ConnX vs Employment Hero – how they compare for AU/NZ payroll

How do ConnX and Employment Hero differ?

ConnX is an Australian HR software vendor based in Milton, Brisbane. ConnX says it has 20+ years and 500+ clients. It is a modular, web-based system covering core HR, payroll self-service, recruitment, paperless onboarding, performance, learning, leave, workplace health and safety, workflow automation and timesheets with award interpretation. It does not calculate or process pay, lodge STP or pay super – those happen in the connected payroll system, which ConnX exchanges data with through an interface (MicrOpay by database or API, most others by file import and export).

Employment Hero is an Australian-founded (2014) ‘Employment Operating System’ spanning HR, payroll, benefits, recruitment and workforce management for small and mid-sized businesses. Its payroll engine originated as KeyPay (acquired 2022), with a dedicated NZ product, and it reportedly serves 300,000+ businesses across AU, NZ, the UK, Canada, Singapore and Malaysia.

The structural difference is the number of systems. With ConnX you run HR and self-service in one product and payroll in another, usually from a different vendor, with an interface between them. With Employment Hero payroll and HR are designed to live in one platform. Where something breaks between two systems, it can be unclear which vendor owns the fix.

Where does ConnX fit?

ConnX fits organisations that already run a payroll system – often MicrOpay, with which it has long been paired – and want to add a broad HR and self-service layer on top: recruitment, paperless onboarding, performance, learning, WHS and timesheets with award interpretation. It suits teams that would rather keep their existing payroll than replace it, and accept an interface to maintain and two vendors to coordinate. Confirm directly how your payroll system integrates.

Where does Employment Hero fit?

Employment Hero fits small-to-medium AU/NZ businesses that want HR, payroll, benefits and hiring bundled in one self-service platform, with a payroll engine that is part of the same product rather than a separate system. For enterprise-scale award and EBA complexity, test its payroll depth directly against your own scenarios.

Where does Affinity fit?

Where ConnX adds a self-service layer to a separate payroll and Employment Hero bundles HR with payroll for SMEs, Affinity optimises for AU/NZ payroll depth with self-service built in. For organisations whose payroll complexity is concentrated in Australia and New Zealand, a specialist engine with pre-payslip intelligence, delivery-model flexibility and named local support is a different proposition. Affinity's self-service is included on every plan and shares a database with payroll, so approving leave is the same action as updating the payroll record. Affinity does not offer recruitment, performance, learning or WHS and integrates with specialist HRIS; some organisations pair a specialist HR system with Affinity's payroll.