Weighing a greytHR alternative?
greytHR and PeopleDeck compete on the same home ground — Indian statutory payroll. That makes this the fairest comparison on this site, and the one where the feature table matters most.
The same job, two generations of approach
greytHR is one of the longest-standing names in Indian payroll and HR software, with a large SME base and deep statutory experience; it earned its position by taking Indian compliance seriously before that was fashionable. PeopleDeck contests the same ground with a newer architecture: everything per employee with nothing plan-gated, payslips that show their working line by line, self-serve start, and an applied-not-filed statutory boundary stated in writing. When both products take the statute seriously, the differences that decide are model and experience, not category.
How to run this evaluation
This one deserves the parallel-month test more than any other on this site, because both products will claim the same statutory checklist. Run your real month on both: the arrears case, the mid-month exit, the ESI contribution-period edge, your states' PT, and compare payslips, workings and generated files side by side. Verify greytHR's current plan inclusions and file formats on their pages; hold PeopleDeck to the identical standard on a free account.
The side-by-side, honestly
Concrete claims below are about PeopleDeck only. For the other column, we state category facts and what to verify. Products change, so check current details on their own pages before you decide.
| Dimension | PeopleDeck | greytHR; verify on their pages |
|---|---|---|
| Product shape | One platform for payroll, attendance, leave, onboarding to FnF, records and self-service, bought self-serve by any business | Established Indian payroll-and-HR platform for SMEs; confirm the module set in your plan |
| Payroll & statutory | PF, ESI, PT and TDS applied on every payslip; upload-ready ECR and return files generated. Filing stays with you | Indian statutory payroll is their heartland; verify current coverage and formats for your registrations |
| Pricing model | Per employee, per month, in ₹. Whole platform included, rate shown transparently at sign-up, start free | Check their current published plans and per-employee tiers, no claim made here |
| Attendance & leave | Rosters, rotating shifts, biometric, web and mobile punches; attendance feeds payroll directly | Attendance offerings including device integrations; verify against your capture setup |
| Onboarding to exit | Joining checklists to a computed full-and-final statement with every line's working shown | Lifecycle flows offered; verify FnF depth against your exit cases |
| Self-service | Payslips, balances, declarations, claims and Form 16 data in every employee's hands | ESS and mobile apps offered; verify the payslip-level detail your employees get |
| Getting started | Self-serve sign-up; import employees, run a parallel month, go live when it reconciles | Verify onboarding path and implementation timeline with their team |
What switchers say they were actually looking for
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1
Everything at one price
The recurring switcher theme in this category is plan fatigue — needing the next tier for one feature. PeopleDeck's model removes the question: headcount is the only variable, and every capability ships to every employee.
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2
Workings on the payslip
Both products compute correctly on a good day; the difference that survives contact is explainability. PeopleDeck prints the arithmetic (attendance days, component math, statutory basis) on the payslip itself, which is what ends the payday-question queue.
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3
A boundary in writing
Applied, not filed: PeopleDeck generates every return file and files none, so authority stays with you and your consultant. Whatever you choose, get each vendor's filing boundary in writing; it decides who answers when a portal upload goes wrong.
PeopleDeck in depth: the payroll engine · statutory compliance · per-employee pricing
Migrating without a bad payday
Migration between two India-statutory products is mostly master data: employees, structures, balances, TDS projections year-to-date. Export from greytHR, import via validated sheets, and encode your policies: the concepts map closely, which makes this one of the cleaner switches in the category.
Then run the parallel month and reconcile payslip by payslip. Where the two disagree, the workings decide, and either finding (their error or ours) is worth more than any feature table. Go live on a month boundary; quarter boundary if you want the cleanest TDS cutover.
The boundary that decides it
PeopleDeck is a standalone HRMS any business signs up for, priced per employee, per month, with PF, ESI, professional tax and TDS applied to every payslip and upload-ready return files generated, never filed behind your back. If you are an education institution comparing ERP-bundled payroll instead, that is a different product shape: see SchoolDeck staff payroll for schools or CampusAlly payroll for colleges, licensed per institution.
Frequently asked questions
Why switch between two products that both do Indian payroll?
Because correctness is the entry ticket, not the differentiator. Model (per-employee, nothing gated), explainability (workings on every payslip) and boundaries (applied-not-filed in writing) are where the products actually differ, and a parallel month exposes all three.
Is migration from greytHR painful?
It is one of the cleaner migrations in the category precisely because both products model Indian payroll: masters, structures and balances map closely. Budget an afternoon for import and one cycle for the parallel run.
Will our CA notice a difference?
They receive the same artifact classes (ECR, challan summaries, TDS workings, registers) generated from the approved run. Most consultants care that the files reconcile to payslips; that reconciliation is structural here.
Does PeopleDeck handle multi-state PT like an established vendor?
Yes — work-state mapping drives each state's regime, including half-yearly Tamil Nadu, Kerala's local bodies and the no-levy states. Test your specific states in the parallel month rather than trusting either vendor's list.
What should we verify on greytHR's side?
Current plan inclusions, per-employee tiering, device-integration specifics and their filing boundary, on their pages and in writing. Products this established evolve; only their current material is authoritative.
Same statute. Newer machine.
Run a parallel month on your own data — the reconciliation decides, not the brochure.
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