ZenHR is a MENA HR, payroll and attendance system with country pages for Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Egypt, Iraq, Jordan and Kuwait. The biggest difference is how the AI works: Peoplo.ai is an agentic HRMS, where AI agents do the groundwork and people decide on pay, records and money.
Where Peoplo.ai is different: End-of-service prepared by an agent, approved by you
Peoplo.ai agent run
Exit coordinator
Trigger: Omar Haddad resigned, last day Thu 31 Dec
Read his contract, basic salary and joining date
Worked out gratuity for 6 years and 6 months
Added unused leave and the final month of pay
Listed the laptop and access card to collect
Drafted the settlement for approval
Waiting for your approvalReview settlement
Our verdict
Our pick is Peoplo.ai if you want AI agents that prepare payroll, onboarding and exits while people decide on pay, records and money, with prices published up front. ZenHR may suit you better if your main operation is in Saudi Arabia and you need Mudad, Muqeem and GOSI integration.
Peoplo.ai wrote this page and lists its own product first. Facts about other products come from their public pages, with the date we checked them.
AI agents and agentic HR
The difference is in how the AI works
ZenHR describes AI skills that analyse workforce, compliance and leave data, with human oversight. Peoplo.ai is built as an agentic system: agents start work when something happens, prepare it and wait for a person to approve changes to pay, records and money.
How the AI in Peoplo.ai and ZenHR compares
Peoplo.ai
ZenHR
How the AI works
An agentic system: agents with one job each, set off by events such as month-end payroll, an accepted offer or a resignation.
Five named AI skills, plus ZenAI in the ZenATS hiring add-on for job descriptions and emails.
Who makes the change
Agents prepare the work. A person approves changes to pay, people records and money before they are applied.
Says "Human oversight remains part of every decision."
Assistant
Kili answers questions from company records and proposes changes as cards you confirm or cancel.
ZenAI, in the ZenATS hiring add-on.
Record of what AI did
Important changes are written to an audit log: who did what, and when.
Not described on the pages we checked.
Control
Admins switch each agent on or off. Peoplo.ai works as a normal HRMS without them.
Not described on the pages we checked.
Bring your own AI
Connect Claude Desktop, Claude Code or ChatGPT over MCP with a personal API key and the same permissions.
Says it works with any LLM, naming Claude, ChatGPT and Gemini.
ZenHR details are from its public website, checked 28 October 2026. “Not described” means we didn’t find it on the pages listed in the sources, not that it doesn’t exist.
What agentic means in Peoplo.ai
From trigger to approval, without anyone starting it
ZenHR describes itself as a "localized HR, payroll, and attendance system built for MENA", in Arabic and English. It sells two bundles, Value and Advanced, quoted per organization.
Peoplo.ai and ZenHR compared
Peoplo.ai
ZenHR
Pricing
Published: AED 12 per employee a month, for at least 25 employees. Before VAT.
Not published. "Quoted per organization based on headcount, countries, and bundle." AI hiring and succession add-ons are priced separately.
UAE payroll
Designed to support WPS salary files and end-of-service for mainland, DIFC and ADGM.
Says it generates WPS and bank files, with built-in WPS reporting for the UAE.
Beyond HR
Claims and bills, company expenses, IT assets and a shared password vault on the same employee record.
Expenses, business trips and loans through approval workflows. Cost centres and company expenses on the Advanced bundle.
Countries
UAE and Indian entities in one account. Qatar, Oman, Bahrain and Kuwait coming soon.
Saudi Arabia, UAE, Egypt, Iraq, Jordan and Kuwait pages, with Mudad, Muqeem and GOSI integration for Saudi Arabia.
Security
Built for GDPR and SOC 2 (no SOC 2 certificate yet). Two-step sign-in, Google and Microsoft sign-in and an audit trail.
States SOC 2 Type II and ISO 27001.
Products and prices change, so check ZenHR's site for the latest. If anything here is out of date, write to team@peoplo.ai and we will fix it.
ZenHR may suit you better if
Your main operation is in Saudi Arabia and you need Mudad, Muqeem and GOSI integration.
You operate across several MENA countries such as Egypt, Jordan or Iraq.
Peoplo.ai may suit you better if
You want to see prices in AED before talking to sales.
You want AI agents in the plan, not as separately priced add-ons.
You also run companies in India and want them in the same account.
Each product as our UAE ranking describes it, from its own pages and with the date checked.
Peoplo.ai
An agentic HRMS. AI agents prepare payroll checks, onboarding plans, exit settlements and claims, and changes to pay, tax, people records and money always wait for a person. Designed to support WPS salary files and end-of-service for mainland, DIFC and ADGM employees.
Best for
Companies that want AI agents to prepare HR and payroll work, and groups with UAE and Indian companies.
AI
AI agents that prepare the work
WPS salary files
Designed to support WPS salary files
Arabic
Arabic in the app (beta)
Free trial
Free trial
Price
AED 12 per employee a month before VAT, for at least 25 employees
What stands out
AI agents prepare payroll checks, onboarding plans, exit settlements and claims, and important changes are written to an audit log: who did what, and when.
Prices published in AED, AED 12 per employee a month for at least 25 employees, with AI agents included.
End-of-service for mainland, DIFC (DEWS) and ADGM employees, and UAE and Indian companies in one account with one sign-in.
Worth checking
Arabic in the app is in beta.
Payroll for Qatar, Oman, Bahrain and Kuwait is coming soon. Saudi Arabia is not covered.
Built for SOC 2 and GDPR, with no SOC 2 certificate yet.
A "localized HR, payroll, and attendance system built for MENA", in Arabic and English, with country pages for Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Egypt, Iraq, Jordan and Kuwait.
Best for
Your main operation is in Saudi Arabia, or you run HR across several MENA countries.
AI
Five AI skills; says it works with any LLM
WPS salary files
Says it generates WPS and bank files
Arabic
Arabic and English
Free trial
Demo
Price
Quoted per organisation
What stands out
Mudad, Muqeem and GOSI integration for Saudi Arabia, and pages for six MENA countries.
Says "Human oversight remains part of every decision" for its AI, and names Claude, ChatGPT and Gemini.
States SOC 2 Type II and ISO 27001.
Worth checking
Prices are quoted per organisation; AI hiring and succession add-ons are priced separately.
A record of what the AI did is not described on the pages we checked.
What any UAE HR software, ZenHR or Peoplo.ai, should calculate. Ask both to show these numbers in a demo. Rules checked 31 October 2026.
Gratuity, mainland
Basic AED 10,000 a month, 7 years: 105 days for the first five years and 60 for the next two, at AED 333.33 a day, comes to AED 55,000.
DEWS, DIFC
Basic AED 10,000: the employer pays AED 583 a month (5.83%) for under five years' service and AED 833 (8.33%) from five years.
GPSSA, Emirati employee
Salary AED 15,000: employee AED 1,650, employer AED 1,875 and government AED 375.
ADPF, Emirati in Abu Dhabi
Salary AED 25,000: employee AED 2,750 and employer AED 3,750, for a member newly insured under the 2023 law.
Overtime
At least 25% extra: at an hourly wage of AED 25, an overtime hour is AED 31.25, and 50% extra between 10 pm and 4 am for workers not on shifts.
Salary due date
Under Ministerial Resolution No. 340 of 2026, salaries are due on the first day of the following month, and at least 85% of wages must be paid on time.
UAE checklist
UAE rules to test in ZenHR and Peoplo.ai
Peoplo.ai is designed to support each of these; ask every vendor to show them on your own data.
WPS salary file
A salary information file for each establishment and bank, every month, from the same payroll run.
Due date and 85%
Salaries due on the first day of the following month; enforcement starts 2 days after the due date.
Gratuity on basic salary
21 days a year for five years, then 30, capped at two years' wages, paid within 14 days.
DIFC and ADGM
DEWS for DIFC staff; the ADGM Employment Regulations 2024 for ADGM staff, outside the UAE WPS.
GPSSA or ADPF
The right pension fund for each Emirati employee: ADPF for those working in Abu Dhabi, the GPSSA elsewhere.
Emiratisation
The skilled Emirati share tracked against 30 June and 31 December for mainland companies with 50 or more staff.
Personal data
Where employee data is stored and processed, checked against Federal Decree-Law No. 45 of 2021. Peoplo.ai runs in one Microsoft Azure region, East US.
Arabic
Arabic for employees, right to left, and Arabic payslips and letters if you need them. Peoplo.ai has Arabic in the app in beta.
ZenHR describes AI skills that analyse workforce, compliance and leave data, with human oversight. Peoplo.ai is built as an agentic system: agents start work when something happens, prepare it and wait for a person to approve changes to pay, records and money. Here are six of Peoplo.ai's agents on UAE sample data.
Payroll anomaly check: October payroll calculated for 42 employees
Read salaries, allowances and revisions. Compared every payslip with September. Added overtime from site timesheets. Found 1 person with no IBAN set. Flagged an overtime amount twice the usual. Then it waits for you: review and lock. What it never does: lock or pay a payroll run.
Onboarding coordinator: Ahmed Saleh accepted the offer
Picked the Operations onboarding template. Set due dates from the joining date, Mon 2 Nov. Assigned tasks to Ahmed, his manager and HR. Added visa and Emirates ID steps. Chose a buddy from the same team. Then it waits for you: approve and send. What it never does: send anything to a new joiner without approval.
Exit coordinator: Sara Khan’s last day set to Wed 25 Nov
Read monthly salary and basic from payroll. Counted 6 days of unused leave. Worked out end-of-service for 5 years: AED 42,000. Checked IT assets: laptop and ID card still assigned. Drafted the experience certificate. Then it waits for you: approve settlement. What it never does: pay a settlement or revoke access on its own.
Receipt reader: Aisha Rahman attached a receipt to a claim
Read the merchant, date and amount. Matched the category to Travel. Checked the amount against the travel policy. Kept the amount in AED. Filled in the claim line. Then it waits for you: approve claim. What it never does: approve or pay a claim.
Policy assistant: An employee asked about carrying annual leave forward
Found the Leave policy 2026. Read the carry-over section. Looked up the employee’s own balance. Worked out what lapses on 31 Dec. Answered with the source. Then it waits for you: answered. What it never does: change any record. It only answers.
Weekly brief: Monday morning, week of 26 Oct
Counted leave, joiners and leavers. Listed approvals waiting more than 3 days. Checked visa expiry and the WPS date. Summarised the week for HR and managers. Sent the brief. Then it waits for you: read. What it never does: act on what it finds. It only reports.
In the demo
Eight things to ask ZenHR and Peoplo.ai to show
Bring your own data. The same eight requests show the difference faster than any feature list.
1Run one month of payroll and download the WPS salary file.
2Settle a leaver with 6 years and 6 months of mainland service, and check the gratuity.
3Add a DIFC employee and show the DEWS contribution on the payslip.
4Add an Emirati employee in Abu Dhabi and show the ADPF contribution.
5Switch an employee to Arabic and open a payslip.
6Show what the AI prepares without being asked, and who has to approve it.
7Give us the price for our headcount for three years, with every add-on.
8Export all our employee data to a file, as we would if we left.
By team size
ZenHR or Peoplo.ai at your size
What usually decides it at each size.
Under 25 employees
A WPS file from the first month and a price you can see. Peoplo.ai is AED 300 a month for up to 25, before VAT. ZenHR: Quoted per organisation.
25 to 100 employees
End-of-service, approvals and Emiratisation start to matter. Peoplo.ai is AED 1,200 a month for 100, with AI agents and hiring included.
100 to 500 employees
Several entities and zones, mainland with DIFC or ADGM. Peoplo.ai is AED 6,000 a month for 500.
Several GCC countries
Peoplo.ai covers the UAE and India; Qatar, Oman, Bahrain and Kuwait are coming soon. ZenHR is described as best for: your main operation is in Saudi Arabia, or you run HR across several MENA countries.
Switching
Moving from ZenHR to Peoplo.ai
Switch at the start of a month, after a WPS file has gone, so the next salary run starts clean. Plan for one payroll run in parallel.
1
Employee records
Employee master with joining dates, Emirates ID and visa details, labour card numbers and the entity each person works for: mainland, DIFC or ADGM.
2
WPS details
Establishment IDs and the bank or exchange house each entity uses for its salary file.
3
Salary structures
Basic salary, housing and transport allowances and other components, since end-of-service is worked out on basic salary.
4
Leave and service
Leave balances on the switch date and contract start dates, which set each person's end-of-service entitlement. For DIFC staff, DEWS contribution history.
5
Documents and approvals
Contracts, offer letters and policies, plus who approves what, so the same rules apply on day one.
How we compared
We read ZenHR's public pages, listed in the sources above, on 28 October 2026, and compared them with what Peoplo.ai does today. We did not test ZenHR's software. Where its pages don't describe something, we say "not described" rather than "missing". Peoplo.ai wrote this page; if anything about ZenHR is out of date, write to team@peoplo.ai and we will fix it.
Straight answers for UAE companies comparing HR software.
Is Peoplo.ai or ZenHR better?
Our pick is Peoplo.ai if you want AI agents that prepare payroll, onboarding and exits while people decide on pay, records and money, with prices published up front. ZenHR may suit you better if your main operation is in Saudi Arabia and you need Mudad, Muqeem and GOSI integration. Peoplo.ai wrote this page and lists its own product first. Facts about other products come from their public pages, with the date we checked them.
How does ZenHR pricing compare with Peoplo.ai?
ZenHR: Not published. "Quoted per organization based on headcount, countries, and bundle." AI hiring and succession add-ons are priced separately. Peoplo.ai: AED 12 per employee a month, for at least 25 employees. Before VAT. ZenHR pricing checked 28 October 2026.
Does ZenHR have AI agents like Peoplo.ai?
Five named AI skills, plus ZenAI in the ZenATS hiring add-on for job descriptions and emails. ZenHR describes AI skills that analyse workforce, compliance and leave data, with human oversight. Peoplo.ai is built as an agentic system: agents start work when something happens, prepare it and wait for a person to approve changes to pay, records and money.
Who should choose Peoplo.ai over ZenHR?
You want to see prices in AED before talking to sales. You want AI agents in the plan, not as separately priced add-ons. You also run companies in India and want them in the same account.
Does ZenHR make WPS salary files?
ZenHR: Says it generates WPS and bank files, with built-in WPS reporting for the UAE. Peoplo.ai: Designed to support WPS salary files and end-of-service for mainland, DIFC and ADGM.
What does ZenHR cover beyond HR and payroll?
ZenHR: Expenses, business trips and loans through approval workflows. Cost centres and company expenses on the Advanced bundle. Peoplo.ai: Claims and bills, company expenses, IT assets and a shared password vault on the same employee record.
Which countries does ZenHR cover?
ZenHR: Saudi Arabia, UAE, Egypt, Iraq, Jordan and Kuwait pages, with Mudad, Muqeem and GOSI integration for Saudi Arabia. Peoplo.ai: UAE and Indian entities in one account. Qatar, Oman, Bahrain and Kuwait coming soon.
What security certifications does ZenHR state?
ZenHR: States SOC 2 Type II and ISO 27001. Peoplo.ai: Built for GDPR and SOC 2 (no SOC 2 certificate yet). Two-step sign-in, Google and Microsoft sign-in and an audit trail.
How do I switch from ZenHR to Peoplo.ai?
Export your employee records, salary structures, leave balances and contract start dates and this year's payroll from ZenHR, set up Peoplo.ai with the same pay components, and run one payroll in parallel before you switch. The switching checklist on this page lists what to move.
What is ZenHR best for?
From ZenHR's own pages, checked 28 October 2026: Your main operation is in Saudi Arabia, or you run HR across several MENA countries. A "localized HR, payroll, and attendance system built for MENA", in Arabic and English, with country pages for Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Egypt, Iraq, Jordan and Kuwait.
What should I check before choosing ZenHR?
Prices are quoted per organisation; AI hiring and succession add-ons are priced separately. A record of what the AI did is not described on the pages we checked. These come from ZenHR's own pages, checked 28 October 2026.
Does ZenHR have a free trial?
ZenHR: Demo. Peoplo.ai: Free trial, with prices published in AED.
Does ZenHR work in Arabic?
ZenHR: Arabic and English. Peoplo.ai: Arabic in the app is in beta.
Do ZenHR and Peoplo.ai handle DEWS for DIFC staff?
Peoplo.ai is designed to support DEWS at 5.83% and 8.33% of basic salary. Ask ZenHR to show a DIFC payslip in the demo.
Do ZenHR and Peoplo.ai handle ADPF for Emiratis in Abu Dhabi?
Peoplo.ai is designed to pick ADPF for UAE nationals working in Abu Dhabi and the GPSSA elsewhere. Ask ZenHR to show both on your data.
Can we run a pilot before switching from ZenHR?
Yes. Run one month of payroll in Peoplo.ai alongside your current system, compare every payslip and the WPS file, then switch at the start of the next month.
