Best HR Software in India
HR software is an umbrella term covering four different purchases: a core record and pay system, a hiring system, a performance system, and engagement or learning tools. Most companies buy them in roughly that order and regret buying them all at once. Work out which one is failing first, then shortlist for that.
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Buying in the wrong order is the expensive mistake in this category, and it is easy to make because every vendor's homepage describes a complete platform. A company losing candidates between offer and joining does not need a learning module. A company where leave balances are argued over in chat does not need talent analytics. Name the failure you can already feel, buy for that, and let the rest wait until it becomes the loudest problem.
How this list was put together
This page is published by Pitch N Hire, which sells an applicant tracking system and therefore competes with the products below. So it is not a ranking: there is no score, no rating and no number one. Options are grouped by who they suit, drawn from our own product comparisons, and each links to the full comparison so you can read the trade-offs rather than take a verdict on trust. Pricing changes constantly and is usually negotiated, so none is quoted here — get a written quote for your seat count.
What to evaluate before you shortlist
Deciding the criteria before you look at vendors is what stops a demo deciding for you.
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Which problem is costing you something right now?
Write down the last three HR incidents that consumed a day of someone's time. If they were disputes about leave balances or salary corrections, you are buying core administration. If they were roles that stayed open or candidates who vanished, you are buying hiring. The answer usually decides your shortlist faster than any comparison table. -
Will managers and employees use it, or only HR?
Self-service is where most of the promised time saving actually lives: employees checking their own balances, managers approving from a phone, nobody emailing HR to ask. If the interface only makes sense to the person who was trained on it, the work simply moves back to the HR inbox and the licence becomes a filing cabinet. -
One suite, or separate tools joined together?
A suite gives you one record and one vendor to chase, usually at the price of depth in each module. Separate tools go deeper but hand you the integration, and integrations are maintained by somebody. Whichever you choose, be specific about where employee data is created and which direction it flows, before the second tool arrives. -
What does support look like in your hours?
Unglamorous, and it determines the experience more than the feature list. Check the support hours against your working day, whether you get a named contact or a queue, and what the escalation path is during a pay cycle. Ask an existing customer in your time zone what response actually looks like, not what the contract promises.
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How the options compare
Feature detail only — there is no score, no rating and no rank in this table. Every value is lifted from our own comparison page for that product.
| Product | Free plan | Pricing model | Target company size | Candidate sourcing | AI interviewing |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Keka | No permanent free plan; paid per-employee tiers | Per-employee subscription across HR and payroll modules | SMB to mid-market, India-focused | Applicant tracking within the HR suite; limited dedicated sourcing | Hiring module handles tracking and workflow; AI video interviewing is not its focus |
| Zoho Recruit | Yes — limited free plan available | Per-recruiter monthly plans; free plan available for limited users | SMBs to mid-market; also staffing agencies | Job board integrations and resume sourcing tools built in | Some AI-assisted features; no dedicated native async AI video interview product |
| Darwinbox | No free plan; enterprise contract required | Custom enterprise pricing across the HCM suite | Large enterprises and fast-scaling organisations | Enterprise requisition and pipeline management inside the suite | Recruiting module within the HCM; AI video interviewing is not its core |
| BambooHR | No free tier; free trial only | Per-employee-per-month plans, typically quote-based; modules add on | Small to mid-sized businesses | Basic job posting; sourcing via add-ons/integrations | Not a focus; relies on integrations for interviewing |
| Rippling | No standalone free ATS tier; quote-based | Custom pricing bundled across the HR, IT, and payroll modules you enable | SMB to mid-market, mainly US-based | Job posting and pipeline within the recruiting module; less sourcing depth | Recruiting module focuses on workflow automation, not native AI video interviews |
| ClearCompany | No free plan; demo-based sales process | Quote-based subscription; pricing typically requires a sales conversation | Mid-market organisations, primarily in the US | Applicant sourcing through job boards and career-site tools within the suite | No native async AI video interview product; video interviews via integrations |
Best HR Software in India: Free plan, Pricing model, Target company size, Candidate sourcing, AI interviewing for Keka, Zoho Recruit, Darwinbox, BambooHR, Rippling, ClearCompany. Feature detail only, with no score, rating or ranking. A dash means that value is not published in our comparison for that product.
Keka
- Free plan
- No permanent free plan; paid per-employee tiers
- Pricing model
- Per-employee subscription across HR and payroll modules
- Target company size
- SMB to mid-market, India-focused
- Candidate sourcing
- Applicant tracking within the HR suite; limited dedicated sourcing
- AI interviewing
- Hiring module handles tracking and workflow; AI video interviewing is not its focus
Zoho Recruit
- Free plan
- Yes — limited free plan available
- Pricing model
- Per-recruiter monthly plans; free plan available for limited users
- Target company size
- SMBs to mid-market; also staffing agencies
- Candidate sourcing
- Job board integrations and resume sourcing tools built in
- AI interviewing
- Some AI-assisted features; no dedicated native async AI video interview product
Darwinbox
- Free plan
- No free plan; enterprise contract required
- Pricing model
- Custom enterprise pricing across the HCM suite
- Target company size
- Large enterprises and fast-scaling organisations
- Candidate sourcing
- Enterprise requisition and pipeline management inside the suite
- AI interviewing
- Recruiting module within the HCM; AI video interviewing is not its core
BambooHR
- Free plan
- No free tier; free trial only
- Pricing model
- Per-employee-per-month plans, typically quote-based; modules add on
- Target company size
- Small to mid-sized businesses
- Candidate sourcing
- Basic job posting; sourcing via add-ons/integrations
- AI interviewing
- Not a focus; relies on integrations for interviewing
Rippling
- Free plan
- No standalone free ATS tier; quote-based
- Pricing model
- Custom pricing bundled across the HR, IT, and payroll modules you enable
- Target company size
- SMB to mid-market, mainly US-based
- Candidate sourcing
- Job posting and pipeline within the recruiting module; less sourcing depth
- AI interviewing
- Recruiting module focuses on workflow automation, not native AI video interviews
ClearCompany
- Free plan
- No free plan; demo-based sales process
- Pricing model
- Quote-based subscription; pricing typically requires a sales conversation
- Target company size
- Mid-market organisations, primarily in the US
- Candidate sourcing
- Applicant sourcing through job boards and career-site tools within the suite
- AI interviewing
- No native async AI video interview product; video interviews via integrations
Pitch N Hire is not a row in this table: we publish this page, so putting our own product in it would not tell you anything you could check. The free 1-user plan is there to test instead.
The options, and who each one suits
Keka
Best for Indian companies whose first unsolved problem is pay, attendance and leave rather than hiring
Zoho Recruit
Best for Budget-conscious teams inside the Zoho ecosystem, including agencies needing client and vendor records
Darwinbox
Best for Enterprises wanting one highly configurable platform across India, APAC and the Middle East
BambooHR
Best for Small and mid-sized companies that want employee records, time off and onboarding in one approachable system
Rippling
Best for Distributed companies that want people, devices and access driven from the same automation
ClearCompany
Best for Mid-market teams that want hiring, onboarding and performance connected in one talent suite
Pitch N Hire
Published by us
Best for teams that want job posting, screening, structured interview scorecards and analytics in one pipeline, with a free plan for one user to test it on a real role
We are not going to rank ourselves against the products above. The useful thing we can offer instead is a free 1-user plan with no credit card, so you can run one real requisition end to end and judge it against your own process rather than against a feature table.
- Free Forever — ₹0 / month · up to 1 user · no credit card
- Startup — ₹500 / user / month · up to 5 users
- Pro Plan — ₹1,000 / user / month · up to 10 users
These are our own list prices, read from our billing system. We do not print the other products' prices here: published per-seat pricing changes often and a stale figure would be worse than none, so check each vendor's own pricing page for a current number.
Looking for what this category does rather than which vendor to pick? how to choose an HR stack for your size.
More buyer guides
Work out the numbers first
Best HR Software in India — FAQs
What counts as HR software?
Do we need HR software or a spreadsheet?
Should HR software and recruiting be the same product?
Can HR software handle Indian compliance?
What does HR software cost in India?
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