What Personio publishes
Personio's pricing page lists two plans, Core and Core Pro, with no price on either: each has a "Book a demo" button. Personio says the price depends on the number of employees and the apps you add. Only active employees count, so former staff kept on file for records don't add to the bill. It sells to companies of 10 to 10,000 employees.
- Core: employee records, time tracking, absence and preliminary payroll. One legal entity, 5 MB of document storage per employee, and e-signatures for 8% of the employees on your plan.
- Core Pro: everything in Core with those caps lifted, so unlimited legal entities, storage and e-signatures, plus the public API and single sign-on through Okta and Microsoft Entra ID.
Neither plan has a published figure in euros or pounds. The numbers you'll find online come from Personio's older plans, such as Essential and Professional, or are third-party estimates. They tell you little about your own quote.
What costs extra
On top of the base plan, Personio sells apps, each priced separately in your quote:
- Payroll, including payroll for Germany
- DATEV integration, the export German tax advisers work from
- Recruiting, with packages that cap the number of open jobs
- Performance & Development
- Compensation
- Surveys
- Whistleblowing
- Employer of record
- Premium Support
There's also a one-time setup fee that depends on your company size. Personio says there are no other monthly costs besides the base fee.
Some AI features, such as the Talent Screening Agent in Recruiting, run on AI credits. Personio gives you bonus credits that expire 30 days after you claim them. Once they're used up, those features only run again when you buy a credit pack or an authorised person accepts overage, which Personio bills per credit. It doesn't publish a price per credit or how many credits a single action uses.
Contract and term
- An annual subscription with a 12-month minimum term. Personio's terms also allow monthly contracts.
- Annual contracts renew for another year unless you cancel 90 days before the renewal date. Monthly contracts need 15 days' notice.
- Adding employees raises the price during the term. Whether your committed headcount can go down depends on your contract, so ask.
If you plan to switch, work back from your renewal date: the notice deadline falls three months before it.
Costs compared
Worklayer is our own product. It costs £9 per employee per month (€10, or $12), billed annually, excluding VAT, with every module, every integration and unlimited AI usage included: no credits and no caps, subject to fair use. It's free for companies of up to 3 employees, including you, with no credit card and no time limit. See pricing.
| Item | Worklayer | Personio |
|---|---|---|
| Base plan | £9 per employee a month, free up to 3 employees | Core or Core Pro, price on request |
| Payroll | Not offered, preliminary payroll included | Payroll app, paid |
| Recruiting | Not offered | Recruiting app, paid |
| Performance | Not offered | Performance & Development app, paid |
| DATEV | Not offered | DATEV integration app, paid |
| Setup | No fee | One-time fee based on company size |
| AI usage | Unlimited, no credits, subject to fair use | Credits for some features, overage billed per credit |
| Minimum term | Billed annually for 12 months | Annual, 12-month minimum, 90 days' notice before renewal |
The table also shows what Worklayer doesn't do: no payroll, no DATEV, no recruiting and no performance reviews. If you need those in one system, compare Personio with tools that have them. Our list of Personio alternatives sorts them by need.
Questions to ask in your Personio quote
A Personio quote is only comparable once every line is in it. Ask:
- What's the price per employee per month at our headcount, and at what headcount does it change?
- Which apps are in this quote, and what would the others cost if we add them later, such as Payroll or Recruiting?
- How much is the setup fee, and what does it cover?
- Is there a minimum number of billed employees?
- How many AI credits are included, which features use them, and how many does a typical action take?
- How much can the price rise at renewal?
- Can we lower our committed headcount if the team shrinks?
- When is the notice deadline, and is the contract annual or monthly?
When Personio is the better choice
Personio makes sense if you want payroll, including German payroll with the DATEV export, in the same system as your employee records and time tracking. It has recruiting with job postings and applicant tracking, more than 200 integrations, and is used by more than 16,000 companies. Core Pro also covers groups with several legal entities.
Worklayer fits if your payroll sits with a provider or accountant and you want AI agents to take on HR work, running on a schedule or when something happens, doing only what an admin allows. You know the price before you talk to anyone. See the full Worklayer vs Personio comparison.
Personio pricing questions
Personio doesn't publish a per-employee price. It depends on your number of active employees and the apps you add, and you only see it in a quote after a demo.
For comparison, Worklayer is £9 (€10) per employee per month, billed annually, with every module included.
No. Personio has no free plan: you book a demo and get a quote. Worklayer is free for companies of up to 3 employees, with no time limit and no credit card. Free HR software
Personio doesn't say. It's a one-time fee that depends on your company size. Ask for a breakdown of what it covers in your quote.
Worklayer has no setup fee: you import your team yourself, the same day.
Core includes preliminary payroll. Payroll itself is a paid app. The DATEV export is a separate paid app too.
The standard is an annual subscription with a 12-month minimum term, renewing for a year unless you cancel 90 days before. Personio's terms also allow monthly contracts with 15 days' notice. Ask which one your quote is for.
Some do. Certain AI features use credits. Once the bonus credits are gone, they only run again with a credit pack or when an authorised person accepts overage, billed per credit. Worklayer's AI usage is unlimited, subject to fair use.
Core Pro lifts Core's caps: unlimited legal entities instead of one, unlimited document storage instead of 5 MB per employee, and unlimited e-signatures instead of 8% of employees. It also adds the public API and single sign-on through Okta and Microsoft Entra ID. Both are quoted after a demo. All comparisons