Factorial vs Personio
We give Factorial a 2.0 GPA and Personio a 1.8, out of 4.0. Factorial grades higher on features. They get the same grade on value for money, the free plan, ease of use and platforms.
Price, platforms and features side by side. The table says where each price was read and when.
Factorial
HR, time, shifts, expenses and IT for small firms, quoted by module
From $8/mo
How we grade them
| 2.0GPAFactorialFair | 1.8GPAPersonioWeak | |
|---|---|---|
| Value for money | CFactorial starts at $8 a user a month, so a ten-person company pays $80 and up, right on this category's middle. That's for Core, with records, onboarding, payslips and e-signatures; any modules you add are quoted on top. | CWe couldn't read a price: Personio's pages turned our reader away, so plans and prices aren't on record and we can't say what a ten-person company pays. With no figure to compare, it's a C. |
| Free plan and trial | FNo free plan, and the trial links on its pages led to a missing page, so no trial is on record. | FNo free plan or trial on record. Its pages turned our reader away, so a trial may exist that we couldn't confirm. |
| Features | BRecords, documents and e-signatures, time off, clock-ins by location or QR code, shift planning, hiring, reviews, training, expenses and device management. The whole job, with a fair bit more besides. | CRecords and documents, time off, working hours, an approvals inbox, recruiting and payroll, with an API and webhooks. The basics are there, but the listing shows no reviews or onboarding, and shifts need a partner app. |
| Ease of use | CNo App Store rating on record, and picking modules with sales, then setting up shifts and policies, takes a while. | CNo App Store rating on record. The app covers absences, hours, approvals and documents, and everything else, setup included, happens on the web. |
| Platforms and integrations | BWeb, iPhone and Android, with Slack, Google Workspace, Zapier, DATEV, Sage 200, Okta and Power BI. No desktop app. | BWeb, iPhone and Android, with a public API, webhooks and more than 200 integrations. No desktop app. |
| Best for | shift-based teams wanting HR and rotas together | European firms wanting HR and payroll together |
The GPA is the average of the five grades: an A is 4 points, an F is none. The full reasons are on each tool's page: Factorial and Personio. How we grade
Where they differ
- Factorial also covers expense tracking and shift scheduling.
In commonWebiOSAndroidTime trackingApplicant trackingEmployee recordsTime off
At a glance
| Factorial | Personio | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Paid | Paid |
| Starts at | $8 per user / month and up, by quote | Not published |
| Free plan | None | None |
| Free trial | None listed | None listed |
| Web | ||
| iOS | ||
| Android | ||
| Made by | Factorial | Personio SE & Co. KG |
| Price read from | factorial.com | Not confirmed |
| Checked | Oct 18, 2026 | Oct 18, 2026 |
Who each one suits
Factorial
- Small and mid-sized firms in Spain, Germany or Mexico, where it has offices
- Businesses with shift workers that need time tracking and rotas
- Teams wanting HR, expenses and IT devices in one system
Personio
- Companies in Europe wanting core HR, payroll and recruiting together
- HR teams that want records, absences and hours in one system
- Companies connecting a separate shift planner or payroll tool
Worth knowing
Factorial
- Only the $8 starting figure is published; the real price comes in a quote that depends on the modules and the headcount.
- Monthly plans bill for the employees present at the start of each month; annual plans bill extra only in months above the agreed count.
- Offices are in Spain, Germany and Mexico; the about page says both 12 and 120 countries for its customers and does not list where payroll works.
- The free-trial links on its pages lead to a missing page, so a trial could not be confirmed.
Personio
- Prices could not be confirmed: personio.com and its help center answered with a bot check, so plans, prices and any trial are not recorded.
- It presents itself as built for Europe; the pages read do not list the countries where its payroll works.
- The mobile app covers absences, time, approvals and documents; other workflows and set-up need the web app.
- Shift planning comes through partner apps that sync with Personio, where shifts are created and changed.
Key features
Factorial
- Core HR and documents
- Every plan has the employee directory, onboarding and offboarding, payslip distribution, bulk document sending, fillable PDFs and legal e-signatures.
- Time off and time tracking
- Unlimited time-off policies and custom absence types, plus clock-ins by geolocation or QR code with overtime compensation.
- Shift planning
- Build shifts in bulk, set rotating patterns or generate them automatically, and share the schedule with staff.
- Recruiting, reviews and training
- Post jobs to several boards with AI CV parsing, run 360-degree performance reviews, track goals and manage training with certificates.
- Expenses, projects and IT
- Read receipts with OCR, route expenses through multi-step approvals, log hours to projects, and manage devices and SaaS licenses.
- One, the AI assistant
- An AI agent that searches and analyzes company data, builds reports and prepares policies, contracts and payroll documents for review.
Personio
- Employee records and documents
- One place for employee data and HR documents, which staff can open, download or share from the mobile app.
- Absences and time off
- Employees request time off and see their balance, and can check upcoming absences and team availability where the company allows it.
- Working-time tracking
- Staff record and review their hours on the web or phone, and approved times from partner apps can be sent back into Personio.
- Inbox for approvals
- Managers see open requests and tasks in one inbox and approve or decline them, including from the mobile app.
- Recruiting
- Applicants can be passed into Personio's recruiting module through its Recruiting API, alongside core HR and payroll.
- API, webhooks and marketplace
- Custom integrations read employees, attendance, absences and documents through the API, and webhooks push changes in real time.
Plans
Factorial
Tailored plan$8
per user / month and up
Factorial Core (directory, onboarding, payslip delivery, bulk documents, e-signature) plus the modules chosen. Quoted and sold through sales.
Personio
Pricing could not be confirmed. See personio.com.
