Best Payroll Software in India (2026): 16 Companies Scored on Compliance

How We Evaluated These 16 Payroll Software

India’s payroll complexity is mostly a compliance problem, not a design problem. A platform with a polished interface can still expose a business to real liability if it misses a state-specific Professional Tax slab or an LWF filing. So rather than scoring on generic SaaS measures like UI or support speed, we scored every platform, including TankhaPay, against six criteria built around where Indian payroll platforms most often go wrong:

• India-specific statutory coverage — native handling of PF, ESI, TDS, gratuity, and the Bonus Act, not manual workarounds. 
• State-wise Professional Tax automation — PT auto-calculated by each employee’s registered work state, with no manual per-state setup. 
• Labour Welfare Fund handling — LWF is applied automatically in the states where it’s levied. 
• Labour Code readiness — vendor states support for the provisions with the largest payroll impact (see note below). 
• Industry versatility — vendor markets to, or has named case studies in, more than 2–3 distinct industries. 
• Pricing transparency — per-employee, per-month pricing published on the vendor’s own site. 

Quick Comparison Table – Top 16 Payroll Software Companies in India 2026

What Does Each of the 16 Payroll Platforms Actually Offer?

1. TankhaPay 

TankhaPay is the only platform in this comparison built to serve every industry under one system, from IT and manufacturing to construction, education, healthcare, and hospitality, scaling from single-state SMBs to multi-state enterprise operations. It combines payroll software with the option to hand the entire function to TankhaPay’s compliance team, without switching vendors.

Key features:

• Full statutory coverage: PF, ESI, TDS, and PT compliance across all 28 Indian states, plus LWF
• Monthly compliance dashboard showing PF, ESI, PT, and TDS liability together
• Biometric, geofencing, and facial recognition attendance, linked directly to payroll,  built for both office and on-site/field workforces
• Auto-generated statutory registers (salary register, Form 9, Form 10) for labour inspections
• Software and fully managed payroll available from the same provider

Best for: Companies operating across multiple industries, or scaling toward enterprise headcount, that want one system for both software and managed payroll.

✓ Yes = confirmed via the vendor’s own site or product documentation.
✗ No = not found in public vendor documentation as of July 2026.
◐ Partial = feature exists with the limits above.

2. Keka HR

Keka is popular among IT organizations and technologically advanced middle-market companies, which have been designed on the basis of a common database system, where all processes such as payroll, attendance, leaves, and performance management are integrated.

Key features:

• Payroll, Attendance, Leave & Performance all in one common database
• Mid-month Payroll adjustments via delta processing, not reprocessing entire payroll
• Automatic PT configuration based on location of employee working
• Automatic IT declaration & Investment Proof submission

Best for: IT companies, SaaS startups, and mid-market businesses with 100–2,000 employees.

3. greytHR

greytHR is one of the most widely deployed payroll platforms among Indian SMBs. Its parent company, Greytip Software, reports serving over 27,000 organisations and 2.5 million-plus users across more than 25 countries as of 2026, up substantially from its footprint a few years ago. It’s a strong fit for small businesses moving off spreadsheets, with a free tier for up to 25 employees.

Key features:

• If you have upto 25 employees,, there’s a free plan 
• PF, ESI, TDS, PT, and LWF compliance with statutory updates
• Integrated leave and attendance management system
• Employee self-service via mobile application

Best for: Small to medium-sized Indian businesses between 25 and 500 employees needing solid compliance without complex HRMS features.

4. RazorpayX Payroll 

RazorpayX Payroll referred to by its older “Razorpay Payroll” name in older content. It runs on Razorpay’s fintech and banking infrastructure, so salary disbursement and onboarding are built directly into the same system startups already use for payments. For startups with simple salary structures and under 200 employees, it covers the statutory basics without enterprise-platform complexity.

Key features:

• Quick onboarding through an already established payments ecosystem at Razorpay
• Calculating TDS, PF, ESI, and PT and filing with the government directly
• One system salary payouts through RazorpayX Banking
• Supports payments to freelancers and contractors along with regular employees

Best for: Technology-based startups and other early-stage organizations with fewer than 200 employees.

5. Zoho Payroll

Zoho Payroll is the natural choice when a business already runs on Zoho CRM, Zoho Books, or Zoho People. Payroll and accounting sync automatically, reducing manual reconciliation of payroll journal entries each month.

Key features:

• Zoho Payroll syncs payroll transactions with Zoho Books
• Computing TDS, ESI, and PF
• Payroll configuration module that is user-defined 
• Employee self-service for payslip, form 16, and tax certificates

Best for: SMEs already using Zoho products or organisations prioritising low cost over full compliance depth.

6. factoHR 

factoHR uses step-by-step guided payroll runs instead of a clean slate approach, targeted at HR professionals who do not have expertise in payroll. It caters to statutory compliances of India and includes biometric and geo-attendance integration.

Key features:

• Step-by-step guided payroll runs
• PF, ESI, TDS, and PT with automatic generation of challans
• More than 200 built-in compliances and MIS reports
• Integration with third-party biometric and geo-attendance systems

Best for: Small HR teams (roughly 50–500 employees) wanting a structured, guided payroll process, including field or distributed teams.

7. Superworks 

Superworks combines HRMS and payroll on a single dashboard for companies that want HR, attendance, and payroll running together from day one, without a separate payroll department.

Key features:

• TDS, PF, ESI and PT automated calculation
• Attendance, leave, and expense management integrated with payroll
• Built-in performance management and appraisal cycles
• Mobile app for managers and employees

Best for: Startups and growth-stage businesses (fewer than 500 employees) seeking one package for HR and payroll.

8. Zimyo 

Zimyo gets all your HR modules, from the recruitment to retirement process, plus payroll, compliance, and analytics in one integrated solution. This solution costs around ₹80 per head per month once the monthly minimum billing limit is reached.

Key features:

• Payroll with PF, ESI, TDS, PT, LWF, and statutory bonus.
• 50+ HR modules for hire-to-retire processes.
• Advance and loan management included in payroll.
• HR and finance analytics dashboards.

Best for: Small-to-medium businesses (roughly 50–500 employees) wanting broad HR features without subscribing to multiple applications.

9. Kredily 

Kredily is a free forever plan that includes payroll, attendance, and leaves management features designed for startups and very small businesses that want to use payroll software but don’t have enough budget to try it out.

Key features:

• Payroll basics with PF, ESI, and TDS calculation
• Free Forever plan, not a trial
• Employee portal
• Can be scaled to pay HRMS based on growing number of people

Best for: Small firms and micro-organisations (under 20–25 employees) wanting to try payroll software before paying for anything.

10. Saral PayPack 

Saral PayPack isn’t SaaS or subscription software; it’s licensed payroll software built for CA firms, payroll vendors, and compliance consultants who need to process multiple clients’ payroll from one installation. It’s the one platform in this comparison built for offline, on-premise deployment rather than cloud access, and its statutory filing depth (PF ECR, ESIC challans, and Form 24Q) is its main draw for compliance-heavy use cases.

Key features:

• Multiple client management through single installation
• Bulk generation of PF ECR files and ESIC challans
• Generation of Form 24Q in bulk with digital signature facility
• Offline functioning with database stored on local servers

Best for: CA firms, payroll consultancy agencies, and organisations managing payroll for many clients with heavy statutory filing needs.

11. HROne 

HROne targets growing Indian companies expanding across states, with automatic PT and LWF application based on each employee’s registered work location, including after internal transfers.

Key features:

• PT & LWF assignments using the employee’s workplace automatically, even post-transfer assignments
• HRMS integrated with payroll, attendance, leaves, and performance management
• Workforce cost diagnostics and analytics dashboard
• Compliance calendar with reminder system for submissions

Best for: Companies expanding across states (roughly 200–2,000 employees) needing automatic multi-location compliance.

12. Pocket HRMS 

Pocket HRMS packages a broad HRMS suite at MSME-friendly pricing, with an AI chatbot handling routine employee questions like leave balance and payslip status to reduce repetitive HR requests.

Key features:

• Automated PF, ESI, TDS, and PT with compliances submissions
• Chatbots to answer routine HR queries by employees
• Biometric and mobile-based attendance tracking
• Portal for submission of tax investments

Best for: MSMEs (roughly 50–500 employees) wanting budget-friendly HRMS with AI-assisted employee support.

13. PeopleStrong 

PeopleStrong is built for Indian enterprises running payroll across multiple legal entities, parent companies, subsidiaries, and joint ventures, each potentially carrying different salary bands and compliance requirements, on one system.

Key features:

• Payroll consolidation for parent company, subsidiaries, and joint ventures
• Automatic calculation of PT and LWF for all entities and locations
• ERP Integration with SAP and Oracle
• Automatic updates of EPFO and ESIC filing

Best for: Indian enterprises (roughly 1,000–10,000 employees) needing payroll consolidation across subsidiaries or multiple states.

14. ADP India 

ADP India is the Indian arm of Automatic Data Processing, one of the largest payroll and tax-filing processors globally. The parent company serves more than 1.1 million clients and pays upward of 42 million workers in roughly 140 countries and territories. In India, ADP offers bureau-managed payroll, where ADP’s own compliance team runs payroll on the client’s behalf, built for multinational companies wanting statutory compliance with minimal internal payroll headcount.

Key features:

• Bureau-managed payroll, ADP’s compliance team runs it for you
• Statutory coverage: PF, ESI, TDS, PT, LWF, Gratuity, and Bonus
• Centralised management across multiple states
• Integration with SAP, Oracle, Workday, and SuccessFactors

Best for: MNCs and large corporates (500+ employees) wanting India payroll managed by an established international provider.

15. SumHR 

SumHR is positioned as one of the more affordable platforms in this comparison, with published rates in the roughly ₹29–49 per employee per month range while still covering standard payroll automation for lean teams.

Key features:

• Payroll processing with calculation of PF, ESI, and TDS
• Pay slip preparation with biometric authentication
• Employee self-service module

Best for: Companies which are startups with lean payroll process (less than 100 employees) where cost matters most.

16. Qandle 

Qandle’s modular design lets organisations activate only the HR and payroll modules they need, adding recruitment, performance, or expense modules later rather than buying a full package upfront.

Key features:

• More than 36 customizable HR applications, pay as per usage only
• Compliance with payroll rules in respect to PF, ESI, TDS & PT
• Attendance Management and geolocation tracking
• Workflow automation and Analytics dashboard

Best for: Growing organisations (roughly 50–500 employees) wanting a configurable HR package where payroll is one part of a broader system.

What is Payroll Software?

The payroll software in India refers to a tool that automatically computes salaries payable to employees, subtracts their respective statutory deductions (12% PF, 3.25% ESI if salary is ≤ ₹21,000 per month, TDS according to section 192, and state professional tax) and generates payslips, thereby eliminating the need for manual calculation, which requires 2 to 5 days from the HR team each month.

Good India payroll software goes beyond salary calculations. It handles multi-state Professional Tax slabs, Labour Welfare Fund deductions by state, Form 16 generation, IT declarations, and Labour Code monitoring – all of which manual payroll processes get wrong or miss entirely.

What Payroll Software Does and What It Does Not

What it handles:

• Gross-to-net salary calculation, including all allowance and deduction components
• Automated PF, ESI, TDS, PT, and LWF deductions
• Payslip generation and distribution (portal, mobile, WhatsApp)
• Statutory filings and challan generation
• Form 16 issuance and Form 24Q quarterly returns
• Full and final settlement on employee exit

What it does not handle:

• Statutory disputes with EPFO or ESIC (e.g., disagreements on contribution amounts)
• Legal advice on employment law
• EPFO or ESIC notice responses and hearings
• Labour officer inspections – these require managed payroll or an HR specialist

Three Steps to Choose the Right Payroll Software 

1. Industry and workforce mix first. Most platforms on this list serve a narrow slice, office-based IT or SME teams, very well. If you operate across industries or have a mix of office staff, on-site teams, or apprentices, TankhaPay is the platform built to handle that range without switching vendors as you diversify.

2. Software or managed payroll. A capable in-house payroll executive makes software sufficient. Without one, or without multi-state compliance expertise, managed payroll is usually worth the higher cost. See Payroll Software vs Payroll Outsourcing for the full cost comparison.

3. Size and budget.

• Under 25 employees – greytHR’s free plan or Kredily. 
• Under 200 employees – RazorpayX Payroll or Zoho Payroll.
• Under 500 employees with a requirement for comprehensive HRMS – Keka or greytHR’s premium plan.
• Above 500 or for businesses that operate across different sectors – TankhaPay, PeopleStrong or HROne depending upon your specific requirements.

Related Guides

• What Is Payroll Software?
• Payroll Software Implementation Guide
• Payroll Software Cost in India: 2026 Pricing Guide
• Payroll Software vs. Payroll Outsourcing
• Running Payroll on Excel vs. Software

FAQs

What is the best payroll software in India? 

There is no one-size-fits-all solution that is independent of the size of the organization and industry mix. Our choice is TankhaPay for its industry diversity, catering to IT, manufacturing, construction, education,healthcare, hospitality, and enterprise customers in software as well as managed form. greytHR is ideal for generic SMBs, while Keka HR is best for IT-centric organizations.

How much does payroll software cost in India? 

The range of prices that are published on each of the above platforms for the cloud plans of greytHR and Kredily is between ₹29 and ₹150 per employee per month, respectively. The free plan offered by both firms is available to very small-sized teams, i.e., up to 25 employees in the case of greytHR, and unlimited employees in the case of Kredily.

Which payroll software already supports India’s new Labour Codes? 

According to TankhaPay, Keka, greytHR, HROne, Saral PayPack, PeopleStrong, and ADP India, there is support for the changes that have the most extensive impact on payroll, such as the 50% basic wages policy. Consider this as the first step in the vendor due diligence process but not a replacement for ensuring coverage based on your unique state requirements.

Which payroll software works across multiple industries? 

TankhaPay is currently the only platform on this list built to serve every industry from IT and professional services to manufacturing, construction, education, healthcare, and hospitality under one system, from SMB to enterprise scale.

Which payroll tools handle multi-state taxation automatically for a small remote team of around 10 employees? 

For a team that size, a lighter platform is usually a better fit than an enterprise-orientated one: RazorpayX Payroll and Zoho Payroll both offer PT automation in major states at startup-friendly pricing with self-service signup. TankhaPay also handles multi-state PT automatically across all 28 states and adds a managed compliance option that neither of the others offers, but it requires a demo rather than self-service signup, which is worth evaluating once this team is likely to grow past 25 employees or expand into a second industry, rather than as a first move at 10 people.

What’s the difference between payroll software and payroll outsourcing? 

Using software is having your team manage the payroll, while outsourcing payroll means someone else does it and takes responsibility. Full comparison here.

Is free payroll software actually usable? 

If the team is really small. greytHR (up to 25 people) and Kredily provide truly free payroll, not just a trial version. Multi-state PT/LWF/Labour Code-related features are generally included in a paid plan.

Bottom Line

The payroll software choice will depend first on the nature of your business and your employees, then on whether you require software alone or a management service, and finally on the size and cost considerations. In India, this leaves 16 possible solutions down to just two or three.

Ready to see how TankhaPay handles your specific industry and payroll scenario? Explore TankhaPay’s Payroll Software or Book a Demo Call and our compliance team will walk you through a live payroll run for your business.