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 Shift Manager
Builds next week's roster for a restaurant or store on Thursday night and fields the sick calls on Saturday morning. Wants templates, qualifications that stop the wrong person landing on the till, open shifts staff can claim, and a rest period warning before publication rather than after the inspection.
Shiftbase
This judge's pick
Staffomatic
Criterion by criterion
Roster building & demand planning
Shiftbase
Automatic rostering, availability, open shifts, swap requests and conflict hints are on the homepage, revenue comes back from the till so the plan knows what each shift brought, and multi-site, franchise and enterprise sizes are addressed. But we found no public information on shift templates, qualifications per role, staffing requirements per shift or labour cost shown against budget while planning — so it sits above a plain grid without reaching demand-driven planning.
Staffomatic
Shift and week-plan templates with swap and shift applications, plus absences or double bookings visible while planning, is a real Thursday-night toolkit, and roles, qualifications and availabilities arrive with Professional. But I found no public information on staffing requirements per shift, planning across several locations, or any demand-based forecasting, so the plan stays in my head rather than being proposed.
Working-time law & collective agreements
Shiftbase
All the captured pages give me is a generic 'Konflikthinweise' line and a Compliance Plus add-on marked 'bald' at 0,50 € / Monat / Mitarbeiter. We found no public information naming the eleven-hour rest period, the ArbZG daily maximum, breaks, Minijob earnings limits or Tarifvertrag surcharges — nothing my Saturday-morning roster could lean on.
Staffomatic
The pages show an overtime overview and, from Premium, a working-time account with surcharges and an overtime account — but those feed the payslip, not the roster. I found no public information on any check of the 11-hour rest period, daily maximum hours, breaks, Minijob limits or collective-agreement rules before I publish a week.
Mobile self-service for deskless staff
Shiftbase
There is an iOS and Android app with availability, open shifts, in-app swaps and takeovers, a stamp clock with stamp locations and geofencing, and five interface languages including German. But we found no public information that swaps and open shifts are checked against qualifications or rest rules before approval, no offline handling for the clock, and the team chat is early access at t.b.d.
Staffomatic
Staff get a mobile app with shift swaps, open-shift applications, a holiday planner with approvals, and clock-in via the punch-clock app, with availabilities from Professional — that covers most of what my floor crew needs. I found no public information on push notification of roster changes, multilingual interface, or whether swaps are checked against qualifications and rest periods before approval.
Works council & employee data
Shiftbase
Roles and permissions exist and the privacy policy states deletion 30 days after the subscription ends, retention up to 90 days, and that Shiftbase administrators have unrestricted access to all data without permission — a line any works council will want discussed. We found no public information on configurable visibility of absence reasons, an audit log, geofencing being switchable or vendor documentation for works-council approval, and the subprocessor list is only retrievable with a password.
Staffomatic
Roles and rights exist from Professional, an external data protection officer is named, and the privacy policy states deletion periods for server logs, application data and accounting records. But I found no public information on configurable visibility of absence reasons, an audit log of who viewed or changed an individual's data, or any documentation offered for works-council approval.
Payroll handoff & integrations
Shiftbase
Approved hours go out in DATEV format and directly to Personio via API, till revenue returns to the plan, and an API documentation exists, with payroll, HR and till connections bundled in App Center+ at 20 € / Monat, Pauschale. We found no public information on wage types mapped per surcharge or on a maintained lock step beyond the release of approved hours, and the open API access sits in the Enterprise plan.
Staffomatic
Premium carries the DATEV export alongside surcharges and overtime accounts, Professional adds the Personio HR interface and API access, and time tracking is billed as preparation for payroll. I found no public information on POS integrations, a lock step before transmission, or how wage types map to each surcharge.
European sovereignty
Shiftbase
The legal notice and privacy policy name Shiftbase B.V. at Groeneweg 2A, Zoetermeer with a KvK Zoetermeer registration, which gives me an EU contracting entity. But the captured pages leave the hosting region unstated, the subprocessor list sits behind a password rather than published, and we found no public information on a certification or a DPA covering employee data collected on personal devices.
Staffomatic
The contracting entity is a Hamburg limited company, and the privacy policy names its processors with country and purpose, with EU standard contractual clauses stated for transfers outside the EU — the list does include non-EU names such as Make.com (Celonis, USA), HubSpot and Microsoft. Server management runs through a partner from Germany, but I found no public information naming the data-centre provider or the hosting region itself.
Pricing transparency
Shiftbase
All three tiers are public with the per-employee maths — Basic 30 € / Monat including 6 Mitarbeitende at 4 €/Monat each extra, Premium 72 € / Monat including 12 at 5 €, Enterprise 336 € / Monat including 48 at 6 € — and onboarding packages and add-ons carry numbers, with a 14-day trial needing no payment data. The chat add-on is t.b.d., and we found no public information on VAT treatment, minimum term or how inactive or seasonal staff are counted.
Staffomatic
Three tiers at 2, 4 and 6 euros net per person per month, each with a published feature list, a ten-person minimum, monthly or yearly billing with up to 17 percent saving on annual payment, VAT treatment stated, and cancellation to the end of the billing period — I can compute my year from the page. I found no public information on how inactive or seasonal staff are counted.
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.