Zoho People is HR software you rent per user per month, with a free edition for small teams. Nexus covers HR and also sales and projects in one application you buy once and host yourself. For HR alone in a very small team, Zoho’s free edition is hard to beat. This page sets out where each one fits.
At a glance
| Zoho People | Nexus | |
|---|---|---|
| How you pay | Per user per month on its paid editions. A free edition covers up to 5 users | One-time licence: $24 Regular, $129 Extended. No per-user fee |
| What it covers | HR software. Its free edition has an employee database, time-off management and document management | HR, CRM and sales, projects and time tracking, support tickets and a client portal in one login |
| Where it runs | Zoho’s platform | Your own hosting, with your own database |
| Trial and contracts | A 30-day free trial, and no forced contracts | A live demo, with the licence bought once |
| Support | Free email support, 24/5, on all plans. Premium support and a setup service are available | 6 months of support with every licence |
What Nexus’s HR covers
- People: employee records, departments, designations, org chart and onboarding checklists
- Time: attendance, leave, timesheets and expense claims, routed through an approval queue
- Pay and performance: payroll and performance reviews
- Hiring: a public careers page, a candidate board, interviews with scored feedback, and an employee record created when you hire
The same employee later logs time on a project and appears in the CRM, because HR, CRM and projects share one database. See the Nexus page for the full list and a live demo.
How the costs are structured
Zoho’s price depends on the edition and your headcount, so we don’t print it here. You can work out your own five-year figure for both:
| Zoho People | Nexus | |
|---|---|---|
| Software | Edition price per user per month, times your users, times 60 months. Nothing on the free edition for up to 5 users | The licence price, once |
| When you hire | Each added user increases the monthly bill | Nothing changes |
| Beyond HR | Outside the scope of Zoho People | CRM and projects are in the same licence |
| Hosting | Not applicable | Your own. A $10 a month hosting plan or VPS does the job, so $600 over 60 months |
| Setup help | A setup service from Zoho | Our managed service from $20 a month, where we manage your installation |
The own versus rent page works through five years of owning compared with renting.
Where Zoho People is the better choice
- You only need HR and have five people or fewer. Its free edition has no software fee for up to 5 users.
- A specialist HR product. Zoho People is built for HR alone, and its site says more than 50,000 businesses use it.
- You want someone else to run it. It is hosted, with free email support and a 30-day free trial.
- You are happy with a per-user subscription and do not mind it growing with your team.
- Track record. Nexus’s first release was in September 2026.
Where Nexus is the better choice
- You want more than HR. CRM, quotes, invoices, projects, support tickets and a client portal sit in the same system as your staff records.
- The price does not rise with headcount. You pay once, and each new hire costs nothing extra.
- Time becomes an invoice. Approved billable hours and expenses collect into a draft invoice.
- Your data and the source code are yours, on your own server and under your licence.
- Ordinary hosting is enough. Nexus needs no cron, queue worker, Redis, WebSockets or Node.js. See the server requirements.
Good to know. Payroll taxes in Nexus are set up as deduction components with your own rates, because tax rules vary by country. Nexus does not take card payments, and contract signing records a typed name, time and IP address rather than a legally qualified e-signature.
What you take on
You install Nexus on your own hosting, following the install guide in the documentation, and apply updates by copying files and running migrations. You also keep your own backups. If you would prefer not to, the managed service from $20 a month covers the installation for you, and we’ll add the details once the service pages are ready.
Questions
Can Nexus replace Zoho People?
For the HR work, yes: employee records, leave, attendance, payroll, performance reviews and recruitment are all in Nexus. If you use Zoho’s other features, check them against the Nexus page first.
Do I need all of Nexus?
No. HR, CRM and projects share one database, and you can use the parts that fit your business.
Which licence does a business need?
Running Nexus for your own business is one project of your own. The licence guide explains the Regular and Extended licences.
Can I try Nexus first?
Yes. The Nexus page links to a live demo.
Statements about Zoho People come from its pricing page, which we read on 6 October 2026. Zoho changes its editions and prices, so check its site for current figures.
See Nexus for yourself
Open the live demo, check the requirements and pick a licence.