Comparison · Keka alternative

PeopleOS vs Keka

Keka is one of India's most established HRMS players, built primarily for mid-market companies. PeopleOS is the newer, accuracy-first alternative — built event-sourced from day one, with transparent pricing and a forever-free tier up to 25 employees.

This page’s pick

PeopleOS

India's accuracy-first HRMS & payroll

Per employee₹49/employee/mo
Base fee₹499/mo
Free planForever-free up to 25 employees
Founded2025
HeadquartersBengaluru

Keka

HRMS + Payroll

Per employee₹100+/employee/mo
Base fee₹9,999/mo
Free planNo (paid trial only)
Founded2015
HeadquartersHyderabad
The verdict

Which one fits you better?

If you want PeopleOS-style ledger-grade payroll accuracy, transparent per-employee pricing, and a free tier that lets you start without a sales call, PeopleOS wins. Keka is the safer pick if you need a deeply-integrated 360° HRMS for 200+ employees and your team can absorb its higher PEPM and ₹9,999/mo platform fee. The two products overlap on core HR features but diverge sharply on pricing model, payroll architecture (event-sourced vs traditional), and AI guardrails (ORIS AI’s human-approval loop vs Keka Brain’s direct-action assistant).

Feature-by-feature

Side-by-side comparison

PeopleOS wins Tie Competitor wins

Pricing & Free Plan

CapabilityPeopleOSKeka·
Free planForever-free up to 25 employeesNo free plan, paid trial only
Starting PEPM₹49/mo/employee (Starter)₹100+/mo/employee
Base platform fee₹499/mo (Starter)₹9,999+/mo
Implementation feesNone — self-serve setupPer-quote, can be ₹50k+
Annual contract requiredNo, monthly billing availableAnnual preferred for best rates

Payroll Accuracy & Architecture

CapabilityPeopleOSKeka·
Payroll ledger modelEvent-sourced ledger with hash-chain audit trail. Every component to the paisa. Property-based tests guarantee net pay = gross − deductions on every run.Traditional snapshot-based runs
Audit trailImmutable, event-sourced, hash-chain verified. Corrections via compensating events — history never overwritten.Activity log, mutable database
Property-based tests586 tests including paisa-precisionNot publicly documented
Old vs New TDS regimeAuto-comparison, recommends bestBoth supported
Multi-state PTAll 36 states & UTsAll major states

Compliance Coverage

CapabilityPeopleOSKeka·
Labour Code 2025 ready50% wage rule validated on every saveIn progress per public roadmap
PF / EPF auto-filingECR file generation built inYes
ESI & ESIC challansYesYes
TDS / Form 24QYesYes
POSH compliance moduleYes (built-in)Yes
DPDP Act 2023 complianceArchitected for it from day oneCompliant

HR & Employee Experience

CapabilityPeopleOSKeka·
Employee directoryYesYes
Leave & attendanceConfigurable policies, geo-fencedStrong — biometric integrations
Performance & OKRsOKRs + 360° reviewsMature, calibration grids
Recruitment ATSKanban pipeline + BGV hooksMature ATS with sourcing tools
ESS portal (mobile-web)YesYes + iOS/Android apps

AI & Automation

CapabilityPeopleOSKeka·
NL query interfaceORIS AI — propose-then-approveKeka Brain — assistant
AI guardrailsORIS AI proposes actions, humans approve. Never modifies payroll directly. PII redacted before LLM call.Standard guardrails
Variance detectionPer-department, ±0.8% thresholdAvailable
PII redaction before LLMAutomaticPer docs, redaction layer present

Developer & Integration

CapabilityPeopleOSKeka·
REST APIREST API with OpenAPI 3.1 spec. 35+ endpoints across 19 tag groups. JWT auth + webhooks.Available, less documented
WebhooksYesYes
Tally integrationXML push, journal previewYes
Zoho Books / QuickBooksNativeNative
OpenAPI 3.1 specPublicInternal
Frequently asked

Common questions

Is PeopleOS cheaper than Keka?

Yes — PeopleOS Starter is ₹49/employee/mo + ₹499/mo platform fee, vs Keka’s ₹100+/employee/mo + ₹9,999+/mo. For a 50-person company, you would pay roughly ₹3,000/mo with PeopleOS Starter vs ₹14,999+/mo with Keka. PeopleOS also has a forever-free tier up to 25 employees that Keka does not match.

Can I migrate from Keka to PeopleOS?

Yes. PeopleOS includes a Migration Studio that imports employee records, salary structures, leave balances, and attendance data via CSV or direct API. Most teams complete migration in under one week.

Does PeopleOS have all the modules Keka has?

PeopleOS covers payroll, compliance, core HR, leave, attendance, ESS portal, performance & OKRs, recruitment & onboarding. Keka has a more mature mobile app and richer recruitment sourcing tools — those are PeopleOS roadmap items rather than current parity.

Which is more accurate for Indian payroll?

Both compute statutory deductions correctly under standard configurations. PeopleOS is designed event-sourced from day one with property-based tests guaranteeing net pay = gross − deductions, plus hash-chain audit trails for tamper evidence. If audit-grade accuracy is your top priority (especially under DPDP scrutiny), PeopleOS has architectural advantages.

Is Keka better for large enterprises?

For 1,000+ employee enterprises with mature HR ops teams that need deeply-integrated talent management, recruitment, and learning, Keka’s breadth and SSO/SAML maturity makes it the safer pick today. PeopleOS Scale tier targets the same enterprise space with white-label, on-premise, and SLA-backed 99.9% uptime — but is younger.

Compare PeopleOS to other Indian HRMS & payroll platforms

vs Greytip Software (greytHR)vs Zoho Payrollvs Darwinbox

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