Personio vs Lucca: which one fits your team?

How do Personio and Lucca really differ?

Both are European suites that you buy through a conversation. The differences are in how much each tells you up front and how each is put together. Personio is one platform with apps on top. Lucca is a family of separate solutions that you pick from.

Personio: a starting price, then a quote

Personio's pricing page says it starts from €7.60 per month per employee. The real number comes after a demo, with a one-time setup fee that depends on company size, and extra apps raise it. Its yearly subscription has a minimum run of 12 months. Personio says it suits companies with 10 to 10,000 employees and stores data in Europe. Core includes preliminary payroll, an export for your accountant, while recruiting and performance come as extra apps and a full Personio Payroll is an add-on.

Lucca: many modules, no public price

Lucca's own site lists more than a dozen solutions in groups: core HR, time and activities (Absences, Timesheet, Office), talent (performance, engagement, training, recruitment), compensation and benefits (Payslip, Compensation, Payroll Assistant), business expenses (Expenses, Payment Methods) and Lucca AI. It states more than one million users. The pages we read show no prices and no free trial, and every call to action is "Book a demo".

That's not a criticism, plenty of suites sell this way. It does mean you can't build a budget before you've spoken to someone, so ask for the price of the exact modules and headcount you need, in writing.

So which one?

• Choose Personio if a published starting price matters to you and you want one platform with preliminary payroll in the base plan.
• Choose Lucca if you want to assemble separate modules, such as expenses or talent, and you're comfortable getting a demo before you see a number.
• Try HR FLARE first if you're under about 30 people and just need leave, hours, payslips and hiring in one place without a sales process. More in our Personio alternatives guide.

Personio vs Lucca for a small team

Neither vendor is aimed squarely at a five-person company. Personio says it suits teams of 10 and up. Lucca's pages we read state no target size, which is another reason to ask early what the smallest contract looks like and how long it runs.

Here's how the buying experience compares. With Personio you get a starting figure to calculate with: from €7.60 for 12 people is from €91.20 a month, before the setup fee and apps. With Lucca you get a demo request and no figure at all. With HR FLARE, a 12-person team is on the plan for up to 30 people at $79 a month, and a team of 5 or fewer pays nothing.

Where does HR FLARE fit?

HR FLARE is the smaller option, with flat published prices, for teams of roughly 5 to 75 people. It covers the daily HR jobs: employee profiles and documents, clock in and out from the browser, the Mac app or the phone, timesheets with manager approval, leave with balances and carry-over, expenses with receipt scanning, job postings, e-signatures and performance reviews.

Its AI assistant answers questions about your own HR data, and you can connect it to ChatGPT or Claude. Payroll is kept as records and payslips (gross, deductions, net), so your accountant still calculates the tax, and there's no manager-built shift rota. Prices are flat by headcount: free for up to 5 employees, $29 a month for up to 10, $79 for up to 30, $149 for up to 75.