Buyer's guide · 2026

Best HRMS with biometric attendance in India: seven suites, sorted by how the device reaches them

Every HRMS in India says it supports biometric attendance. Most of them do. The difference is in one sentence on each vendor's site, usually the vaguest one: how the punch gets from the machine on the wall to the software. This guide puts that sentence from Keka, greytHR, factoHR, HROne, Pocket HRMS and Zoho People next to each other, quoted from their own pages in September 2026, and adds ours. It then follows the punch into leave, payroll and the employee's phone, prices each suite at 100 and 500 heads, and names the cases where you should not buy from us.

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The best HRMS with biometric attendance depends on two things: how the biometric device reaches the software, and how much HR you need around the punch. If the terminals are the purchase, AionHRMS connects confirmed eSSL, ZKTeco and Realtime devices by direct push with nothing installed at your site, computes shift-wise salary from the punch, gives employees a portal for leave, corrections and payslips, and costs ₹25,000 a year up to 100 employees. If you are buying a full HR suite, the established Indian choices are HROne (₹4,950 a month for 50 users plus ₹99 per head, attendance in the base plan), greytHR (attendance from ₹4,495 a month for 50 plus ₹85), factoHR (₹4,999 for 50 plus ₹69) and Pocket HRMS (₹2,995 for 50 plus ₹60), each with statutory payroll included and each relying on software or a connector at your site to read the device. Keka is the mid-market suite with pricing on request. Zoho People fits companies already on Zoho.

7 suites

the six an Indian shortlist names, plus AionHRMS, on their own published facts

1 sentence

each vendor's own words on how the device connects, side by side

100 & 500

what each costs at those headcounts, at list, arithmetic shown

Vendor-authored

we say where we lose; read it for the questions, not the verdict

01

The seven, in one honest paragraph each

Every claim below is from the vendor's own site: Keka, greytHR, factoHR, Pocket HRMS and Zoho People checked on 3 September 2026, HROne on 11 September 2026. Prices are published list prices in INR; "not published" means exactly that.

  • Keka: mid-market HR and payroll suite for "50–2,000+ employees", "12,500+ companies". Attendance claims real-time integration with "200+ hardware devices" through a "universal driver framework"; geofencing, selfie and continuous tracking in its mid tier. Statutory payroll included. Pricing not published: "Give us a call", per employee per month.
  • greytHR: payroll-first SME suite, "34,000+ Companies". Attendance is not in the ₹2,495 Essential plan; it starts at Growth, ₹4,495 a month for 50 employees plus ₹85 per additional. Biometric swipes reach it through the Greytip Astra application at your site. ISO 27001, SOC 2 and AWS India stated.
  • factoHR: full HRMS, "4000+ Businesses". Core ₹4,999 a month for 50 employees plus ₹69 per additional, billed quarterly. Biometric hardware connected "via database, IP, or SDK". Geofencing in Premium; selfie and mobile face as paid add-ons. Statutory payroll included. ISO 27001, SOC 2 Type II.
  • HROne: HCM suite for "51 To 5,000 Employees", "2,500+ brands". Basic ₹4,950 a month for 50 users plus ₹99 per additional, attendance included; Professional ₹6,500 plus ₹130. Devices: "integrates with all major biometric devices (ESSL, ZKTeco, Suprema, BIOMAX) – fingerprint and face recognition data sync automatically"; method not stated on the product page. WhatsApp bot, geo-tagged selfie and geo-fencing. DPA: Azure, GDPR, ISO 27001.
  • Pocket HRMS: payroll-centred SME suite, "2000+ companies". Standard ₹2,995 a month billed annually for 50 employees plus ₹60 per additional, 50-employee minimum, one-time implementation fee. Punches via a utility on your "biometric server system" plus an in-out import. ISO 27001; Azure India.
  • Zoho People: global HR suite; attendance from Professional at ₹120 per user per month (₹96 yearly), five-user minimum; payroll is a separate product. Biometric integration is a plugin (Tomcat and Java polling the device database, five-minute minimum) or a rate-limited API, with your IT or vendor doing the work. SOC 2 Type 2, ISO 27001, Mumbai and Chennai data centres.
  • AionHRMS: attendance-first HRMS. Confirmed eSSL, ZKTeco and Realtime terminals push punches to the cloud; one employee record spans sites; access control where the model supports it; shift-wise salary computed from the punch; employee portal with leave approvals, corrections, on-screen payslips and documents. ₹25,000 a year up to 100 employees, ₹50,000 up to 500, unlimited terminals and sites, invoiced after go-live. Online geofenced punches at enabled locations. No statutory filing, recruitment or performance modules.
02

How the device reaches the HRMS: the sentence that decides year two

Strip the feature grids away and there are only three ways a biometric punch reaches cloud software. Each vendor's own wording tells you which one it uses, if you read it slowly.

  • Direct push (AionHRMS): the terminal is repointed from its own Comm or ADMS menu to the vendor's server and sends each punch itself over the manufacturer's protocol. Nothing runs at your site. A dead office PC, an expired Windows licence or a changed router password cannot take the register with it. Punches made during an internet cut are buffered on the device and sent when the line returns.
  • Software at your site reading the device (greytHR's Astra, Pocket HRMS's utility, Zoho People's plugin, factoHR's database, IP or SDK link): the punches exist on the device, and something you install, patch and keep powered forwards them. It works, and most Indian HR suites do it this way. It also puts a PC, a database connection or a static IP between the gate and the cloud, and someone at your site has to own that PC.
  • Unstated (Keka's "universal driver framework" documented behind a customer login; HROne's "sync automatically"): the method may well be push. The page does not say. Ask, in writing, before the contract: what runs at our site, and what happens to punches during a week when that machine is off?
  • Brand names are not compatibility evidence in any of the three models. "Supports eSSL" can mean one firmware line. Every vendor on this list, including us, should be asked to confirm your exact model and prove a test punch before you sign.
03

What happens to the punch: payroll, leave and the employee's phone

The second question is how much HR you need wrapped around the attendance record. The six suites answer "all of it". AionHRMS answers "the parts that touch the punch", and since September 2026 that includes the employee's side.

  • Statutory filing (PF, ESI, PT, TDS returns, Form 16) is inside Keka, greytHR, factoHR, HROne and Pocket HRMS, and in Zoho Payroll as a separate subscription. AionHRMS computes the salary from the punch and does not file. If filing must live in the same login, that is a point against us and this page says so.
  • Shift arithmetic is where AionHRMS goes deeper than a suite's attendance module: per-employee duty times, single or double shift with a separate salary per shift, punches bucketed to the right shift automatically, night shifts on the right date, grace period, late-count threshold, penalty as a flat fine or a fraction of a shift, paid leave, advances, monthly payroll report.
  • Leave and self-service: every suite here has request-and-approve leave, and HROne adds a two-step comp-off claim. AionHRMS now has leave types with quotas, holidays, weekly offs, half days, short leave, comp-off claims, manager approvals, missed-punch correction requests, an attendance calendar, on-screen payslips and a documents shelf in the employee portal. It does not have leave encashment, expense claims or letters.
  • Phone-based attendance (GPS geofencing, selfie, face on phone, WhatsApp): shipped by all six suites in some tier. AionHRMS supports online geofenced punches at enabled company locations. Phone-based face recognition, offline capture and WhatsApp attendance are separate capabilities; compare them against your workflow.
  • Access control: lock or unlock a person on every terminal from the browser, log denied attempts, release a door remotely where the model supports it. On this list, AionHRMS only. HR suites read the device; they do not usually command it.
04

What each costs at 100 and 500 employees

List prices as published, before taxes, add-ons, implementation fees and negotiated discounts. The arithmetic is ours and the inputs are shown so you can redo it with your headcount. Use the plan that actually includes attendance.

  • AionHRMS: ₹25,000 a year at 100; ₹50,000 a year at 500; free up to 10. Flat band, exclusive of GST, unlimited terminals and sites, payroll computation and employee portal included, invoiced after go-live.
  • Pocket HRMS Standard: ₹2,995 + 50 × ₹60 = ₹5,995 a month, about ₹71,900 a year at 100 plus the implementation fee; about ₹3,60,000 at 500. Statutory payroll included.
  • factoHR Core: ₹4,999 + 50 × ₹69 = ₹8,449 a month, about ₹1,01,000 a year at 100; about ₹4,33,000 at 500. Statutory payroll included; geofencing needs Premium.
  • greytHR Growth (the plan with attendance): ₹4,495 + 50 × ₹85 = ₹8,745 a month, about ₹1,05,000 a year at 100; about ₹5,13,000 at 500. Statutory payroll included.
  • Zoho People Professional, yearly rate: 100 × ₹96 × 12 = ₹1,15,200 a year at 100; ₹5,76,000 at 500, before Zoho Payroll, a separate subscription.
  • HROne Basic: ₹4,950 + 50 × ₹99 = ₹9,900 a month, about ₹1,18,800 a year at 100; about ₹5,94,000 at 500. Statutory payroll included; separation and letter workflows need Professional at ₹6,500 plus ₹130.
  • Keka: not published. Per employee per month; get the written quote for your headcount and put it in this list yourself.
05

Where AionHRMS is not the right HRMS

A buyer's guide that never disqualifies its author is an advertisement. These are the cases where you should pick one of the other six.

  • You need statutory filing inside the same product: greytHR, factoHR, HROne, Pocket HRMS or Keka, or Zoho People with Zoho Payroll.
  • You are buying HR in the wide sense, meaning recruitment, onboarding, performance, expenses, engagement, letters, and attendance is one tab: Keka or HROne for mid-market, greytHR or factoHR for SMEs.
  • You need phone-based face recognition, offline capture or continuous tracking: compare the relevant suite tier or a phone-first product such as Truein. AionHRMS supports online geofenced punches at approved workplaces.
  • You already run on Zoho and want one ecosystem: Zoho People.
  • You have one site, one brand and the free software bundled with the machine already works: keep it, and read the biometric system buyer's guide instead.
06

Five questions to put to every HRMS vendor, in writing

Whichever suite you choose, these five answers decide whether the biometric integration still works in year two, and whether the price you were quoted is the price you pay.

  • What runs at our site to get punches from the terminal to your cloud, and what happens to punches during a week when that machine is off?
  • Which of our exact terminal models have you connected before, and will you prove a test punch on ours before we sign?
  • If a terminal is replaced or reset, which biometric formats can be reused and which staff must enrol again?
  • What is the total price at our headcount for the plan that actually includes attendance, with add-ons, implementation fees, minimum users and taxes, and when is it invoiced?
  • Where is our data hosted, which certifications does your company itself hold, and what is the export format if we leave?

The seven side by side

Competitor cells are from each vendor's own site as published in September 2026. "At your site" means software or a connector you install and maintain forwards the punches. Prices at list, arithmetic ours.

AionHRMSThe others (published, Sept 2026)
KekaDirect push; published flat price; any headcount."200+ hardware devices" via its framework, method behind login; geofencing in mid tier; payroll files; price on request.
greytHRNo Astra; attendance in the base product; ₹25,000/yr at 100.Attendance from Growth: ₹4,495/mo for 50 + ₹85/emp (≈ ₹1,05,000/yr at 100); Astra at your site; ISO 27001, SOC 2, AWS India.
factoHRPush, not database/IP/SDK; no per-user add-ons.₹4,999/mo for 50 + ₹69/emp (≈ ₹1,01,000/yr at 100), quarterly; hardware via DB/IP/SDK; payroll files; ISO 27001, SOC 2 Type II.
HROnePush; no 50-user base; ₹25,000/yr at 100.₹4,950/mo for 50 + ₹99/user (≈ ₹1,18,800/yr at 100); eSSL, ZKTeco, Suprema, BIOMAX "sync automatically"; WhatsApp bot; Azure, ISO 27001 (DPA).
Pocket HRMSNo utility PC, no import step, no minimum, no setup fee.₹2,995/mo for 50 + ₹60/emp (≈ ₹71,900/yr at 100) + implementation fee; 50-employee minimum; utility + in-out import; ISO 27001, Azure India.
Zoho PeopleNative push; payroll computed in the same register.₹120/user/mo (₹96 yearly) (≈ ₹1,15,200/yr at 100); Tomcat plugin or rate-limited API; Zoho Payroll separate; SOC 2 Type 2, ISO 27001, Mumbai DC.
AionHRMS itself₹25,000/yr ≤100, ₹50,000/yr ≤500; eSSL/ZKTeco/Realtime push; shift payroll; leave, corrections, payslips, documents in the portal; access control; India residency.Not built: statutory filing, leave encashment, expenses, recruitment, performance.

Frequently asked questions

Which HRMS is best for biometric attendance in India?

If the biometric terminals and the wage bill are the purchase, AionHRMS: direct push from confirmed eSSL, ZKTeco and Realtime devices, shift-wise salary from the punch, an employee portal, ₹25,000 a year up to 100 employees. If you are buying a full HR suite with statutory filing, HROne, greytHR, factoHR and Pocket HRMS publish their prices and include payroll; Keka is the mid-market suite on quote; Zoho People suits Zoho shops. Every figure here is from the vendors' own sites, September 2026.

Which HRMS integrates with eSSL and ZKTeco machines without a PC at the office?

AionHRMS connects confirmed eSSL and ZKTeco terminals by direct push over the iClock/ADMS protocol, so nothing runs at your site. greytHR (Astra), Pocket HRMS (utility), Zoho People (plugin) and factoHR (database, IP or SDK) describe software or connectivity at your site. Keka and HROne do not state the method on their product pages; ask them.

What is the cheapest HRMS with biometric attendance for 100 employees?

At published list prices for the plan that includes attendance: AionHRMS ₹25,000 a year; Pocket HRMS about ₹71,900 plus an implementation fee; factoHR about ₹1,01,000; greytHR about ₹1,05,000; Zoho People ₹1,15,200 before Zoho Payroll; HROne about ₹1,18,800; Keka not published. The scope differs: the suites include wider statutory and HR workflows. AionHRMS supports online geofenced punches at enabled locations but does not file statutory returns.

Is AionHRMS a full HRMS?

No, and it does not claim to be. It is an attendance-first HRMS: biometric attendance, shifts, late rules, salary computation, and an employee portal with leave approvals, correction requests, payslips and documents. It has no recruitment, performance, expense or statutory-filing modules. Companies that need those run AionHRMS at the gates and feed attendance into the suite that files.

Does an HRMS need the biometric machine to have a static IP?

Only if the HRMS reads the device from outside, which is how SDK and database integrations work. Push-based integration needs none: the terminal dials out to the server over ordinary internet, the way a phone app does, and works behind any router. AionHRMS uses push for eSSL, ZKTeco and Realtime.

Is this comparison independent?

No. It is written by AionHRMS and says so. What makes it usable is the method: every competitor fact is quoted from the vendor's own website with the date checked, the price arithmetic shows its inputs, and the page names the cases where a competitor is the better buy. Verify each line before deciding, and hold us to the same standard.

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