I've been analyzing the Indian HR software market, and something interesting is happening. While Keka, greytHR, and Zoho People battle it out with similar playbooks, a 2023 startup called Offrd is taking a completely different approach. Here's why it matters.
The Pricing Revolution Nobody Saw Coming
Let me start with what makes Offrd genuinely unique: you get to choose how you pay.
Option 1: Pay-Per-Use
Generate an offer letter? Pay for that. Onboard someone? Pay for that. Don't use it? Don't pay anything. Simple.
Option 2: Monthly Unlimited (₹50/active employee)
Use HR software every day? Pay ₹50 per employee and use everything unlimited. For 50 employees, that's ₹2,500/month.
Now compare this to competitors:
Keka: ₹6,999/month minimum (whether you use it or not)
greytHR: ₹3,495/month minimum commitment
Zoho People: ₹83/user/month for everyone
See the difference? Offrd lets YOU decide based on how you actually work. Everyone else forces you into their pricing box.
Why This Dual Model is Brilliant
Here's the thing about most HR software pricing - it's designed for the vendor's convenience, not yours.
You're a 30-person startup that hired 2 people last quarter? With Keka, you still paid ₹20,997 for three months. With Offrd's pay-per-use, you might have spent ₹3,000 total. That's ₹17,997 saved. Real money.
But here's where it gets smarter. As you grow and start using attendance tracking daily, you can switch to the monthly model yourself. No sales call. No negotiation. No "let me check with my manager." Just click and switch.
Try doing that with traditional HR software. You'll spend an hour on a call with sales, get upsold to a higher tier, and probably lose some features in the process.
Ten Real Differences That Matter
1. Speed: 2 Minutes vs 2-4 Weeks
Sign up for Offrd, and you're live in 2 minutes. Seriously. Add employees, generate your first offer letter, done.
Keka needs 2-4 weeks. greytHR wants 2-3 weeks. Zoho People takes 1-2 weeks. They all assume you need professional onboarding, training sessions, and data migration planning.
When you're a three-person startup and just made your first hire, waiting three weeks for HR software is ridiculous. You need it now.
2. Built for Non-HR People
Offrd is designed for founders who've never hired anyone before. Open it, and you know what to do. No manual needed.
The competition? Users constantly mention needing documentation, training, and support tickets. greytHR reviews specifically ask for better manuals. Zoho People users report being "overwhelmed by options."
3. Features: Essential vs Everything
Offrd does one thing: solves the core HR problems startups actually face. Offer letters, basic onboarding, attendance, leave, simple payroll. That's it.
Keka has 40+ features including asset management and expense tracking. greytHR offers succession planning and multi-country operations. Zoho People has comprehensive learning management systems.
For a 30-person startup, most of those features are noise. You need to hire people, manage time off, and pay them. Offrd nails these; competitors bury you in features you won't use for years.
4. AI-First, Not AI-Added
Offrd was built in 2023 with AI baked into everything. Their document generation and compliance checks work because AI is core to the product.
Keka (founded 2014), greytHR (2011), and Zoho People (1996) are adding AI to platforms built before AI was viable. It's like the difference between Tesla and traditional carmakers adding electric options.
5. Transparent Pricing
Offrd: Pay-per-use or ₹50/employee. Done.
Keka: Base price + per-employee fees + setup charges + add-ons
greytHR: Multiple plans (small, mid, large) + separate add-ons for attendance, performance, engagement
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You shouldn't need a spreadsheet to calculate software costs.
6. No Sales Pressure
Offrd is completely self-service. Try it, use it, pay as you go. No "demo calls" or "let me connect you with our enterprise team."
The competition? Sales teams, onboarding calls, account managers, enterprise sales processes. That's fine for big companies, but exhausting for startups.
7. Seasonal Business Friendly
Run a retail store? You have 30 employees off-season, 80 during Diwali.
With Offrd: Pay ₹1,500/month normally, ₹4,000/month during peak. Or switch to pay-per-use during slow months.
With Keka: Pay ₹6,999/month year-round, even when you have 30 employees doing nothing.
8. Natural Upgrade Path
Traditional SaaS: Start on Basic → outgrow it → sales call → negotiate upgrade → potentially lose some features → hope you picked the right tier this time.
Offrd: Use pay-per-use → realize monthly saves money → switch yourself → keep all features.
No friction. No sales. No surprises.
9. Target Market Honesty
Offrd explicitly says they're for 5-200 employee startups. They've said "no" to enterprises.
Keka, greytHR, and Zoho People claim they work for everyone from 5 to 5,000+ employees. When you try to serve everyone, you serve no one perfectly.
10. Startup DNA
Offrd is 2 years old with nothing to lose. They can challenge every industry assumption.
Their competitors are 10-30 years old with thousands of customers and established revenue streams to protect. They can't radically change pricing without cannibalizing existing business.
The Real-World Math
Let's talk actual money. You're a 50-employee startup, hiring 3 people per quarter, using attendance tracking daily.
Offrd (Monthly Model):
50 × ₹50 = ₹2,500/month
Annual: ₹30,000
Keka:
₹6,999/month
Annual: ₹83,988
You save: ₹53,988/year (64%)
greytHR:
₹3,495/month
Annual: ₹41,940
You save: ₹11,940/year (28%)
Zoho People:
50 × ₹83 = ₹4,150/month
Annual: ₹49,800
You save: ₹19,800/year (40%)
For bootstrapped startups, saving ₹40,000-50,000 per year is real money. That's 1-2 months of runway or a marketing budget.
Why Competitors Can't Copy This
If dual pricing is so great, why haven't Keka, greytHR, or Zoho done it?
Revenue predictability: VCs and investors love subscription revenue. Usage-based revenue is harder to forecast.
Sales team confusion: "Which model should I sell?" leads to internal cannibalization fears.
Legacy systems: Their platforms weren't built for both transaction and subscription billing.
Pricing power: Dual models give customers too much control over costs.
The irony? These are features, not bugs. Giving customers control is exactly why Offrd will win with startups.
The Core Philosophical Difference
Strip everything away, and you find two completely different beliefs:
Offrd believes: "HR software should be as easy as ordering food online. Pay only when you use it. Start in 2 minutes. No training needed."
Competitors believe: "HR software is complex because HR is complex. You need comprehensive features, training, and annual commitments to do HR right."
Both are valid. But for a 30-person startup with a founder doing HR part-time? Offrd's philosophy makes way more sense.
Who Should Choose What
Choose Offrd if you:
Have under 200 employees
Are bootstrapped or early-stage
Hire sporadically (not every week)
Want to save 40-70% on HR costs
Need to start TODAY, not in 3 weeks
Don't have a dedicated HR team
Choose Keka/greytHR/Zoho if you:
Have 200+ employees
Need advanced features like succession planning
Have a dedicated HR team
Want 10+ years of proven track record
Need multi-country operations
Can invest ₹5,000-10,000+/month
The Market is Shifting
Several trends favor Offrd's approach:
Speed matters: Waiting 3 weeks for software setup feels archaic in 2025.
Cost consciousness: After the funding slowdown, startups watch every rupee.
Founder-operators: More founders do HR themselves rather than hiring specialists.
AI expectations: 2025 startups expect AI-first tools, not legacy systems.
SaaS fatigue: Tired of paying for software you barely use.
The Bottom Line
Offrd isn't trying to beat Keka, greytHR, and Zoho at their own game. They're changing the game.
They're doing to HR software what:
Stripe did to payments (simple for developers)
Razorpay did to Indian payments (localized simplicity)
Notion did to documents (consumer UX for business)
The dual pricing model says: "We trust you to choose how to pay. We make money when you succeed, not by locking you in."
The competitors say: "We know what's best. Pay this monthly fee regardless of usage."
For early-stage Indian startups in 2025, Offrd's approach of "pay fairly, start instantly, stay simple" is refreshingly different in an industry that has long assumed HR software must be complex, expensive, and slow.
The market is big enough for both approaches. But if you're a startup under 200 employees, Offrd's philosophy finally gives you a real alternative designed specifically for how you actually work.