TriblockHR vs. Zettaz (PayTime): which Caribbean payroll software fits your entity

What these tools are, and what they are not

TriblockHR, from Nassau-based Plato Alpha Design, is an HRIS and payroll platform covering the Bahamas, Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago, Barbados, St. Lucia and the Turks and Caicos. Zettaz PayTime is a cloud payroll engine that the vendor describes as covering more than 20 Caribbean territories, including Antigua, Barbados, Jamaica, Sint Maarten and Trinidad.

Both are tools you run, or a provider runs for you, on top of your own employer registration. Neither becomes the legal employer. That means:

• You need a local company, or a registered branch, with employer accounts at the tax and social security authorities in each island.
• You carry the filing obligations: Bahamas NIB, Barbados BRA and NIS by the 15th, Jamaica S01 by the 14th.
• You carry severance, notice and Industrial Court exposure as employer.
• You need a local bank account to pay staff and remit contributions.

If you do not have an entity, you are comparing the wrong products; start with EOR vs PEO vs payroll bureau. If you do, software plus your own team, or plus a bureau, is usually the cheapest compliant route.

TriblockHR and Zettaz PayTime side by side

Coverage is as described by each vendor; confirm the exact islands, statutory updates and modules in your quote. Neither publishes prices.

Both firms are regional specialists, which is their main advantage over global software: statutory tables for NIB, NIS and NHT are their daily business rather than a localisation project.

Worked example: own entities in the Bahamas and Barbados

A group with its own entities employs 12 staff in the Bahamas at BSD 3,800 a month and 8 in Barbados at BBD 7,000 a month. The software and service cost below uses regional market benchmarks for managed payroll, not either vendor's price, which you will receive by quote.

Software does not remove the costs of holding an entity: annual filings, audit, a resident agent or director where required, and staff time to run payroll. Add those before comparing. The entity vs EOR break-even calculator includes them, and the Barbados employer cost calculator checks the statutory lines.

Who each suits

TriblockHR is likely to suit a group headquartered in or around the Bahamas that wants HR records, leave and payroll in one system across a few islands it already operates in, such as a resort or retail group with entities in Nassau, Bridgetown and Providenciales.

Zettaz PayTime is likely to suit an organisation spread across many smaller territories, including Dutch and Eastern Caribbean islands, that needs one payroll engine more than a full HR suite.

Neither suits a company with no local entity. Nor will either, on its own, solve the work of running payroll; someone still has to approve inputs, fund the bank file, and submit returns. If you lack that capacity in-house, ask each vendor whether it, or a partner bureau, offers a managed service on top of the software, and price that separately.

For hospitality groups moving off spreadsheets, see the legacy payroll migration comparison and the multi-island hospitality playbook.

Software or EOR: where the line falls

Buyers often reach these vendors while also holding a global EOR quote. The two are not substitutes; the choice is really between holding an entity and not holding one. Four facts usually decide it.

• Headcount per island. At one or two staff in an island, the fixed cost of a company, its annual filings and its bank account usually exceeds the EOR fee saved. At 10 or more, the reverse is usually true.
• Bank account lead time. Opening a corporate account for a new foreign-owned company can take four to seven months of KYB review in several islands. Payroll software cannot run until that account exists.
• Work permits. In the Bahamas, permit fees of $1,500 to $15,000 or more per year are the main cost for expatriate hires, and the sponsoring employer must be a local entity in either model. See the work permits and CSME guide.
• Severance exposure. With your own entity you carry it directly; Barbados severance runs 2.5 weeks of pay per year for years one to ten after 104 weeks of service.

If you are still choosing between models, price your current or quoted EOR in the EOR fee audit and compare it with the software benchmark above. Many groups run both for a period: EOR in islands with two or three staff, own entity plus software where the team is large.

Questions to put in writing, and a decision checklist

1. List every island where the statutory engine is live today, not planned.
2. How quickly were the 2026 changes shipped: Barbados NIS ceiling of BBD 5,360 from January 1, Trinidad NIS at 16.2% from January 5, Jamaica tax-free threshold of JMD 1,902,360 from April 1?
3. Does the system produce return files in the format each authority accepts?
4. Price per employee, minimums, setup per island, and data migration fees.
5. Is a managed service available, and who is liable for a calculation error?
6. Where is payroll data hosted, and how is it exported if we leave?

• Confirm you have, or will form, an entity in each island.
• Run a parallel payroll for one month before go-live.
• Check results against the employer cost calculator.
• Read the TriblockHR review and Zettaz PayTime review.