Payroll software can be vital for businesses looking to automate their payroll processes and streamline their operations. Read along to discover the three best payroll software in India for small to mid-sized enterprises (SMEs).

Payroll software can help businesses streamline payroll processes

Companies are possibly looking to automate and digitalise their HR-related operations, especially after the onset of the pandemic, which forced the majority of the employee workforce to work remotely. This has resulted in the rapid adoption of payroll software in India and globally. According to a report by Allied Market Research, the HR payroll software market size is projected to reach $55.69 billion by 2031, growing at a CAGR of 9.2% from 2022 to 2031.

What is payroll software?

The management, upkeep, and automation of employee payments are usually handled by payroll software, which can either be used on-premises or in the cloud. Payroll software assists small to midsize businesses (SMEs) in automating tax compliance and payroll activities while preventing the need to outsource operations. Since these software can automate many mundane and complex tasks, it can help HR professionals save time and decrease manual errors. Some of the common features of payroll software are:

  • Expense management
  • Statutory compliance
  • Tax filing services
  • Payroll reporting
  • Benefits management

In this article, we have curated a list of the three best payroll software in India that SMEs can use to streamline their payroll processes. The tools are listed in alphabetical order. The following criteria guided our selection of these software (the detailed methodology is at the end of the article): 

  1. Have an overall rating of at least 4.5/5 stars by users
  2. Have at least 35 user reviews between June 2021 and June 2023
  3. Meet the market definition of payroll software
  4. Are headquartered in India

1.

 Asanify’s activity dashboard screenshot

Users can view the task details and activities on Asanify’s dashboard.




Asanify is a payroll management software designed for small and medium-sized businesses. Using Asanify, businesses can automate statutory compliances and manage tasks like tax deduction, Provident Fund with ECR File generation etc. The tool also integrates with HR modules to streamline leaves and holidays, employee directories, employee attendance and more. Businesses can customise salary slips to reflect their brand names and add annexures for employee leave and attendance. Asanify also helps with salary management by allowing businesses to securely disburse salaries from any bank to any other bank automatically. 

Additionally, companies can also calculate payroll gratuity and full-and-final settlement amounts during employee exits and offboarding. Moreover, the tool helps employees submit investment declarations through a gamified interface, estimate the take-home salary, and calculate tax using tax calculator. Employees can use the Asanify chatbot to perform day-to-day activities like marking attendance, applying for leave, checking leave balance etc. The tool also offers third-party integrations along with other payroll management modules. More information on their additional features and pricing plan can be found on their website. 

2.

GreytHR’s employee helpdesk screenshot

Employees can find the resolution to their problems using employee helpdesk

GreytHR helps businesses streamline and automate their payroll processes. Using this tool, they can compute and reconcile payroll, disburse salaries, and manage other payroll-related activities. GreytHR lets businesses customise salary slips by adding unlimited salary components, generating full and final settlements, arrears, reimbursements, and computing statutory deductions. In the Reports Gallery section, businesses can keep a tab of provident funds, professional tax, income tax, and state insurance funds in various report formats. 

Additionally, the tool also helps businesses with comprehensive TDS calculations and eTDS returns, bonus calculations and reporting, labour Welfare Fund calculation and deductions, and generation of Digitally signed Form 16 and 12BA. Using GertHR, businesses can transfer salaries from the application to the employee's bank account directly. Payment can be released via electronic bank transfer batch-wise and bank-wise, and businesses can also track the status of cash and cheque payments. More information on the software and its pricing plan can be found on their website.  

3.

Keka payroll calculation screenshot
Keka automatically calculates employee payroll for each month

Keka is a payroll software that helps businesses to meet their payroll needs. Using this tool, HR and finance professionals can make changes to the salary and payroll information throughout the month. The Preview Payroll feature allows users to run a preview of the payroll period and review various aspects of the payroll before finalising. Using Keka, businesses can create, modify and release salary slips in various formats digitally via email, SMS and mobile app. 

HR professionals can also review unpaid leaves and absences and make any deductions accordingly. Keka maintains track of new hires and exiting employees automatically each month for businesses to examine and settle payments. Moreover, the tool is capable of keeping track of reimbursements and pay holds for each month. Some other features offered by Keka are arrear calculations, scheduling of performance bonuses, payroll compliance, expense management, compensation management, employee loan management and employee finances. Detailed information on these features and pricing plans can be found on their website. 

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Methodology: 

  1. To select the tools for this list, we identified the three best payroll software with their headquarters in India.
  2. The shortlisted products were then assessed against the market definition of payroll software: Payroll software automates the management of employees' salaries, wages, bonuses and deductions. Time off, vacation accrual, benefits and retirement accounts can also be tracked by a Payroll system. These applications allow businesses to keep the payroll process in-house. Payroll management system can be standalone, but often integrates with an organisation's accounting software. Payroll software is related to Hr Payroll software, Payroll management software, Employee payroll management system, Human Resource software, Time Clock software and Workforce Management software. Capterra helps you explore multiple options and select the best Payroll software in India for your organisation.
  3. All the above software have the following core features:
  4. Besides that, the tools were further checked against the following criteria: Have an overall rating of at least 4.5/5 stars by users in the last 2 years and have at least 35 user reviews between June 2021 and June 2023.