Kenjo vs Personio

Kenjo is a Berlin HR platform for companies of roughly 20 to 500 employees, with DATEV and German working-time rules at its core. Personio is a Munich platform that covers hiring, HR records and payroll preparation for 10 to 2,000 employees. Kenjo is the lighter pick on setup; Personio wins on module depth and integrations.

Editor Sebastiaan Smits

Published 13 November 2026 Last reviewed 13 November 2026 How we review

Choose Kenjo if

you run a 20 to 500 person company, especially in Germany, and want time tracking, absences and a DATEV export in a tool an HR generalist can set up alone, with published per-employee prices.

Read the Kenjo review

Choose Personio if

you want one system from job ad to offboarding, with a built-in applicant tracker, add-on modules and a wider integration list, and you accept quote-based pricing and a payroll provider on the side.

Read the Personio review

Kenjo and Personio side by side

Kenjo and Personio compared on company, jurisdiction, data residency, pricing and source code
	Kenjo	Personio
Company	Kenjo GmbH	Personio SE & Co. KG
Headquarters	Berlin, Germany	Munich, Germany
Founded	2017	2015
Jurisdiction	EU (Germany)	EU (Germany)
Where the data sits	EU	European Union (AWS Frankfurt)
Pricing	Contact for pricing	From about €2.88/employee/month
Entry-level list price (vendor site, checked 13 November 2026)	Starter €6 and Growth €10 per employee per month, Connect on custom pricing (per the site's Kenjo page; not re-checked on the vendor's page today)	Quote-based; Core from about €3 per employee per month (€2.88 in our records), modules extra; 14-day free trial
Free tier or trial	Demo on request	Demo on request
Certifications and checks	GDPR	GDPR
Source code	Closed source	Closed source
Usually replaces	BambooHR, Personio, Factorial	BambooHR, Workday, ADP
Position in our HR Software guide	#5 of 14	#2 of 14

Both are listed in our European HR Software guide. The table is built from the same directory data as those entries, except the list price, which is quoted from each vendor's own pricing page (see Sources below); how we check it is described in the editorial process.

Where Kenjo and Personio differ

Across the five points below, Kenjo has the edge on 2 points, Personio on 2 points and one is a tie. A count like that is a summary, not a verdict: the point that matters to you may be the one the other product wins.

Published prices

The site's Kenjo page lists Starter at €6 and Growth at €10 per employee per month, plus a Connect tier on custom pricing. Personio is quote-based: Core starts around €3 per employee per month (our records say from €2.88), and modules are priced on top. Kenjo is easier to budget from the outside; Personio's entry figure is lower but only after a sales conversation.

Edge: Kenjo

Hiring and applicant tracking

Personio ships an applicant tracking system that posts a vacancy to several job boards and runs a candidate pipeline with calendar-linked interview scheduling. Kenjo lists recruitment among its features, but the sources we hold describe it in less detail. For a company that hires continuously, Personio is the better documented option here.

Edge: Personio

German working-time compliance

Kenjo puts time tracking forward: manual entry, timers and geolocation check-ins, with overtime and break calculation aimed at the Arbeitszeitgesetz and the 2022 Federal Labour Court ruling on recording hours. Personio also lists time tracking, but its documented strength is the wider HR suite. Kenjo reads as the more focused answer for recording working time.

Edge: Kenjo

Integrations

Kenjo's listing names DATEV and standard calendar tools, and our page says options beyond those are limited next to Personio. Personio's recruiting side connects to LinkedIn, Indeed and local boards, and to Google Calendar and Outlook. The gap is real for companies with a long tool stack, and not a gap for one that mostly needs DATEV.

Edge: Personio

Size and stability

Both pages carry caveats. Kenjo suits 20 to 500 employees and users mention occasional interface bugs and slow loading at peak times. Personio targets 10 to 2,000, with reports of bugs after updates and uneven support speed on minor tickets. Neither is built for large operations outside Europe, and neither earns a clear win here.

No clear winner on this point.

When neither Kenjo nor Personio fits

If neither fits: Factorial (Barcelona) is on the site with a free tier, PayFit (Paris) leans towards payroll, and Lucca (Paris) is sold module by module.

Kenjo vs Personio: questions

Is Kenjo cheaper than Personio?

Kenjo shows €6 and €10 per employee per month on the site's page, while Personio quotes from about €3 per employee for Core with modules extra. The totals depend on headcount and modules, so request a quote from Personio before comparing.

Are Kenjo and Personio European companies?

Yes. Kenjo is Kenjo GmbH in Berlin and Personio is Personio SE & Co. KG in Munich, both with German headquarters. Personio lists data hosting in the European Union, on AWS Frankfurt.

Does Personio run payroll by itself?

Personio prepares payroll data, but our review notes that a separate payroll processing relationship is still needed. Kenjo does not list payroll processing among its main features either.

Can I try both before buying?

Personio offers a 14-day free trial according to our records. Kenjo says all plans include a free trial period, and its demo is on request.

Sources

Facts, prices and plan details on this page were checked on the vendors' own websites on 13 November 2026. Prices and plans change; the vendor's current page is authoritative.

Kenjo website: Product scope, Berlin headquarters, pricing tiers (checked 13 November 2026)
Personio website: Product scope, modules, Munich headquarters (checked 13 November 2026)
Personio pricing page: Quote-based pricing and trial (checked 13 November 2026)