Darwinbox is an Indian HCM platform built for large enterprises, with a fast-growing set of AI agents. 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: Fills in the claim, then waits for a person
Peoplo.ai agent run
Receipt reader
Trigger: Neha Iyer attached a receipt to a claim
Read the merchant, date and amount: ₹640
Matched the category to Travel
Checked it against the travel policy limit
Matched the date to her client visit
Filled in the claim line
Waiting for your approvalApprove claim
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. Darwinbox may suit you better if you are a large enterprise or multinational and want a broad, global HCM suite.
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
Both are agentic, and Darwinbox has gone far for large enterprises. Peoplo.ai differs in who it’s for and how it asks: published prices, set up in days, and changes to pay, tax, people records and money always wait for a person.
How the AI in Peoplo.ai and Darwinbox compares
Peoplo.ai
Darwinbox
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.
Agentic. Darwinbox reports more than 30 agents, and a Super Agent that takes requests in plain language across HR, IT and Finance.
Who makes the change
Agents prepare the work. A person approves changes to pay, people records and money before they are applied.
Super Agent takes actions, such as updating rosters or starting an offboarding, and is described as keeping “humans in the loop for sensitive steps”.
Assistant
Kili answers questions from company records and proposes changes as cards you confirm or cancel.
Super Agent, one natural-language interface for employees.
Record of what AI did
Important changes are written to an audit log: who did what, and when.
A full audit trail is described, with oversight of exceptions for CHROs and CIOs.
Control
Admins switch each agent on or off. Peoplo.ai works as a normal HRMS without them.
Actions inherit HCM permissions, approvals and audit, and Super Agent manages agent permissions and controls.
Bring your own AI
Connect Claude Desktop, Claude Code or ChatGPT over MCP with a personal API key and the same permissions.
An MCP server, launched in beta in May 2025, lets external AI agents act in Darwinbox within role-based access.
Darwinbox details are from its announcements as reported by People Matters and diginomica, checked 23 October 2026. Its own website wasn’t reachable when we checked. “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
Darwinbox is reported to serve around 1,000 enterprise customers and more than 4 million employees in about 130 countries, mostly large enterprises and multinationals. Prices are quoted by sales.
Peoplo.ai and Darwinbox compared
Peoplo.ai
Darwinbox
Pricing
Published: ₹79 per employee a month, for at least 25 employees. Before GST.
Not published. Plans are quoted by sales.
Indian statutory payroll
Designed to support PF, ESI, professional tax and LWF for every state, and TDS under both regimes.
Payroll is part of its HCM suite. Check statutory coverage with Darwinbox for your states.
Beyond HR
Claims and bills, company expenses, IT assets and a shared password vault on the same employee record. Cap table with ESOP and RSU plans, grants and vesting.
Super Agent is described as working across HR, IT and Finance requests, and Darwinbox Studio connects other systems.
Outside India
UAE entities (mainland, DIFC, ADGM) with WPS files in the same account. HR for Europe (Germany, France, Italy, Spain, the Netherlands, Estonia) is coming soon. Payroll is only for India and the UAE.
Customers in about 130 countries.
Hiring
Hiring, onboarding and exits included in the plan.
Recruiting is part of the suite, with recruiting agents reported.
Who it’s built for
Companies that want to start in days.
Large enterprises, including multinationals.
Products and prices change, so check Darwinbox's site for the latest. If anything here is out of date, write to team@peoplo.ai and we will fix it.
Darwinbox may suit you better if
You are a large enterprise or multinational and want a broad, global HCM suite.
You want a large catalogue of agents across HR, IT and Finance, and have the team to configure them.
Peoplo.ai may suit you better if
You want AI agents without an enterprise rollout.
You want agents to stop for a person on pay, records and money, and act alone only where an admin allows it.
You want to see the price first, with claims, IT assets and passwords on the same employee record.
Each product as our India rankings describe it, from its own pages and with the date checked, including the points worth checking for each.
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 PF, ESI, professional tax and LWF for every state, and TDS under both regimes.
Best for
Companies that want AI agents to prepare HR and payroll work, and groups with Indian and UAE companies.
AI
AI agents that prepare the work
Statutory payroll
Designed to support PF, ESI, PT, LWF and TDS
Hiring
Included in the plan
Free trial
Free trial
Price
₹79 per employee a month before GST, 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.
Published prices from ₹1,975 a month for up to 25 employees, with AI agents, hiring, onboarding and exits in the plan.
Claims and bills, company expenses, IT assets and a shared password vault on the same employee record, and UAE companies in the same account.
Worth checking
Published prices go up to 2,000 employees; above that, talk to us.
A newer product, so there are fewer published customer stories than for long-established vendors.
Built for SOC 2 and GDPR, with no SOC 2 certificate yet.
An Indian HCM platform reported to serve around 1,000 enterprise customers and more than 4 million employees in about 130 countries, with a fast-growing set of AI agents.
Best for
You are a large enterprise or multinational and want a broad, global HCM suite.
AI
More than 30 agents and a Super Agent, reported
Statutory payroll
Part of its HCM suite; check states with Darwinbox
Hiring
In the suite, with recruiting agents reported
Free trial
Demo
Price
Quoted by sales
What stands out
Super Agent takes plain-language requests across HR, IT and Finance.
Darwinbox Studio connects other systems, and an MCP server was announced in May 2025.
Built for large, multi-country workforces.
Worth checking
Prices are not published.
Statutory coverage by state is not listed on the pages we checked.
What any HR software in India, Darwinbox or Peoplo.ai, should calculate for the same person. Ask both to show these numbers in a demo.
Provident Fund
Basic ₹30,000 a month: PF wages are capped at the ₹25,000 ceiling in force from 17 September 2026, so the employee pays ₹3,000. The employer also pays ₹3,000: ₹2,083 to the pension scheme (EPS) and ₹918 to EPF.
ESI
Gross ₹50,000 is above the ₹21,000 ESI ceiling, so no ESI applies. At a gross of ₹18,000, the employee would pay ₹135 (0.75%) and the employer ₹585 (3.25%).
Professional tax
In Karnataka, ₹200 a month from a gross of ₹25,000, and ₹300 in February, capped at ₹2,500 a year. In Maharashtra the top slab is ₹200, with ₹300 in February. Delhi has none.
Income tax (TDS)
Under the new regime, the standard deduction is ₹75,000 and income up to ₹12 lakh pays no tax after the rebate. TDS each month depends on the regime the employee chose and the year so far.
Gratuity at exit
Last drawn basic ₹40,000 after 6 years: (₹40,000 × 15 ÷ 26) × 6 = ₹1,38,462, within the ₹20 lakh cap.
In-hand before TDS
Gross ₹50,000 less employee PF of ₹3,000 and Karnataka professional tax of ₹200 leaves ₹46,800 a month before income tax. The salary calculator works the same out for any CTC.
Leave encashment at exit
Last drawn basic ₹40,000 and 20 unused days: (₹40,000 ÷ 30) × 20 = ₹26,667, paid with the final settlement. The tax exemption for non-government employees is capped at ₹25 lakh across a working life.
Full and final settlement
Under the Code on Wages, wages due to someone who leaves, including leave encashment, must be paid within two working days of the last day. Gratuity, where it is due, follows the Code on Social Security and must be paid within 30 days of becoming payable.
India checklist
Indian rules to test in Darwinbox and Peoplo.ai
The rules that catch most payroll teams out. Peoplo.ai is designed to support each one; ask every vendor to show them on your own data.
PF at the new ceiling
12% from employee and employer on wages up to ₹25,000 a month since 17 September 2026 (₹15,000 before), with 8.33% of the employer share to EPS.
ESI crossings
ESI applies up to gross wages of ₹21,000 a month. Someone who crosses the line mid-period stays covered to the end of that contribution period.
Professional tax by state
Different slabs in every state, February top-ups in some, half-yearly in Tamil Nadu and none in Delhi. Check each state you employ people in.
LWF
Labour welfare fund contributions differ by state in amount and timing. Ask how the software sets them for each work location.
TDS under both regimes
Employees choose the old or new regime; the new regime has a ₹75,000 standard deduction and the rebate up to ₹12 lakh.
Gratuity
15 days' last drawn basic for each year after five years of service (one year for fixed-term staff), worked out at 15 ÷ 26, up to ₹20 lakh.
Leave encashment at exit
Exempt up to ₹25 lakh across a working life for non-government employees, from 1 April 2023.
Settlement in two working days
The Code on Wages sets two working days from the last day for wages due to someone who leaves.
Both are agentic, and Darwinbox has gone far for large enterprises. Peoplo.ai differs in who it’s for and how it asks: published prices, set up in days, and changes to pay, tax, people records and money always wait for a person. Here are six of Peoplo.ai's agents on Indian sample data: what starts it, what it does, and the step it hands back.
Payroll anomaly check: October payroll calculated for 48 employees
Read salaries, pay components and revisions. Compared every payslip with September. Checked PF, ESI, PT and TDS for each work state. Found 1 person with no salary 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: Arjun Mehta accepted the offer
Picked the Design onboarding template. Set due dates from the joining date, Mon 2 Nov. Assigned tasks to Arjun, his manager and HR. Drafted the laptop and email request for IT. 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 gross from payroll. Counted 6 days of encashable leave. Checked IT assets: laptop and ID card still assigned. Worked out the full and final settlement. Drafted the relieving and experience letters. Then it waits for you: approve settlement. What it never does: pay a settlement or revoke access on its own.
Receipt reader: Neha Iyer attached a receipt to a claim
Read the merchant, date and amount. Matched the category to Travel. Checked the amount against the travel policy. Converted at October’s rate. 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 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 statutory due dates. 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.
Day to day
What changes for each team if you move from Darwinbox to Peoplo.ai
Peoplo.ai is built so that AI agents do the groundwork and people make the decisions. Here is what that means for each person who uses it.
HR team
Agents prepare onboarding plans when an offer is accepted and settlements when a last day is set. HR reviews and approves; nothing reaches a joiner or a leaver without that approval.
Payroll team
The payroll check compares every payslip with last month and flags PF, ESI, PT and TDS changes, missing attendance and unusual amounts. A person locks the run; the agent never does.
Finance
Claims and bills, company expenses and IT assets sit on the same employee record, so payroll, reimbursements and assets reconcile in one place.
Managers
Leave approvals, onboarding tasks for new joiners and exit handovers arrive as tasks with the context already filled in.
Employees
Payslips, leave and tax declarations in self-service, and the receipt reader fills in claims from a photo. Kili answers policy questions from company records.
Admins
Each agent can be switched on or off, and Peoplo.ai works as a normal HRMS without them. Important changes are written to an audit log: who did what, and when.
In the demo
Eight things to ask Darwinbox 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 for our states and show PF, ESI, PT, LWF and TDS for three people we choose.
2Show how the PF increase from the ₹25,000 ceiling appears on this month's payslips.
3Settle a leaver with 6 years and 2 months of service: final salary, leave encashment and gratuity.
4Take a new joiner from accepted offer to day one, with PAN, Aadhaar and UAN.
5Show what the AI prepares without being asked, and who has to approve it.
6Open the record of who changed a salary, and when.
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
Darwinbox or Peoplo.ai at your size
What usually decides it at each size. The cards above give each product's own strengths and limits.
Under 25 employees
Price and a quick start matter most. Peoplo.ai is ₹1,975 a month for up to 25, before GST. Darwinbox: Quoted by sales.
25 to 100 employees
Payroll accuracy, hiring and exits start to take real time. Peoplo.ai is ₹7,900 a month for 100, with AI agents and hiring included. Compare Darwinbox's total at the same headcount, with add-ons.
100 to 500 employees
Several states, entities and approval chains. Peoplo.ai is ₹39,500 a month for 500. Ask both for a migration plan and a parallel month.
Over 500 employees
Peoplo.ai publishes prices up to 2,000 employees; above that, talk to us. Darwinbox is described as best for: you are a large enterprise or multinational and want a broad, global HCM suite.
Switching
Moving from Darwinbox to Peoplo.ai
The safest time to switch is at the start of a month, and easiest at the start of a quarter, so TDS and PF returns stay clean. Plan for one payroll run in parallel.
1
Employee records
Employee master with joining dates, PAN, UAN, ESI IP numbers, bank details and the state each person works in.
2
Salary structures
Pay components, CTC breakdowns, and whether PF is on capped or full wages.
3
This year's payroll
Year-to-date earnings, TDS deducted, regime choice and investment declarations, so TDS for the rest of the year is right.
4
Leave and attendance
Leave policies and balances on the switch date, holidays by location and shift patterns.
5
Documents and approvals
Offer letters, contracts and policies, plus who approves what, so the same rules apply on day one.
How we compared
We read Darwinbox's public pages, listed in the sources above, on 23 October 2026, and compared them with what Peoplo.ai does today. We did not test Darwinbox's software. Where its pages don't describe something, we say "not described" rather than "missing". Peoplo.ai wrote this page; if anything about Darwinbox is out of date, write to team@peoplo.ai and we will fix it.
Straight answers about Peoplo.ai for Indian companies.
Is Peoplo.ai or Darwinbox 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. Darwinbox may suit you better if you are a large enterprise or multinational and want a broad, global HCM suite. 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 Darwinbox pricing compare with Peoplo.ai?
Darwinbox: Not published. Plans are quoted by sales. Peoplo.ai: ₹79 per employee a month, for at least 25 employees. Before GST. Darwinbox pricing checked 23 October 2026.
Does Darwinbox have AI agents like Peoplo.ai?
Agentic. Darwinbox reports more than 30 agents, and a Super Agent that takes requests in plain language across HR, IT and Finance. Both are agentic, and Darwinbox has gone far for large enterprises. Peoplo.ai differs in who it’s for and how it asks: published prices, set up in days, and changes to pay, tax, people records and money always wait for a person.
Who should choose Peoplo.ai over Darwinbox?
You want AI agents without an enterprise rollout. You want agents to stop for a person on pay, records and money, and act alone only where an admin allows it. You want to see the price first, with claims, IT assets and passwords on the same employee record.
Does Darwinbox handle PF, ESI, PT and TDS?
Darwinbox: Payroll is part of its HCM suite. Check statutory coverage with Darwinbox for your states. Peoplo.ai: Designed to support PF, ESI, professional tax and LWF for every state, and TDS under both regimes.
Does Darwinbox include hiring and onboarding?
Darwinbox: Recruiting is part of the suite, with recruiting agents reported. Peoplo.ai: Hiring, onboarding and exits included in the plan.
What does Darwinbox cover beyond HR and payroll?
Darwinbox: Super Agent is described as working across HR, IT and Finance requests, and Darwinbox Studio connects other systems. Peoplo.ai: Claims and bills, company expenses, IT assets and a shared password vault on the same employee record. Cap table with ESOP and RSU plans, grants and vesting.
Can Darwinbox run HR and payroll outside India?
Darwinbox: Customers in about 130 countries. Peoplo.ai: UAE entities (mainland, DIFC, ADGM) with WPS files in the same account. HR for Europe (Germany, France, Italy, Spain, the Netherlands, Estonia) is coming soon. Payroll is only for India and the UAE.
How do I switch from Darwinbox to Peoplo.ai?
Export your employee records, salary structures, leave balances and this tax year's payroll and TDS from Darwinbox, 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 Darwinbox best for?
From Darwinbox's own pages, checked 23 October 2026: You are a large enterprise or multinational and want a broad, global HCM suite. An Indian HCM platform reported to serve around 1,000 enterprise customers and more than 4 million employees in about 130 countries, with a fast-growing set of AI agents.
What should I check before choosing Darwinbox?
Prices are not published. Statutory coverage by state is not listed on the pages we checked. These come from Darwinbox's own pages, checked 23 October 2026.
Does Darwinbox have a free trial?
Darwinbox: Demo. Peoplo.ai: Free trial, with published prices (₹79 per employee a month before GST, for at least 25 employees).
How does Darwinbox handle Indian statutory payroll?
Darwinbox: Part of its HCM suite; check states with Darwinbox. Peoplo.ai is designed to support PF, ESI, professional tax and LWF for every state, and TDS under both regimes.
Do Darwinbox and Peoplo.ai handle the new PF wage ceiling?
The PF wage ceiling rose to ₹25,000 a month from 17 September 2026. Peoplo.ai's payroll check flags every payslip where PF changed. Ask Darwinbox to show the same on your data.
Can Darwinbox or Peoplo.ai settle a leaver within two working days?
Peoplo.ai's exit coordinator prepares the settlement and leave encashment when a last day is set, for a person to approve, so final wages can be paid within the two working days the Code on Wages sets. It works out gratuity too, which is due within 30 days under the Code on Social Security. Ask Darwinbox for the same in a demo.
Which is better for a growing team, Darwinbox or Peoplo.ai?
It depends on what grows fastest. If hiring, exits and payroll checks take the most time, Peoplo.ai's agents and included hiring help most. If you need you are a large enterprise or multinational and want a broad, global HCM suite, Darwinbox may fit better.
Can we run a pilot before switching from Darwinbox?
Yes. Run one month of payroll in Peoplo.ai alongside your current system, compare every payslip, then switch at the start of the next month.
Does Peoplo.ai include claims and expenses like Darwinbox?
Peoplo.ai includes claims and bills, company expenses, IT assets and a shared password vault on the same employee record, in the plan. Darwinbox's own pages describe what it covers beyond HR in the table above.
Can employees use Peoplo.ai on their phones?
Yes, as an app installed from the browser on phones and computers. There is no app-store app; payslips, leave, claims and Kili work the same way on every device.
Is there a limit to how much the AI can do in Peoplo.ai?
AI is included with fair use shared across the company: about 5 AI runs per employee a month in India and about 10 in the UAE. Agents prepare work and stop; changes to pay, tax, people records and money always wait for a person.
Does Peoplo.ai handle staff in several Indian states?
Yes. Peoplo.ai is designed to support professional tax and LWF for every state, using each employee's work state, alongside PF, ESI and TDS under both regimes.
Can Peoplo.ai run payroll for India and the UAE together?
Yes. Indian and UAE companies sit in one account, each with its own payroll under its country's rules: PF, ESI, PT and TDS in India, and WPS salary files and end-of-service in the UAE.
What happens to our data if we leave Peoplo.ai?
HR can export all employee records at any time, and everything held about one person on request. Ask the same of every vendor you compare, including how the data is deleted afterwards.
How long does it take to move from Darwinbox to Peoplo.ai?
Most of the work is exporting and importing data: employees, salary structures, this year's payroll and TDS, and leave balances. Plan one parallel payroll month, then switch at the start of the next month, ideally the start of a quarter.
