Payroll tools carry a lot of operational risk: teams need payroll logic, HR workflows, licensing clarity, and evidence that the project is still being maintained. For May 2026, ToolVitals compares the supplied open/source-visible Payroll Tools data using health, shipping, openness, licensing, GitHub stars, and the overall ToolVitals score.
This ranking includes only open/source-visible tools from the supplied data. The order is based first on ToolVitals score, with GitHub stars used only as a secondary popularity signal for ties; openness_label and license_label are reported as given so OSI-approved OSS is not mixed up with other source-visible models.
Rankings
| Rank | Tool | Openness | License | Health | Shipping | GitHub Stars | Score | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Frappe HRMS | OSI-approved OSS | GPL-3.0 | 90 | 97 | 7996 | 93 | 🟢 Excellent |
| 2 | PayrollEngine | OSI-approved OSS | MIT | 66 | 51 | 104 | 68 | 🟢 Good |
| 3 | Hafta | OSI-approved OSS | MIT | 30 | 0 | 143 | 33 | 🔴 Needs Attention |
Top 3 Highlights
Frappe HRMS ranks first with a 93 ToolVitals score, backed by a 90 health score and a 97 shipping score. It is listed as OSI-approved OSS under GPL-3.0, has no pricing scope in the supplied data, and has 7,996 GitHub stars, making it the strongest payroll option in this set by both project vitality and visible adoption.
PayrollEngine ranks second with a 68 ToolVitals score and is listed as OSI-approved OSS under MIT. Its description points to a regulation-driven payroll framework with multi-tenant, multi-country, API-first, and low-code/no-code features, but its 66 health score and 51 shipping score place it well behind Frappe HRMS in this snapshot.
Hafta ranks third with a 33 ToolVitals score and a Needs Attention status. It is listed as OSI-approved OSS under MIT and has 143 GitHub stars, but the supplied data shows a 30 health score and a 0 shipping score, so it looks much less active than the other payroll tools in this ranking.
Want to see the full details, pricing, and trend data for every tool in Payroll? Browse all Payroll Tools →