plancraft Review (2026): Pricing, Features & Honest Verdict

TLDR

plancraft is an all-in-one software for German trades businesses that bundles quotes, invoices, scheduling, and time tracking into one clean platform. It is genuinely pleasant to use, but the German-only focus and EUR 74.90/mo entry price limit who it suits. Best for: German-speaking Handwerker firms ditching paper. Price: from EUR 74.90/mo, no free plan. Rating: 7.6/10.

What is plancraft?

plancraft is a cloud-based business platform built specifically for German tradespeople. Painters, electricians, plumbers, carpenters, roofers, and landscapers use it to run the office side of their work: writing quotes, sending invoices, scheduling jobs, and tracking employee hours. The pitch is simple. Replace the pile of paper documents and the tangle of spreadsheets with one tool that everyone in the business can open.

The product is made by plancraft GmbH, a company based in Hamburg, Germany. It claims more than 30,000 users and holds a 4.9-star Google rating across 600 plus reviews, which is unusually high for trades software. We dug into it because the Handwerker software market is crowded and noisy, and plancraft keeps showing up near the top of German comparison tests, often ranking second behind Craftboxx on user satisfaction. It matters now because small trades firms are finally moving off paper, and the tool that wins their trust early tends to keep them for years.

What sets plancraft apart from a generic project management app is how tightly it fits the German trades world. It is not a rebranded international tool with a translation slapped on top. The document types, the tax handling, the tendering imports, and even the way quotes are structured all assume a German Handwerker workflow. That focus is its biggest strength and, as we will get into, also its biggest limitation.

What Are plancraft’s Key Features?

Quotes and invoices in one flow

The core of plancraft is document creation. You build a quote from a material catalog and labor lines, turn it into an order, and convert it to an invoice without retyping anything. It handles partial invoices, payment reminders, and delivery notes. On the Pro plan and above you also get cumulative partial invoices and post-calculation, which lets you compare what a job was quoted at against what it actually cost. For a trades firm that has been doing this in Word and Excel, that single connected flow is the main reason to switch.

Time tracking from the job site

plancraft includes a mobile app for iPhone, Android, and iPad so staff log hours from the site rather than scribbling them on a notepad. Those hours feed back into the office for payroll and into the post-calculation so you can see labor cost per project. The app also covers site documentation: daily reports, acceptance protocols, and digital signatures. This is where the tool earns its keep on a phone, and reviewers consistently praise how usable it is for non-office workers.

Visual scheduling board

The scheduling board, called the Plantafel, gives you a drag-and-drop view of who is working on which job and when. It is the feature that turns plancraft from a billing tool into a planning tool. One catch worth flagging early: the scheduling board is reserved for the EUR 249.90/mo Premium plan, so smaller firms on Business or Pro do not get it.

German accounting and tendering integrations

plancraft speaks the local standards. It exports to DATEV for your accountant and imports Datanorm material catalogs and GAEB tender files. The GAEB interface, which matters for firms that bid on public and larger private contracts, sits on the Pro plan and up. These integrations are exactly why a German firm would pick this over a generic international tool that has no idea what DATEV or GAEB even are.

How Much Does plancraft Cost?

plancraft starts at EUR 74.90/mo for the Business plan, which includes one office user, quotes and invoices, time tracking, measurement, master data, and phone support. The Pro plan is EUR 139.90/mo for two office users and adds cumulative partial invoices, the GAEB interface, DATANORM, and post-calculation. The top Premium plan is EUR 249.90/mo for three office users and unlocks the scheduling board, a dedicated account manager, and a custom setup session. You can pay monthly, annually, or on a two-year contract, and there is a 7-day free trial with no card required. There is no permanent free plan.

That entry price is the honest weak spot. ToolTime and Meisterwerk start in the EUR 15 to EUR 29 range, so plancraft is not competing on being cheap. It sits in the mid tier alongside openHandwerk, below the EUR 65 to EUR 80 ERP-style tools like HERO and Sage. What you pay the extra for is the polish, the all-in-one breadth, and the support reputation rather than a rock-bottom monthly fee.

One thing to watch: pricing is per office user, and the most useful planning feature is gated behind the most expensive plan. A growing firm that wants the scheduling board and three seats jumps straight to EUR 249.90/mo, which is a real commitment for a small business. The good news is that field staff who only track time and log site reports do not count as office users, so a small shop with one person doing the paperwork can stay on the Business plan for a while. Run the numbers on how many office seats you actually need before assuming you need Pro or Premium.

Who is plancraft Best For?

Use plancraft if you run a German-speaking trades or small construction business and you are still doing quotes, invoices, and time sheets on paper or in spreadsheets. It is a strong fit for solo Handwerker and small shops who want one clean tool, and for mid-sized firms that need GAEB and DATEV support without buying a heavy ERP. The interface is approachable enough that staff who are not office people will actually use it.

Skip plancraft if you operate outside the DACH region. The product and interface are German-only, so it is effectively unusable for an English-speaking team and it does not handle non-German tax and tendering standards. Also skip it if your priority is the lowest possible price, since cheaper entry tools exist, or if you only need one narrow function like time tracking, where a single-purpose app would cost far less.

It is also worth being honest about the learning curve. A few reviewers noted that some functions, like cost estimations and pulling up older documents, take longer to find than they should, and that the breadth of the tool can feel like a lot on day one. For a firm with no software habit, plan for a short adjustment period and lean on the onboarding workshops plancraft offers. For a firm that already runs spreadsheets and templates, the move over is faster.

Best plancraft Alternatives

ToolTime

ToolTime is the most direct rival and the one to look at if plancraft feels expensive. It is mobile-first trades software for the German market and starts in the roughly EUR 29/mo range, well under plancraft’s EUR 74.90 entry. ToolTime carries a slightly higher user rating in some comparisons and leans toward solo trades and small shops. plancraft tends to win on document depth and the all-in-one feel, while ToolTime wins on price and mobile simplicity.

Craftboxx

Craftboxx is another German all-in-one Handwerker platform and arguably plancraft’s closest competitor on breadth. It posts some of the highest user satisfaction scores in the category and covers scheduling, documentation, and billing in one place. If you are choosing between the two, it comes down to which interface your team prefers and how each handles your specific trade. Both sit in a similar mid-market price band, so a trial of each is the sensible move before committing.

HERO

HERO is the heavier, ERP-leaning option for larger trades and construction operations, typically priced in the EUR 65 to EUR 80 range. It goes deeper on full business management than plancraft does, which is a plus for bigger firms and a burden for small ones. Choose HERO if you have outgrown a focused tool and need broader ERP capabilities. Stick with plancraft if you want something lighter and faster to roll out.

Final Verdict: Is plancraft Worth It?

plancraft is one of the better all-in-one tools we found for German trades businesses. The document flow from quote to invoice is tight, the mobile time tracking is genuinely usable on a job site, and the DATEV, Datanorm, and GAEB integrations mean it fits the German accounting and tendering reality that international tools ignore. The support reputation and 4.9-star Google score back up the impression that real firms like using it. That earns it a 7.6.

It loses points for two clear reasons. The EUR 74.90/mo entry price undercuts no one, with ToolTime and Meisterwerk starting at less than half that, and the most useful planning feature is locked to the EUR 249.90/mo Premium plan. The German-only scope also caps its appeal hard. If you run a Handwerker firm in the DACH region and want one modern tool to replace paper, plancraft is well worth the trial. If you are outside Germany or shopping purely on price, look elsewhere.