Comparison · checked 8 November 2026
Best staff attendance apps for Indian small businesses (2026)
For a shop, factory or field team that wants attendance and payroll in Hindi or another Indian language at a low price, Staff Khata is the cheapest paid option here at ₹0.50 per employee per day (about ₹15 a month) and the only one in 55 languages; its free plan covers biometric attendance for up to 50 staff. Kredily has the most generous free payroll but only web clock-in. PagarBook suits very small teams that want face recognition on a phone. Zoho Payroll and greytHR go deeper on compliance for office teams with an HR person.
| Feature | Staff Khata | PagarBook | SalaryBox | Kredily | Zoho Payroll | greytHR | Attendo (formerly Petpooja Payroll) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Free plan | Free forever up to 50 staff: attendance from 1 Realtime biometric machine and daily reports (no payroll or mobile app) | Free to start | No free plan (7-day trial) | Free forever, unlimited employees (web clock-in only) | Free up to 10 employees | No free plan (7-day trial) | No free plan |
| 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 | [3P] ₹499/staff/year (app) or ₹699 (app + web); own iD device ₹18,000 + GST | Starter ₹1,500/month + ₹30/user (no payroll); Business ₹3,000/month + ₹75/user | Payroll OS ₹1,249/month for 25 staff; Professional ₹1,749/month for 25 | Standard ₹1,000/month for 25 staff (annual); Premium ₹4,000/month for 50 | Growth ₹4,495/month for 50 staff, then ₹85 each; GPS tracking add-on ₹140/user/month | Flat yearly fee, no per-employee charge (Petpooja blog: ₹9,000 + GST first year) |
| Attendance methods | Selfie + GPS radius punch, QR code that rotates every 40 seconds, Realtime biometric machines | Face recognition (Lens), selfie + GPS, geofence, own face + fingerprint device | Selfie, GPS, QR, geofence; face recognition and kiosk on Business plan | Web clock-in on free plan; selfie + GPS on Professional; face recognition add-on | Leave and attendance only on Premium; field attendance through Zoho People | Biometric devices, web, geofence, selfie, face recognition on mobile or kiosk | Fingerprint, NFC card, face, passcode, mobile punch with photo and geofence |
| Biometric hardware | Works with Realtime biometric machines you buy from any Realtime dealer | Own PagarBook iD device | Own biometric device add-on | Biometric integration mentioned, brands not named | Through Zoho People integrations | Third-party devices | Own devices only |
| Payroll and compliance | Growth plan and above: monthly and weekly payroll, PF, ESI, professional tax, advances, payslip PDFs | PF, ESI, PT, LWF, TDS / Form 16, gratuity, statutory registers, payslips | Business plan and above: EPF, ESI, PT, LWF, challans, payslips | PF, ESI, PT, TDS and payslips on the free plan; challans and Form 16 on paid plans | EPF, ESI, state PT, LWF, TDS worksheet and payslips, even on the free plan | Full payroll processing | PF, ESIC, PT, TDS, LWF; monthly, weekly, daily and hourly pay cycles |
| Field staff tracking | Pro HRMS plan (₹1 per employee per day): live map, customer stops with notes and bills, trip replay, fake-GPS detection | PagarBook Geo: live location, routes, tasks | Paid add-on: live location ₹100/user/month | Paid add-on (Android only) | Not verified | Paid add-on | Geo Track field attendance |
| Owner alerts | Punch alerts and daily summaries on WhatsApp or SMS | Not listed | Not listed | Not listed | Not listed | Not listed | Not listed |
| Languages | 55 languages, including Hindi, Marathi, Tamil, Bengali | 10+ languages | Not verified | Not verified | Not verified | Not verified | Employee app in 11 Indian languages |
| Platforms | Web, Android, iOS | Android, iOS, web, desktop | Android, iOS, web | Android, iOS, web | Web, Android, iOS | Web, Android, iOS | Web, Android, iOS |
| 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 | Very small teams that want face recognition on a phone and are happy with PagarBook hardware | Teams of 20–200 that want face recognition and kiosk attendance and will pay for payroll | Office teams that clock in from a computer and want free payroll | Businesses already on Zoho Books that mainly need compliant payroll | Mid-size companies with an HR team that need a full HRMS | Restaurants and outlets that want hardware included in one flat fee |
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
Which is the best free attendance app for small business in India?
Staff Khata is free forever for up to 50 staff for attendance from a Realtime biometric machine with daily reports. Kredily is free for unlimited staff with payroll, but the free plan only has web clock-in. Zoho Payroll is free for up to 10 employees. For phone attendance plus payroll, Staff Khata Growth costs ₹0.50 per employee per day.
Which attendance app works in Hindi?
Staff Khata works in 55 languages including Hindi and Marathi. PagarBook supports 10+ languages and Attendo's employee app supports 11 Indian languages.
Do I need a biometric machine for staff attendance?
No. Biometric attendance is not legally required for most private businesses. Selfie + GPS punches on staff phones stop proxy attendance without hardware. A biometric machine helps at factory gates with many workers.
Which attendance app is best for field staff?
Look for route replay and fake-GPS detection, not just a GPS punch. Staff Khata's Pro HRMS plan (₹1 per employee per day, about ₹30 a month) includes a live map, customer stops with notes and bills, and trip replay. In SalaryBox (₹100/user/month), greytHR (₹140/user/month) and Kredily, live location is a paid add-on.
Sources
- PagarBook: https://pagarbook.com (opens in a new tab)
- SalaryBox: https://salarybox.in/pricing (opens in a new tab)
- Kredily: https://kredily.com/pricing/ (opens in a new tab)
- Zoho Payroll: https://www.zoho.com/in/payroll/pricing/ (opens in a new tab)
- greytHR: https://www.greythr.com/pricing/ (opens in a new tab)
- Attendo (formerly Petpooja Payroll): https://attendohr.com (opens in a new tab)
- Staff Khata: staffkhata.com/pricing