head to head · open source
hrms vs Horilla
hrms has 9,011 GitHub stars, 2,857 forks, 472 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Horilla has 1,485 stars, 964 forks, 120 open issues and last shipped yesterday. hrms leads on adoption by 507% (9,011 vs 1,485 stars). hrms is written in Python under GPL-3.0; Horilla is written in HTML under LGPL-2.1. hrms has attracted 32% as many forks as stars, Horilla 65%. hrms was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 5 topic tags (attendance, hr, hris, hrms), so they are genuine substitutes rather than adjacent tools.
Two open source projects, one decision. Both are free and self-hostable — the differences are community size, license terms, language stack and release pace.
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Side by side
| hrms | Horilla | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 9.0K | ★ 1.5K |
| License | GPL-3.0 | LGPL-2.1 |
| Written in | Python | HTML |
| Last push | 2026-11-02 | 2026-11-02 |
| Forks | ⑂ 2.9K | ⑂ 964 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick hrms if
- You weight community size — 9.0K stars and counting
- You want the GPL-3.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Python
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick Horilla if
- You want the Horilla feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the LGPL-2.1 license terms
- Your stack matches HTML
- You evaluated both and Horilla fits your workflow better
About hrms
Frappe HR Open Source, modern, and easy to use HR and Payroll Software Website Documentation Frappe HR Frappe HR has everything you need to drive excellence within the company. It's a complete HRMS solution with over 13 different modules right from Employee Management, Onboarding, Leaves, to Payroll, Taxation, and more! Motivation When Frappe team started growing in terms of size, we needed an open source HR and Payroll software. We didn't find any "true" open source HR software out there and so decided to build one ourselves. Initially, it was a set of modules within ERPNext but version 14 onwards, as the…
About Horilla
Horilla HRMS [!IMPORTANT] 2.0 is now this repository’s default branch. Use it to run or deploy Horilla (a plain git clone checks it out). To contribute code, branch from and open PRs against dev/v2.0 — GitHub still pre selects 2.0 as the PR base, so switch it manually. v1 ( 1.0 / master ) is deprioritized, with fixes considered case by case rather than on a guaranteed schedule. Full details → Discussion 1127. A comprehensive, free, and open source Human Resource Management System (HRMS) designed to streamline HR operations and enhance organizational efficiency. 🚀 Features Core HR Modules 👥 Employee Management…
read the full Horilla overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is hrms or Horilla more popular?
hrms has 9,011 GitHub stars and Horilla has 1,485. hrms has the larger community by that measure.
Are hrms and Horilla free?
Both are open source. hrms is licensed under GPL-3.0 and Horilla under LGPL-2.1. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between hrms and Horilla?
hrms is written in Python and Horilla in HTML. The practical differences are community size, licence terms, language stack and release cadence — all compared in the table above.
Which should I choose, hrms or Horilla?
Choose hrms if you want the larger community (9,011 stars) or its GPL-3.0 licence terms. Choose Horilla if its feature set, stack or LGPL-2.1 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.