Tracking who showed up for work used to mean a paper register and a pen. Then came biometric machines. Now it’s GPS apps, face recognition on phones, AI that flags anomalies, and cloud dashboards that show you where every field employee is in real time. Technology has genuinely moved fast.
But the number of options has moved even faster and picking the wrong one costs more than the subscription. Wrong attendance data means wrong payroll. Wrong payroll means compliance penalties and unhappy employees. So this guide tries to be practical: ten tools, what each one actually does well, where it falls short, who it’s really for, and what it costs. We’ve included Waggex, we built it and we’ve tried to be as honest about it as we are about everything else.
1. Waggex
| Quick Overview | |
| Founded | 2022 |
| Best for | SMEs with field staff, remote employees, or multiple locations |
| GPS / Face | GPS check-in (server-verified) + FaceLens selfie attendance |
| Payroll | Direct same system, no export step |
| Free plan | Yes up to 10 employees |
| Pricing | ₹699/mo (10 emp) · ₹1,499/mo (25 emp) · ₹2,499/mo (50 emp) · ₹3,999/mo (100 emp) |
| Website | waggex.com |
Waggex is built around one idea: attendance and payroll should live in the same system, not two separate tools that someone has to reconcile every month. The GPS attendance validates location on the server not just on the phone which means fake GPS apps are caught before the check-in is recorded. FaceLens runs a live face match on the server so a colleague can’t check in on someone else’s behalf. And live location tracking shows managers where field employees are throughout the working day not just at check-in.
Practical use case: A pest control company with 35 technicians spread across three cities. Office admin uses web check-in. Technicians check in via FaceLens + GPS when they arrive at each client site. At month end, payroll runs from verified attendance data no one compiles a spreadsheet. PF and TDS calculate automatically.
✓ What works well
| ✗ Worth knowing
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2. greytHR
| Quick Overview | |
| Founded | 2009 |
| Best for | SMEs where compliance accuracy is the top priority |
| GPS / Face | Visage module GPS + selfie, blocks spoofed check-ins |
| Payroll | Direct deepest Indian compliance track record in market |
| Free plan | Yes up to 25 employees (Starter plan) |
| Pricing | Free (25 emp) · Paid from ~₹3,495/mo flat · Attendance needs Growth plan |
| Website | greythr.com |
greytHR has been processing Indian payroll and attendance since 2009. With over 30,000 companies and 2 million+ employees on the platform, its compliance engine PF ECR files, ESI challans, Form 130 (ex-Form 16), multi-state Professional Tax is the most battle-tested in this list. The free Starter plan for up to 25 employees is real: it includes proper payroll, not just attendance tracking.
Practical use case: A 20-person accounting firm in Pune. All staff in one office, compliance accuracy is critical, budget is tight. greytHR’s free plan covers payroll and attendance at zero cost. When they hire their 26th person, they’ll evaluate paid options but until then, nothing else in this list gives them this much at no cost.
✓ What works well
| ✗ Worth knowing
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3. Keka HR
| Quick Overview | |
| Founded | 2015 |
| Best for | Tech companies and professional services, 50–500 employees |
| GPS / Face | GPS geo-tagging + face recognition via app |
| Payroll | Direct full Indian compliance |
| Free plan | Trial only |
| Pricing | ₹6,999/mo flat (up to 100 emp). +₹90–180/emp above that. |
| Website | keka.com |
Keka has the most polished employee experience in this list. The mobile app is well-designed, attendance flows directly into payroll, geo-fencing and face recognition are available, and the platform covers the full HR lifecycle performance management with OKRs, ATS for recruitment, onboarding. If your team is 50+ people in a tech or professional services firm and HR is a proper function, Keka earns its price.
Practical use case: An 80-person SaaS company in Bengaluru running quarterly OKR cycles, managing active hiring, and needing clean attendance data for payroll. Keka handles all three well in one system. Their HR head specifically cited the appraisal workflow as the feature that saved the most time.
✓ What works well
| ✗ Worth knowing
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4. Zimyo
| Quick Overview | |
| Founded | 2018 |
| Best for | Modern mid-market offices wanting clean UI and flexible HR |
| GPS / Face | GPS check-in + biometric device integration |
| Payroll | Direct Indian compliance included |
| Free plan | Trial only |
| Pricing | ₹60–100/employee/month (custom) |
| Website | zimyo.com |
Zimyo has grown quickly among Delhi NCR and pan-India mid-market companies looking for a modern alternative to greytHR without Keka’s price tag. Clean interface, solid mobile app, GPS check-ins, biometric integration, payroll with Indian compliance, and 50+ HR modules including performance and engagement surveys. At ₹60–100/employee/month it’s mid-range more than Waggex but significantly less than Keka at medium headcounts.
Practical use case: A 60-person digital marketing agency in Delhi with a hybrid team. Two days in office, three days remote. Zimyo handles the variable attendance web check-in in office, GPS app when remote with a dashboard that shows the real-time split. Their HR team specifically mentioned the employee engagement surveys as an unexpected benefit.
✓ What works well
| ✗ Worth knowing
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5. HROne
| Quick Overview | |
| Founded | 2012 |
| Best for | Mid-market companies with distributed or blue-collar staff |
| GPS / Face | GPS + geo-fencing + live photo. WhatsApp-based attendance. |
| Payroll | Direct full Indian compliance + managed payroll option |
| Free plan | Trial only |
| Pricing | ~₹85/employee/month (custom around ₹4,950/mo for 50 emp) |
| Website | hrone.cloud |
HROne has one feature no other tool in this list offers: WhatsApp-based attendance marking. Employees send a message via WhatsApp Business, the system captures a live photo for identity, and attendance is recorded. For blue-collar staff, field teams, or any workforce where a dedicated app feels like a barrier, this is genuinely useful. Add GPS geo-fencing, biometric integration, full payroll compliance, and an optional managed payroll service, and HROne covers a wide range of needs.
Practical use case: A construction materials supplier in UP with 90 employees 20 office staff, 70 delivery and warehouse workers. Many aren’t comfortable with apps. HROne’s WhatsApp attendance means the warehouse team marks attendance through a message, no app download needed. The office team uses the web portal. Both feed the same payroll run.
✓ What works well
| ✗ Worth knowing
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6. Pocket HRMS
| Quick Overview | |
| Founded | 2004 |
| Best for | AI-first HR teams, 50–500 employees |
| GPS / Face | Geo-tagged attendance + facial recognition |
| Payroll | Direct full Indian compliance |
| Free plan | Trial only |
| Pricing | ₹2,999/mo (Standard, 50 emp). +₹60/emp above 50. |
| Website | pockethrms.com |
Pocket HRMS‘s standout feature is smHRty an AI chatbot that handles routine employee queries automatically. ‘How many leaves do I have?’ ‘Can I see my payslip?’ ‘What’s my attendance for this month?’ employees ask the chatbot, not HR. For a team managing 80+ employees where the HR inbox is constantly flooded with the same questions, this saves real time. The platform also includes facial recognition, geo-tagged check-ins, full payroll, and recruitment.
Practical use case: An e-commerce operations company in Mumbai with 110 employees across warehousing, customer service, and back office. HR gets 25–30 routine queries per day. After enabling smHRty, the chatbot handles about 70% of them automatically. HR’s time shifted from answering repetitive questions to actual workforce management.
✓ What works well
| ✗ Worth knowing
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7. factoHR
| Quick Overview | |
| Founded | 2005 |
| Best for | Manufacturing, pharma, healthcare complex shift and compliance needs |
| GPS / Face | AI face recognition + selfie + biometric + geo-fencing |
| Payroll | Direct full compliance, deepest shift handling |
| Free plan | Trial only |
| Pricing | Core: ₹4,999/mo · Premium: ₹5,999/mo · Ultimate: ₹6,999/mo |
| Website | factohr.com |
factoHR is the specialist’s choice for complex workforce management. If you run rotating shifts, night shifts, and compensatory-off tracking across a mixed workforce of contract labour and permanent staff all on the same payroll run factoHR handles it more naturally than any other tool in this list. Customer support is consistently rated among the best in Indian HRMS on G2 and Capterra, which matters when a payroll issue affects hundreds of workers.
Practical use case: A pharmaceutical tablet manufacturing plant in Ahmedabad with 250 employees across three shifts. QC staff on general shift, production workers on rotating A/B/C shifts, contract cleaning staff on a different cycle. factoHR manages all three patterns, calculates overtime correctly per shift type, and produces compliant payroll including ESI for all eligible workers. Tata and DENSO are among factoHR’s listed clients.
✓ What works well
| ✗ Worth knowing
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8. SalaryBox
| Quick Overview | |
| Founded | 2017 |
| Best for | Field-heavy SMEs in logistics, delivery, manufacturing |
| GPS / Face | AI face recognition + GPS + optional hardware device |
| Payroll | Direct full Indian compliance |
| Free plan | Trial only |
| Pricing | ₹35/employee/month. Hardware device: ₹15,000–₹22,000 (optional). |
| Website | salarybox.in |
SalaryBox has one feature that makes it uniquely flexible: it offers both a mobile selfie/GPS attendance app and its own hardware face recognition device, both connecting to the same cloud payroll system. So if your main warehouse needs a gate device for fast bulk attendance, and your 30 delivery executives need mobile GPS check-in, SalaryBox handles both in one system without any manual reconciliation between them.
Practical use case: A cold storage and distribution company in Delhi-NCR. Gate device handles the 80 warehouse workers arriving in a rush between 7–8 AM. Delivery executives use GPS check-in from their first stop. Both streams flow into the same payroll run. The operations head said the gate device paid for itself in the first month by eliminating proxy attendance at the gate.
✓ What works well
| ✗ Worth knowing
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9. Kredily
| Quick Overview | |
| Founded | 2017 |
| Best for | Bootstrapped startups, micro-businesses, zero-budget teams |
| GPS / Face | Basic GPS location attendance |
| Payroll | Basic on free plan. TDS = paid plan only. |
| Free plan | Yes unlimited employees, forever |
| Pricing | Free · ₹999/mo (Payroll OS, 25 emp) · ₹1,499/mo (Professional, 25 emp) |
| Website | kredily.com |
Kredily is the most genuinely free option in this list. Unlimited employees, no time limit, includes payroll calculations, PF, ESI, attendance, leave, and GPS location at zero cost. For a 12-person bootstrapped startup where any software spend is a real conversation, this is a legitimate starting point, not a crippled trial.
Practical use case: An early-stage D2C brand in Chennai with 8 employees. Founders are managing HR alongside everything else. Kredily handles payroll and attendance for free. When they hit 25 employees and TDS becomes a material concern, they’ll upgrade to the ₹999/month Payroll OS plan or evaluate other options. Until then, ₹0 is the right price.
✓ What works well
| ✗ Worth knowing
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10. Jibble
| Quick Overview | |
| Founded | 2016 |
| Best for | Small teams that only need attendance tracking at zero cost |
| GPS / Face | GPS geofencing + AI face recognition |
| Payroll | None attendance tracking only |
| Free plan | Yes unlimited employees, forever |
| Pricing | Free. Paid from $4.49/user/month (price increased significantly in 2026) |
| Website | jibble.io |
Jibble‘s free plan offers something genuinely useful: AI face recognition, GPS geofencing, and unlimited employees at zero cost. If your only need is tracking who was present and when with payroll handled separately Jibble is the most capable free attendance-only tool available. The app is clean, works on Android and iOS, and has good reviews for ease of use.
Practical use case: A small creative studio in Hyderabad with 9 employees. They handle payroll manually through their CA. They just need a reliable record of who came in and when. Jibble gives them GPS-verified attendance for free. When they grow and need attendance connected to payroll, they’ll switch but for now it fits perfectly.
✓ What works well
| ✗ Worth knowing
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All 10 Tools: Quick Reference
Here’s everything side by side for easy scanning.
| Tool | GPS / Field | Payroll Native | Free Plan | Starting Price | Best Suited For |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Waggex | ✓ Server-verified | ✓ Full | ✓ (10 emp) | ₹699/mo | SMEs, field teams, multi-location |
| greytHR | ✓ Visage add-on | ✓ Deepest | ✓ (25 emp) | ₹3,495/mo flat | Compliance-first SMEs |
| Keka | ✓ Native | ✓ Full | Trial | ₹6,999/mo flat | Tech & prof. services, 50–500 emp |
| Zimyo | ✓ GPS + bio | ✓ Full | Trial | ₹60–100/emp/mo | Modern mid-market offices |
| HROne | ✓ WhatsApp-based | ✓ Full | Trial | ~₹85/emp/mo | Distributed, blue-collar teams |
| Pocket HRMS | ✓ Geo-tag | ✓ Full | Trial | ₹2,999/mo | AI-first HR, 50–500 emp |
| factoHR | ✓ Native | ✓ Full | Trial | ₹4,999–6,999/mo | Manufacturing, 100–2,000 emp |
| SalaryBox | ✓ Strong + device | ✓ Full | Trial | ₹35/emp/mo | Field-heavy logistics & delivery |
| Kredily | ✓ Basic GPS | Basic | ✓ Forever | Free / ₹1,499/mo+ | Bootstrapped startups, < 50 emp |
| Jibble | ✓ Geofence | ✗ No | ✓ Unlimited | $4.49/user paid | Pure tracking, zero budget |
Pricing from official sources and third-party reviewers as of July 2026. Verify current plans before purchasing.
Which One Is Right for You?
The honest one-liner for each:
- Field staff, delivery, or remote employees + want payroll connected: Waggex. Server-side GPS + FaceLens + payroll. Best value at small-to-mid scale.
- Compliance is everything, team under 25 employees: greytHR free plan. 15 years of compliance depth at ₹0.
- Tech or professional services company, 50+ employees: Keka. Worth the price at that scale for the complete HR experience.
- Modern mid-market office, hybrid team: Zimyo. Clean product, fair pricing, full feature set.
- Blue-collar or distributed team needing WhatsApp check-in: HROne. The only platform to offer this natively.
- Large team, AI chatbot to reduce HR queries: Pocket HRMS. smHRty genuinely cuts the inbox load.
- Manufacturing, pharma, complex shifts: factoHR. Nobody handles factory payroll-attendance complexity better.
- Need both hardware gate device and mobile app on one system: SalaryBox.
- Zero budget, basic payroll and attendance: Kredily. Real free plan, no catch, until TDS complexity hits.
- Just attendance tracking, payroll sorted elsewhere, zero budget: Jibble.
