Compare
Humanised vs BetterHR: An Honest Comparison for Sri Lankan Teams (2026)
Both platforms run real Sri Lankan payroll. Here's how they differ on compliance depth, pricing, and what happens when you outgrow 50 employees.
TL;DR
For Sri Lankan SMEs under 50 employees, BetterHR is cheaper per-employee but skips stamp duty, BOI, and USD-pegged salary support. Humanised is built in Sri Lanka with predictable flat-tier pricing, deeper APIT cumulative-table handling, and an Enterprise plan that scales to 5,000 employees.
At a glance
| Criterion | Humanised | BetterHR |
|---|---|---|
| Built in | Sri Lanka (Beta Launch Pvt Ltd, 2020) | Myanmar (Better Technologies Pte Ltd, 2019, Singapore-incorporated) |
| Sri Lanka office | Yes — Colombo, HQ | Yes — Colombo office opened April 2022 |
| Pricing model | Flat tier (LKR 10,000 / 25,000 / Custom) | Per-employee (LKR 399/ee/month, annual billing) |
| Ideal company size | 5–5,000 (Startup / Small Business / Enterprise) | 20+ (no published upper cap) |
| Stamp duty | Yes | Not advertised |
| BOI compliance | Yes | Not advertised |
| USD-pegged payroll | Yes | Not advertised |
| Setup fee | None | None |
| Free trial | Demo on request | 14 days, no card |
| Mobile app | iOS + Android | iOS 4.0★ (41 reviews), Android 4.0★ (454) |
| Named SL customers | Planlogic + Sri Lankan SMEs | None published |
Who builds each product
Humanised is a Sri Lankan HR and payroll platform built by Beta Launch (Pvt) Ltd, headquartered in Colombo. It was developed over 16 months in close collaboration with reputed Sri Lankan chartered accountancy and management consultancy firms — and that DNA shows up in features other vendors miss, like the APIT cumulative-table 05 trigger at Rs. 1,800,000 and EGAR-method bonus taxation.
BetterHR is a different product. It was built inside Nexlabs, a Myanmar digital agency, in 2018, then spun out as Better Technologies Pte Ltd, incorporated in Singapore in September 2019. Its origin market is Myanmar, with regional offices across nine APAC countries. Its Sri Lanka office opened in April 2022 — so the product is roughly four years old in Sri Lanka, with Sri Lankan localisation layered onto a regional codebase.
There is also a separate, unrelated BetterHR Australia (betterhr.com.au), a contracts-and-policy-library product. Customer reviews on Capterra and GetApp routinely confuse the two — always check the URL before reading a "BetterHR" review.
Sri Lanka compliance matrix
This is the comparison that matters most for SL HR and finance teams. Yes / Partial / No with source notes:
| Capability | Humanised | BetterHR | Why it matters |
|---|---|---|---|
| EPF (employee 8% / employer 12%) | ✓ | ✓ | Statutory baseline |
| ETF (employer 3%) | ✓ | ✓ | Statutory baseline |
| APIT Table 1 (regular monthly) | ✓ | ✓ | Baseline |
| APIT Table 5 / cumulative trigger at Rs. 1.8M | ✓ | ~ | Most common silent error in SL payroll |
| EGAR method for bonus / lump-sum | ✓ | ~ | Avoids treating bonus as monthly salary |
| Stamp duty | ✓ | ✕ | Required deduction on remuneration |
| Gratuity (Payment of Gratuity Act) | ✓ | ~ | BetterHR handles via APIT Table 2 lump-sum |
| BOI compliance | ✓ | ✕ | Critical for BOI-zone exporters |
| USD-pegged / foreign-currency salaries | ✓ | ✕ | Relevant for IT services, remote-first SMEs |
| EPF C-Form generation | ✓ | ✓ | Required for CBSL e-returns |
| ETF B-card | ✓ | ✓ | Required for ETF Board returns |
| Named SL bank files (HNB, Sampath, BOC, Commercial, NTB, DFCC) | ✓ | ~ | BetterHR exports generic bank-format files |
| Leave encashment on termination | ✓ | ~ | Often manual on regional products |
| Budgetary relief allowance | ✓ | ✕ | SL-specific allowance |
| Poya / public holiday rules | ✓ | ~ | BetterHR uses a generic leave engine |
Where this matrix is unfair to BetterHR: their public payroll page is shorter than their product is deep, and they may quietly support some of these via configuration. Where it's fair: if a feature isn't documented or marketed, no Sri Lankan HR or finance manager should assume it works correctly on day one without a careful demo.
Pricing — four scenarios in LKR
Humanised uses flat-tier pricing. BetterHR uses per-employee pricing. The right answer depends on your headcount today and where you're growing.
| Company size | Humanised (monthly) | BetterHR (monthly, on annual rate) | Effective LKR per employee |
|---|---|---|---|
| 15 employees | LKR 10,000 (Startup) | LKR 5,985 | LKR 667/ee / LKR 399/ee |
| 30 employees | LKR 25,000 (Small Business) | LKR 11,970 | LKR 833/ee / LKR 399/ee |
| 50 employees | LKR 25,000 (Small Business) | LKR 19,950 | LKR 500/ee / LKR 399/ee |
| 100 employees | Enterprise (custom) | LKR 39,900 | Negotiable / LKR 399/ee |
| 250 employees | Enterprise (custom) | LKR 99,750 | Negotiable / LKR 399/ee |
| 500 employees | Enterprise (custom) | LKR 199,500 | Negotiable / LKR 399/ee |
The honest read: BetterHR is cheaper today if you have under 50 employees. Humanised wins as you scale, because the per-employee gap narrows then reverses — and you stop paying a hiring tax on every new joiner. The Humanised Enterprise plan is custom-quoted; in practice it's structured to undercut a flat per-employee rate at higher headcounts. Annual billing on Humanised saves further (LKR 100,000 / year on Startup, LKR 270,000 / year on Small Business). Both platforms charge no setup fees.
Where BetterHR is genuinely better
If we tried to win every row, we'd be lying to you. Three places BetterHR is the smarter pick:
- You're under 30 employees and want the absolute lowest per-employee cost — LKR 399 /ee /month is hard to beat at small headcounts.
- You operate in multiple APAC countries — BetterHR runs payroll across Myanmar, Cambodia, Vietnam, Thailand, Singapore, the Philippines, Indonesia, Pakistan and Sri Lanka. If your team is spread across two or more, the multi-country engine is a real advantage.
- You want a 14-day no-card free trial — Humanised offers demos but not a self-serve trial; BetterHR lets you start hands-on immediately.
Where Humanised wins for Sri Lankan SMEs
- Built in Sri Lanka, for Sri Lankan payroll. Not adapted from a regional product. APIT cumulative tables, EGAR for bonuses, the Rs. 1.8 million annual trigger, budgetary relief allowance, Poya-day calendars, stamp duty, gratuity — these aren't an afterthought, they're the original brief.
- Stamp duty and BOI support. Both are deal-breakers for many SL employers; BetterHR's public payroll documentation mentions neither.
- USD-pegged and foreign-currency payroll. Relevant for BOI exporters, IT services firms invoicing in USD, and remote-first SMEs with mixed-currency staff. BetterHR does not advertise this.
- Predictable flat-tier pricing. Your bill doesn't move when you hire — it changes only when you cross a tier boundary. For finance teams that hate variable SaaS spend, this matters.
- Local CA-firm DNA. Sixteen months of co-development with chartered accountancy and management consultancy firms means the payroll logic was reviewed by people who file SL statutory returns for a living — not a regional team adapting a Myanmar codebase.
- Named local customer base. Sri Lankan SMEs across manufacturing, education, tech, and finance. BetterHR's Sri Lanka site claims "200+ clients" but does not publish a single named SL case study or testimonial.
- The boring stability story. No public Capterra or G2 complaints about mobile crashes, GPS permission failures, or policy configuration requiring CS escalation — three of the recurring themes in BetterHR's user reviews.
What real BetterHR customers complain about
We pulled the most-cited recurring complaints from public app-store and aggregator reviews. These aren't cherry-picked one-offs — they're patterns across years.
"Sometimes even open gps and allow permission, app didn't absorb this permission."Apple App Store review, July 2024
"I need to re-download app almost once a week since it crashes a lot."Apple App Store review, April 2021
"Changing policies is somewhat technical, and users always need customer support team assistance to handle it."recurring theme in aggregator summaries of G2 / SoftwareSuggest content
"Many bugs."Apple App Store review, March 2024
Praise pulled from the same sources, for balance: customers consistently highlight detailed pay sheets, easy attendance management, and affordability for small businesses.
Migration: BetterHR → Humanised
For an SME under 100 employees, expect one to three weeks end-to-end:
- Week 1 — export employee master data, leave balances, and the last three payroll cycles from BetterHR; import into Humanised; map payroll policies.
- Week 2 — run Humanised in parallel with BetterHR for one cycle; reconcile statutory figures (EPF, ETF, APIT) line-by-line.
- Week 3 — switch primary; archive BetterHR exports per SL record-keeping requirements (5 years for tax records, 6 years for EPF/ETF).
Humanised onboarding is included in every plan, with no setup fee. There is no contractual lock-in beyond the billing cycle you've paid for.
See Humanised on a 20-minute call
Live walkthrough of the SL compliance features above — no slide deck, just the product.
Request a DemoFrequently asked questions
Is Humanised cheaper than BetterHR?
It depends on company size. BetterHR’s LKR 399 per-employee monthly rate is cheaper than Humanised’s flat tier for companies under 50 employees. Humanised’s flat pricing pulls ahead from 50 employees up, and Enterprise scales predictably to 5,000.
Does Humanised handle EPF and ETF filing in Sri Lanka?
Yes. Humanised automates EPF (employee 8%, employer 12%), ETF (3%), APIT income tax, stamp duty, and generates bank-ready files for Hatton National Bank, Sampath Bank, Bank of Ceylon, Commercial Bank, NTB, DFCC, Standard Chartered and HSBC. EPF C-Forms and ETF B-card outputs are produced for direct e-return submission.
Is BetterHR a Sri Lankan company?
No. BetterHR is incorporated in Singapore as Better Technologies Pte Ltd and was built by Nexlabs in Myanmar in 2018. Its Colombo office opened in April 2022. Humanised is built in Sri Lanka by Beta Launch (Pvt) Ltd, in collaboration with Sri Lankan chartered accountancy firms.
Does BetterHR support BOI compliance?
BetterHR’s public payroll page does not mention Board of Investment (BOI) compliance or stamp duty. Humanised explicitly supports both, plus USD-pegged salaries — relevant for BOI exporters and Sri Lankan companies paying staff against foreign-currency bases.
Can Humanised scale to 500 or more employees?
Yes. The Enterprise plan supports unlimited profiles and is built for organisations up to roughly 5,000 employees with custom integrations, custom reports, and dedicated onboarding workflows. Pricing is custom and quoted on demand.
What’s the difference between BetterHR (Myanmar) and BetterHR Australia?
They are unrelated companies sharing the name. BetterHR Australia (betterhr.com.au) is an HR document and policy library product. The BetterHR active in Sri Lanka is betterhr.com — a Myanmar-built payroll SaaS. Reviews on Capterra and GetApp often conflate the two.
How does Humanised handle APIT correctly on bonuses?
Humanised applies the EGAR (Estimated Gross Annual Remuneration) method for lump sums like bonuses, arrears, and leave encashment — taxing at the marginal rate the full-year estimate reaches. This avoids the common error of taxing a Rs.600,000 bonus as monthly salary under Table 01.
Does Humanised support USD-pegged salaries?
Yes. Humanised handles payrolls pegged to USD or other foreign currencies, with LKR or foreign-currency base salaries. This matters for BOI exporters, IT services firms billing in USD, and remote-first SMEs. BetterHR does not advertise this capability.
How long does migration from BetterHR to Humanised take?
For an SME under 100 employees, migration typically takes one to three weeks: employee data import, leave-balance reconciliation, payroll policy mapping, and a parallel run for one cycle. Humanised onboarding is included in all plans with no setup fees.
Which mobile app is more reliable?
BetterHR’s mobile apps sit at 4.0 stars on both iOS (41 ratings) and Google Play (454 reviews), with verbatim user complaints about crashes and GPS permission bugs across 2021–2024. Humanised’s mobile app handles employee check-in/out, leave requests, and payslip access.
Sources
- Apple App Store — Better HR: apps.apple.com/us/app/better-hr/id1375280585 and Google Play — Better HR: play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=co.nexlabs.betterhr
- BetterHR Sri Lanka site and Facebook page — no named SL customer case studies as of the publish date above
- BetterHR About page: betterhr.com/about-us/ — incorporated Singapore Sep 2019, Yangon origin, 9-country APAC footprint
- BetterHR Sri Lanka Payroll page: betterhr.com/en-lk/payroll-software — confirms EPF, ETF, APIT Tables 1 & 2, Form 2, EPF/ETF bank file output, EPF C Form
- BetterHR Sri Lanka Payroll page — site search performed for "BOI", "stamp duty", "USD" returned no matches as of the publish date above
- SoftwareSuggest summary of Better HR reviews: softwaresuggest.com/better-hr
Also evaluating?
- Humanised vs PeoplesHR — for teams comparing against hSenid's enterprise HRIS
- Humanised vs MiHCM — for teams in the Microsoft 365 / Teams ecosystem
- Humanised vs Gallery HR — for teams evaluating new-generation SL SaaS
- The full Sri Lankan payroll software comparison — five vendors side by side