Salary benchmarking tools and companies in the UK

UK salary benchmarking tools compared

The useful distinction is between researching a salary, pricing a vacancy and managing a pay structure. These products overlap, but they do not all solve the same problem.

Ravio's published example is for a 250-person company, not a quote for every employer. A public page or demo does not necessarily include full benchmark access. The provider notes below link to the supporting sources.

What does each salary benchmarking company offer?

Shortlist providers by the work they support, then test your own roles. A broad dataset or a long feature list cannot tell you whether your exact vacancy has a strong match.

Ravio: ongoing compensation benchmarking

Ravio combines benchmarking with optional salary-band and pay-equity tools. Its documented approach uses data from employer HR systems and distinguishes base salary, variable pay, equity and benefits. It also supports mapping roles and levels. This is worth exploring when a People or Reward team needs repeatable decisions across multiple jobs and markets.

Its pricing page gives a starting example of £5,400 a year for a 250-person company; the quote depends on headcount, modules and market needs. Ask to see coverage and confidence for your UK roles before deciding whether the platform fits.

Figures: a compensation framework and review workflow

Figures supports benchmarking, salary bands, employee positioning and compensation reviews. Its benchmark documentation describes customer data collected through HR integrations and benchmarks refreshed monthly after checks. A premium Mercer integration adds another data source; confirm which dataset your quote includes.

Our assessment: consider Figures when you want to connect external market evidence to a maintained internal framework. Its pricing page says the quote varies with employee numbers and selected modules. Ask for an example using your actual UK job levels and locations.

Brightmine: UK benchmarking, pay reviews and grading

Brightmine Compensation Planning offers role benchmarking, employee pay comparisons and pay-grading analysis. It describes employer-reported UK data refreshed every 30 days, with filters including industry, location and company size. Non-cash benefits benchmarking is also documented.

It is a relevant shortlist option for employers building or maintaining a UK pay structure. Brightmine says costs vary with organisational needs. During a demo, check the role match, comparator group and available pay components rather than treating the provider's overall dataset size as proof of coverage.

Croner Reward: individual positions and wider reward work

Croner Reward explicitly offers benchmarking both for individual positions and for departmental or organisation-wide exercises. Its salary reports include regional, job and industry comparisons, with quartile and decile ranges. It also offers surveys and reward advice.

For a specialist role or a project needing interpretation, ask whether an individual benchmark or a supported review is appropriate. We did not verify a public price for an individual-role report. Request the deliverable, role-matching method, turnaround and price in writing.

Glassdoor: reported salaries and candidate context

Glassdoor's UK salary search helps you research jobs, locations and employers. Its salary pages distinguish base pay from additional pay and show recent anonymous submissions. They also mix salary estimates with employer-provided figures in job listings, so check the label you are reading.

Use it to understand the figures candidates may encounter and to cross-check other evidence. Check submission dates, numbers of reports and the role match. Some information requires sign-in. A reported total-pay range is not automatically a suitable basic-salary range for your advert.

BrightHR: a free employer salary calculator

BrightHR advertises a free salary benchmarking calculator that asks for job title, industry, location and current salary, with lowest, average and highest result labels. It is a practical option for a quick comparison before a hiring or salary conversation.

Check the result's source, date, sample and pay definition before using it as approval evidence. BrightHR also sells broader HR packages, but those prices should not be presented as the price of this public calculator. The calculator and the HR software are different purchasing decisions.

Employment Hero: SmartMatch salary insights

SmartMatch's UK site offers occupation and location salary insights, alongside hiring tools. Employment Hero states that insights use its platform data in anonymised, aggregated form. This can add another perspective to public salary research.

Check UK coverage for the specific role and confirm what the figure measures. We have not verified a standalone paid benchmark price or that every compensation feature is available on every UK plan. If you already use Employment Hero, ask which salary and review features your own package includes.

Which option fits your salary decision?

For one new hire, begin with the smallest useful service. For repeated workforce decisions, assess the workflow as well as the data.

One vacancy with a straightforward role match

Use public resources to establish a starting view. Compare the same role, location, hours and pay component across sources. If you need a range, costs and documented evidence together, consider a vacancy report; if you want an individual-role service with advice, ask Croner Reward about its scope. These are options to compare, not an exhaustive list.

A salary review covering many employees

Shortlist platforms that support job levels, employee comparisons, salary bands and review decisions. Ravio, Figures and Brightmine document capabilities in this area. Compare onboarding effort, permissions, exports and continuing maintenance. A cheaper lookup can cost more in staff time if you repeatedly rebuild the same analysis.

A specialist, senior or hard-to-match job

Seek detailed role matching and interpretation. A title such as “operations manager” can cover very different responsibilities. Show providers the duties, team scope, budget responsibility and required expertise. Ask for the nearest credible comparator and any limits. If an official pay framework applies, establish that framework before using general market evidence.

For the practical process, follow how to benchmark a salary for a new hire. For broad reference figures, use the UK salary guide for employers.

What should you ask before buying a benchmarking tool?

Ask every provider to demonstrate the same two or three real jobs. That makes a demo useful and exposes gaps a general product presentation can hide.

1. Does the role match the duties? Ask how the provider handles levels, specialist skills and jobs that span more than one function.
2. What is the UK comparator group? Check the relevant locations, industries and employer types. Global coverage does not establish coverage for your job.
3. How much evidence supports this result? Request sample size or confidence information and an explanation of any broader fallback.
4. When was the underlying pay observed? A dashboard updated today may still contain older salaries. Distinguish the observation period from the software's refresh date.
5. Which pay components are included? Establish whether the figure is base, cash earnings or total reward, and how part-time hours are handled.
6. What will you receive and be allowed to share? Check reports, exports, manager access, internal sharing rights and source notes.
7. What is the full commitment? Confirm setup charges, modules, location access, renewal terms, cancellation terms and any applicable VAT.

If data is contributed from your HR system, also check the permissions, aggregation safeguards, contractual terms and removal process. Give each shortlisted provider the same brief so the quoted scopes can be compared fairly.

Are salary tools comparing the same kind of pay?

Often they are not. Read the pay definition before comparing the numbers. Basic salary, total cash and total reward can produce different answers for the same job.

ONS guidance distinguishes basic pay from incentive pay, overtime, shift premiums and other payments. Annual gross earnings can therefore include more than the basic salary you intend to advertise. A growth adjustment does not turn those earnings into a live basic-pay observation.

For example, an illustrative £40,000 basic salary plus £5,000 bonus is £45,000 total cash. Comparing that £45,000 with a £40,000 basic-pay benchmark exaggerates the difference. Record the components separately, align hours and locations, and explain remaining differences rather than averaging incompatible figures.

Lower and upper quartiles describe positions in a pay distribution. They do not automatically identify junior and senior employees. A benchmark informs the decision; it does not replace your assessment of responsibility or internal fairness. Once you set the range, use the guide to salary ranges in UK job adverts to explain it clearly to candidates.

Salary benchmarking tools: common questions