The Planday alternative from Germany
Planday plans shifts for hospitality and retail, hosted on Microsoft Azure through a Danish company. MetronHR runs with a German operator and brings a personnel file, onboarding and project time with it.
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All information about Planday comes from the official provider pages. As at: 2 September 2026.
Lena H.
Tobias K.
Aylin D.
Mehmet Y.
Sophie B.
Mara W.Leave, 3 daysAylin Demir · 28–30 OctTraining, 1 dayTobias Krüger · 22 Oct
Leave, 3 daysNadia Schulz · 22–24 DecReview
Month endSeptember · Krämer payroll officeDone- Made in GermanyDeveloped and hosted in Germany
- Certified data centreISO 27001, located in Germany
- Web, app and terminalBrowser, iPhone, Android, Mac, Windows
- GDPR compliantServers in Nuremberg and Falkenstein
Features in detail
| Feature | MetronHR | Planday |
|---|---|---|
| Traffic-light account (warning levels with an automatic alert) | ~1 | |
| Working-time models (part-time, flexitime, trust-based working time) | ~2 | |
| Project time tracking / budgets | 3 | |
| Allowances / hour packages | 4 | |
| Digital Employee File | ~5 | |
| Onboarding and offboarding workflows | 6 | |
| Application hosted in Germany | 7 | 8 |
| Hosting operator without a US parent company | 9 | 10 |
| API | 11 | ~12 |
Sources and notes (12)
- Planday, Traffic-light account (warning levels with an automatic alert): Planday reports automatically when a duty roster or a shift breaches the working-time rules stored. That concerns the planning; warning levels on the working-time account with their own alert are not mentioned on the product page (planday.com/de, retrieved 14 September 2026).
- Planday, Working-time models (part-time, flexitime, trust-based working time): Working-time rules and compliance warnings are included from the Starter plan. Configurable models for flexitime, trust-based working time or alternating weekly patterns are not mentioned in the plan overview.
- Planday, Project time tracking / budgets: Planday plans and records working time and measures staff costs against revenue. Projects, clients, activities, budgets and hourly rates are not part of the feature set.
- Planday, Allowances / hour packages: Client-bound hour packages with renewal and carry-over are not provided for.
- Planday, Digital Employee File: Employee information and document management are included from the Plus plan. A personnel file with contract data, expiry reminders for deadlines and employee self-service is not documented to that extent.
- Planday, Onboarding and offboarding workflows: No joining or leaving process with tasks, owners and deadlines is documented.
- MetronHR, Application hosted in Germany: The application and customer data run at Hetzner Online GmbH in Nuremberg and Falkenstein, exclusively in Germany.
- Planday, Application hosted in Germany: As a sub-processor for hosting Planday names Microsoft Azure through the Irish Microsoft company. A data centre in Germany is not promised.
- MetronHR, Hosting operator without a US parent company: The operator is Hetzner Online GmbH, a German company with no US parent. This marketing website is hosted with Vercel, Inc. (USA) in the Frankfurt region, where no employee data is processed.
- Planday, Hosting operator without a US parent company: The operator is Microsoft, a US group. The contracting party is Planday A/S in Denmark, part of the Xero group.
- MetronHR, API: The open REST API v1 is part of the Professional plan: readable are employees, departments, clients, services, projects, time entries, absences and published shifts, while clients, services, projects, time entries and absences can be changed, each secured by keys with permissions per resource. Outgoing webhooks and the MCP server for AI assistants also belong to Professional. Sign-in via Microsoft Entra ID comes with every plan. Further integrations are agreed individually in the Enterprise offer.
- Planday, API: Access to integrations and the API is included from the Plus plan, not on Starter.
~ = available with limits, the notes are below the table. – = no verified information is available for this provider on this feature. That is not a no: we only record a negative where we can cite a source.
An overview of which features exist at all, regardless of plan. The price-performance comparison is on the pricing page, the individual features in detail under Features.
Feature comparison as at September 2026. Information about competitors comes from publicly available sources, in each case the official provider pages with the date retrieved, and can change. Planday is a trademark of its respective owner.
MetronHR is also available as a native app for iOS and Android:
Where the data sits
Server location and operator are two different questions. A data centre in Germany does not remove the data from US law: providers with a US parent company fall under the CLOUD Act and the surveillance powers of FISA 702, regardless of where the servers stand. Microsoft's chief legal officer in France testified under oath before the French Senate's committee of inquiry on 10 June 2025 that he could not guarantee that data from European data centres would not go to US authorities (record of the Sénat). That is why both are shown side by side here, each with the source it comes from.
What is compared is what the provider documents for its own application, not the infrastructure of its marketing website. More about our own hosting is in the Trust Center.
MetronHR
- Server location of the application
- Hetzner Online GmbH, Nuremberg and Falkenstein. All servers stand exclusively in Germany.
- Operator and legal jurisdiction
- Hetzner Online GmbH, a German company with no US parent and therefore beyond the reach of the CLOUD Act and FISA 702. No US provider sits in the data path for the application.
- Processors outside Germany
- None for the application. Payment is handled by Stripe Payments Europe (Ireland). This marketing website is hosted with Vercel, Inc. (USA, Frankfurt region), and analytics run through PostHog Cloud EU and the reverse proxy cdn.metronhr.de with a Cloudflare edge. No employee data is processed there.
- Source
- MetronHR privacy policyAs at 08/2026
Planday
- Server location of the application
- Microsoft Azure. The data processing agreement lists „Microsoft Azure, Infrastructure Hosting Services and in-product services“ with the address One Microsoft Place, Dublin 18, Ireland. A location in Germany is not promised.
- Operator and legal jurisdiction
- Microsoft, a US group, and therefore within the scope of the CLOUD Act and FISA 702. The contracting party is Planday A/S, Denmark (CVR 27666248), part of the Xero group since 2021.
- Processors outside Germany
- The data processing agreement (version 2.2, February 2026) names Salesforce (London, United Kingdom), Intercom (Dublin, Ireland), Microsoft Azure (Dublin, Ireland), Kombo Technologies GmbH (Berlin) and Stream (Boulder, Colorado, USA).
- Source
- Planday, legal (data processing agreement and data security) abgerufen 02.09.2026
All information comes from the providers' publicly available privacy policies and security pages, and the date retrieved is on every card. Providers can change their infrastructure and their processors at any time. The adequacy decision on the EU-US Data Privacy Framework still applies, but is under legal challenge.
What MetronHR does better
- MetronHR advantage
Qualification and rest period in the same planning step
Planday plans shifts and distributes them to the workforce. Anyone who has to keep qualifications apart, say a specialist and a casual worker or a doctor and a medical assistant, needs the check in the plan and not afterwards. MetronHR checks as you plan: the eleven hours of rest between two working days, the daily and the weekly maximum, plus the tighter limits of the Youth Employment Protection Act for underage trainees and of the Maternity Protection Act. Staffing rules tie activities to qualifications, including several at once, and if someone drops out the request goes to the pool rather than to management.
The week as a grid
Early, late, night and leave per person, with the weekend on wide screens.
Publish
One click and the team sees the plan in the app. Count along who has been told.
RosterWeek 45 · draftMonTueWedThuFriSatSunSophie B.FFSSSTobias K.FFSSFMara W.NNSS
Jonas K.FNNNSLena H.FFUUStatuspublishedNotified0 of 5 - MetronHR advantage
A German operator instead of Microsoft Azure
Planday's data processing agreement names Microsoft Azure as its hosting provider, represented by the Irish Microsoft company, plus Salesforce in the United Kingdom and Stream in Colorado. Planday does not promise a data centre in Germany, and a location in Europe does not remove the data from US law as long as the operator belongs to a US group. MetronHR runs at Hetzner Online GmbH in Nuremberg and Falkenstein, a German company with no US parent.
- MetronHR advantage
Holiday belongs in the cheapest plan
At Planday managing holiday and absences appears only on the Plus plan, so from 4.99 euros per person plus a 25 euro subscription fee and at least ten people. Holiday requests, approval, remaining holiday and sick leave are needed by every business from the first hire. At MetronHR that is included in the Team plan at 5 euros, with a public holiday calendar for all 16 federal states, cover arrangements and automatic calculation of remaining holiday.
Request leaveSophie Braun · 13 days leftTypeLeaveStartMonday, 2 NovemberWorking days5Left afterwards8 daysLena Hoffmann is also away on 4 November. Reception stays staffed with two people.
With Dr. Lindner for approvaljust nowopen - MetronHR advantage
Calculated in German categories
Planday manages staff costs against revenue and integrates with the systems of its core markets, including Xero from the same group. German premium logic is not among them. MetronHR calculates in the categories the tax firm expects: night, Sunday and public holiday hours shown separately under section 3b EStG, public holidays per federal state, plus a monthly overview per person with target, actual and balance.
AnalyticsReception team · last 6 weeksActual1212:30hTarget1.200:00hBalance+12:30hWeek 38198:00hWeek 39204:30hWeek 40196:15hweek 41207:45hWeek 42201:00hWeek 43current week205:00h - MetronHR advantage
Project time and client allowances alongside the duty roster
Planday shows staff costs against revenue, branch by branch. Anyone who also bills services to clients, say maintenance, consulting or extra services in care, will find no tool for it. MetronHR books time against client, project and activity, keeps budgets with a target-actual traffic light and allowances with automatic renewal.
ContingentsClients' hour packagesKanzlei RuhrPackage 40:00h31:30hPraxis Dr. LindnerPackage 20:00h18:45hApotheke am MarktPackage 10:00h10:30h
Price comparison
Planday quotes two list prices with a minimum user count, and on the middle plan a fixed subscription fee as well. Example: a business with 20 people.
| Service | MetronHR | Planday |
|---|---|---|
| Duty roster, time tracking, compliance warnings | Team 5 euros per person, 100 euros for 20 people | Starter 2.99 euros per person, at least 5 people, 59.80 euros for 20 people |
| + holiday and absences, document management, API | Absences already on Team, the rest on Professional at 10 euros, 200 euros for 20 people | Plus 4.99 euros per person plus a 25 euro subscription fee, at least 10 people, 124.80 euros for 20 people |
| Absences in the cheapest plan | included in Team | not included, only from Plus |
| Monthly subscription fee on top of the per-user price | none | 25 euros from the Plus plan |
| Server location and operator | Hetzner Online GmbH, Nuremberg and Falkenstein | Microsoft Azure through the Irish Microsoft company, no location promised |
| Project time, client allowances, onboarding workflows | included in Professional | not available |
| Trial period | 14 days, no credit card | 30 days, no credit card |
| + DATEV payroll file for the accountant | included in Team | from the Plus plan, Lohn und Gehalt only |
Duty roster, time tracking, compliance warnings
- MetronHR
- Team 5 euros per person, 100 euros for 20 people
- Planday
- Starter 2.99 euros per person, at least 5 people, 59.80 euros for 20 people
+ holiday and absences, document management, API
- MetronHR
- Absences already on Team, the rest on Professional at 10 euros, 200 euros for 20 people
- Planday
- Plus 4.99 euros per person plus a 25 euro subscription fee, at least 10 people, 124.80 euros for 20 people
Absences in the cheapest plan
- MetronHR
- included in Team
- Planday
- not included, only from Plus
Monthly subscription fee on top of the per-user price
- MetronHR
- none
- Planday
- 25 euros from the Plus plan
Server location and operator
- MetronHR
- Hetzner Online GmbH, Nuremberg and Falkenstein
- Planday
- Microsoft Azure through the Irish Microsoft company, no location promised
Project time, client allowances, onboarding workflows
- MetronHR
- included in Professional
- Planday
- not available
Trial period
- MetronHR
- 14 days, no credit card
- Planday
- 30 days, no credit card
+ DATEV payroll file for the accountant
- MetronHR
- included in Team
- Planday
- from the Plus plan, Lohn und Gehalt only
Prices from planday.com/de/preise, retrieved 2 Sep 2026. The Pro plan has no list price. Planday also shows a price in pounds in the page title, which points to where the price list comes from. The DATEV row from help.planday.com, retrieved 24 Oct 2026.
No credit card needed · cancellable monthly
From Planday moving to MetronHR
Your data comes with you. Planday hands them over as a file, MetronHR reads people, personal data, hours and absences out of it, and before anything is taken over you see row by row what will happen. For a team under thirty people that is a matter of one to two hours, most of it spent putting the file together.
At Planday export
- Personal data via Employees, Tools, Export data
- A payroll report with hours, rates and premiums as PDF, CSV or Excel
- The duty roster's shifts as CSV
Load the template and map the columns
The template comes as Excel and as CSV, with a second sheet that states for every column whether it is required, its format, an example and the permitted values. If your file's header row matches, the mapping falls away entirely. Otherwise the assistant proposes the mapping and marks everything that did not match word for word.
Check, then take it over
The dry run is mandatory and writes nothing. It shows for every row whether it will be created, changed, skipped or rejected, naming the column and the value behind the finding. Only the second click takes it over, in one transaction. The default is "create new ones only", and an empty cell never changes a value that has been maintained.
Export routes from Planday according to Planday help centre, how to access and export your data, retrieved on 06.09.2026.
Comes with you
- People, with staff number, work address and employment contract
- Remaining holiday and the overtime balance as an opening value per person
- Departments, clients, services and projects
- Time entries and absences for the current year
- Public holidays, including regions that differ
Does not come with you
- Files from the old personnel file, they are uploaded again
- The history of an hours account, MetronHR starts from the opening value
How the move works in detail, what the dry run shows and why no invitation email goes out with it is set out on the page switching time tracking.
Frequently asked questions
What you need to know about switching from Planday to MetronHR.
Question not answered here? Every step is explained in the help centre.
Send us a messageWhat does Planday cost compared with MetronHR?
Planday Starter costs 2.99 euros per person per month with at least five people, Plus 4.99 euros per person plus a 25 euro monthly subscription fee with at least ten people, Pro on request. For 20 people that is 59.80 euros on Starter and 124.80 euros on Plus. MetronHR costs 100 euros on Team and 200 euros on Professional. Planday is cheaper for a pure duty roster; absences, documents and the API sit there only on the Plus plan. As at 2 September 2026.
Where does the data sit at Planday?
Planday's data processing agreement in version 2.2 of February 2026 names Microsoft Azure as its hosting provider, represented by the Microsoft company in Dublin, plus Salesforce in London, Intercom in Dublin, Kombo Technologies in Berlin and Stream in Boulder, Colorado. A location in Germany is not promised. MetronHR runs at Hetzner Online GmbH in Nuremberg and Falkenstein.
When do you need more than MetronHR covers?
If you run branches and manage staffing daily against daily revenue. Revenue forecasting, staff costs in real time and a messenger and newsfeed for the workforce are well developed at Planday; MetronHR plans by demand and qualification, not by revenue. For a business at one or two sites that changes little, but the terms change a lot: on the Plus plan Planday charges 4.99 euros per person plus a 25 euro subscription fee with at least ten people, and holiday management, documents and the API sit only there. At MetronHR absences are included from the Team plan at 5 euros per person.
Which features does MetronHR have that Planday does not cover?
Project time tracking with clients, projects and activities, project budgets with a target-actual traffic light, client-bound hour packages, onboarding and offboarding workflows and a personnel file with contract data and expiry reminders. Absence management is included in MetronHR's cheapest plan, at Planday only from Plus.
Can I bring my data from Planday to MetronHR?
Yes. From the Plus plan Planday offers access to integrations and an API as well as reports on the duty roster, times and pay. From those you carry over master data, recorded times and absences. Newsfeed and messenger histories cannot be carried over, because MetronHR does not do team communication.
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