The benches split along two lines. Shiftbase leads on roster planning (5.3 vs 4.0, five judges leaning Shiftbase, one tie), working time rules (2.5 vs 1.3, six judges leaning Shiftbase), staff self service (6.2 vs 5.2, four lean Shiftbase, two tie) and payroll and integrations (6.2 vs 5.3, four lean Shiftbase, two tie). Staffomatic takes sovereignty, 5.0 vs 3.3, with six judges leaning Staffomatic; its subprocessor exposure attribute reads "EU only" against Shiftbase's "US CLOUD Act reach", both hold data residency "EU only", their legal entities sit in DE and NL, and ownership is unknown for both. Pricing transparency is tied at 6.8 to 6.8 (six ties), as is codetermination and privacy at 4.0 to 4.0. Of the weighted totals shown, four benches put Shiftbase ahead and the works council is level at 4.2 to 4.2; Shiftbase's totals range 4.0 to 5.3, Staffomatic's 3.7 to 4.4; the operations director's total is not shown.
Choose Shiftbase if
You need the strongest roster planning: Shiftbase scores 5.3 to Staffomatic's 4.0, with five judges leaning Shiftbase and one tie.
Your operations depend on working time rules: Shiftbase scores 2.5 to Staffomatic's 1.3 and six judges lean Shiftbase, though its captured pages name no actual rule and compliance appears only as a coming add-on at 0,50 € / Monat / Mitarbeiter.
Your staff manage availability, open shifts, in-app swaps and a geofenced time clock from iOS and Android apps: staff self service leans Shiftbase 6.2 to 5.2 (four judges lean, two ties).
You export approved hours to DATEV format and to Personio over the API: payroll and integrations leans Shiftbase 6.2 to 5.3 (four judges lean, two ties).
You weight the frontline-employee perspective: that bench's weighted total reads Shiftbase 5.2 to Staffomatic 3.7.
Choose Staffomatic if
You require subprocessor exposure listed as EU only: Staffomatic's subprocessor exposure attribute reads EU only, while Shiftbase's reads US CLOUD Act reach, and six judges lean Staffomatic on sovereignty (5.0 vs 3.3).
Your contract calls for a German legal entity: Staffomatic's legal entity jurisdiction attribute is DE; Shiftbase's is NL.
You answer to a works council that weighs codetermination and sovereignty together: codetermination and privacy is level at 4.0 to 4.0 with six ties, and the works council's weighted totals read 4.2 to 4.2, while sovereignty leans Staffomatic 5.0 to 3.3.
Your procurement screens out US Cloud Act exposure in subprocessor handling: the captured sovereignty attribute reads US CLOUD Act reach for Shiftbase and EU only for Staffomatic.
Read this comparison as one judge. Each weighs the same scores by what they care about.
The Operations Director
Answers for labour cost across thirty locations in retail, hospitality or care. Wants demand-based planning from real POS or occupancy data, labour cost against budget while the plan is still editable, and staff shared across sites. Reads "AI-powered scheduling" as a request to see the method.
Shiftbase
This judge's pick
Staffomatic
Criterion by criterion
Roster building & demand planning
Shiftbase
Open shifts, availability, swap requests, conflict hints and automatic scheduling are listed, the revenue comes back from the till so the plan knows what a shift brought, and multi-site businesses are addressed — but no staffing requirement per shift, no qualifications, no labour cost against budget while planning, and nothing on sharing staff across sites; the automatic planning and the Shiftbase AI module name are not backed by any documented method.
Staffomatic
Templates for shifts and weeks, shift swaps, open-shift applications and visibility of absences or double bookings while planning give a working grid, and qualifications and availabilities live in the system from the Professional tier. We found no public information on staffing requirements per shift, multiple sites or departments, and nothing on demand forecasting from POS or occupancy data, automatic roster proposals, or labour cost against budget while planning — which is what thirty locations actually run on.
Working-time law & collective agreements
Shiftbase
All I get is the single word conflict hints plus a compliance add-on at 0,50 € / Monat / Mitarbeiter that is only marked as coming soon with no description; no ArbZG daily maximum, 11-hour rest, breaks, Minijob limit or collective-agreement surcharge is named anywhere, so I cannot run German rosters on this evidence.
Staffomatic
The captured pages show overtime balances and a time account, but we found no public information on any rule check — ArbZG daily maximum, the 11-hour rest period, breaks, youth or maternity protection, Minijob limits or Tarifvertrag handling are all unmentioned. Surcharges appear only as payroll figures in the Premium tier, so the rules stay with the planner.
Mobile self-service for deskless staff
Shiftbase
The app story is credible: availability, open shifts and swap-and-takeover in the app on iOS and Android, a time clock with stamp locations and geofencing, MFA and five interface languages — but nothing shows swaps checked against rules before approval, offline handling or push notification of changes, and the team chat is only early access with a price still to be decided.
Staffomatic
A mobile app with swap requests, open-shift applications, availability entry and vacation requests with manager approval, plus a dedicated punch-clock app, covers the shop-floor basics. We found no public information on push notification of changes, multilingual use, offline clock-in, or whether swaps are checked against qualifications and rest periods before approval.
Works council & employee data
Shiftbase
Rights and roles exist and the privacy policy states retention and deletion windows after termination plus a no-sale commitment, but geofencing is offered with no statement that it can be switched off, and I found no public information on visibility of absence reasons, an audit log of who viewed or changed an individual's data, or documentation the vendor offers for works-council approval.
Staffomatic
The privacy policy is concrete — it names what is stored, deletes server logs after 14 days and application data after six months, and roles and rights exist from the Professional tier with a log kept 30 to 90 days depending on plan. We found no public information on configurable visibility of absence reasons, an audit trail of who viewed an individual's data, a published data-processing agreement, or documentation for works-council approval.
Payroll handoff & integrations
Shiftbase
Approved hours go out in DATEV format and to Personio directly over the API, a payroll-preparation module plus the App Center+ flat fee connect Lohn, HR and Kasse, and API documentation is public — what I miss is wage-type mapping per surcharge and any named payroll system maintained by the vendor rather than reached through a format export.
Staffomatic
DATEV export, surcharges and the overtime account sit in Premium, Personio is a named HR interface, and API access is tier-gated — a real payroll path rather than a retyped spreadsheet. We found no public information on POS integrations, a lock step before transmission, or wage types mapped per surcharge.
European sovereignty
Shiftbase
The contracting entity is Shiftbase B.V. in Zoetermeer with KvK registration and a Dutch VAT number, which I can confirm; but I found no public information on the hosting region, and the subprocessor list is retrievable only behind a password — for availability and geofenced clock-in data on employees, that is not enough to place the data chain.
Staffomatic
The contracting entity is a German company registered in Hamburg with a German server-management partner, and the privacy policy publishes its subprocessors, naming non-EU processors such as Celonis, HubSpot and Microsoft with EU standard contractual clauses as the safeguard. The hosting region itself and a named data-centre provider are not confirmed on the captured pages, and no push-notification service for the apps is named.
Pricing transparency
Shiftbase
Every tier carries per-employee maths on a stated monthly bill, add-ons are priced (App Center+ 20 € / Monat, HR Pro 1 € / Monat / Mitarbeiter), and even onboarding is published from 0 € to 575 € one-off, so I can nearly compute the annual invoice; the gaps are the chat at t.b.d., no VAT treatment, no minimum term, and nothing on how inactive or seasonal staff are counted.
Staffomatic
All three tiers are public — 2,00, 4,00 and 6,00 per month and person for Basic, Professional and Premium, each with a stated minimum of 10 persons, monthly or annual billing with up to 17 percent saving, net prices plus VAT, and tier contents listed feature by feature, so an operator can get close to the annual invoice. We found no public information on how inactive or seasonal staff are counted, onboarding fees, or any minimum term beyond cancellation at the end of the billing period.
Sovereignty, side by side
Dimension
Shiftbase
Staffomatic
Legal entity
Incorporated in NL
Incorporated in DE
Ownership
Not determined
Not determined
Data residency
Not determined
Not determined
Subprocessors
US CLOUD Act reach
EU only
Facts, side by side
Only facts both products carry under the same definition — anything else would not be a fair row.