San Francisco-headquartered payroll + HR for US SMBs. US-only operating but referenced as the SMB HR benchmark.
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Ordered by feature parity and migration friction, which is weighted higher than feature breadth.
Munich-based HR flagship for European SMBs (founded 2015); ISO 27001 + SOC 2 + TISAX; ~$770M US-VC-funded.
Spanish HR + payroll + finance SaaS (Barcelona, est. 2016); 16K+ customers, ISO 27001 + SOC 2 + AWS EU, US-VC-funded.
Sage Group plc's HR cloud product (formerly CakeHR from Riga, acquired 2019); UK-public parent, modular SMB HR.
All 3 alternatives, benchmarked against Gusto.
Munich-based HR flagship for European SMBs (founded 2015); ISO 27001 + SOC 2 + TISAX; ~$770M US-VC-funded.
Spanish HR + payroll + finance SaaS (Barcelona, est. 2016); 16K+ customers, ISO 27001 + SOC 2 + AWS EU, US-VC-funded.
Sage Group plc's HR cloud product (formerly CakeHR from Riga, acquired 2019); UK-public parent, modular SMB HR.
| Product | Hosting | Sovereignty | Cert. | Pricing | Signals | Open |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Gusto
benchmark · US
|
— |
US-LINKED | SOC 2 no EU framework |
Freemium |
E2E
Public DPA
Sub-processors
Open source
|
|
|
Munich-based HR flagship for European SMBs (founded 2015); ISO 27001 + SOC 2 + TISAX; ~$770M US-VC-funded.
|
FRANKFURT · DE
Germany
|
SOVEREIGNTY
A single roll-up of ownership and CLOUD Act exposure.
|
ISO/IEC 27001
SOC 2
|
Paid |
Public DPA
Sub-processors
Open source
|
→ |
|
Spanish HR + payroll + finance SaaS (Barcelona, est. 2016); 16K+ customers, ISO 27001 + SOC 2 + AWS EU, US-VC-funded.
|
DE
Germany
|
SOVEREIGNTY
A single roll-up of ownership and CLOUD Act exposure.
|
ISO/IEC 27001
SOC 2
|
Paid
€7 /mo
|
Public DPA
Sub-processors
Open source
|
→ |
|
Sage Group plc's HR cloud product (formerly CakeHR from Riga, acquired 2019); UK-public parent, modular SMB HR.
|
IE
Ireland
|
SOVEREIGNTY
A single roll-up of ownership and CLOUD Act exposure.
|
ISO/IEC 27001
|
Paid
€7 /mo
|
Public DPA
Sub-processors
Open source
|
→ |
Beyond compliance: how these alternatives compare on the capabilities you actually use day to day.
| Feature | Personio | Factorial | Sage HR |
|---|---|---|---|
| Payroll | Yes | Yes | No |
| Time tracking | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Employee records | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Time-off / leave | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Recruiting (ATS) | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Onboarding | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Performance reviews | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Org chart | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Listed for transparency. Every product on this page is benchmarked against this baseline.
Listed for transparency. Every product on this page is benchmarked against this baseline.
San Francisco-headquartered payroll + HR for US SMBs. US-only operating but referenced as the SMB HR benchmark.
For every product we read the public DPA, sub-processors document, hosting region declaration, and corporate ownership records. Each is timestamped. Signals are editorial, re-verified quarterly. We never accept self-attestation.
Reviewed by the EU Vetted editorial team · Editorial guidelines