Top UK Take-Home Pay Calculators (2025/26): Accuracy, Pension Modelling, and Feature Comparison

There are dozens of online calculators that estimate your UK take-home pay, but entering the same salary into different ones can give you different answers. The gaps get bigger once pensions, salary sacrifice, or student loan payments are added — these change how tax is worked out, and not every calculator handles them the same way.

How a calculator handles pensions is the biggest reason results differ. Whether it uses NET pay, relief at source, or salary sacrifice changes how much National Insurance and student loan you pay. Some calculators label their pension option one way but work it out another, giving results that look right but are based on the wrong method.

This article compares seven widely used UK take-home pay calculators — MSE, HMRC, The Salary Calculator, UK Tax Calculators, Listen to Taxman, ANNA Money, and Casomo — looking at features, pension handling, and results from four test cases.

Disclosure: This review is produced by Casomo UK, which runs one of the calculators in this comparison. The same test cases and rules were applied to all entries including ours. All data and methods are shared so readers can check the findings.

Summary

• Most UK take-home pay calculators give the same results for simple PAYE cases with no pension or student loan inputs.
• Pension handling is the main source of different results. Calculators differ in whether they support NET pay, relief at source, or salary sacrifice — and some mislabel which method they use.
• Salary sacrifice support is not common. Where it is offered, it changes National Insurance and student loan figures.
• Student loan plan coverage varies. Plan 5 and Postgraduate loan support is patchy across calculators.
• Tax code input is widely offered but rarely checked — several calculators accept invalid codes without warning.
• Capital gains tax is not supported by any of the calculators reviewed.
• Access models differ. Some calculators display ads or newsletter signup prompts that break the flow, though none require account creation.

Method

Which Calculators Were Included

Calculators were included if they met all of the following:

• Web-based (works in a browser, no install needed)
• No login or account needed to use all features
• UK-focused, covering at least England/Wales income tax and NI

One more calculator was looked at but left out of the review: Pie Tax (UK Taxed Interest). The web page looks like an online calculator, but on submit it sends you to app store links and asks you to create an account. No results are shown in the browser, so it could not be tested past the input screen.

Feature Review

Each calculator was checked against a feature grid covering five areas:

1. Core Features — tax bands, NI, period toggles, tax year selection
2. Income Inputs — salary types, overtime, bonus, self-employed
3. Pension Handling — input types, method (NET pay, relief at source, salary sacrifice), employer payments
4. Student Loans — plan coverage (1, 2, 4, 5, Postgraduate)
5. Openness and UX — breakdowns, effective/marginal rates, listed assumptions, access model

Status Labels

Each feature was tagged with one of these statuses:

Tools Reviewed

Seven calculators were tested:

1. Money Saving Expert — MoneySavingExpert.com, money advice site founded by Martin Lewis
2. HMRC — official UK government tax tool run by HM Revenue & Customs
3. The Salary Calculator — independent UK salary tool run by Goodcalculators Ltd
4. UK Tax Calculators — independent tax site covering personal and business tax
5. Listen to Taxman — independent UK salary and tax tool (referred to as “UK Salary Calculator” in tables)
6. ANNA Money — business banking provider with a free income tax tool
7. Take-Home Calculator — take-home pay calculator by Casomo Ltd
8. Pie Tax — tax filing app by Pie Technologies Ltd (excluded — sends you to app store on submit, no browser results)

How UK Take-Home Pay Works

Every UK take-home pay result follows the same basic steps: gross salary, pension, taxable income, income tax, National Insurance, student loan, and take-home pay. Where calculators differ is in how — and at which step — they take off pension, which changes every number that comes after it. For a full walkthrough, see how UK take-home pay is calculated.

With salary sacrifice, your pension comes out of your pay before tax and NI are worked out. With NET pay, pension lowers your taxable income but not your NI. With relief at source, pension comes out after tax and your provider claims back the basic-rate tax for you. These gaps explain why two calculators can show different take-home figures even when the pension amount is the same. See UK pension types explained for more detail on each method.

Feature Grid

Core Features

All seven calculators support UK income tax bands, National Insurance, and monthly vs annual toggling. Scottish tax band support is present across all calculators, though ANNA’s calculator does not make this clear in its interface.

Tax year selection is in six of seven calculators. HMRC’s calculator does not offer tax year selection and only uses the current year.

Income Inputs

Annual salary input is standard. Monthly salary input is missing from The Salary Calculator. Hourly rate input is offered by six of seven calculators, with ANNA’s being the exception.

Overtime and bonus inputs are rare. The Salary Calculator and Take-Home Calculator support overtime. Bonus input is found in The Salary Calculator, UK Tax Calculators, and Take-Home Calculator.

No calculator reviewed supports multiple income streams or dividend income.

Pension Handling

Pension handling is where the biggest gaps appear.

Percentage input is offered by MSE, HMRC, ANNA, and Take-Home Calculator. The Salary Calculator has a percentage input but seems to read the value as a fixed amount — a result that does not match the label.

NET pay results are seen in MSE and HMRC. The Salary Calculator, UK Salary Calculator, and Take-Home Calculator each label their pension option as "auto enrolment"but use NET pay rules without saying so. ANNA takes pension from take-home pay only, without changing taxable income — a result that does not match any standard pension method.

Relief at source is offered by HMRC, The Salary Calculator, and Take-Home Calculator.

Salary sacrifice is clearly offered by The Salary Calculator and Take-Home Calculator. UK Tax Calculators seems to use salary sacrifice rules but does not label it as such.

Employer pension is only handled by The Salary Calculator.

Student Loans

Plans 1, 2, and 4 are covered by all seven calculators. But The Salary Calculator lets you select more than one plan at a time — which is not how student loan payments work in practice. See the GOV.UK guide to repayment plans for which plan applies to you.

Plan 5 support is patchy: it is found in UK Tax Calculators, UK Salary Calculator, Take-Home Calculator, and The Salary Calculator (with the same multi-select issue). MSE, HMRC, and ANNA do not include Plan 5.

Postgraduate loan support follows a similar pattern. MSE and HMRC do not include it.

Other Features

Tax code input is offered by six of seven calculators. Of these, four (MSE, The Salary Calculator, UK Tax Calculators, and UK Salary Calculator) accept invalid tax codes without checking. HMRC, ANNA, and Take-Home Calculator check the input.

Marriage allowance is found in The Salary Calculator, UK Tax Calculators, and UK Salary Calculator. Blind person’s allowance follows a similar spread, with MSE also offering it.

Capital gains tax is not supported by any calculator reviewed.

Openness and UX

Breakdowns (showing tax, NI, and student loan as separate line items) are shown by six of seven calculators. ANNA does not provide a breakdown.

Effective tax rate is shown in UK Salary Calculator and Take-Home Calculator. Take-Home Calculator is the only calculator that shows the marginal rate.

Listed assumptions are present in HMRC, UK Tax Calculators, and Take-Home Calculator. No calculator displays a "last updated" date.

Accuracy Check

To test whether calculators give the same results, four test cases were run across all seven. Each case targets a specific area — baseline PAYE, personal allowance taper, salary sacrifice, and capital gains tax.

Test Cases

Case A — Baseline PAYE

A simple case: £45,000 gross salary with 5% NET pay pension and Plan 2 student loan. HMRC and UK Tax Calculators could not be tested as neither supports NET pay pension input.

Of the five calculators that gave results, MSE reported £33,207 while the others clustered around £32,632–£32,634 — a spread of about £575. The gap is in the tax figure: MSE showed £5,462 in income tax versus £6,034–£6,036 from the others. NI figures matched across all five.

ANNA showed a lower pension amount (£1,938 versus the expected £2,250), so the input did not work out 5% of the gross salary.

Case B — Personal Allowance Taper

At £110,000 gross with 10% NET pay pension, this case tests whether calculators apply the personal allowance taper. The taper removes £1 of allowance for every £2 earned above £100,000.

MSE, The Salary Calculator, and Take-Home Calculator all reported £67,757 with tax of £27,032. UK Salary Calculator gave £67,761 with tax of £27,028 — a spread of just £4 across all four calculators that support this case.

ANNA showed a major pension problem: the pension was capped at £4,403 rather than the expected £11,000 (10% of gross). This also skewed the tax figure (£33,432 versus £27,028–£27,032 from other calculators).

Case C — Salary Sacrifice

At £135,000 with a £20,000 salary sacrifice pension and Plan 2 student loan, this case tests the hardest case. Only four calculators support salary sacrifice: HMRC, The Salary Calculator, UK Tax Calculators, and Take-Home Calculator.

Tax figures matched at £36,432 across all four. But NI and student loan figures differed. HMRC reported £4,711 in NI versus £4,310–£4,311 from the others, and £9,587–£9,588 in student loan versus £7,704–£7,788 from The Salary Calculator and UK Tax Calculators. The higher HMRC figures are likely because HMRC only takes a percentage — 14.81% was entered to match £20,000, which may have given a slightly different pre-NI gross figure.

HMRC also showed a pension amount of £19,993 rather than the target £20,000, due to rounding.

For a closer look at how salary sacrifice affects NI and student loan figures, see why most UK calculators get salary sacrifice wrong.

Case D — Capital Gains Tax

None of the seven calculators reviewed support capital gains tax. This case could not be tested.

Key Findings

1. Simple PAYE results align. For a basic gross salary with no pension, student loan, or custom tax code, most calculators give the same results. The maths for basic income tax and NI is well-known and broadly done right.
2. Pension method is the main source of different results. The split between NET pay, relief at source, and salary sacrifice is not handled or labelled the same way across calculators. Some take pension from take-home pay without changing taxable income — a result that does not match any HMRC pension method.
3. Wrong labels are more common than wrong maths. Where results differ, the cause is more often a gap between what a feature is called and how it works than a plain maths error. This is most clear in pension and student loan handling.
4. Salary sacrifice changes later figures. When salary sacrifice is done right, it lowers gross pay before NI and student loan thresholds kick in. Calculators that skip this step show higher NI and student loan amounts for the same pension.
5. Student loan plan coverage is patchy. Plan 5 (post-2023 English/Welsh loans) and Postgraduate loans are not found in every calculator.
6. Tax code checking is mostly absent. Most calculators that accept custom tax codes do not check the input format. This can give wrong results if a user enters an invalid code.
7. Openness varies widely. Only three calculators list their assumptions. No calculator shows a last-updated date, making it hard for users to tell whether the calculator uses the current year’s rates.
8. Access models differ. Several calculators display ads or newsletter signup prompts that break the flow. None of the calculators reviewed require account creation to see results.

Data and Method Notes

• Tax year tested: 2025/26
• Tested: March 2026
• Full feature grid: view on Google Sheets
• Version: 1.2

This comparison reflects the state of each calculator at the time of testing. Features may change as calculators are updated.