SignHR vs Zoho People
Zoho People works if you're already in the Zoho ecosystem. SignHR works on its own.
Why teams choose SignHR
- Purpose-built HRMS — not a module inside a larger suite
- Built-in Agentic HR assistant for every employee
- Faster setup — no Zoho ecosystem onboarding required
- Multi-country HR and multi-currency salary records from day one
- 15 free HR calculators included
Where Zoho People is strong
- Deep integration with Zoho CRM, Zoho Books, Zoho Recruit
- Broader suite if you need CRM + HR + finance in one vendor
- Larger global brand recognition
Feature comparison
Feature-by-feature
| Feature | SignHR | Zoho People |
|---|---|---|
| Core HR | ||
| Time & Attendance | ||
| Leave Management | ||
| Onboarding | ||
| Payroll | Payroll-ready (compute inputs) | Via Zoho Payroll |
| Agentic HR (AI Assistant) | ||
| Multi-country HR / Multi-currency | ||
| Approval Workflows | ||
| Geo Tracking | ||
| Asset Management | ||
| Task & Project Management | Via Zoho Projects | |
| Checklists | ||
| Performance Reviews | ||
| Recruitment | Via Zoho Recruit | |
| Mobile App | ||
| Self-service Portal | ||
| Reports & Analytics | ||
| Security & RBAC | ||
| Free HR Calculators | 15 tools |
What each one costs
SignHR
- Core HR
- Published per employee, per month
- No headcount minimum, no setup fee, no lock-in. Modules are added on top.
- Agentic HR
- Flat monthly add-on
- Priced per company rather than per seat, so it does not scale with hiring.
Zoho People
- Free
- Free
- A free tier exists for small teams before they move to paid plans.
- Essential HR
- ₹48/user/month
- Billed annually. The entry paid tier for core HR.
- Professional
- ₹96/user/month
- Billed annually.
- Premium
- ₹144/user/month
- Billed annually.
- Enterprise
- ₹192/user/month
- Billed annually. The top published tier.
Read the fine print: The per-user rate is not the whole bill: Indian payroll runs through Zoho Payroll, a separate Zoho subscription with its own price, and every rate above is billed annually rather than month to month.
What moves if you switch
- Employee records
- SignHR has no bulk employee import today — people are added one at a time, so budget for that rather than assuming a CSV load. Export your directory from Zoho People first so you have the data to work from, and talk to us before you plan the cutover.
- Leave balances
- Export current balances and post them as opening adjustments against each employee's ledger. Accrual history itself does not transfer.
- Attendance history
- This one does transfer. SignHR has an attendance import with a downloadable template, so historic punches can be loaded for reporting continuity — most teams bring in the current financial year and archive the rest.
- Documents
- Bulk-download from Zoho People and re-upload per employee. There is no direct connector between the two products.
Who should pick which
Pick SignHR if
Teams that want a standalone HRMS with a built-in AI assistant and one published per-user price that is the whole bill — not a module that pulls you into a wider Zoho subscription for payroll.
Pick Zoho People if
Companies already running Zoho CRM, Zoho Books or Zoho Recruit. Zoho People slots into a suite you already own, data flows between products through native connectors, and the ecosystem is mature and globally known. If you are deep in Zoho, keeping HR inside the suite costs less integration than a standalone would.
Questions
Zoho People's headline rates — ₹48 to ₹192 per user per month, billed annually — look low, but Indian payroll is a separate Zoho Payroll subscription on top. SignHR's per-employee price is the whole bill, so the honest comparison is your combined Zoho People plus Zoho Payroll total against SignHR's published rate.
Partly, and the honest answer matters here. Leave balances and attendance history do transfer — balances as opening ledger adjustments, punches through SignHR's attendance import and its template. Employee records do not: SignHR has no bulk employee import today, so people are added one at a time. Documents are a bulk download from Zoho People and a re-upload per employee, and payroll history stays where it is. Talk to us before you plan the cutover.
Zoho People's strength is the ecosystem — native integration with Zoho CRM, Zoho Books and Zoho Recruit, so HR data flows into the rest of your stack without connectors. If that ecosystem is why you chose Zoho, it is a real reason to stay.
SignHR computes payroll inputs — PF, ESI, professional tax and TDS are handled as first-class statutory work — and hands off to your payroll engine for disbursement. Zoho runs payroll through its separate Zoho Payroll subscription. If you need the system itself to pay people, factor that extra Zoho seat into the price.
Our take
Should you switch to SignHR?
If you're already deep in Zoho, Zoho People integrates naturally. If you want a standalone HRMS with AI, clean pricing, and no vendor lock-in, SignHR is the better bet.
Still weighing several options? See every Zoho People alternative — including the ones we do not sell.