Payroll software for a GmbH in Germany 2026: 6 options compared

As soon as your GmbH pays a salary, you need payroll. That already applies to the managing director's salary in a one-person GmbH. Every month brings wage tax, social contributions, reports and postings, and the deadlines are short.

You have three basic routes: software you run yourself, an HR suite with a payroll module, or handing payroll to a tax advisor or payroll office. Here we compare six options with their real prices, their limits and how the wage costs reach your books.

Quick answer: which payroll fits your GmbH?

• Managing director and employees on a fixed salary, bookkeeping in the same tool: Norman. Payroll postings land straight in the ledger, and the annual accounts and E-Bilanz run off the same figures.
• Minijobs, Midijobs or many special cases: Lexware Office Lohn & Gehalt, Lexware lohn+gehalt or DATEV.
• From 10 employees, with HR administration: Personio with its Payroll module.
• You don't want to run payroll at all: a tax advisor or payroll office.

What payroll software for a GmbH has to do

• Gross to net on the official formula: wage tax on the Federal Ministry of Finance's Programmablaufplan, plus solidarity surcharge, church tax and the contributions to health, long-term care, pension and unemployment insurance, including levies.
• Lohnsteuer-Anmeldung: it goes to the Finanzamt by the 10th of the following month (§ 41a EStG). More in the guide to payroll tax filing.
• Contribution statements and social-insurance reports: contributions are due on the third-to-last bank working day of the month (§ 23 SGB IV). The contribution statement must reach the health fund two working days earlier (§ 28f SGB IV). Registrations, deregistrations and annual reports come on top.
• The managing director's status: a controlling shareholder-director is usually exempt from social insurance, a non-shareholder director usually is not. The software has to handle both. Details in the article on social security for the GmbH managing director.
• Payslips and payroll accounts: every person gets a payslip, and you keep a payroll account (Lohnkonto) for each person.
• The way into your books: salaries, employer contributions and liabilities have to reach the GmbH's accounts. Only then do the P&L, balance sheet and E-Bilanz add up.

The 6 options at a glance

Prices are net, as of October 2026. The sections below say which option fits whom.

1. Norman: payroll inside your bookkeeping

Norman runs payroll where your GmbH bookkeeping already lives. That covers the managing director, including the shareholder-director exempt from social insurance, and employees on a fixed monthly salary with statutory social insurance.

• Gross to net: Norman calculates wage tax on the Programmablaufplan, the solidarity surcharge, church tax and every social contribution and levy.
• Approval: each month you review taxes, contributions and net pay per person and approve the month. Until it is filed, an approved month can be corrected as a new version.
• Lohnsteuer-Anmeldung: Norman files it with the Finanzamt via ELSTER.
• Bookkeeping: each approved month books salaries, employer contributions and liabilities to your SKR03 or SKR04 accounts. From there the wage costs flow into the P&L, annual accounts, E-Bilanz and DATEV export. You import nothing.
• Absences: you record vacation and sick leave in the month. Norman calculates continued pay and prepares the U1 and U2 reimbursement.

Limits: Norman does not run Minijobs or Midijobs. Norman prepares the social-insurance reports and contribution statements, and you send them yourself through sv.net. You enter the tax class and allowances yourself; Norman does not retrieve ELStAM. Sole traders and freelancers cannot run payroll in Norman.

Payroll is a paid feature. Invoicing and day-to-day bookkeeping stay free. Norman is software, not a payroll office: you run payroll yourself. If you work with a tax advisor, invite them to Norman. The help article Run payroll for one director and two employees shows the flow step by step.

2. Lexware Office Lohn & Gehalt

Lexware Office sells payroll as an add-on to any Lexware Office plan. The price depends on the number of employees: €12.90 a month for up to 2, €25.90 for up to 5 and €39.90 for up to 10 employees. The add-on can be cancelled monthly and goes up to 50 employees.

Lexware Office also handles Minijobs, retrieves ELStAM and sends the social-insurance reports, contribution statements and the Lohnsteuer-Anmeldung itself. If you also use Lexware Office for bookkeeping, the wage costs are booked automatically. For a full bookkeeping comparison, see the lexoffice alternatives.

3. Lexware lohn+gehalt

Lexware lohn+gehalt is the classic payroll program for Windows. The basis edition costs €31.90 a month or €382.80 a year and covers up to 50 employees; pro and premium cover up to 250. It handles Minijobs and Midijobs and sends reports and contribution statements via the Lexware meldecenter, and the Lohnsteuer-Anmeldung via ELSTER. Short-time work (Kurzarbeit) starts with the plus edition, and a DATEV interface comes only with premium.

4. DATEV Lohn und Gehalt

DATEV offers both routes: you run payroll yourself, or your tax firm prepares the payslips every month. To run it yourself, there is Lohn und Gehalt classic from €15.86 and comfort from €26.68 a month. Both run on a PC and require the DATEV Grundpaket Basis at €4.40 a month. On top comes a fee per employee that DATEV does not publish; your tax advisor tells you the amount.

DATEV covers practically every special case and is the standard in tax firms. For a small GmbH with fixed salaries, that is often more software than you need. More in the article on the DATEV alternative for a GmbH.

5. Personio Payroll

Personio is an HR suite for companies with 10 to 10,000 employees. Its base plans include preparatory payroll, meaning the data handover to DATEV or the tax firm. With the Personio Payroll add-on app you run payroll directly in Personio, including the reports to the social-insurance bodies. Prices are on request only, billed per employee per month. The annual subscription runs for at least 12 months, plus a one-off setup fee.

So Personio does not fit a GmbH with two or three people. It becomes interesting when you want to keep applications, leave and personnel files in an HR tool anyway.

6. Tax advisor or payroll office

If you hand payroll off, a tax advisor charges under § 34 StBVV: €6 to €30 per employee per month, plus €6 to €19 per employee once for the setup, each plus VAT. The Lohnsteuer-Anmeldung is included. For a GmbH with a managing director and two employees, that is €18 to €90 a month. A commercial payroll office sets its own prices.

The upside: you hand over data and get finished payslips. The downside: every change goes through the firm, and the wage costs only reach your books with their posting list. How to weigh the cost is covered in the article on accountant costs for a GmbH.

Not every bookkeeping tool runs payroll

According to its own help centre, sevDesk offers no payroll and refers you to your tax advisor. Papierkram has no payroll in its feature set either. With these tools you always need a second solution for salaries and book the results by hand.

Which option fits your GmbH?

• One-person GmbH with a director's salary: Norman. Salary, Lohnsteuer-Anmeldung and postings run in the same tool as the annual accounts and taxes. The article on the managing director's salary shows how.
• GmbH with a few salaried employees: Norman, as long as everyone has a fixed monthly salary with statutory social insurance.
• Minijobbers or temps on the team: Lexware Office, Lexware lohn+gehalt, DATEV or your tax advisor. What applies to Minijobs is in the article on Minijobs in a GmbH.
• From 10 employees with HR processes: Personio.
• No time, no interest: a tax advisor or payroll office.

Conclusion

For a small GmbH, the best payroll is the one that reaches your books without a second entry. With fixed salaries you run payroll in Norman and keep wage costs, annual accounts and taxes in one ledger. With Minijobs or many special cases, Lexware, DATEV or the tax firm are the broader choice. For an overview of every obligation, read the guide to GmbH payroll in Germany.

FAQ

Does a one-person GmbH need payroll? Yes, as soon as the GmbH pays you a managing director's salary. The GmbH withholds the wage tax and reports it with the Lohnsteuer-Anmeldung. Whether social contributions apply depends on your status as managing director.

Can I run payroll for my GmbH myself? Yes. With software that calculates on the official Programmablaufplan and files the Lohnsteuer-Anmeldung, you don't need a tax advisor for it. For Minijobs and special cases such as short-time work, you need a program that covers them.

Does Norman handle Minijobs? No. Norman runs payroll for the managing director and employees on a fixed monthly salary with statutory social insurance. Minijobs run through the Minijob-Zentrale, a payroll office or a payroll program such as Lexware or DATEV; you book the costs in Norman.

What does payroll at a tax advisor cost? Under § 34 StBVV, €6 to €30 per employee per month, plus €6 to €19 per employee once for the setup, each plus VAT.

How do wage costs reach the GmbH's books? Either the payroll software books them directly, as Norman and Lexware Office do, or you book the payroll journals from the program or tax firm every month. In Norman, each approved month books salaries, employer contributions and liabilities into the ledger.