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

HelloTime: an honest greytHR alternative for India teams

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TL;DR

  • greytHR (Greytip) has been in the India payroll market since 1994 — its strength is monthly payroll runs, statutory filings (PF, ESI, PT, TDS) and Form 16 generation across 20,000+ SMB customers. Attendance is HR-portal-shaped: shift roster, leave application, biometric-machine integration. There is no desktop productivity tracker and no anti-spoof face library.
  • HelloTime is a time-tracking and attendance product whose hours, leave and allowances flow into HelloBooks Payroll for the same India statutory loop — Form 24Q quarterly, Form 16 annual, PF / ESI / PT / LWF — without the HRMS form factor or the bookkeeper-mediated onboarding.
  • Pick greytHR if your central job is monthly payroll filings handled by a CA / consultant familiar with the product, and attendance is a secondary concern handled via paired biometric hardware. Pick HelloTime if you want attendance + desk productivity + payroll on one self-serve tenancy at ₹49 / seat, with WhatsApp / SMS clock-in for staff without smartphones.
Try HelloTime freeBook a demoVisit greytHR's site →
HQ
Bangalore, India
Country focus
India-first — payroll, statutory and HR admin for SMBs
Entry pricing
From ~₹3,495 / mo for up to 25 employees (Starter; higher tiers per-employee)
Free tier
No (free trial)

Feature-by-feature: HelloTime vs greytHR

CapabilityHelloTimegreytHR
Pricing (entry plan)From ₹49 / user / mo (Attend tier)From ~₹3,495 / mo for up to 25 employees (Starter)greytHR tiers (Starter / Welter / Crest / Conquer) add per-employee charges above 25; full attendance + payroll combo is bookkeeper-quoted at mid-market.
Self-serve signupYes — under 60 seconds, no cardSales-assisted onboarding typical; consultant rollout common
Free trial7-day free trial of full Premium, no credit cardFree trial available; not a full-Premium 7-day self-serve
Time-to-first-valueMinutes — sign up, install, track within 10 minutesDays to weeks — payroll setup with consultant for compliance accuracy
Country focusIndia / Global — INR-native, GST-readyIndia-first — strongest in SMB statutory compliance
Data residencyAzure Central IndiaIndia — local hosting
Face-recognition attendance (with anti-spoof)Yes — Azure Face + on-device liveness on Attend tier ₹49Via paired biometric hardware (fingerprint / face devices) and partner integrations — not a native anti-spoof software library
GPS geofence + kiosk modeYes — PWA kiosk, GPS geofence, photo-at-clock-inMobile app supports geo-attendance; kiosk depth lighter than deskless-first vendors
Offline clock-inYes — Flutter + SQLite mobile queue, IndexedDB on kioskPartial — biometric-device based attendance is offline by design; mobile portal needs connectivity
Desktop productivity (screenshots, app / URL)Yes — consent-based desktop tracker, opt-in screenshots, AI anomaly surfacing via MunimjiNo — greytHR is HR + payroll + statutory; no desktop tracker
WhatsApp / SMS clock-inYes — for staff without smartphones; geofence + selfie verifiedNo — greytHR ESS portal needs a browser or mobile app
India payroll (PF / ESI / PT / TDS / LWF)Native via HelloBooks Payroll — Form 24Q quarterly, Form 16 annual auto-fileNative — greytHR is one of the oldest and most-trusted India payroll engines, particularly strong on per-state PT and Form 16 nuances
Native GST books / accountingHelloBooks — one tenancy, one bill, GSTIN / HSN / SAC invoicesNo — greytHR hands off to Tally / Zoho Books / external accounting
Statutory depth (PT per state, Form 16, ECR)Yes — covered via HelloBooks Payroll + Fynamics filing engineYes — greytHR's flagship strength after 30 years in the India market
Performance reviews / recruitmentNo — out of scope (HelloGrowth CRM covers hiring pipeline on roadmap)Partial — greytHR has lightweight performance modules; not as deep as Keka / Darwinbox
SSO (SAML / OIDC) + SCIMOn roadmap — not shipped todayYes — SSO available on higher tiersPer 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 pageTier-based; per-employee adds above 25 — published, but full bundle quote-led

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

When to choose HelloTime

  • Your actual problem is attendance + desk productivity + payroll on one self-serve tenancy — not a bookkeeper-mediated HR + payroll rollout.
  • You want a modern mobile-first attendance product with face-rec, kiosk, GPS geofence and WhatsApp / SMS clock-in for the bottom of your workforce.
  • You want desktop productivity tracking for hybrid staff — greytHR does not ship one.
  • You prefer published ₹49 / ₹99 pricing and 60-second signup to a Starter base + per-employee add + consultant conversation.

When to choose greytHR

  • Monthly payroll runs and statutory filings are your central problem and your CA / bookkeeper already runs them on greytHR.
  • Multi-state professional tax, complex CTC structures or 30 years of statutory edge cases are decisive for compliance.
  • Your HR team prefers a portal-led workflow (leave applications, IT declarations, payslip downloads) over a tracker-led one.

HelloTime vs greytHR: FAQ

Is HelloTime as compliant as greytHR for India payroll?

For the canonical India statutory loop — Form 24Q quarterly, Form 16 annual, PF / ESI / PT-per-state / LWF, ECR exports for UAN — yes, HelloBooks Payroll covers it natively. greytHR has 30 years of edge-case depth (rare CTC structures, very specific per-state PT rules) that we may not match on day one. If you have unusual edge cases, scope a parity check before switching.

Can HelloTime replace greytHR end-to-end?

For the attendance + time + payroll loop, yes — and at a fraction of greytHR's TCO once you add a tracker and books vendor on top. For HR admin workflows (employee handbook publishing, IT declaration collection, document storage), HelloTime is lighter. If those are decisive, keep greytHR for HR forms and let HelloTime own attendance + payroll.

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

HelloTime publishes ₹49 / ₹99 / ₹199 / ₹399 per seat with a 7-day full-Premium trial, no credit card. greytHR Starter is ~₹3,495 / mo for up to 25 employees, with per-employee charges above that; full attendance + payroll across higher tiers stacks up. For a 50-seat team needing attendance + payroll + books, the HelloTime + HelloBooks stack typically lands well below greytHR + Tally.

Does HelloTime work with our existing biometric machines?

Today, the canonical clock-in surfaces are mobile (face + GPS + photo), tablet kiosk (PWA), web, WhatsApp and SMS. Direct integration with on-prem biometric hardware (the greytHR pattern) is not native — we would receive feeds via CSV / API. If hardware is central, this is a row where greytHR wins.

Can my CA / bookkeeper run payroll on HelloTime + HelloBooks?

Yes. HelloBooks Payroll includes a Bookkeeper Connect mode — your CA gets read / approve access to the payroll module without paying for a full seat. Most bookkeepers we work with say the workflow is shorter than greytHR because attendance, leave and statutory filings live in one tenancy.

Does HelloTime have a desktop productivity tracker like Hubstaff?

Yes — consent-based, on Track tier and above. Opt-in screenshots (per-tier retention), app / URL summaries, Munimji AI surfacing patterns. greytHR does not ship a desktop tracker.

Where is HelloTime data hosted?

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

Does HelloTime offer SSO like greytHR?

Not yet. Per the 2026-05-22 integration audit, SSO (SAML / OIDC) and SCIM are on the roadmap, not shipped. If SSO is a hard blocker for IT, greytHR wins this row today.

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.

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