts

Payboy offers PayBeyond, a cross-border payout feature that lets Singapore businesses pay overseas staff via SGD/USD wallets through GIRO, FAST, or SWIFT. This is not full multi-country payroll — Payboy is Singapore-first — but it addresses the common case of a Singapore SME paying a handful of overseas contractors or remote staff. AIMM is Singapore-only.

7. Modular pay-per-use billing

Payboy's per-module model means you only pay for what you use. A business that needs only payroll pays only for the payroll module; a business that needs scheduling adds it on. For businesses with a narrow requirement, this can be efficient — provided the headcount stays low. The trade-off, as the pricing table shows, is that per-employee costs scale faster than flat pricing as headcount grows, and stacking modules compounds that.

Best for: who should choose which

Choosing between AIMM and Payboy comes down to what you optimise for. The recommendations below map the most common SME profiles to the right tool.

The clearest dividing line is the business model. If your staff work fixed monthly salaries in an office, AIMM's flat pricing and free tier make it the cheaper choice at almost every headcount. If your staff work shifts and you need scheduling and clock-in attendance as part of the daily workflow, Payboy is purpose-built for that and AIMM is not a substitute.

Summary

AIMM and Payboy are both built for Singapore compliance, but they serve different buyers. AIMM optimises for the lowest cost with flat per-company pricing (S$0 to S$69/month), a genuine free tier, and an AI co-pilot on the Growth tier — making it the cheaper choice for office-based SMEs with fixed monthly salaries. Payboy optimises for shift-based F&B, retail, and hospitality businesses with purpose-built shift scheduling, clock-in time attendance, a mobile app, and PSG eligibility — making it the stronger choice when scheduling and attendance are part of the daily workflow.

AIMM is still completing its IRAS AIS vendor listing (direct API submission), PSG pre-approval, and mobile app. If any of those are hard requirements today, Payboy is the safer call. If your priority is the lowest cost with solid core compliance, AIMM is cheaper by a wide margin at almost every headcount. Whatever you choose, ensure your software handles CPF, SDL, SHG, FWL, AIS filing, and itemised payslips correctly — the compliance cost of getting those wrong dwarfs any subscription price difference. See our CPF contribution rates guide, SDL calculation guide, and best payroll software for Singapore SMEs guide.

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