In short
For a team of 10, pure working-time tracking costs between €19.90 (Timemaster GO, GO Basic) and well over €100 a month among providers with published prices – depending on whether project time, shift planning or a DATEV export is included. Clockodo and timr have a free plan for individuals. Clockodo, ZEP and Crewmeister state servers in Germany.
Crewmeister, Factorial and Personio do not publish a complete price; there is only a quote or a “from” price. All amounts are net per month, as of 12 November 2026.
Do I have to record working time?
In principle, yes. On 13 September 2022 the German Federal Labour Court ruled (1 ABR 22/21) that employers in Germany must introduce a system for recording working time. It relies on the Occupational Safety and Health Act and a 2019 ruling of the European Court of Justice (C-55/18). Start, end and duration of working time must be recorded.
The required form – e.g. electronic – and any exemptions for small businesses are to be set by a reform of the Working Hours Act. Check the current status before choosing; software with an app, terminal and export covers the usual requirements.
Three pricing models
- Per user per month: the standard (Clockodo, ZEP, clockin, Kenjo, timr). Annual billing usually lowers the price by 5 to 25%.
- Flat fee plus users: Papershift charges small teams a fixed price including 10 licences, and from 16 employees a base fee plus a price per employee. clockin charges a platform fee below 5 users, timr a flat fee per account in its larger packages.
- Per location: Ordio bills per site, regardless of how many employees work there (up to the plan's cap). This pays off with many part-timers at one site.
Also watch for minimum user counts (Timemaster from 10, Papershift standard from 16) and one-off costs for setup or terminals.
What matters when choosing
- How do people clock in? App, browser, terminal with chip or QR code – in trades and field service the app's offline mode matters, in shops a terminal.
- Project time: agencies and consultants need time per client/project for billing. This often comes only with the pricier plan.
- Leave and rosters: some tools also cover absences and shift plans.
- Payroll export: a DATEV export saves your tax adviser work; it is not always in the entry plan.
- Data protection: time data is personal data. Check server location and the data processing agreement; GPS tracking requires the works council's consent (if there is one).
How we compared
All prices come from the providers' pricing pages (retrieved 12 November 2026). We show net prices per month and assume annual billing where offered. The cost examples always use the cheapest plan available for the team size – features therefore differ. Providers without a published price are listed without a figure. Cards are ordered by monthly cost for 10 employees.