Timebutler review (2026): is it worth €29.95 a month?
German time tracking and leave planning with a flat team price
Black Friday: is there a Timebutler sale?
Timebutler report card
Fair · out of 4.0 · graded Nov 13, 2026
Best for German-law time tracking and leave planning
Timebutler gives a whole team time recording, leave planning, overtime and shifts for €29.95 a month for up to 5 people. The pricing page is in German, the rules follow German working-time law, and direct debit works only in Germany.
Who Timebutler is for
- Fits if you run a German team and need leave and overtime balances
- Makes sense if you want a flat price for the whole team
Who Timebutler is not for
- Skip it if you need English prices, since the pricing page is German
- Not for you if you work outside German law, as time rules are built around it
- Tight if you grow past 200 people, which means an individual quote
- Watch out: after a term ends unrenewed the account is frozen, viewable but not editable, and prices exclude VAT
Why Timebutler gets a 2.2
Five grades, each with its reason. The GPA is their average: an A is 4 points, an F is none.
- CValue for money€29.95 a month for the whole team of up to 5, about €6 a head, excluding VAT. €59.95 up to 35 people.
- CFree plan and trial6 weeks free for the whole team with no card, then it ends. No free plan.
- CFeaturesTime clock, leave, overtime, shifts, personnel files and a DATEV file export. Aimed at German rules, and DATEV is a file, not a sync.
- CEase of useNo store rating on record. The pricing page is in German, and rules and calendars need setting up.
- BPlatforms and integrationsWeb, iOS and Android, with an API and DATEV export. No desktop app.
What these grades rest on. Graded from this listing, whose facts were read from Timebutler's own pages on 13 November 2026. Not based on using the product, and shorter than our full reviews. How we review and grade.
Make Timebutler? Put this grade on your site
Paste this where you want the badge. It links here and follows the grade if it changes. About badges
<a href="https://toolgpa.com/tools/timebutler#review"><img src="https://toolgpa.com/badge/timebutler.svg" alt="Timebutler: 2.2 GPA on ToolGPA" width="196" height="56"></a>Where Timebutler stands among time tracking apps
Timebutler's GPA of 2.2 is higher than 23 of the 98 other time tracking apps we grade, and level with 17.
It stands best on platforms and integrations (B, above 26 of 98) and worst on features (C, above 0).
Its paid plans start at about $33.46 a month for each person, against a middle price of $6.99 for the category: 80 of the 80 others that charge start lower.
On features, ease of use and platforms it scores 2.3 out of 4. 41 tools score higher and cost less.
Each grade against the category
Every bar is all 99 time tracking apps we grade, cut by the letter each got. Timebutler’s own letter is outlined.
- CValue for moneyAbove 16 of 98, level with 51
- CFree plan and trialAbove 15 of 98, level with 58
- CFeaturesAbove 0 of 98, level with 64
- CEase of useAbove 3 of 98, level with 75
- BPlatforms and integrationsAbove 26 of 98, level with 45
Price against what you get
Each dot is one of 87 time tracking apps. Further left costs less, and higher up scores better on features, ease of use and platforms. Point at a dot to see which tool it is.
Features, ease of use and platforms, averaged
What paid plans start at, a month (each step along is roughly double) →
- The best score at each price
- Has a free plan
- No free plan
Keep Timebutler, or make your own?
Keep it
The plain part of Timebutler you could make: time tracking, time off, employee records and reports. What surrounds it you could not. The 5 things listed below take a company, not a weekend.
That makes this kind of software worth paying for, not this one in particular: 58 of the 98 other time tracking apps grade higher. It costs $401.52 a year.
What you could make
- Time tracking, time off, employee records and reports: an app builder makes these well.
What you could not
- Clocking in from a phone, checked against where and when.
- A rota the whole staff sees on their phones, with swaps and alerts.
- A real app for iOS and Android. Something home-made would be a web page.
- It is priced for each person, which means accounts and billing for a team.
- It plugs into other products, DATEV, DATEV LODAS and hard&softWERK among them, and has an API.
What this rests on. Timebutler’s listing: what it does, where it runs, what it plugs into and what it costs. It is a judgement about the kind of software this is. We have not built a replacement for it, and making your own means looking after it too. How we decide, and every tool’s verdict.
What is Timebutler?
Timebutler is a German web app for recording working hours and managing vacation and absences. It adds overtime accounts, shift planning, digital personnel files and a DATEV export, and says its data is hosted in a data center near Frankfurt. Every feature is included at one team price rather than per-feature tiers.
Worth knowing
- Pricing is in euros, excludes VAT, and the pricing page is in German; the free period is a 6-week trial, not a free plan.
- Prices cover the whole team by user count, and teams over 200 people get an individual quote.
- Time rules are built around German working-time law, and direct debit is offered only in Germany.
- After the term ends without renewal the account is frozen: data stays viewable and downloadable but cannot be changed.
Key features
- Time recording
- Staff clock in with a virtual time clock in the browser, enter hours by hand or punch in at a shared tablet or terminal.
- Vacation and absence planning
- A color-coded team calendar shows who is away, with leave limits, request approval and sick-note handling.
- Overtime accounts
- Tracks each person's overtime balance, with Excel export and an API to sync the data to other systems.
- Shift planning
- A weekly calendar shows who works when and which shifts still have gaps.
- Digital personnel file
- Stores employee records and uploaded documents, with custom fields you define yourself.
- DATEV export
- Exports hours and absences as a DATEV ASCII file for import, for example into DATEV LODAS. It is a file export, not a live sync.
Timebutler pricing
As of Nov 13, 2026, Timebutler is a paid product with a free trial, starting at €29.95 per month for the whole team of up to 5 people, excl. VAT.
- Starts at
- €29.95 per month for the whole team of up to 5 people, excl. VAT
- Free plan
- None
- Free trial
- 6 weeks free for the whole team, no card needed; ends by itself
| Plan | Price | What you get |
|---|---|---|
| Up to 5 people | €29.95per month for up to 5 people, excl. VAT | One price for the whole team, with every feature included. |
| 6 to 35 people | €59.95per month for up to 35 people, excl. VAT | One price for the whole team, with every feature included. |
| 36 to 200 people | €59.95per month, plus €1.39 per person above 35, excl. VAT | Base price for 35 people plus €1.39 a month for each additional person; 50 people costs €80.80. |
| Over 200 people | Custom | Individual quote for teams larger than 200; sold through sales. |
Read from timebutler.de on Nov 13, 2026. Prices change, so confirm with Timebutler before you buy.
Works with
- DATEV
- DATEV LODAS
- hard&softWERK
- Conni
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Common questions
Does Timebutler have a Windows app?
No Windows app was listed when its pages were read on Nov 13, 2026. Timebutler is listed for Web, iOS and Android.
Does Timebutler have a macOS app?
No macOS app was listed when its pages were read on Nov 13, 2026. Timebutler is listed for Web, iOS and Android.
Is Timebutler open source?
Timebutler is not described as open source on its own site, as read on Nov 13, 2026.
Does Timebutler have an API?
Yes. Timebutler offers a public API, according to its own site.
Sources for this page
The prices, plans, platforms and features above were read from these pages on Nov 13, 2026.