Blankitt HR vs Personio
Personio is Europe's best-known HR platform — 16,000 companies, genuinely strong core HRIS. It's also quote-only, App-modular, and positioned for 10+ employees with a setup fee and a 12-month minimum. Here is the fair version of the choice.
Every Personio claim on this page was verified against their public pricing page on 5 July 2026. Products move — if something here is out of date, tell us and we'll fix it.
At a glance
The differences that tend to decide it — including the rows where Personio wins.
| What matters | Blankitt HR | Personio |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing transparency | Published — from £15/mo + £4/employee; worked examples on the page | No public prices — every plan card says “Book a demo”; their FAQ: get a custom quote from a product expert (July 2026) |
| What the base price includes | Everything — ATS, performance, surveys, comp, LMS, rotas, comms on every tier | Core/Core PRO cover HR records and time; Recruiting, Performance, Surveys and Compensation are separately priced add-on “Apps” |
| UK payroll | PAYE, NI, statutory pay, auto-enrolment, P45/P60/P11D, RTI built in — HMRC recognition in progress | “Preliminary Payroll” prepares data; a paid Xero Integration app transfers payroll data out — the payroll itself runs elsewhere (July 2026) |
| Contract & setup | Monthly, no setup fee, cancel any time | 12-month minimum on yearly subscription plus a one-time setup fee that depends on company size (their FAQ, July 2026) |
| Company-size floor | From your first employee | Their FAQ: “suitable for companies with 10-10,000 employees” (July 2026) |
| E-signatures | Included, unlimited, on every tier | Core limits eSignature workflows to 8% of employees; unlimited requires Core PRO (their compare table, July 2026) |
| SSO & identity | SSO, SAML, SCIM and OAuth on every tier | Google SSO on Core; Okta / Microsoft Entra ID and OAuth are Core PRO only (July 2026) |
| Rotas / shift work | Native rota builder, open shifts, swaps, offline clock-in — unlimited patterns | Attendance-led: work schedules capped at 600 on both plans; geofencing Core PRO only (their compare table) |
| Seeing the product | Live demo via magic link — real data, no sales call | Demo call with a product expert is the only route to product and price (July 2026) |
| Track record | Early access — in evaluation at a 1,200-employee UK enterprise; building in public | 16,000+ companies, Europe's best-known HR platform, 200+ integrations |
| Who you deal with | The founder — direct line, same-day answers | Sales and customer success organisation; Premium Support (sandbox, extra owners) is itself a paid app |
Where Personio is a great choice
We're not going to pretend otherwise — Personio has earned its position in Europe, and there are cases where it's simply the right answer.
- You're a European mid-market company (100–1,000+ desk-based employees) and want the region's most-referenced platform.
- Multi-entity European operations: unlimited legal entities on Core PRO with localisation across markets.
- You value a large ecosystem — 200+ marketplace integrations and an established partner network.
- Compliance apps like the anonymous Whistleblowing channel matter for your EU obligations.
- You prefer an enterprise buying motion with a customer success manager attached.
If that list describes you, book their demo with confidence. The cards below are where the two products genuinely diverge.
Where Blankitt fits
Blankitt leans into everything a quote-gated, App-modular suite structurally won't do.
The price is on the page
Personio's own FAQ says pricing depends on employee count and which Apps you add, and directs you to a demo for a custom quote — plus a one-time setup fee and a 12-month minimum. Blankitt's full price fits in a sentence: from £15/mo + £4 per employee, no setup fee, monthly. Procurement can verify it without a call.
Included beats 'available'
On Personio, recruiting, performance, surveys and compensation are add-on Apps priced on top of Core. On Blankitt they're simply in the product, on every tier. The quote you compare us against should include every App you'll actually want — insist on that.
Payroll that runs, not payroll that exports
Personio's Preliminary Payroll organises the data, then hands it to whatever actually pays people — their Xero Integration app exists precisely for that hand-off. Blankitt runs UK payroll itself: RTI submissions, auto-enrolment, statutory pay under the 2026 reformed rules, payslips.
No percentage caps on basics
E-signing for 8% of employees on Core is the kind of limit you discover after you've bought. Blankitt doesn't meter e-signatures, work schedules, or SSO — the caps in our pricing are headcount caps, stated up front.
Under 10 employees? You're not too small
Personio positions for 10–10,000 employees. Blankitt starts at employee one — the £15 + £4 Starter tier is built for exactly the companies below their floor.
Shift-first, not desk-first
Personio is excellent for desk-based European mid-market teams. If your workforce runs on rotas — retail, hospitality, care — Blankitt's rota builder, open-shift marketplace and offline clock-in are core product, with payroll hours flowing straight through.
Fair questions
Is Personio a good product?
Yes — it's Europe's best-known HR platform for a reason: 16,000+ customers, a mature core HRIS, 200+ integrations, and strong depth for multi-entity European mid-market companies. If you're 100+ desk-based employees across European entities and a quote-based enterprise motion suits you, it's a strong choice. This page is about the cases where the trade-offs point the other way.
How much does Personio cost?
They don't publish prices. Their FAQ says cost depends on employee count and which add-on Apps you choose, and directs you to book a demo for a custom quote — with a one-time setup fee based on company size and a 12-month minimum on yearly subscriptions (their pricing page, July 2026). Blankitt's pricing is published: from £15/mo + £4 per employee with everything included, so you can compare any Personio quote against a number you already know.
Does Personio run UK payroll?
Personio offers Preliminary Payroll — preparing and organising payroll data — and sells a Xero Integration app to transfer that data to where payroll actually runs (July 2026). Blankitt HR runs UK payroll natively: PAYE, NI, statutory payments, auto-enrolment and RTI submissions in the same product as the HR records and rota hours.
Is Blankitt too early-stage for us?
Maybe — decide from evidence, not our copy. We're in early access: one 1,200-employee UK enterprise evaluation, a public changelog you can audit, and a live demo you can open right now. If you need Personio's scale of references today, choose Personio. If you want UK payroll, rotas and a published price in one product, that's exactly our trade.
We already use Personio — can we migrate or run alongside?
Yes. CSV import covers people data, and the public API, signed webhooks and SCIM (included on every tier) cover the rest. Some teams start with rotas and time & attendance alongside an incumbent HRIS. Ask the founder for an honest read on whether switching is worth it — including 'not yet' if that's the truth.
One of these you can open right now.
A fully-loaded 50-person UK company — rota, payroll, recruitment, performance — one email field away. No demo call, no quote cycle, no setup fee.
Personio is a trademark of Personio SE & Co. KG. Blankitt is an independent product and is not affiliated with, sponsored by, or endorsed by Personio. Comparison points reflect public information as of 5 July 2026; corrections welcome at [email protected].