Basqo vs Excel
GDPR compliant
ISO/IEC 27001
Personio, HiBob, Workday and more
HR and Finance teams plan their workforce costs in Basqo
Key takeaways
What’s the difference?
Planning and controlling full workforce costs, from budget to payroll actuals.
Companies with several entities that need one workforce cost plan for HR and Finance.
Every cost type, social charges by country and variance analysis down to the position.
GDPR compliant, with a data processing agreement (DPA). Headquartered in Berlin, Germany.
Flexible spreadsheets for any calculation, including headcount plans.
Small teams with one entity and few changes, where one person owns the plan.
Total modelling freedom, and everyone already knows how to use it.
Depends on where the file is stored and who it’s shared with.
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Feature comparison
How do Basqo and Excel compare?
Hover or tap Basqo’s marks for details.
| Feature | | |
|---|---|---|
| Planning & budgeting | ||
| Position-level headcount plan synced with the HRIS | Basqo: Included. Position-based plan, continuously synced with the HRIS. Baselines can include planned positions. | Excel: Partly. |
| Top-down targets for departments | Basqo: Included. Targets as an absolute amount or a percentage, then owners plan their part. | Excel: Partly. |
| Budget owners plan their own teams | Basqo: Included. Plan centrally or together; owners plan their part without Excel skills. | Excel: Partly. |
| Scenarios and versions | Basqo: Included. Compare versions month by month, then lock the chosen one. | Excel: Partly. |
| Workforce costs | ||
| All cost types (salary, bonus, benefits, special payments) | Basqo: Included. Every cost type, including custom ones such as bonus accruals. | Excel: Partly. |
| Social charges by country and salary bracket | Basqo: Included. Every position automatically gets the right social charge rate for its country and salary bracket. | Excel: Partly. |
| Multiple entities and currencies | Basqo: Included. Plan across legal entities and currencies in one model. | Excel: Partly. |
| Forecast & controlling | ||
| Live forecast from HRIS changes | Basqo: Included. Raises, leave, exits and hires flow into the forecast automatically. | Excel: Not offered or not stated. |
| Payroll actuals against the plan | Basqo: Included. Payroll actuals come in monthly for reconciliation. | Excel: Partly. |
| Variance analysis down to the position | Basqo: Included. Variance per position with cost drivers: average pay, months on payroll, cost type. | Excel: Partly. |
| Ready-made workforce reports | Basqo: Included. Monthly development by cost type and FTE, plan vs. live estimate, filterable by any dimension. | Excel: Partly. |
| Approvals & governance | ||
| Approvals for new positions | Basqo: Included. Freely configurable approval paths with ordered steps. | Excel: Not offered or not stated. |
| Approvals for changes to existing positions | Basqo: Included. Salary, FTE and end-date changes go through the same paths. | Excel: Not offered or not stated. |
| Conditional approval rules | Basqo: Included. Conditions such as position type or job level decide the path. | Excel: Not offered or not stated. |
| Audit trail | Basqo: Included. Every change logged with person, date, before and after. | Excel: Partly. |
| Compensation | ||
| Salary reviews and merit cycles | Basqo: Included. Salary reviews as their own cycle or part of budgeting, for all compensation types. | Excel: Partly. |
| Compa ratio against salary bands | Basqo: Included. Shown for every position, before and after the adjustment. | Excel: Partly. |
| Hiring | ||
| Hiring plan and tracker | Basqo: Included. Approved positions move to the hiring plan in one click. | Excel: Partly. |
| GDPR & security | ||
| GDPR compliance | Basqo: Included. GDPR compliant, with a data processing agreement (DPA). | Excel: Partly. |
| ISO/IEC 27001 certified | Basqo: Included. ISO/IEC 27001:2022. | Excel: Included. |
| Product in German | Basqo: Included. Available in German and English. | Excel: Included. |
| Integrations | ||
| Personio as HRIS (employees, salaries, changes) | Basqo: Included. Employees, salaries and changes sync from Personio into the plan. | Excel: Partly. |
| HiBob, BambooHR, Workday and many more | Basqo: Included. Plus HRworks, Suiteify and many more. | Excel: Partly. |
| Greenhouse, Ashby, Lever and many more | Basqo: Included. Plus Recruitee, Softgarden and many more. | Excel: Partly. |
| Hand-off to FP&A and ERP | Basqo: Included. Hand-off to SAP, Board, Lucanet or any other system. | Excel: Partly. |
We now have real-time headcount and cost data, which has reduced errors and gives us control at every single point in time.
FAQ
Frequently asked questions
Is Basqo a good Excel alternative for workforce cost planning?
Yes, once the plan outgrows one person’s spreadsheet. Basqo replaces the monster spreadsheet next to the HRIS with one live plan for HR and Finance: synced with the HRIS, with every cost type, approvals and variance analysis down to the position.
Is Basqo GDPR compliant?
Yes. Basqo is GDPR compliant, provides a data processing agreement (DPA), is ISO/IEC 27001 certified, and access rights per role control who sees which salaries. With Excel, Microsoft 365 covers the service, but how well salary data is protected depends on where the file is stored and who it’s shared with.
Do we still need Personio exports with Basqo?
No. Employees, salaries and changes sync from Personio into the plan, so nobody exports and pastes data each month. Payroll actuals come in monthly for reconciliation.
Can Basqo calculate social security contributions?
Yes. Every position automatically gets the right employer social charge rate based on its country and salary bracket, so the plan reflects true employer costs.
Isn’t Excel more flexible?
For ad-hoc modelling, yes. Basqo trades some of that freedom for structure: versions you can compare and lock, approvals before a position enters the plan, and an audit trail of who changed what. Excel stays useful for one-off analyses.
A 20-minute demo around your own questions on budget, forecast and approvals.