The best Zvoove alternatives for recruitment agencies in 2026 depend on which part of zvoove you actually want to replace. If it's the AÜG-compliant payroll and disposition engine, your real options are a small handful of DACH-specific staffing ERPs — TIME JOB, Compana, Personal-DIALOG — none of which publish prices either. If what's actually slowing you down is finding and pre-qualifying candidates before they ever reach disposition, that's a different problem, and Sprad, a general ATS like Coveto, or an international CRM like Bullhorn solve it without touching payroll at all.
Why agencies look past zvoove
Zvoove is the de facto standard for German-speaking staffing agencies — more than 100,000 users, and no researched competitor matches its combination of AÜG compliance, tariff-based payroll and shift disposition. The reasons agencies still shop around are specific, not generic dissatisfaction:
- No published pricing anywhere. All three tiers (Basic, Professional, Professional Plus) require a sales call, and third-party estimates put real costs at roughly €500–2,000+/month depending on size — a wide, unconfirmed range that makes budgeting hard. See the full zvoove pricing breakdown.
- Post-merger support complaints. A detailed, if isolated, OMR review describes unreachable legal and accounting departments and pricing that reportedly tripled after the 2021 merger of Landwehr, prosoft, BackOffice and rhb into the zvoove brand. See the full zvoove reviews breakdown.
- No external sourcing at all. Zvoove manages people already in your pipeline — job posting, CV parsing, a talent pool — but has no integration with public candidate databases and no active-sourcing tooling. For agencies where volume, not process, is the bottleneck, that's a real gap.
- Overbuilt for agencies without Arbeitnehmerüberlassung. If your agency does permanent placement only, zvoove's entire AÜG and tariff-payroll core is dead weight you're paying for.
7 Zvoove alternatives compared
| Tool | Price | AÜG + tariff payroll | Disposition | External sourcing | DACH |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. Sprad | 59 €/recruiter + usage credits | No | No | Yes, 1B+ profiles + voice pre-screen | Yes, DACH-native |
| 2. TIME JOB (GEDAT) | On request | Yes | Yes | No | Yes |
| 3. Compana | On request | Yes | Yes | No | Yes |
| 4. Personal-DIALOG | On request | Yes | Yes | No | Yes |
| 5. Coveto | From 119 €/month | No | No | No (own pool only) | Yes |
| 6. Perbility (Helix) | On request | No | No | No | Yes |
| 7. Bullhorn | from $99 (~91 €) | No (not DACH-specific) | Partial (general staffing features) | Limited (LinkedIn bolt-on) | No German interface |
Prices and public pricing status as of September 2026. Most staffing-ERP peers don't publish prices, same as zvoove.
1. Sprad — best for closing the sourcing gap zvoove leaves open
Sprad isn't trying to replace zvoove's payroll or AÜG engine — it's built for the part of the job that happens before disposition: finding candidates and checking whether they're actually worth a slot. The ATS and talent pool cost 59 € per recruiter per month, and everything else runs on credits at 6–8 cents each, with 200 free every month. A requirement search costs 2 credits per profile that actually passes your criteria — unqualified candidates cost nothing — and a 5-minute voice pre-screen (30 credits, about €2.10) checks availability, shift preference, commute radius and pay expectations before a candidate reaches your disposition board.
2. TIME JOB (by GEDAT) — the DACH-native ERP peer
TIME JOB core bundles employee and client data, order management, disposition, time tracking and payroll into one system built specifically around German staffing workflows, with a companion mobile sales module. Like zvoove, GEDAT doesn't publish a price list; a quote requires direct contact.
3. Compana — a smaller DACH staffing back office
Compana covers disposition, payroll and compliance for staffing agency back offices, positioned as a leaner alternative to the bigger incumbents. Pricing is not published.
4. Personal-DIALOG — Zeitarbeit and AÜ specialist
Personal-DIALOG is built specifically for Zeitarbeit and Arbeitnehmerüberlassung workflows, in the same category as TIME JOB and Compana. As with the rest of this category, pricing sits behind a sales conversation.
5. Coveto — if you're not actually doing Arbeitnehmerüberlassung
Coveto is a general applicant-tracking system for mid-sized companies and permanent-placement recruiters, starting at 119 €/month for the Starter plan (10 job postings, 100 candidates), rising to 340 €/month for the full-featured XL tier. It has none of zvoove's AÜG or payroll depth, but it doesn't need it — Coveto's own review base (219 reviews, 4.8/5 on OMR) is far larger and more positive than zvoove's.
See the full zvoove vs. Coveto comparison.
6. Perbility (Helix) — full HR suite, not staffing-specific
Perbility's Helix platform covers the entire employee lifecycle — digital personnel files, time tracking, applicant management, performance and learning — for mid-size to large organizations, with DATEV integration and ISO 27001 certification. It explicitly lacks AÜG compliance, disposition and tariff payroll.
7. Bullhorn — for internationally operating staffing firms
Bullhorn starts at $99/user/month for its Starter tier, rising to custom-quoted Pro and Max tiers for AI search and matching. It has broad staffing-industry CRM features used globally, but no German interface and no DACH-specific AÜG or tariff logic.
Which alternative fits which agency
- You need to replace zvoove's ERP core entirely: get quotes from TIME JOB, Compana and Personal-DIALOG — all three cover AÜG, disposition and payroll, none publish prices, so compare via demo.
- You want to keep zvoove but fix the sourcing gap: Sprad, running alongside your existing ERP, at 59 €/recruiter/month plus usage-based credits.
- You don't actually do Arbeitnehmerüberlassung: Coveto for applicant tracking, or Perbility/Helix if you need broader HR beyond recruiting.
- You operate outside DACH too: Bullhorn is the only option here built for multi-country staffing operations.
FAQ
What is the closest direct alternative to zvoove?
TIME JOB (GEDAT), Compana and Personal-DIALOG are the closest DACH-based ERPs covering the same AÜG-compliance, disposition and payroll combination as zvoove.
Is there a free alternative to zvoove?
Not for the payroll/AÜG core — that category doesn't have free tiers. On the sourcing side, Sprad offers 200 free credits a month with no credit card required.
Can I use Sprad instead of zvoove?
No — Sprad doesn't do payroll, AÜG compliance or disposition. It's designed to sit alongside zvoove (or a peer ERP), handling sourcing and pre-screening before candidates reach your back office.
What should I use if I don't run Arbeitnehmerüberlassung?
Coveto is the better-fit category: a general applicant-tracking system without the Zeitarbeit-specific machinery you'd be paying for and not using in zvoove.
Do any zvoove alternatives publish real prices?
No. TIME JOB, Compana, Personal-DIALOG and zvoove itself are all quote-only. Coveto and Bullhorn do publish seat prices, but neither is built for AÜG-regulated staffing work.
The bigger picture
Most "zvoove alternative" searches are really two separate questions wearing one label: replace the back office, or fix the front of the funnel. Sprad only answers the second one, deliberately — a requirement search across 1B+ external profiles, voice pre-screening in 12 languages, and a talent pool your agency keeps even if you switch ERPs later, starting at 59 € per recruiter with 200 free credits a month. See what that looks like alongside your current system at sprad.io/industry/recruitment-agencies.
Jürgen Ulbrich
Jürgen Ulbrich has more than a decade of experience in developing and leading high-performing teams and companies. As an expert in employee referral programs as well as feedback and performance processes, Jürgen has helped over 100 organizations optimize their talent acquisition and development strategies.
