Most people searching for HRMS pricing see simple per-employee prices, but those numbers don’t tell the full story. ₹75 per employee may seem cheap until you find out payroll costs extra. ₹6,999/month may seem expensive until you compare it with managing a 100-person company using Excel and a CA.
This guide looks at HRMS pricing based on your company size, what you actually need, and the total cost you can expect to pay. We’ll also cover costs that are often overlooked, such as setup fees, paid modules, data migration, and the cost of managing payroll manually while your software is being set up.
What HRMS Software Actually Costs in India In [2026 Updated]
HRMS pricing in India falls into two models. Per-employee per month (PEPM) anywhere from ₹40 to ₹450/employee/month depending on what’s included. And flat monthly plans which is how Keka, greytHR, and Waggex price, charging a fixed amount up to a certain headcount.
For a 25-person company, here’s the realistic range based on what the market actually charges in 2026:
₹0/month greytHR’s free plan (up to 25 employees) or Waggex’s free plan (up to 10 employees). Both include actual payroll and compliance, not a stripped trial.
₹699–₹2,499/month Waggex paid plans (₹699 for 10 employees, ₹1,499 for 25, ₹2,499 for 50). Attendance, leave, shifts, payroll, PF/ESI/TDS/PT all included.
₹1,500–₹5,000/month Mid-tier tools like Pocket HRMS or Kredily at small headcounts.
₹3,495/month greytHR’s Welter plan (up to 50 employees). Widely used, strong compliance.
₹6,999/month Keka’s base plan (up to 100 employees). Modern UI, strong performance management.
Custom Darwinbox, factoHR, SAP SuccessFactors. Typically 200+ employees. Implementation costs alone can run ₹5–₹50 lakh.
| The hidden costs nobody shows in the pricing table: Data migration ₹5,000 to ₹30,000 if your employee data is spread across multiple Excel sheets. Implementation and configuration often free for small companies, charged at ₹10,000–₹75,000+ for enterprise. Annual contract lock-in some vendors push 12-month commitments. Payroll as a separate module Zoho People doesn’t include payroll; Zoho Payroll is a separate subscription. Always ask: what’s the total cost for my first 12 months, all-in? |
HRMS by Company Type What to Pick Based on Who You Are
A 12-person restaurant group in Delhi multiple outlets, field staff, variable shifts
This is the company that gets the worst advice online. Most HRMS tools are built for software companies where everyone sits at a desk. A restaurant group has staff across 3–4 locations, some on split shifts, some paid daily wages, cooks and delivery staff on different salary structures, and an owner who doesn’t have time to learn a complicated system.
What you need: GPS attendance per outlet (not a biometric device you have to buy and maintain), a payroll that handles different salary structures in one run, and something a non-HR person can operate. Waggex fits this GPS or face check-in per location, shift management, payroll connected to attendance. Free for up to 10 employees and ₹1,499/month for 25. The alternative is a biometric device per outlet (₹8,000–₹15,000 each) plus a separate payroll tool, which costs more and requires someone to reconcile the data manually every month.
A 45-person IT services company in Bengaluru salaried employees, compliance matters
For a company this size in IT, compliance accuracy is the priority. Multi-state PT is likely (some employees in other cities), TDS deductions have to be right across different salary bands, and Form 16 errors create real employee complaints at year end.
Two tools dominate this segment honestly: greytHR and Waggex. greytHR at ₹3,495/month for 50 employees has the deepest compliance track record in India 30,000+ companies use it, and its statutory engine is the most battle-tested. Waggex at ₹2,499/month for 50 employees gives you attendance connected to payroll (fewer manual steps) and a cleaner mobile app. If you have any field or remote staff, Waggex’s GPS attendance gives you something greytHR doesn’t. If everyone’s in one office and compliance depth is the only thing that matters, greytHR is the safer choice.
Keka at ₹6,999/month is also strong here better UI, proper performance management cycles but the cost is hard to justify unless the team is 50+ and performance management is a real operational need, not just annual appraisals.
A 90-person manufacturing unit in Pune shifts, contract workers, factory gate attendance
The needs here are specific and different from an office company. Contract labour compliance under CLRA, rotating 3-shift patterns, biometric device at the gate, ESI for workers below ₹21,000 gross, different PT rates depending on the state the unit operates in. Standard office HRMS tools don’t handle this well.
factoHR is the honest answer for this segment it was built for exactly this use case. It handles contract and permanent staff in the same payroll run, integrates with biometric hardware, manages rotating shifts, and has CLRA compliance built in. Pricing is custom but typically works out to ₹85–₹120 per employee per month at this headcount. greytHR can handle some of this but not the CLRA piece. Keka doesn’t handle it well at all.
A 6-person startup that just hired its first employees and needs to get payroll right
Don’t overcomplicate this. For a 6-person company, two options make sense: use a CA for ₹1,500–₹3,000/month and let them handle the statutory filings, or use Waggex’s free plan and run it yourself. The free plan covers up to 10 employees and includes full payroll with PF, ESI, TDS, and PT automation. The only cost is your time and for a small team with a straightforward salary structure, a monthly payroll run takes less than an hour once the system is configured.
What you don’t need at this stage: enterprise HRMS, performance management modules, learning management systems, or anything with a 6-week implementation timeline. Keep it simple. Add complexity when the headcount justifies it.
A 150-person D2C brand with a mix of HQ staff and field sales across multiple states
This is where the tool decision gets genuinely harder. You have HQ employees on CTC structures, field sales on fixed + variable, possibly some on third-party payroll, and multi-state PT filing covering Karnataka, Maharashtra, and Delhi NCR simultaneously. Attendance is a mix of office check-in and GPS for the field team.
At this scale, Keka or HROne make the most sense. Keka handles the HQ payroll cleanly and has a usable GPS attendance app. HROne’s per-employee pricing (around ₹85/month) works out to ₹12,750/month for 150 employees and includes timesheet management useful if you’re billing clients by the hour or tracking project time. Darwinbox is also an option here but the implementation cost and timeline are more suited to 500+ companies.
Pricing Table All Major HRMS Tools at a Glance
| Tool | Starting Price | Free Plan? | Best Headcount | When to Pick It |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Waggex | ₹0–₹699/mo | Yes up to 10 emp, all features | 5–100 | Attendance + payroll in one system, field or mixed teams, first HRMS |
| greytHR | ₹0–₹3,495/mo | Yes up to 25 emp | 10–500 | Compliance is priority; largest community for edge cases |
| Zoho People | ₹48/user/mo | No (Zoho Payroll free/10) | 10–300 | Already on Zoho CRM or Books integration is the value |
| Keka | ₹6,999/mo flat | No | 50–500 | Performance management + payroll; product/IT companies |
| Pocket HRMS | ₹2,999/mo (50 emp) | No | 50–300 | High HR query volume; AI chatbot to reduce inbox load |
| factoHR | Custom | No | 100–2,000 | Manufacturing, contract labour, complex rotating shifts |
Prices from public sources, July–August 2026. Waggex pricing is live at waggex.com/pricing. Verify all others directly with vendors before purchasing several updated pricing in 2026.
Three Questions to Ask Before Signing Any HRMS Contract
Is payroll included or a separate module? Zoho People, for example, does not include payroll. You pay for Zoho People and separately for Zoho Payroll. Some vendors advertise a low base price and then reveal payroll is an add-on. Get the all-in monthly cost before comparing.
What happens if you grow past the headcount cap? Most flat-fee plans have tiers. If you’re at 48 employees on a 50-person plan and hire 3 more people, you jump to the next tier. Some vendors handle this gracefully, others require a new contract. Understand the step-up cost before you’re in it.
How long does setup actually take, and who does it? A vendor saying ‘setup in 2 days’ usually means the software is technically live in 2 days. Getting your salary structures configured, your employee data migrated, your compliance settings verified, and your first payroll run accurately that’s 2–4 weeks for most companies. Some vendors charge for this separately. Some include a dedicated person for the first month. The latter is what Waggex offers a dedicated account manager who runs the first month’s complete payroll setup alongside your team.
If you want the full comparison of what different HRMS platforms offer across attendance, leave, payroll, and compliance: Best HRMS Software for Small Companies in India. Or if you’re specifically trying to understand how payroll software compares to outsourcing your payroll entirely: Payroll Outsourcing vs In-House A Practical Guide.