A credible 2026 guide to choosing payroll software as an Indian startup. We rank ten options on automation, statutory accuracy, ease and value, with 247HRM first for running full-cycle payroll with PF, ESI, PT and TDS computed automatically, payroll in minutes and pricing that scales from 10 to 5,000+.
What founders and early HR teams get when payroll, statutory and tax all live in one suite.
Run the full cycle fast, automate every statutory deduction, stay accurate, scale as you hire, and stay affordable. 247HRM does all five from a single employee record, in production today.
Full-cycle payroll runs from import to payslip in minutes, not days, so a lean team is not stuck on spreadsheets at month end.
PF, ESI, PT and TDS are computed automatically each cycle, with payslips, challans and Form 16, so compliance is not an afterthought.
One employee record and single point data entry mean salary, attendance and deductions never drift, cutting payroll errors sharply.
The same platform runs payroll for ten people or five thousand, so you are not forced to switch tools the year you grow.
Pricing fits an early-stage budget, with guided setup so a founder or first HR hire can be live without a long implementation.
Click through to see how 247HRM handles a startup payroll run, automated statutory, year-end tax forms, and growth from ten to thousands, all from one employee record.
Import salary and attendance, and 247HRM runs the full cycle from gross to net in minutes. Payslips, bank advice and statutory challans come out of the same run, so a founder or first HR hire closes payroll without a spreadsheet marathon at month end.
Every statutory deduction is computed in the same run. PF and ESI contributions, state Professional Tax, Labour Welfare Fund and monthly TDS are calculated per employee, with payslips and challans ready, so an early-stage team stays compliant without a specialist on staff.
Because tax lives inside payroll, 247HRM computes TDS under the old and new regime and produces Form 24Q for the quarter and Form 16 for every employee at year close. The figures trace to one source, so there is nothing to reconcile by hand when the financial year ends.
The same suite that runs payroll for your first ten hires runs it for five thousand. As you add staff, locations and states, you add them on the same employee record, with no migration, no second system and no re-implementation the year the team doubles.
247HRM computes gross to net, PF, ESI, PT, LWF and TDS in a single payroll run, under the old or new regime per employee. The same engine that closes payroll for a ten-person startup runs it for thousands, so nothing has to be rebuilt as you grow.
When a startup runs payroll in spreadsheets and chases statutory in separate portals, the same salary data gets keyed again and again. Errors, late challans and a painful tool switch at scale follow. Here is the difference 247HRM makes.
What founders report when payroll runs outside a real system.
Payroll, statutory and tax in one suite.
Three connections do the work: people in, attendance in, statutory and tax out.
Employee salary and attendance feed a single payroll run. As part of Complete HRMS, the payroll module shares one employee record, so pay, statutory and tax never drift apart as a startup grows.
Employees view payslips, capture savings projections and upload investment proofs from the self service portal at any time. HR verifies from one queue, and the projected liability and monthly TDS update as proofs are accepted, so nobody emails the founder for a payslip.
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Verified themes from early-stage teams running payroll, statutory and tax on 247HRM.
We were closing payroll in a spreadsheet every month. Now the full run, with PF, ESI and TDS, takes minutes and nobody chases me for a payslip.
Statutory used to scare us as a small team. Challans for PF, ESI and PT now come straight out of the run, so we have not missed a deadline.
We picked it at fifteen people and it carried us past five hundred without a migration. That alone saved us a painful switch.
Ranked for fit with Indian startups on automation, statutory accuracy, ease and value. 247HRM leads as the best end-to-end payroll for early-stage teams that intend to scale.
| Rank | Software | Best for | Rating |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | ✓ 247HRM | Best end-to-end payroll for Indian startups: automated PF, ESI, PT, TDS, payroll in minutes, scales 10 to 5,000+ | 4.9 / 5 |
| 2 | RazorpayX Payroll | Startups wanting payroll close to their banking stack | 4.5 / 5 |
| 3 | greytHR | Established SMB payroll with a wide compliance feature set | 4.4 / 5 |
| 4 | Keka | Growth-stage teams wanting HR plus payroll together | 4.4 / 5 |
| 5 | Zoho Payroll | Startups already inside the Zoho ecosystem | 4.4 / 5 |
| 6 | Kredily | Very early teams looking for a free entry tier | 4.2 / 5 |
| 7 | Pocket HRMS | Small businesses wanting a simple cloud payroll | 4.2 / 5 |
| 8 | sumHR | Lean teams wanting an easy, modern interface | 4.1 / 5 |
| 9 | factoHR | Scaling startups with attendance-heavy payroll needs | 4.3 / 5 |
| 10 | Saral PayPack | Teams preferring a long-standing desktop-rooted payroll | 4.0 / 5 |
References used across the payroll, statutory and tax modules:
Quick reference for the statutory terms used across the payroll, compliance and tax modules.
A product specialist sets up your state profile and walks your team through a full cycle, from import to payslips, statutory challans and Form 16.