When I started building Shiftnest for my family's cafes, we had 22 staff across three sites and the schedule lived in a shared spreadsheet that my aunt guarded like a state secret. We tried four apps before writing our own. Since then, I have spent a lot of time with owners making the same decision, and the right answer depends far more on your team than on any feature list.
So this is not a ranked list of ten apps with the same five bullet points. It is a guide to choosing, with honest notes on the tools small businesses actually end up using.
What a small business actually needs
Strip away the marketing and a scheduling app for a team of 5 to 50 people has to do six things well:
- Build a schedule fast. Copy last week, drag shifts around, see gaps.
- Get it to staff. On their phones, with notifications when it changes.
- Handle swaps and time off without a group chat.
- Track hours, ideally with a time clock that stops buddy punching and early clock-ins.
- Show labor cost before you publish, not after payroll.
- Send hours to payroll without re-typing.
Everything else (hiring, HR documents, team messaging, task lists) is nice to have. Pay for it only if you will use it.
The shortlist
Pricing below is approximate list pricing for small teams at the time of writing. Every vendor changes plans regularly, so check before you buy.
| App | Free plan | Paid pricing | Best for | Main trade-off |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Homebase | 1 location, up to 20 staff | Per location, about $25 to $100/month | Single-site cafes and shops | Costs rise quickly with more locations |
| When I Work | No, free trial | Per user, about $2.50 to $6/month | Simple hourly teams | Lighter labor forecasting |
| 7shifts | 1 location, limited | Per location, about $30 to $135/month | Restaurants, especially full service | Best features on top tiers |
| Deputy | No, free trial | Per user, about $4.50 to $6/month | Growing multi-site businesses | More setup than a small team needs |
| Sling | Basic scheduling | Per user, about $2 to $4/month | Tight budgets | Fewer integrations |
| Shiftnest | Up to 10 staff | Per user, from $3/month | Restaurants, cafes and retail, US and UK | Fewer POS integrations than 7shifts |
Which one fits you
You have one location and fewer than 20 staff
Start free. Homebase's free plan is generous and covers scheduling and a time clock for one site. Shiftnest's free plan covers up to 10 staff with swaps and payroll export included. Sling's free tier works for the simplest cases. Try two of them with your actual team for a week each.
You run a restaurant and labor cost is your main worry
Look for forecasting against POS sales. 7shifts is the most established restaurant-first option and integrates with the most POS systems. Shiftnest shows forecast labor percentage beside the schedule as you build it, at per-user pricing. If you want to understand the target first, read our guide to restaurant labor cost percentage.
You run retail or a mixed business
Restaurant-first tools can feel awkward in a shop. When I Work and Deputy are industry-neutral and handle retail well. Shiftnest works for both, which is why cafe-plus-retail businesses tend to land on it.
You are growing to three or more locations
Price every option at the size you will be in two years. Per-location pricing gets expensive with many small sites; per-user pricing gets expensive with one huge site. Deputy is the strongest choice if you are heading toward dozens of locations and need enterprise reporting.
What it actually costs
Rough monthly cost for the tier that includes a time clock and payroll integration:
| Team | Homebase | When I Work | 7shifts | Shiftnest |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 cafe, 8 staff | $0 to $25 | ~$20 to $48 | $0 to $35 | $0 |
| 1 restaurant, 25 staff | ~$60 | ~$63 to $150 | ~$77 | ~$75 to $100 |
| 2 shops, 30 staff total | ~$120 | ~$75 to $180 | ~$154 | ~$90 to $120 |
Cost matters less than you think. If an app saves a manager two hours a week, that is around $2,500 a year in management time. If it stops one hour of unnecessary overtime per week, that is another $1,400. Most tools pay for themselves on either of those alone.
How to run a fair trial
- Use your real schedule. Import last week and build next week in the app.
- Get three staff to install the app: your most senior person, your newest, and the one who hates technology. If all three can find their shifts and request a swap, you are fine.
- Run payroll once. Export hours to your payroll provider and check them against what you would have entered by hand.
- Time yourself. If next week's schedule takes longer than it does today, keep looking.
If you are not ready for an app at all, our free employee scheduling template will hold you for a while. And whichever app you choose, set up a written shift swapping policy on day one; the tool only works if the team uses it.
Questions to ask every vendor
- Does it integrate with my POS and my payroll provider, today?
- What happens to the price when I add a location, or 10 more staff?
- Can I export all my data if I leave?
- Does the time clock work on a shared tablet as well as on phones?
- Does it handle my local rules: overtime, breaks, minors, predictive scheduling, UK rest periods?
FAQ
What is the best free employee scheduling app?
For one location, Homebase has the most generous free plan by staff count. Shiftnest is free up to 10 staff and includes payroll export. Sling's free tier covers basic scheduling.
Is per-user or per-location pricing better?
Per-user is usually cheaper for small teams and for groups with several small sites. Per-location is usually cheaper for a single large site.
Do I need a scheduling app with fewer than 10 employees?
Not always. A spreadsheet can work. Most owners switch when swaps, payroll errors or late schedules start costing them time every week.
Try Shiftnest free
Shiftnest is free for up to 10 staff and $3 per user per month after that, with scheduling, swaps, a geofenced time clock, tip pooling and payroll export included. Most teams build their first week in under 15 minutes. Start free.
