Avani Business OS

Best Keka Alternative for Indian SMBs — Avani Business OS

Looking for a Keka alternative? Avani Business OS offers HR + payroll + CRM + projects + finance in one affordable platform. See the feature comparison. Free trial — no credit card required.

At a glance

Features

Everything Keka Has — Plus CRM, Projects & Finance

Avani does everything Keka does for HR and payroll, and adds a full CRM, project management, expense tracker, and finance module. One subscription replaces Keka + Zoho CRM + Jira.

Payroll with PF, ESI, TDS & Professional Tax

Like Keka, Avani automates Indian payroll with PF, ESI, TDS, professional tax, and statutory filings. Unlike Keka, the payroll engine connects directly to CRM incentives and project hour logs.

Attendance & Leave — Without Keka's Complexity

Avani's attendance and leave modules are simpler to configure than Keka's, with built-in support for rotational shifts, comp-off, and state-wise holiday calendars without complex policy builders.

Built-in CRM — Not Available in Keka

Keka has no CRM. Avani's CRM gives your sales team a full pipeline, call logging, numbered follow-ups, and conversion analytics — all inside the same platform your HR team uses.

Finance Tracker Built-in

Keka doesn't offer invoice management or expense tracking beyond salary. Avani tracks all business expenses, invoices, and financial transactions — GST-compliant and connected to payroll.

Easy Migration from Keka

Avani's migration team helps you move employee data, payroll history, and leave records from Keka in 1-2 days. No data loss, no disruption to your payroll cycle.

Key benefits

How it works

  1. Export Your Keka Data — Download your employee master, payroll history, and leave balances from Keka. Avani's import wizard maps Keka's export format automatically.
  2. Configure Avani in a Day — Our onboarding team sets up your org structure, salary components, leave policies, and CRM pipeline — matching your Keka configuration where needed, and improving where possible.
  3. Go Live — Save Immediately — Run your first payroll on Avani. Your team gets all Keka features plus CRM, projects, and finance — at a lower total cost.

Frequently asked questions

Why should I switch from Keka to Avani?

Keka is a solid HR and payroll tool, but it's HR-only. Most Indian SMBs and startups also need a CRM for sales, project management for deliverables, and a finance tracker for invoices — all of which require separate subscriptions (like Zoho CRM + Jira + Tally). Avani includes all of these in one platform, eliminating integration headaches and reducing your total SaaS spend by 40-60%. If your business is outgrowing pure HR software and needs more, Avani is the natural next step.

Is Keka's payroll better than Avani's?

Both Keka and Avani offer strong Indian payroll capabilities — PF, ESI, TDS, professional tax, salary components, payslip generation, and statutory filings. Avani's key advantage is that payroll is connected to CRM (for commission calculations) and project management (for contract staff billing). If your payroll is straightforward, both platforms are comparable. If you need payroll integrated with sales incentives or project billing, Avani is the better choice.

How much does Keka cost compared to Avani?

Keka charges per employee, which means costs scale linearly as you hire. For a 50-person company, Keka typically costs ₹15,000-25,000/month — for HR and payroll only. Avani's flat plans start at ₹2,999/month for small teams and scale affordably for larger ones, and include CRM, projects, and finance. For growing companies, the total cost of ownership with Avani (vs Keka + CRM + Project tool) is typically 40-60% lower.

Will I lose Keka features by switching?

Avani covers all core Keka features: payroll, attendance, leave management, employee self-service, and HR analytics. Keka has some advanced HRMS features like succession planning and 360-degree reviews that Avani is adding progressively. However, for the vast majority of Indian SMBs' day-to-day HR needs, Avani covers everything Keka offers — and adds CRM, projects, and finance on top.

How long does migration from Keka take?

Typically 1-2 business days. You export your employee master, salary structure, leave balances, and payroll history from Keka. Our migration team maps and imports this into Avani, configures your org structure and policies, and runs a parallel payroll verification. We schedule migrations around your payroll cycle so there's zero disruption. Post-go-live support is included for 30 days.

Does Avani support the same hardware as Keka?

Avani supports web-based and mobile attendance marking. If you currently use biometric devices integrated with Keka, Avani can work in parallel with common biometric systems via API. For most Indian offices moving to hybrid work, mobile attendance with GPS and selfie verification is sufficient and removes dependence on hardware.

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