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New: HelloTime now integrates with HelloBooks — sync clients, hours, invoices and payroll.

HelloTime: an honest Keka alternative for India teams

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TL;DR

  • Keka is an India HRMS — its centre of gravity is HR admin, payroll runs, performance reviews and recruitment. HelloTime is a time-tracking and attendance product whose hours, leave and allowances flow into HelloBooks Payroll for the same India statutory loop (TDS, PF, ESI, Form 24Q, Form 16) without the HRMS form factor.
  • If you genuinely need a full HRIS (recruiting, performance, OKRs, HR forms), Keka is the better fit and the rest of this page is academic. If your actual problem is attendance + desk productivity + payroll, Keka is the heavier, slower, sales-gated option — and it does not ship a desktop productivity tracker or an anti-spoof face-rec library.
  • The decisive gap for an SMB is vendor count and time-to-value. Keka takes weeks of HRMS implementation; HelloTime is self-serve in under 10 minutes at a public ₹49 / seat. Plus HelloTime ships WhatsApp / SMS clock-in for the bottom of the workforce, which Keka's HR portal cannot reach.
Try HelloTime freeBook a demoVisit Keka's site →
HQ
Hyderabad, India
Country focus
India-first — HR + payroll + performance for mid-market
Entry pricing
From ~₹6,999 / mo for the first 100 employees (Foundation; full HR bundle sales-gated)
Free tier
No (sales-led trial)

Feature-by-feature: HelloTime vs Keka

CapabilityHelloTimeKeka
Pricing (entry plan)From ₹49 / user / mo (Attend tier)From ~₹6,999 / mo for the first 100 employees (Foundation)Keka Foundation is published, but the full HR + payroll + performance bundle is sales-gated; expect a quote-on-volume conversation above SMB.
Self-serve signupYes — under 60 seconds, no cardNo — book a demo, qualify, quote
Free trial7-day free trial of full Premium, no credit cardSales-led trial only (no self-serve)
Time-to-first-valueMinutes — sign up, install, track within 10 minutesWeeks — HRMS implementation with forms and configuration
Country focusIndia / Global — INR-native, GST-readyIndia-first — HR + payroll + performance for mid-market
Data residencyAzure Central IndiaIndia — local hosting
Face-recognition attendance (with anti-spoof)Yes — Azure Face + on-device liveness on Attend tier ₹49Limited — selfie clock-in via app; no anti-spoof face library matching Truein / Jibble depth
GPS geofence + kiosk modeYes — PWA kiosk, GPS geofence, photo-at-clock-inYes — GPS geofence and mobile clock-in; kiosk depth is lighter than dedicated attendance vendors
Offline clock-inYes — Flutter + SQLite mobile queue, IndexedDB on kioskPartial — relies on connectivity, less mature than deskless-first attendance tools
Desktop productivity (screenshots, app / URL)Yes — consent-based desktop tracker, opt-in screenshots, AI anomaly surfacing via MunimjiNo — Keka is HR / payroll / performance; no desktop tracker
Screenshot retention (if enabled)Per tier: Attend none / Track 30d / Pro 90d / Business 365d (+₹50/seat 3-year add-on)N/A — no desktop screenshots
WhatsApp / SMS clock-inYes — for staff without smartphones; geofence + selfie verifiedNo — Keka's portal needs a smartphone or browser
India payroll (PF / ESI / PT / TDS / LWF)Native via HelloBooks Payroll — Form 24Q quarterly, Form 16 annual auto-fileNative — Keka Payroll is one of the most mature India payroll engines in market
Native GST books / accountingHelloBooks — one tenancy, one bill, GSTIN / HSN / SAC invoicesNo — Keka hands off to Tally / Zoho Books / external accounting
Recruitment / ATSNo — out of scope (HelloGrowth CRM covers hiring pipeline on roadmap)Yes — Keka Hire is a mature India ATS
Performance reviews / OKRsNo — out of scopeYes — Keka's flagship strength for mid-market HR
SSO (SAML / OIDC) + SCIMOn roadmap — not shipped todayYes — SSO and SCIM available on enterprise plansPer the 2026-05-22 integration audit (§10), SSO is the single biggest enterprise blocker we have not closed yet.
Volume discount transparencyPublished ladder — every tier's per-seat rate on the pricing pageFoundation published; full bundle sales-gated

Pricing and feature parity check on 2026-05-13. Vendors update plans frequently — see Keka's site for the current list.

When to choose HelloTime

  • Your actual problem is attendance + desk productivity + payroll — not recruiting, performance reviews or HR forms.
  • You want public, transparent rupee pricing and self-serve onboarding in under 10 minutes, not a sales-led HRMS implementation.
  • Even a third of your team is field, mobile or factory — face-rec, kiosk and WhatsApp / SMS clock-in matter more than a polished HR portal.
  • You want one tenancy and one bill across attendance, payroll and GST books — Keka pairs with Tally / Zoho Books for the accounting layer.

When to choose Keka

  • You genuinely need a full HRIS — recruitment, performance reviews, OKRs, formal HR workflows — not just time + payroll.
  • You have a mid-market headcount (200–2,000) with a dedicated HR team and an HRMS rollout budget.
  • SSO / SCIM and enterprise procurement processes are decisive for IT — and HelloTime's open-API + roadmap commitment is not enough yet.

HelloTime vs Keka: FAQ

Is HelloTime a real Keka alternative for an SMB?

For the attendance + time + payroll loop, yes — and at a fraction of Keka's TCO. For recruiting, performance reviews and OKRs, no — we don't ship those. If those are your central problem, Keka is the better fit and switching for cost alone is the wrong reason.

How is HelloTime's pricing different from Keka's?

HelloTime publishes ₹49 / ₹99 / ₹199 / ₹399 per seat on the pricing page with a 7-day full-Premium trial, no credit card. Keka starts at ~₹6,999 / mo for the first 100 employees on Foundation, with the full HR bundle sales-gated above. For a 50-seat team needing attendance + payroll, the HelloTime + HelloBooks stack typically lands at half Keka's quote.

Does HelloTime have payroll as deep as Keka?

For the canonical India payroll loop (PF, ESI, PT, TDS-on-salary, Form 24Q quarterly, Form 16 annual, LWF), yes — HelloBooks Payroll handles all of it natively on the same tenancy. Keka's payroll engine is broader on edge cases (multi-state nuances, complex CTC structures, retention-bonus math) — if those are decisive, scope a parity check with us before signing.

Can HelloTime replace our recruitment workflow?

No — and we won't pretend it can. HelloTime ships attendance + time + productivity + payroll. Recruiting and ATS sit in our sibling product HelloGrowth CRM (Q3 roadmap). If you need an ATS today, keep Keka Hire or pair us with Greenhouse / Lever.

What about desktop productivity tracking?

HelloTime ships a consent-based desktop tracker with opt-in screenshots and AI anomaly surfacing via Munimji on Track tier and above. Keka does not ship a desktop tracker at all. For hybrid teams this is HelloTime's home turf.

Can I migrate from Keka to HelloTime?

Yes. Employee records, leave balances, holiday calendar and historical attendance import via CSV. If you also want to move payroll to HelloBooks Payroll, we coordinate that — including a policy-port engagement to mirror your current Keka rules. Free migration on Business plans and 100+ seat accounts.

Does HelloTime offer SSO / SCIM like Keka?

Not yet. Per the 2026-05-22 integration audit, SSO (SAML / OIDC) and SCIM are our biggest enterprise gap — they are on the roadmap, not shipped. If SSO is a hard blocker for your IT / procurement, Keka wins this row today.

Where is HelloTime data hosted?

Azure Central India region — data stays in country. Same residency posture as Keka.

HelloTime features

Time tracking, timesheets, productivity insights, leave and approvals — the full product surface.

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HelloBooks integration

The native payroll sync — STP Phase 2 lodgement, leave accruals and allowances without a connector.

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Pricing

Per-seat pricing, AU rates, free trial details and volume discounts.

Learn more →

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