Frappe HR review

Frappe HR is fully open source under AGPL-3.0, and it goes further than the other free tools by including payroll. The employee lifecycle module handles onboarding, transfers, promotions and exits, leave management supports holiday lists, detailed leave policies and leave encashment, and payroll maps pay structures and employee loans with integrated accounting and tax reports. Staff can use a mobile app. You can host it yourself for free, or pay Frappe Cloud for hosting from $5 a month per site, and that price is not tied to the number of users. The downside is that Frappe HR is built like an ERP. Expect to spend time on setup, and Frappe itself suggests a partner for complex implementations. A five-person team that only needs leave tracking will find it heavy. A growing company that wants HR and payroll in one free system, with cheap managed hosting, gets a lot here.

Who it is for

Teams that want free HR plus payroll and are comfortable with an ERP-style system.

Price

Software free and open source (AGPL-3.0); Frappe Cloud hosting from $5 a month per site.

$5 onwards /mo
Quoted from the vendor pricing page on November 10, 2026.

Key features

• Employee lifecycle from onboarding to exits, transfers and promotions
• Leave management with holidays, leave policies and encashments
• Payroll with pay structures, employee loans and integrated accounting
• Payroll tax configuration and tax reports
• Mobile app for employees

Strengths and weaknesses

• Strength: 100% open source with no per user fee
• Strength: Includes payroll, which most free HR tools leave out
• Strength: Managed hosting is cheap if you do not want to self-host
• Weakness: Setup and configuration take more work than hosted HR apps
• Weakness: Partners are often needed for complex implementations
• Weakness: The interface feels like an ERP rather than a simple HR app

Key facts

• License: AGPL-3.0
• Hosting: Self-host free, or Frappe Cloud from $5 a month
• Payroll: Included, with integrated accounting
• Pricing model: Hosting priced per site, not per user

Where it ranks

Frappe HR is No. 6 in our Best Free HR Software verdict and No. 8 in Best Free Payroll Software.