SalaryBox vs Shiftelio · verified June 2026
SalaryBox alternative: Rs 5,999 flat, with GPS in the price
SalaryBox charges a Rs 3,000 monthly base fee before a single employee is counted, then Rs 75 per user per month for the plan that includes payroll, and live GPS tracking is a further Rs 100 per user per month on top. For a team of 25 that is Rs 58,500 a year, or Rs 88,500 with tracking. Shiftelio is Rs 5,999 a year flat, GPS and payroll included.
Price comparison for a team of 25
SalaryBox figures are from salarybox.in/pricing, read in June 2026, and are stated here unchanged with that date on them: a monthly base fee plus Rs 75 per user per month on the Business plan, with live location tracking as a separate add-on at Rs 100 per user per month. Shiftelio figures are from our own pricing page. Both sides exclude 18 percent GST. We were not able to re-read their pricing page in August 2026, so treat the June date as the real one and confirm your number with them.
| Plan | Works out to | Per year |
|---|---|---|
| Shiftelio, everything included | Rs 500 a month equivalent | Rs 5,999 |
| SalaryBox Starter, no payroll | Rs 1,500 base + Rs 750 users = Rs 2,250 | Rs 27,000 |
| SalaryBox Business, payroll included | Rs 3,000 base + Rs 1,875 users = Rs 4,875 | Rs 58,500 |
| SalaryBox Business with GPS for 25 field staff | Rs 4,875 + Rs 2,500 tracking = Rs 7,375 | Rs 88,500 |
Live location tracking is listed as a paid add-on rather than being in any base plan. For 25 field workers that is Rs 2,500 a month, or Rs 30,000 a year, on top of everything else, to get the feature attendance software mainly exists to provide. Shiftelio includes GPS-verified attendance in every plan, including the Rs 999 one.
Feature comparison
SalaryBox rows are from their official pages, their terms of service, and third-party reporting on Techjockey, Capterra and the App Store, as read in June 2026. Two rows carry our cross rather than theirs.
GPS-verified attendance included in the base price
Live location tracking is a Rs 100 per user per month add-on. It is not in the Starter or the Business plan.
Payroll on the entry-level plan
Payroll begins at the Business plan, at a Rs 3,000 monthly base fee plus Rs 75 per user.
Flat annual price with no base fee and no per-seat charge
A base fee plus per-user model on every plan, so the bill has two moving parts.
An explicit data portability guarantee
No data portability clause appears in the SalaryBox terms of service as read in June 2026.
A stated post-cancellation data retention policy
Their refund and cancellation policy does not state how long data is kept after an account closes, or whether it is deleted.
Tally integration without an Enterprise plan
Listed as Enterprise-only, at custom pricing.
API access without an Enterprise plan
Listed as Enterprise-only, at custom pricing.
Full desktop web dashboard
Multiple reviews describe limited desktop functionality in a mobile-first product.
No minimum employee count
Play Store reviews allege a minimum staff count was introduced. We could not confirm this from an official source and it is here as an allegation, not a fact.
Face recognition attendance
Leave management
EPFO, PF and ESI compliance
On the Business plan and above.
Android and iOS apps
Field force CRM for a sales team
Theirs, as a Rs 250 per user per month add-on. If you need beat plans and client visit tracking, we do not have an answer.
Applicant tracking and performance reviews
Neither product does this. If it is on your list, you are shopping for an HRMS.
How the two bills are shaped
A single total is only true at one headcount. The shape of the charge is what decides the bill as your team changes size, and it is the part that does not go stale.
| SalaryBox | Shiftelio | |
|---|---|---|
| Charging model | A monthly base fee plus a per-user monthly rate, on every plan. | Flat annual price per plan. Rs 999, Rs 5,999 or Rs 14,999 depending on headcount band. |
| What you pay before employee number one | Rs 1,500 a month on Starter, Rs 3,000 on Business. | Nothing. The plan price is the whole price. |
| What happens when you hire | The per-user line goes up, every time, and again for any add-on that user needs. | Nothing, until you cross the plan's employee limit. |
| Location tracking | A paid add-on at Rs 100 per user per month, in no base plan. | GPS check-in with selfie verification, included in every plan. |
| Where payroll starts | At the Business plan, so a base fee of Rs 3,000 a month before per-user charges. | Every plan, including the Rs 999 one. |
| Tally and API access | Enterprise tier, at custom pricing. | On the ordinary plans, at the published price. |
| Getting a price | Plan rates published; add-ons and Enterprise vary. | Every plan and limit is on the pricing page. No quote, no implementation fee. |
These figures were read from their pricing page in June 2026 and are stated with that date rather than a fresher one they have not earned. We could not re-read the page in August 2026, and at least one third-party listing now shows a different plan structure. If a quote you have been given differs from what is written here, trust the quote, and write to us so we can correct this page.
What the SalaryBox terms of service say about your data
Read from salarybox.in/terms-and-conditions/ and their refund and cancellation policy in June 2026. Clauses are paraphrased closely from the originals rather than quoted at length. Read the documents yourself before signing anything, including ours.
No data portability clause
The terms grant users a limited, non-exclusive, revocable right to use the services. There is no clause guaranteeing a right to export or take ownership of your own data.
Non-payment can restrict access to your records
Access is stated to be subject to compliance with subscription, billing and payment terms, which means a billing dispute could restrict access to your own historical payroll records.
Trial data may be deleted immediately on expiry
Their FAQ states that if you do not move to a paid subscription when the free trial expires, account data may be deleted immediately. Exporting before that point is the user's responsibility.
No stated post-cancellation retention period
The refund and cancellation policy does not specify how long data is kept after an account closes, or whether it is deleted at all.
Payments are non-refundable once activated
Once a subscription is activated, payments are stated as non-refundable, with no exceptions given in the policy.
The service may be assigned to a third party
An assignment clause permits transfer of the service to an affiliate or third party without requiring user consent.
For contrast and so you can hold us to it: your Shiftelio data is downloadable in full at any time, in a format you can open, regardless of which plan you are on and regardless of whether an invoice is outstanding. We do not restrict exports as a collections tool.
What SalaryBox users say
Quoted unmodified from public reviews on the Apple App Store, where SalaryBox holds 3.7 out of 5 across 378 ratings, and on Capterra and Techjockey, where it holds 4.2 out of 5 across 24 reviews. These are the low end of a mixed picture, and they are here because each names something specific you can check before committing.
“Once you feel good, they will charge you any amount they can think of. Rates were changed.”
“This app is not at all free. Rs 1,700 every month is too much without even properly trying it. Three days trial is not enough.”
“A single punch-in marks an employee present for the full day without a punch-out option.”
“Difficulty locating and exporting specific detailed reports.”
“Limited third-party integrations with accounting tools and HRMS platforms.”
Why teams switch to Shiftelio
GPS is not an add-on
Live location verification is part of the base price on every plan. You are not charged a further Rs 100 a head each month for the thing attendance software mainly exists to do.
No base fee before employee number one
A Rs 3,000 monthly base fee is Rs 36,000 a year before a single per-user charge lands. Shiftelio is one flat annual price and nothing underneath it.
Your data is always yours
Download your attendance and payroll history at any time, in a format you can open, regardless of plan or payment status. No export restriction tied to a billing dispute.
Face verification on the phone they already carry
Selfie and GPS check-in on any Android phone or iPhone, so there is no biometric device to buy, mount or maintain at each site.
What SalaryBox is actually for
SalaryBox is an Indian attendance and payroll platform sold on a base fee plus per-user model, with a set of paid add-ons around it: live location tracking, a field force CRM, and Enterprise-tier extras like Tally integration and API access. It is a mobile-first product with a real install base, face recognition attendance, leave management and statutory payroll, and it is aimed at businesses large enough that a monthly base fee is not the first thing they look at. Their add-on catalogue is genuinely broad, and one of those add-ons is a field sales tool that has no equivalent here.
Stay with SalaryBox when
If any of these describe you, this page has done its job and you should stop reading. We would rather lose the signup than the trust.
- You need the field force CRM. Beat plans, client visits, order capture from the field. It is a real product on their add-on list and we have no equivalent, so if that is on your requirements sheet this comparison is over.
- You are mid financial year with payroll already running on it. Moving a live payroll in November is genuinely painful, and the saving on this page does not beat the disruption until April. Note the number, and switch at the year boundary.
- You are already on their Enterprise tier with Tally and the API configured and working. Configured and working beats cheaper more often than a pricing page admits.
- You want a larger vendor with a sales and support organisation to escalate through. SalaryBox is a bigger company than we are, and for some buyers that is the deciding factor, entirely reasonably.
Switch to Shiftelio when
- Your field staff need location tracking. Here it is in the base plan; there it is Rs 100 per user per month, which is Rs 30,000 a year for 25 people to get the feature you were shopping for.
- You do not want to pay a base fee before employee number one. Rs 3,000 a month is Rs 36,000 a year before the first per-user charge lands.
- You want payroll on the plan you can afford. Payroll is in every Shiftelio plan including the Rs 999 one, rather than starting at the Rs 3,000-a-month tier.
- You want your data guaranteed portable in writing. Download your full attendance and payroll history at any time, regardless of plan or payment status, with no export restriction tied to billing.
- You want Tally and API access without an Enterprise conversation. Both are on the ordinary plans here rather than behind custom pricing.
The differences that change a decision
A base fee plus a per-user rate is two escalators, not one
The base fee is the part buyers underestimate, because it does not look like a per-employee cost and so it does not get divided by anything during the comparison. On the Business plan it is Rs 36,000 a year on its own, before the first Rs 75 lands. Then the per-user rate escalates with hiring, and then any add-on escalates with hiring separately, at its own rate. Three lines, all moving in the same direction, is why a bill that looked reasonable at signup looks different two hires later.
The add-on is the feature you came for
Live location tracking at Rs 100 per user per month is not a peripheral extra for a business with field staff, it is the reason that business is shopping for attendance software at all. So the honest comparison is against the total with tracking switched on, which is the Rs 88,500 row above rather than the Rs 58,500 one. Compare the number you would actually be invoiced, not the number on the plan card.
Read what happens to your data before you need to know
Every software contract has clauses nobody reads until the relationship ends badly, and the ones that matter are about export rights and retention. As read in June 2026, the SalaryBox terms grant a revocable right to use the service, tie access to payment compliance, and say nothing about how long your records survive cancellation. None of that is unusual for Indian SaaS, and none of it means anything will go wrong. It does mean you should ask, in writing, before your payroll history is the thing at stake, and you should ask us the same question.
What we are not
We have no field force CRM, no beat planning and no order capture, and if a sales team in the field is the reason you are buying, SalaryBox has a product for that and we do not. We are also a smaller company than they are. This page is for the reader who wanted attendance, GPS and payroll, priced the add-ons, and started looking for a flat number.
Questions people ask
How much does SalaryBox cost for 25 employees?
On the Business plan, which is the tier that includes payroll, it was a Rs 3,000 monthly base fee plus Rs 75 per user per month when we read their pricing page in June 2026. For 25 employees that is Rs 4,875 a month, or Rs 58,500 a year before GST. If your field team also needs live location tracking, add Rs 100 per user per month, which is a further Rs 2,500 a month and brings the total past Rs 88,500 a year. Shiftelio is Rs 5,999 a year flat for up to 25 employees, GPS and payroll included.
What is a good alternative to SalaryBox for Indian small businesses?
If what you need is attendance, GPS verification and payroll for a team under a hundred, a flat annual plan removes both of the moving parts in a base fee plus per-user model. Shiftelio is Rs 5,999 a year for up to 25 employees across 3 locations, with GPS-verified attendance, payroll, PF and ESI, face verification and full data export included, and no paid add-ons. If you need a field force CRM alongside attendance, SalaryBox has one and we do not.
Does SalaryBox include GPS tracking in the base plan?
Not as read in June 2026. Live location tracking was listed as a paid add-on at Rs 100 per user per month, on top of whichever base plan you are on. For 25 field workers that is Rs 2,500 a month or Rs 30,000 a year. Shiftelio includes GPS-verified attendance with a selfie in the base price of every plan, including the Rs 999 entry plan, and there is no version of the product where location verification costs extra.
What happens to my data if I stop paying for SalaryBox?
Their terms of service, as read in June 2026, do not include a data portability clause or a stated post-cancellation retention period, and access is tied to compliance with billing and payment terms. Their FAQ also states that trial data may be deleted immediately when a free trial expires. Export your records while your account is active rather than after, and ask them directly for their retention policy in writing. Shiftelio allows full data download at any time with no restriction tied to plan or payment status.
Is SalaryBox pricing still the same in 2026?
We state June 2026 figures with that date on them because that is when we last read their pricing page directly, and we could not re-read it in August 2026. At least one third-party listing now shows a different plan structure, which may be a pricing change or may be a reseller listing. Ask SalaryBox for a current quote at your headcount, compare it against Rs 5,999 a year, and if what you are quoted differs from this page please tell us so we can correct it.
Do I need a biometric device with Shiftelio?
No. Face verification happens through a selfie taken on the employee's own Android phone or iPhone, paired with a GPS fix, so there is nothing to buy, mount, power or replace at each site. For staff without a smartphone there is a separate approach documented on our attendance without a smartphone page.
Can I move my payroll history from SalaryBox to Shiftelio?
Yes, and do it while your subscription is still active. Export your employee records and attendance and payroll history in a format you can open, and check it covers the full financial year rather than recent months, because that is what you will need at year end. We will import a clean CSV of past attendance and employee records so nothing is stranded in a system you no longer pay for.
See the price before you see a salesperson
Every Shiftelio plan and limit is on the pricing page. There is no quote to request, no implementation fee, no minimum billed headcount and no paid add-on for location verification.
This is a comparison written by Shiftelio, which is one of the two products described. Everything stated about SalaryBox is drawn from Cresce Technology's own published pages and positioning, together with their terms of service and refund and cancellation policy as read in June 2026, and public reviews on the Apple App Store, Capterra, GetApp and Techjockey which are quoted rather than summarised, and was checked in June 2026. Where their pricing is quote-based or reported inconsistently across sources we describe the charging model rather than assert a figure, and you should ask them directly. Plans and prices change on both sides. SalaryBox and Cresce Technology names and marks belong to their owners and are used here for identification only; no affiliation or endorsement is implied. If you believe anything here is inaccurate, write to support@shiftelio.com and we will correct it.