This comparison is written for HR managers and founders at US small businesses with roughly 10-150 employees who are evaluating HR software and have narrowed their shortlist to Treegarden and Zoho People. Treegarden is the company publishing this comparison; we say that upfront because it's a real conflict of interest, and we hold our own product to the same evidence standard applied to Zoho People throughout this article. The two products start from different places: Zoho People is Zoho's HR and leave-tracking product, priced per user with a free tier for very small teams, while Treegarden is an ATS-first platform that adds an HR module in the same subscription once hiring is underway. Which one is right depends almost entirely on whether your most urgent problem right now is managing existing employees or hiring new ones.
Disclosure
Treegarden is the company publishing this comparison. Every Zoho People fact below is sourced from Zoho's official pricing page or from Treegarden's own published HR software research; where a claim would go beyond those sources, we hedge it rather than guess. We say plainly, later in this article, where Zoho People is the better choice.
About Zoho People and Treegarden
Zoho People is the HR product inside Zoho's suite of business applications. Per Zoho's official pricing page, Zoho People offers a free plan for up to 5 users covering leave and employee database records only, with paid Essential HR pricing starting from $1.25 per user per month billed annually (monthly billing costs more, per Zoho's pricing page). That entry price is genuinely difficult for a flat-rate platform to beat at very small headcounts. Zoho also sells a range of other business applications under the same brand; exactly how deeply Zoho People integrates with them, and what higher-tier Zoho People plans include beyond the Essential HR entry point, are not detailed in the sources used for this comparison. Per Zoho's public documentation, confirm current tier names, pricing, and feature scope directly on Zoho's pricing page before you shortlist.
Treegarden is an ATS-first platform that adds an HR module in the same subscription. The HR module covers employee onboarding, leave and absence management, performance reviews, compensation planning, and HR analytics, and is built to receive employee records automatically once a candidate is marked hired in the ATS, without re-typing names or start dates into a second system. Treegarden does not have a free plan; evaluation happens through a booked demo, and published pricing is flat per tier rather than billed per user (see treegarden.io/pricing/). There is no native payroll calculation in Treegarden's HR module; it exports leave and HR data to third-party payroll providers instead. Whether Zoho People includes native payroll is not addressed in the sources used for this comparison; check current payroll coverage on Zoho's site if that matters to your evaluation.
Treegarden vs Zoho People: Feature comparison
The table below covers the primary decision areas for US small businesses comparing these two platforms. Treegarden facts come from our own HR module, pricing, and leave management pages. Zoho People facts are limited to what Zoho's official pricing page and our own prior HR software research document; where we don't have a verified source for a Zoho People capability, the table says so rather than guessing. Always verify current feature availability directly with each vendor before you buy.
| Feature area | Treegarden | Zoho People |
|---|---|---|
| Applicant tracking / recruiting | Full ATS in every tier: pipeline stages, career page builder, AI resume parsing and scoring, interview scheduling with calendar sync | Not detailed in the sources used for this comparison; confirm current recruiting and ATS scope directly with Zoho |
| ATS-to-HR handoff | Marking a candidate hired auto-creates their employee record; no re-entry of names, start dates, or roles | Evaluated here as a standalone HR product; not applicable in the same way |
| HR records and leave management | Leave policy engine, digital medical certificate storage, absence pattern detection, document management with version control | Free plan covers leave and employee database records; feature depth on paid tiers beyond that isn't documented in the sources used here |
| Performance and compensation | Manager and self-evaluation review cycles, PIP tracking, compensation planning and pay-equity analysis (Growth HR tier and above) | Not detailed in the sources used for this comparison |
| Data privacy | GDPR-compliant data handling spanning both ATS and HR modules | Not detailed in the sources used for this comparison |
| Pricing model | Flat per-tier pricing published at treegarden.io/pricing/; annual commitment, paid upfront or in monthly instalments; unlimited user accounts | Per-user, per-month; Essential HR from $1.25/user/month billed annually |
| Free / entry-level option | None; evaluation is through a booked demo | Free plan for up to 5 users, covering leave and employee database records only |
| Ecosystem fit | Standalone platform; not built around a wider suite of adjacent business apps | Positioned as part of Zoho's broader application suite; confirm current integration depth directly with Zoho |
Pricing: Treegarden vs Zoho People
Understanding the cost model of each platform matters as much as the headline price. The two products use fundamentally different billing structures, which makes a direct cost comparison depend heavily on headcount and on whether recruiting is part of what you need.
Zoho People's Essential HR tier, per Zoho's official pricing page, starts from $1.25 per user per month billed annually, which works out to roughly $31/month for a 25-person team. A free plan covers up to 5 users, limited to leave and employee database records. Monthly billing costs more than the annual rate, per Zoho's pricing page. Zoho also publishes additional tiers above Essential HR; this comparison does not have a verified source for their current names, pricing, or feature scope, so we are not restating specific figures for them here. Per Zoho's public documentation, confirm current higher-tier pricing and what each tier unlocks directly on Zoho's pricing page.
Treegarden's pricing is flat per tier rather than billed per user, published in full at treegarden.io/pricing/. The ATS module runs Startup at $299/month ($239/month on the annual commitment) for up to 10 active jobs, Growth at $499/month ($399/month annual) for up to 25 active jobs, and Scale at $899/month ($719/month annual) for up to 50 active jobs. The HR module is priced by employee count on the same tier structure: Startup HR at $299/month ($239/month annual) for up to 25 employees, Growth HR at $499/month ($399/month annual) for up to 50 employees, and Scale HR at $899/month ($719/month annual) for up to 100 employees. A combined ATS + HR bundle runs $598/month (Startup: 10 jobs plus 25 employees), $998/month (Growth: 25 jobs plus 50 employees), or $1,798/month (Scale: 50 jobs plus 100 employees). All plans are annual commitments, payable upfront or in monthly instalments, with unlimited user accounts on every tier. There is no free plan; evaluation is through a booked demo rather than self-serve signup.
At a straight HR-records comparison for a 25-person team with no active hiring, Zoho People's Essential HR tier (about $31/month) is dramatically cheaper than Treegarden's Startup HR tier ($299/month, or $239/month on the annual commitment). That gap is expected: Zoho People is priced as commodity per-user HR software, while Treegarden's HR module is priced as part of a platform that also includes a full ATS. Once recruiting enters the picture the comparison changes, because the sources used here do not document a comparable recruiting add-on cost for Zoho People, while Treegarden's ATS + HR bundle pricing is published as a single number.
When to choose Zoho People vs Treegarden
Choose Zoho People when: your most urgent problem is employee records and leave tracking, not hiring, and cost per user is the deciding factor. At $1.25 per user per month billed annually for the Essential HR tier, roughly $31/month for a 25-person team, Zoho People's entry pricing is difficult for a flat-rate platform to match at that headcount. The free plan (up to 5 users, leave and employee database records only) also gives a very early-stage company a zero-cost starting point that Treegarden does not offer. If the business already runs other Zoho products, ecosystem fit is a real, additional reason to choose Zoho People, though the specific integrations and how deep they run should be confirmed on Zoho's own site rather than assumed from this comparison.
Choose Treegarden when: active hiring is the priority for the next 12 months and you want the ATS and HR module in a single subscription instead of running separate recruiting and HR-records tools. Treegarden's HR module is built to receive a candidate's details automatically the moment they're marked hired in the ATS, and pricing is flat and published per tier: Startup at $299/month ($239/month on the annual commitment), covering up to 10 active jobs or up to 25 employees depending on module, scaling through Growth and Scale tiers, or a combined ATS + HR bundle from $598/month for 10 jobs plus 25 employees. There is no free plan; evaluation happens through a booked demo. If your team is not actively hiring and the immediate pain is employee records or leave tracking alone, Zoho People's entry tier is the cheaper starting point, and the ATS half of Treegarden's platform would sit unused.
How we evaluated Zoho People and Treegarden
Zoho People facts in this comparison are drawn from two of Treegarden's own published buyer guides, our Best HRIS Software 2026 roundup and our Best HR Software for 1-25 Employees guide, cross-checked against Zoho's official pricing page. We did not conduct new, independent research into Zoho People's full feature set for this article; where a claim about Zoho People would go beyond what those sources document, we say so directly rather than filling the gap with an assumption. Treegarden facts are drawn from our own HR module, pricing, and leave management pages.
This comparison is written for HR managers and founders at US small businesses with roughly 10-150 employees who are actively evaluating HR and ATS software, whether hiring actively or planning to scale headcount in the next 12 months. Enterprise HR platforms (Workday, SAP SuccessFactors, Oracle HCM, UKG, Ceridian) are excluded as they sit outside the budget and complexity threshold of this audience.
Pricing figures reflect each vendor's published rates as of mid-2026. Per-user and per-tier pricing can change; always verify current pricing directly with the vendor during evaluation. This comparison does not constitute a recommendation to purchase either product and is intended as a structured starting point for your own evaluation process.
Frequently asked questions
Does Zoho People include a full applicant tracking system (ATS)?
The sources used for this comparison — Zoho's official pricing page and Treegarden's own published HR software research — do not document Zoho People's recruiting or applicant-tracking depth in detail. If a built-in ATS matters to your decision, confirm current scope directly with Zoho. Treegarden includes a full ATS and an HR module in the same subscription, with a hired candidate becoming an employee record automatically.
How does Zoho People's pricing compare to Treegarden at 25 employees?
Zoho People's Essential HR tier runs from $1.25 per user per month billed annually — about $31/month for a 25-person team, per Zoho's official pricing page. Treegarden's Startup HR tier is $299/month, or $239/month on the annual commitment, for up to 25 employees, or $598/month for a combined ATS + HR Startup bundle covering 25 employees and 10 active jobs. Zoho People is the cheaper option for HR records alone at this headcount; the comparison changes once recruiting is part of what you need.
Is Zoho People's free plan enough for a small team?
Zoho People's free plan covers up to 5 users and, per Zoho's pricing page, is limited to leave and employee database records. It is a reasonable zero-cost starting point for a very early-stage team, but narrower in scope than either vendor's paid tiers. Treegarden does not offer a free plan; evaluation is through a booked demo.
What does Zoho People do better than Treegarden?
Based on the sources used for this comparison, Zoho People's clearest advantages are cost at very small headcounts (from $1.25/user/month billed annually), a genuine free tier, and ecosystem fit for businesses already using other Zoho products. Confirm current ecosystem integration depth directly with Zoho.
What does Treegarden do better than Zoho People?
Treegarden combines a full ATS and HR module in one subscription, with automatic candidate-to-employee handoff and flat, published per-tier pricing rather than a per-user quote. For a business where hiring is the current priority, that removes the need to run separate recruiting and HR-records tools.
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Sources
- Zoho People, Official Pricing Page (reviewed 2026)
- Treegarden: Best HRIS Software 2026 (internal research, cross-checked against Zoho's pricing page)
- Treegarden: Best HR Software for 1-25 Employees (internal research, cross-checked against Zoho's pricing page)
- Treegarden HR module, pricing, and leave management pages (Treegarden facts)
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