# Papershift review (2026): is it worth €3.60 a month, billed yearly? > German shift planning, time tracking and absence software Checked Nov 12, 2026 · graded Nov 12, 2026 by ToolGPA. Papershift is a German cloud workforce tool covering shift planning, digital time tracking, absence management and payroll preparation. It is sold in three packages priced in euros per employee, and its pricing page is in German. Data is stored in the EU and exports to DATEV and LODAS are listed. - **Category:** Shift Scheduling - **Made by:** Papershift - **Website:** https://www.papershift.com - **Runs on:** Web, iOS, Android - **Who should skip it:** Pricey if you are very small, as every booking adds a EUR 39 monthly base fee. - **Facts last checked:** Nov 12, 2026 ## Pricing As of Nov 12, 2026, Papershift is a paid product with a free trial, starting at €3.60 per employee / month, billed yearly (€4 monthly), plus €39 base. - **Pricing model:** Free trial - **Free plan:** None. - **Free trial:** 14-day free test account after booking, all features. | Plan | Price | What you get | | --- | --- | --- | | Core | €3.60 per employee / month, billed yearly (€4 monthly), plus €39 base | Digital time tracking, absence management, employee profiles and documents, no shift planning. The page shows €57.60 a month for 16 employees. | | Premium | €5.40 per employee / month, billed yearly (€6 monthly), plus €39 base | Adds digital shift planning, rule-based automatic shift assignment, work-time models and multi-location planning. €86.40 a month for 16 employees. | | Professional | €8.10 per employee / month, billed yearly (€9 monthly), plus €39 base | Adds full automation, absence blackout periods, surcharges, DATEV and LODAS export and reports. €129.60 a month for 16 employees. | Read from https://www.papershift.com/preise on Nov 12, 2026. Prices change, so confirm with Papershift before buying. ## Ways to pay less - **10% off with yearly payment** (Annual discount): The pricing page says paying yearly saves 10% against monthly payment, on a one-year subscription. Source: https://www.papershift.com/preise ## Key features - **Shift planning:** Schedules are built visually and shared online, with multi-location planning, work-time models and break rules in the Premium and Professional packages. - **Automatic shift assignment:** Premium assigns shifts automatically by rules; Professional lists fully automatic filling of the schedule. - **Time tracking:** Staff clock in via smartphone, tablet or browser, with automatic break rules set per employee. - **Absence management:** Absence requests and employee-specific target hours are in every package; Professional adds blackout periods and employee-specific holidays. - **Payroll preparation:** Professional calculates hours and surcharges (night, Sunday, holiday) and exports to DATEV and LODAS for the tax advisor. - **HR records:** Employee profiles with master data, uploaded contracts and documents, tags and qualifications, and EU-hosted storage described as GDPR-compliant. ## Good for - German small and mid-sized businesses in hospitality, retail, production and care - Teams that need surcharges and DATEV or LODAS payroll export - Employers that want EU-hosted data ## Worth knowing - Prices are in euros, exclude VAT, and the page is in German; the shown totals assume 16 employees. - Shift planning starts at Premium; Core is time tracking and absences only. - Every booking carries a €39 monthly base fee that includes Basic support; higher support levels are sold separately. - For teams of up to 15 there is a separate Papershift Light, and larger companies get an individual Enterprise quote. ## ToolGPA grades **GPA: 2.2 out of 4**, graded Nov 12, 2026. Papershift covers shift planning, time tracking, absences and payroll prep for German-speaking teams. Shift planning starts at the second plan, every booking carries a EUR 39 monthly base fee, and the pricing page is in German. - **Value for money: C.** EUR 3.60 a person a month on yearly billing, excluding VAT, plus a EUR 39 base fee. Shift planning starts at Premium, EUR 5.40. For five people that is well above the category middle. - **Free plan and trial: C.** A 14-day test account with all features after booking. The page does not say whether a card is needed. There is no free plan. - **Features: C.** Shift planning, automatic assignment, time tracking, absences and payroll prep. The cheapest plan, Core, has no shift planning, so the listing shows a gap. - **Ease of use: C.** No store rating on record. Accounts, rules and staff have to be set up first. - **Platforms and integrations: B.** Web plus iOS and Android apps, with five integrations listed. These are ToolGPA's own grades. Graded from this listing, whose facts were read from Papershift's own pages on 12 November 2026. Not based on using the product, and shorter than our full reviews. ## Where it stands among shift scheduling apps - Papershift's GPA of 2.2 is higher than 6 of the 23 other shift scheduling apps we grade, and level with 4. - It stands best on platforms and integrations (B, above 2 of 23) and worst on features (C, above 0). - Its paid plans start at about $4.02 a month for each person, against a middle price of $5.33 for the category: 7 of the 17 others that charge start lower. - On features, ease of use and platforms it scores 2.3 out of 4. 3 tools score higher and cost less. The category's chart of price against score: https://toolgpa.com/charts/shift-scheduling ## Keep it, or make your own? **Keep it.** To replace Papershift you would be making payroll taxes worked out and filed with the government for you. That is not a weekend's work, with an AI app builder or without one. That makes this kind of software worth paying for, not this one in particular: 13 of the 23 other shift scheduling apps grade higher. It costs $48.26 a year. - You could make: Time off and employee records: an app builder makes these well. - You could not: Payroll taxes worked out and filed with the government for you. - You could not: A rota the whole staff sees on their phones, with swaps and alerts. - You could not: Clocking in from a phone, checked against where and when. - You could not: A real app for iOS and Android. Something home-made would be a web page. - You could not: It is priced for each person, which means accounts and billing for a team. - You could not: It plugs into other products, DATEV, LODAS and Personio among them. A judgement by ToolGPA from this listing, by rules that are the same for every tool. Nothing was built to test it. ## Works with DATEV, LODAS, Personio, Fareharbor, Lohn24 **Tags:** Shift scheduling, Time clock, Time off, Payroll, Employee records ## Alternatives - [Staffomatic](https://toolgpa.com/tools/staffomatic): Shift planner and time tracking priced per person in euros. [Compare](https://toolgpa.com/compare/papershift-vs-staffomatic) - [Shiftbase](https://toolgpa.com/tools/shiftbase): Dutch shift scheduling, time clock and absence app, free to 15 staff. [Compare](https://toolgpa.com/compare/papershift-vs-shiftbase) - [Planday](https://toolgpa.com/tools/planday): Rota planning, punch clock and payroll reports for shift-based teams. [Compare](https://toolgpa.com/compare/papershift-vs-planday) - [Connecteam](https://toolgpa.com/tools/connecteam): Employee app for shifts, time clock, chat and HR, free up to 10 users. [Compare](https://toolgpa.com/compare/connecteam-vs-papershift) - [Deputy](https://toolgpa.com/tools/deputy): Shift scheduling, time clock and labor-law tools for hourly teams. [Compare](https://toolgpa.com/compare/deputy-vs-papershift) ## Sources The prices, plans, platforms and features above were read from these pages on Nov 12, 2026: - https://www.papershift.com/preise - https://www.papershift.com Page: https://toolgpa.com/tools/papershift Listed by ToolGPA (toolgpa.com).