Provider comparison
Wagestream vs Salary Finance
Side-by-side comparison from the PerkIQ directory. Cover, pricing, regulator status, and fit at a glance.
Wagestream and Salary Finance are two leading UK financial wellbeing providers, but they help employees in different ways. Wagestream centres on earned wage access, letting staff draw pay they have already earned before payday, alongside savings and budgeting tools. Salary Finance focuses on salary-linked products, including loans, savings and advances designed to cut the cost of borrowing.
- Earned wage access. Employees can draw down wages they have already earned ahead of payday, without changing your payroll cycle.
- Salary tracker and budgeting. Real-time view of earned-to-date pay, plus simple budgeting tools and spend categorisation.
- In-app savings. FSCS-protected savings pots funded by automatic gross-pay deductions, helping employees build emergency funds.
- Financial coaching and education. Free 1-to-1 coaching calls plus a content library covering debt, savings, pensions, and budgeting.
- Payroll-linked loans. Loans repaid via payroll deduction at APRs well below high-street credit cards or payday lenders.
- Payroll-linked savings. Tax-efficient gross-pay savings into FSCS-protected accounts, building emergency funds without effort.
- Financial education library. Articles, videos, and interactive tools covering budgeting, debt management, pensions, and savings.
- Free for employers. No setup or platform fee. Salary Finance is paid by the lending margins, so the employer side is fully free.
- Hourly, shift or lower-paid workforces: flexible access to already-earned pay is most valuable here.
- Employers tackling financial stress: can reduce payday-driven pressure and related absence.
- Businesses wanting more than pay access: savings, tracking and financial coaching sit alongside earned wage access.
- Salaried, higher-paid workforces: less need for access to pay before payday.
- Employers wanting lending products: the core model is access to earned pay, not borrowing.
- Employers wanting salary-linked savings and borrowing: affordable, payroll-deducted options to ease financial pressure.
- Workforces at risk of high-cost credit: a lower-cost alternative to payday or doorstep lending.
- Employers wanting financial education: guidance and tools sit alongside lending and savings.
- Employers uncomfortable offering borrowing as a benefit: salary-linked loans may not suit every culture.
- Teams whose main need is flexible pay access: earned wage access providers focus on that instead.
- FCA authorised
- 800+ UK employers (ASDA, NHS, Bupa)
- 3m+ workers covered
- JRF-backed
- Founded 2018, London
- Free for employers
- FCA authorised
- Founded 2015, London
- Salary-linked loans & savings
- Below-market interest rates
- Free for employers
- Enterprise focus
Which should you choose?
Choose Wagestream if flexible access to pay is the main need. Its earned wage access, plus savings and financial education in one app, suits workforces, particularly hourly and shift-based staff, who benefit from smoothing cash flow between paydays.
Choose Salary Finance if reducing the cost of borrowing and building savings is the priority. Its salary-linked loans and savings can help employees consolidate higher-cost debt and save directly from pay, supporting broader financial resilience.
Both integrate with payroll and aim to reduce money stress. Wagestream leans on access to earned pay; Salary Finance on salary-linked borrowing and saving. Many employers find the two address different parts of the same problem.
Pick the right one with data, not a sales pitch
Score your benefits stack with PerkIQ and you'll see which of these (or another provider entirely) closes the biggest gaps for your team.
Information on this page is editorial, gathered from public sources and the providers' own materials, and does not constitute financial advice or a recommendation. For a quote, contact each provider directly or speak to an FCA-authorised broker. PerkIQ is not a reseller and earns no commission on provider sign-ups.
