HRMS Software Cost for 20 Employees in India (2026)

At 20 employees, you're sitting right at the edge of the free-tier cutoff most Indian HRMS vendors use — which makes this headcount worth pricing out specifically rather than reading off a generic "small business" range.

The quick number

For a 20-employee company in 2026, realistic monthly cost falls into one of three bands:

Scope	Monthly cost	Notes
Free tier	₹0	Available from a few vendors (greytHR, Kredily), usually capped at 10–25 employees
HR + basic attendance/leave	₹900–₹2,000	Paid entry tier, once you're past a free cap
HR + payroll + leave + attendance	₹1,400–₹3,000	Full operational suite at this size

Why 20 employees is an awkward number

Most free tiers cap somewhere between 10 and 25 employees. At exactly 20, you might currently fit, but you're one or two hires from exceeding it — worth confirming what happens to pricing the month you cross the cap before building your budget around staying free indefinitely. Some vendors convert you automatically to their lowest paid tier; others require you to actively migrate plans, which can mean a scramble if it happens unexpectedly mid-quarter.

What actually changes your bill at this size

• Payroll compliance. At 20 employees, PF and ESI registration typically becomes mandatory (ESI applies once you cross 10 employees in most states), so "HR records only" pricing stops being sufficient the moment payroll compliance is a legal requirement, not a convenience.
• Multiple departments. A 20-person company is often still one or two teams — if that's you, you likely don't need approval-workflow depth, which keeps you on lower-tier pricing even as you add payroll.
• Manual vs. software cost comparison. At this size, many companies are still running payroll through an accountant or spreadsheets. A basic HRMS + payroll plan at ₹1,500–₹2,500/month is frequently cheaper than an external payroll processing service once you account for both cost and the compliance-error risk of manual filing.

A worked example

A 20-employee startup needs HR records, payroll (PF/ESI now mandatory), and basic leave tracking. At ₹75 PEPM for that scope, that's ₹1,500/month, ₹18,000/year — plus a typical one-time setup fee of ₹5,000–₹8,000 for migrating existing employee data. First-year realistic cost: roughly ₹23,000–₹26,000, or about ₹96–₹108 per employee per month once the setup fee is amortized across the year.

What a founder-run 20-person company usually gets wrong

Two mistakes show up repeatedly at this size. The first is treating the free tier as a permanent decision rather than a starting point — teams stay on a free plan past its practical cap (either the user limit or the point where payroll compliance genuinely needs automation) simply because switching feels like unnecessary work, and end up doing payroll manually for months longer than makes sense. The second is over-buying: a 20-person company sometimes signs up for a mid-market plan with performance reviews and advanced analytics because a salesperson bundled it in, when a basic HR + payroll + leave plan would have covered every actual need for the next year or two.

Comparing the free tier to a basic paid plan honestly

A genuine ₹0 tier looks like the obvious choice, but it's worth pricing out what it doesn't include. Most free tiers at this size skip automated PF/ESI filing, structured payslip generation, or cap out core features behind a "request a demo for payroll" wall. If payroll compliance is already a legal requirement — which it usually is once ESI applies past 10 employees — the realistic comparison isn't "free vs. ₹1,500/month," it's "manual payroll processing plus compliance-error risk vs. ₹1,500/month with that risk substantially reduced." Priced that way, the paid tier is frequently the better deal even though it has a visible monthly cost and the alternative doesn't.

Where PeopleVio sits at this size

At 20 employees, PeopleVio runs ₹980–₹1,180/month (₹49–₹59 PEPM depending on billing cycle) with attendance, leave, payroll, expenses, and org structure included — no separate payroll add-on to get PF/ESI compliance covered.

Frequently asked questions

Should a 20-employee company use a free HRMS tier, or pay for a basic paid plan? If payroll compliance (PF/ESI) is already a legal requirement — which it usually is past 10 employees — a paid plan with payroll included is typically worth it over a free HR-records-only tier, since manual payroll processing carries real compliance-error risk at this size.

Does a 20-employee company need approval workflows and performance management modules? Rarely — those modules add cost that's usually not justified until org structure has multiple management layers, which is uncommon at 20 people. Basic HR + payroll + leave is typically sufficient.

What happens if we hire past a free tier's cap mid-year? Varies by vendor — some auto-upgrade you to the next paid tier immediately, others require manual migration. Confirm this specifically before relying on a free tier long-term.

Is it cheaper to outsource payroll to an accountant instead of using software at this size? Often close in raw cost, but software typically wins on compliance accuracy and audit trail — worth weighing beyond just the monthly bill, especially as PF/ESI filing errors carry real penalty risk.

The bottom line

For a 20-employee company, budget ₹1,000–₹3,000/month depending on whether payroll is included, plus a one-time setup fee in the ₹5,000–₹8,000 range. The free-tier cutoff sitting right around this headcount makes it worth confirming what happens as you grow, rather than assuming free stays free.