Read this first
HRMZY is our product. We build small-business HR software, so we know the category — and our bias. Every price below links to its source and carries the date we checked it, the same standard as our comparison pages.
Short answer
This guide compares the HR platforms most often shortlisted by companies under about fifty people, with every price sourced and dated. We make one of them, so treat this as a founder's knowledge of the category rather than a product test. Every price here was read from the vendor's own pricing page and carries the date it was read — that is the research behind this guide, and you can check any of it.
Written by
Subhan Khan, Founder
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HR Software Guide
Prices read from each vendor's own pricing page: Factorial on 24 August 2026; Personio on 12 September 2026; BambooHR, Gusto, Keka, Rippling, Zoho People on 19 September 2026; Deel, Frappe HR, PeopleForce, Sage HR on 20 September 2026; Odoo on 24 September 2026.
What follows is the shortlist we would give a founder or office manager who has outgrown spreadsheets: what each platform is genuinely good at, what to watch for, and what it costs at a headcount you actually have. Where ours is the wrong answer, that is written down too.
Based in the UK? Every price in this guide is in dollars, bar one in euros, so there is a UK version of this comparison — five platforms that publish their prices in pounds, each figure dated, and what UK payroll rules mean for the choice.
Where HRMZY fits
HRMZY is ours. It charges one flat fee per company — $25 a month on the entry plan for up to 20 employees, not a rate per person, with HR, payroll and projects in one place. There is a 14-day free trial. If you are a small team paying per employee somewhere else, that is the comparison worth making: the table below gives you the numbers at your headcount, with the date each one was read.
How we chose these products, and what is in the tables
We included platforms that sell to companies under about fifty people and cover core HR — employee records, leave and attendance — as their own product rather than as a module of something larger.
A product is in the price tables if its own pricing page publishes a rate, or if it says plainly that it quotes instead — both are honest answers a reader can act on. A product priced on a different basis, where the figure is not a rate per employee or per company at all, is named and explained after the cards rather than forced into a row. Putting it in a table would mean inventing a number its own page does not publish.
We do not score these products and the list is not ranked — the order carries no judgement, and HRMZY is last because we make it. Every price is read from the vendor’s own pricing page on the date shown beside it, never estimated and never taken from a review site.
The shortlist, and where each one genuinely wins
Prices are per month, quoted at twenty employees so they are comparable, and each links to the vendor page it was read from. Where a vendor publishes no rate, that is stated rather than estimated; where one publishes only a starting rate, or publishes in a currency other than dollars, the figure is shown as the vendor states it and is not converted.
BambooHR — the best-known US small-business brand
Where it wins
The most polished experience in the category and the safest choice to defend internally. Its onboarding, e-signature and reporting are mature, and the integration list is long enough that whatever else you run, something connects to it.
Watch out for
Payroll, benefits administration and time tracking are paid add-ons, so the headline is rarely the bill. At twenty-five employees or fewer the vendor page states a flat rate starting at $250 a month, which is why it looks expensive on genuinely small teams. Above that, the page says automatic volume discounts apply but does not publish the discounted rate — so past twenty-five people the real price is a conversation, not a number.
$250/mo at 20 employees · www.bamboohr.com, checked 2026-09-19
Our full HRMZY vs BambooHR comparison
Gusto — the best answer if payroll is the problem
Where it wins
Payroll-first rather than HR-first, and it shows: US tax filing, contractor payments and benefits are the core product rather than a module. If what actually keeps you up at night is running payroll correctly, this is the strongest option here.
Watch out for
The core product is US-only, so it is off the list entirely outside the United States. HR Resources is a separate add-on and time tracking costs extra on the entry plan, so an HR-led buyer ends up paying for pieces that other platforms include.
$169/mo at 20 employees · gusto.com, checked 2026-09-19
Zoho People — the low-cost per-user option for core HR
Where it wins
Genuinely inexpensive at small counts and mature software, with the rest of the Zoho suite alongside it if you already live there. On price alone, at the smallest sizes, nothing else here competes.
Watch out for
Payroll is a separate product rather than part of it, and there is no CRM, projects or invoicing — so it solves HR and leaves the rest of your stack where it is. Because it charges per seat, the cost climbs steadily as you hire. Against our flat fee it is cheaper at 1–16 and 21–53 employees and dearer at 17–20 and 54–200: both models price in steps, so the cheaper line alternates rather than crossing over once.
$30/mo at 20 employees · www.zoho.com, checked 2026-09-19
Our full HRMZY vs Zoho People comparison
Personio — European mid-market, if you are heading that way
Where it wins
Built around European HR practice — absence handling, contracts and recruiting for the DACH region and the wider EU — and it fits companies in the fifty-to-several-hundred range well.
Watch out for
The vendor page publishes a starting rate per employee per month, in euros, and then asks you to book a demo for an actual price — which its own FAQ says depends on your headcount and on which paid add-ons you take. That is a fact about buyability, not a criticism, but it means the published figure is a floor rather than a quote you can rely on, and Personio is aimed above the very small end of this guide.
from €152/mo at 20 employees · www.personio.com, checked 2026-09-12
Our full HRMZY vs Personio comparison
Factorial — the European small-business option
Where it wins
Aimed squarely at European SMBs, with strong time and absence handling and a modern interface. A reasonable first HR system for a growing team in Europe.
Watch out for
It charges per user, so the cost rises with every hire rather than staying flat. Payroll coverage varies by country and several capabilities are sold as add-ons, so check what your country actually gets before comparing the headline rate to anything else here.
$160/mo at 20 employees · factorialhr.com, checked 2026-08-24
Keka — the India-focused choice
Where it wins
Well established in the Indian market, with payroll and statutory compliance built for it. If you are hiring in India, a platform that already understands local payroll is worth more than a longer feature list.
Watch out for
The pricing page lists what each plan contains but publishes no rate in any currency — its calls to action are "Book a demo", "Talk to us" and a free trial. Its region selector defaults to India, and its focus is India and the Gulf, so it is a narrower fit elsewhere.
Publishes no rate — quote only · www.keka.com, checked 2026-09-19
Our full HRMZY vs Keka comparison
PeopleForce — the minimum flattens everything under fifty
Where it wins
Core HR is priced per employee with a published minimum, and the two meet exactly at fifty people: below that the minimum is the bill, so a five-person team and a fifty-person team pay the same amount. Above fifty it becomes a straight per-person rate again.
Watch out for
The rate buys Core HR only. Recruiting, performance, service desk, engagement and time are separate products on the same page, each charged on top. Annual billing is shown as a fifth cheaper than monthly.
$125/mo at 20 employees · peopleforce.io, checked 2026-09-20
Sage HR — published in pounds, from a UK page
Where it wins
Core HR and leave management are sold together at a published per-employee rate, and the page states it suits companies up to two hundred and fifty employees.
Watch out for
The rate is published in pounds only. We checked for a dollar equivalent and the US product page returns a not-found error, so a reader outside the UK should expect a regional quote rather than this figure. Performance, timesheets and shift scheduling are each charged on top per employee, expenses less again, and recruitment is a flat monthly fee.
£100/mo at 20 employees · www.sage.com, checked 2026-09-20
Odoo — HR as one app among many
Where it wins
HR is one module of an all-apps business suite, and the published per-user rate covers the whole suite rather than HR alone — the same fee also buys CRM, projects, accounting and invoicing.
Watch out for
That breadth is the trade. The figure is a suite price, not an HR-only one, so setting it beside a standalone HR tool compares two different things.
$224/mo at 20 employees · www.odoo.com, checked 2026-09-24
Rippling — no published rate
Where it wins
Its pricing page describes HR, IT and finance modules sold over a required platform fee.
Watch out for
It publishes no rate in any currency: the page is a quote request. You cannot compare it on cost without starting a sales conversation first.
Publishes no rate — quote only · www.rippling.com, checked 2026-09-19
HRMZY — ours: one flat fee, and more than HR
Where it wins
We charge a flat fee for the workspace rather than a rate per employee, so the bill does not climb every time you hire, and the platform covers projects, CRM and invoicing alongside HR — which for a small company is usually two or three other subscriptions. That is the whole argument, and it is a real one at the sizes this guide is about.
$25/mo up to 20 employees ·
our pricing page, read live from our own plans
Priced on a different basis
Two products here are missing from every table above, and deliberately. Neither publishes a price that moves with your headcount, so a row could only hold a dash or a number we had invented. Naming them and saying what they actually charge for is more use than either.
Frappe HR
The software itself is free and open source. What the pricing page charges for is hosting: its cloud sites start from a figure quoted in Indian rupees a month, with servers priced higher, and the page states you pay for what you use rather than per user. Self-hosting costs nothing beyond the server, and the page illustrates that with a third-party machine instead. Read on 2026-09-20 at frappe.io.
Deel
Deel prices global hiring rather than HR seats. Its page quotes a rate per worker sourced, per contractor, per contractor of record, per US PEO employee and per employee hired through its employer of record. Its HR product appears in the site navigation, but that pricing page states no rate for it. Read on 2026-09-20 at www.deel.com.
Skip HRMZY if
The section that makes the rest of this worth reading. There are buyers we are not the right answer for, and pretending otherwise wastes everyone's time.
- You need US payroll tax filing handled for you. We are not a US payroll bureau and do not file your taxes — if that is the job, Gusto is built for it and we are not.
- You need deep enterprise HCM workflows — multi-entity approval chains, complex org modelling, formal succession planning. That is Personio's territory at the mid-market end and the enterprise suites' above it.
- You are under about fifty people and only want core HR records. On price alone Zoho People is cheaper at 1–16 and 21–53 employees and our flat fee at 17–20 and 54–200, by our own sourced comparison — so it turns on your exact headcount rather than on a single number. Either way, skip us if you would not also be replacing a projects or CRM subscription.
* Not stated on its page means we looked and did not find it stated on the vendor’s own pricing page — not that the product lacks it. Every other cell is what that page said on the date beside its price.
How to choose, in three questions
Where do you pay people?
This narrows the list faster than anything else. United States and payroll is the priority: Gusto. Europe: Personio or Factorial. India: Keka. Somewhere else, or several places at once: a platform that does not tie its core product to one country's payroll.
How many people, and how many next year?
Under about fifty and staying there, per-seat pricing is usually cheaper and Zoho People is the value option. If you expect to grow through that band, model the flat-fee options at next year's headcount before you commit — switching HR systems later is expensive and disruptive.
Is payroll part of this purchase or not?
If it is, buy a platform where payroll is the core product rather than an add-on. If it is not — you already have a payroll bureau or an accountant — you can ignore the payroll column entirely and buy on HR fit and total cost.