What Publicplan does

publicplan GmbH is a Düsseldorf-based, privately held German software and services company that builds open-source, web-based E-government solutions exclusively for German public administration — federal ministries, state governments, and municipal authorities. Founded in 2009/2010 and operating under the 'Public Money, Public Code' principle, the company is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Allgeier Group, a diversified German technology group reporting turnover above EUR 350 million. The portfolio spans E-government portals, online appointment booking, digital form management, OZG (Online Access Act) compliance tooling, Fachverfahren (specialist procedures), chatbots/communication, low-code application development, a reusable component library (including 374 LeiKa counters), and an emerging GovAI offering. Underlying technology is built on open-source foundations — Drupal CMS, Form.io, Keycloak, Nextcloud, Rocket.Chat, BigBlueButton — orchestrated through the proprietary Vanillastack automated Kubernetes platform supporting On-Premise, Private, Hybrid, and Public Cloud deployments.

The company's revenue model is a hybrid of project-based professional services (conception, consulting, development, hosting, maintenance, support, training) and recurring managed cloud services (Infrastructure, Platform, and Software-as-a-management). Pricing is quote-based and routed through formal public-sector tenders rather than disclosed publicly. Go-to-market is consultative direct enterprise sales targeting German public-sector buyers, supported by offices in Düsseldorf, Berlin, Munich, Cologne, and a satellite in Málaga, Spain, plus marketing channels spanning thought-leadership content, social media, the annual Anwendertag user conference, and participation in Smart Country Convention and Open Source Summit. Approximately 100 public authorities use publicplan solutions, with 999+ completed projects delivered to date.

Name

Publicplan

Legal name

publicplan GmbH

Website

https://publicplan.de

Company type

Private

Founded year

2009

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

publicplan GmbH builds open-source web-based E-government software and provides consulting, development, hosting, and managed cloud services exclusively for German federal, state, and municipal public administration authorities.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

E-Government Software Solutions

NAICS

Executive, Legislative, and Other General Government Support (9211), Public Administration (92), Other General Government Support (92119)

SIC

Services-Prepackaged Software (7372)

akta.pro primary industry

Government Digital Service & eGovernment (Service Delivery, IDs, Portals) (BPAIAAAE)

akta.pro secondary industries

Central Government Policy, Strategy & Performance (incl. OMB-style functions) (BPAIAAAB), Public Communications, Transparency & Open Government (BPAIAAAH), Mayor/City Manager & General Administration (BPAIACAA)

Keywords

• E-government solutions
• Open-source software
• Public sector digitalization
• Government portal development
• Citizen services platform

Headquarters

HQ city

Düsseldorf

HQ country

Germany

HQ region

Europe

Offices5 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Software

Cost components

Personnel, Technology or R&D, Infrastructure, Operations, Marketing or Sales

Revenue model

1. Professional Services & Project Delivery: End-to-end E-government digitalization projects including conception, consulting, development, hosting, maintenance, support, training, and administration. Revenue generated through government IT projects and service contracts with public administration clients.
2. Managed Cloud Services: Ongoing managed services for cloud infrastructure, platform, and software management, including updates and individual operational customization. Recurring revenue from cloud operations contracts.

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels5 records

Core offering

Publicplan develops and delivers open-source E-government software solutions for German public administration, including digital portals, form management, online appointment booking, OZG-compliant citizen services, and reusable components. The company also operates the proprietary Vanillastack sovereign cloud platform and the GovAI offering, complemented by managed cloud, hosting, training, and consulting services for federal, state, and municipal authorities.

Product overview

Publicplan is a German e-government solutions provider specializing in web-based digital administration services using 100% open-source technologies. Their portfolio consists of multiple integrated products: E-Government portals serve as the primary citizen-facing interface, complemented by Online-Terminbuchung for appointment scheduling, Formular-Management for digital forms, and OZG-Lösungen for Online Access Act compliance. They offer Fachverfahren for specialized procedures, Kommunikation & Chatbots for citizen engagement, and Low-Code-Lösungen for rapid application development. GovAI addresses AI implementation in government settings. Cloud-Dienstleistungen provides the underlying infrastructure including Kubernetes-based Vanillastack. Supporting services include consulting, development, hosting/maintenance, training, and community management. The company operates under the 'Public Money, Public Code' principle, promoting digital sovereignty for public administration.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• E-Government Portale Standardized digital portal product that enables German public authorities to provide citizen-facing administrative services online; targeted at federal, state, and municipal administrations.
• Online-Terminbuchung (Online Appointment Booking) Software product that allows citizens to book appointments with public authorities online; designed for German public administration use cases.
• Formular-Management (Form Management) Software product for creating, managing, and processing digital administrative forms in German public authorities, supporting online citizen transactions.
• OZG-Lösungen (Online Access Act Compliance Solutions) Software solutions designed to help German public authorities meet OZG (Online Access Act) compliance requirements by digitalizing administrative services.
• Fachverfahren (Specialized Administrative Procedures) Specialized software supporting domain-specific administrative procedures for German public authorities.
• Kommunikation & Chatbots Communication software and chatbot product for public authorities to interact with citizens through digital channels.
• Low-Code-Lösungen (Low-Code Solutions) Low-code software tooling that enables rapid development of digital administrative services and forms by public authorities.
• E-Government-Komponenten (E-Government Components) Reusable software component library that can be embedded into public-authority E-government portals to accelerate digital service development.
• Cloud-Dienstleistungen (Cloud Services) Managed cloud services providing public authorities with sovereign, cloud-agnostic hosting and operations for their E-government software.
• GovAI Proprietary AI product offered by publicplan to support digital administrative services for German public authorities.
• Konzeption & Beratung (Conception & Consulting) Consulting service that supports German public authorities in conceiving and planning their E-government and digitalization initiatives.
• Entwicklung & Erweiterung (Development & Extension) Custom software development service for building new E-government features or extending existing public-sector digital services.
• Hosting, Pflege, Wartung & Support Hosting, maintenance, and technical support service for E-government software operated on behalf of public authorities.
• Schulung, Redaktion & Administration (Training, Editorial & Administration) Training, editorial, and administration services that enable public-authority staff to operate and maintain their own E-government portals.
• Maintainership & Community-Management Long-term open-source maintainership and community management service for public-sector open-source projects supported by publicplan.
• Programm- & Projektmanagement (Program & Project Management) Program and project management service for large-scale E-government digitalization programs in German public administration.

Quantifiable outcome

• 999+ E-government projects completed for German public administration
• +2 more outcomes

Named customers3 records

Segments1 record

Ideal customer profiles1 record

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration5 records

AI capability1 record

Feature3 records

Partnerships

Ten partnerships are on record, tiered minor, core and strategic.

• Bitkom e.V.minorOtherspublicplan is one of approximately 2,700 companies in Germany's digital economy represented by Bitkom. Bitkom is committed to digitalization of the economy, society, and administration.
• Drupal AssociationcoreTechnology or Integrationpublicplan is a Drupal Association Premium Supporting Partner, helping to maintain and expand the Drupal project. Supports funding of improvements to Drupal.org and accelerates Drupal innovation through collaboration.
• European Open Source ConsortiumstrategicStrategic or Co-development PartnerA strategic consortium dedicated to achieving sovereignty, independence, and sustainability in IT through open-source solutions. Reflects publicplan's commitment to an open, transparent digital future driving change in public administration.
• Free Software Foundation Europe (FSFE)minorOtherspublicplan is a proud member of FSFE, a nonprofit dedicated to 'Public Money Public Code.' FSFE helps individuals and organizations understand how free software contributes to freedom, transparency, and self-determination. publicplan is a Silver Donor.
• Initiative D21 e.V.minorOthersSupporting member of Germany's largest nonprofit network for the digital society, consisting of business, politics, science, and civil society. Collaborates on social challenges of digital change and annual situation reports.
• Low-Code Association e.V.minorOthersAssociation of leading suppliers and service providers in the low-code sector in German-speaking countries, founded in 2022. Promotes modern low-code and no-code technologies across industries.
• NEGZ — Nationales E-Government KompetenzzentrumminorOthersIndependent platform networking politics, administration, science, and business in e-government competency. publicplan participates as a member contributing to national e-government knowledge exchange.
• Open Source Business Alliance e.V. (OSB Alliance)minorOthersMember of OSB Alliance — Bundesverband für digitale Souveränität e.V. The association represents around 160 member companies in the open-source industry generating more than 1.7 billion euros annually in Germany. Committed to anchoring the importance of open-source software for digital sovereignty.
• Open Source InitiativeminorOthersGlobal organization based in California dedicated to promoting open-source software. publicplan holds membership to support global open-source advocacy.
• Allgeier GroupcoreOtherspublicplan is part of the Allgeier Group, one of Germany's leading technology groups with turnover exceeding 350 million euros, 2,400 employees, and 3,500 freelance experts. The parent company provides financial backing and organizational scale.

Scale indicators7 records

Recent moves7 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Broad incumbents

• Atos Germany: Atos' German public-sector business delivers digitalization, managed services, and citizen-portal solutions to federal and state authorities, comparable to publicplan on end-to-end e-government transformation but with much broader portfolio.
• T-Systems: Deutsche Telekom's enterprise arm T-Systems is a broad incumbent in German public-sector IT, delivering large-scale portals, cloud, and managed services to federal and state authorities — overlapping with publicplan's portfolio but at far greater scale.
• Capgemini Invent (Public Sector Germany): Capgemini's German public-sector practice delivers consulting, citizen-experience platforms, and digital-government transformations comparable to publicplan's service scope but as a global systems integrator.

Regional players

• Dataport: Dataport is the IT service provider for several northern German states, delivering public-administration software and portal solutions — a regional incumbent with overlapping capabilities to publicplan in Schleswig-Holstein, Hamburg, Bremen, and Saxony-Anhalt.
• Gemeinsame Kommunalbehörde (GKDuE / kommIT): kommIT and similar municipal IT cooperatives deliver e-government and OZG services to municipal authorities in Germany, comparable to publicplan's municipal-level offering in specific regional markets.

Direct peers

• AKDB (Anstalt für Kommunale Datenverarbeitung in Bayern): AKDB is a Bavarian municipal IT provider delivering software, portal, and online-services solutions to German local authorities — a direct adjacent peer for publicplan's municipal-level Fachverfahren and OZG work.
• Materna: Materna is a major German IT services provider with a sizable public-sector and government digitalization practice, offering portal, cloud, and citizen-services solutions directly comparable to publicplan's portfolio.
• PRODYNA: PRODYNA is a German-headquartered IT consultancy specialized in open-source platforms (Camunda, Keycloak, cloud-native) and serves public-sector clients, directly comparable to publicplan's open-source e-government delivery model.
• Open-Xchange: Open-Xchange is a German open-source software vendor serving ISPs, telcos, and increasingly public-sector-adjacent digital service providers — a thematic peer to publicplan on the open-source digital-sovereignty positioning.
• Senacor Technologies: Senacor is a German IT consultancy with strong public-sector and financial-services digitalization practices, comparable to publicplan on public-sector project delivery, modernization, and platform engineering.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/publicplan_gmbh
• YouTubeyoutube.com/c/PublicplanDe
• Facebookfacebook.com/publicplan
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/publicplan-gmbh
• Instagraminstagram.com/publicplan_gmbh

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles2 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Publicplan