Comparison

A Zoho People alternative when the biometric machine is not a DIY project

Zoho People is a global HR suite from a company whose engineering and compliance are beyond question — SOC 2 Type 2, ISO 27001, Indian data centres in Mumbai and Chennai. If you already run Zoho Books, CRM or Mail, People is the natural HR layer. This page is about one specific thing: what Zoho's own documentation says it takes to connect a biometric terminal, and what happens to the punch afterwards. Every Zoho fact below is from zoho.com and help.zoho.com as published in September 2026.

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Zoho People is a per-user HR suite in which attendance arrives with the Professional plan — ₹120 per user per month, or ₹96 billed yearly, five-user minimum — and payroll is a separate product, Zoho Payroll, with its own per-organisation pricing. Its help centre documents two ways to connect a biometric device: a plugin, which means installing Apache Tomcat and Java on a local machine to poll the device vendor's SQL, Access or MySQL database at a suggested minimum of five minutes, or an API that your device vendor writes to under a limit of ten requests a minute — and states it is "mandatory to have your biometric vendor/IT team at the time of integration". AionHRMS is the opposite design: eSSL, ZKTeco and Realtime terminals push to the cloud over their own protocol with nothing installed at your site, one enrolment syncs templates across terminals and locations, and the same punches compute shift-wise salary — for a flat free up to 10 employees, then ₹25,000 a year up to 100 employees and ₹50,000 a year up to 500, exclusive of GST, invoiced only after the devices are live. Zoho People is the better buy when you live in the Zoho ecosystem and attendance is one HR module among many; AionHRMS is the better buy when the terminal integration, the multi-site register and punch-to-salary depth are the purchase.

Native push

the terminal reports itself — no Tomcat, no Java, no polling, no vendor on call

₹25,000 a year

to 100 employees, versus ₹120 per user per month for the plan with attendance

Payroll built in

shift-wise salary computed, versus a separate Zoho Payroll subscription

Honest gap

Zoho has on-duty, geofencing and a face kiosk; we do not ship geofencing yet

What Zoho People is, fairly

Zoho People (zoho.com/people) claims "50K+ businesses" and "1M+ satisfied users" across "165+ countries", and it is what a global HR suite should be: leave, attendance, timesheets, shifts, performance, onboarding, self-service, a mobile app, and a free tier for up to five users.

  • Attendance breadth AionHRMS does not have: on-duty requests "whenever an employee works outside of the office", GPS and IP-based marking, geo-restrictions, face capture through the web or mobile app, and a People Kiosk app — "your new digital punch clock but without the expensive hardware"
  • Compliance beyond ours: "Zoho is SOC 2 Type 2 compliant", ISO/IEC 27001, 27017 and 27018, GDPR; Indian accounts on people.zoho.in served from Mumbai with Chennai secondary — itemised and credited
  • Published pricing, a genuine free tier, yearly discount, and the whole Zoho ecosystem behind it
  • If your company already runs on Zoho and attendance is one module of an HR rollout, Zoho People is the coherent choice and this page will not argue otherwise

Connecting a biometric machine, in Zoho's own words

Zoho's help centre is admirably explicit. "Biometric attendance data can be integrated with Zoho People using either of the below two methods: 1. API 2. Plugin." The plugin route means "configuring a plugin through the Tomcat server" — install Apache Tomcat 9 and Java on a local Windows machine, point it at the device software's database ("We support MS SQL SERVER, MS Access and MySQL database"), and set "the Delay Time and Sleep Time as 5 minutes (minimum suggested time)". The API route has "a threshold limit of 10 requests/minute and a lock period of 5 minutes". Both pages say an IT person or the biometric vendor must be present.

  • AionHRMS implements the terminal's own push protocol — iClock/ADMS for eSSL and ZKTeco, Realtime native — so the device dials our server itself; there is no plugin, no local server, no database to poll, no vendor to book
  • Punches arrive as they happen, not on a five-minute poll; the terminal buffers offline and pushes when the network returns
  • Enrolment runs from the browser to every terminal; templates stored centrally and re-pushed across brands and sites — Zoho's integration moves punches, not templates
  • Lock or unlock a person on every terminal; denied attempts logged; remote door release — the machine is managed, not merely read
  • Zoho does not publish a supported-device list — by design, since any device that can reach its API or database counts; we publish ours: eSSL, ZKTeco, Realtime and other standard ADMS terminals

Pricing: per user per month plus a second product, versus one flat band

Zoho People's published India pricing (September 2026, per user per month): Essential HR ₹60, Professional ₹120, Premium ₹180, Enterprise ₹240, or ₹48, ₹96, ₹144 and ₹192 billed yearly, with a five-user minimum. Attendance management first appears in Professional. Payroll is Zoho Payroll, a separate subscription — Standard ₹1,250 a month including 25 employees plus ₹50 per additional, Professional ₹3,750 including 50 plus ₹75, exclusive of GST. AionHRMS is free up to 10 employees, then ₹25,000 a year up to 100 employees and ₹50,000 a year up to 500, exclusive of GST, invoiced only after the devices are live. At list, before taxes and before Zoho Payroll:

  • 100 employees on Professional, billed yearly: 100 × ₹96 × 12 = ₹1,15,200 a year. AionHRMS: ₹25,000 a year, payroll computation included.
  • 500 employees on Professional, billed yearly: 500 × ₹96 × 12 = ₹5,76,000 a year. AionHRMS: ₹50,000 a year.
  • Add Zoho Payroll if you want salary computed and filed: for 100 employees on Standard, ₹1,250 + 75 × ₹50 = ₹5,000 a month, another ₹60,000 a year at list
  • AionHRMS has no per-user meter and no second product for payroll; it is invoiced only after your devices are live, with no implementation fee
  • Where Zoho's price is fair: Professional buys a broad HR module set and the ecosystem, and Zoho Payroll files statutory returns, which we do not

After the punch: computed here, or synced to a second product

In the Zoho design, People records attendance and loss-of-pay, and "a one-way sync" carries it to Zoho Payroll, which computes and files. In AionHRMS the salary is computed from the punch in the same register — narrower than Zoho Payroll, and deeper at the shift floor.

  • Per-employee duty times; single or double shift with a separate salary per shift; punches bucketed automatically, night shifts on the right date
  • Grace period, late-count threshold, penalty as flat fine or fraction of a shift; paid leave capped at working days; advances tracked and settled
  • Monthly payroll report across the workforce; per-employee attendance calendar
  • Not included, plainly: PF, ESI, TDS filing (Zoho Payroll does this); leave request and approval workflows and on-duty requests (Zoho People does these)
  • If you need filing, run AionHRMS at the gates and feed attendance through its partner API to whatever files — including Zoho Payroll

Security: Zoho's is stronger on paper, and here is ours

Zoho publishes SOC 2 Type 2, ISO/IEC 27001, 27017 and 27018, GDPR, and Indian data centres in Mumbai and Chennai. That is a stronger itemised posture than ours, and we say so. Ours, with exact qualifiers:

  • Attendance data on infrastructure in India — stated outright, as Zoho's is for Indian accounts
  • Biometric templates stored as mathematical features; never displayed, exported or available through the API; deleted with the employee
  • AIONDATA is ISO 9001:2015 certified (quality management, not an information-security standard), CMMI Level 3 appraised, and SOC 2 Type II, GDPR and HIPAA ready — readiness, not an issued attestation
  • One structural point in our favour: Zoho's plugin route puts a Tomcat server and a database connection at your site, operated by you; our design has nothing at your site to secure
  • Put the same written questions to both; this page holds either way

Zoho People versus AionHRMS, line by line

Zoho rows are from zoho.com and help.zoho.com as published in September 2026; INR prices are those Zoho serves on its pricing page. Arithmetic is ours at list, before taxes and Zoho Payroll.

AionHRMSZoho People (published, Sept 2026)
What it isAttendance-first: terminals, cloud register, shift-wise payroll.Global HR suite; attendance from the Professional plan.
Biometric connectionDevice pushes to the cloud; nothing at your site.Plugin (Tomcat + Java polling the device DB, 5-min minimum) or API (10 req/min); vendor/IT "mandatory".
Pricing modelFlat annual by band; unlimited terminals and sites; no minimum.₹120/user/month (₹96 yearly) for Professional; 5-user minimum.
100 employees, list price₹25,000 a year.₹1,15,200 a year (Professional, yearly) + Zoho Payroll if wanted.
500 employees, list price₹50,000 a year.₹5,76,000 a year (Professional, yearly).
PayrollShift-wise salary computed in the same register.Separate product (Zoho Payroll) via one-way sync.
Phone / kiosk captureGeofencing in development; not shipped.GPS, IP and geo-restriction, face via app, People Kiosk, on-duty requests.
CertificationsISO 9001:2015; SOC 2/GDPR/HIPAA ready; India residency stated.SOC 2 Type 2, ISO 27001/27017/27018, GDPR; Mumbai and Chennai DCs.
Right choice whenTerminals at gates, mixed brands, multi-site, wage bill on the punch.You run on Zoho and attendance is one HR module among many.

Frequently asked questions

Is AionHRMS a good alternative to Zoho People?
For biometric attendance, yes: native device push instead of a plugin or API you integrate yourself, one flat annual price instead of per user per month plus a separate payroll product, and shift-wise salary computed from the punch. For a broad HR suite inside the Zoho ecosystem, with on-duty, geofencing and a face kiosk, Zoho People has what AionHRMS does not.
How does Zoho People connect to a biometric machine?
Per Zoho's help centre: either a plugin — Apache Tomcat and Java on a local machine polling the device software's SQL, Access or MySQL database at a suggested minimum of five minutes — or an API your device vendor writes to, limited to ten requests a minute. Zoho says an IT person or your biometric vendor must be present. AionHRMS needs neither: the terminal pushes to our server over its own protocol.
What does Zoho People cost compared with AionHRMS?
Zoho People's plan with attendance, Professional, is ₹120 per user per month or ₹96 billed yearly (September 2026), five-user minimum — ₹1,15,200 a year for 100 users at the yearly rate, before Zoho Payroll. AionHRMS is ₹25,000 a year for up to 100 employees and ₹50,000 for up to 500, with payroll computation included and no per-user meter.
Does Zoho People include payroll?
No — payroll is Zoho Payroll, a separate subscription that People syncs to one way. Zoho Payroll files PF, ESI, PT, LWF and TDS, which AionHRMS does not; AionHRMS computes shift-wise salary from the punch inside the attendance product, which Zoho People does not.
Can we use AionHRMS for the terminals and keep Zoho for HR?
Yes. AionHRMS exposes attendance by person or organisation over date ranges through its partner API, and the monthly payroll report is exportable, so Zoho People or Zoho Payroll can consume it. Ask us for the export format in writing before you commit.

Related

The terminal reports itself. No Tomcat, no Java, no vendor visit.

Send a model and serial number and we confirm the repoint before anything changes — and quote in writing.

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