Free tool · Offer comparison
UK Job Offer Comparison Tool
Got two UK offers? See the genuine net total compensation side-by-side — accounting for tax, pension match, equity discount, bonus, holiday allowance and healthcare. The decision tool nobody else has.
Verdict
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Offer A · Net total comp
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Offer B · Net total comp
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Where the value comes from
Offer A
Offer B
Why most offer comparisons get this wrong
I have placed candidates with two competing offers many times. The single most common mistake — and it's the move that costs candidates real money — is comparing offers on base salary alone. £70k versus £85k looks decisive until you factor in that the £70k role has a 10% pension match and the £85k role has 3% auto-enrolment minimum. Or that the £70k role's bonus has hit 100% target for three consecutive years and the £85k role's bonus is fictional. Or that the £85k role pays its equity in late-stage scale-up share options worth roughly half the headline at honest discount. The total comp gap between two genuine offers can flip entirely once you do the maths properly, and most candidates never do because the maths is annoying. This tool does it for you.
How equity is honestly valued
Equity is the most-misvalued line on a UK offer letter. Companies inflate it deliberately, recruiters quote it at face value because their commission is tied to total comp, and candidates accept the headline number because it sounds large. The honest discount factors are: established public companies (FTSE 100, US Big Tech with London offices) — close to face value because shares are liquid; late-stage scale-ups (Series C+ or pre-IPO) — discount 30%, accounting for dilution and exit-timing risk; Series B — discount 50%, the modal range for honest planning; Series A or earlier — discount 75%+, with the genuine expectation that the equity is worth zero in most outcomes. The tool applies these by default. You can override if you have specific information.
Why pension match matters more than candidates think
Employer pension contribution is tax-free above the auto-enrolment minimum, and it compounds over decades. A 5-percentage-point gap in pension match on a £70k salary is £3,500 of tax-free retirement money per year. Net of tax, that's worth approximately £4,500 of post-tax salary at higher rate. Over a 20-year career, with conservative compounding, that single 5-point gap is worth more than £180,000 in retirement value. When candidates compare offers and shrug at "8% versus 3%", they are walking past genuine money. The tool surfaces this gap explicitly in the breakdown so it's hard to miss.
What this tool deliberately doesn't try to model
Manager quality, team trajectory, role progression, industry tailwinds, visa stability, parental leave generosity, commute realism, and culture fit. All of these matter and none can be priced reliably from offer-letter inputs. The tool gives you the financial gap so the non-financial conversation gets the right weight. Use the comparison number to understand whether you are choosing between offers separated by 3% or 30% — they require very different decision frames. For more on the broader career-stage decision, see the counter-offer guide and the UK hiring patterns piece.
Common questions
- What does this tool actually compare?
- Eight dimensions per offer. Base salary (taxed at 2026/27 UK bands). Bonus (taxed at marginal rate). Equity (estimated annual value over a vesting period). Employer pension contribution. Holiday allowance valued in cash equivalent. Healthcare benefit estimated value. London weighting flag. Plus an honest equity-discount factor — equity at most UK companies is worth less than the headline number suggests because of dilution risk and exit timing. The output is the genuine net total compensation per offer, plus a winner-by-£.
- How is equity actually valued?
- Honest answer: it depends on the company stage. The tool applies a discount factor — at established public companies (FTSE 100, Big Tech with London offices), equity is treated near-face-value because shares are liquid. At venture-backed scale-ups (Series B and later), the tool discounts equity by 30-50% to reflect dilution and exit risk. At early-stage Series A or pre-Series A, the discount is 70-80%. You can override the equity value if you have specific information about strike price, recent valuation, or expected exit. Use the discounted figure as your honest planning number.
- Why does the tool weight pension contributions so heavily?
- Because pension contributions are tax-free (above auto-enrolment minimum) and compound over decades. A 5% extra employer pension contribution on a £70k salary is £3,500/year of tax-free retirement money — worth roughly £4,500 of post-tax salary at higher rate. Most candidates forget this when comparing offers, especially with US-headquartered employers that often match minimum auto-enrolment (3%) versus UK FTSE companies that match 8-12%. The compounding gap over a 20-year career is significant.
- Should I always pick the offer with the highest total comp?
- No, and the tool deliberately doesn't say so. The score is one input. Other things genuinely matter: line manager quality (the single biggest predictor of whether you'll be promoted), commute realism, industry trajectory, how the role fits into a 5-10 year career arc, the visa status of the employer if relevant. Use the comparison number to make sure you understand the actual financial gap before you decide on those factors. A 5% pay gap is often worth eating for the right manager. A 30% gap usually isn't.
- Is my offer data stored anywhere?
- No. Same privacy-first design as every other tool on this site. The comparison runs entirely in your browser. Nothing is sent to any server. Close the tab and the data is gone.