GUIDE — COMPARISON
An honest look at the options, including where this one is not the right choice. If a comparison only ever concludes “use ours”, it is not a comparison.
| Approach | Catches |
|---|---|
| Paper diary | Nothing by itself. It is a record — useful only if you do the arithmetic. |
| Spreadsheet | Whatever you build into it, which is usually hours × rate. Overnight shifts and premium stacking are painful to model. |
| Your employer's rota | What was planned. It is not evidence of what you worked, and it is not your record. |
| Phone app | Hours, pay estimates and, usually, premiums. Often offline and on your lock screen. |
| Browser tool | The same, on any device, without installing anything. |
Most tools called “payslip checkers” check the arithmetic of a payslip: does the tax match the code, does NI match the gross, is the pension percentage right. That is useful, and there are several good ones.
Far fewer check the hours: does the payslip show the shifts you actually worked? That is where small, repeated underpayments hide — an hour missing here, a weekend rate applied to a Tuesday there. It is also the one thing you can verify yourself, because you know what you worked.
These are genuinely good at what they do, and worth saying so (features and prices change — this was checked in October 2026):
If you want a polished native app with notifications and you do not mind paying, one of the app-store trackers is a good choice. If what you actually want is to check whether your payslip paid you for the hours you worked, and you want to do it without installing or paying for anything, use the tool on this site.
A shift tracker records what you worked. A payslip checker compares that with what you were paid. Most payslip checkers check the arithmetic of tax, National Insurance and pension; far fewer check the hours against the shifts you actually worked, which is where most small underpayments hide.
No. A browser tool works on any phone, tablet or PC without installing anything. The trade-off is that a native app can work fully offline and can show live earnings on a lock screen.
Accuracy depends on the pay rules the tool implements, not the price. The honest test is whether you can set your own rates, overtime multipliers and premium stacking, and whether the tool shows its working so you can check it.