GreytHR and Zoho People are the two cheapest credible HRMS options for Indian SMBs. GreytHR's killer differentiator is the free tier up to 25 employees. Zoho People wins on per-employee pricing above 25 and ecosystem integration. The right pick depends entirely on your employee count and whether you already use Zoho.
At 25 employees. Below 25, GreytHR is free and Zoho People + Payroll costs ₹83 × 25 = ₹2,075/month. Above 25 employees, GreytHR Essential at ~₹100/employee × 26 = ₹2,600/month vs Zoho People + Payroll at ₹83 × 26 = ₹2,158/month — Zoho wins on price. Difference widens as headcount grows.
For Indian-specific payroll edge cases (state-specific PT, gratuity for short-tenure exits, leave encashment formulas, full and final settlement complexity), GreytHR is slightly more polished — it has been doing only Indian payroll for 15+ years. Zoho Payroll covers all standard cases but feels newer for edge scenarios. For most SMBs, both are sufficient.
Yes — Zoho People can handle leave, attendance, performance, and employee self-service standalone. But for full Indian statutory compliance (PF, ESI, TDS, PT, gratuity), you need either Zoho Payroll (₹33/employee/month) or integration with another payroll system. Most Indian businesses pair Zoho People with Zoho Payroll for the complete solution.
Both export to Tally via CSV. Zoho People has tighter integration with Zoho Books (auto-posting of salary journal entries) if you use Zoho for accounting. GreytHR has dedicated Tally integration utilities and is the more common choice for businesses where the accountant uses Tally heavily.
Not automatically. If you are happy with GreytHR and your team is trained, the switching cost (training, migration, parallel run, risk of errors) is significant. The per-employee savings are real but modest at 30-60 employees. Above 100 employees, the savings become large enough to justify migration.
Pick between GreytHR and Zoho People in 15 minutes — free India-specific consultation.