Nine HR systems let a small company keep an employee database, manage leave and give staff a self-service portal without paying — four hosted free-forever plans, three open-source applications and two free tiers that are doorways to a paid product. HR is the category where ‘free’ most often means ‘free until you need attendance or payroll’, so each Scorecard names that trigger. Prices are USD and were checked on 21 October 2026. How we score · All Kurums Free lists
TL;DR — the free HR plan that fits
- Any headcount, zero budget: HR.my — employee records, leave, attendance, claims and payslips for unlimited staff, no paid tier at all.
- Up to ten deskless or field workers: Connecteam Small Business Plan — scheduling, time clock, forms, chat and training; everything but payroll integration.
- Five-person startup that needs a tidy directory and leave: Zoho People Free — polished employee database and time-off policies for five users.
- IT team, want a real self-hosted HRIS: OrangeHRM Starter (GPL) — employee management, leave, ATS, time tracking and performance reviews on your own server.
Which hr software (hris) tools have a free plan in 2026?
An HRIS does three jobs for a small company: hold the employee record, run time-off, and give staff a place to see their own data. Every tool on this page does at least those three for free indefinitely. Four are hosted free-forever plans (Zoho People, HR.my, Connecteam, Homebase), three are open source (OrangeHRM, IceHrm, Sentrifugo), and two — Deel HR and Bitrix24 — are free tiers whose purpose is to lead you to a paid product, which the rows say plainly.
We excluded Freshteam, which Freshworks is winding down with renewals ending in March 2026, and BambooHR, Factorial and Rippling, which offer no free plan and no stated trial. Where a vendor’s own pricing page shows no price (Zoho People, OrangeHRM), the row says which third-party source supplied it or that the plan is quote-only.
The table shows the one limit most likely to push you to a paid plan, whether a card is needed to start, and the Free Score. The rows below open into the full Scorecard with every limit, the upgrade trigger, the cheapest paid step and the page we checked.
| Company | Free as | Key limit | Card | Free Score | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| H |
Free forever | Unlimited employees | No | 91 | Scorecard ↓ |
| C |
Free forever | 10 users | No | 88 | Scorecard ↓ |
| Z |
Free forever | 5 users · 250 MB | No | 84 | Scorecard ↓ |
| O |
Open source | Self-hosted · forum support | No | 83 | Scorecard ↓ |
| I |
Open source | Self-hosted · cloud $12/mo | No | 78 | Scorecard ↓ |
| H |
Free forever | 10 employees · 1 location | No | 76 | Scorecard ↓ |
| D |
Free forever | No cap stated · lead-in to Deel | No | 72 | Scorecard ↓ |
| B |
Free forever | HR tools not in Free | No | 64 | Scorecard ↓ |
| S |
Open source | Self-hosted · dormant project | No | 58 | Scorecard ↓ |
Free tiers verified 21 October 2026 on each vendor’s pricing page (third-party sources named in the Scorecard where the vendor page was silent). Order is by Free Score only; sponsorship never changes it.
What do the free HR plan plans actually include?
Open any row for the eight-field Scorecard. The “Why it ranks here” note under each row explains the score in plain terms.
1H
HR.myMalaysia · the whole product free: records, leave with workflows, attendance, claims, payslips, self-service; crowdfundedFree foreverUnlimited employeesNo card91⌄
- What’s free
- HR records, leave management with approval workflows, time clock and attendance with overtime and tardiness, expense claims, payroll with payslips, incidents, documents, forums, employee self-service, alerts, Excel export
- Hard limits
- None: unlimited employees and storage per employer account
- Time limit
- Unlimited (free forever)
- Card required
- No. There is no paid tier.
- Upgrade trigger
- None; donations optional. No SLA, no paid support, and statutory payroll rules are configured by you
- Cheapest paid step
- None listed
- Best free for
- A cost-constrained SME anywhere that wants records, leave, attendance and payslips for any headcount
- Verified
- Oct 2026 · hr.my
2C
ConnecteamIsrael/US · all three hubs (operations, communications, HR and skills) free for life for up to ten usersFree forever10 usersNo card88⌄
- What’s free
- Small Business Plan: every feature in the Operations, Communications and HR & Skills hubs — scheduling, time clock, forms, checklists, chat, knowledge base, training, recognition — except payroll integration, the AI agent, in-chat AI translation and API access
- Hard limits
- Up to 10 users
- Time limit
- Unlimited (free for life)
- Card required
- Not stated for the free plan; the 14-day trial needs no card.
- Upgrade trigger
- An eleventh user, payroll integration, or API access
- Cheapest paid step
- Basic (one hub) $29/month billed annually ($35 monthly) for the first 30 users, then $0.50–0.60 per extra user
- Best free for
- A deskless or field team of up to ten that wants scheduling, time clock, forms, chat and training in one app
- Verified
- Oct 2026 · connecteam.com/pricing
Why it ranks here. The most complete free HR app for frontline teams: nothing is held back except payroll and API. Ten users is the single wall, and the jump over it is priced for 30 users, which is a steep first step — both reflected in the capacity score.
3Z
Zoho PeopleIndia · employee database, time-off policies, files and standard reports, free for five usersFree forever5 users · 250 MBNo card84⌄
- What’s free
- Free Plan: employee database, time-off management with custom policies, approvals, comp-off and holiday tracking, organisation and employee files, e-signature integration, standard reports, mobile apps, 250 MB storage
- Hard limits
- 5 users (one comparison table on the page shows 3) · 250 MB storage · no attendance, timesheets or onboarding
- Time limit
- Unlimited (forever free)
- Card required
- Not stated for the free plan; ‘no credit card required’ appears beside the 30-day trial only.
- Upgrade trigger
- A sixth user, or the attendance, timesheet or onboarding modules
- Cheapest paid step
- Essential HR, about $1.25/user/month billed annually, minimum 5 users (third-party figure; the vendor page shows no USD price)
- Best free for
- A five-person startup that needs a tidy directory and leave tracking with a path into Zoho’s suite
- Verified
- Oct 2026 · zoho.com/people/pricing · zenatta.com Zoho pricing guide (price)
Why it ranks here. Zoho People’s free plan is narrow but polished, and the paid step is among the cheapest in HR software — which makes the five-user cap easy to accept. The vendor’s own page is inconsistent on that cap (5 in one table, 3 in another) and hides prices; we took the conservative reading on the price and the stated 5 on users, flagged for re-verification.
4O
OrangeHRM StarterUS/Sri Lanka · open-source (GPL) HRIS with employee management, leave, ATS, time tracking and 180° reviewsOpen sourceSelf-hosted · forum supportNo card83⌄
- What’s free
- Starter: employee management, HR administration with admin and self-service roles, leave, reporting and analytics, 180° performance reviews, recruitment (ATS), time tracking, Android and iOS app; self-host or Starter on the Cloud
- Hard limits
- No user, employee or feature caps stated · forum-only support
- Time limit
- Unlimited (open-source license)
- Card required
- No. Download after a registration form; no payment mentioned.
- Upgrade trigger
- Advanced features (the vendor says Advanced is for 25+ employees), vendor support, or on-premise support
- Cheapest paid step
- Advanced: per employee per month, quote only; 30-day trial
- Best free for
- An IT-capable company that wants a self-hosted GPL HRIS with leave, recruiting and time tracking in one install
- Verified
- Oct 2026 · orangehrm.com/orangehrm-starter-open-source-software · orangehrm.com/pricing
Why it ranks here. Broadest open-source feature set here, with an ATS and performance reviews that paid tools charge for. Friction is near zero in score terms: you install, maintain and secure it, the feature table on the vendor page uses unlabelled icons, and the only support is a forum. The paid step has no public price.
5I
IceHrmAustralia · lightweight open-source HR with leave, attendance and payroll reports; cheap managed cloudOpen sourceSelf-hosted · cloud $12/moNo card78⌄
- What’s free
- IceHrm Core: employee management, leave, attendance, payroll and reports, organisation structure, project insights; free extensions after connecting the install to IceHrm.com
- Hard limits
- None for self-hosted · cloud free tier (under 5 employees) is mentioned only in page metadata
- Time limit
- Unlimited (open source); cloud 14-day trial
- Card required
- No for the download; the cloud trial states no credit card is required.
- Upgrade trigger
- Managed cloud hosting, the IceHrmPro one-time license, or paid extensions
- Cheapest paid step
- IceHrm Cloud $12/month for up to 6 employees (monthly); the page also shows a $1.10/employee calculator, basis unclear
- Best free for
- A micro-business that wants a small self-hosted HR and payroll tool, or the cheapest managed HRIS cloud on this list
- Verified
- Oct 2026 · icehrm.com/managed-hosting · github.com/gamonoid/icehrm
Why it ranks here. Lighter than OrangeHRM and quicker to run, with a managed cloud at $12 a month that is the cheapest hosted HRIS here. The license is not named on the vendor page and the pricing basis is shown two ways, which we flag; capacity is high because self-hosting has no caps.
6H
HomebaseUS · free scheduling and time clock for one location of up to ten hourly staff; HR features and payroll are paidFree forever10 employees · 1 locationNo card76⌄
- What’s free
- Basic: basic scheduling, basic time tracking and time clock, POS integration; payroll as a paid add-on
- Hard limits
- 1 location · up to 10 employees · no hiring tools
- Time limit
- Unlimited (free forever); trial accounts drop to Basic
- Card required
- No. The page states no credit card is required.
- Upgrade trigger
- An eleventh employee, a second location, hiring tools (Plus), or payroll
- Cheapest paid step
- Essentials $30/location/month, unlimited employees
- Best free for
- A single-site café or shop with up to ten hourly staff that needs a schedule and a time clock, not an HR record
- Verified
- Oct 2026 · joinhomebase.com/pricing
Why it ranks here. Homebase is a scheduling tool with an HR product attached, so on the HRIS job it scores modestly: no employee record beyond the roster, no leave management on Basic. It stays on the list because for hourly teams the time clock is the HR system, and the no-card promise is explicit.
7D
Deel HRUS · a free HRIS layer — onboarding, time off, documents, analytics — that exists to sell Deel’s paid payroll, EOR and contractor productsFree foreverNo cap stated · lead-in to DeelNo card72⌄
- What’s free
- Deel HR, described as free of charge: onboarding, workflow automation, time off, expenses, documents and e-signatures, workforce analytics, app provisioning, compliance tools, permissions
- Hard limits
- No employee limit stated · the page does not specify which features are in the free tier
- Time limit
- Unlimited (no end stated)
- Card required
- Not stated.
- Upgrade trigger
- Any paid Deel product: contractor management, PEO, EOR or global payroll
- Cheapest paid step
- Contractor management from $49/contractor/month; US PEO from $125/employee/month; EOR from $599/employee/month
- Best free for
- A distributed startup already paying Deel for contractors or EOR that wants a free HRIS on top
- Verified
- Oct 2026 · deel.com/hr · deel.com/pricing
Why it ranks here. Potentially the richest free HRIS here, but the vendor’s pricing page does not mention it and the HR page does not say which features are free, so we cannot score what we cannot verify. Friction is low because the product is a funnel to some of the most expensive paid tiers in HR software.
8B
Bitrix24US · free collaboration suite with CRM, tasks and chat; the HR module (time tracking, absence, work reports) sits in ProfessionalFree foreverHR tools not in FreeNo card64⌄
- What’s free
- Free: basic CRM, tasks with Kanban and Gantt, shared calendars, chat and video calls, 5 GB storage
- Hard limits
- Page states ‘free for 1–2 users’ and ‘unlimited users’ in different places · 5 GB · HR tools excluded
- Time limit
- Unlimited
- Card required
- Not stated for Free; ‘no credit card’ applies to the 15-day trial.
- Upgrade trigger
- Any HR management tool or employee hours tracking (Professional)
- Cheapest paid step
- Basic $49/month billed annually ($69 monthly) per organisation, 5 users
- Best free for
- A two-person team that wants a free collaboration hub and will accept no HR module
- Verified
- Oct 2026 · bitrix24.com/prices
Why it ranks here. Listed because it appears in every ‘free HR software’ search, and ranked low because the HR module is precisely what the free plan excludes. The vendor’s own page disagrees with itself on the free user count; we scored the conservative reading.
9S
SentrifugoSapplica · open-source (GPL-3.0) HRMS with leave, attendance, appraisals, ATS and onboarding; no visible developmentOpen sourceSelf-hosted · dormant projectNo card58⌄
- What’s free
- Employee management, leave and time off, attendance, performance and appraisal, recruitment, onboarding, self-service, reports
- Hard limits
- None (self-hosted) · version 3.1.1 · repository shows no releases or recent activity
- Time limit
- Unlimited (open-source license)
- Card required
- No. Free download.
- Upgrade trigger
- None official; no commercial tier found on official sources
- Cheapest paid step
- None listed on official sources
- Best free for
- A small firm with PHP/MySQL skills that wants a free HRMS and does not need active development or payroll
- Verified
- Oct 2026 · github.com/Sentrifugo/sentrifugo (vendor site blocks fetching)
Why it ranks here. A full HRMS on paper, but the repository appears dormant and the vendor site blocks automated reading, so the row is built from GitHub and a software directory. We rank it last with a plain warning: install only if you are prepared to maintain it yourself.
Which free HR plan has no credit-card requirement?
Homebase states that no card is needed; HR.my and Sentrifugo have no paid tier; OrangeHRM and IceHrm are downloads. Zoho People, Connecteam and Bitrix24 state ‘no credit card’ only for their trials and say nothing about the free plan, which we record as “not stated”; Deel HR says nothing either way. No free plan on this list converts to a paid one automatically.
The ceilings matter more than the sign-ups. Headcount: HR.my, OrangeHRM, IceHrm, Sentrifugo and Deel state no cap; Connecteam and Homebase stop at ten; Zoho People at five; Bitrix24 is unclear. Modules: attendance is free on HR.my, Connecteam, OrangeHRM, IceHrm and Homebase, and paid on Zoho People and Bitrix24; payslips only on HR.my and IceHrm. Pick the ceiling you will hit last.
When does the free plan stop being enough?
Kurums Match: which free HR plan fits your situation?
Any headcount, want leave, attendance and payslips free
HR.my. Configure deductions once; export to Excel monthly as insurance.
Ten frontline workers with phones
Connecteam Small Business Plan. Schedule, clock, forms, chat and training; payroll integration is the paid line.
Five-person office startup
Zoho People Free. Directory and leave policies; add attendance when you pay $1.25 a head.
IT admin on staff, no per-seat fees ever
OrangeHRM Starter. Leave, ATS, time and reviews self-hosted.
Micro-business, want hosted HR for under $15
IceHrm Cloud at $12 for six employees, or self-host it free.
Hourly staff at one location
Homebase Basic. The time clock is your HR system until you grow.
How we score free tiers
Duration (30): free forever scores 30, a 30-day-plus trial 15, a trial of 14 days or less 8, credit-based tiers 12. Capacity (30): whether the limits carry a team of three for twelve months. Core job (25): whether the free tier does the category’s main work — here, an employee database with leave management, documents and self-service. Friction (15): no card 15; card but no auto-charge 8; auto-charge 0; self-hosting deducts for setup and maintenance.
Each free tier was checked on the vendor’s pricing page on 21 October 2026; where the vendor page was silent, the Scorecard names the third-party source used. Free tiers change, so this list is re-verified every quarter and a discontinued free plan stays listed for one month with a notice. Order is by Free Score only. Kurums Free sells no placement; sponsorship, affiliate links and vendor requests never change a score, a rank or a label. Vendors can submit corrections through the Update your free tier form.
How did we verify these free tiers?
For each product we opened the pricing page and recorded the free tier’s stated limits, the cheapest paid plan and its billing basis, and the card requirement if stated. Where a vendor page shows no price (Zoho People, OrangeHRM Advanced), the row names the third-party source or says ‘quote only’. Where a vendor’s page disagrees with itself (Zoho People’s 5 versus 3 users, Bitrix24’s 1–2 versus unlimited), we scored the conservative reading and said so. Sentrifugo’s site blocks automated reading, so its row comes from GitHub and a software directory and is marked for manual re-verification.
Prices are USD. Deel HR is included because the vendor describes it as free, with the caveat that the free feature set is not itemised anywhere we could read. We did not test the products for this list; the score measures the published free tier, not the product’s quality.
Frequently asked questions
Which free HR software has no employee limit?
HR.my (hosted, no paid tier), OrangeHRM Starter, IceHrm and Sentrifugo (self-hosted), and Deel HR (no cap stated). Connecteam and Homebase stop at ten users; Zoho People at five.
Which free HRIS includes attendance or a time clock?
HR.my, Connecteam, OrangeHRM Starter, IceHrm and Homebase Basic. Zoho People’s free plan excludes attendance; Bitrix24’s excludes all HR tools.
Is there a free HRIS that also runs payroll?
HR.my produces payslips for unlimited staff and IceHrm includes payroll reports, both without a statutory filing engine. For filing, see the free payroll software list.
Is Freshteam still free?
No. Freshworks stopped selling Freshteam as a standalone product and is ending renewals in March 2026; the old HRMS address now redirects to Freshservice.
Why is OrangeHRM ranked below Connecteam when it has no caps?
Because the score weighs friction: OrangeHRM must be installed, maintained and secured by you, with forum-only support, while Connecteam is hosted and complete up to ten users. On duration and capacity OrangeHRM is already at full marks.
How is this different from the Best HR Software comparison?
This list answers ‘where can I run HR without paying’. The Best comparison answers ‘which one should I buy’ and ranks paid tiers. Both use the same no-sponsorship rule.
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