The short answer
There is no single best HRMS for every Indian company; there is a best fit for your size and for how your staff work. For a payroll-first suite with deep statutory compliance, greytHR and Keka are the names most mid-sized companies shortlist. For field and multi-site teams, HROne, Zimyo and factoHR put geofenced or face-verified attendance on their entry plans. For a zero budget, Kredily has a free plan with payroll calculations. Large enterprises look at Darwinbox and PeopleStrong, which quote on request.
Every price below was taken from the vendor's own pricing page on 27 October 2026 and is before 18% GST unless stated. We don't take payment for placement. Attend Mitra is our own product; it is listed last and labelled.
- Best for payroll compliance at 50 to 500 employees: greytHR, Keka
- Best for field and multi-site attendance on the entry plan: HROne, Zimyo, factoHR
- Best free option: Kredily (free plan), Zoho People (free for a few users, no attendance)
- Best for large enterprises: Darwinbox, PeopleStrong
- Best per-employee pricing for small teams with site staff: Attend Mitra
1. greytHR: payroll-first HRMS for Indian SMEs
greytHR, from Greytip Software, is built around Indian payroll. Every plan includes payroll with PF and ECR generation, ESI challans, state professional tax, TDS and eTDS returns, Form 24Q, digitally signed Form 16 and 12BA, and Labour Welfare Fund. The employee app handles leave, payslips and, on plans with attendance, sign-in with selfie, geofence and GPS. Our greytHR review covers it in depth.
- Price: Essential ₹2,495 a month including 50 employees, then ₹45 per extra employee; attendance starts on Growth (₹4,495 a month for 50)
- Free plan: no; 7-day free trial
- Suits: companies of 50 to a few hundred employees that want payroll done inside the HRMS
- Watch for: attendance is not in the entry plan, and recruitment is priced per recruiter
2. Keka: modern HRMS with payroll and performance
Keka combines core HR, attendance, leave, payroll and performance in one product with a strong employee app. Its payroll covers PF with ECR-ready reports, ESI, professional tax across states, TDS, Form 130 (the new name for Form 16) and Labour Welfare Fund. Selfie clock-in and geofencing start on its Strength plan.
- Price: Keka's small-companies page says pricing starts at ₹90 per employee a month, with the full HR stack from ₹6,999 a month; the main pricing page lists plans without prices
- Setup fee: the pricing page says a nominal setup fee applies, while the small-companies page says there are no setup fees, so get it in writing
- Free plan: no; free trial available
- Suits: growing companies that want performance and engagement tools alongside payroll
3. Zoho People: HR inside the Zoho suite
Zoho People covers employee records, attendance, leave, shifts and performance, and fits companies already on Zoho's CRM, Books or Mail. Payroll is a separate product, Zoho Payroll, which is free for up to 10 employees and starts at ₹1,000 a month (billed yearly) for 25 employees on its Standard plan.
- Price: ₹48 to ₹192 per user a month on annual billing, with attendance checks from Premium at ₹144 (October 2026)
- Free plan: yes, for a small number of users, covering the employee database, time off and documents but not attendance; 30-day trial
- Suits: Zoho customers and teams that want a configurable, form-based HR system
- Watch for: HR and payroll are two subscriptions
4. HROne: attendance-heavy HRMS with a Noida office
HROne, from Uneecops Workplace Solutions, puts geofencing, selfie and offline attendance on its Basic plan, which makes it a fit for teams spread across sites. Payroll generates ECR files for EPFO, ESI files, professional tax by state slab, LWF, TDS, Form 24Q, Form 16 and PF and ESI challans, with banking integration for salary credit. Its contact page lists offices in Noida (Sector 68) and New Delhi; our guide to HR software in Noida covers Uttar Pradesh payroll rules.
- Price: Basic ₹4,950 a month for 50 users; the plan card shows ₹99 per extra user, but the FAQ on the same page says ₹85, so confirm the rate
- Free plan: no; free trial available
- Suits: mid-sized companies with field or multi-site staff, especially in the NCR
5. factoHR: face-recognition attendance from the Core plan
factoHR offers AI face-recognition attendance from its Core plan and a payroll engine covering PF, ESI, professional tax, TDS, Form 16, Form 24Q, LWF and ECR file generation, with direct deposit through connected banks. Recruitment and selfie punch are paid add-ons.
- Price: Core ₹4,999 a month for up to 50 employees, then ₹99 per extra employee, billed yearly
- Free plan: yes, for up to 20 employees with a limited set of modules; trials on paid plans
- Watch for: the pricing page isn't consistent about whether payroll starts on Core or Premium, so confirm before you buy
6. Pocket HRMS: payroll-led HRMS with geo-tagged attendance
Pocket HRMS is a payroll-led HRMS with geo-tagged attendance on its Standard plan and geofencing on Professional. Expenses, performance and recruitment are sold as add-ons, and a one-time implementation fee applies.
- Price: Standard ₹2,995 a month for 50 employees billed annually, then ₹60 per extra employee; Professional ₹4,495 a month for 50
- Free plan: no
- Suits: companies that want payroll first and will add modules over time
7. Zimyo: per-user pricing with geofencing on Basic
Zimyo prices per user with a 50-user minimum and includes geofenced attendance on its Basic plan, with selfie attendance from Standard. Its contact page lists offices in Gurugram, Bengaluru, Mumbai and Kolkata, among others.
- Price: Basic ₹80 per user a month, billed for at least 50 users (₹4,000 a month minimum)
- Free plan: no; 14-day free trial
- Suits: companies of 50 and up that prefer per-user pricing over slabs
8. Kredily: the free HRMS option
Kredily's Free Forever plan covers payroll, attendance (web clock-in), leave, PF, ESI, PT and TDS calculations, payslips and an employee app, for unlimited employees subject to an active-usage policy. The limits are what you would expect: 250 MB of storage, one leave and attendance rule and one salary structure, with salary payouts, challans and Form 16 on paid plans.
- Price: Free; Payroll OS ₹1,249 a month for up to 25 employees, then ₹50 each; Professional ₹1,749 for 25, then ₹70 each, with selfie and GPS attendance
- Add-on: face recognition at ₹50 per user a month
- Suits: small companies with simple salary structures and a zero budget
9. Darwinbox: enterprise HCM
Darwinbox describes itself as an AI-native HCM and is chosen by large organisations with many locations and complex structures. Its time and attendance covers rostering, face recognition, geofencing and biometric device integration. Prices are not published; buying starts with a demo and a quote.
- Price: on request
- Suits: enterprises with thousands of employees and dedicated HR operations teams
10. PeopleStrong: enterprise HR from Gurugram
PeopleStrong is an enterprise HR platform headquartered in Gurugram, sold to large employers through demos and quotes. Prices are not published, so it belongs on an enterprise shortlist rather than an SME one.
- Price: on request
- Suits: large enterprises, often with complex hiring and payroll needs
11. Empxtrack: HR and payroll with a free tier for small teams
Empxtrack offers HR, payroll and performance modules, with payroll free for up to 10 employees and five free appraisals. Its India sales, support and implementation office is in Noida (Sector 135). Other pricing is by quote.
- Price: payroll free for up to 10 employees; other plans on request
- Suits: small teams starting with payroll, and NCR companies that want local support
12. Attend Mitra (our product): per-employee modules for site and field teams
Attend Mitra is the HRMS we make. It started with attendance for teams that clock in at sites and in the field, so face verification, GPS geofencing, office Wi-Fi checks and offline attendance come first; leave, payroll, documents, ID cards, performance, incident reporting and a hiring tool are separate modules. Staff use Android or iPhone apps.
- Price: per employee per month, Attendance ₹29, Leave ₹9, Payroll ₹32, Verified Attendance (face, GPS, Wi-Fi) ₹16, with 8% to 22% off bundles; see the module prices
- Free plan: no; 14-day free trial
- Suits: SMEs with staff at sites, shops, plants or in the field who want to pay per employee rather than per 50-employee slab
What 50 employees cost on each (monthly, before GST)
Plans include different modules, so compare like for like before deciding. For 50 employees with attendance and payroll, from the pricing pages on 27 October 2026:
- Kredily: ₹0 on the free plan (web clock-in); ₹3,499 on Professional with selfie and GPS
- Attend Mitra: ₹3,220 for Attendance, Leave and Payroll; ₹3,655 adding face, GPS and Wi-Fi checks
- Zimyo: ₹4,000 (Basic, 50-user minimum)
- greytHR: ₹4,495 (Growth, the first plan with attendance)
- Keka: from about ₹4,500 at ₹90 per employee, per its small-companies page
- HROne: ₹4,950 (Basic); factoHR: ₹4,999 (Core)
- Zoho People Premium plus Zoho Payroll Standard: about ₹9,200 (₹7,200 plus ₹2,000)
- Darwinbox and PeopleStrong: on request
How to choose the right HRMS
Shortlist three tools that fit your size, then run a real month in each trial: your actual attendance rules, leave policy and two real salary structures, with field staff clocking in on their own phones. Ask each vendor how statutory changes reach your account, check that every report exports to Excel, and price a full year at your expected headcount including add-ons, implementation fees and GST. Our guide to human resource management software explains the modules, and the top 10 payroll software in India compares the payroll engines on their own.