Workday Alternatives 2026: 5 Free Options
Workday alternatives: Frappe HR, OrangeHRM, Horilla, ERPNext and 3 more. Prices and licenses checked October 23, 2026.
•4 min read•Payroll, HR & Hiring
Verdict:Workday publishes no pricing. Its site offers demos and a Contact Sales route, and mentions packages for midsize businesses without a figure, so any comparison starts from a sales call. That alone is a reason smaller companies look elsewhere: Workday is built for large organizations that run HR and finance on one system, and the tools below mostly cover one side. If you are leaving because of cost or complexity, the realistic split is by size. For a team under a few hundred people, BambooHR and Rippling publish starting prices, and Zoho People has a free edition for one administrator. For teams that can run their own servers, Frappe HR, Horilla and OrangeHRM Starter are free licenses covering core HR and, in the first two, payroll. ERPNext is the closest open-source answer when you also need accounting, but you run and maintain it. The key trade-off is scope: none of these matches Workday's combined HR, finance and planning reach, and self-hosting swaps a license fee for administration time and responsibility for data security. Before you move, list the Workday modules you actually use, because most mid-sized teams use two or three and can replace them with separate tools.
Quick comparison
| Tool | Price | Platforms | Best for | Tested |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Frappe HR | Free (Free to self-host; Frappe Cloud hosting starts at $5 per month for Sites) | Web, Self-hosted | Technical teams who can self-host HR | Docs only |
| OrangeHRM | Free (Starter edition is free and open source) | Web, Self-hosted | Small teams that need core HR only | Docs only |
| Horilla | Free (Free open source, self-hosted) | Web, Self-hosted | Self-hosters who want one HR system | Docs only |
| ERPNext | Free (Free to self-host; Frappe Cloud is the managed option) | Web, Self-hosted | Companies that want finance and HR on open source | Docs only |
| Zoho People | Free (A forever-free edition with 1 administrator; the user cap is stated on the pricing page) | Web | Small teams starting with a free HR tool | Docs only |
| BambooHR | Paid from $10 per employee/month (Core) | Web | Small and mid-sized teams wanting posted prices | Docs only |
| Rippling | Paid from $8 per employee/month, plus a monthly base fee | Web | Growing companies that want HR and IT bundled | Docs only |
| ADP | See pricing page | Web | Payroll and HR | Docs only |
| SAP | See pricing page | Web | ERP and accounting | Docs only |
| NetSuite | See pricing page | Web | ERP and accounting | Docs only |
Independent comparison. Paid placements are labelled separately; editorial links earn no affiliate commissions. Learn more.
Good fit if
- You want core HR software with no license fee (OrangeHRM is the pick)
- You can self-host and want payroll too (Frappe HR is the pick)
- You want posted per-employee prices (BambooHR is the pick)
- You want a free hosted HR tool to start (Zoho People is the pick)
- You need accounting alongside HR on open source (ERPNext is the pick)
Not ideal if
- You rely on Workday features or integrations that these tools do not replicate
Workday today: See pricing page (Workday pricing, checked 2026-10-22).
Why people look for Workday alternatives
Workday publishes no prices. Its home page sends visitors to a demo request or a Contact Sales form, and Flex Credits link to a separate page without figures. Implementation scope and timing are not described there either, so a smaller company cannot budget or plan a rollout before a sales conversation. Workday GO is described as simplified packages for lean teams, separate from the full platform, which is the version most comparisons assume.
Frappe HR
Compared with Workday: Frappe HR is GPL-3.0 with payroll, leave, attendance and recruitment at no license cost. Workday is a hosted enterprise suite with finance and vendor support; Frappe HR needs you to host it and does not include Workday's finance side.
Price: Free (Free to self-host; Frappe Cloud hosting starts at $5 per month for Sites) (Frappe HR pricing, checked 2026-10-22).
Platforms and license: Web, Self-hosted. GPL-3.0 (open source).
Project activity: 9k GitHub stars · latest release v16.52.0 (Oct 22, 2026) · last commit Oct 27, 2026
Best for: Technical teams who can self-host HR.
Worth knowing: Covers payroll (salary structures, income tax slabs, payroll runs), leave and attendance. Check that payroll and tax rules fit your country before relying on it.
OrangeHRM
Compared with Workday: OrangeHRM's Starter edition is free and open source (GPL-3.0). It covers core HR, but Advanced is quote-priced with a 30-day trial. Compared with Workday you lose the large-company reporting depth and the single finance and HR system.
Price: Free (Starter edition is free and open source) (OrangeHRM pricing, checked 2026-10-22).
Platforms and license: Web, Self-hosted. GPL-3.0 (open source).
Project activity: 1.2k GitHub stars · latest release v5.9 (Jun 28, 2026) · last commit Jun 28, 2026
Best for: Small teams that need core HR only.
Worth knowing: Advanced is priced per employee per month by quote, with a 30-day free trial.
Horilla
Compared with Workday: Horilla is LGPL-2.1 with nine modules including recruitment, payroll, performance and assets, free to self-host. It lacks Workday's vendor-run hosting and support, and nothing on its page suggests enterprise-scale finance.
Price: Free (Free open source, self-hosted) (Horilla pricing, checked 2026-10-22).
Platforms and license: Web, Self-hosted. LGPL-2.1 (open source).
Project activity: 1.5k GitHub stars · latest release 2.2.0 (Oct 21, 2026) · last commit Oct 27, 2026
Best for: Self-hosters who want one HR system.
Worth knowing: README lists nine modules: employee management, recruitment, onboarding and offboarding, attendance, leave, payroll, performance, assets and helpdesk.
ERPNext
Compared with Workday: ERPNext is GPL-3.0 with accounting, and Frappe HR can sit beside it for people data. Workday gives you finance and HR from one vendor on its contract; here you assemble and run the pieces and the hosting yourself.
Price: Free (Free to self-host; Frappe Cloud is the managed option) (ERPNext pricing, checked 2026-10-22).
Platforms and license: Web, Self-hosted. GPL-3.0 (open source).
Project activity: 40.7k GitHub stars · latest release v15.124.1 (Oct 22, 2026) · last commit Oct 27, 2026
Best for: Companies that want finance and HR on open source.
Worth knowing: Its Accounting module covers recording transactions through financial reporting. Running it yourself means handling hosting, upgrades and backups.
Zoho People
Compared with Workday: Zoho People has a forever-free edition with one administrator, and paid plans need at least 5 users. Workday has no listed free tier. You gain a published entry path, but lose Workday's depth for large global workforces.
Price: Free (A forever-free edition with 1 administrator; the user cap is stated on the pricing page) (Zoho People pricing, checked 2026-10-22).
Platforms and license: Web. Proprietary SaaS.
Best for: Small teams starting with a free HR tool.
BambooHR
Compared with Workday: BambooHR shows Core $10, Pro $17 and Elite $25 per employee per month, with small-company flat rates. Workday publishes no figures, so BambooHR is easier to price, though it is built for small and mid-sized teams rather than very large ones.
Price: Paid from $10 per employee/month (Core) (BambooHR pricing, checked 2026-10-22).
Platforms and license: Web. Proprietary SaaS.
Best for: Small and mid-sized teams wanting posted prices.
Rippling
Compared with Workday: Rippling starts at $8 per employee per month plus a base fee, with HR, payroll and IT in one platform. Workday publishes no price; Rippling publishes an entry figure but has no free plan, and its Global Payroll is quote-based.
Price: Paid from $8 per employee/month, plus a monthly base fee (Rippling pricing, checked 2026-10-22).
Platforms and license: Web. Proprietary SaaS.
Best for: Growing companies that want HR and IT bundled.
Worth knowing: Global Payroll and Global Contractors are quote-based. A startup program gives eligible US VC-backed startups six months free access.
Other popular options (paid)
ADP
Compared with Workday: Plans for 1-49 and 50+ employees are priced by quote, with no dollar amounts shown, so like Workday you cannot budget upfront. Roundups credit ADP Workforce Now with payroll depth.
Price: See pricing page (ADP pricing, checked 2026-10-22).
SAP
Compared with Workday: SAP's price list is confidential and sold through partners, so no number is public, as with Workday. Roundups name SuccessFactors as the most direct enterprise rival to Workday.
Price: See pricing page (SAP pricing, checked 2026-10-23).
NetSuite
Compared with Workday: No price is published; the licence combines the core platform, optional modules and user count, plus a one-time implementation fee. Roundups list it as a mid-market full-suite alternative.
Price: See pricing page (NetSuite pricing, checked 2026-10-22).
Which one to pick
- You want core HR software with no license fee: OrangeHRM
- You can self-host and want payroll too: Frappe HR
- You want posted per-employee prices: BambooHR
- You want a free hosted HR tool to start: Zoho People
- You need accounting alongside HR on open source: ERPNext
Limits of this review
Docs-only for Frappe HR, OrangeHRM, Horilla, ERPNext, Zoho People, BambooHR, Rippling: we did not install or run them, so feature claims come from vendor pages and we did not test import from Workday. Vendor prices and free limits change; confirm on the linked pricing page before you buy or migrate.
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Kevin Fan
Kevin Fan is a SaaS founder. He runs Free Instead Of, which tracks free and open-source alternatives to paid software and checks each price and free-plan limit against the vendor's own pages.
Methodology
Based on official pricing and product pages checked between 2026-10-22 and 2026-10-23: Workday, Frappe HR, OrangeHRM, Horilla, ERPNext, Zoho People, BambooHR, Rippling, ADP, SAP, NetSuite. Prices, free limits and licenses are the figures shown on those pages on those dates. No tool on this page was installed or run. No accounts were created.