# Zoho People

> Low-cost HR records, attendance, shifts and reviews from Zoho

Zoho People is Zoho's HR system for employee records, onboarding, documents and an HR help desk, with attendance, timesheets and shift rosters on its Workforce plan and goals, appraisals and training on Talent. Its Zia assistant answers questions and acts on HR data. It links to Zoho's own payroll, recruiting and expense apps, which are sold separately or in the People Plus bundle.

- **Category:** HR Software
- **Made by:** Zoho Corporation
- **Website:** https://www.zoho.com/people/
- **Runs on:** Web, iOS, Android
- **Facts last checked:** Oct 18, 2026

## Pricing

Zoho People has a free plan. Paid plans start at $3 per user / month, billed annually ($4 billed monthly).

- **Pricing model:** Free plan
- **Free plan:** Free for up to 3 users: employee database, time off and vacation planning, and document management.
- **Free trial:** 30-day free trial.

| Plan | Price | What you get |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Free | $0 | Up to 3 users, with the employee database, time off and documents. |
| Essential HR | $3 per user / month, billed annually ($4 billed monthly) | AI agent, onboarding and offboarding, documents, benefits and compensation planning, engagement surveys, HR help desk and reports. |
| Workforce | $5 per user / month, billed annually ($6 billed monthly) | Essential HR plus time off, attendance for full-time staff and timesheets with overtime rules. |
| Talent | $5 per user / month, billed annually ($6 billed monthly) | Essential HR plus OKRs, performance evaluations and a learning management system. |
| Enterprise | $8 per user / month, billed annually ($10 billed monthly) | Essential HR, Workforce and Talent together, plus a sandbox and premium support. |

Read from https://www.zoho.com/people/zohopeople-pricing.html on Oct 18, 2026. Prices change, so confirm with Zoho People before buying.

## Ways to pay less

- **Over 20% off with yearly billing** (Annual discount): Zoho says yearly billing saves more than 20%: Essential HR is $3 a user a month billed yearly against $4 monthly. Source: https://www.zoho.com/people/zohopeople-pricing.html

## Key features

- **Employee records and documents:** A central employee database with self-service profiles, multi-entity management, onboarding and offboarding flows, exit interviews and document storage.
- **Attendance and time off:** Staff check in on the web, the mobile app, a face-recognition kiosk or a biometric device, with IP and location limits, leave policies and accruals.
- **Shift rosters and timesheets:** Create shifts, rotate them automatically, take shift-change requests, and log time against jobs and clients for approval.
- **Goals, appraisals and training:** The Talent plan adds OKRs, appraisals with feedback, and a learning management system for courses.
- **Zia AI:** Zoho's assistant answers employees' questions, carries out HR tasks and analyzes people data.
- **HR help desk and surveys:** Employees raise cases with HR in a help desk, and HR runs eNPS, pulse and engagement surveys.

## Good for

- Small businesses that want HR at a low price per user
- Companies already using Zoho apps such as Recruit, Expense or Payroll
- Employers that track attendance with kiosks or biometric devices

## Worth knowing

- The free plan stops at 3 users in the US (5 elsewhere) and covers only records, time off and documents.
- Payroll and recruiting are separate Zoho products; the People Plus bundle with Recruit, Expense, Sign and others is $9 per user a month billed annually.
- Workforce and Talent each cover half the toolset: getting both attendance and performance reviews means Enterprise.
- Companies with more than 500 users are asked to request a quote.

## ToolGPA grades

**GPA: 2.4 out of 4**, graded Oct 18, 2026. Zoho People covers records, time off, attendance and reviews for a few dollars a user, and it plugs into Zoho's own payroll and hiring apps. There's a free plan for 3 users and a 30-day trial. Just know attendance and reviews sit on different plans, so getting both means Enterprise.

- **Value for money: C.** Workforce is $5 a user a month on yearly billing, the cheapest plan with time off, so a ten-person company pays $50. It adds attendance and timesheets too. That's under this category's middle; Essential HR is $3 but leaves time off out.
- **Free plan and trial: C.** Free for up to 3 users, with records, time off and documents. Fine for a look around, but a ten-person team is well past it. There's also a 30-day trial.
- **Features: B.** Records, onboarding, documents, an HR help desk, time off, attendance by kiosk or biometric device, shift rosters, timesheets, goals, appraisals and courses. The whole job, though payroll and hiring are separate Zoho apps.
- **Ease of use: C.** No App Store rating on record, and with features split between Workforce and Talent, you'll need to think before you pick a plan.
- **Platforms and integrations: B.** Web, iPhone and Android, with Microsoft 365, Google Workspace, QuickBooks, Slack and Zoho's own apps. No desktop app.

These are ToolGPA's own grades. Graded from this listing, whose facts were read from Zoho's own pages on 18 October 2026. Not based on using the product, and shorter than our full reviews.

## Where it stands among HR software

- Zoho People's GPA of 2.4 is higher than 5 of the 9 other HR software we grade, and level with 3.
- It stands best on features (B, above 1 of 9) and worst on ease of use (C, above 0).
- Its paid plans start at $3 a month for each person, against a middle price of $9 for the category: 0 of the 6 others that charge start lower.
- On features, ease of use and platforms it scores 2.7 out of 4, and no tool on the category's chart scores higher without costing more.

## Keep it, or make your own?

**Keep it.** The plain part of Zoho People you could make: employee records, time off and reports. What surrounds it you could not. The 7 things listed below take a company, not a weekend. It costs $36 a year.

- You could make: Employee records, time off and reports: an app builder makes these well.
- You could not: Clocking in from a phone, checked against where and when.
- You could not: A rota the whole staff sees on their phones, with swaps and alerts.
- You could not: A real app for iOS and Android. Something home-made would be a web page.
- You could not: It is priced for each person, which means accounts and billing for a team.
- You could not: It plugs into other products, Microsoft 365, Google Workspace and QuickBooks among them.
- You could not: AI features, unless you pay a model provider for each request yourself.
- You could not: The depth: we grade its features B, which means it covers the whole job.

A judgement by ToolGPA from this listing, by rules that are the same for every tool. Nothing was built to test it.

## Works with

Microsoft 365, Google Workspace, QuickBooks, Slack, Zoho Recruit, Zoho Expense

**Tags:** Employee records, Time off, Time clock, Shift scheduling, AI features, Reports

## Alternatives

- [BambooHR](https://toolgpa.com/tools/bamboohr): HR records, hiring, time off and reviews, with US payroll as an add-on. [Compare](https://toolgpa.com/compare/bamboohr-vs-zoho-people)
- [Factorial](https://toolgpa.com/tools/factorial): HR, time, shifts, expenses and IT for small firms, quoted by module. [Compare](https://toolgpa.com/compare/factorial-vs-zoho-people)
- [Sesame HR](https://toolgpa.com/tools/sesame-hr): Modular HR from Spain built around clock-ins, time off and shifts. [Compare](https://toolgpa.com/compare/sesame-hr-vs-zoho-people)
- [HiBob](https://toolgpa.com/tools/hibob): HR platform for mid-sized global firms, with US and UK payroll. [Compare](https://toolgpa.com/compare/hibob-vs-zoho-people)
- [Breathe](https://toolgpa.com/tools/breathe): UK HR software for small firms, priced per business, not per person. [Compare](https://toolgpa.com/compare/breathe-vs-zoho-people)

## Sources

The prices, plans, platforms and features above were read from these pages on Oct 18, 2026:

- https://www.zoho.com/people/zohopeople-pricing.html
- https://www.zoho.com/sites/zweb/json/pricing/people-pricing-val.json
- https://www.zoho.com/people/pricing-comparison.html
- https://www.zoho.com/en-us/people/
- https://www.zoho.com/people/

Page: https://toolgpa.com/tools/zoho-people
Listed by ToolGPA (toolgpa.com).