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 starts at ₹99 per document with 50 free credits, so a 25 person firm sending around six letters a month pays under ₹600. 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. Most competitors hold a monthly floor of ₹2,500 to ₹3,500 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 resolves city, district, and state from PIN code and 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 hand clean payroll data to your CA, who handles the filing. If automated statutory filing is your primary need, look at RazorpayX Payroll or greytHR. 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 you move to ₹3,495 per month base, plus add ons like Performance, GeoMark+, Visage, GPS Live, and Recruit. A 50 employee company that wants full coverage usually ends up between ₹10,000 and ₹14,000 per month. Offrd's 50 free credits are a genuine signup bonus, not a trial.

Can I export my data if I leave Offrd?

Yes. Every record in Offrd exports as CSV at any time. Documents are PDFs you download and keep. Payroll history exports include EPF return formats so your CA or your next vendor can pick up where you left off. There is no lock in because there is no monthly commitment to start with.

Compare HR software for Indian SMEs

Compare HR software built for Indian SMEs side by side. This hub shows how Offrd stacks up against sumHR, greytHR, Keka, HROne, and Zoho People on pricing, statutory cover, setup time, and what each plan actually includes. Pick the one that fits your headcount and budget, without paying for modules you will never use.

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Last updated 25 May 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 threadbare 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 is the setup gauntlet. 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 each vendor charges before you generate a single letter

Most HRMS vendors in India sell a per employee per month subscription with a monthly floor. Offrd does not. You can pay ₹99 per document, only when you generate one, 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. Prices reflect the vendors' public pricing pages and reseller listings as of April 2026. Check the vendor's site before deciding, prices move.

Vendor	Entry price	Hard floor	Setup
Offrd	₹99 per document or ₹50 per active employee per month	None. Pay only when you generate. 50 free credits on signup	Under 2 minutes
sumHR	₹2,999 per month plus setup fee	Charged below 50 employees too	Several days
greytHR	₹3,495 per month base, plus add ons	7 day trial, then paid	1 to 2 weeks
Keka	~₹6,999 per month at 25 employees, plus setup	None published, modules priced by tier	2 to 4 weeks
HROne	Quote based, not public	Custom by deal size	2 to 4 weeks
Zoho People	Per user per month tiers	Lower if already on Zoho One	1 to 2 weeks

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.

Six comparison guides, one per vendor

Each page below sets Offrd against one vendor across pricing, statutory engine, document coverage, attendance, leave, and onboarding. The tone is promotional but the numbers are checked. Pick the one closest to your shortlist.

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 floor. sumHR charges around ₹2,999 per month with a setup fee, and they hold that floor even for a five person team. If you are sending five offer letters a quarter and running monthly payroll for twelve employees, Offrd ends up dramatically cheaper because you only pay when you generate. The detailed page covers what is in each plan, where the feature sets dovetail, and where they break apart on pricing logic.

Read the full sumHR vs Offrd breakdown ›

greytHR vs Offrd

greytHR has the deepest Indian statutory engine in the market and has been around since 1994 with 27,000 plus companies using it. The pricing is where it gets less friendly. The advertised free plan is a 7 day trial. The real entry is ₹3,495 per month base, plus add ons for Performance, Expense, GeoMark+, Visage, GPS Live, Recruit, and Alumni. A 50 employee company that wants full coverage usually lands between ₹10,000 and ₹14,000 per month. Offrd folds attendance, leave, payroll, document generation, and a policy builder into the base 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. Entry pricing starts around ₹6,999 per month for 25 employees, setup runs two to four weeks, and there is usually an implementation fee. 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 a scaffold you will not climb. The detailed page walks through each module.

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. Pricing is quote based rather than public, 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 per document 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 calculus shifts. Offrd is faster to set up, charges per document, and ships an Indian statutory engine inside every letter and payslip. The detailed page lays out when staying inside the Zoho lattice makes sense and when stepping out for a tool that just does HR documents is the right call.

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 ›

When Offrd is not the right fit

Honest tradeoff. If you are above 200 employees with a full HR team running active OKR or 360 review cycles, Offrd is not the answer. If your primary pain is automated statutory filing to TRACES or EPFO, look at RazorpayX Payroll or greytHR, both of which file ECR and 24Q for you. Offrd hands clean payroll data to your CA, who 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 5 to 75 employees, occasionally up to 150. 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 starts at ₹99 per document with 50 free credits, so a 25 person firm sending around six letters a month pays under ₹600. 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. Most competitors hold a monthly floor of ₹2,500 to ₹3,500 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 resolves city, district, and state from PIN code and 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 hand clean payroll data to your CA, who handles the filing. If automated statutory filing is your primary need, look at RazorpayX Payroll or greytHR. 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 you move to ₹3,495 per month base, plus add ons like Performance, GeoMark+, Visage, GPS Live, and Recruit. A 50 employee company that wants full coverage usually ends up between ₹10,000 and ₹14,000 per month. Offrd's 50 free credits are a genuine signup bonus, not a trial.
Can I export my data if I leave Offrd?: Yes. Every record in Offrd exports as CSV at any time. Documents are PDFs you download and keep. Payroll history exports include EPF return formats so your CA or your next vendor can pick up where you left off. There is no lock in because there is no monthly commitment to start with.

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.

Start free with 50 credits Book a demo