The short answer
For most Indian businesses the choice comes down to three questions: do you want payroll inside an HRMS or on its own, do you need the software to file and pay statutory dues for you, and how many employees do you have. Zoho Payroll and Kredily cover small teams for free or close to it; greytHR, Keka, HROne and factoHR run payroll inside a full HRMS; Razorpay Payroll files and pays TDS, PF, PT and ESIC for you; and TallyPrime and Saral PayPack suit businesses that want desktop software alongside their accounts.
Prices are from each vendor's own pricing page on 27 October 2026 and are before 18% GST unless stated. We don't take payment for placement, and the order groups tools by type rather than ranking them. Attend Mitra, our own product, is listed separately at the end.
What payroll software must handle in India
Indian payroll is mostly compliance. Before comparing prices, check that a product handles these for your states and salary structures:
- Provident Fund: employee and employer contributions and the monthly ECR file for EPFO, on the ₹25,000 wage ceiling in force since 17 September 2026 (it was ₹15,000); see what the new EPF ceiling changes and the PF calculator
- ESI: contributions for employees earning up to ₹21,000 a month and the monthly return; see the ESI calculator
- Professional tax by state slab, and Labour Welfare Fund where it applies
- TDS on salary under the regime each employee picks, quarterly returns and the annual certificate. Several vendors now label Form 16 as Form 130 and Form 24Q as Form 138, following the Income-tax Act, 2025
- Attendance inputs: payable days, leave without pay and overtime, ideally imported rather than typed; see payroll software with overtime calculation
- Payslips, bank transfer files or direct salary payouts, and full-and-final settlement
1. greytHR
greytHR includes payroll in every plan: PF calculation with ECR generation, ESI challans, state professional tax, TDS with eTDS returns, Form 24Q with FVU validation, digitally signed Form 16 and 12BA, and Labour Welfare Fund, with bank transfer formats for major banks and a direct salary transfer option.
- Price: Essential ₹2,495 a month including 50 employees, then ₹45 per extra employee
- Trial: 7 days; no free plan
- Suits: SMEs and mid-sized companies that want payroll and HR together; read the greytHR review
2. Zoho Payroll
Zoho Payroll's India edition handles EPF, ESI, state professional tax, LWF and an automatic TDS worksheet even on its free plan. Standard and above add Form 130 (Form 16) with digital signature, Form 138 and TDS challan recording, and salary transfers through bank integrations.
- Price: free for up to 10 employees; Standard ₹1,000 a month billed yearly (₹1,250 monthly) including 25 employees, then ₹40 (or ₹50 on monthly billing) per extra employee; prices exclude GST
- Trial: 14 days on paid plans
- Suits: small businesses, especially those already using Zoho Books
3. Razorpay Payroll
Razorpay Payroll (formerly RazorpayX Payroll) goes beyond calculation: its pricing page says it files and pays TDS, PF, PT and ESIC for you from one dashboard, issues digitally signed Form 16, and deposits salaries directly to employees' bank accounts.
- Price: PRIME ₹3,499 a month for up to 20 employees, then ₹150 per extra employee; ELITE ₹6,499 a month for 50 employees; plus 18% GST
- Offer at the time of checking: one month free and 20% off semi-annual plans
- Suits: startups that want statutory payments handled, not just calculated
4. Keka
Keka's payroll covers PF with ECR-ready reports, ESI, professional tax across states, TDS with quarterly reports, Form 130 (earlier Form 16) and Labour Welfare Fund, inside a full HRMS from its Foundation plan up.
- Price: its small-companies page says pricing starts at ₹90 per employee a month; the main pricing page shows plans without prices and mentions a setup fee
- Suits: growing companies that want payroll with performance and engagement tools
5. HROne
HROne produces ECR files ready for EPFO upload, ESI monthly files, professional tax by state slab, LWF, TDS by regime, Form 24Q, Form 16 and PF and ESI challans in the prescribed formats, with banking integration for salary credit and a compliance due-date checklist.
- Price: Basic ₹4,950 a month for 50 users; the extra-user rate differs between the plan card (₹99) and the FAQ (₹85) on the same page
- Suits: mid-sized companies, including NCR companies that want a vendor with a Noida office; see HR software in Noida
6. factoHR
factoHR's payroll covers PF, ESI, professional tax, TDS, Form 16, Form 24Q, LWF and ECR files and challans, with direct deposit through connected banks, alongside face-recognition attendance.
- Price: Core ₹4,999 a month for up to 50 employees, then ₹99 per extra employee, billed yearly; confirm whether payroll is in Core or starts on Premium, as the page isn't consistent
- Suits: companies with plant or field staff who want attendance and payroll from one vendor
7. Kredily
Kredily's free plan calculates PF, ESI, professional tax and TDS and produces payslips. Salary payouts, PF and ESI challans, Form 12BB and Form 16 start on its paid Payroll OS plan.
- Price: free; Payroll OS ₹1,249 a month for up to 25 employees, then ₹50 per extra employee
- Limits on the free plan: one salary structure, one leave and attendance rule, 250 MB storage
- Suits: small companies with simple salary structures
8. SalaryBox
SalaryBox is an attendance-and-salary app for small businesses. Its Business plan adds EPF, ESI, professional tax, LWF, income tax management and challan generation; the cheaper Starter plan has no statutory compliance. Bank transfer files and online payouts are on Enterprise.
- Price: Business ₹2,700 a month plus ₹67.50 per user on quarterly billing (₹3,000 plus ₹75 list price), taxes extra
- Trial: 7 days, with a ₹1 refundable verification charge
- Suits: shops and small businesses whose staff clock in from phones
9. TallyPrime
TallyPrime includes payroll alongside its accounting, with pre-configured statutory modules for PF, ESI, professional tax, NPS and income tax, statutory challans and PF forms, and payslips by email. It suits businesses whose accounts already live in Tally and whose payroll is straightforward.
- Price: Silver (single PC) ₹22,500 and Gold (multi-user) ₹67,500 as perpetual licences, or rental from ₹750 a month (Silver), each plus 18% GST
- Suits: small and mid-sized businesses already running Tally for accounting
10. Saral PayPack
Saral PayPack, from Relyon Softech in Bengaluru, is long-standing desktop payroll software with automated PF ECR generation, ESI, state professional tax, LWF, TDS e-payment and e-return, Form 24Q with FVU validation and digital Form 16.
- Price: sold as a licence; the vendor's pages weren't consistent about the amount and term when we checked, so ask Relyon for a current quote
- Suits: companies and payroll consultants who prefer desktop software and handle returns themselves
Also consider: PagarBook and Attend Mitra
PagarBook lets small business owners mark staff attendance free and pay per staff member for salary, PF, ESI and tracking features; its site lists PF, ESI, professional tax, LWF, TDS challan and filing, Form 24Q and Form 16, with online salary payment. Our PagarBook guide has the plan details.
Attend Mitra, our product, runs payroll from verified attendance: payable days, leave without pay and overtime come straight from face- or GPS-checked clock-ins, and payroll calculates PF, ESI, professional tax and TDS. The Payroll module is ₹32 per employee a month, or ₹56.12 with Attendance after the bundle discount; see the payroll solution and module prices.
What payroll costs for 50 employees (monthly, before GST)
Payroll only, on the cheapest plan that includes statutory calculations, from pricing pages on 27 October 2026:
- Zoho Payroll Standard: ₹2,000 billed yearly (₹1,000 plus 25 extra employees at ₹40)
- greytHR Essential: ₹2,495
- Kredily Payroll OS: ₹2,499 (₹1,249 plus 25 at ₹50)
- Attend Mitra Payroll with Attendance: ₹2,806
- Keka: from about ₹4,500 at ₹90 per employee
- HROne Basic: ₹4,950; factoHR Core: ₹4,999
- SalaryBox Business: ₹6,075 on quarterly billing (₹2,700 plus 50 users at ₹67.50)
- Razorpay Payroll ELITE: ₹6,499, including statutory filing and payment
- TallyPrime Silver rental: ₹750, for accounting and payroll on one PC
How to choose payroll software
Run a parallel payroll before you commit: take last month's attendance and salary structures, process them in the trial, and compare every employee's net pay, PF, ESI, professional tax and TDS with what you actually paid. Ask who files returns (you or the vendor), how the ECR and challans are produced, how attendance gets in (import, integration or manual entry), and how mid-year changes such as a new tax regime choice or a state's PT revision are handled. Payroll that reads verified attendance saves the most time; the best HRMS software in India compares suites that do both.