Kenjo vs Timetastic
Kenjo and Timetastic both let staff request time off and managers approve it, but they are different purchases. Kenjo is an HR suite from Berlin where the absence module sits beside payroll preparation, shift planning, documents and reviews, and every plan is counted per employee for the whole product. Timetastic is a plain holiday planner priced from $1.50 per user per month, with a 30-day trial that needs no card. Timetastic also states in its terms that it is part of the Citation Group, whereas Kenjo GmbH names Berlin, Zurich and Madrid as its offices.
Sebastiaan SmitsFounderVendors can pay for more visibility on this website, for example a higher place in a ranking or more room on a page. Commercial relationships can also affect which products we feature and how prominently. Every vendor link is marked the same, whatever the arrangement behind it. How that works.
Choose Kenjo ifyou want leave handled inside a wider HR system with shifts, payroll preparation and onboarding, and a European vendor with offices in Berlin, Zurich and Madrid. You can also live with API access and integrations sitting in the on-request Connect plan.
Choose Timetastic ifyou only need a shared holiday calendar with allowances and approvals, and want to pay a few dollars per user instead of buying a suite. You also accept that booking limits only warn and that the vendor belongs to the Citation Group.
Kenjo and Timetastic side by side
| Kenjo | Timetastic | |
|---|---|---|
| Our absence management software rank | #7 of 12 | #6 of 12 |
| Established in | Germany | United Kingdom |
| List price, 7 November 2026 | Starter 6.0 EUR and Growth 10.0 EUR per employee per month, Connect on request; 14-day trial | Billed monthly per user: $1.50 Business, $2.50 Pro, $5.50 Rota & Time Clock; 30-day trial |
| Free tier | — | — |
| Open source | — | — |
| Self-hostable | — | — |
| Built for | A small or mid-size company with shift-based, deskless staff | UK offices wanting an uncomplicated holiday calendar with mobile apps |
| Not for | A multinational with many payroll jurisdictions | Buyers who want an owner-managed, standalone vendor |
Both are reviewed in full in our absence management software ranking: Kenjo and Timetastic.
Where they differ
Kenjo 3 · Timetastic 2 · open 1- 01
Starter at 6.0 EUR versus Business at $1.50
Kenjo lists Starter at 6.0 EUR per employee per month, with payroll management, shift planning, document management, reporting and 360-degree reviews included, and recruiting as a paid add-on. Timetastic lists Business at $1.50 per user per month, billed monthly through Stripe, with unlimited users and departments, a shared calendar, allowances and approvals. The entry tickets are clearly different: one buys a suite, the other a calendar. On cost for leave alone, Timetastic wins.
Edge: Timetastic
- 02
What the absence module actually does
Kenjo's absence module covers vacation, sick leave and overtime converted into time off, recognises regional and national holidays, syncs with Slack, highlights overlapping requests and lets managers approve on mobile or desktop. Timetastic shows staff their leave balances and a team calendar of bank holidays and absences, sends email notifications on approval and lets managers approve or decline. Kenjo names more leave mechanics, so it takes this round on breadth of behaviour.
Edge: Kenjo
- 03
Booking limits that warn, and dates that are not lockable yet
Timetastic's plan comparison shows annual booking limits as 'Alerts only, no hard limit', and lists Maximum absent and Locked dates as 'Coming soon'. Pro adds booking limits by leave type, absence trends and company-wide reports. Nothing on the Kenjo pages in our reading describes comparable caps on how many people may be away at once, so neither side can be declared the stronger on team-coverage rules, only that Timetastic states its gap openly.
Depends on the buyer
- 04
Shifts, kiosks and the climb to Connect
Kenjo includes shift planning from Starter, capped at 15 active shift employees, and adds a kiosk app and multi-office management in Growth at 10.0 EUR. APIs, integrations, labour-law non-compliance alerts and the training tracker wait in Connect, priced on request. Timetastic puts rotas, time clocking and payroll-ready timesheets in Rota & Time Clock at $5.50, with no payroll provider named. Kenjo covers more workforce scenarios, but integration buyers must ask for a quote.
Edge: Kenjo
- 05
Trial length and how you pay
Timetastic gives 30 days fully functional with no restrictions and no card, then charges a card monthly via Stripe, month to month; no free plan is listed. Kenjo runs a 14-day free trial, with 'Try for free' on Starter and Growth, monthly or annual billing, a 10% annual discount in its calculator, and a one-time 600 EUR DATEV integration fee from Growth. Timetastic gives the longer, simpler evaluation, so it wins here.
Edge: Timetastic
- 06
Who owns it, where it sits, what is certified
Kenjo GmbH is listed at Donaustrasse 44, 12043 Berlin, Germany, with offices in Zurich and Madrid. Timetastic Limited is registered in Wilmslow in the United Kingdom, governed by the laws of England and Wales, and its terms say it is part of the Citation Group, with no parent named. Timetastic lists ISO/IEC 27001:2022 compliance; no certification appears in what we saw of Kenjo, and neither vendor says where data is hosted. For an independence test Kenjo is cleaner.
Edge: Kenjo
When neither fits
If you want an absence tool from a standalone vendor with nothing else bundled, look at Leave Dates or LeaveBoard. Both avoid the suite pricing of Kenjo and the group ownership noted in Timetastic's terms.
Kenjo or Timetastic: questions
3 answersDoes Kenjo's Starter plan include everything needed to start planning shifts for a restaurant team?
Starter includes shift planning, but it is capped at 15 active shift employees. A larger deskless team would have to look at the higher plans. The kiosk app only arrives in Growth at 10.0 EUR per employee per month.
Can a Timetastic customer actually stop too many people being off on the same day?
Not today by hard rule: the plan comparison shows annual booking limits as alerts only, with Maximum absent and Locked dates listed as coming soon.
Pro adds booking limits by leave type, which warn the manager. If a strict cap matters, that gap should weigh in your decision.
What happens when the free trial of each tool ends?
Timetastic's 30-day trial needs no card, and afterwards a card is charged monthly through Stripe, month to month. Kenjo's trial runs 14 days, and the pricing page offers monthly or annual billing with 10% off for annual. Neither pricing page lists a permanent free plan.
Sources
Checked 7 November 2026- Kenjo pricing: Starter and Growth rates, the 15-shift-employee cap, Connect on request, 10% annual discount and DATEV fee.
- Kenjo time off and absence: leave types, overtime conversion, Slack sync and overlap highlighting.
- Kenjo legal notice: Berlin registered address of Kenjo GmbH.
- Kenjo home: 14-day trial link and Zurich and Madrid offices.
- Timetastic pricing: three monthly USD rates, 30-day no-card trial, booking-limit and coming-soon wording, ISO 27001:2022 listing.
- Timetastic terms: Wilmslow entity, Citation Group statement and English law.
- Timetastic home: staff balances, team calendar, approvals and rota timesheets.