What is the difference between Crew Active and HERO?

According to its website, HERO is trade business software with quotes, invoices, dunning, a planning board, and time tracking, charged per plan and licence. Crew Active focuses on scheduling and time tracking for field teams: planning board, GPS proof as PDF, time accounts, absences, reports per customer, and chat in every package, at a fixed price for up to 5, 10, 20, 30, or 50 employees.

How much does HERO cost?

According to HERO's pricing page (as of October 2026), plus VAT: HERO Select from €69, HERO OS from €119, and HERO OS Plus from €299 a month billed annually, monthly from €79, €135, and €345, each including one standard licence. Each additional app licence costs €22 (€25 monthly). HERO Select is for businesses with up to 5 employees. According to its terms, the initial term is 12 months unless the order says otherwise. HERO offers a 14-day free trial.

Is Crew Active a good HERO alternative?

Yes, for small teams in cleaning, landscaping, construction, winter service, and home care that schedule jobs at customer sites: scheduling with a planning board, time tracking with GPS proof and offline clock-in, time accounts, absences, reports, and chat are included in every package, from €69 net a month for up to 5 employees, with no minimum term. The app comes in 5 languages. Good to know: Crew Active is built for scheduling and time tracking; for billing it provides a billing proposal per customer as PDF.

How much does Crew Active cost?

Crew Active charges fixed package prices instead of per-user prices: from €69 net per month for up to 5 employees, tiered up to €379 net for up to 50 employees. Every feature is included in every package, with no minimum term.

Can I try Crew Active for free?

Yes. You can try Crew Active for 1 month with every feature, no credit card needed.

Where does Crew Active store data?

Crew Active hosts your customer, employee, and time data in an EU data centre and signs the data processing agreement with you on request, at no extra cost. To be straight about it: a few add-on features (maps, push, email) use named providers, some of which process outside the EU. If your client specifically requires a German server location, we do not meet that today, so ask us before you commit to it.

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Crew Active vs HERO

Crew Active is the HERO alternative for small teams in cleaning, landscaping, construction, winter service, and home care: from €69 net a month, every feature in every package, 1-month free trial, no minimum term.

According to its website, HERO is the operating system for trade businesses: quotes, invoices, a planning board, and time tracking in one system, in three plans with one licence in the base price and, according to its terms, a 12-month initial term. Crew Active is scheduling and time tracking software with GPS proof, time accounts, and chat at a fixed package price with no minimum term, built for teams that work on site at customers.

Crew Active and HERO Compared

Crew ActiveHERO

Target audience according to the vendor: Trade businesses of every trade, from small firms and the self-employed to businesses with several locations, e.g. plumbing and heating, roofing, painting, electrical, and construction companies

Crew Active and HERO by topic
Topic	Crew Active	HERO per its website
Scheduling	Drag & drop calendar Planning board: employees and resources as rows, days as columns Recurring jobs	Digital planning board for employees and resources such as vehicles, machines, and tools; in the app, employees see their appointments, and according to the vendor the board itself is not shown graphically there
Time tracking	Start, pause, and stop via app or browser Automatic break deduction (30 min after 6 h, 45 min after 9 h)	Time tracking app works online and offline, detects overtime, and deducts breaks automatically
GPS	GPS location proof as PDF with map and accuracy	Optionally a location point when starting and stopping, no continuous tracking
App and offline	App for iOS and Android, web interface for the office Clock in offline in the app	Android and iOS app in all plans Time tracking app works online and offline, detects overtime, and deducts breaks automatically
Chat	Chat with photos and read receipts Push notifications in the app	Not stated on the pages we checked
Absences	Vacation requests with approval Sick leave	Absence requests digitally via the app
Integrations and export	Reports per employee and per customer as Excel Billing proposal per customer as PDF	DATEV interface: documents to the tax advisor, also automatically weekly or monthly (requires a DATEV Unternehmen online licence); payroll documents as a DATEV export via CSV file; API access from HERO OS
Hosting	Servers in the EU	Data stored in data centres in the European Union
Pricing model	from €69 net / month for up to 5 employees Fixed package prices instead of per-user pricing, e.g. €379 net for up to 50 employees (€7.58 per employee) All features in every package	from €69 net / month incl. 1 licence (billed annually) HERO Select from €69, HERO OS from €119, HERO OS Plus from €299 per month billed annually (monthly from €79, €135, €345), each incl. 1 standard licence, plus VAT Each additional app licence €22 (€25 monthly), each additional standard licence from HERO OS €69 (€79) HERO Select for businesses with up to 5 employees; HERO OS Plus requires a paid implementation service
Free trial	1-month free trial, no credit card	14-day free trial, no cancellation needed
Minimum term	No minimum term	According to its terms, unless the order says otherwise: 12-month initial term, renews for the same term, 1 month notice
Other statements	Plan vehicles, machines, and accommodation Target hours per weekday and overtime balance Map with running jobs and planned routes	Quotes, invoices, and dunning in all plans

As stated by HERO on its own website, not a complete list. As of October 2026. Not stated: not mentioned on the HERO pages we checked. That does not mean the feature is missing. Sources: hero-software.de/, hero-software.de/preise, hero-software.de/signup, hero-software.de/rechtliches/agb, hero-software.de/features/baustellenplaner/digitale-plantafel, hero-software.de/features/zeiterfassung-app, hero-software.de/features/personalverwaltung, hero-software.de/features/schnittstellen/datev, hero-software.de/features/cloud

What Crew Active Offers

Every feature is included in every package.

PlanningTimeMore

Scheduling

Drag & drop calendar
Planning board: employees and resources as rows, days as columnsNew
Recurring jobs
Fixed tours with a team, weekdays and stops in your orderNew
Planning check: warns about too many weekly hours or two customers at once
Job requests to chosen employees, who accept or decline
Public holidays per German state
Photos on the job

Resources

Plan vehicles, machines, and accommodation
Warning when a resource is double-booked
Accommodation per employeeNew
Record where machines areNew

Time Tracking

Start, pause, and stop via app or browser
GPS location proof as PDF with map and accuracy
Clock in offline in the app
Automatic break deduction (30 min after 6 h, 45 min after 9 h)
Office can add or correct hours
Time tracking can be switched on or off per companyNew

Time Account & Absences

Target hours per weekday and overtime balanceNew
Carry over overtime from your previous systemNew
Vacation requests with approval
Sick leave
Time off in lieuNew
Employees report when they are not availableNew
Remaining vacation, pro rata from start date

Reports & Billing

Reports per employee and per customer as Excel
DATEV export: monthly hours as a LODAS file for your payroll office and tax advisorNew
Paid vacation and sick leave in hours and moneyNew
Overview with hours, labour costs, and plan vs. actual
Billing proposal per customer as PDF

Communication & Documents

Chat with photos and read receipts
Push notifications in the app
Share documents such as payslips with employees

App & Data

App for iOS and Android, web interface for the office
Customers with multiple addresses
Map with running jobs and planned routes
5 languages: German, English, Italian, Turkish, Romanian
Servers in the EU

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Frequently Asked Questions

What is the difference between Crew Active and HERO?
According to its website, HERO is trade business software with quotes, invoices, dunning, a planning board, and time tracking, charged per plan and licence. Crew Active focuses on scheduling and time tracking for field teams: planning board, GPS proof as PDF, time accounts, absences, reports per customer, and chat in every package, at a fixed price for up to 5, 10, 20, 30, or 50 employees.
How much does HERO cost?
According to HERO's pricing page (as of October 2026), plus VAT: HERO Select from €69, HERO OS from €119, and HERO OS Plus from €299 a month billed annually, monthly from €79, €135, and €345, each including one standard licence. Each additional app licence costs €22 (€25 monthly). HERO Select is for businesses with up to 5 employees. According to its terms, the initial term is 12 months unless the order says otherwise. HERO offers a 14-day free trial.
Is Crew Active a good HERO alternative?
Yes, for small teams in cleaning, landscaping, construction, winter service, and home care that schedule jobs at customer sites: scheduling with a planning board, time tracking with GPS proof and offline clock-in, time accounts, absences, reports, and chat are included in every package, from €69 net a month for up to 5 employees, with no minimum term. The app comes in 5 languages. Good to know: Crew Active is built for scheduling and time tracking; for billing it provides a billing proposal per customer as PDF.
How much does Crew Active cost?
Crew Active charges fixed package prices instead of per-user prices: from €69 net per month for up to 5 employees, tiered up to €379 net for up to 50 employees. Every feature is included in every package, with no minimum term.
Can I try Crew Active for free?
Yes. You can try Crew Active for 1 month with every feature, no credit card needed.
Where does Crew Active store data?
Crew Active hosts your customer, employee, and time data in an EU data centre and signs the data processing agreement with you on request, at no extra cost. To be straight about it: a few add-on features (maps, push, email) use named providers, some of which process outside the EU. If your client specifically requires a German server location, we do not meet that today, so ask us before you commit to it.

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Try Crew Active free for 1 month. No credit card required.

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GDPR Compliant

Servers in the EU

Support in German, English and Italian