Ashby
Ashby ships almost daily, tightening reporting, feedback loops, and AI agents.
Comparison · HR
Frappe HR vs Horilla
A side-by-side editorial comparison of Frappe HR and Horilla — release velocity, themes, recent moves, and the top alternatives to consider.
Frappe HR vs Horilla: at a glance
What is Frappe HR?
Frappe HR is pushing payroll toward accountant-grade bookkeeping, one release a week.
Frappe HR ships on three maintained lines (v14, v15, v16) at a weekly pace, and nearly all feature work lands on v16. Recent v16 releases added employer-contribution liability accounting with separate journal entries, three payslip layouts, a Partially Paid expense-claim status, and a one-click path from accepted job applicant to employee record. Backport releases on v15 and v14 carry fixes, mostly for permissions and attendance.
What is Horilla?
Horilla shipped six security releases in three weeks, ending with a no-login RCE.
Horilla's 2.1.x line has become a running security audit. Between 2.1.1 and 2.1.8 the team closed more than a dozen externally reported advisories, from stored XSS and local file reads to salary-redirect and self-approval flaws, capped by an unauthenticated remote code execution in the public recruitment flow.
Frappe HR vs Horilla: editorial side-by-side
Frappe HR is pushing payroll toward accountant-grade bookkeeping, one release a week.
◆ Current state
Frappe HR ships on three maintained lines (v14, v15, v16) at a weekly pace, and nearly all feature work lands on v16. Recent v16 releases added employer-contribution liability accounting with separate journal entries, three payslip layouts, a Partially Paid expense-claim status, and a one-click path from accepted job applicant to employee record. Backport releases on v15 and v14 carry fixes, mostly for permissions and attendance.
◆ Where it's heading
The feature thread runs through payroll and expense accounting: employer contributions, liability accounts, per-employee payables and loan repayment on payslips show a push to make HR records reconcile cleanly with the general ledger. A second thread is access control: file permissions, POST-only mutations and restricted goal updates show steady security tightening across all lines.
◆ Prediction
Expect further v16 payroll-accounting features, such as more contribution types or ledger reports, alongside continued permission hardening backported to v15.
Horilla
5.0HR
Horilla shipped six security releases in three weeks, ending with a no-login RCE.
◆ Current state
Horilla's 2.1.x line has become a running security audit. Between 2.1.1 and 2.1.8 the team closed more than a dozen externally reported advisories, from stored XSS and local file reads to salary-redirect and self-approval flaws, capped by an unauthenticated remote code execution in the public recruitment flow.
◆ Where it's heading
The pattern is consistent: outside researchers are probing the 2.x codebase, and the maintainers are responding fast with detailed advisories and no-migration patches. Most of the flaws are authorization checks that trusted any manager relationship rather than the specific record, which points to a codebase-wide access-control review rather than one-off fixes.
◆ Prediction
Expect more point releases closing authorization bugs in the remaining HR modules (payroll, attendance, assets) before any feature work resumes on 2.2.
Alternatives to Frappe HR and Horilla
Other HR products tracked by Sparkpulse, ranked by recent ship velocity. Each card links to a full editorial trajectory and lets you pivot into a head-to-head comparison with either Frappe HR or Horilla.
Ever Gauzy
Ever Gauzy is shipping a stream of pagination and filter fixes, one patch at a time.
Teamtailor
Teamtailor lets recruiters write their own AI pipeline steps in plain language.
Tanda
Tanda keeps absorbing HR admin into workforce management, one automation at a time.
Employment Hero
Employment Hero builds toward AI-native HR with a recruitment agent and developer API push
Workyard
Workyard makes overtime rule authorship conversational while extending expense card coverage to every US bank.
See all Frappe HR alternatives → · See all Horilla alternatives →
Recent activity from Frappe HR and Horilla
Latest ship moves from both products, interleaved chronologically. ⚡ = editorial spark.
- 1h agoFrappe HRv16.20.1
- 2d agoFrappe HRTranslation template update for v16 assets
- 4d agoHorilla2.1.8 — Security release
- 7d agoFrappe HRv15.64.2: goal permissions and half-day attendance fixes
- 8d agoFrappe HRv16.20.0 books employer contributions as liabilities
- 12d agoFrappe HRv14.38.2: validate salary component search input
- 14d agoFrappe HRv16.19.0 adds Partially Paid status for expense claims
- 21d agoHorilla2.1.5 — Bug-fix release
- 22d agoHorilla2.1.4 — Security release
- 22d agoHorilla2.1.3 — Security and bug-fix release
- 23d agoHorilla2.1.2 — Security patch
- 24d agoHorilla2.1.1 — Security patch
Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between Frappe HR and Horilla?
They serve adjacent needs but don't currently overlap on shipped themes. Frappe HR and Horilla are shipping at a similar cadence (velocity 5.0 vs 5.0, both within Sparkpulse's "active" band). See the at-a-glance table above for a side-by-side breakdown of velocity, recent sparks, and editorial themes.
Is Frappe HR better than Horilla?
Sparkpulse doesn't pick a winner — we score release velocity, not feature parity. Frappe HR and Horilla are shipping at a similar cadence (velocity 5.0 vs 5.0, both within Sparkpulse's "active" band). For your specific use case, the alternatives sections above list other HR products to evaluate alongside.
What are the best alternatives to Frappe HR?
Top Frappe HR alternatives in HR are ranked by recent ship velocity. Browse the "Frappe HR alternatives" section above for the current picks, or visit /alternatives/frappe-hrms for the full list with editorial commentary on each.
What are the best alternatives to Horilla?
Top Horilla alternatives in HR are ranked by recent ship velocity. Browse the "Horilla alternatives" section above for the current picks, or visit /alternatives/horilla for the full list with editorial commentary on each.