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ProHQ vs Zoho People Keep it — add ProHQ

ProHQ vs Zoho People

Cloud HR module inside the broader Zoho app suite. ProHQ is a process engine: it runs your whole operation as one process — offline, in the field, in your team's language — and we build and run it with you.

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ORIGIN
India · 1996 (Zoho Corp)
PRICING MODEL
Per-employee/month, tiered, with a free tier up to 5 employees; among the most affordable HRMS, though payroll is a separate Zoho Payroll product.
BEST FOR
Budget-conscious SMEs, especially teams already living inside the Zoho ecosystem.

CREDIT WHERE IT'S DUE

What Zoho People is genuinely good at.

Ecosystem breadth

Native ties to Zoho Books, Expense, Analytics and CRM put HR, finance and sales data under one vendor.

Genuinely affordable

A free tier for up to 5 employees plus low per-employee pricing make it accessible to very small teams.

Real AI layer (Zia)

Zia delivers attrition/flight-risk prediction and attendance-anomaly detection inside Zoho People.

SIDE BY SIDE

Six things that decide it.

CAPABILITY

ProHQ
Zoho People

Built around your process

A state-machine workflow that mirrors how you actually work — not generic boards, lists or tickets you bend to fit.

✓
✕

Offline-first, built for the field

Record work where it happens — site, road, shop floor — with no signal. It syncs when the network returns.

✓
✕

One process, everything attached

Tables, documents, files, approvals and chat hang off the exact stage they belong to — not separate apps that never quite talk.

✓
~

A team that runs it with you

We sit with your people, map the process and keep it running. Not a download-and-configure-it-yourself licence.

✓
✕

Your team's language

Feels like Excel and WhatsApp, in the language the field already speaks. No training period.

✓
~

AI only where it pays

Drafting, summarising and repetitive paperwork automated on the process — included, not a per-seat upsell.

✓
~

✓ Built in ~ Partial / add-on / configure-it-yourself ✕ Not available

WHERE IT STOPS

The gap ProHQ fills.

Zoho People is a low-cost HR records system whose breadth comes from owning many separate Zoho apps rather than one unified operational process. It is not offline-first, so field teams can't rely on it where connectivity drops. HR lives beside, not inside, how the business actually runs.

  • HR silo, not the operation

    It models HR records; the "whole business" only emerges by stitching separate Zoho apps together, not one process.

  • Not offline-first

    Reviews flag a lack of offline data recording — a real gap for disconnected field staff.

  • Not a process engine

    Configurable HR approvals and automations, not a general state-machine mirroring how the whole operation runs.

  • Walled garden

    Zoho apps interconnect smoothly, but connecting to external non-Zoho tools is reported as clunky.

THE INDIA REALITY

India-built in Chennai; statutory PF/ESI/PT/TDS and Form 16 are handled well, but through the separate Zoho Payroll product, and priced in rupees for the Indian market.

KEEP IT — ADD PROHQ

Keep it, or run ProHQ alongside.

Keep Zoho People (or Zoho Payroll) for statutory payroll and records, and run the actual operation on ProHQ alongside it, with onboarding, approvals and tasks flowing through one process. You don't rip out payroll; you stop running the operation through disconnected HR modules.

INTEGRATION

Bring your Zoho People data with you

Zoho People has an extensive public API plus import/export; ProHQ syncs employee records and approval outcomes so the HR system stays the system of record for people while the process runs in ProHQ.

Need to keep Zoho People in the loop? We build that connector by hand during onboarding — which is why the beta is just twenty seats.

REACHING PARITY

Matching Zoho People, on the process engine

Where Zoho People leads today, here's what we're building — so it works offline and in the field too:

  • Leave and attendance tracking attached to a stage
  • Employee self-service profile and document records
  • Lightweight attrition/flight-risk signals where the data justifies it

THE VERDICT

Cheap, broad, AI-touched HR — but a Zoho-walled silo, not your operation.

We'll tell you honestly whether ProHQ is the right move from Zoho People for how you work. That conversation is free.

Talk to the founders → ← All comparisons

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