HCM Software & Service Provider Overview DACH 100 – 2026 Update & New Entrants

Software – Name of the product
Company – Brand of the software or service provider
Software Vendor – OEM, where the company is the actual manufacturer of the software (as opposed to pure SaaS resellers)
Managed Payroll – Indicated where the company offers managed payroll services (as opposed to pure SaaS)

Geography
Local: Availability limited to one or more DACH countries
Regional: Extended availability in 10+ European countries
Global: Extended availability in 100+ countries

Functionality
Core HR: Employee master data management, employee self-service, data analytics and reporting, document management
Pay: Payroll solution included and operational, either as an integration with a local payroll partner or as a native solution (if not marked, a custom integration is required)
Time: Time tracking and absence management
Workforce Scheduling: Shift planning, deployment scheduling and rotation support, manager and employee self-service
Recruitment & Onboarding: Applicant portal, job posting and applicant management, digital onboarding processes
Talent & Performance: Goal management, performance management and feedback, development and succession planning
LMS: E-learning and training management

Company Size
Small: ~500 employees, predominantly single-country operations
Medium: ~2,000 employees, operations in approximately ~10 countries
Large: Global organisations with significantly greater scale

Clusters
Full-Suite Vendor (with native payroll): The software covers all functionalities; payroll is natively integrated for one or more DACH countries, i.e. no connected third-party solution. The cluster includes both original software manufacturers (OEM) and ASPs/resellers (SaaS).
Full-Suite Vendor (with payroll integration): The software covers all functionalities; payroll is a connected solution. The cluster includes both OEMs and ASPs/resellers (SaaS).
Partial-Suite Vendor (with native payroll): The software covers many functionalities; payroll is natively integrated for one or more DACH countries. The cluster includes both OEMs and ASPs/resellers (SaaS).
Partial-Suite Vendor (with payroll integration): The software covers many functionalities; payroll is a connected solution. The cluster includes both OEMs and ASPs/resellers (SaaS).
Payroll Software Vendor: The software is focused on payroll and offers, in most cases, relevant but limited functionality for time tracking and employee master data.
HR Software Vendor: The software is focused on functionalities other than workforce planning and payroll, e.g. learning, talent, time tracking, recruitment, onboarding, succession planning.
Managed Payroll: The vendor specialises in providing an outsourced managed service for payroll software and payroll processing.

The present overview of HCM and payroll software as well as service providers with a focus on the DACH region serves as a reference guide for organisations planning to implement a new HR software system. For many customers, the German-speaking market for HCM and payroll solutions can be difficult to navigate. Since vendors do not use consistent terminology to describe their software, customers looking for specific functionalities often have to laboriously search through numerous product pages.

In developing the LKPU HCM and Payroll Software and Service Provider Overview, we were guided by the questions identified in LKPU People, Issue 1 (link) as key criteria in the HR software selection process:

- Is the organisation looking for a full-suite vendor or a best-of-breed approach?
- Should it be a global or a local HCM vendor?
- Is the goal to outsource payroll as a managed service, or is a Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) solution preferred?

Two important questions were deliberately excluded:

As the HCM market is increasingly shifting from traditional on-premise solutions to the cloud, we did not distinguish between on-premise systems and SaaS models. On-premise systems were not considered in our analysis — although, given growing security concerns, we do not rule out a possible return of on-premise models. One reason for this decision is the announcement by major HCM vendors such as SAP and Oracle to discontinue their on-premise offerings in the coming years.

We also did not consider whether implementation is carried out directly by the vendor or through a partner. For customers, this aspect is generally irrelevant during the initial evaluation phase. It typically only becomes relevant once a shortlist of potential solutions has been established.

he foundation of this overview is a list of payroll software vendors that are certified by the ITSG or are in the process of being certified (with operational customers). This list was supplemented by research into HCM system vendors operating in Germany. In some cases, specialised applications covering specific areas of HCM were also included.

Including all vendors of integrable standalone solutions would have exceeded the scope of this overview. We therefore made a selection based on our professional experience. One example is the workforce management system ATOSS — although it is neither an HCM nor a payroll vendor, it is used so frequently that it regularly appears in our day-to-day work with HCM systems.

This overview of HCM software and service providers in the DACH region is based on publicly available information, market research, and voluntary submissions from vendors. Although LKPU strives for the accuracy and completeness of the data, no guarantee can be given for the correctness of all information provided.

We invite both customers and vendors to share feedback, corrections, or updates in order to continuously improve the quality and relevance of this overview. Companies wishing to be included in future editions are warmly encouraged to contact LKPU at any time.

We would like to express our sincere gratitude to all organisations that have contributed to this initiative.