{ "data": { "a": { "slug": "check-payroll", "name": "Check", "vendor": "Check Technologies, Inc.", "vendorUrl": "https://www.checkhq.com", "kind": "http-api", "category": "payroll", "summary": "Check is an embedded payroll API from Check Technologies in New York. Software platforms build US payroll on it for their own customers, with tax calculation, payment and filing handled by Check. Access is by partner agreement.", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/check-payroll", "markdownUrl": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/check-payroll.md", "slimMarkdownUrl": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/check-payroll.min.md", "jsonUrl": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/check-payroll.json", "repo": "https://github.com/check-technologies/mcp-server-check", "license": "Proprietary service under Check's terms of service and partner agreement. The MCP server and CLI on GitHub are MIT", "transports": [ "http" ], "remoteUrl": "https://api.checkhq.com", "packages": [], "auth": "mixed", "authNotes": "A partner API key sent as `Authorization: Bearer`, one for sandbox and one for production, issued by Check after a request through its sales contact. The key carries the whole partner account, with no per-key scopes found. Check says unused keys expire, last activity is shown and IP restrictions can be set through the account team. Integration partners get OAuth tokens (authorisation code grant, with refresh tokens) limited to one employer and one permission level, after a Check partner authorises them. The hosted MCP server accepts the API key or a Console OAuth login that runs with the Console user's permissions. This listing grades embedded-payroll partner access. Check has no route to an existing employer's payroll account outside a partner platform.", "pricing": "paid", "pricingNotes": "No public prices. checkhq.com/pricing returns 404 and the site's buttons open a sales contact form. A sandbox exists at sandbox.checkhq.com under a Sandbox User Agreement, but the documentation says to request an API key from Check, so an agent can't start without a person contacting sales. Production needs a partner agreement. The Usage API reports billable companies, employees and contractors each month, with no unit price published (checked 2026-10-08).", "priceSummary": "Paid", "where": "hosted", "x402": { "level": "no", "evidence": "No x402, MPP or L402 in the documentation index, the API reference pages read or the website (checked 2026-10-08).", "endpoints": [] }, "toolCount": null, "popularity": { "githubStars": 18, "npmWeekly": null, "pypiWeekly": null, "asOf": "2026-10-08" }, "docsUrl": "https://docs.checkhq.com", "llmsTxt": "https://docs.checkhq.com/llms.txt", "capabilities": [ "payroll.run", "payroll.employees", "payroll.embedded", "payroll.tax-filing", "payroll.contractors" ], "tags": [ "hosted", "embedded-payroll", "us-payroll", "api-key", "oauth", "mcp", "llms-txt", "sandbox", "webhooks", "sales-led", "partner-approval", "status-page", "bug-bounty", "soc2" ], "lastRelease": "2026-10-07", "graded": true, "anchor": { "graded": true, "score": 67.5, "grade": "B", "agentReady": false, "rank": 208, "ranked": true, "rankOf": 722, "categoryRank": 2, "methodology": "0.4", "run": "2026-10-01", "scores": { "ergonomics": 83, "maintenance": 72, "payments": 5, "reliability": 80, "schema": 78, "security": 74, "transparency": 62 }, "pending": [ "performance", "tasks" ], "assessment": { "confidence": "medium", "date": "2026-10-08" }, "negative": 0, "verdict": "Graded as embedded payroll through a partner API key, not access to an existing employer's payroll account. The API has idempotency keys on writes, a required preview before approval and queryable request logs. No price is public, a sandbox key comes through Check's sales team, and one API key carries the whole partner account.", "bestFor": "A software platform that wants to sell US payroll inside its own product and can sign a partnership, with Check handling tax calculation, money movement and filings.", "strengths": [ "`X-Idempotency-Key` is accepted on writes and stored for 24 hours, and a 429 carries `Retry-After` with `RateLimit-Limit` and `RateLimit-Remaining` on every authenticated response", "A payroll must have a succeeded preview before approval, and `preview_started_at` makes approval fail with 409 `preview_superseded` if the preview is stale", "Every response carries `X-Request-Log-Id`, and GET /logs returns request logs with SSNs, bank account numbers and the `Authorization` header redacted", "The MCP server starts with three meta-tools over 270 tools, with read-only mode, toolset filters and optional confirmation for destructive tools", "llms.txt indexes the documentation, and each page is served as Markdown with an OpenAPI 3.1 fragment per operation" ], "weaknesses": [ "No public price and no self-serve signup. The documentation says to request an API key through Check's sales contact", "An API key carries the whole partner account. No per-key scopes or read-only keys were found in the reviewed documentation", "No official SDK in a general programming language was found. The CLI and MCP server install from a git clone, not from PyPI", "No SLA is published. The terms of service make no representation about uptime unless agreed in writing", "No sub-processor list, hosting location or published DPA text was found, and the privacy policy states no retention periods" ], "agentNotes": [ "Use https://sandbox.checkhq.com with the sandbox key and https://api.checkhq.com with the production key. A key is not valid across environments", "Preview a payroll before approving it, then pass `preview_started_at` to POST /payrolls/{id}/approve so a stale preview fails with 409", "Send `X-Idempotency-Key` on every write. Keys expire after 24 hours, so list the resource before retrying later than that", "On 429 wait for `Retry-After`. The limit is 10 requests a second in sandbox and for partners paying fewer than 1,000 payees a month, with 100 concurrent requests", "Connect the MCP server with `?read_only=true` or `X-MCP-Readonly: true` unless writes are intended. In production, approving a payroll moves money" ], "metrics": { "kind": "remote", "measured": false }, "reviewCount": 0, "avgRating": 0, "history": [ { "basis": "public evidence", "confidence": "medium", "grade": "B", "methodology": "0.4", "pending": [ "performance", "tasks" ], "run": "2026-10-01", "runLabel": "October 2026 research run", "score": 67.5 } ], "editorialScores": { "ergonomics": 83, "maintenance": 72, "payments": 5, "reliability": 80, "schema": 78, "security": 74, "transparency": 38 }, "provenanceScore": 86 }, "connect": { "http": "curl -X POST https://sandbox.checkhq.com/companies \\\n -H 'Content-Type: application/json' \\\n -H 'Authorization: Bearer \u003cAPI_KEY\u003e' \\\n -d '{\"address\": {\"line1\": \"20 W 34th St\", \"postal_code\": \"10001\", \"city\": \"New York\", \"state\": \"NY\"}, \"start_date\": \"2020-05-20\", \"trade_name\": \"Good Web Design\", \"legal_name\": \"Good Web Design, Inc.\"}'", "claudeCode": "claude mcp add --transport http check https://mcp.sandbox.checkhq.com/check/mcp \\\n --header \"Authorization: Bearer your-api-key-here\"", "config": { "mcpServers": { "check": { "type": "url", "url": "https://mcp.sandbox.checkhq.com/check/mcp" } } } }, "letme": { "capability": "https://letme.dev/payroll.run", "tool": "https://letme.dev/check-payroll" }, "area": "domain-data", "provenance": { "legalEntity": "Check Technologies, Inc.", "domain": "checkhq.com", "domainRegistered": "2006-10-28", "endpointOnVendorDomain": true, "terms": "https://www.checkhq.com/company/terms", "privacy": "https://www.checkhq.com/company/privacy", "statusPage": "https://status.checkhq.com", "changelog": "https://www.checkhq.com/resources/changelog", "securityTxt": "none", "checked": "2026-10-08", "notes": [ "The privacy policy (effective 18 April 2024) names Check Technologies, Inc., 228 Park Ave. S, PMB 14961, New York, NY 10003. The site footer also names Check Payments LLC (NMLS #2103307).", "The terms of service are dated 3 September 2021. Sandbox use is also governed by a Sandbox User Agreement at checkhq.com/company/sandbox-user-agreement.", "www.checkhq.com/.well-known/security.txt and checkhq.com/.well-known/security.txt return 404. The security page sends vulnerability reports to a bug bounty at federacy.com/check.", "The API answers at api.checkhq.com and sandbox.checkhq.com, and the hosted MCP server at mcp.checkhq.com and mcp.sandbox.checkhq.com.", "RDAP for checkhq.com gives a registration date of 2006-10-28 and Squarespace Domains II LLC as registrar." ], "score": 86 }, "pageJsonUrl": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/check-payroll.json", "live": { "slug": "check-payroll", "probe": { "target": "https://api.checkhq.com", "method": "get", "lastAt": "2026-10-08T21:12:07.117083176Z", "lastOk": true, "lastStatus": 200, "lastMs": 783, "authRequired": false, "uptime24h": 100, "uptime30d": 100, "p50ms24h": 699, "p95ms24h": 1040, "samples24h": 64, "samples30d": 64, "days": [ { "date": "2026-10-08", "probes": 64, "ok": 64 } ] }, "vendorStatus": { "page": "https://status.checkhq.com", "indicator": "none", "summary": "All Systems Operational", "checkedAt": "2026-10-08T21:05:53.694114707Z" }, "githubStars": 18, "securityTxt": { "url": "https://checkhq.com/.well-known/security.txt", "state": "none", "checkedAt": "2026-10-08T15:38:31.878118114Z" }, "pages": [ { "url": "https://www.checkhq.com/resources/changelog", "kind": "changelog", "status": 200, "checkedAt": "2026-10-08T18:27:02.804039275Z", "changedAt": "0001-01-01T00:00:00Z", "fingerprint": "ada7be68b809" }, { "url": "https://www.checkhq.com/company/privacy", "kind": "privacy", "status": 200, "checkedAt": "2026-10-08T18:26:58.734249468Z", "changedAt": "0001-01-01T00:00:00Z", "fingerprint": "2d782586e2af" }, { "url": "https://www.checkhq.com/company/terms", "kind": "terms", "status": 200, "checkedAt": "2026-10-08T18:27:00.809006213Z", "changedAt": "0001-01-01T00:00:00Z", "fingerprint": "c2d2a944fcea" } ], "updatedAt": "2026-10-08T21:12:07.117083176Z" } }, "answer": "Check scores 67.5 (B) on agent readiness against Employment Hero Payroll's 50.4 (D), and leads in 6 of 7 scored categories. Employment Hero Payroll leads on payments \u0026 pricing.", "b": { "slug": "employment-hero", "name": "Employment Hero Payroll", "vendor": "Employment Hero Pty Ltd", "vendorUrl": "https://employmenthero.com", "kind": "http-api", "category": "payroll", "summary": "Employment Hero Payroll (formerly KeyPay) is cloud payroll for Australia, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, Singapore and Malaysia. Its REST API covers businesses, employees, timesheets, leave, pay runs and reports, with an API key or OAuth 2.0.", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/employment-hero", "markdownUrl": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/employment-hero.md", "slimMarkdownUrl": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/employment-hero.min.md", "jsonUrl": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/employment-hero.json", "repo": "https://github.com/Thinkei/keypay-dotnet-v2", "license": "Proprietary service under Employment Hero's General Terms. The `KeyPayV2` .NET client is MIT", "transports": [ "http" ], "packages": [ { "registry": "nuget", "name": "KeyPayV2" } ], "auth": "mixed", "authNotes": "Graded on the Payroll API. A user with a payroll login generates an API key under My Account, with no partner review, and sends it as the HTTP Basic username with a blank password. The key acts with that user's access, and Change API Key invalidates the old one. OAuth 2.0 is the other route. A support request with the application's name, callback URL and logo returns a client ID and secret, and the authorisation code grant at `/oauth/authorise` and `/oauth/token` returns a 24-hour access token and a 28-day refresh token. The spec names `read` and `write` scopes, and the guide's sample token shows an empty scope.", "pricing": "paid", "pricingNotes": "No charge for API calls was found. Access comes with an Employment Hero Payroll subscription. The Australian pricing page lists the Payroll plan at $10 with conditions, a minimum of 10 users and billing by user count, with prices stated as AUD ex. GST in the page's disclaimers. Employment Unlimited, which includes Payroll, is priced through sales. No free tier, trial or sandbox for Payroll was found on the pages read, so an agent starts only where a paying account exists (checked 2026-10-08).", "priceSummary": "Paid", "where": "local", "x402": { "level": "no", "evidence": "No x402, MPP or L402 in the API guides, the five Swagger files or the pricing page (checked 2026-10-08).", "endpoints": [] }, "toolCount": null, "popularity": { "githubStars": 6, "npmWeekly": null, "pypiWeekly": null, "asOf": "2026-10-08" }, "docsUrl": "https://api.keypay.com.au/", "openapi": "https://api.keypay.com.au/swagger-au.json", "capabilities": [ "payroll.run", "payroll.employees", "payroll.embedded", "payroll.tax-filing", "payroll.contractors", "hr.time-off" ], "tags": [ "hosted", "payroll", "api-key", "oauth", "openapi", "webhooks", "dotnet", "white-label", "australia", "new-zealand", "uk", "singapore", "malaysia", "status-page" ], "lastRelease": "2026-10-08", "graded": true, "anchor": { "graded": true, "score": 50.4, "grade": "D", "agentReady": false, "rank": 591, "ranked": true, "rankOf": 722, "categoryRank": 6, "methodology": "0.4", "run": "2026-10-01", "scores": { "ergonomics": 53, "maintenance": 68, "payments": 10, "reliability": 65, "schema": 51, "security": 46, "transparency": 60 }, "pending": [ "performance", "tasks" ], "assessment": { "confidence": "medium", "date": "2026-10-08" }, "negative": 0, "verdict": "Five public Swagger 2.0 files describe 660 to 821 operations per region, and any payroll user can generate an API key without a partner review. The key carries its user's whole access, no idempotency keys or API changelog were found, and the only official client is for .NET.", "bestFor": "An agent acting for an employer or bureau already on Employment Hero Payroll in Australia, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, Singapore or Malaysia, and white label partners who create businesses through the brand endpoints.", "strengths": [ "Public Swagger 2.0 file for each of five regions, 728 operations for Australia and 821 for the United Kingdom, downloadable without a login", "A payroll user generates an API key under My Account with no partner review, and Change API Key invalidates the old one", "OData `$filter`, `$orderby`, `$top` and `$skip` on most GET operations, with `$top` capped at 100", "Pay run endpoints cover create, recalculate, warnings, approval start, finalise and unlock, so a run can be checked before it is finalised", "The .NET client is regenerated from the API, with commits on 52 separate days between 10 July and 8 October 2026" ], "weaknesses": [ "An API key carries the whole access of the user who generated it. No per-key scopes were found", "No idempotency keys in the spec or guides, and 5 requests a second per key and IP address is the only documented limit", "No changelog, versioning policy or deprecation policy was found for the Payroll API", "Only 13 of 460 schema definitions in the Australian spec list required fields, and 711 of 728 operations document a 200 response and little else", "The developer forum's recent topics include spam, and several API questions from 2024 and 2025 show no replies" ], "agentNotes": [ "Send the API key as the Basic auth username with a blank password, for example `curl -u {api_key}: https://api.yourpayroll.com.au/api/v2/user`", "Pick the Swagger file for the business's region (`swagger-au.json`, `swagger-nz.json`, `swagger-uk.json`, `swagger-sg.json`, `swagger-my.json`). Paths and models differ by region", "Stay under 5 requests a second per key and IP address. A 429 answered our test with `retry-after: 1`", "Page lists with `$skip` and `$top` (100 at most). Filter property names are capitalised, unlike the camelCase JSON", "Read `GET /api/v2/business/{businessId}/payrun/{payRunId}/warnings` before `POST .../finalise`. Finalise can lodge with the tax office and publish pay slips in the same call" ], "metrics": { "kind": "remote", "measured": false }, "reviewCount": 0, "avgRating": 0, "history": [ { "basis": "public evidence", "confidence": "medium", "grade": "D", "methodology": "0.4", "pending": [ "performance", "tasks" ], "run": "2026-10-01", "runLabel": "October 2026 research run", "score": 50.4 } ], "editorialScores": { "ergonomics": 53, "maintenance": 68, "payments": 10, "reliability": 65, "schema": 51, "security": 46, "transparency": 49 }, "provenanceScore": 71 }, "connect": { "install": "Install-Package KeyPayV2", "http": "curl -u {api_key}: https://api.yourpayroll.com.au/api/v2/user" }, "letme": { "capability": "https://letme.dev/payroll.run", "tool": "https://letme.dev/employment-hero" }, "area": "domain-data", "provenance": { "legalEntity": "Employment Hero Pty Ltd", "domain": "employmenthero.com", "domainRegistered": "2012-05-02", "endpointOnVendorDomain": false, "terms": "https://employmenthero.com/legals/terms-conditions/", "privacy": "https://employmenthero.com/legals/privacy-policy/", "statusPage": "https://status.employmenthero.com", "changelog": "", "securityTxt": "valid", "checked": "2026-10-08", "notes": [ "The General Terms (effective 15 June 2026) name Employment Hero Pty Ltd and its affiliates, and define the EH Platform to include products reached through its APIs. They are the platform terms, and no separate API terms were found.", "The privacy policy is effective 3 June 2026 and points to a Data Processing Addendum effective 15 June 2026 at https://employmenthero.com/legals/privacy-policy/data-processing/.", "The API answers at api.yourpayroll.com.au and the documentation at api.keypay.com.au, both off employmenthero.com. RDAP for yourpayroll.com.au names the registrar only, so we could not confirm the registrant.", "https://employmenthero.com/.well-known/security.txt gives vuln@employmenthero.com, a policy link and an expiry of 31 December 2026.", "RDAP for employmenthero.com gives a registration date of 2012-05-02 and GoDaddy.com, LLC as registrar.", "No changelog for the Payroll API was found on the documentation site." ], "score": 71 }, "pageJsonUrl": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/employment-hero.json", "live": { "slug": "employment-hero", "vendorStatus": { "page": "https://status.employmenthero.com", "indicator": "none", "summary": "All Systems Operational", "checkedAt": "2026-10-08T21:06:03.50426119Z" }, "updatedAt": "2026-10-08T21:06:03.50426119Z" } }, "facts": [ { "a": "HTTP API", "b": "HTTP API", "name": "Kind" }, { "a": "Check Technologies, Inc.", "b": "Employment Hero Pty Ltd", "name": "Vendor" }, { "a": "https://api.checkhq.com", "b": "no (local only)", "name": "Hosted endpoint" }, { "a": "HTTP", "b": "HTTP", "name": "Transports" }, { "a": "OAuth or key", "b": "OAuth or key", "name": "Auth" }, { "a": "Paid", "b": "Paid", "name": "Pricing" }, { "a": "no", "b": "no", "name": "x402" }, { "a": "Proprietary service under Check's terms of service and partner agreement. The MCP server and CLI on GitHub are MIT", "b": "Proprietary service under Employment Hero's General Terms. The `KeyPayV2` .NET client is MIT", "name": "Licence" }, { "a": "yes", "b": "no", "name": "Read-only variant documented" }, { "a": "yes", "b": "no", "name": "llms.txt" }, { "a": "2026-10-07", "b": "2026-10-08", "name": "Last release" }, { "a": "2021-09-03", "b": "no date given", "name": "Terms last updated" }, { "a": "2024-04-18", "b": "no date given", "name": "Privacy policy last updated" }, { "a": "not found in the text", "b": "not found in the text", "name": "Customer content may train models" }, { "a": "yes", "b": "yes", "name": "Terms restrict automated access" }, { "a": "not found in the text", "b": "not found in the text", "name": "Terms restrict benchmarking" }, { "a": "not found in the text", "b": "not found in the text", "name": "Terms or service can change without notice" }, { "a": "not found in the text", "b": "not found in the text", "name": "Arbitration or class-action waiver" }, { "a": "18 stars", "b": "6 stars", "name": "Popularity" } ], "faq": [ { "answer": "Check scores 67.5 (B) on agent readiness against Employment Hero Payroll's 50.4 (D), and leads in 6 of 7 scored categories. Employment Hero Payroll leads on payments \u0026 pricing.", "question": "Which is better for AI agents, Check or Employment Hero Payroll?" }, { "answer": "Both take an API key or an OAuth sign-in.", "question": "Do Check and Employment Hero Payroll need an API key?" }, { "answer": "Check has a hosted endpoint at https://api.checkhq.com. No hosted endpoint is listed for Employment Hero Payroll.", "question": "Can an agent call Check and Employment Hero Payroll without installing anything?" } ], "goodFor": [ { "aheadOn": [ "Reliability, 80 against 65", "Schema \u0026 documentation, 78 against 51", "Agent ergonomics, 83 against 53", "Security \u0026 auth, 74 against 46" ], "also": [ "A hosted endpoint, with nothing to install" ], "goodFor": "A software platform that wants to sell US payroll inside its own product and can sign a partnership, with Check handling tax calculation, money movement and filings.", "slug": "check-payroll", "watchFor": "No public price and no self-serve signup. The documentation says to request an API key through Check's sales contact" }, { "aheadOn": [ "Payments \u0026 pricing, 10 against 5" ], "also": null, "goodFor": "An agent acting for an employer or bureau already on Employment Hero Payroll in Australia, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, Singapore or Malaysia, and white label partners who create businesses through the brand endpoints.", "slug": "employment-hero", "watchFor": "An API key carries the whole access of the user who generated it. No per-key scopes were found" } ], "job": { "capability": "payroll.run", "name": "Payroll run" }, "others": [ { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/argyle-vs-check-payroll.json", "title": "Argyle vs Check", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/argyle-vs-check-payroll" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/argyle-vs-employment-hero.json", "title": "Argyle vs Employment Hero Payroll", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/argyle-vs-employment-hero" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/check-payroll-vs-finch.json", "title": "Check vs Finch", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/check-payroll-vs-finch" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/check-payroll-vs-paychex.json", "title": "Check vs Paychex", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/check-payroll-vs-paychex" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/employment-hero-vs-finch.json", "title": "Employment Hero Payroll vs Finch", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/employment-hero-vs-finch" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/employment-hero-vs-paychex.json", "title": "Employment Hero Payroll vs Paychex", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/employment-hero-vs-paychex" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/check-payroll-vs-everee.json", "title": "Check vs Everee", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/check-payroll-vs-everee" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/check-payroll-vs-gusto.json", "title": "Check vs Gusto", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/check-payroll-vs-gusto" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/check-payroll-vs-salsa.json", "title": "Check vs Salsa", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/check-payroll-vs-salsa" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/check-payroll-vs-zeal.json", "title": "Check vs Zeal", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/check-payroll-vs-zeal" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/employment-hero-vs-everee.json", "title": "Employment Hero Payroll vs Everee", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/employment-hero-vs-everee" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/employment-hero-vs-gusto.json", "title": "Employment Hero Payroll vs Gusto", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/employment-hero-vs-gusto" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/employment-hero-vs-salsa.json", "title": "Employment Hero Payroll vs Salsa", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/employment-hero-vs-salsa" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/employment-hero-vs-zeal.json", "title": "Employment Hero Payroll vs Zeal", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/employment-hero-vs-zeal" } ], "scores": [ { "by": 15, "check-payroll": 80, "edge": "check-payroll", "employment-hero": 65, "key": "reliability", "name": "Reliability", "weight": 16 }, { "key": "performance", "name": "Performance", "pending": true, "weight": 10 }, { "by": 27, "check-payroll": 78, "edge": "check-payroll", "employment-hero": 51, "key": "schema", "name": "Schema \u0026 documentation", "weight": 13 }, { "by": 30, "check-payroll": 83, "edge": "check-payroll", "employment-hero": 53, "key": "ergonomics", "name": "Agent ergonomics", "weight": 13 }, { "by": 28, "check-payroll": 74, "edge": "check-payroll", "employment-hero": 46, "key": "security", "name": "Security \u0026 auth", "weight": 14 }, { "by": 5, "check-payroll": 5, "edge": "employment-hero", "employment-hero": 10, "key": "payments", "name": "Payments \u0026 pricing", "weight": 10 }, { "key": "tasks", "name": "Task success", "pending": true, "weight": 10 }, { "by": 4, "check-payroll": 72, "edge": "check-payroll", "employment-hero": 68, "key": "maintenance", "name": "Maintenance \u0026 community", "weight": 7 }, { "by": 2, "check-payroll": 62, "edge": "check-payroll", "employment-hero": 60, "key": "transparency", "name": "Transparency \u0026 trust", "weight": 7 } ], "summary": "Check scores 67.5 (B) on agent readiness against Employment Hero Payroll's 50.4 (D), and leads in 6 of 7 scored categories. Employment Hero Payroll leads on payments \u0026 pricing. Both do payroll run.", "verdicts": { "check-payroll": "Graded as embedded payroll through a partner API key, not access to an existing employer's payroll account. The API has idempotency keys on writes, a required preview before approval and queryable request logs. No price is public, a sandbox key comes through Check's sales team, and one API key carries the whole partner account.", "employment-hero": "Five public Swagger 2.0 files describe 660 to 821 operations per region, and any payroll user can generate an API key without a partner review. The key carries its user's whole access, no idempotency keys or API changelog were found, and the only official client is for .NET." } }, "kind": "anchor.page", "links": { "api": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/index.json", "html": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/check-payroll-vs-employment-hero", "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/check-payroll-vs-employment-hero.json", "llms": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/llms.txt", "markdown": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/check-payroll-vs-employment-hero.md", "slim": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/check-payroll-vs-employment-hero.min.md" }, "markdown": "Check scores 67.5 (B) on agent readiness against Employment Hero Payroll's 50.4 (D), and leads in 6 of 7 scored categories. Employment Hero Payroll leads on payments \u0026 pricing. Both do payroll run.\n\n- Check: grade B, 67.5/100, rank #208 of 722. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/check-payroll.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/check-payroll.json\n- Employment Hero Payroll: grade D, 50.4/100, rank #591 of 722. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/employment-hero.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/employment-hero.json\n\n## Which one, for what\n\n### Check (B)\n\nGood for: A software platform that wants to sell US payroll inside its own product and can sign a partnership, with Check handling tax calculation, money movement and filings.\n\nAhead on:\n- Reliability, 80 against 65\n- Schema \u0026 documentation, 78 against 51\n- Agent ergonomics, 83 against 53\n- Security \u0026 auth, 74 against 46\n\nAlso in its favour:\n- A hosted endpoint, with nothing to install\n\nWatch for: No public price and no self-serve signup. The documentation says to request an API key through Check's sales contact\n\n### Employment Hero Payroll (D)\n\nGood for: An agent acting for an employer or bureau already on Employment Hero Payroll in Australia, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, Singapore or Malaysia, and white label partners who create businesses through the brand endpoints.\n\nAhead on:\n- Payments \u0026 pricing, 10 against 5\n\nWatch for: An API key carries the whole access of the user who generated it. No per-key scopes were found\n\n\n## Score by category\n\n| Category | Weight | Check | Employment Hero Payroll | Edge |\n| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |\n| Reliability | 16% (20 this run) | 80 | 65 | Check +15 |\n| Performance | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |\n| Schema \u0026 documentation | 13% (16.2 this run) | 78 | 51 | Check +27 |\n| Agent ergonomics | 13% (16.2 this run) | 83 | 53 | Check +30 |\n| Security \u0026 auth | 14% (17.5 this run) | 74 | 46 | Check +28 |\n| Payments \u0026 pricing | 10% (12.5 this run) | 5 | 10 | Employment Hero Payroll +5 |\n| Task success | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |\n| Maintenance \u0026 community | 7% (8.8 this run) | 72 | 68 | Check +4 |\n| Transparency \u0026 trust | 7% (8.8 this run) | 62 | 60 | Check +2 |\n| Negative events | ≤15 | 0 | 0 | |\n| **Total** | | **67.5 · B** | **50.4 · D** | |\n\n## Facts side by side\n\n| Fact | Check | Employment Hero Payroll |\n| --- | --- | --- |\n| Kind | HTTP API | HTTP API |\n| Vendor | Check Technologies, Inc. | Employment Hero Pty Ltd |\n| Hosted endpoint | `https://api.checkhq.com` | no (local only) |\n| Transports | HTTP | HTTP |\n| Auth | OAuth or key | OAuth or key |\n| Pricing | Paid | Paid |\n| x402 | no | no |\n| Licence | Proprietary service under Check's terms of service and partner agreement. The MCP server and CLI on GitHub are MIT | Proprietary service under Employment Hero's General Terms. The `KeyPayV2` .NET client is MIT |\n| Read-only variant documented | yes | no |\n| llms.txt | yes | no |\n| Last release | 2026-10-07 | 2026-10-08 |\n| Terms last updated | 2021-09-03 | no date given |\n| Privacy policy last updated | 2024-04-18 | no date given |\n| Customer content may train models | not found in the text | not found in the text |\n| Terms restrict automated access | yes | yes |\n| Terms restrict benchmarking | not found in the text | not found in the text |\n| Terms or service can change without notice | not found in the text | not found in the text |\n| Arbitration or class-action waiver | not found in the text | not found in the text |\n| Popularity | 18 stars | 6 stars |\n\n## Verdicts\n\n**Check.** Graded as embedded payroll through a partner API key, not access to an existing employer's payroll account. The API has idempotency keys on writes, a required preview before approval and queryable request logs. No price is public, a sandbox key comes through Check's sales team, and one API key carries the whole partner account.\n\n**Employment Hero Payroll.** Five public Swagger 2.0 files describe 660 to 821 operations per region, and any payroll user can generate an API key without a partner review. The key carries its user's whole access, no idempotency keys or API changelog were found, and the only official client is for .NET.\n\n## Before you call either\n\n### Check\n\n1. Use https://sandbox.checkhq.com with the sandbox key and https://api.checkhq.com with the production key. A key is not valid across environments\n2. Preview a payroll before approving it, then pass `preview_started_at` to POST /payrolls/{id}/approve so a stale preview fails with 409\n3. Send `X-Idempotency-Key` on every write. Keys expire after 24 hours, so list the resource before retrying later than that\n4. On 429 wait for `Retry-After`. The limit is 10 requests a second in sandbox and for partners paying fewer than 1,000 payees a month, with 100 concurrent requests\n5. Connect the MCP server with `?read_only=true` or `X-MCP-Readonly: true` unless writes are intended. In production, approving a payroll moves money\n\n### Employment Hero Payroll\n\n1. Send the API key as the Basic auth username with a blank password, for example `curl -u {api_key}: https://api.yourpayroll.com.au/api/v2/user`\n2. Pick the Swagger file for the business's region (`swagger-au.json`, `swagger-nz.json`, `swagger-uk.json`, `swagger-sg.json`, `swagger-my.json`). Paths and models differ by region\n3. Stay under 5 requests a second per key and IP address. A 429 answered our test with `retry-after: 1`\n4. Page lists with `$skip` and `$top` (100 at most). Filter property names are capitalised, unlike the camelCase JSON\n5. Read `GET /api/v2/business/{businessId}/payrun/{payRunId}/warnings` before `POST .../finalise`. Finalise can lodge with the tax office and publish pay slips in the same call\n\n## Questions\n\n### Which is better for AI agents, Check or Employment Hero Payroll?\n\nCheck scores 67.5 (B) on agent readiness against Employment Hero Payroll's 50.4 (D), and leads in 6 of 7 scored categories. Employment Hero Payroll leads on payments \u0026 pricing.\n\n### Do Check and Employment Hero Payroll need an API key?\n\nBoth take an API key or an OAuth sign-in.\n\n### Can an agent call Check and Employment Hero Payroll without installing anything?\n\nCheck has a hosted endpoint at https://api.checkhq.com. No hosted endpoint is listed for Employment Hero Payroll.\n\n\n## For agents\n\n- This comparison as JSON: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/check-payroll-vs-employment-hero.json, and with the fewest tokens: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/check-payroll-vs-employment-hero.min.md\n- Over MCP at https://www.anchorterminal.com/mcp (no key): `compare_tools {\"a\": \"check-payroll\", \"b\": \"employment-hero\"}`. From a terminal: `anchor compare check-payroll employment-hero`\n- Each listing in full: https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/check-payroll.json and https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/employment-hero.json\n\n## Other comparisons with Check or Employment Hero Payroll\n\n- [Argyle vs Check](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/argyle-vs-check-payroll.md)\n- [Argyle vs Employment Hero Payroll](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/argyle-vs-employment-hero.md)\n- [Check vs Finch](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/check-payroll-vs-finch.md)\n- [Check vs Paychex](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/check-payroll-vs-paychex.md)\n- [Employment Hero Payroll vs Finch](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/employment-hero-vs-finch.md)\n- [Employment Hero Payroll vs Paychex](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/employment-hero-vs-paychex.md)\n- [Check vs Everee](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/check-payroll-vs-everee.md)\n- [Check vs Gusto](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/check-payroll-vs-gusto.md)\n- [Check vs Salsa](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/check-payroll-vs-salsa.md)\n- [Check vs Zeal](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/check-payroll-vs-zeal.md)\n- [Employment Hero Payroll vs Everee](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/employment-hero-vs-everee.md)\n- [Employment Hero Payroll vs Gusto](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/employment-hero-vs-gusto.md)\n- [Employment Hero Payroll vs Salsa](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/employment-hero-vs-salsa.md)\n- [Employment Hero Payroll vs Zeal](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/employment-hero-vs-zeal.md)\n", "meta": { "attribution": "Anchor Terminal (https://www.anchorterminal.com)", "docs": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/docs/", "generatedAt": "2026-10-08", "license": "CC-BY-4.0", "method": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/benchmark/", "methodology": "0.4", "openapi": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/openapi.json", "preview": false, "run": "2026-10-01", "runLabel": "October 2026 research run" }, "page": { "breadcrumbs": [ { "name": "Home", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/" }, { "name": "Compare", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/" }, { "name": "Check vs Employment Hero Payroll", "url": "" } ], "description": "Check scores 67.5 (B) on agent readiness against Employment Hero Payroll's 50.4 (D), and leads in 6 of 7 scored categories. Employment Hero Payroll leads on payments \u0026 pricing. Both do payroll run. Category scores, facts, verdicts and agent notes side by side.", "facts": [ "Check B 67.5", "Employment Hero Payroll D 50.4", "scores" ], "h1": "Check vs Employment Hero Payroll", "image": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/assets/og/compare-check-payroll-vs-employment-hero.png", "path": "/compare/check-payroll-vs-employment-hero", "published": "2026-10-01", "section": "tools", "title": "Check vs Employment Hero Payroll for AI agents, B 67.5 vs D 50.4", "toc": null, "updated": "2026-10-08", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/check-payroll-vs-employment-hero" }, "tokens": { "markdown": 2250, "slim": 680 }, "version": 1 }