What is the cheapest way to run HR documents and payroll for a 25 person company in India?

It depends on how often you generate letters. Offrd sells credit packs from ₹99 for 10 credits (an offer letter uses 10), with 50 free credits on signup, so a 25 person firm sending six offer letters a month uses 60 credits for them. If a subscription suits you better, ₹50 per active employee per month covers documents, payroll, attendance, and leave, with Atndnz bundled at no extra cost. greytHR starts at ₹2,495 a month and HROne at ₹4,950 a month before the first letter goes out.

Which Indian HRMS handles EPF, ESI, professional tax, and gratuity correctly?

Most established Indian vendors have these built in: greytHR, Keka, sumHR, RazorpayX Payroll, and Offrd. The real differences are in edge case coverage, state by state professional tax slabs, and how the Labour Codes effective 21 November 2025 are applied. Offrd balances the salary structure to total CTC. EPF runs at 12 percent employer plus 12 percent employee. ESI runs at 3.25 percent plus 0.75 percent.

How long does setup take compared to greytHR or Keka?

Offrd is set up in under two minutes. Sign up, add company details, import employees via CSV, generate. greytHR and Keka run implementation cycles of roughly one to four weeks and many SMEs pay a setup fee on top of the monthly subscription. If you need to send an offer letter this afternoon, the comparison ends there.

Is greytHR's free plan really free?

No. The free plan on greytHR is a 7 day trial. After that the entry plan is Essential at ₹2,495 per month for up to 50 employees, plus ₹45 per employee above 50. Add ons are priced per user per month: Expense ₹35, Performance ₹35 to ₹45, GPS Live ₹140, Alumni ₹20. Recruit is ₹2,500 per recruiter per month. Offrd's 50 free credits are a signup bonus, not a trial clock.

Which HR software is best for a 30 person Indian team?

For a 30 person team whose HR work is offer letters, payslips, onboarding and attendance, Offrd fits because there is no seat minimum and the bill is ₹1,500 a month at 30 active employees, with every module in. Keka and greytHR earn their price where the work is appraisal cycles, a busy recruiter or filing returns in house. Zoho People suits a company already standardised on the Zoho suite, once you have priced the attendance tier and the separate payroll product.

What happens to my documents if I stop using Offrd?

Every letter, payslip and settlement statement Offrd generates is a PDF you download and keep. Offrd also gives your CA EPF export ready files. On pay as you go credits there is no notice period and no monthly commitment to unwind, and credits do not expire, so stopping costs you nothing beyond the credits you have already bought.

Compare HR software for Indian SMEs

This chart sets seven HR software options for Indian SMEs side by side on price, statutory cover and setup time. Offrd runs on credit packs from ₹99 for 10 credits (an offer letter uses 10), or ₹50 per active employee a month, with no seat minimum. greytHR starts at ₹2,495 a month for up to 50 employees, HROne sells 50 user blocks from ₹4,950 a month, Zoho People and sumHR bill per user from ₹48 and ₹49 billed annually, and Keka and Darwinbox publish no price.

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Last updated 12 October 2026

Why this comparison page exists

Most HRMS comparison articles you find online were written by reviewers who never actually ran payroll for a thirty person firm in India. They list fourteen vendors, score everything out of five, and call it a day. That is thin advice when you have to issue an offer letter by Monday and your PF returns are due on the fifteenth.

This page is built differently. It compares HR software the way an Indian SME owner actually buys it. What does the monthly bill look like at twenty five employees. How long does setup take. Which add ons creep into the invoice after month two. Where does each vendor draw the line on features and where do they overreach.

We are also candid about where Offrd is not the right fit. If your shortlist needs OKRs, deep ATS, expense modules, or multi level approval chains, you should be reading a different page. Try greytHR or Keka. Both are good products that solve those problems.

What does HR software cost in India before you send the first letter?

Most HRMS vendors in India sell a per employee per month subscription with a monthly floor. Offrd does not. You can buy credit packs from ₹99 for 10 credits (an offer letter uses 10) and spend them only as you generate letters and payslips, or ₹50 per active employee per month if a subscription suits the shape of your hiring. The 50 free credits that come with signup are enough to take the document flow end to end before paying anything.

Below is the floor each vendor charges before the first letter or payslip leaves the building. greytHR, sumHR and HROne figures were read off their own pricing pages on 12 October 2026, Zoho People off its pricing page on 23 August 2026, Darwinbox checked on 11 September 2026. Keka and Darwinbox do not publish a price at all. Check the vendor's site before deciding. Prices change.

Vendor	Entry price	Hard floor	Setup
Offrd	Credit packs from ₹99 for 10 credits (an offer letter uses 10), or ₹50 per active employee per month	None. Credits are spent only when you generate and do not expire. 50 free credits on signup	Under 2 minutes
sumHR	Startup ₹49, Basic ₹69, Advanced ₹119 per user per month, billed annually	Annual billing on every paid plan. GPS clock in is a ₹25 per user per month add on, billed annually	Several days
greytHR	Essential ₹2,495 per month covering 50 employees, then ₹45 each	7 day trial, then paid. Add ons priced per user on top	1 to 2 weeks
Keka	No public price. Quoted on a sales call	Quote based, with a setup fee	2 to 4 weeks
HROne	Basic from ₹4,950 per month, sold in 50 user blocks	One 50 user block. A 20 person team pays for 50 seats	2 to 4 weeks
Zoho People	Essential HR ₹48 per user per month billed annually. Attendance starts at Professional ₹96	Five seat minimum. Payroll is a separate product	1 to 2 weeks
Darwinbox	No public price. Enterprise HCM, quoted on request	Not stated. No free plan or trial published	Not checked

For Offrd, EPF runs at 12 percent employer plus 12 percent employee and ESI at 3.25 percent plus 0.75 percent, both built into the document and payroll flow. See EPFO and the Ministry of Labour and Employment for the statutory text.

Which HR software features come with the entry price?

A tick on a vendor's marketing page rarely tells you which tier the feature lives on. The chart below is read from each vendor's own pricing page and from the one to one guides further down, and it records the tier or the add on price wherever we found one. A cell marked not checked means we did not verify it and will not guess.

Capability	Offrd	Keka	greytHR	Zoho People	sumHR	HROne	Darwinbox
Pricing shape	Credit packs from ₹99 for 10 credits (an offer letter uses 10), or ₹50 per active employee a month. No minimum	Quote only, plus a setup fee	Flat ₹2,495 a month up to 50 people, then ₹45 each	₹48 per user, billed annually, five seat minimum	₹49 per user, billed annually	₹4,950 a month per 50 user block	Quote only, no public price
Attendance with GPS and geofencing	Included, through the bundled Atndnz app	Location based attendance sat above the entry tier, March 2026	Advanced attendance on Growth. GPS Live is a ₹140 per user add on	Attendance starts at Professional, ₹96 per user	GPS clock in is a paid add on, ₹25 per user per month billed annually	Geo tagging and selfie attendance on Basic	Not checked
Payroll with EPF, ESI, professional tax	Included. EPF export ready files for your CA	Included	Included	Separate product, Zoho Payroll	Included	Included on Basic	Not checked
Files 24Q and ECR to the portals	No. EPF export ready files for your CA	Not checked	No. Generates the ECR file and Form 24Q with FVU validation, you or your CA upload them	No. Ready to file reports	No	Not checked	Not checked
Performance reviews and OKRs	No, and not planned	Yes, core to the product	Add on, ₹35 to ₹45 per user	Premium tier	Not checked	Not checked	Not checked
Form 16 generation	Yes	Not checked	Yes	Not checked	Not checked	Not checked	Not checked
Time to first offer letter	Under 2 minutes after signup	2 to 4 weeks	1 to 2 weeks	1 to 2 weeks	Several days	2 to 4 weeks	Not checked

Tier and add on prices are as read on the dates given in the ledger above. Where a cell says not checked, ask the vendor for it in writing. The one to one guides below carry the detail behind each cell.

What will HR software cost at your headcount?

Prices in a chart flatter whichever vendor bills the way you happen to hire. The HR software cost calculator takes your headcount and how many letters you send a month and works out what Offrd would cost for a year, and which Offrd plan, subscription or pay as you go credits, comes out cheaper for that shape of usage.

Fourteen comparison guides, by vendor and by question

The first five pages set Offrd against one named vendor across pricing, statutory engine, document coverage, attendance, leave and onboarding. The last nine answer a buying question instead of naming a rival: what a category costs, whether you need a full HRMS at all, which tool handles labour law, which handles payroll, which handles onboarding. Pick whichever is closer to where you are stuck.

sumHR vs Offrd

sumHR sits closest to Offrd in spirit. Both pitch a full HR suite at the SME end of the market. The catch is the billing shape. All three sumHR paid plans, Startup at ₹49, Basic at ₹69 and Advanced at ₹119 per user per month, are listed as billed annually, and GPS clock in with geo fencing is a separate add on at ₹25 per user per month, billed annually. If you are sending five offer letters a quarter and running monthly payroll for twelve employees, Offrd is cheaper because credits are spent only as you generate letters and payslips and nothing is locked for a year. The detailed page covers what is in each plan and where the two pricing models diverge.

Read the full sumHR vs Offrd breakdown ›

greytHR vs Offrd

greytHR has the deepest Indian statutory engine in the market and states 30,000 plus companies on its platform. The pricing is where it gets less friendly. The advertised free plan is a 7 day trial. Entry is Essential at ₹2,495 per month covering 50 employees, then ₹45 per employee above that, with Growth at ₹4,495. Add ons stack per user per month: Expense ₹35, Performance ₹35 to ₹45, GPS Live ₹140, Alumni ₹20. A 50 person team wanting all four is adding up to ₹240 per user on top of the base. Offrd folds attendance, leave, payroll, document generation and a policy builder into one price.

Read the full greytHR vs Offrd breakdown ›

Keka vs Offrd

Keka has the strongest modern UI of the Indian HRMS vendors. OKRs, nine box grids, and a built in ATS sit at the centre of the product. That is also the issue for most SMEs. Keka publishes no price. It quotes on a sales call, with a setup fee, so treat any number you read elsewhere as a guess until Keka quotes you directly. Setup runs two to four weeks. A forty person company rarely uses the OKR module or the deeper ATS funnel. If you are not running formal performance cycles, you are paying for modules you will not use.

Read the full Keka vs Offrd breakdown ›

HROne vs Offrd

HROne is a long established Indian HRMS with a wider feature surface than Offrd, covering performance, expense, helpdesk, and a deeper recruitment funnel. It sells in blocks of 50 users, from ₹4,950 a month on Basic, and setup typically runs two to four weeks. The comparison page lays out where HROne earns its keep, the kind of buyer who needs that surface area, and the cases where Offrd's pay as you go credit model is the cheaper and faster choice. Read it before you book the HROne demo so you go in with a sharper question list.

Read the full HROne vs Offrd breakdown ›

Zoho People vs Offrd

Zoho People is the one comparison where the buyer's stack matters as much as the product. If you already pay for Zoho One, Zoho People is bundled at a price that is hard to beat on paper. If you do not run on Zoho, the maths changes. Essential HR is ₹48 per user per month billed annually, but attendance only arrives at Professional ₹96, and payroll is not in any Zoho People tier at all. Zoho Payroll is a separate purchase. Offrd is faster to set up, charges credits only as you generate letters and payslips, and ships an Indian statutory engine inside every letter and payslip. The detailed page lays out when staying inside the Zoho suite makes sense.

Read the full Zoho People vs Offrd breakdown ›

Best HR software for India startups

The shortlist guide for founders running their first HR setup. It frames the buying decision around three real questions a founder asks at headcount five, twenty, and fifty. What do I have to file by law. What is the smallest tool that handles offer letters, payslips, and attendance without dragging a CA into every transaction. When do I outgrow it. Read this one first if you have not picked a vendor yet, then come back to the head to head pages once your shortlist is two or three names long.

Read the startups guide ›

Best HR automation software for small businesses in India

The widest study on this hub. Thirteen platforms compared on 2026 prices, free tiers, employee minimums and what each one is genuinely best at, with the methodology and the disclosure written out rather than implied. It is the page to read if your shortlist is still open and you want to see where the market actually sits on price before you take a single sales call. Several vendors here will not sell to a company under 50 employees, which narrows the field faster than any feature grid.

Read the thirteen vendor study ›

Do you need a full HRMS under 200 employees?

A question worth asking before the demos start. This page walks through which modules of a full HRMS sit idle at fifty, a hundred and two hundred employees, what greytHR, Keka and Zoho People charge to carry them anyway, and the point at which the answer flips and a full suite starts earning its cost. If you are being told you have outgrown spreadsheets, read this before you accept the premise.

Read the HRMS sizing guide ›

HR and payroll software pricing compared for SMEs

Price only, no feature scoring. Entry price, setup time and setup cost for eight tools, from Offrd, greytHR and Keka to HROne, laid out so you can see what you pay before the first letter, not just the headline monthly rate. Setup fees and implementation weeks are the part most comparison articles leave out, and for an SME they are often the larger number. Read this one with your own headcount in hand.

Read the pricing comparison ›

Best HR software for Indian labour law compliance

Compliance splits into four layers: statutory calculation, the documents themselves, deadline tracking and actual return filing. Most vendors are strong in one or two and quiet about the rest. This page maps who covers which layer, and is candid that Offrd stops before filing and gives your CA EPF export ready files. Useful if the Labour Codes that took effect on 21 November 2025 are what pushed you into this search.

Read the compliance comparison ›

Best HR tools with payroll integration in India

Five tools where payroll sits inside the product rather than bolted on through an integration, compared on statutory computation, filing support and price. The distinction matters more than vendors admit. A payslip that reconciles to the settlement letter needs one salary structure behind both, and that only happens when the same system produced them. Read this if your current setup involves exporting from one tool and importing into another every month.

Read the payroll integration comparison ›

Best onboarding automation software in India

Eleven onboarding platforms scored on document depth, statutory readiness, price and setup time. Onboarding is where Indian requirements bite hardest, because the offer letter, the annexures, the Aadhaar and PAN capture, the bank details and the UAN all have to land in the same record. Tools built for other markets tend to handle the workflow and miss the paperwork. This page separates the two.

Read the onboarding study ›

Best HRMS software in India

Eleven HRMS products judged by what the cheapest paid plan actually includes: payroll, attendance, HR letters, performance and return filing, in one tick matrix. Prices were read off each vendor's pricing page, most recently on 12 October 2026. Use it when the headline rate looks right and you need to know what sits one tier up.

Read the entry plan matrix ›

Free HRMS software in India

What free means across Indian HR software, sorted into forever tiers, time limited trials and credits. Each free plan is set against what it holds back, and the hidden costs that turn free into paid are laid out before you commit any data.

Read the free plans guide ›

When is Offrd the wrong choice for an Indian company?

Honest tradeoff. If you are above 250 employees with a full HR team running active OKR or 360 review cycles, Offrd is not the answer. If your primary pain is statutory filing to TRACES or EPFO, look at RazorpayX Payroll, which files and pays TDS, PF, PT and ESIC for you. greytHR generates the ECR and 24Q files, and your team or CA uploads them. Offrd gives your CA EPF export ready files, and your CA does the filing.

If you need expense management, an HR helpdesk, asset register, or multi level approval chains baked into HR policy, you will outgrow Offrd quickly. We do not pretend to be a full HRMS for 500 person firms. Knowing that upfront saves you a migration in eighteen months.

Offrd is built for Indian companies with up to 250 employees. One HR person, often shared with admin or finance. Hiring one to five people a quarter. Wants the basics done well and statutorily right.

Frequently asked questions

What is the cheapest way to run HR documents and payroll for a 25 person company in India?: It depends on how often you generate letters. Offrd sells credit packs from ₹99 for 10 credits (an offer letter uses 10), with 50 free credits on signup, so a 25 person firm sending six offer letters a month uses 60 credits for them. If a subscription suits you better, ₹50 per active employee per month covers documents, payroll, attendance, and leave, with Atndnz bundled at no extra cost. greytHR starts at ₹2,495 a month and HROne at ₹4,950 a month before the first letter goes out.
Which Indian HRMS handles EPF, ESI, professional tax, and gratuity correctly?: Most established Indian vendors have these built in: greytHR, Keka, sumHR, RazorpayX Payroll, and Offrd. The real differences are in edge case coverage, state by state professional tax slabs, and how the Labour Codes effective 21 November 2025 are applied. Offrd balances the salary structure to total CTC. EPF runs at 12 percent employer plus 12 percent employee. ESI runs at 3.25 percent plus 0.75 percent.
Does Offrd file Form 16, 24Q, or ECR for me?: No. Offrd does not file Form 16, 24Q to TRACES, or ECR to EPFO. We give your CA EPF export ready files, and your CA handles the filing. If you want filing done for you, look at RazorpayX Payroll, which files and pays TDS, PF, PT and ESIC. greytHR generates the ECR and 24Q files, and your team or CA uploads them. We say this upfront so the buyer can decide before signing up, instead of finding out three months in.
How long does setup take compared to greytHR or Keka?: Offrd is set up in under two minutes. Sign up, add company details, import employees via CSV, generate. greytHR and Keka run implementation cycles of roughly one to four weeks and many SMEs pay a setup fee on top of the monthly subscription. If you need to send an offer letter this afternoon, the comparison ends there.
Is greytHR's free plan really free?: No. The free plan on greytHR is a 7 day trial. After that the entry plan is Essential at ₹2,495 per month for up to 50 employees, plus ₹45 per employee above 50. Add ons are priced per user per month: Expense ₹35, Performance ₹35 to ₹45, GPS Live ₹140, Alumni ₹20. Recruit is ₹2,500 per recruiter per month. Offrd's 50 free credits are a signup bonus, not a trial clock.
Which HR software is best for a 30 person Indian team?: For a 30 person team whose HR work is offer letters, payslips, onboarding and attendance, Offrd fits because there is no seat minimum and the bill is ₹1,500 a month at 30 active employees, with every module in. Keka and greytHR earn their price where the work is appraisal cycles, a busy recruiter or filing returns in house. Zoho People suits a company already standardised on the Zoho suite, once you have priced the attendance tier and the separate payroll product.
What happens to my documents if I stop using Offrd?: Every letter, payslip and settlement statement Offrd generates is a PDF you download and keep. Offrd also gives your CA EPF export ready files. On pay as you go credits there is no notice period and no monthly commitment to unwind, and credits do not expire, so stopping costs you nothing beyond the credits you have already bought.

See it for your own firm

Sign up takes under two minutes. 50 free credits on the house, no card needed. Send your first offer letter today, or run a sample payroll, and decide from there.