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Payroll · head to head

Hastee vs Openwage

Hastee logo

Hastee

Payroll

United Kingdom earned wage access, now part of the Zellis group

From
On request
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite
Openwage logo

Openwage

Payroll

UK earned wage access charging a transparent 1 percent transfer fee, free for employers

From
On request
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite

The short version

  • Each has a real cost: Hastee beyond the free £100 monthly allowance the employee pays 2.5 per cent per withdrawal, so a worker drawing weekly funds the benefit themselves unless the employer opts to subsidise it.; Openwage it is UK-only, tied to UK payroll cycles and regulation, so it is not usable for international workforces.
  • They diverge on capability: Hastee covers Earned wage withdrawals, Openwage covers On-demand pay.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 1 September 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Hastee and Openwage actually diverge.

Attributes where Hastee and Openwage differ
AttributeHasteeOpenwage
Pricing modelquotePer-transfer fee, paid by the employee

Identical on both: starting price (On request), free tier (No), platforms (Web, iOS, Android), user rating (Not yet rated), category (Payroll).

What each one covers

Drawn from each product's published feature list. An absence here means we hold no record of it - not that the product lacks it.

Only in Hastee

  • Earned wage withdrawals
  • Free monthly allowance
  • Payroll and time integration
  • Employer policy controls
  • Financial wellbeing content
  • Employer subsidy option
  • Employer reporting
  • Code of practice alignment

Only in Openwage

  • On-demand pay
  • Transparent per-transfer fee
  • Payroll and T&A integration
  • No credit impact
  • Automatic payday reconciliation
  • Employer-free deployment

What people use each for

The jobs each tool is most often brought in to do.

Hastee

  • A care provider offering shift workers early access to pay to reduce reliance on high cost creditnot Openwage
  • A hospitality employer using early pay access as a recruitment and retention claimnot Openwage
  • A Zellis or Moorepay payroll customer adding wage access without a separate payroll integration projectnot Openwage
  • An employer replacing ad hoc manual salary advances processed by finance each monthnot Openwage

Openwage

  • A UK employer with shift or hourly staff wanting an on-demand pay benefit at no cost to the businessnot Hastee
  • An employee wanting to know the exact cost of an advance before requesting one, rather than an opaque feenot Hastee
  • A company already running standard UK payroll and time and attendance systems wanting straightforward integrationnot Hastee
  • An HR team comparing earned wage access providers on published unit economics rather than sales quotesnot Hastee

Where each one falls short

Documented limitations, not opinions. Every one is a constraint you would hit in normal use.

Hastee

  • Beyond the free £100 monthly allowance the employee pays 2.5 per cent per withdrawal, so a worker drawing weekly funds the benefit themselves unless the employer opts to subsidise it.
  • A 2.5 per cent charge on money the employee has already earned is expensive when annualised over frequent small withdrawals, which undercuts the financial wellbeing framing used to sell it internally.
  • Earned wage access is not directly regulated as consumer credit in the UK, so protections rest on a voluntary code of practice rather than FCA rules, and employees have weaker recourse than with a regulated credit product.
  • Zellis acquired Hastee in June 2025, so employers on non Zellis payroll systems face roadmap uncertainty about how long standalone integrations remain a priority.
  • Accrual accuracy depends on payroll and time data quality, so employers with monthly batch payroll or weak attendance capture get conservative limits that disappoint the staff the benefit was sold to.

Openwage

  • It is UK-only, tied to UK payroll cycles and regulation, so it is not usable for international workforces.
  • Even a published, low fee still means employees effectively pay to access their own earned money, and frequent use compounds that cost over a year.
  • The 50% cap on gross (not net) earned pay can overstate what an employee can actually draw once tax and deductions are accounted for, creating confusion at the point of request.
  • As with all earned wage access, dependency on the product is a symptom of insufficient pay cadence or amount that the advance itself does not fix, and can mask a deeper compensation problem an employer should address directly.
  • Accuracy is entirely dependent on the employer's payroll and time and attendance data being current, so errors upstream produce incorrect available-balance figures for employees.

Pricing, plan by plan

Hastee

On request
  • Hastee for employers$undefined/year
    • Free for the employer to offer in the standard model
    • Employee gets one free withdrawal per month up to £100
    • Further withdrawals charged to the employee at 2.5 per cent of the amount

Openwage

On request
  • Openwage$undefined/month
    • Free for employers to offer
    • 1% fee per transfer, minimum £1, paid by the employee
    • No interest and no credit check

Which should you pick?

Choose Hastee if

  • You need earned wage withdrawals.
  • You work on Web, iOS, Android.
  • You also want free monthly allowance.
Hastee review

Choose Openwage if

  • You need on-demand pay.
  • You work on Web, iOS, Android.
  • You also want transparent per-transfer fee.
Openwage review

Questions people ask

Is Hastee or Openwage better?
Neither clearly leads. Hastee starts at On request and Openwage at On request, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Hastee or Openwage?
Hastee starts at On request and Openwage at On request.
Does Hastee or Openwage run on more platforms?
Both run on Web, iOS, Android, so platform support will not decide this one for you.
What is Hastee best used for?
Hastee is most often used for a care provider offering shift workers early access to pay to reduce reliance on high cost credit, a hospitality employer using early pay access as a recruitment and retention claim, a zellis or moorepay payroll customer adding wage access without a separate payroll integration project, an employer replacing ad hoc manual salary advances processed by finance each month. Of those, a care provider offering shift workers early access to pay to reduce reliance on high cost credit and a hospitality employer using early pay access as a recruitment and retention claim are not what Openwage is typically brought in for.
What can Hastee do that Openwage cannot?
Hastee covers Earned wage withdrawals, Free monthly allowance, Payroll and time integration, Employer policy controls. Openwage covers On-demand pay, Transparent per-transfer fee, Payroll and T&A integration, No credit impact.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Hastee: Does the employee pay?

Yes. One withdrawal per month up to £100 is free; after that the employee pays 2.5 per cent of the amount withdrawn.

Openwage: Who pays the fee?

The employee, at 1% of the amount transferred with a minimum of £1; the employer benefit itself is free.

Hastee: Can the employer make it genuinely free for staff?

Yes. Hastee offers employer paid terms where the company absorbs the transaction fee, but this is a negotiated option rather than the default.

Openwage: Is it a loan?

No, Openwage states it is not a loan or credit product; there is no interest and no credit score impact.

Hastee: Who owns Hastee now?

Zellis, the UK payroll group that also owns Moorepay and Benefex, acquired Hastee in June 2025.

Openwage: How much can an employee access?

Up to 50% of gross wages already earned in the current pay period.

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