Project Management Comparison

helloHQ vs. Shortcut

At a glance

helloHQ

Best for

Best for small and mid-sized agencies that want the whole process from lead to invoice in one German-hosted system.

Small and mid-sized

Shortcut

Best for

Best for software engineering teams that want tickets, docs and git automation in one workspace.

Small and mid-sized
Enterprise

Cataleo does not name a winner. Both statements come from the vendors themselves.

Full Comparison

Criterion	helloHQ	Shortcut
Starting price	From €35 / user / month Team plan, no base fee, minimum 3 users; €29.75 per user in the first contract year. The Pro and Enterprise plans add a monthly base fee of €180 and €600.	Free; Team from $8.50 / user / month Billed monthly, with 25 percent off on yearly billing. Business is $12 per user and month billed monthly, Enterprise on request. The free plan covers up to 10 users.
Free trial	14 days	14-day free trial, no credit card required; free plan for up to 10 users
API	Not stated	Yes
Languages	German, English	Not stated
Hosting	Cloud, hosted in Germany, GDPR-compliant	Not stated
Made in	Germany	Not stated
Task planning	Yes, project and multi-project management with kanban, checklists and roadmaps	Yes, stories, epics and objectives planned in iterations, with Kanban boards, work-in-progress limits, backlogs, roadmaps and custom fields
Resource planning	Yes, resource, capacity and vacation planning	No capacity or workload planning is documented; planning runs through iterations, backlogs and work-in-progress limits on the boards
Time tracking	Yes	No hour logging is documented; work is sized with story-point estimates and measured afterwards through the burndown, velocity and cycle time reports
Reporting and controlling	Yes, controlling and dashboards, including a PowerBI connection	Epic and iteration reports on all plans; metrics dashboard with velocity, cycle and lead time and cumulative flow diagrams from Business
Integrations and API	Yes, REST API	Yes, REST API plus version control automations for GitHub, GitLab and Bitbucket and 40+ integrations
AI features	No	stated Yes
MCP-ready	No	stated Yes
Deployment	Cloud (SaaS), Browser-based	Cloud (SaaS), Browser-based
Support	Email helpdesk, Phone, Chat	Not stated
Onboarding	more entries Live online demos and webinars, Personal consulting, On-site training	Documentation and knowledge base
Company size	Small and mid-sized	more entries Small and mid-sized, Enterprise
Integrations	more entries PowerBI, Microsoft Exchange, awork, Jira, Personio, agicap, Zapier, Memtime, REST API	GitHub, GitLab, Bitbucket, Slack, Figma, Sentry

Compare more tools

Row where the values differ The small markers point at the lower number, the longer list or the stated feature. They describe the data, they are not a verdict.

The short version

Key Differences

Starting price helloHQ From €35 / user / month Shortcut Free; Team from $8.50 / user / month
Free trial helloHQ 14 days Shortcut 14-day free trial, no credit card required; free plan for up to 10 users
Company size helloHQ Small and mid-sized Shortcut Small and mid-sized, Enterprise
AI features helloHQ No Shortcut Yes
MCP-ready helloHQ No Shortcut Yes

Every line is one datapoint from the table above, picked automatically. Nothing here is written text.

The trade-offs

Strengths and Limitations

helloHQ

Strengths

Centralises the whole agency process in one system
Replaces many separate tools
Responsive support
German hosting

Limitations

Occasional slow load times reported
No built-in ticketing
Some customisation limits

Shortcut

Strengths

Version control automations keep stories in step with branches and pull requests
Docs, roadmaps and objectives sit in the same workspace as the tickets
Free plan for up to 10 users, and 12 months free for startups under 50 employees

Limitations

No native time tracking or capacity planning published
Cycle time, lead time and velocity reporting only from the Business plan

Plans

Pricing

helloHQ

Team €35 Per user and month, no base fee. Minimum 3 users. First contract year discounted.
Pro €30 Per user and month, plus a €180 monthly base fee. Minimum 5 users. First contract year discounted.
Enterprise €24 Per user and month, plus a €600 monthly base fee. Minimum 20 users. First contract year discounted.

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Shortcut

Free $0 Up to 10 users. Kanban views, roadmap visibility, basic reporting, sprint planning, docs and GitHub, Slack and Figma integrations.
Team $8.50 Per user and month billed monthly, 25 percent off on yearly billing. Adds advanced reporting, work-in-progress limits, workflow customization, automations and unlimited integrations.
Business $12 Per user and month billed monthly, 25 percent off on yearly billing. Adds the metrics dashboard, objectives and key results, advanced custom fields and multiple workspaces.
Enterprise Not stated Custom pricing. Adds volume discounts, premier support with SLAs, SSO and SCIM and custom terms.

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What users say

Review Scores · opens after launch

helloHQ

Ease of use: Not rated yet
User interface: Not rated yet
Onboarding: Not rated yet
Support and service: Not rated yet
Value for money: Not rated yet
Features: Not rated yet

No reviews yet. Be the first to review this tool. Every review is checked for fairness before it appears, and the vendor cannot have one removed.

Shortcut

Ease of use: Not rated yet
User interface: Not rated yet
Onboarding: Not rated yet
Support and service: Not rated yet
Value for money: Not rated yet
Features: Not rated yet

No reviews yet. Be the first to review this tool. Every review is checked for fairness before it appears, and the vendor cannot have one removed.

Where this comes from

helloHQ https://www.hellohq.io · checked against the official source on 2026-08-14

Shortcut https://www.shortcut.com · checked against the official source on 2026-09-07

This table lists factual criteria taken from information the vendors publish themselves. For how we put it together, see the methodology.