Keka is a large Indian HR and payroll platform with suites for payroll, HR, talent and project services. 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: Hiring and onboarding in the plan, prepared by an agent
Peoplo.ai agent run
Onboarding coordinator
Trigger: Arjun Mehta accepted the offer
Moved Arjun from the hiring pipeline to onboarding
Picked the Design onboarding template
Set due dates from his joining date, Mon 2 Nov
Listed 6 documents, including PAN and UAN
Drafted the laptop and email request for IT
Waiting for your approvalApprove and send
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. Keka may suit you better if you bill clients for project time and want timesheets, resourcing and invoicing in your HR system.
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
Keka AI is described as an assistant that answers, drafts and recommends. Peoplo.ai is built as an agentic system: agents pick up events, do the groundwork and stop for your approval.
How the AI in Peoplo.ai and Keka compares
Peoplo.ai
Keka
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.
Keka AI, which its site describes as answering, collaborating inside workflows and anticipating issues. The pages we checked don’t describe named agents.
Who makes the change
Agents prepare the work. A person approves changes to pay, people records and money before they are applied.
Says Keka AI completes everyday tasks and recommends actions. The pages we checked don’t say whether each change waits for confirmation.
Assistant
Kili answers questions from company records and proposes changes as cards you confirm or cancel.
Answers questions across payroll, attendance, hiring and performance, citing the record behind each number. An AI Helpdesk is listed in the HR suite.
Record of what AI did
Important changes are written to an audit log: who did what, and when.
Cites the record behind every number. An audit trail of AI actions isn’t 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.
Not described on the pages we checked.
Keka details are from its public website, checked 22 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
Trigger
Arjun Mehta accepted the offer
Read
Moved Arjun from the hiring pipeline to onboarding
Keka describes itself as a "modern people platform for growing enterprises" chosen by 12,500+ companies. It sells HRMS and payroll plans (Foundation, Strength and Growth), plus separate hiring and project services (PSA) plans.
Peoplo.ai and Keka compared
Peoplo.ai
Keka
Pricing
Published: ₹79 per employee a month, for at least 25 employees. Before GST.
Not published on the pricing page. Plans are quoted by sales, and a setup fee applies.
Indian statutory payroll
Designed to support PF, ESI, professional tax and LWF for every state, and TDS under both regimes.
TDS, PF, ESI and PT, across all states and union territories.
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.
Expenses, plus a project services suite: timesheets, resource management, billing and invoicing.
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.
Regional sites for the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Kuwait, Bahrain, Oman, the US and the Philippines.
Hiring
Hiring, onboarding and exits included in the plan.
Sold as separate hiring plans (Pro and Advanced).
Products and prices change, so check Keka's site for the latest. If anything here is out of date, write to team@peoplo.ai and we will fix it.
Keka may suit you better if
You bill clients for project time and want timesheets, resourcing and invoicing in your HR system.
You prefer a large, long-established vendor with a big customer base in India.
Peoplo.ai may suit you better if
You want an agentic HRMS: AI agents that prepare payroll, onboarding and exits on their own, while changes to pay, tax, people records and money always wait for a person.
You want to see the price before talking to sales.
You also run claims, IT assets and passwords, and want them 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.
A large Indian HR and payroll platform that describes itself as a "modern people platform for growing enterprises" chosen by 12,500+ companies, with HR, payroll, hiring and project services plans.
Best for
You bill clients for project time and want timesheets, resourcing and invoicing in your HR system.
What any HR software in India, Keka 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 Keka 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.
Keka AI is described as an assistant that answers, drafts and recommends. Peoplo.ai is built as an agentic system: agents pick up events, do the groundwork and stop for your approval. 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 Keka 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 Keka 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
Keka 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. Keka: Quoted by sales; a setup fee applies.
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 Keka'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. Keka is described as best for: you bill clients for project time and want timesheets, resourcing and invoicing in your HR system.
Switching
Moving from Keka 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 Keka's public pages, listed in the sources above, on 22 October 2026, and compared them with what Peoplo.ai does today. We did not test Keka's software. Where its pages don't describe something, we say "not described" rather than "missing". Peoplo.ai wrote this page; if anything about Keka 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 Keka 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. Keka may suit you better if you bill clients for project time and want timesheets, resourcing and invoicing in your HR system. 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 Keka pricing compare with Peoplo.ai?
Keka: Not published on the pricing page. Plans are quoted by sales, and a setup fee applies. Peoplo.ai: ₹79 per employee a month, for at least 25 employees. Before GST. Keka pricing checked 22 October 2026.
Does Keka have AI agents like Peoplo.ai?
Keka AI, which its site describes as answering, collaborating inside workflows and anticipating issues. The pages we checked don’t describe named agents. Keka AI is described as an assistant that answers, drafts and recommends. Peoplo.ai is built as an agentic system: agents pick up events, do the groundwork and stop for your approval.
Who should choose Peoplo.ai over Keka?
You want an agentic HRMS: AI agents that prepare payroll, onboarding and exits on their own, while changes to pay, tax, people records and money always wait for a person. You want to see the price before talking to sales. You also run claims, IT assets and passwords, and want them on the same employee record.
Does Keka handle PF, ESI, PT and TDS?
Keka: TDS, PF, ESI and PT, across all states and union territories. Peoplo.ai: Designed to support PF, ESI, professional tax and LWF for every state, and TDS under both regimes.
Does Keka include hiring and onboarding?
Keka: Sold as separate hiring plans (Pro and Advanced). Peoplo.ai: Hiring, onboarding and exits included in the plan.
What does Keka cover beyond HR and payroll?
Keka: Expenses, plus a project services suite: timesheets, resource management, billing and invoicing. 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 Keka run HR and payroll outside India?
Keka: Regional sites for the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Kuwait, Bahrain, Oman, the US and the Philippines. 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 Keka to Peoplo.ai?
Export your employee records, salary structures, leave balances and this tax year's payroll and TDS from Keka, 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 Keka best for?
From Keka's own pages, checked 22 October 2026: You bill clients for project time and want timesheets, resourcing and invoicing in your HR system. A large Indian HR and payroll platform that describes itself as a "modern people platform for growing enterprises" chosen by 12,500+ companies, with HR, payroll, hiring and project services plans.
What should I check before choosing Keka?
Prices are not published; plans are quoted and a setup fee applies. Named AI agents are not described on the pages we checked. These come from Keka's own pages, checked 22 October 2026.
Does Keka have a free trial?
Keka: Not described on the pages we checked. Peoplo.ai: Free trial, with published prices (₹79 per employee a month before GST, for at least 25 employees).
How does Keka handle Indian statutory payroll?
Keka: TDS, PF, ESI and PT across all states and union territories. Peoplo.ai is designed to support PF, ESI, professional tax and LWF for every state, and TDS under both regimes.
Do Keka 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 Keka to show the same on your data.
Can Keka 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 Keka for the same in a demo.
Which is better for a growing team, Keka 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 bill clients for project time and want timesheets, resourcing and invoicing in your HR system, Keka may fit better.
Can we run a pilot before switching from Keka?
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 Keka?
Peoplo.ai includes claims and bills, company expenses, IT assets and a shared password vault on the same employee record, in the plan. Keka'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 Keka 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.
