An SD Worx alternative is any of the other 25 recognised social secretariats, or a social bureau that works with one of them. Business Centrum in Ghent is such a bureau: you move to Acerta and get one fixed contact who does the work for you. The switch takes effect at the start of a quarter.
SD Worx in brief
SD Worx is one of the largest social secretariats in Belgium, recognised under number 640. According to its own website:
- 92,000 Belgian clients entrust their payroll to SD Worx;
- SD Worx has 33 offices in Belgium, including Ghent;
- the group is active in more than 150 countries;
- SD Worx promises an SME a fixed contact person and a team of 60 lawyers for legal questions;
- employer, team leaders and employees work in mysdworx, as a web application and a mobile app, for payslips, leave, expenses and time registration;
- the price depends on your headcount and your needs, with a tailored quotation.
That is a strong offer, especially for companies with employees in several countries or their own HR department. These figures come from SD Worx itself, consulted on 7 October 2026, and no authority has checked them.
Why does an SME look for an SD Worx alternative?
An SME rarely looks for an alternative because the payroll is wrong. Usually the way of working no longer suits the business. Typical reasons:
- You want to get rid of the work, not just the software. A good portal helps, but you keep entering hours, approving leave and following up changes yourself.
- You want someone nearby. One fixed person in Ghent, where you can drop in with a contract or a letter from the NSSO.
- You only operate in Belgium. Then an international network counts for less than a contact who knows your sector and your region.
- Your contract is ending. A good moment to compare again, with a quotation for your actual staff.
- You are growing or shrinking. What suited twenty employees does not always suit five, and vice versa.
If that sounds familiar, the question is not which secretariat is better, but who does the work. So you choose an SD Worx alternative on the way of working that suits your business, with a price for your actual staff next to it.
SD Worx vs Acerta through Business Centrum: what changes?
| Directly with SD Worx | Acerta through Business Centrum | |
|---|---|---|
| Social secretariat | SD Worx (recognition number 640) | Acerta (recognition number 250) |
| Size by own account | 92,000 Belgian payroll clients, more than 150 countries | Acerta: more than 70,000 companies, 26 offices |
| Who passes on the hours? | you, in mysdworx | we do, with what you send by email or form |
| Who is your contact? | a fixed contact person at SD Worx | one fixed contact at Business Centrum in Ghent |
| Who files the returns? | SD Worx | Acerta |
| What does it cost? | tailored quotation | tailored quotation, after a free meeting |
Source of the left column: the SD Worx website, consulted on 7 October 2026. The right column describes Business Centrum, which publishes this site.
What stays the same? The statutory core. Whether you are with SD Worx or with Acerta through us, the Dimona, the DmfA, the collection of contributions and the social documents go through a recognised secretariat under NSSO supervision. For your employees what matters most is that their payslip is correct and on time, and that stays the same.
The big difference is in the third row. Directly with a large secretariat, you work in its software. Through a social bureau, you send the data and someone else does the work. What a social bureau is and how it relates to a secretariat is explained in our guide social bureau.
Comparing an SD Worx alternative: five questions
Put the same five questions to every alternative. Then you compare what matters for an SME, not just the price per payslip.
- Who does the work every month? Do you enter the hours in a portal yourself, or do you send them and someone else does the rest?
- Who is my fixed person, and where are they based? Ask for a name, a direct number and the office where that person works.
- Do they know my sector? A wrong joint committee gives wrong pay, and an inspection brings back payments.
- What does it cost per year for my actual staff? Including the joining fee, the price per pay calculation and the services billed separately.
- When can I start? Given the notice period at SD Worx and the start of the quarter.
Put those questions to Business Centrum and you get a concrete answer: we do the work, your fixed person is in Ghent, we work with your joint committee, you get a quotation for your staff and we plan the start date with you.
Switching from SD Worx: how it works
- Read your contract. Look for the notice period, the date by which you can give notice, the form of notice and any fees for the transfer or for leaving before the end of the term.
- Choose your start date. A mandate with the NSSO only passes over at the start of a quarter: 1 January, 1 April, 1 July or 1 October. The turn of the year is often the simplest moment, because the individual account and the tax forms run per calendar year.
- Give notice as the contract requires. Usually that is a registered letter. An email or a phone call then does not count as proof.
- Have the new mandate registered. Your new secretariat registers the mandate in Mahis, the NSSO application. That can still be done for that quarter up to 1 month after it starts. The old mandate then ends automatically.
- Agree on the last DmfA. Usually SD Worx still files the DmfA for its last quarter, within 1 month after that quarter.
- Have the file transferred. Staff data, contracts, leave balances and the individual account per employee.
Through Business Centrum you do not have to do all that yourself. We contact SD Worx and organise the transfer of the files. You sign a single mandate. All the details on deadlines and costs are in changing social secretariat.
What Business Centrum takes over from you
At Business Centrum you send the hours and we do the rest. In practice:
- Your payroll every month. You send the hours worked, overtime and absences. We process them and contact you if something does not add up.
- Dimona on time. For permanent staff, students and flexi-jobbers.
- Contracts and documents. From the employment contract to the documents when someone leaves.
- Your sector. Hours and pay according to your joint committee, with the bonuses and indexation that go with it.
- Your questions. One fixed person who knows your file, in Ghent, whom you call or email directly.
Acerta is behind it as the social secretariat. It files the Dimona and the DmfA and collects the contributions. How that division of tasks works is explained in Acerta or Business Centrum.
Other SD Worx alternatives
Business Centrum is not the only alternative, and we say so. The official list of 20 June 2025 counts 25 recognised social secretariats with an active head office. Each files the same statutory returns under NSSO supervision.
- Acerta directly, if you want to work in a portal yourself.
- Securex, Liantis or Partena, the other big names, each with its own pricing model and tools. The facts are side by side in Acerta, SD Worx, Securex, Liantis or Partena: the differences.
- A smaller secretariat, often with its own region or sector. The full list is in the largest social secretariats in Belgium.
Also considering another name? Read an alternative to Securex, Liantis or Partena.
Want to know what leaving SD Worx would mean for your business in practice? Business Centrum puts your current contract next to a move to Acerta through us, and tells you honestly when you can start.