Compare · Zoho
Dexta and Zoho, compared fairly.
Zoho is the one HR rival that also does real accounting, through Zoho Books, and Zoho One is very good value. Here's how the two differ, using Zoho's own website on 15 Oct 2026, and where Zoho is the better choice.
Choose Zoho if…
- you want CRM, mail, office apps and HR from one vendor: Zoho One has 45+ apps
- you already run Zoho Books, or want a built-in GST e-invoice link
- you want apps listed in the app stores
- a cloud service run from Zoho's own Indian data centres suits you
Choose Dexta if…
- your pain is hours, payroll, statutory work and the year-end, and you want one product built around them, with one set-up
- you want reviews, a helpdesk, recognition, referrals and skills to read the same employee record as payroll, rather than separate apps joined up
- you want the year-end to come out of the same ledger: Schedule III, CARO 2020, tax audit papers and ITR-6 working papers
- you need to run on your own server
Coverage
App by app, against Zoho One.
Mapped onto Dexta's apps from Zoho's own pages. In Zoho One each area is a separate Zoho app, with its own admin screens. Bought on their own, People and Payroll cover fewer of these.
| Area | Dexta | Zoho One |
|---|---|---|
| Time | YesWeekly timesheets by project, attendance, leave, shifts. No client invoicing from hours yet. | YesAttendance, timesheets and roster in Zoho People (Professional and up) |
| HR | YesRecords, letters, probation, moves and exits | YesZoho People |
| Pay | YesLabour Codes, PF at ₹25,000, Form 130 | YesZoho Payroll |
| Spend | YesClaims, advances and cards, posted to Books. No receipt scanning or mileage yet. | YesZoho Expense |
| Growth | YesKPIs, OKRs, reviews, 360 and increments into Pay | YesPerformance in People Premium; OKRs in People Plus |
| Cheer | YesRecognition tied to your values. No points or rewards. | Partly“Employee engagement” in People Premium; no separate recognition product found |
| Desk | YesIT, HR and finance tickets with SLAs | YesZoho Desk; HR help desk in People Enterprise |
| Refer | YesReferrals, stages and bonuses through payroll | PartlyZoho Recruit; a referral feature not confirmed |
| Skills | YesManager-verified skills and job description match | PartlyLearning in People Enterprise and Zoho Learn |
| Books | YesLedger, GST, TDS, Schedule III, tax audit papers, ITR-6 working papers | YesZoho Books |
Published prices
What Zoho publishes.
Prices in rupees on Zoho's pricing pages, before GST, as published on 15 Oct 2026.
| Product and plan | Published price | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Zoho One, All-Employee plan | ₹1,250 per employee a month, billed yearly (₹2,500 billed monthly). Every employee on payroll must be licensed. | zoho.com/one/pricing/ |
| Zoho One, Flexible User plan | ₹3,500 per user a month, billed yearly (₹4,000 billed monthly) | zoho.com/one/pricing/ |
| Zoho People | From ₹48 per employee a month billed yearly (Essential HR) to ₹192 (Enterprise); People Plus ₹350 | zoho.com/people/zohopeople-pricing.html |
| Zoho Payroll, Standard | ₹1,000 a month billed yearly for 25 employees, then ₹40 per extra employee | zoho.com/in/payroll/pricing/ |
| Zoho Books, Standard | ₹749 per organisation a month, billed yearly | zoho.com/in/books/pricing/ |
Dexta's plans are on our pricing page. If you need CRM and mail as well, Zoho One is hard to beat on price per app.
Hosting
Zoho: a cloud service in Zoho's own data centres. Its India data centres are in Mumbai (primary) and Chennai (secondary), and its Payroll FAQ says data sits in India. We found no on-premise option for People, Payroll or Zoho One.
Dexta: our cloud in India, or your own server. Hosting options.
Accounting
Zoho: Zoho Books, in Zoho One. Zoho Payroll posts pay-run expenses to Books, and Zoho Books is a GST Suvidha Provider that makes e-invoices and e-way bills.
Dexta: Books in the same suite. Payroll and expense claims post into it by themselves. E-invoices and e-way bills work with your own Masters India account.
Switching
Our team moves you from Zoho People in checked steps, with a test payroll compared against your old register and an undo until go-live. Moving from Zoho Books? Books takes opening balances and dues bill by bill, and has Excel templates for other software.
Where Zoho is stronger
What Zoho does that Dexta doesn't, today.
- Breadth: Zoho One bundles 45+ apps, including CRM, mail and office apps. Dexta doesn't do CRM or mail.
- Price per app: ₹1,250 per employee a month, billed yearly, for all of them
- Zoho Books' own GST Suvidha Provider link for e-invoices and e-way bills. Dexta Books needs your own Masters India account for these.
- Apps in the app stores, including face-recognition check-in in the Zoho People app. Dexta installs from the browser.
- Form 130 with a digital signature and Form 138, listed on its Payroll Standard plan
Where Dexta is stronger
What Dexta adds.
- Your own server as an option, including an office server with no internet name
- One product with one set-up: departments, locations, people, calendars and access are set once in the Hub, and every app takes them from there
- The year-end from the posted ledger: Schedule III statements with notes, cash flow, CARO 2020, tax audit papers (3CD) and ITR-6 working papers tied out to the 3CD
- The everyday apps feed each other: tickets resolved in Desk, referral hires in Refer and skills approved in Skills fill Growth's KPIs, and referral bonuses and decided increments arrive in Pay
- GST credit rules 37, 37A, 42 and 86B worked out every month from your entries
- Labour Codes settings and the ₹25,000 PF ceiling from 17 Sep 2026, with past shortfalls worked out
Facts about other products come from their public websites on 15 Oct 2026 and may have changed. Zoho is a trademark of its owner, named here only to identify its products.
Sources, checked 15 Oct 2026
- Zoho One pricing: www.zoho.com/one/pricing/
- Zoho One: www.zoho.com/one/
- Zoho People pricing: www.zoho.com/people/zohopeople-pricing.html
- Zoho Payroll pricing: www.zoho.com/in/payroll/pricing/
- Zoho Payroll FAQ: www.zoho.com/in/payroll/payroll-faq/
- Zoho Books pricing: www.zoho.com/in/books/pricing/
- Zoho Books e-invoicing: www.zoho.com/in/books/e-invoicing/
- Zoho data centres: prezohoweb.zoho.com/know-your-datacenter.html
Try Dexta
See Dexta beside what you use today.
A 30-minute demo on a sample company: a week of timesheets approved, the payroll run, and the entries landing in the books.