Head-to-head · India · updated 12 Jul 2026
If you have narrowed to these two, the honest split is simple. Choose greytHR when statutory payroll compliance and a lower sticker price are your first requirements, especially for a single-entity SMB up to roughly 150–200 people. Choose Keka when a polished modern interface and one suite spanning HR, payroll, performance and hiring matter more, and the ₹9,999 base with a 25-employee minimum fits your headcount.
We do not crown a winner here, because the right answer changes with the weight you put on price, payroll depth and interface. Below are five published criteria, a sourced comparison matrix, and a plain choose-Keka-if / choose-greytHR-if read so you can decide for your own team.
We build LekhaHR, an HRMS that competes with both vendors on this page. That is a real conflict, so we handle it in the open. This comparison of Keka and greytHR crowns neither of them, and it names LekhaHR's own gaps plainly, including the fact that LekhaHR does not run payroll while both Keka and greytHR do.
Treat every competitor figure here as a starting point to verify, not gospel. Each price and rating carries a source link and a 2026-07-12 capture date so you can re-check it on the vendor's own page before you sign anything. LekhaHR appears only after the two-vendor verdict, as a disclosed third option, never as the pushed answer.
How we compare
A trustworthy head-to-head should show its working. Here are the five criteria we weigh, the default weight on each, and how every cell is filled. These weights are our default lens for an India buyer; yours may differ, which is why every underlying fact is published so you can re-weight in your own head.
| Criterion | Weight | How the cell is filled (sourced, dated) |
|---|---|---|
| India statutory-compliance depth | 25% | Documented PF/ESI/PT/TDS capability from each vendor's own product docs, capture-dated. |
| Pricing transparency | 20% | A public rate card counts as yes; quote-only counts as no. Checkable on the vendor's own site. |
| Entry price (normalized) | 20% | The lowest published committed monthly cost, per employee where the model allows, from the vendor pricing page and dated in our evidence log. |
| Aggregate user rating | 15% | One G2 or Capterra score with its review count, source URL and capture date. Never our own opinion, and skipped where a vendor has no listing. |
| Shipped module breadth | 20% | A count of genuinely live core modules, verified against docs. LekhaHR is scored on shipped modules only. |
No overall winner is crowned. The matrix shows dated facts and each vendor's best-fit band, and it declines to reduce two capable products to a single number.
The comparison
Two vendors head to head, plus LekhaHR as the disclosed third option. Scroll the grid sideways to read every criterion. Prices and ratings were captured on 12 July 2026 from each vendor's own pricing page or its G2 listing.
| Vendor & best-fit | India statutory compliance | Pricing model | Entry price (dated) | User rating | Shipped module scope |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| KekaMid-market · modern UX suite | Payroll with PF, ESI, PT and TDS is part of the platform. | Public rate card; 25-employee minimum | Foundation ₹9,999/mo up to 100; 25-employee minimum | G2 4.5/5 (≈1,460) | Core HR, attendance, leave, payroll, performance and hiring in one suite. |
| greytHRSMB payroll & compliance authority | Statutory payroll compliance (PF, ESI, PT, TDS, challans and returns) is its long-standing core strength. | Public rate card + paid add-ons | Essential ₹2,495/mo; Growth ₹4,495/mo (base up to 50) | G2 4.4/5 (≈1,260) | Core HR, attendance, leave and payroll; performance, expense and GPS are priced as add-ons. |
| LekhaHRthis is usSmall Indian teams · transparent price | Does not run statutory payroll yet (payroll is unreleased). Attendance and leave keep reviewed inputs clean for your payroll run or CA. | Public rate card, no base fee (see pricing) | No base fee; billed per active employee — see the pricing page. | Not yet rated | Core HR, attendance and leave, shipped today. Payroll, onboarding, expenses and performance are not yet released, so they are left out, not greyed. |
Every sourced cell above resolves to a first-party page here. External links open in a new tab; re-check them against the vendor's own page before you sign.
Per-vendor fit
A fit profile for each of the two named vendors, not a feature dump: the honest size band, the module scope, the pricing model with a dated source, and a plain best-for and look-elsewhere. Take whichever one matches your scenario into a demo.
Choose which
The same decision, stated for a sales engineer from either camp to read without flinching. Every line below is a product fact, not a nudge toward us.
You want the most polished interface and one suite spanning HR, payroll, performance and hiring; you are mid-market, roughly 100 employees and up; your team will use employee self-service on mobile heavily; and the 25-employee minimum with the ₹9,999 base fits your headcount rather than stretching it. Keka's G2 rating of about 4.5 across roughly 1,460 reviews reflects that experience-led strength.
Statutory payroll comes first for you: challans, returns and PF/ESI/PT/TDS from a vendor with roughly two decades of compliance history. You are a single-entity SMB under about 150–200 people where its ₹2,495 to ₹4,495 sticker leads on price. You are comfortable buying performance, expense and GPS as add-ons on top of the base. greytHR's G2 rating sits at about 4.4 across roughly 1,260 reviews.
Now that the two-vendor verdict is on the table, here is the honest case for the product we make. LekhaHR fits when you want no base fee and per-active-employee billing, and attendance and leave that explain the policy behind each result, and you do not need in-house payroll today. It ships core HR, attendance and leave right now; onboarding, expenses and performance are unreleased, so they are left out rather than greyed.
Stated plainly: LekhaHR does not run payroll, and both Keka and greytHR do. If in-house statutory payroll is a must-have now, pick Keka or greytHR from the verdict above.
Where LekhaHR helps is upstream of payroll: it keeps attendance and leave reviewed and clean so those inputs pass forward to your payroll run or your CA. See the full rate card on the pricing page.
Buyer FAQ
Answers route to the matrix or a sibling page rather than repeating a rate. See LekhaHR pricing for our own numbers and the Keka switch decision for a migration path.
Neither is better in the abstract; it depends on the weight you put on each criterion. Weight statutory payroll depth and a lower sticker price and greytHR leads. Weight a modern interface and one suite spanning HR, payroll, performance and hiring and Keka leads. The methodology panel above lists the five criteria so you can re-weight them for your own team rather than trust a single verdict.
On the published base price, yes for a small single-entity team: greytHR Essential lists at ₹2,495/month and Growth at ₹4,495/month (base up to 50), while Keka Foundation lists at ₹9,999/month for up to 100 with a 25-employee minimum. Up to roughly 150–200 employees greytHR usually leads on sticker, but greytHR prices performance, expense and GPS as paid add-ons, so confirm the add-ons you need on your own quote before comparing totals. Both figures were captured on 2026-07-12 from each vendor's pricing page.
Keka does not price purely per seat at the entry tier. Foundation lists at ₹9,999/month for up to 100 employees with a 25-employee minimum and a one-time setup fee, so a 25-person team pays about ₹400 per employee at the floor while a 100-person team pays closer to ₹100. Higher tiers add a per-additional-employee rate above the base. The figure is captured on 2026-07-12 from keka.com/pricing; confirm the current base and setup fee on your quote.
Both run statutory payroll with PF, ESI, PT and TDS. greytHR built its reputation over roughly two decades on payroll, challans and returns, and that compliance engine is its core product rather than one module among many. Keka runs payroll inside a broader suite alongside performance and hiring. If statutory filing is your single most important requirement, greytHR's depth is the safer default; if you want payroll bundled with a wider modern suite, Keka covers it. Verify the specific returns and challans you file against each vendor's own documentation.
Yes, and we should disclose that one of them is ours. LekhaHR is an HRMS for small Indian teams with transparent per-active-employee pricing and no base fee, shipping core HR, attendance and leave today. It does not run statutory payroll yet, so it is not a like-for-like replacement for the payroll both Keka and greytHR provide. For the full market rather than just these two, see our disclosed-method guide to the best HR software in India.
No, not today. LekhaHR does not run in-house statutory payroll; that module is unreleased. What it does is keep attendance and leave clean and reviewable so those inputs pass forward to your payroll run or your CA. If in-house payroll is a must-have now, Keka or greytHR is the right pick. If you are specifically weighing a move off Keka, our Keka comparison covers the switch decision and migration path in detail.
Sources & update history
Keka and greytHR pricing and user ratings were captured on 12 July 2026 from each vendor's own pricing page or its G2 listing, and are recorded in our evidence log with a review-due date of 10 September 2026. LekhaHR's own rate resolves to the pricing page and is not restated here. Vendor prices and review scores move, so re-verify against the linked source before you commit.