Personio
Relay.app
| Feature | Personio | Relay.app |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Contact sales | Free / from $16/mo |
| Free Plan | ✗ No | ✓ Yes |
| Rating | 4.3 / 5 | 4.3 / 5 |
| Best For | european-smbs, hr-managers, growing-companies, people-ops-teams | operations-teams, agencies, small-businesses, compliance-teams |
| Founded | 2015 | 2021 |
| Recruiting | ✓ | ✗ |
| Onboarding | ✓ | ✗ |
| Time Tracking | ✓ | ✗ |
| Absence Management | ✓ | ✗ |
| Payroll Prep | ✓ | ✗ |
| Performance Reviews | ✓ | ✗ |
| Workflow Builder | ✗ | ✓ |
| Ai Steps | ✗ | ✓ |
| Human Approvals | ✗ | ✓ |
| Multiplayer Editing | ✗ | ✓ |
| Integrations | ✗ | ✓ |
| Conditional Logic | ✗ | ✓ |
✓ Personio Pros
- All-in-one HR for SMBs
- Strong European compliance (GDPR)
- Intuitive self-service for employees
- Good integrations with payroll providers
✗ Personio Cons
- Pricing not transparent
- Best suited for European companies
- Can be complex to initially configure
✓ Relay.app Pros
- Human-in-the-loop approvals
- AI steps built in
- Collaborative workflows
- Clean modern interface
✗ Relay.app Cons
- Fewer integrations than Zapier
- Newer platform
- Limited advanced logic
The Verdict
Personio is built for european smbs and hr managers, with a focus on recruiting and onboarding. Relay.app targets operations teams and agencies and leads with workflow-builder and ai-steps.
Personio uses custom enterprise pricing, while Relay.app starts at $16/mo — a tangible advantage for teams with a fixed budget.
Relay.app has a free plan, which gives it a meaningful edge for individuals and small teams exploring their options. Personio requires a paid subscription from day one.
This is a genuinely close comparison. If you can, sign up for both free trials (where available) and run a one-week test with your actual team tasks before deciding.