The best employee scheduling software in 2026 is Homebase for a single small location that wants a free start, Sling for the largest free plan (up to 30 users), Connecteam for a flat price covering the first 30 users, When I Work and ZoomShift for low per-user prices, Deputy for multi-site teams that need labour-rule tools, 7shifts for restaurants, Square Shifts if you already run Square POS, and Microsoft Shifts if your staff live in Teams. The feature lists overlap heavily. What separates them is the pricing model (per user, per location or flat) and which plan unlocks time clocks and overtime alerts. Prices below are as of October 2026.
Scheduling software earns its keep on one moment: the Sunday night text saying someone can't make Monday's opening shift. If the swap happens without a phone tree, the tool is doing its job.
How we compared
We checked each tool for a free plan and its limits, the entry paid price and whether it's charged per user, per location or flat, which plan adds a time clock, and what labour-rule features (overtime warnings, break tracking, compliance tools) it lists. Prices were checked on each vendor's own pricing page on October 12, 2026.
At a glance
| Tool | Pricing model | Free plan | Entry paid price (as of October 2026) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Homebase | Per location | 1 location, up to 10 employees | Essentials $24/location/month yearly ($30 monthly) |
| Sling | Per user | Up to 30 users | Premium $1.70/user/month yearly ($2 monthly) |
| Connecteam | Flat for first 30 users | Up to 10 users | Operations Basic $29/month yearly ($35 monthly) |
| When I Work | Per user | 14-day trial | Essentials $2.50/user/month |
| ZoomShift | Per active user | Up to 20 users, 1 location | Starter $2/user/month yearly ($2.50 monthly) |
| Deputy | Per user | Free trial | Lite $5/user/month yearly ($5.50 monthly) |
| 7shifts | Per location | 1 location, up to 15 employees | Essentials $39.99/location/month yearly ($44.99 monthly) |
| Square Shifts | Per location (Square plan) | Square Free has no shift scheduling | Square Plus $49/location/month |
| Microsoft Shifts | Part of Teams | Licence-dependent | No separate price |
The 9 best employee scheduling software tools
1. Homebase – a free start for one location
Homebase charges per location, not per employee. Basic is free for 1 location with up to 10 employees and includes basic scheduling, basic time tracking and a point-of-sale integration. Essentials is $30 per location per month ($24 billed annually) with unlimited employees and adds advanced scheduling, advanced time tracking and team messaging. Plus is $70 ($56 annually) and adds PTO controls and departments; All-in-One is $120 ($96 annually) and adds onboarding, labour cost management and HR and compliance tools. Payroll is an add-on at $49 a month plus $6 per employee paid, after a promotional free period.
Who it's for: single-site businesses with fewer than 10 staff, or larger sites that prefer a flat per-location bill. Limits: the free plan stops at one location and 10 employees.
2. Sling – the biggest free plan
Sling, now Sling by Toast, offers free shift scheduling for up to 30 users, including time-off requests, available shifts, long-term scheduling and private messaging. Premium is $2.00 per user per month billed monthly ($1.70 annually) and adds mobile time tracking, labour cost management and overtime tracking. Business is $4.00 ($3.40 annually) and adds kiosk time tracking, reports, and no-show and sick call-out tracking. There's a 15-day free trial.
Who it's for: teams under 30 that only need the schedule itself. Limits: the time clock and overtime tracking are paid features.
3. Connecteam – flat pricing for the first 30 users
Connecteam splits its product into hubs; scheduling sits in the Operations Hub with the time clock, forms and tasks. Its Small Business Plan is free for up to 10 users and, Connecteam says, includes all hubs and features. Operations Basic is $29 a month billed yearly ($35 monthly) for the first 30 users plus $0.80 for each additional user, Advanced is $49 ($59), and Expert is $99 ($119), which adds auto-assigning shifts and up to 12 schedules.
Who it's for: deskless teams of 10 to 30 that want scheduling, time clock and checklists in one app. Limits: chat and HR features live in separately priced hubs.
4. When I Work – simple per-user pricing
When I Work lists Essentials at $2.50 per user per month with unlimited users, auto scheduling, multi-week and multi-location scheduling, shift swaps and payroll and POS integrations. Pro is $5 and adds scheduling rules, role permissions and labour sharing; Premium is $8 and adds API access, webhooks and SAML SSO. Time Tracking and Attendance is a separate add-on on each plan. There's a 14-day free trial with no credit card.
Who it's for: hourly teams that want a clean scheduling app priced by headcount. Limits: budget for the time-tracking add-on if you need clock-ins.
5. ZoomShift – free for small single-site teams
ZoomShift has a free Essentials plan for up to 20 users at 1 location, scheduling up to 2 weeks ahead with reminders and shift confirmation. Starter is $2.50 per active team member per month ($2 billed annually) and adds unlimited users and locations, swaps, cover requests, timesheets and a time clock. Premium is $5 ($4 annually) and adds auto-scheduling, overtime warnings, geofenced clock-ins and blocks on early or late clock-ins.
Who it's for: small businesses that want a time clock without a big bill. Limits: overtime warnings are on Premium only.
6. Deputy – labour-rule tools for multi-site teams
Deputy is priced per user. Lite is $5 per user per month billed annually ($5.50 monthly) and includes basic scheduling, timesheets and time clocking, shift swaps, leave management and what Deputy calls labor law compliance. Core is $6.50 ($7.25 monthly) and adds auto-scheduling, demand forecasting, wage and labour budgets and advanced labor law compliance. Pro is $9 ($10 monthly) and adds custom access levels, location hierarchies and SSO.
Who it's for: operators with several sites, shifting demand and labour rules to configure. Limits: HR, payroll and richer messaging are paid add-ons.
7. 7shifts – built for restaurants
7shifts is restaurant-specific. Its plan table on 7shifts' own comparison page lists Comp as free for single locations up to 15 employees. Essentials is $39.99 per month per location billed annually ($44.99 monthly) for up to 30 employees; Pro is $79.99 ($89.99) with unlimited employees and adds PTO accruals, labour compliance and labour cost tools; Premium is $134.99 ($149.99) and adds tip and task management.
Who it's for: restaurants, bars and cafes. Limits: retail or healthcare teams pay for restaurant-specific features they won't use.
8. Square Shifts – for Square POS businesses
Square Shifts covers scheduling and timecards inside Square. On Square's pricing page, staff management (shift scheduling, time off, trades, and timecards with breaks and overtime) is listed under Square Plus at $49 a month per location and Square Premium at $149 a month per location, not the $0 Square Free plan.
Who it's for: cafes and shops already taking payments on Square. Limits: it only makes sense if Square is your POS.
9. Microsoft Shifts – for teams already in Teams
Shifts is the schedule management app inside Microsoft Teams. Microsoft says it can run standalone or connect to an existing workforce management system, and its frontline licensing guide describes frontline workers scheduling work with Shifts alongside Teams chat. Microsoft doesn't publish a separate Shifts price; access depends on your Microsoft 365 licence.
Who it's for: larger organisations standardised on Microsoft 365. Limits: setup runs through your Teams admin.
Got an idea? Build it now!
Just start with a simple prompt. No coding required: Greta.sh turns your idea into a working app in minutes.
Per user, per location or flat: run the numbers
Take one location with 25 hourly staff, at list prices. Sling's free plan covers the schedule outright. Connecteam Operations Basic is $29 a month billed yearly. Homebase Essentials is $24 a month billed annually. 7shifts Essentials is $39.99 a month billed annually. ZoomShift Starter is 25 × $2, so $50 a month billed annually. When I Work Essentials is 25 × $2.50, so $62.50 before the time-tracking add-on. Deputy Lite is 25 × $5, so $125 a month billed annually.
Grow that site to 50 staff and the per-user bills double, while Connecteam Basic adds $0.80 per user above 30 (so $45 a month) and the per-location prices don't move. Flat and per-location models win at bigger single sites; per-user models win for small teams spread across many sites.
Overtime, breaks and predictive scheduling: what to check
Labour rules depend on where your staff work. In the US, the Department of Labor's overtime page explains the federal baseline under the Fair Labor Standards Act and points to state laws, and some states and cities add scheduling and break rules. Those rules vary and change, so we don't summarise them here.
Instead, check what the software does with your rules:
- Can you set overtime thresholds and see warnings before publishing? ZoomShift Premium lists overtime warnings; Sling Premium lists overtime tracking.
- Does it record breaks, schedule changes and who approved them, so you have a history if a schedule is questioned?
- Can you configure advance-notice rules for publishing schedules, if your location requires them?
- Does the plan you'd buy include the compliance features, or are they a tier up (Deputy Core, 7shifts Pro, Homebase All-in-One)?
Treat "compliance" in a feature list as settings you configure, not a guarantee; an employment professional should confirm what those settings must be.
When to build your own scheduling app
Buy one of the nine above if your shifts look like everyone else's. Building fits narrow cases: rotas that depend on certifications, equipment or client assignments, or a staff portal where scheduling is one screen among several. An AI app builder like Greta.sh generates a web app from a plain-English description, with a database, logins and roles built in. Pricing starts with a Free plan of 5 credits a day for building; deployment starts on Starter at $5 a month on the welcome offer (normally $20 a month).
The limits matter here. Greta.sh builds web apps, not native mobile apps, and it isn't a payroll or compliance product: overtime logic, time-clock rules and notifications are yours to define and maintain. For a broader staff hub, see our employee portal software comparison.
Got an idea? Build it now!
Just start with a simple prompt. No coding required: Greta.sh turns your idea into a working app in minutes.
How to choose
Count staff and locations, then pick the pricing model: free plans (Sling, Homebase, Connecteam, ZoomShift, 7shifts Comp) for small single sites, flat or per-location pricing for big single sites, per-user pricing for many small sites. Then decide whether you need clock-ins; if you do, pair scheduling with time tracking software or pick a plan that includes a time clock. If your problem is clients booking appointments rather than staff covering shifts, you want Calendly alternatives instead.
Frequently asked questions
What is the best free employee scheduling software?
Sling has the largest free plan we found, with shift scheduling for up to 30 users. ZoomShift is free for up to 20 users at one location, 7shifts Comp for up to 15 employees at one location, Homebase Basic for up to 10 employees at one location, and Connecteam for up to 10 users.
Is employee scheduling software priced per user or per location?
Both exist. When I Work, Deputy, Sling and ZoomShift charge per user. Homebase, 7shifts and Square charge per location. Connecteam charges a flat monthly price for the first 30 users plus a per-user fee above that.
Which scheduling software is best for restaurants?
7shifts is built specifically for restaurants, with tip management on its Premium plan. Homebase and Square Shifts are also common in restaurants, especially when tied to a POS.
Does scheduling software handle overtime and labour laws?
Many tools list overtime warnings or compliance features, but the rules depend on your location. Check whether the plan you'd buy lets you set your own thresholds and keeps a record of changes, and confirm the rules themselves with an employment professional.
Can I schedule shifts in Microsoft Teams?
Yes. Shifts is the schedule management app in Microsoft Teams. Access depends on your Microsoft 365 licence, and it can connect to an existing workforce management system.
Try it on next week's schedule
Every tool here has a free plan or trial. Build next week's real rota in your top two, have staff swap a shift and clock in, and keep the one your managers prefer.
