Factorial alternative: leave tracking at €1.30 per user, no quote, no committed seats

A Factorial alternative is rarely something people search for because Factorial is bad. Factorial is one of Europe's biggest HR platforms: born in Barcelona in 2016, valued at $2.5 billion after a $150 million round in June 2026, used by more than 16,000 companies, with a product that covers documents, e-signature, onboarding, time tracking, shifts, payroll, expenses, recruiting, performance, IT asset management and, somewhere in that list, time off. Small teams go looking for an alternative after three discoveries. The price is "from": $8 per user per month on the English site (€5.50 in Spain, €5.90 in Italy, €6.90 in France), and the actual figure comes back as a tailored quote once you have picked your modules, with Time Off being a module, not part of the Core. The contract is a commercial proposal: a committed minimum number of seats, automatic renewal, 15 or 30 days' notice, no refund of the remaining period. And the product is a suite: excellent if you want to run all of HR in one place, heavy if you only wanted to know who is off next week. Here is the honest, point-by-point case for the alternative.

The short answer: Bueggio HR is the Factorial alternative for small teams that need leave tracking and nothing else: one public price of €1.30 per user per month, everything included, no quote, no committed seats, no sales call, one-click approvals from email, Slack and Teams, and statutory leave rules for Italy, France and Spain built in. Factorial keeps the full HR suite, hour-based allowances, multi-level approval chains, nine interface languages, native mobile apps and payroll connectors, and on data protection the two are peers: both EU companies hosting in Frankfurt with a DPA. Choose Factorial if you want one platform for all of HR. Choose the alternative if you want the leave part done in an afternoon at a price you can read on a page.

At a glance

	Bueggio HR	Factorial
What it is	Staff leave tracking for small teams	All-in-one HR platform with a Time Off module (see factorialhr.com)
Price	€1.30 per user/month, everything included (−15% billed yearly), no minimum, no quote	"Starts at $8 per month, per user" on the English site (€5.50 in Spain, €5.90 in Italy, €6.90 in France); Core plus the modules you pick, priced as a tailored quote; net of VAT; a committed minimum number of seats set in the commercial proposal
Free trial	1 month, no card	Up to 15 calendar days per the terms, no card; upgrading means contacting sales
Languages	English, Italian, French, Spanish	Nine locales: English, Spanish (Spain and Mexico), Catalan, French, Italian, German, Portuguese (Portugal and Brazil)
Data hosting	EU only · Frankfurt, Germany · EU company	EU, AWS Frankfurt (AI features on Azure in Germany and Sweden) · Spanish company (Barcelona) · ISO 27001, SOC 2 Type 2, ENS High
Best for	Small teams anywhere in Europe that want dead-simple leave tracking with country rules built in	Companies that want one platform for documents, time, payroll, talent and IT, with time off as one module

Pricing: a "from" price and a quote, against one public price

Credit first: Factorial's pricing page is clear about how it works. Every plan includes Factorial Core (employee documents, onboarding and offboarding templates, legal e-signature, notifications, document templates, org chart); everything else, including Time Off, is a module you add from a catalogue of fourteen, and "a specialist dedicated to your case will design a plan based on your needs". What the page does not show is a number for that plan: only a floor, "starts at $8 per month, per user" (€5.50, €5.90 or €6.90 on the Spanish, Italian and French sites), net of VAT. The rest lives in the commercial proposal you sign: the terms say the minimum committed number of seats is "the one contracted in the Commercial Proposal", that it can never go below "the publicly available minimum number of Seats applicable in each market", and that Factorial invoices at least that minimum "regardless of whether fewer Seats are actively used". Discounts last as long as the proposal says and are not renewed. Bueggio HR has one plan: €1.30 per user per month with every feature included, €1.105 billed yearly, no quote, no minimum seats, no proposal to sign, and the same page for a company of five and a company of fifty.

Bueggio HR · everything included €22.10

Factorial · 20 × $8 "starts at" (Core; Time Off module quoted on top) $160

Factorial's bar is a floor, not a quote: $8 is the published starting price of a plan built around Factorial Core, the Time Off module is priced in the tailored proposal, and the terms allow a committed minimum number of seats per market. A five-person team pays at least $40 a month at that starting price and €5.53 at Bueggio HR on yearly billing. Prices read on factorialhr.com/pricing and in the terms of use on 29 September 2026.

The contract, read to the end

Price is only half of what you sign. Factorial's terms of use (last updated 12 December 2025, the same text on the Spanish, French and Italian sites, Spanish law, courts of Barcelona) are public, so here they are next to ours. Both companies renew automatically and neither refunds an invoice already issued; the differences are the committed seats, the notice periods and what happens to your data afterwards.

	Bueggio HR	Factorial
How you buy	Self-serve: sign up and use it, billed on active users at the public price	Tailored quote and a signed commercial proposal; the trial is upgraded by contacting sales
Committed seats	None: billed on active users, add or remove people any time	A minimum committed number of seats in the proposal, never below the market minimum; seat reductions only three months after onboarding and with 15 days' written notice, no prorated refund
Term and renewal	Monthly or yearly, renews automatically	Monthly, semi-annual or annual per the proposal, "automatically renewed for identical periods"
Notice to stop a renewal	14 days before the renewal date, by email from an admin account	15 calendar days (monthly plans) or 30 calendar days (annual and semi-annual), through the platform; only the platform admin can cancel
Price changes	One public list price, the same for every customer at every size	Factorial "may at any time change the conditions of these Terms, as well as the price", with 45 days' notice on monthly plans and 60 on annual plans; proposal discounts are not renewed
Refunds	None once an invoice is issued	None: "Factorial will not refund any amounts already paid corresponding to the remaining period"
Your data after cancellation	Self-serve GDPR export at any time; closing the account deletes the organization and everything in it (DPA §6)	Download everything before the cancellation date; afterwards the data "will remain blocked for a period of one (1) year, only available for public authorities' requests", unless you request deletion earlier

Feature comparison

	Bueggio HR	Factorial
Wall chart / team calendar	✓	✓ team time-off calendar
Half-day bookings	✓	✓ morning or afternoon
Hour-based allowances	Hour balances only where the law needs them (Italian ROL and ex-festività); bookings are days and half days	✓ allowances in hours, requests in 15- or 30-minute blocks
Interface languages	EN · IT · FR · ES, per user	✓ nine locales including Catalan, German and Portuguese
Slack integration	✓ slash command to book, interactive approvals, daily summaries, auto OOO status	Free app: clock in/out and directory commands, daily summaries, out-of-office presence sync; approvals from Slack not documented
Microsoft Teams integration	✓ one-click approvals	✓ free app: notifications, approvals inside Teams, presence sync, clock in/out, "One" AI agent
One-click approvals from email, no login	✓	Email notifications; approvals in the web or mobile app (or Teams)
Google / Outlook calendar sync	✓ push sync to both + iCal feeds, included	One-way iCal subscription for Google, Apple and Outlook; push integration for Outlook only, custom leave types unsupported
Country leave rules: Italian ROL, French RTT, Spanish convenios	✓ built in, switched on from your country at signup	Configurable policies: French working-day counting (ouvrables/ouvrés) and monthly accrual documented; Italian ROL and ex-festività not mentioned in the absence settings; Spanish convenios as custom policies
Public holidays	✓ 45+ countries, per-person country	✓ imported per workplace by country and year, local holidays added by hand
Department absence caps & blackout dates	✓ both included	✓ blocked periods; a cap on simultaneous absences per team not documented
Multi-level approvals & substitute approvers	Per-person approver override; one stage by design	✓ approval levels, backup approvers, Global Approver
Accrual and carry-over	Pro-rata first year from the start date, per-person adjustments, carry-over set per person	✓ monthly accrual, tenure steps, carry-over caps with expiry
SSO	✓ Google and Microsoft, included	✓ Google and Microsoft passwordless; SAML for Google, Azure and Okta (plan not stated)
API & webhooks	✓ REST API + signed webhooks, included	✓ REST API (API keys and OAuth2) + webhooks; plan not stated
AI assistant connection (MCP)	✓ user-scoped OAuth	✓ official MCP for its "One" agent
GDPR export & right-to-erasure tooling	✓ self-serve, built in, published DPA	Export before cancellation; data blocked for a year afterwards unless deletion is requested; DPA subscribed with the terms
Documents, e-signature, time tracking, shifts, payroll, expenses, recruiting, IT	Deliberately not: leave tracking only, plus a payroll-ready monthly absence export	✓ the whole point of the product: Core plus fourteen modules
Mobile	Installable web app (PWA) + push notifications	✓ native iOS and Android apps

Five reasons the alternative wins for small teams

1. A price you can read, at every size

Factorial publishes a floor and sells a proposal: the "from" price covers Core, Time Off is a module you add, and the total, the committed seats and the discount period are written into a document only you and your account manager see. That is normal for a platform selling to hundreds of employees and heavy for a team of eight that wanted to stop tracking holidays in a spreadsheet. Bueggio HR publishes the whole price: €1.30 per user per month, everything included, €1.105 on yearly billing, no minimum, no proposal, no call. Two people pay for two; fifty pay for fifty at the same rate.

2. A tool, not a platform

Factorial is an HR operating system, and since 2026 an "AI-first" one that also runs IT asset management and procurement. That breadth is the product, and it comes with setup: workplaces, policies, approval groups, allowance types, modules to switch on, an onboarding to schedule. Bueggio HR does one thing: request, approve, wall chart. Admins configure it in an afternoon, employees book from their phones without training, and there is nothing to deprecate or move to another tier because there is only one tier. If simplicity is why you are leaving, do not replace a suite with a suite.

3. Approvals where the request lands

Factorial's Teams app can handle approvals inside Teams, which is a real plus. Its Slack app is thinner: clock-in commands, a daily summary and an out-of-office presence sync, with approvals back in the app. Its email is a notification. Bueggio HR closes the loop wherever the notification arrives: approve or decline with one click straight from the email without logging in, from the interactive Slack message, or from Teams; employees book from Slack with a slash command, and an automatic out-of-office status shows while they are away. Calendars are pushed to both Google and Outlook, not only subscribed as a feed.

4. Statutory country rules, already built

Factorial's absence engine is flexible: allowances in days or hours, natural or working days, monthly accrual, carry-over with expiry, and for France a documented ouvrables/ouvrés switch. Flexible means you build the rules. Italian ROL and ex-festività do not appear in its absence settings; Spanish convenio extras are policies you write; French RTT is a counter you define. Bueggio HR ships those rules implemented and applies them from your country at signup: ROL and ex-festività hour balances, RTT and jours de fractionnement with ouvrables counting, convenio extras and libre disposición with regional calendars. If you employ people in Italy, France or Spain, that is the difference between configuring policies and switching something on.

5. Leaving is as easy as joining

Nothing on this page needs a signature to try. The trial is a month, not fifteen days, and it needs no card. There are no committed seats to renegotiate three months after onboarding, no proposal discount that expires at renewal, cancelling is an email sent 14 days before the renewal date, and when you close the account your data is deleted rather than kept blocked for a year. We think a tool that costs €1.30 a head should be as easy to leave as it is to adopt; that is also why we publish the DPA and the terms in full.

Where Factorial is genuinely strong

An honest comparison cuts both ways. Factorial is one of the best-funded software companies in Europe, with over 1,500 employees and offices from Barcelona to Munich, and the product shows it. It is a real all-in-one suite: employee files and e-signature in the Core, then time tracking, shift planning, payroll preparation, expenses with OCR, recruiting, performance reviews, training, engagement surveys, procurement and, since 2026, device and SaaS management; none of which Bueggio HR does, on purpose. Its time-off module is deeper than ours in places: hour-based allowances with 15-minute blocking, multi-level approval groups with backup approvers, monthly accrual with tenure steps, and carry-over caps with expiry dates. It speaks nine languages to our four, has native iOS and Android apps, an official MCP for its AI agent, SAML single sign-on, and payroll connectors for Zucchetti and Namirial in Italy, Silae in France, a3innuva in Spain, DATEV in Germany and Sage in the UK. On data protection it is a peer: a Spanish company hosting on AWS in Frankfurt, ISO 27001, SOC 2 Type 2 and ENS High certified, with a public sub-processor list and an external data protection officer. Users rate it 4.3 on Capterra from 320 reviews, with ease of use at 4.5. If you want one vendor for all of HR, or you run payroll from one of those connectors, Factorial is a legitimate pick.

Stay or switch: a two-minute check

• Stay on Factorial if you use, or plan to use, at least two other modules (documents and e-signature, time tracking, payroll, expenses), if you need hour-based allowances or approval chains with several levels, or if a payroll connector is the reason you bought it.
• Switch to the alternative if Time Off is the module your team actually opens, if you would rather see the price on a page than in a proposal, if you employ people in Italy, France or Spain and want the statutory rules built in, or if your team is small enough that a committed minimum number of seats is a cost rather than a detail.

Switching to the alternative takes an afternoon

1. Export your people and balances from Factorial before the cancellation date (its terms ask you to download everything first). Import them into Bueggio HR with a CSV, or just invite everyone by email.
2. Set your leave types and allowances. Country defaults (including public holidays for 45+ countries and the statutory rules for Italy, France and Spain) are applied at signup; remaining balances are entered per person as allowance adjustments, and department caps and date locks replace your blocked periods.
3. Book from day one. Your team requests time off from their phones and managers approve in one click from email, Slack or Teams. The first month is free, no card required, and cancelling later is an email.

Want the wider market view first? Read our ranking of the best leave tracking apps.

Frequently asked questions

What is the best Factorial alternative for a small team?

For a team that needs leave tracking and not a full HR suite, Bueggio HR: one public plan at €1.30 per user per month with no quote, no committed seats and everything included (SSO, API, webhooks, calendar push sync, Slack and Teams approvals), an interface in English, Italian, French and Spanish, and statutory leave rules for Italy, France and Spain built in. Factorial stays the better pick if you want one platform for documents, time tracking, payroll, expenses and recruiting, or if you need hour-based allowances and multi-level approval chains.

How much does Factorial cost, and is it free?

Factorial has no free plan today (it was marketed as free software in its early years). Its pricing pages publish only a starting price: $8 per user per month on the English site, €5.50 in Spain, €5.90 in Italy and €6.90 in France, net of VAT. That floor covers Factorial Core; Time Off, time tracking, payroll and the other modules are added to a tailored quote, and the signed proposal sets a committed minimum number of seats. Contracts renew automatically with 15 days' notice on monthly plans and 30 on annual plans, and paid periods are not refunded. The free trial lasts up to 15 calendar days without a card. Bueggio HR has one everything-included plan at €1.30 per user per month (€1.105 billed yearly), no minimum and a 1-month free trial without a card.

Is Factorial GDPR compliant?

Yes, credibly so: Factorial is a Spanish company hosting customer data on AWS in Frankfurt, with AI features running on Azure in the EU, a public sub-processor list, an external data protection officer, and ISO 27001, SOC 2 Type 2 and ENS High certifications. Bueggio HR matches that posture: an EU company with data hosted in Frankfurt and nowhere else, a published DPA, and self-serve GDPR export and erasure built into the product. One difference worth knowing: after cancellation Factorial keeps data blocked for a year unless you request deletion, while closing a Bueggio HR account deletes the organization. Between these two, choose on price, simplicity and country rules rather than on GDPR.