NHS staff: These general UK calculators can work for NHS employees if you know your pension contribution tier and the calculator supports the NET pay method. You will need to enter your tier rate manually. For calculators that handle NHS tiers automatically, see the NHS calculator comparison.

A new job offer, a pay rise, a decision about whether you can afford to go part-time. Each one depends on knowing what you will actually take home. If the calculator you use gets that number wrong, the decision you make next is based on a figure that doesn’t reflect reality.

We build take-home pay tools, and getting the numbers right is the thing we care about most. So we compared the five UK salary calculators that people actually use, the ones that account for almost all the visits when you search for a take-home pay calculator. If you’re not sure how take-home pay is calculated, start with our walkthrough of the deduction steps.

Verdict: The Salary Calculator is the best general-purpose UK take-home pay calculator we tested. It is the only one that supports employer pension contributions and all three pension methods, and the most reliable on the pension and salary-sacrifice cases that trip the others up. The official HMRC tool is the safest pick for a simple salary; the other three each miss at least one common scenario.

CalculatorVerdict
The Salary CalculatorBest overall: employer pension plus all three pension methods, and accurate on the complex cases
HMRCOfficial and ad-free. Salary-sacrifice pension only; no Plan 5 or Postgraduate loan
Money Saving ExpertSimple to use. NET-pay pension only; showed £575 more tax than the others on our control case
UK Tax CalculatorsBroad inputs. The salary-sacrifice method is unlabelled and the page shows ads
Listen to TaxmanMislabels its pension method: says it does auto enrolment but applies NET pay
Estimated monthly visits by site for “take home pay calculator”, May 2026.

At a Glance

For a straightforward salary with no pension, all five calculators produce similar results. The differences start when pensions, student loans and less common tax scenarios are involved. Some of those differences come down to missing features. Others come from labels that do not match what the calculator actually does.

Simple PAYE results align across calculators
Pension method is the main source of different results. Labels often do not match behaviour
Salary sacrifice changes NI and student loan figures; calculators that skip this step overstate both
Plan 5 and Postgraduate loan support is patchy
Tax code input is widely offered but rarely validated
Capital gains tax is not supported by any calculator reviewed
No calculator displays a last-updated date

How We Tested Each Salary Calculator

Four test cases were run through all five calculators: a baseline PAYE case, a personal allowance taper case, a salary sacrifice stress test, and a capital gains tax scenario (unsupported by all). Each calculator was also checked against a feature grid covering core features, pension handling, student loans, and usability.

What We Found

We scored each calculator across six areas using a simple red, amber and green scale. Some dimensions like accuracy could be quantified precisely, but others like usability and privacy are judgement calls, so we kept the scoring consistent. Each calculator is reviewed in detail below. The full set of test results is available in the dataset.

AccuracyPensionFeaturesStudent LoansPrivacyUsability
MSE
HMRC
Salary Calc
UK Tax Calc
UK Salary Calc
Accurate, well-implemented, no issues foundPartial support, minor issues, or limited scopeWrong results, missing feature, or serious concern

Every calculator in this comparison focuses on a single pay scenario at a time. None of them cover:

  • NHS pension tier modelling: contribution rates tiered by actual pay, changing automatically with part-time hours
  • Multi-scenario comparison: comparing two salary offers or pension strategies side by side
  • Pension projection: estimating your annual pension at retirement based on accrual, revaluation, and lump sum commutation

Money Saving Expert

moneysavingexpert.com

Best for: Quick estimate for simple PAYE with NET pay pension.

  • Trusted brand with large audience
  • NET pay pension support
  • Blind person’s allowance
  • Ad-free
  • No salary sacrifice
  • No Plan 5 or Postgraduate loan
  • Tax code input not validated
  • Newsletter popup on page

Best for: Official reference for salary sacrifice cases.

  • Official government calculator
  • Tax code validated
  • Assumptions documented
  • No ads or tracking scripts
  • Only salary sacrifice pension (no NET pay)
  • No Plan 5 or Postgraduate loan
  • No tax year selection
  • Percentage pension only (no fixed £)
Top pick

The Salary Calculator

thesalarycalculator.co.uk

Best for: Complex cases needing salary sacrifice and employer pension.

  • All three pension methods supported
  • Employer pension contribution
  • Overtime and bonus inputs
  • Marriage and blind person’s allowance
  • Multiple student loan plans selectable at once
  • Percentage pension input treated as £
  • Tax code not validated
  • Displays ads

UK Tax Calculators

uktaxcalculators.co.uk

Best for: Self-employed users or those needing Plan 5 support.

  • All five student loan plans
  • Self-employment support
  • Marriage allowance
  • Export/print
  • Assumptions documented
  • Salary sacrifice not labelled clearly
  • No NET pay pension option
  • Tax code not validated
  • Displays ads

Listen to Taxman (UK Salary Calc)

listentotaxman.com

Best for: Student loan plan coverage with effective rate display.

  • All five student loan plans
  • Effective rate shown
  • Marriage and blind person’s allowance
  • Pension labelled ‘auto enrolment’ but uses NET pay
  • No salary sacrifice
  • No fixed £ pension input
  • Tax code not validated
  • Displays ads

Frequently Asked Questions

For a simple PAYE salary with standard tax code, most calculators agree within a few pounds. Accuracy drops once pension method, personal allowance taper, or student loan plans are involved. In our testing, HMRC and The Salary Calculator handled the widest range of cases correctly. MSE and Listen to Taxman were reliable for basic NET pay scenarios but do not support salary sacrifice.

Scotland has its own income tax rates and bands, different from England, Wales, and Northern Ireland. All five calculators we tested (MSE, HMRC, The Salary Calculator, UK Tax Calculators, and Listen to Taxman) support Scottish tax bands. If you are in Scotland, check that your calculator offers a region selector or infers it from your tax code.

Of the five calculators we reviewed, only HMRC and The Salary Calculator support salary sacrifice. Most others offer NET pay only, and some label their pension method incorrectly. If you have a salary sacrifice pension, check that your calculator deducts the contribution before tax and NI, not after. Getting this wrong overstates both your NI and any student loan repayment.

You can for basic tax and NI, but NHS pension contributions are tiered by actual pensionable pay. None of the general UK calculators in this comparison model those tiers. For NHS-specific results with correct pension rates, see our NHS take-home pay calculator comparison. Our pay and pension calculator also models NHS pension tiers automatically.

Yes. HMRC’s “Estimate your take-home pay” tool covers salary sacrifice pensions and validates your tax code. It does not support NET pay or relief at source pensions, does not cover student loan Plans 4, 5, or Postgraduate, and only accepts a pension percentage, not a fixed £amount. It also does not let you select a tax year.

None of the five calculators in this comparison support capital gains tax. CGT is calculated separately from PAYE and depends on the type of asset, your total taxable income, and how long you held the asset. HMRC publishes current CGT rates and allowances on GOV.UK.

For straightforward PAYE with no pension or student loan, most agree within a few pounds. The biggest source of error is pension handling: calculators that skip salary sacrifice or mislabel their pension method will overstate your NI and student loan deductions. In our testing, one calculator (ANNA Money) produced pension figures that did not match any HMRC pension scheme at all. Always check that the method your calculator uses matches your actual workplace pension.
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