The Zoho People alternative for teams that bill their time
One focused tool beats an ecosystem of compromises.
Zoho People can do timesheets. It can also do 44 other things. When attendance is a feature inside a suite, it gets treated like one. Workclave is built around sessions - it's the only thing we do.
Workclave is a Zoho People alternative for services teams that need attendance, timesheets and approvals in one flow instead of three configurable modules.
Who should not switch: Do not switch if you rely on Zoho People's leave, performance or LMS modules, or on tight integration with the rest of the Zoho suite.
| Feature | Workclave | Zoho People |
|---|---|---|
Session-based tracking Links time to projects, not just presence | Full session intelligence | Basic timesheets, no project link |
Approval workflows Manager reviews before sessions close | Built-in, one-click approval | Available but complex setup |
AI session analytics Automated insights on utilisation and billing | Powered by LLM, auto-generated | No session intelligence |
Pricing & minimums What you pay before adding your first user | ₹0 to start. ₹199/user. No floor. | unconfirmed: ₹96/user, 5-user minimum |
Free tier What you get without paying | Free up to 3 users, full features | Has a free tier — size not confirmed (no attendance or timesheets) |
What a team actually pays: Workclave vs Zoho People
Zoho People is priced per user per tier, and attendance, timesheets and shift features are spread across those tiers. The table below quotes Professional, the cheapest tier that includes attendance and timesheets, on annual prepay with the five-user minimum applied. On that basis Zoho People costs less per user than Workclave — the trade is what the record contains, not what it costs.
| Team size | Workclave | Zoho PeopleProfessional plan, annual billing |
|---|---|---|
| 10-person team | ₹1,990/mo10 × ₹199 | unconfirmed: ₹960/moProfessional plan, 10 × ₹96 |
| 20-person team | ₹3,980/mo20 × ₹199 | unconfirmed: ₹1,920/moProfessional plan, 20 × ₹96 |
| 50-person team | ₹9,950/mo50 × ₹199 | unconfirmed: ₹4,800/moProfessional plan, 50 × ₹96 |
| Free tier | Free up to 3 users | Has a free tier — size not confirmed (no attendance or timesheets) |
Where Zoho People wins on price: Zoho People has a free tier of a size we have not confirmed (no attendance or timesheets). At 10 people and 20 people and 50 people, Zoho People can cost less than Workclave on the figures above, which are not confirmed for this vendor. If price is the deciding factor at your size, that is the honest answer. Workclave is not the cheapest tool in this category and does not claim to be. What you pay for is a session that arrives project-linked and manager-approved, so the hours on the invoice are the hours somebody signed off.
- — costBasis — this repo said attendance and timesheets start at Professional while its own table quoted Premium. Professional is recorded because it is the cheaper reading, but which tier actually carries attendance is unconfirmed and it decides the whole comparison.
- — freeTier — the blog prose said five users and its own table said three. Recorded as five pending a check on zoho.com/people/pricing.
Check zoho.com/people/pricing before deciding — last read August 2026. Several vendors show different pricing by visitor country, so what you see may differ from what we read.
Prices checked against zoho.com/people/pricing in August 2026. Vendors change pricing without notice, some quote annual-prepay rates rather than monthly, and several apply seat minimums that raise the real entry cost — always confirm on the vendor's own page.
- — GST is charged on top of the listed rates.
- — Every paid plan carries a five-user minimum.
Run it for your own headcount: Friday spreadsheet cost calculator. No logos to show you yet, so try the interactive demo instead — no signup.
Full breakdown: Zoho People pricing explained
An honest read on Zoho People
- Enormous feature surface: leave, shifts, performance, LMS, cases — all in one subscription
- Deep integration with the wider Zoho ecosystem (Books, CRM, Payroll)
- Genuinely low entry price for basic HR at unconfirmed: ₹48/user tiers
- Highly configurable forms and workflows for HR processes
- Timesheets and attendance are separate modules that need configuration to talk to each other
- No session concept: attendance says present, timesheets say claimed — nothing says approved-for-billing
- Setup and administration overhead is significant for a small team without an HR admin
- Support routes through the broader Zoho organisation and partner layers
Migrating from Zoho People to Workclave
Nothing else in your Zoho suite has to move. Workclave replaces the People timesheet and attendance modules; recruitment, expenses and the rest stay where they are.
- 1Export your people list
A CSV of names and emails is all Workclave needs. Departments map to teams on import.
- 2Create the projects you bill
Every check-in is linked to one from then on, so this is the step that changes what your data means.
- 3Run both for one cycle
Compare the two registers at month end, then point payroll and invoicing at Workclave's approved-session export.
Workclave vs Zoho People: common questions
Is Workclave a good Zoho People alternative?
If what you actually use Zoho People for is attendance and timesheets, yes — Workclave replaces both with a single session-based flow at ₹199/user/month, free up to 3 users. On price alone Zoho People's Professional tier is cheaper per user than Workclave, and we would rather say that than bury it. If you rely on Zoho People's leave, performance, or LMS modules, you can keep a lower Zoho tier for those and use Workclave for attendance and billing.
How much does Zoho People cost compared to Workclave?
Checked August 2026: Zoho People tiers run unconfirmed: ₹48, unconfirmed: ₹96, unconfirmed: ₹144 and unconfirmed: ₹192 per user per month on annual prepay, with a five-user minimum. Attendance and timesheets begin at the Professional tier rather than the entry plan, so Professional is the tier our cost table quotes: unconfirmed: ₹1,920 per month for 20 people against Workclave's ₹3,980. Zoho is cheaper; what you get for the difference is one approved session record instead of two modules to reconcile.
Does Zoho People have session-based attendance?
No. Zoho People records attendance (presence) and timesheets (claimed hours) as separate modules. There is no single record that says this person worked these hours on this project, approved by this manager — which is exactly what a Workclave session is.
Can Workclave replace Zoho People entirely?
For attendance, time tracking, and billing records — yes. Workclave does not aim to replace Zoho People's broader HR modules like performance reviews or LMS. Most switching teams either did not use those modules or keep a minimal Zoho tier for them.
How long does migration from Zoho People take?
Typically a day to set up (employee CSV import, projects, managers) and two parallel-run weeks before switching the source of truth. There is no workflow configuration step because approvals are built into Workclave.
Compared with the other tools on your shortlist
Most teams evaluate three or four at once. Every page carries the same feature matrix, cost table and honest read on where the other tool is genuinely stronger.
Not on this list? See every comparison.
Still weighing Workclave against Zoho People?
We have no customer logos to show you — the product is new and we would rather say so than invent them. What we can do is let you see it working before you give us anything.