Comparison · checked 8 November 2026
Attendance app vs paper register vs Excel
A paper register costs nothing but cannot stop proxy signatures and leaves all salary maths to you. Excel speeds up the calculation but still relies on someone typing attendance in, and one broken formula can underpay a whole team. An attendance app records who punched, where and when, then works out salary, PF and ESI from it. For a team under 10 that the owner sees daily, a register is fine; beyond that, an app usually pays for itself in month-end time saved.
| Feature | Staff Khata | Paper attendance register | Excel / Google Sheets |
|---|---|---|---|
| Free plan | Free forever up to 50 staff: attendance from 1 Realtime biometric machine and daily reports (no payroll or mobile app) | Cost of the register book | Free (Google Sheets) or with Microsoft Office |
| Paid pricing | Growth ₹0.50 per employee per day (about ₹15/month): payroll, mobile app, selfie + GPS, leave, shifts. Pro HRMS ₹1/day adds live field tracking | Owner or accountant time every month-end | Time spent typing attendance and fixing formulas |
| Attendance methods | Selfie + GPS radius punch, QR code that rotates every 40 seconds, Realtime biometric machines | Staff sign or the supervisor marks; anyone can sign for someone else | Typed in from a register or machine report; no proof of who was present |
| Biometric hardware | Works with Realtime biometric machines you buy from any Realtime dealer | None | Machine reports must be exported and pasted in |
| Payroll and compliance | Growth plan and above: monthly and weekly payroll, PF, ESI, professional tax, advances, payslip PDFs | By hand or in a calculator; PF, ESI and deductions worked out manually | Formulas you build and maintain; easy to break or copy wrongly |
| Field staff tracking | Pro HRMS plan (₹1 per employee per day): live map, customer stops with notes and bills, trip replay, fake-GPS detection | None: you take the staff member's word | None |
| Owner alerts | Punch alerts and daily summaries on WhatsApp or SMS | None: you see it when you open the book | None |
| Languages | 55 languages, including Hindi, Marathi, Tamil, Bengali | Whatever the person writing uses | Mostly English templates |
| Platforms | Web, Android, iOS | Paper | Computer; phone editing is awkward |
| Best for | Shops, factories and field teams of 10–500 staff who want attendance and payroll in their own language at a low per-employee price | A very small team where the owner sees everyone every day | An office manager comfortable with formulas and a stable team under 20 |
Prices exclude GST and come from each vendor's pricing page on 8 November 2026; [3P] marks figures from a third-party listing. "Not listed" or "Not verified" means we could not find it on the vendor's site, not that the feature is missing. Spotted something out of date? Tell us and we will fix it.
Frequently asked questions
Is a paper attendance register legally valid?
Yes. State Shops and Establishments Acts and the Factories Act require attendance and wage records, and they can be on paper or electronic. An app that exports registers in the prescribed format meets the same requirement.
How do I stop proxy attendance without a biometric machine?
Use a selfie punch that only works inside a GPS radius around your shop. If you have a Realtime machine, staff without an enrolled finger can also show a QR code from the app that changes every 40 seconds.
Is there a free Excel attendance template?
Yes. Staff Khata's free timesheet template and per-day salary calculator work without sign-up, and you can move to the app when the sheet gets hard to manage.
Sources
- Staff Khata: staffkhata.com/pricing