Most "best HRMS" roundups for small businesses list the same platforms without checking what they'd actually cost a 15-person team. This one is evaluated specifically against small-business reality — a limited budget, no dedicated IT team, and a headcount that doesn't match the 50-employee base most "small business" pricing is actually built around.
Five platforms: Keka, greytHR, SalaryBox, Pocket HRMS, and MedleyHR. Not every platform that markets itself to small businesses is actually priced for one — a few of these have a real minimum-headcount penalty baked in, which only shows up once you check the fine print on their own pricing page.
What We're Comparing
For each platform: who it's actually built for, verified pricing, whether there's a minimum headcount or billing floor, and where it struggles for a genuinely small team. All prices below exclude 18% GST unless a vendor's own page states otherwise.
Keka
Keka is the best-known HR platform in the Indian mid-market — strong payroll capabilities, a clean interface, native India compliance.
Who it's built for
Companies with 50–500 employees and a dedicated HR team. The platform has real depth, but that depth comes with a setup process most small teams don't need.
Pricing
Not published. As of September 2026, Keka's pricing page shows plan names (Foundation, Strength, Growth) but no rupee figure anywhere — not on the cards, not in the FAQ. Every path leads to "Book a demo" or a phone call.
Where it struggles
For a 15-person company trying to compare four or five platforms in an afternoon, not being able to see a price without a sales call is a real cost in time. It's also generally positioned above what a sub-30-employee team needs.
greytHR
greytHR is a long-established Indian payroll and HR platform with transparent published pricing and its own price calculator.
Who it's built for
Small businesses that are already close to 50 employees, or comfortable paying a flat base fee that assumes that size regardless of actual headcount.
Pricing
Verified on greythr.com: ₹2,495/month for Essential, ₹4,495/month for Growth — both cover a flat base of 50 employees, with +₹45 or +₹85 per additional employee above that. No free tier.
Where it struggles
The flat 50-employee base is the catch for a genuinely small team: a 12-person company pays the same ₹2,495/month as a 50-person one. There's no smaller tier that scales the base fee down.
SalaryBox
SalaryBox is built around attendance and payroll for small, often field-based or hourly teams, with GPS-verified attendance as a core feature.
Who it's built for
Small teams — SalaryBox's own Starter plan is explicitly scoped for 5–20 users. It's a reasonable fit for businesses with field staff, retail, or hourly workers where GPS attendance verification matters more than deep HR workflow tooling.
Pricing
Verified on salarybox.in: Starter at ₹1,350/month (quarterly billing, discounted from ₹1,500) plus ₹27/user/month, for GPS attendance, leave management, and reporting. Business at ₹2,700/month (from ₹3,000) plus ₹67.50/user/month adds automated payroll and compliance. Enterprise is custom-quoted. A 7-day free trial is available.
Where it struggles
Full statutory payroll and compliance automation is only on the Business tier, not Starter — a small team wanting India-compliant payroll from day one needs to budget for the higher plan, not the entry-level one the pricing page leads with.
Pocket HRMS
Pocket HRMS is a long-running Indian HRMS platform covering payroll, attendance, and compliance with a geo-tagging focus for distributed teams.
Who it's built for
Similar profile to greytHR — small-to-mid businesses comfortable with a 50-employee pricing base, particularly those needing geo-fencing or geo-tagged attendance for field teams.
Pricing
Verified on pockethrms.com: ₹2,995/month for Standard (50 employees included, +₹60/additional employee, billed annually) and ₹4,495/month for Professional (same 50-employee base, +₹90/additional). Premium is call-for-pricing with a 100+ employee minimum.
Where it struggles
Same structural issue as greytHR: the ₹2,995/month base assumes 50 employees whether you have 10 or 50. For a genuinely small team, the effective per-employee cost is high until headcount grows to fill that base.
MedleyHR
MedleyHR is a self-serve HRMS built specifically for Indian small businesses, with PF, ESI, TDS, PT, and Form 16 handled natively inside payroll.
Who it's built for
Companies between 5 and 200 employees that want to run payroll and HR themselves, without a consultant, an implementation manager, or a 50-employee billing floor to make the pricing worthwhile.
Pricing
Free for up to 10 employees — payroll, leave management, and employee self-service included, no credit card, no minimum headcount. The Growth plan is ₹1,999/month with 25 employees included (₹80/additional employee). Scale is ₹3,999/month with 40 included (₹100/additional).
Where it struggles
For teams that need field-attendance features like GPS geo-fencing as a primary use case — which SalaryBox and Pocket HRMS specialise in — MedleyHR's attendance tooling is more standard than specialised. And past 300 employees, deep ERP integrations aren't there yet.
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Keka | greytHR | SalaryBox | Pocket HRMS | MedleyHR | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Built for team size | 50–500 | 50+ | 5–20 (Starter) | 50+ | 5–200 |
| India payroll compliance | Native | Native | Business tier only | Native | Native |
| Minimum billing | Not published | 50-employee base | None | 50-employee base | None |
| Free plan | No | No | No (7-day trial) | No | Yes (10 employees) |
| Starting price | Not published | ₹2,495/mo (50 incl.) | ₹1,350/mo + ₹27/user | ₹2,995/mo (50 incl.) | ₹1,999/mo (25 incl.), free under 10 |
| Pricing published? | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Questions to Ask Before Committing
- Is the base price built around a headcount larger than mine — and am I paying for capacity I won't use for a year or more?
- Can I see an exact price before talking to sales, or does the platform require a demo call first?
- Does it handle PF, ESI, TDS, and Form 16 natively, or is compliance gated behind a higher tier?
- Can I configure my salary structure myself without contacting support?
- If I add 5 employees next month, exactly what changes in the bill?
- Is there a free plan — not just a trial — I can run a real payroll cycle on?
MedleyHR is free for up to 10 employees in India, with payroll, leave management, employee self-service, and India compliance (PF, ESI, TDS, Form 16) included — no minimum headcount. The Growth plan starts at ₹1,999/month for up to 25 employees. Start free →
The Bottom Line
Two of these five platforms (greytHR, Pocket HRMS) price around a 50-employee base regardless of actual headcount, one (Keka) won't show a price at all without a sales call, and SalaryBox's full compliance automation sits behind its second tier, not the entry one. Check the actual billing floor on any platform you're evaluating — the sticker price and the price a small team actually pays are often two different numbers.