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Home/Categories/Business & Productivity/Horilla
icon of Horilla

Horilla

Open source alternative to ADP Workforce Now, Gusto and BambooHR

Horilla is a free open source HRMS covering recruitment, onboarding, attendance, payroll, performance, and leave management in a single self-hosted Django application. GPL-3.0 licensed.

1.2K starsHTMLLGPL-2.1Active this month
Visit websiteGitHub repo
image of Horilla
Contents
  1. 01Who Horilla is for
  2. 02The problem it solves
  3. 03How it solves it
  4. 04Strengths and trade-offs
  5. 05Tech stack
  6. 06FAQ
  7. 07Similar open-source tools
TL;DR

Horilla is an open source HRMS for recruitment, onboarding, attendance, leave, payroll, and performance workflows. It replaces paid HR suites for teams that want a self-hosted Django application instead of per-seat HR software.LGPL-2.1 · HTML · 1.2K stars · Active this month

who it's for

Who Horilla is for#

Small companies formalizing HR

Horilla fits teams moving beyond spreadsheets for leave, onboarding, attendance, and employee records while keeping the system self-hosted.

Skip if:

You need a payroll provider, benefits broker, or compliance service bundled into the same vendor contract.

Operations teams with Python skills

Teams already running Django or Python services can adapt Horilla more comfortably than a closed HR SaaS product.

Skip if:

No one owns server maintenance, database backups, and upgrades.

the problem
tech stack · detected from GitHub

What it's built on#

Languages
JavaScriptPython
Frameworks
Django
frequently asked

FAQ#

What HR modules does Horilla include?
Can Horilla be self-hosted?
What license does Horilla use?
also worth a look

Similar open-source tools#

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Repository

Stars
1.2K
Forks
807
License
LGPL-2.1
Latest
1.5.0
Last commit
22 days ago
Last verified
May 13, 2026
Repo
horilla-opensource/horilla ↗

Additional details

Language
HTML
Open issues
124
Contributors
47
First release
2023

Categories

Business & ProductivityIT Management

Tags

Self HostedWorkflow AutomationOpen CoreDocumentationProject Management

The problem it solves#

how Horilla solves it

How it solves it#

HRMS workflow coverage

Horilla covers recruitment, onboarding, attendance, payroll, performance, and leave management, which spans the core employee lifecycle in one application.

Django application stack

Horilla is built around Python and Django, making it approachable for teams that already operate Python web apps and want to customize internal HR workflows.

Database-backed self-hosting

Horilla runs as a database-backed Python and Django application, preferably with PostgreSQL, which fits teams prepared to operate a conventional server app.

strengths · trade-offs

Strengths and trade-offs#

Strengths

  • Broad HR module setMany open source HR tools focus on one area. Horilla brings recruiting, attendance, payroll, performance, and leave into the same product surface, reducing spreadsheet handoffs.
  • Self-hosted control for HR dataEmployee records, payroll context, and performance information are sensitive. Horilla gives organizations a path to keep that data on infrastructure they control.

Trade-offs

  • -Requires application administrationHorilla is a Django app with database prerequisites. Teams without someone comfortable maintaining Python, database backups, upgrades, and email settings may prefer a managed HR platform.
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Horilla covers core HRMS workflows including recruitment, onboarding, attendance, payroll, performance, and leave management.

Yes. Horilla supports self-hosted deployment with Python, Django, and a database, preferably PostgreSQL.

HR work spreads quickly across spreadsheets, email, payroll exports, attendance logs, and disconnected applicant tracking tools. That fragmentation creates errors in leave balances, approvals, onboarding steps, and employee records.

Paid HR suites can solve the workflow problem, but they often price by employee or seat and store sensitive personnel data in a vendor-controlled platform. Smaller organizations need structure without turning HR data into another locked SaaS dependency.

Horilla license data is inconsistent across current project records, with LGPL-2.1 associated with the redirected repository while OSA currently lists GPL-3.0. Teams should verify the current license in project files before adopting it.