If you’re a small business owner in France or Belgium, odds are you’ve spent far too much time wrestling with spreadsheets, juggling leave requests, or wondering if your payslips meet legal standards. And if you’ve gone shopping for an HR tool, you’ve likely come across Personio—a European powerhouse promising to handle everything from payroll to performance reviews.
But just because it’s big and shiny doesn’t mean it’s what your business actually needs.Let’s compare MiniHRO and Personio—not as equals, but as tools built for very different types of teams.The Landscape: Personio’s Strengths (and Blind Spots)
Personio has grown rapidly. Headquartered in Germany and backed by over $700 million in funding, it now serves more than 10,000 companies across Europe. It’s well-known, well-funded, and well-integrated.But here’s the truth: Personio is trying to be everything for everyone. It caters to growing SMEs with HR departments. It offers modules for recruiting, onboarding, time off, payroll, and performance.That’s great—unless you’re a 6-person café in Lille, a design agency in Brussels, or an e-commerce shop hiring part-time freelancers.What’s missing for microbusinesses?
- Personio’s pricing and feature set are more suited to 50–200 employee organisations.
- No native DSN support (essential for legal compliance in France).
- A steep onboarding curve, with configuration often requiring help from an implementation partner.
Feature Comparison: What Actually Matters
Let’s break this down feature by feature, from the point of view of a 5–20 person team in France or Belgium.| Feature | Personio | MiniHRO |
|---|---|---|
| Leave management | ✅ | ✅ |
| Timesheets | ✅ | ✅ |
| Payroll summaries | ❌ (external tool needed) | ✅ |
| DSN export (FR) | ❌ | ✅ |
| French/Dutch contracts | ❌ | ✅ |
| GDPR setup by default | ✅ | ✅ |
| Language options | EN, DE, FR, ES | FR, EN |
| Free tier | ❌ | ✅ (up to 3 users) |
| Setup time | Days/weeks | < 1 hour |
Real Talk: What Happens Inside a Small Business
Here’s a reality check: most companies with under 20 employees don’t have an HR manager. The founder or the office manager handles it. Usually with:- One shared Excel file
- Some Google Docs templates for contracts
- Manual calculations for pay
- Stress at the end of each month
- A leave request button that makes sense.
- Pre-loaded leave types: RTT, CP, sick leave.
- Region-specific contract templates ready to fill.
- Built-in checks for overwork, missing hours, or non-compliant payrolls.
Onboarding and Setup: Hours vs Minutes
Setting up Personio takes time. Their documentation is excellent, but also a sign of how much there is to learn. You’ll need to define roles, permissions, approval flows, contract templates, and more.
MiniHRO? Here’s how it goes:
Create your account.
Add your company info.
Add your first employee.
Choose country: France or Belgium.
The rest configures itself.
You can literally get a leave management system and a payroll-ready environment up and running before lunch.
Compliance: The Elephant in the French Office
If you’ve ever had to explain DSN to someone, you know it’s not optional. In France, you need to submit DSN files monthly—automated XMLs containing payslip data, tax breakdowns, and social security contributions.
Personio doesn’t handle this. MiniHRO does.
Whether it’s auto-generating DSN-ready exports, MiniHRO is built around European compliance—not just buzzwords like GDPR.
Pricing Transparency: Why MiniHRO Wins by a Mile
Let’s talk money.
Personio: Pricing is not listed publicly for most tiers. Expect to pay €6–€10 per employee/month, with additional fees for modules and onboarding.
MiniHRO:
Free: 0€/month — up to 3 employees.
Pro: €25/month — up to 20 employees.
Custom: For franchises and chains.
No sales calls. No mandatory demos. Just a Stripe checkout.
If you’re a small business trying to get organised on a budget, MiniHRO is the only product in its category that doesn’t punish you for being small.
Designed for the Micro, Not the Mega
Where Personio shines is in mid-sized teams: 50+ employees, multiple departments, and a dedicated HR lead. But for companies with under 20 employees?
That level of power becomes a burden.
MiniHRO is focused on:
Teams without full-time HR staff.
Owners who don’t want a learning curve.
Accounting solutions that just work.
Conclusion: Which HR Tool Should You Use?
If you’re a 5-person team in Paris or Namur, you don’t need Personio.
You need:
A leave system that reflects local rules.
Payroll files that make your accountant smile.
An interface you don’t have to translate.
That’s MiniHRO.
It’s not trying to be everything. Just the right thing—for small, overloaded teams trying to stay legal and save time.
✅ 100% localised for France and Belgium
✅ Free plan up to 3 employees
✅ DSN compliance built in
✅ Easy, affordable, and fast
No commitment. No HR degree required.
Just HR that work
