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Facto Lite vs greytHR: Payroll for Small Teams

By Himanshu Bhati, Head - Business Development (India), FactoChecked against the product on

Is Facto Lite a good greytHR alternative for a small business?

For a team under 100 that also wants tasks and sales follow-ups, yes: Facto Lite prices each module flat by team size and keeps HR, CRM and tasks in one app. greytHR is the stronger pick for payroll in every state, a larger headcount, or add-ons like performance reviews.

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Side by side

Facto Lite and greytHR, row by row.

The marker says which side is better at each row. Where greytHR wins, it says so.

  • Payroll

    Even
    greytHR
    Complete payroll processing in every plan
    Facto Lite
    Payroll with a check before the run and a payslip each employee opens on their phone

  • Statutory coverage

    greytHR
    greytHR
    PF with ECR files, ESI and challans, professional tax with every state’s rules, labour welfare fund, and TDS
    Facto Lite
    PF, ESI and TDS worked out for every employee, and professional tax for Karnataka, Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu only

  • Returns and certificates

    greytHR
    greytHR
    Generates the quarterly TDS return file and digitally signed Form 16
    Facto Lite
    Shows what each month owes and flags anything overdue. You pay the challans and file the returns yourself

  • Attendance

    Even
    greytHR
    Attendance, shifts and geo-fencing on the Growth plan and above
    Facto Lite
    Phone check-in with GPS, and a selfie if you require one, or a biometric reader. One method per company, set up by us

  • Leave

    Even
    greytHR
    Leave management with unlimited leave types, on every plan
    Facto Lite
    Applied for on the phone and approved by the right person. Unpaid leave reaches payroll by itself

  • Performance, hiring, expenses

    greytHR
    greytHR
    Available as add-on modules: performance, timesheets, expenses, recruitment
    Facto Lite
    Expense claims and advances are in HR & Payroll. No performance reviews and no recruitment

  • Tasks and sales follow-ups

    Facto Lite
    greytHR
    Task checklists are listed. No sales or CRM module on their pricing page
    Facto Lite
    Tasks with an owner, due date and reminders, and recurring checklists with photo steps. Leads with an owner, scheduled follow-ups with reminders, and quotations

  • Employee app

    Even
    greytHR
    An employee portal on the web and a mobile app
    Facto Lite
    An app on every employee’s phone for check-in, leave, payslips and tasks

  • Bigger teams

    greytHR
    greytHR
    Priced for teams into the thousands
    Facto Lite
    Built for teams up to 100 users
The bill

What you pay for, and how it grows.

Facto Lite’s own prices, as published on the pricing page. For greytHR, only how the cost behaves: their prices are theirs to state.

How it is charged

Facto Lite: A flat price per band of up to 10, 50 or 100 users, not per employee. HR & Payroll is ₹2,499 a month for up to 10 and ₹4,999 for up to 50

greytHR: A monthly base price that includes 50 employees, then a charge for each employee above 50

Extra modules

Facto Lite: Tasks from ₹1,499 and CRM from ₹2,999 a month, in the same app and the same login

greytHR: Performance, timesheets, expenses, recruitment and more are add-ons

Paying yearly

Facto Lite: Cheaper by the year on every module

greytHR: An annual subscription is available

Trying it first

Facto Lite: Every module free for 60 days, with no card

greytHR: A 7-day free trial

See every price

Which one fits

Each is the better buy, somewhere.

Stay with greytHR if

  • You pay professional tax in a state other than Karnataka, Maharashtra or Tamil Nadu
  • You want the TDS return file and signed Form 16 produced for you
  • You are past 100 employees, or will be soon
  • You need performance reviews or recruitment in the same HR system
  • Payroll is the only job you want software for

Choose Facto Lite if

  • You have under 100 people and want HR, tasks and sales follow-ups in one app
  • Your professional tax is in Karnataka, Maharashtra or Tamil Nadu, or you have none
  • You want a price that stays the same when you hire the next person in your band
  • You want 60 days to run a real payroll month before paying anything

greytHR is payroll-first, and its own payroll page shows it: it lists ECR files, challans, the quarterly TDS return and signed Form 16, with professional tax rules for every state. If payroll is the job and you have a few hundred people, it's a safe choice.

Most teams who look for a greytHR alternative aren't unhappy with the payroll. They're a 20- or 40-person business where payroll is one job out of several, and the rest of the day (who is doing what, which customer needs a call) lives in WhatsApp and a spreadsheet. That's the comparison this page is about.

A greytHR alternative for a small business: what changes

Two things change, and one of them costs you something.

  • The app covers more than HR. Facto Lite has tasks, recurring checklists and sales follow-ups in the same login as attendance, leave and payroll. greytHR's pricing page lists task checklists but no sales module.
  • The payroll covers less. Facto Lite works out PF, ESI and TDS for everyone, but professional tax only for Karnataka, Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu, and it doesn't file anything. greytHR covers every state's professional tax and produces the return files.

Professional tax, worked out

Here is one salary of ₹30,000 a month in each state Facto Lite covers, from the same engine that runs our payroll:

StateSeptemberJanuaryFebruary
Karnataka₹200₹200₹300
Maharashtra₹200₹200₹300
Tamil Nadu₹1,250₹0₹0

Three states, three schedules. Karnataka takes ₹200 most months and ₹300 in February, and Maharashtra ₹200 and ₹300. Tamil Nadu collects half-yearly, so September carries ₹1,250 and January and February show ₹0. If all your staff are in these three states, or in a state with no professional tax, Facto Lite has you covered. If you have people in Gujarat, West Bengal or anywhere else that levies it, greytHR handles that and we don't. That alone can settle the choice.

You can try any salary on the salary slip generator, which runs the same functions.

How the two bills are shaped

We don't quote other companies' prices; they change, and theirs is on their own page. The shape is what matters. greytHR charges a monthly base that includes 50 employees, then a charge for each employee above that, and sells performance, timesheets, expenses and recruitment as add-ons. Facto Lite charges a flat price per band of team size: HR & Payroll is ₹2,499 a month for up to 10 users and ₹4,999 for up to 50, with expenses and advances included.

So the useful sum is simple. Take your headcount a year from now, open both pricing pages, and add the modules you'd actually use.

Moving across

  1. Export employees and their salary structures from greytHR to a spreadsheet.
  2. Import them into Facto Lite, with leave balances and this year's tax paid so far.
  3. Run one month in both and compare every payslip. Don't switch until each difference has a reason.

The monthly routine after that is in how to run payroll for a small business.

Sources

Everything this page says about the other product comes from its maker's own website, read on 24 Sep 2026:

Products and prices change. Check their current pages before you decide, and tell us if something here has gone out of date.

Questions

Asked often, answered here.

Is Facto Lite cheaper than greytHR?

It depends on your headcount and which modules you need. greytHR charges a monthly base that covers 50 employees and then per employee. Facto Lite charges a flat price per band: HR & Payroll is ₹2,499 a month for up to 10 users and ₹4,999 for up to 50. Check their current pricing page against your own numbers.

Does Facto Lite handle professional tax in every state?

No. Karnataka, Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu only. greytHR’s payroll page says it has every state’s rules built in. If your staff are in another state that levies it, that alone may decide it.

Can Facto Lite file our PF and TDS returns?

No. It works out PF, ESI and TDS for every employee and flags what each month owes, and you pay and file on the portals. greytHR’s payroll page lists ECR files, the quarterly TDS return file and signed Form 16.

Why would a small team pick Facto Lite over greytHR?

For the work around payroll. Facto Lite puts tasks, recurring checklists and sales follow-ups in the same app as HR, so the owner sees the whole business in one place.

Try it on your own team for sixty days.

Tasks, CRM and HR & Payroll, with no card. Keep the sheet running beside it for the first month and compare. Or see it first on a half-hour walkthrough.

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