Comparison · Structured data · Sourced
Zoho People versus OrangeHRM: two low cost HRIS options, and two very different payroll answers
These are the two products a cost conscious Gulf SME shortlists most often, and they are structured completely differently underneath. Zoho People is one module of a large commercial suite with a free tier for up to five users. OrangeHRM is a mixed model: a free and open source Starter edition and a commercial Advanced edition charged per employee per month with no published figure and a 30 day trial.
The payroll answers differ even more, and both need stating carefully because both are easy to get wrong.
OrangeHRM has a vendor stated no for native payroll, which is one of only three genuine no values in this entire directory. It is a precise statement and it means precisely one thing: there is no native payroll module. The pricing page lists payroll integration as an Advanced feature and the Starter comparison shows a Payroll Connector, so payroll is always delivered by a third party product through a connector rather than by OrangeHRM itself. It does not mean payroll is impossible on OrangeHRM. It means the payroll engine is somebody else and the compliance commitment belongs to that vendor.
Last reviewed 7 November 2026
The products
Zoho People
Zoho Corporation
Zoho cloud HRMS covering core HR, hiring, onboarding, time and attendance, performance, training and analytics. Payroll is a separate product, and UAE payroll with WPS sits in Zoho Payroll UAE edition.
Full profileOrangeHRM
OrangeHRM Inc.
HR management suite in two editions: a free, self hostable open source Starter edition and a paid cloud or on premise Advanced edition. Payroll is delivered through third party connectors rather than a native module.
Full profileThe main differences
The Zoho distinction that must not be blurred
UAE WPS support exists in the Zoho world, and it is not in Zoho People. It is in the separate Zoho Payroll UAE edition, a different product with its own pricing page. Zoho states that Zoho Payroll UAE auto generates SIF files for WPS compliance and calculates end of service benefits for expatriate employees. Zoho People alone names no Gulf country, and the payroll integration described on Zoho People is labelled India and GCC countries only, which is a region label and not a country commitment. So a Gulf buyer choosing Zoho People for its HR record is not thereby buying WPS capability and will need Zoho Payroll UAE, or another payroll product, alongside it. Two caveats on the Zoho Payroll UAE evidence: it does not name MOHRE or GPSSA, and the WPS claim rests on the Zoho Payroll UAE page rather than on anything in Zoho People.
Price, and the only AED figure in the directory
Zoho People publishes per user pricing, but the figures are JavaScript rendered and could not be read during verification, so no number is recorded here rather than guessed. The plan names are Free, Essential HR, Professional, Premium and Enterprise, plus PeoplePlus suite bundles, billed monthly or yearly with a stated saving above 20 percent on yearly. The Free edition is forever free for up to five users and the 30 day trial downgrades to Free rather than expiring.
Zoho Payroll UAE is a different matter and is worth surfacing for a Gulf reader: it publishes AED 45, 65 and 90 with the currency printed explicitly, with Standard at 45 AED per organisation per month or 35 AED billed annually including five employees. That makes it the only AED denominated price in this entire directory, every other published figure being in USD, usually inferred from a bare dollar sign. For a buyer budgeting in dirhams that is a genuine convenience as well as a signal that the product is built for the market.
OrangeHRM publishes no figure for Advanced, only that it is charged per employee per month, with a custom quote form. Starter is free indefinitely and is a genuine free version rather than a trial, although the Starter page does not name the open source licence and links both a General Public License policy page and a Commercial License, so the licence terms themselves are unverified. Anyone planning to self host and modify should resolve that before committing.
What OrangeHRM does offer a Gulf buyer
More than the payroll no suggests. The OrangeHRM Middle East page names the UAE, Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar and Saudi Arabia, and describes leave with carry overs and tenure based rules, regional public holidays, rostering for GCC continuous operations, GPS geofenced mobile attendance and overtime. That is a regionally aware HR and time product. What that page never mentions is payroll, WPS or end of service gratuity, so UAE payroll could not be verified and any UAE payroll would run through a third party connector.
Side by side
| Attribute | Zoho People | OrangeHRM |
|---|---|---|
| Vendor | Zoho Corporation | OrangeHRM Inc. |
| Primary use | HRIS for smaller teams | HRIS for smaller teams |
| Deployment | Cloud | Cloud, On-premises |
| Organisation size | Small, Medium | Small, Medium, Enterprise |
| Licensing model | Freemium | Mixed |
| Free version | Yes | Yes |
| Trial | Yes | Yes |
| Published price | Contact vendor for pricing | Contact vendor for pricing |
| Product status | Active | Active |
| Capabilities | ||
| Mobile app | Yes source | Yes Mobile app listed in Starter modules, with GPS attendance on the Middle East page. source |
| Documented API | Not verified No API or developer documentation link was found on the Zoho People pages opened. | Yes source |
| Compliance and reporting | Yes Statutory compliance and reporting. source | Not verified Only generic claims such as compliant encryption and global security standards with granular user roles. No country compliance claim. |
| Workforce planning | Not verified Not confirmed. | Not verified Rostering and scheduling are not workforce planning. Only reporting and analytics are named. |
| Benefits administration | Yes source | Not verified Not named. |
| Manager self-service | Not verified Not confirmed on the pages opened. | Not verified Not explicitly named. |
| Employee self-service | Not verified Not confirmed on the pages opened. | Yes Request Desk, plus Employee Voice in Advanced and a mobile app in Starter. source |
| Learning management | Yes Training management. source | Yes Training, Advanced edition only. source |
| Performance management | Yes Appraisals with multiple evaluation methods. source | Yes 180 degree reviews in Starter; Advanced adds career development, surveys, employee voice and discipline. source |
| Onboarding | Yes Custom onboarding workflows and onboarding reports. source | Yes Advanced edition only. source |
| Recruitment and ATS | Yes Automated hiring with e-signed offer letters. source | Yes Recruitment and applicant tracking, in Starter. source |
| Leave management | Not verified Leave is widely assumed and was referenced only in third party material, so it was not confirmed on a vendor page. | Yes PTO and leave management, with regional rules named on the Middle East page. source |
| Time and attendance | Yes source | Yes Time tracking with GPS and geofenced mobile attendance and automated overtime. source |
| UAE and GCC payroll | Yes Yes, but in the separate Zoho Payroll UAE edition rather than in Zoho People. Zoho states auto generated SIF files for WPS compliance and end of service benefit calculation for expatriate employees. Zoho People alone names no Gulf country; its payroll integration is labelled India and GCC countries only. The Zoho Payroll UAE page does not name MOHRE or GPSSA. source | Not verified Unknown. OrangeHRM Middle East page does name the UAE, Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar and Saudi Arabia, but it never mentions payroll, WPS or end of service gratuity. Its regional claims cover leave with carry overs and tenure based rules, regional public holidays, rostering for GCC continuous operations, GPS geofenced mobile attendance and overtime. Since there is no native payroll module at all, any UAE payroll would run through a third party connector. |
| Payroll processing | Yes Delivered by the separate Zoho Payroll product. The Zoho People integration is described as payroll processing for India and GCC countries only. source | No Recorded as no for a native payroll module. The pricing page lists payroll integration as an Advanced feature and the Starter comparison shows a Payroll Connector, so payroll is always delivered by a third party product through a connector rather than by OrangeHRM itself. source |
| Employee records | Yes source | Yes Employee Management and HR Administration, in both editions. source |
| Last reviewed | 7 November 2026 | 7 November 2026 |
| Profile | View profile | View profile |
Not verified means the capability has not been checked for that product. It does not mean the product lacks it. Blank cells and unverified rows are never counted as a "no".
Strengths and limitations
Drawn from each product's own profile, where every item is labelled a verified fact or an editorial judgement.
Zoho People
Read the full assessmentOrangeHRM
Read the full assessmentWhich to choose
For a Gulf SME that wants one vendor for HR and payroll, the Zoho route is the stronger answer, but buy it correctly: Zoho People for the HR record and Zoho Payroll UAE as a separate subscription for the WPS and end of service work. Do not assume the second follows from the first, because the GCC label on the Zoho People payroll integration is not a UAE commitment.
For an organisation with in house technical capability, a preference for self hosting, or a payroll product it is already happy with, OrangeHRM Starter is a legitimately free place to put the HR record, and the Middle East feature set around leave, rostering and geofenced attendance is more regionally specific than most Western SME products manage. Accept that payroll is somebody else and that the connector integration is yours to own.
Neither product should be chosen on the basis that a region was mentioned. OrangeHRM names all six GCC countries and runs no payroll. Zoho People names a GCC region and does not generate a SIF. The product that generates the SIF is Zoho Payroll UAE, and it says so on its own page in dirhams.
Frequently asked questions
Not natively. OrangeHRM has a vendor stated no for a native payroll module, one of only three genuine no values in this directory. The pricing page lists payroll integration as an Advanced feature and the Starter comparison shows a Payroll Connector, so payroll is always delivered by a third party product through a connector. That means no native module, not that payroll is impossible with OrangeHRM in the stack.
No. That capability is in the separate Zoho Payroll UAE edition, which states auto generated SIF files for WPS compliance and end of service benefit calculation for expatriate employees. Zoho People itself names no Gulf country, and its payroll integration is labelled India and GCC countries only, which is a region label rather than a country commitment. The two are separate subscriptions.
Zoho publishes AED 45, 65 and 90, with the Standard plan at 45 AED per organisation per month or 35 AED billed annually, including five employees. The currency is printed explicitly, which makes this the only AED denominated price in this directory. Zoho People publishes per user pricing too, but those figures are JavaScript rendered and could not be read, so no number is recorded for Zoho People here.
Yes, free indefinitely and a real free version rather than a trial, with the Advanced edition commercial and separately quoted. One caution: the Starter page does not name the open source licence and links both a General Public License policy page and a Commercial License, so the licence terms are unverified. Resolve that before self hosting and modifying the code.
Sources and review basis
Attribute values come from each product's structured profile rather than being written into this page, so a correction made once appears everywhere. This comparison was last reviewed on 7 November 2026. Assessment of this category is documentation-based, not hands-on testing of every product.
- Zoho People accessed 7 November 2026
- Zoho Payroll UAE accessed 7 November 2026
- Zoho People pricing accessed 7 November 2026
- OrangeHRM pricing and editions accessed 7 November 2026
- OrangeHRM HR software Middle East accessed 7 November 2026
Disclosure
Alongside advisory work I also build a CMMS and CAFM platform, so I have a commercial interest in enterprise software generally. No vendor here has paid for inclusion, placement or wording, and there are no reseller or affiliate arrangements.
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