Opportunities › Open source HR and payroll management software › Proposed app
Paystead
HR, leave and payroll for small teams, with data you can export or self-host
- Score
- 37
- confidence 56
- Evidence
- 9
- items on the page
- Rivals
- 3
- named in sources
- First version
- 70 d
- estimate
- Type
- Desktop and mobile
- PWA: on computers and phones alike
- Market since
- 2008
- Mature market · AI estimate
ScreensConcept
Desktop and mobile: Managers set up payroll and review payroll at a desk, while employees request leave and check status from their phone; both are essential workflows. Sample screens on a computer and a phone, in the proposed brand. Their numbers are sample data.
Today
Payroll closes in 5 days7 to review
About this appAI proposal
Paystead keeps employee records, attendance, leave, hiring and payroll runs in one installable web app. It is built for companies of 10 to 150 people that have outgrown spreadsheets but do not want a heavy HR suite or a contract that traps their data.
Everything you enter can be exported in open formats at any time, and the core can run on your own server or on our hosted version. Employees use the phone app to request leave and check in; HR sees one calendar, one payroll preview and one list of what needs approval.
The material shows open-source HR tools drawing strong developer interest, and public claims of demand for HR without vendor lock-in. Paystead is a proposal that tests whether small teams will pay for a simpler, hosted, portable version.
- Tagline
- People, time and pay in one place you own.
- Voice
- PlainCalmTrustworthy
- Why this name
- Pay plus homestead: a settled home for pay and people records, which stay yours. Short, easy to say, and not built on any existing product name.
In the first version
Members say which features they would use. It tells PWAS what people want; it changes no score.
Employee records
One profile per person with contract, documents, manager and history. Fields are editable and every change is logged.
No member yet
Leave and attendance
Request leave and check in from a phone. Managers approve in one tap and balances update at once.
No member yet
Payroll preview and run
Preview gross to net before closing the month. Rules for pay items and deductions are set per country by you.
No member yet
Hiring to onboarding
Move a candidate through stages, then turn them into an employee with a ready onboarding checklist.
No member yet
Brand identityAI proposal
Check the name against trademark registers before using it.
Palette
#2F6B4FPine · primary#F7F3EAOat · surface#1F2A24Bark · text#D9822BAmber · accent#3B6F8FLake · data
Typography
Aa
Paystead
ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ 0123456789
People, time and pay in one place you own.
Fraunces for headlines and numbers, Figtree for everything else.
PricingAI proposal
Horilla's pricing page (verified) lists a free plan, one paid plan at $7 by usage, and prices on request for larger customers. These tiers sit near that and are a starting point to test.
Self-host
Free
- Core HR, leave, attendance
- Run on your own server
- Full data export
- Community support
Hosted
$6 a month
- Per employee, billed monthly
- Hosting, backups, updates
- Payroll runs and hiring
- Email support
Business
Contact us
- Larger teams, price on request
- Custom payroll rules
- Onboarding help
- Priority support
Would you pay Hosted · $6 a month?
Your answer tells PWAS which prices people accept. It changes no score.
No answers yet.
What it could be worthEstimate
What a software business making this much sells for today, from real deals. Pick a monthly revenue.
If it makes
Worth about
$194,000
Sale range $132,000 to $263,000
$120,000 a year in revenue
From 87 software businesses listed and sold on Empire Flippers in the last year, revenue vetted by the broker: they sell for about 19× their monthly revenue, most between 13× and 26×.
Measured on profit, the middle deal is 32× monthly net profit: about 2.7 years of profit.
An estimate, not an offer or financial advice. A real price depends on profit, growth, churn, how much of the work is the owner's, and the buyer.
How it would growAI proposal
How the product would reach new customers through its own use, and how the first ones would be found. A plan to test, not a result.
- Built-in loop
- Users invite others. HR invites employees and managers to request leave, approve and check in. Candidates and managers are invited into hiring stages. Each added person sees the product in daily use.
- Do they become customers?
- Employees rarely buy HR software, but managers at other small firms may notice it. Test whether invited managers or ex-colleagues start their own team, and how often.
- First customers
- Owners and office managers of 15 to 60 person companies in one country and one sector, such as agencies or clinics, who now run leave and payroll in spreadsheets.
- Where to reach them
- Open-source communities: Publish the self-host version on GitHub and answer HR-software questions in forums to find teams who want a hosted option.
- Accountant partners: Offer small-business accountants a free account and a payroll export they can use for their clients.
- Founder groups: Post a short demo and migration offer in local small-business and founder communities.
- First milestone
- Ten companies in one country run a real monthly payroll preview on hosted Paystead, and five pay for it.
Why people already pay for this
- VerifiedGitHub repository gained 8932 stars in 1592 days
- VerifiedGitHub repository gained 1460 stars in 1256 days
- Public claimHorilla is a free and open source HR software covering core HR functions including attendance, biometrics, leave, payroll, recruitment and HR analytics.
- VerifiedGitHub repository gained 439 stars in 2679 days
- Public claim
Tech stack
Every proposal builds on the same PWA base, installable from the browser on any phone or computer. Dashed boxes are what this app adds.
- AppNext.js and TypeScript
- PWAManifest and service worker
- UITailwind CSS
- Data and authSupabase Postgres
- PaymentsStripe
- EmailResend
- HostingVercel
- This app · Background jobsScheduled job queuePayroll runs, leave accrual and reminders must run on a schedule and be retried safely.
- This app · File storagePrivate object storageContracts, payslips and candidate documents need private storage with expiring links.
RisksAI inference
- RegulatoryPayroll tax and labour rules differ by country and change. The first version should cover one country, and wrong calculations carry real liability.
- CommercialFree open-source HR tools already exist. Small teams may stay on the free self-hosted option, and conversion to paid hosting is unproven.
- DataHosting salary and personal records brings privacy duties, breach exposure and a need for strong access controls and audit logs.
- TechnicalA PWA has limited offline and background features on some phones. Check-in and reminders may need testing on each platform.
- CommercialThe 11,000+ companies figure is Horilla's own claim, not verified. The real paying demand among small teams is not known.
Everything marked AI proposal or AI inference was written by a model from the evidence on the opportunity page. The proposed name must be checked against trademark registers before it is used.