There is no single best payroll software in India. There is the best one for a 12-person agency, a different one for a 300-person IT services company, and a different one again for a manufacturer with three shifts and a biometric machine at the gate. Any list that ranks one product first for everyone is selling that product.
We make one of the products on this list, so read this with that in mind. What we have tried to do is give you what we would want if we were choosing: published prices, checked on each vendor’s own pricing page on 26 September 2026, who each product actually suits, and where each one, including ours, falls short.
| Software | Published starting price (per month) | Best for |
|---|---|---|
| HivePayroll | Free for up to 10 employees; paid plans from ₹500 (billed yearly, excl. GST) | Small and growing companies that want payroll, attendance and leave at a flat price by team size |
| Zoho Payroll | Free for up to 10 employees; Standard ₹1,000 for up to 25 (billed yearly, excl. GST) | Companies already using Zoho Books |
| greytHR | Essential ₹2,495, including 50 employees | Companies that want a long-established Indian vendor |
| RazorpayX Payroll | ₹3,499 for up to 20 employees (+18% GST) | Companies that bank with RazorpayX |
| Pocket HRMS | ₹2,995 for up to 50 employees (billed yearly) | Teams that mainly use a mobile app |
| HROne | ₹4,950 for up to 50 users | Mid-sized companies wanting broad HR features |
| Keka | Not published | 100–2,000 employees with complex shifts, overtime and arrears |
| Darwinbox | Quote only | Large enterprises with a dedicated HR operations team |
Statutory compliance, and how fast it is updated. Every product claims PF, ESI, PT and TDS. The real test is what happens when rules change. 2026 has been a busy year: the Labour Codes changed the definition of wages, the Income-tax Act, 2025 renamed Form 16 and Form 24Q, and the PF wage ceiling rose from ₹15,000 to ₹25,000 on 17 September. Ask each vendor when they applied the new PF ceiling and how they handled September’s split month.
Your state. Professional Tax and Labour Welfare Fund rules differ by state. If you have employees in several states, check each one is supported.
Attendance. Payroll is only as accurate as the attendance behind it. Decide whether you need biometric machine integration, phone check-in with location, shifts, or just a register someone updates.
Pricing at your headcount a year from now. Some products bundle 50 employees into the base price; others charge per employee or by team-size band. Price each one at the headcount you expect next year.
Migration and support. Moving payroll mid-year means carrying over year-to-date earnings and tax. Ask who does the migration, what it costs, and how quickly support responds in the last week of the month.
Best for: companies with up to a few hundred employees that want payroll, attendance and leave in one product, at a price that only changes with headcount.
Free for up to 10 employees, with no time limit and no credit card: payroll with PF, ESI, PT, LWF and TDS, payslips and Form 16 (now Form 130), leave, an employee self-service app, loans, expenses and reimbursements, flexible benefits, letters and statutory reports. On the Free plan you mark attendance yourself or upload it from Excel.
Paid plans add phone check-in with selfie and location, biometric machine integration, shifts and attendance corrections. Prices billed yearly, excluding GST: ₹500 a month for up to 10 employees, ₹1,000 for 11–25, ₹1,500 for 26–50 and ₹2,500 for 51–100. Above 100, it is ₹30,000 a year plus ₹25 per extra employee per month. Monthly billing costs about 20% more. See full pricing.
Where we are weaker: we are a smaller company than greytHR, Keka or Zoho, which matters if your procurement process requires a large vendor. Live GPS tracking is a paid add-on. We do not offer recruitment or performance management; HivePayroll is payroll-first by design.
Best for: companies whose accounts are already in Zoho Books.
Free for up to 10 employees. Standard is ₹1,000 a month billed yearly for up to 25 employees, then ₹40 per extra employee; Professional and Premium cost more. Prices exclude GST, and each legal entity needs its own subscription. Salary journals flow straight into Zoho Books, which is its biggest advantage.
Watch out: Zoho People, Zoho’s HR product, does not run payroll on its own. More in our Zoho Payroll alternatives comparison.
Best for: companies that value a long track record in Indian payroll compliance.
Essential is ₹2,495 a month and Growth ₹4,495, each including 50 employees; extra employees cost ₹45 or ₹85 a month. Its pricing page does not say whether GST is included, and lists a 7-day free trial.
Watch out: below 50 employees you pay for seats you do not use. Public reviews often mention slow support on lower plans. See our greytHR alternatives comparison for a price table at different team sizes.
Best for: companies that already use a RazorpayX business account and want salaries and statutory payments made from the same place.
Prime is ₹3,499 a month for up to 20 employees; Elite is ₹6,499 for 50 employees and supports up to 100. Extra employees cost ₹150 each a month, plus 18% GST.
Best for: distributed teams where employees mainly use the mobile app.
Standard is ₹2,995 a month billed yearly for up to 50 employees, then ₹60 per extra employee; Professional is ₹4,495 for 50. There is a one-time implementation fee.
Best for: mid-sized companies that want broader HR workflows alongside payroll.
Basic starts at ₹4,950 a month for 50 users and Professional at ₹6,500.
Best for: IT services and product companies with 100 to 2,000 employees and complex payroll: shift allowances, overtime, arrears and variable pay.
Keka does not publish prices. It has a modern interface and a strong mobile app. Companies usually choose Keka for capability rather than price, so get a quote at your headcount.
Best for: large enterprises with a dedicated HR operations team.
Quote only. It covers the whole employee lifecycle, and its implementation effort reflects that. For most small and mid-sized businesses it is more than they need.
The cleanest time to switch is at the start of the financial year in April; the next best is the start of a quarter, so that each quarterly TDS return comes from one system. You will need to move employee master data, salary structures, year-to-date earnings and deductions, tax regime choices and investment declarations, and leave balances. Run one month in parallel on both systems and compare the output line by line before you switch off the old one.
For businesses with up to 10 employees, a free plan from HivePayroll or Zoho Payroll covers statutory payroll at no cost. From about 10 to 100 employees, compare HivePayroll, Zoho Payroll and greytHR at your expected headcount.
Yes. HivePayroll and Zoho Payroll are both free for up to 10 employees, with PF, ESI, PT and TDS included.
For a 50-person company, published prices range from ₹1,500 a month (HivePayroll, billed yearly) to about ₹5,000 a month (HROne), and more for enterprise products that are priced on quote.
It should, but check. The PF wage ceiling rose to ₹25,000 on 17 September 2026, and September’s PF return needs the old ceiling for 1–16 September. Ask your vendor how they handled it.
Software that calculates salaries, applies statutory deductions, generates payslips and compliance reports, and often manages attendance and leave. Read more in What is payroll?
The fastest way to judge payroll software is to run one real month on it. HivePayroll is free for up to 10 employees. For larger teams, book a free demo and bring your most awkward salary structure: the right software will handle it in the demo, not after you sign.
Prices were checked on each vendor’s own pricing page on 26 September 2026. Vendors change pricing often; confirm current figures directly before deciding.
HivePayroll takes care of this automatically — salary components, statutory deductions and payslip generation in a single run. See how payroll processing works.
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