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Clan vs Zoho People

Clan vs Zoho People
for Indian IT teams.

Zoho People starts at ₹50/employee/month for HR only — payroll and project management are separate Zoho products. Clan bundles all three at ₹89/active employee.

No credit card. Free up to 10 employees. Setup in 30 min.

Why teams switch from Zoho People

No native payroll — PF, ESI, TDS, and Professional Tax aren't calculated in Zoho People; statutory processing runs through the separate Zoho Payroll product with its own subscription.
OKRs, goals, and 360-degree feedback are locked to the Premium tier — Free, Essential HR, and Professional plans have no performance management at all.
The free plan caps out at 5 employees, and every paid tier still carries a 5-user minimum bill.
No native project or task management — Zoho People only integrates with Zoho Projects, a separately priced Zoho product.
Running HR, payroll, and projects on Zoho means three separate subscriptions and three separate bills, not one.
✓ Clan solves this in one tool — HR, payroll, projects, OKRs, WhatsApp, and Slack.

Feature comparison

Clan vs Zoho People.

Side-by-side on the features IT companies actually need.

Clan Best value Zoho People
Starting price ₹89/emp · active only Free up to 10 employees ₹50/emp/mo Essential HR · payroll and projects sold separately
Free plan (up to 10) (up to 5)
Full payroll + PF/ESI/TDS Separate Zoho Payroll subscription
WhatsApp integration (marketplace add-on)
Slack integration (marketplace add-on)
Project management Only us Separate Zoho Projects subscription
OKRs + 1:1 meetings Premium tier only · ₹165/emp
Social wall Premium tier (engagement module)
Onboarding workflow
Active emp billing Only us 5-user minimum on every paid plan
Employee monitoring Optional · ₹59/emp
Free trial (30 days)

Competitor pricing and features based on publicly available information, 2026. Please verify on their websites.

Pricing

What it actually costs.

Clan bills only active employees at ₹89/month on Growth. Zoho People Essential HR · payroll and projects sold separately.

See full Clan pricing →

The math (50-person IT company)

Monthly cost comparison

Zoho People Premium (OKRs unlocked) ₹8,250/mo
Zoho Payroll (PF/ESI/TDS compliance) ₹1,650/mo
Zoho People Premium + Zoho Payroll (50 emp) ₹9,900/mo
Clan Growth (50 active) ₹4,450/mo

You save ₹5,450/month → ₹65,400/year with Clan

Essential HR is ₹50/employee/month but has no OKRs and no payroll. Professional (₹100/emp) adds attendance, still no OKRs. Premium (₹165/emp) is the first tier with performance management and OKRs, and is used here since it is the closest match to Clan Growth. Payroll is a separate Zoho Payroll subscription (reported at roughly ₹33/employee/month for statutory compliance), and project management is a separate Zoho Projects subscription not included in this total. Zoho publishes prices through a JavaScript pricing widget that could not be scraped directly; these figures are compiled from multiple third-party 2026 Zoho People pricing trackers — confirm current rates on zoho.com/people/pricing before quoting a customer.

Migrating from Zoho People?

We help migrate employee records, leave balances, and payroll history from Zoho People to Clan. Most IT teams go live in under a day. Migration support is included for all paying customers.

Talk to us about migration →

FAQ

Common questions.

Is Zoho People cheaper than Clan?

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On the entry price, yes — Essential HR is ₹50/employee/month against Clan's ₹89/active employee. But Essential has no OKRs and no payroll. Once you add Zoho Payroll for statutory compliance and upgrade to Premium for OKRs, a 50-employee team runs to roughly ₹9,900/month across two Zoho products, against ₹4,450/month for Clan Growth with payroll, OKRs, projects, WhatsApp, and Slack included in one price.

What are Zoho People's pricing plans?

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Four paid tiers billed per employee per month: Essential HR, Professional, Premium (the first tier with OKRs, goals, and performance reviews), and Enterprise (adds an HR helpdesk and learning management). The Free plan covers up to 5 employees, and every paid tier carries a 5-user minimum bill. Figures reported by third-party pricing trackers as of 2026 — confirm current rates on Zoho's own pricing page.

Does Zoho People include payroll?

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No. Zoho People is a system of record for HR, leave, and attendance. PF, ESI, TDS, and Professional Tax are calculated in a separate product, Zoho Payroll, with its own subscription. Clan calculates all four automatically in every payroll run at no extra cost.

Does Zoho People include project management?

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Not natively. It integrates with Zoho Projects — a separate Zoho product with its own price — to pull in tasks and timesheets. Clan includes project management in the same platform as HR and payroll.

Does Zoho People have WhatsApp and Slack integration?

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Yes — Zoho People supports WhatsApp approvals for leave and timesheets and a Slack integration for notifications, both set up as marketplace add-ons. Clan includes the same WhatsApp and Slack workflows natively in Growth, alongside payroll and projects, in one price.

Can I migrate from Zoho People to Clan?

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Yes. We help migrate employee records, leave balances, and payroll history from Zoho People to Clan. Most teams go live in under a day, and migration support is included for all paying customers.

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