Best free HRMS software in India (2026)
Several HRMS tools have a genuinely free plan in India in 2026, not just a trial: greytHR, Kredily, Zoho People and Pitch N Hire all offer one. Pitch N Hire is the only free plan that runs hiring and HR on one candidate-to-employee record; greytHR and Kredily allow more free employees, while Keka, HROne and Pocket HRMS have no free plan at all.
Last updated
What does "free HRMS" really mean? Free plan vs free trial vs open source
"Free HRMS software" hides three very different things. Some vendors mean a plan that stays free forever within caps; others mean a 7- to 30-day trial of a paid product; others mean an open-source tool that is free to licence but which you must host and run yourself. And a plan can be "free" while the part you actually need — Indian statutory payroll — is paid or sold separately. Knowing which kind of "free" you are signing up for saves a painful surprise after you have loaded your employees in.
A genuinely free HRMS plan
Stays free indefinitely — no expiry — usually with caps on employees, features or payroll. Within those caps you can run real HR forever. greytHR's free Starter, Kredily's Free Forever, Zoho People's free plan and Pitch N Hire's free-up-to-10 plan are all examples. This is what most people searching for "free HRMS" actually want.A free trial (not the same thing)
Full access for a fixed window — often 7 to 30 days — after which you must pay to keep your data and keep using the tool. Keka and HROne work this way. A trial is ideal for evaluating a paid product on real data, but it is not a long-term free solution. If the "free" offer has an end date, it is a trial.Open source (free to licence, not to run)
OrangeHRM, Horilla and Frappe HR are free and usually uncapped — but only if you host and maintain the server yourself. The real cost is engineering: deployment, upgrades, security and wiring in Indian payroll. Free is genuine; "no cost" is not. A hosted free plan avoids that running cost.Genuinely free HRMS plans (hosted, permanent)
These have a permanent free plan you can use indefinitely — not a trial — and are cloud-hosted, so there is no server to run. Each entry describes what the free plan actually includes and where its limits sit. Plan caps and prices change over time, so confirm current details with each vendor (prices as of October 2026). Pitch N Hire publishes this guide; the free plans are listed alphabetically, not ranked.
greytHR
Largest India free tier with built-in statutory payroll
Free plan — what's included & the limits: greytHR has long offered a free 'Starter' plan — reported to cover up to about 25 employees with core HR, basic payroll, leave, attendance and employee self-service. It is a real standing plan, not a trial. (As of October 2026 greytHR's own pricing page foregrounds its three paid plans and a 7-day trial, so confirm the free Starter plan and its current employee cap directly with greytHR before you rely on it.)
greytHR is an India payroll-first HRMS with one of the most battle-tested statutory engines in the market (PF, ESI, PT, LWF, TDS). For a small Indian company whose first need is accurate, compliant payroll, its free tier is the most generous starting point here.
Honest caveat: Its free employee cap and payroll depth beat Pitch N Hire's free plan today. Reviewers note a dated UI and that simple report changes can need a support ticket.
Pricing model: Reported free Starter (~25 employees, verify). Paid: Essential ₹2,495/mo and Growth ₹4,495/mo (50 employees included, per-employee above), Premium on quote — as of Oct 2026.
Kredily
Free for unlimited employees on core HR, payroll and attendance
Free plan — what's included & the limits: Kredily markets a 'Free Forever' plan with no employee cap, covering core HR, attendance and basic payroll for Indian SMBs. It is one of the few free plans with no headcount limit.
If a no-cost, no-headcount-limit core HR + attendance system is the priority and you can live with community support, Kredily's free plan is hard to beat on raw allowance.
Honest caveat: The 'free' label is broad but the useful parts — statutory filing, bank disbursement, performance — are paid, and support on the free plan is community-based.
Pricing model: Free Forever (unlimited employees). Performance management, bank payouts and statutory filing are paid add-ons — as of Oct 2026, verify.
Pitch N Hire
Only free plan that runs hiring (ATS) and HR (HRMS) on one record
Free plan — what's included & the limits: Pitch N Hire gives a free-forever HRMS plan for up to 10 employees with no credit card: employee records, attendance and leave. Because Pitch N Hire is ATS-first, the same free account also runs hiring — sourcing, applicant tracking and AI-assisted screening — on the same candidate-to-employee record, so a new hire becomes an employee without re-entering anything. It is a cloud product, so there is no server to host or maintain.
The honest differentiator is not the size of the free tier — greytHR and Kredily allow more free employees. It is that Pitch N Hire is the only genuinely free plan here that unifies ATS + HRMS on one record and is AI-native, with no self-hosting. For a startup that is hiring its first team and running HR at the same time, that single-record, free, hosted combination is the real advantage.
Honest caveat: Pitch N Hire's HRMS is newer than greytHR, Keka or Zoho, so its HR/payroll depth is still maturing — confirm it covers your statutory and payroll needs before you scale beyond the free plan. Its free employee cap (10) is smaller than greytHR's (~25) and Kredily's (unlimited).
Pricing model: Free forever up to 10 employees, no credit card. Paid HRMS tiers (Starter / Growth / Enterprise) add more seats, payroll and modules, priced per headcount.
Zoho People
Free core-HR layer for teams already inside the Zoho suite
Free plan — what's included & the limits: Zoho People offers a free plan (commonly cited at up to 5 users) covering employee records, leave and basic HR. It is a standing free plan, not a trial. Crucially, payroll is NOT part of Zoho People — Indian statutory payroll (PF, ESI, TDS, Form 16) requires a separate Zoho Payroll subscription.
For a small team already standardised on Zoho (CRM, Books, Projects), Zoho People is a low-friction way to add a core-HR system of record that integrates deeply with tools they already use.
Honest caveat: The free plan is HR records and leave only — no payroll — so Indian statutory payroll means a second subscription. Non-Zoho third-party integrations are weaker than the in-suite ones.
Pricing model: Free plan (reported up to 5 users — sources conflict, verify on zoho.com/people). Paid People tiers from roughly ₹48–₹192/user/mo; payroll is a separate Zoho Payroll subscription — as of Oct 2026.
More free India plans worth checking: factoHR — free plan reported up to ~20 employees with India compliance; paid tiers above that. · Nitso — free HR + payroll reported up to ~25 employees for Indian SMBs. · HRSaathi — free tier reported around 10 users — a direct free-cap peer to Pitch N Hire. Confirm each free cap at signup.
Open-source HRMS — free to licence, you run the server
These are genuinely free and usually uncapped on employees, but they are self-hosted: you deploy, upgrade, secure and integrate them yourself. They suit teams with engineering capacity who want full control of their data; for everyone else, a hosted free plan is less work.
OrangeHRM (Starter, open source)
free and self-hosted with no employee cap, but needs your own server and technical setup; India statutory payroll needs integration.Horilla
open-source, all core modules; free when self-hosted, paid cloud per seat. Requires engineering to deploy and maintain.Frappe HR / Open HRMS
open-source HR suites, free when self-hosted; India payroll depth varies and setup is a technical project.HR.my
crowdfunded, free with free payroll — but it is not built for Indian statutory compliance, so it suits only very light use.No free plan: trial, demo or quote only
Three of the biggest India HRMS names — Keka, HROne and Pocket HRMS — have no free-forever plan, only a trial, demo or quote. They are capable products, but "free" here means a time-limited evaluation, not a standing plan. Prices as of October 2026 — verify before relying on them.
Keka
no free-forever plan — a free trial plus a one-time setup fee, then paid HR + payroll tiers (small-business pricing from about ₹90/employee/month or ₹6,999/month). As of Oct 2026, verify.HROne
no free plan — free trial only, with a 50-user minimum, so a team under 50 still pays for 50 (Basic ₹4,950/month for 50 users). As of Oct 2026, verify.Darwinbox
enterprise HCM — quote-only, with no published price, no free tier and no free trial. Built for 500+ employee organisations.Pocket HRMS
AI-marketed India HRMS — demo/quote based, with no standing free plan.What's the catch? The real limits of free HRMS plans
Free HRMS plans are excellent for getting started and for the earliest-stage teams — but every one of them caps something. Know the six places the limit usually sits before you load your people in.
Employee caps
Most free HRMS plans cap headcount — Pitch N Hire at 10, Zoho People around 5, greytHR around 25, factoHR around 20. Only a few (Kredily, open-source tools) are uncapped. The moment you cross the cap you move to a paid plan, so pick a free tier whose cap fits your real team size.Payroll is often paid — or separate
This is the biggest trap. A 'free HRMS' frequently means free HR records and leave, with payroll locked behind a paid tier (Kredily) or a different product entirely (Zoho People needs Zoho Payroll). Confirm whether statutory payroll — PF, ESI, PT, TDS, Form 16 — is actually in the free plan before you commit.Statutory filing & bank disbursement gated
Even where payroll calculation is free, the parts that save real time — generating challans and returns, filing, and paying salaries straight to bank accounts — are commonly paid add-ons. Read exactly where the free line sits for Indian compliance.Self-hosting for open-source 'free'
OrangeHRM, Horilla and Frappe HR are genuinely free and uncapped, but only if you host and maintain the server yourself. For a team without engineering, the running cost is in setup, upgrades and security — not the licence. A hosted free plan (Pitch N Hire, greytHR, Zoho) avoids that.Support, reporting & advanced modules
Free plans are largely self-serve: community support, limited custom reporting, and advanced modules (performance, analytics, recruitment) reserved for paid tiers. Pitch N Hire is an exception in exposing AI-assisted hiring on its free plan, but most tools gate their smartest features.Headcount growth is the upgrade trigger
Free HRMS plans are designed for the earliest stage. As you add employees, open roles, entities or payroll complexity, you will outgrow the free tier — so weigh the paid pricing above each free plan now, not later, so the upgrade path is not a surprise.Free HRMS software — FAQs
Is there a truly free HRMS software in India?
What's the difference between free HRMS and a free trial?
Does free HRMS software include payroll?
What's the best free HRMS for a small business or startup in India?
Is Pitch N Hire's free HRMS really free, and does it expire?
Are open-source HRMS like OrangeHRM a good free option?
The applicant tracking system for recruiters and hiring teams
Pitch N Hire is an applicant tracking system. Post roles, screen applicants, run structured interviews, and make offers from a single pipeline — free for 1 user.
Free for 1 user · No credit card · Talk to a real hiring expert
Start free HRMS + hiring on one record
Pitch N Hire's free plan runs hiring and HR for up to 10 employees on one candidate-to-employee record — no credit card, no server to host. Add payroll and more seats when you grow.
Prefer to talk? Book a demo Talk to sales View pricing
Free 1-user plan · No credit card · Talk to a real hiring expert