Offrd
Free HRMS Software in India, Sorted by What Kind of Free It Is
Free HRMS software in India comes in three kinds: permanent free tiers fenced by headcount or features, time limited trials of paid plans, and credit based starts. Offrd is the third kind. You get 50 free credits with no card, a free employee database and free Atndnz attendance, then credit packs from ₹99 for 10 credits (an offer letter uses 10), or ₹50 per active employee a month.
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What does free mean in Indian HR software?
Search for free HR software, free HR management software or free HRIS software and three different offers turn up under one word. The first is a permanent free tier. You pay nothing for as long as you stay inside a boundary, which might be a headcount, a storage allowance, or a feature list that stops short of paying salaries. Kredily, Zoho People, Zoho Payroll and factoHR each publish one, and no two draw the boundary in the same place.
The second is a trial. You get a paid plan, or a slice of it, for somewhere between 7 and 30 days. When the clock runs out you either start paying or, with Zoho People, drop down to the free edition. greytHR, Zimyo, Zoho People and Salarybox state their trial lengths on their pricing pages.
The third is a credit start, which is how Offrd works. You receive 50 free credits at signup without entering a card, and each document draws down a listed number of them. The employee database, the first payslip for each employee and Atndnz attendance cost nothing.
The useful question is simple: which HR job do you need done this month?
Which free HRMS software plans are free forever, and what do they hold back?
Four vendors in our check publish a plan at ₹0 with no end date. The matrix sets them against Offrd's free start, one row per job. A tick means the free plan includes it. A short word marks a limit or a higher plan.
| What you get free | Kredily Free Forever | Zoho People free edition | Zoho Payroll free tier | factoHR Free | Offrd |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Payroll processing | Calculation only | No, separate product | Compliance listed | No | 2 credits per payslip |
| Attendance | One rule | Unconfirmed | Top plan only | No | ✓ free via Atndnz |
| HR letters | Unconfirmed | Unconfirmed | Unconfirmed | ✓ | Credits |
| Payslips | Unconfirmed | No | Unconfirmed | ✓ | First payslip per employee free |
| Employee records | 250 MB storage | Unconfirmed | Unconfirmed | ✓ | ✓ 0 credits |
| Headcount cap | None | 5 users | 10 employees | 20 employees | Built for up to 250 employees |
| Time limit | None, usage policy applies | None | None | None | Credit based |
Competitor free tiers and trials checked on vendor pricing pages, 26 September 2026. Kredily, Zoho Payroll, factoHR, greytHR and Zimyo prices checked again on 12 October 2026. "Unconfirmed" means our check did not record that line for the free plan, so read the vendor's own plan list before you rely on it.
Kredily Free Forever
₹0 for unlimited employees, subject to an active usage policy, with no credit card. The limits are few but specific: one attendance rule, one salary structure, 250 MB of storage, and statutory calculation only, so no salary payouts and no challans. Payouts and PF and ESI challans begin at the paid Payroll OS plan. Selfie and GPS attendance sit a tier higher again, in Professional. Payroll OS is ₹1,249 a month for up to 25 employees, then ₹50 each, and Professional is ₹1,749 for up to 25, then ₹70.
Zoho People free edition
Forever free for up to 5 users. Payroll is not in Zoho People at all; Zoho Payroll is a separate product. On the paid side, attendance, timesheets and rosters come in at the Professional plan, ₹96 per user a month on annual billing, and every paid plan has a 5 user minimum.
Zoho Payroll free tier
Free forever for up to 10 employees. The free tier lists compliance for income tax, EPF, ESI, state PT and LWF. Attendance appears only in Premium, the top plan. The first paid step, Standard, is ₹1,250 a month for 25 employees, or ₹1,000 on annual billing, then ₹50 per extra employee a month, ₹40 on annual billing.
factoHR Free
₹0 forever for up to 20 employees, no credit card. It covers three things: employee data, letter generation and payslip generation. Payroll processing and online attendance start at the paid Core plan, ₹4,999 a month for up to 50 employees, then ₹99 per employee.
How long do free HR software trials last, and what do they become?
A trial is a preview of a bill, and the bill is the part worth reading. Here is what each trial turns into on the vendor's own page.
| Vendor | Trial | When it ends | Price after the trial |
|---|---|---|---|
| greytHR | 7 days | No free plan to fall back to | ₹2,495 a month with 50 employees included, ₹45 each after. Attendance starts at Growth, ₹4,495 a month, ₹85 each after 50. |
| Zimyo | 14 days, limited features | Paid plan | Basic ₹80 per user a month with minimum billing for 50 users, so ₹4,000 a month at the floor |
| Zoho People | 30 days, all features of the plan you pick | Account moves to the Free plan | Paid plans from ₹48 per user a month billed annually, 5 user minimum |
| Salarybox | 7 days | Paid plan | Payroll starts at the Business plan. No published plan price, contact sales. |
Competitor free tiers and trials checked on vendor pricing pages, 26 September 2026. greytHR and Zimyo prices checked again on 12 October 2026.
Plan a trial around one real cycle. A 7 day window cannot hold a payroll month, so on greytHR or Salarybox you are judging setup and screens, not the monthly close. Zoho People's 30 days can hold one full month.
Zimyo's minimum deserves a look before you start. It bills for at least 50 users even if your team is a dozen people, which is ₹4,000 a month on Basic.
How does Offrd's free start work, credit by credit?
Signup takes under 2 minutes, as the live in minutes walkthrough shows, and 50 credits land in the account with no card. These are the credit costs on the pricing page.
| Item | Credits |
|---|---|
| Employee database | 0, free |
| Payslip | 2 per employee, first payslip for each employee free |
| Offer letter (custom template) | 10 |
| Onboarding with verification | 15 |
| Probation letter or increment letter | 5 each |
| Exit or relieving letter | 5 |
| Full and final settlement | 10 |
| Policy generation | 10 |
| Atndnz attendance | Free for Offrd users |
In practice, 50 credits cover two offer letters (20), one onboarding with Aadhaar and PAN verification (15), one probation letter (5) and two relieving letters (10). The employee database sits underneath all of that at no cost, with bulk add from a spreadsheet and archiving that moves a record to inactive without deleting it.
When the free credits run out you pick one of two options: credit packs from ₹99 for 10 credits (an offer letter uses 10) on pay as you go, with credits that do not expire, or ₹50 per active employee per month, with documents, payroll and attendance included and no minimum employee requirement. Payroll calculates EPF at 12% from employer and employee, ESI at 3.25% and 0.75% on gross wages, and professional tax by state slab.
Be clear on the edges before you sign up. Offrd calculates statutory amounts and gives your CA EPF export ready files, and your CA files the returns. It does not run appraisal cycles, expense claims or a full applicant tracking system. If that is the job, another vendor may be the better fit.
What are the hidden costs of free HRMS software?
Free plans rarely surprise you on day one. The cost shows up at a trigger, usually one you hit by growing.
A usage policy you have not read
Kredily's plan is free "subject to active usage policy". Before you move a live payroll onto it, get that policy in writing and check what happens to your account if you fall outside it.
A headcount cap that ends at your next hire
Zoho People stops at 5 users, Zoho Payroll at 10 employees, factoHR at 20. Hire the 21st person on factoHR and you move to a paid plan. A cap bites in a hiring quarter, so plan for next year's headcount.
The feature you need, one plan up
Attendance is the usual example. It sits at Professional on Zoho People, only in Premium on Zoho Payroll, and at Growth on greytHR. Salary payouts and challans sit at Payroll OS on Kredily. Payroll itself begins at Core on factoHR and at Business on Salarybox.
Minimums on the paid side
Zimyo bills a minimum of 50 users, and Pocket HRMS requires at least 50 employees. Offrd's subscription has no minimum employee requirement.
Getting your data out
Before you commit a year of payroll history to any free plan, run a test export of your employee master, salary structures, payslips and attendance logs, and open the files. If the export is thin, you will pay later in manual retyping. In Offrd, payroll gives your CA EPF export ready files.
For paid plans set side by side, see the HR and payroll software pricing comparison, the ranked HR automation software roundup, or our shortlist of the best HRMS software in India. Every comparison we publish lives in the compare hub.
Free HRMS software questions, answered from the pricing pages
Is there any completely free HRMS software in India?
Not without conditions, going by the four free plans we checked. Kredily's Free Forever plan has no headcount cap, but it is subject to an active usage policy and stops at statutory calculation, with no salary payouts or challans. Zoho People is free for up to 5 users, Zoho Payroll for up to 10 employees, and factoHR for up to 20 employees without payroll processing. Each one is free inside a fence.
Is Offrd free to use?
Partly, and the free parts are fixed. Signup gives you 50 free credits with no card. The employee database costs 0 credits, the first payslip for each employee is free, and Atndnz attendance is free for Offrd users. After the free credits, you buy credit packs from ₹99 for 10 credits (an offer letter uses 10), or you move to ₹50 per active employee per month.
Which free HR software includes payroll?
Two of the four free plans we checked touch payroll directly. Kredily's free plan calculates statutory amounts but leaves out salary payouts and challans. Zoho Payroll's free tier lists income tax, EPF, ESI, state PT and LWF compliance for up to 10 employees. factoHR's free plan generates payslips but does not process payroll, and Zoho People has no payroll at any tier.
How long is the greytHR free trial?
7 days. greytHR's pricing page shows no free plan, only the trial. After it, the entry plan is ₹2,495 a month with 50 employees included and ₹45 for each employee beyond that. Attendance starts one plan up, at ₹4,495 a month.
What should I export before I move off a free HR plan?
Your employee master, salary structures, payslip history and attendance logs, as CSV or Excel files, while you still have access. Run a test export in your first week on any plan, not on the day you decide to move.
Can I get free attendance software with Offrd?
Yes. Atndnz, the attendance app inside Offrd, is free for Offrd users. Employees check in by scanning a QR code at the office or with a GPS tagged field work check in.
Offrd covers HR documents, payroll calculation, attendance through Atndnz, and HR policies for growing companies in India. If a free plan above fits your work today, start there. Offrd publishes this comparison and sells one of the products in it.