Best Employee Scheduling Software Of 2024

Deputy delivers every feature that small businesses need to manage staff scheduling for one or many locations. Deputy is praised for its easy-to-use desktop interface and mobile apps, simple auto-scheduler tools, easy shift swaps, unlimited schedules and timesheets, broad integrations and more. Deputy captured the top spot in this roundup due to standout features, such as shift-specific task assignments, labor and demand forecasting and granular rules for shift assignments and compliance needs. Another major plus is its geofenced time clock with facial recognition to prevent time clock fraud.

Deputy is one of few employee scheduling solutions that offers a free plan with complete scheduling and time clock features, including paid time off (PTO) and time-off tracking. Deputy’s impressive “News Feed” staff communication tool is also part of the free plan. This supports blast notifications to all or specific staffers, individual communication and document sharing, which is handy for onboarding and training.

Deputy’s paid plans include all scheduling and timekeeping features for $4.50 per employee, per month, paid monthly. If you want scheduling and timekeeping features, it also runs $4.50 per employee, per month (billed monthly). You can upgrade to the full plan to access all features at any time.

Deputy offers 24/7 email support for the first 60 days of account signup and ticket-based support after that. It also has free live training sessions on weekdays and a complete online resource center with tutorials.

Who should use it:

Deputy employee scheduling software is a top option to consider for retailers, restaurants, contractors, service providers and contractor-based businesses. It’s particularly good for businesses that need to track compliance data or regularly send notifications and updates to staff.

7shifts employee scheduling software is geared toward the foodservice industry. However, its feature set, ease of use, free version and economical paid plans make it a contender for any small business model. 7shifts has earned many fans due to its free plan that supports up to 30 staff and includes drag-and-drop shift scheduling and the mobile app. One standout feature that can benefit all businesses post-COVID-19 is the employee health check. Available on free and paid plans, health check requires answers to health questions during clock-in and records responses for compliance needs.

The free plan supports staff availability and time off, shift swaps, notifications via team chat, applicant tracking through new hires and integrations with top-rated point-of-sale (POS) systems. Paid plans range from $34.99 to $150 per month, paid monthly, and $29 to $135 per month, paid annually. These increase staff accounts and add scheduling features, labor costing and compliance tools including overtime alerts, mandatory breaks, under-18 staff tagging and other features. Paid plans also provide built-in state compliance rules for California and municipal regulations for New York City, Philadelphia, San Francisco and Washington, D.C.

7shifts offers phone, chat and email support seven days a week plus has an extensive online knowledge base with video tutorials and training modules for managers and staff.

Who should use it:

7shifts is a top pick for single or multilocation restaurants and any business wanting free or low-cost employee scheduling software. Its user-friendly time clock, flexible scheduling tools and versatile shift management features work well for any business running shift work.

When I Work is extremely user-friendly employee scheduling software that’s particularly good for businesses running multiple locations. Its per-user pricing costs just $2.50 to $8 per staff member, per month, with no added per-location fees. The versatile scheduling tool lets you set up multiple schedules per region, location, department and team. It also supports cross-scheduling which is a handy feature for managing employees that work in various locations or internal groups.

Monthly per-user pricing is $2.50 for the Standard plan and $8 for the Advanced plan. Both plans deliver drag-and-drop schedule creation and management, auto-scheduling, shift notifications, shift swapping and releasing, custom shift templates and automated rules. The Advanced plan adds permissions, shift reports and application programming interfaces (API) integrations.

Adding time clock features requires When I Work’s Time & Attendance upgrade, which moves monthly per-user pricing to $4 for the Standard plan and $8 for the Advanced plan. This adds powerful app-driven time clock features, such as staff app clock-in, geofencing for early clock-in prevention, attendance notifications, timesheet reports and POS and payroll integrations.

When I Work doesn’t offer live phone support, but live chat is available seven days per week and support tickets are typically answered within one to two hours. When I Work has an online training center with anytime access to management and staff training videos.

Who should use it:

When I Work is ideal for shift-based small businesses that need easy, low-cost employee scheduling software to manage multiple locations. It’s economical for single-location businesses as well and especially good for cross-team and cross-department scheduling.

Connecteam is a budget-friendly employee scheduling software package that delivers an impressive set of scheduling, time clock, communications and staff training tools. Its free version supports 10 staff on a single schedule with app-driven staff time clock features. However, to benefit from Connecteam’s robust training, communications and advanced time clock tools, you need a paid plan. The price range for paid plans is $35 to $119 per month when billed monthly or $29 to $99 per month when billed annually which amounts to 18% savings. All paid plans support up to 30 staff and have added fees for additional users.

Connecteam’s tools are organized under three Hubs—Operations, Communications and HR & Skills. From each Hub, managers can oversee everything from multiple schedules, timesheets and team communications to onboarding and training for one or multiple locations. Standout perks include geofenced clock-in, built-in training courses, quizzes and certification tracking, plus staff surveys, polls, shift checklists, payroll integrations and more. POS integrations aren’t built-in, but Connecteam does offer API connections on Enterprise plans.

Connecteam doesn’t provide live phone support, all support is handled via email or help center articles.

Who should use it:

Connecteam is a good fit for retailers and other high-turnover businesses that can benefit from efficient onboarding and training, shift-based checklists and automated staff notifications. It’s also ideal for businesses that need to track training and certification for advancement, rewards and compliance needs.

Read more: Check out our Connecteam review

ZoomShift is streamlined and user-friendly employee scheduling software that takes just minutes to set up and learn to use. It doesn’t have a free plan but offers economical per-user pricing and a straightforward scheduling system accessible via desktop and mobile app. ZoomShift supports scheduling for unlimited locations and gives managers a full overview of staff availability, time off requests, scheduling conflicts and shift swaps for one or all locations via a desktop dashboard and mobile app.

Starter plan per-user pricing is $2.50 per month, paid monthly and $2 per month, paid annually. It delivers unlimited scheduling templates, shift confirmations and reminders, app or dashboard clock-in, break tracking, time sheets, payroll reports, labor costing, PTO tracking, group shift assignments and more.

Advanced plan per-user pricing is $5 per month, paid monthly and $4 per month, paid annually. It adds overtime warnings, overtime controls per employee and a geofenced time clock to prevent early clock-in or out. Managers can check staff availability, time off requests, scheduling conflicts and shift swaps for one or all locations in ZoomShift’s slick dashboard. It also syncs with most calendar apps.

ZoomShift lacks features such as staff and team chats, staff training and integrated HR features that you get with some competitors. However, for intuitive and streamlined scheduling with a bird’s-eye view of all shift activity on one screen, it’s hard to beat for the price.

ZoomShift doesn’t provide live phone support but does have chat support and online resources with help guides.

Who should use it:

ZoomShift is ideal for managing teams across several locations and can work well for managing staff for remote and service-based businesses. It’s also a good solution for any business that wants easy-to-use employee scheduling software with robust time clock features and calendar app integrations.

QuickBooks Time seamlessly integrates with QuickBooks, so it’s the natural employee scheduling software choice for businesses running QuickBooks or QuickBooks Online. However, with both a monthly fee and per-user pricing, it’s pricey for businesses with a large workforce.

That said, the time-saving perks of having scheduling software that directly integrates with QuickBooks accounting and payroll features can be worth the cost. Pairing QuickBooks with QuickBooks Time connects staffing data with job costing, budgeting and project tracking to deliver accurate invoicing, labor costs and forecasts.

Both QuickBooks Time plans deliver a complete suite of employee scheduling and time clock tools, including job assignments and shift scheduling, shift alerts and notifications, time-off and leave tracking, plus real-time staff status and labor cost reports. Both also support app and dashboard time clocks and a kiosk time clock with facial recognition.

The Elite plan upgrade adds mileage tracking, labor cost estimates vs. actuals, project progress tracking and geofencing to prevent early clock-in. There is a 30-day free trial if you want to test-drive QuickBooks Time.

QuickBooks Time provides unlimited live phone support, training webinars covering all key modules, plus an online knowledge base.

Learn more: Read our full QuickBooks review to learn more about its robust feature set.

Who should use it:

QuickBooks Time is ideal for any business that uses QuickBooks and wants to integrate staff scheduling and time clock features or that needs to tie staff assignments and labor costs by job, project or client in QuickBooks.

monday.com is a highly customizable data management platform that can be tailored to fit all types of business needs, from employee schedules and HR management to project, inventory, sales, marketing and customer management. monday.com has more than 200 plug-and-play templates that support all types of functionality, including a Weekly Shift Scheduling template.

With monday.com, you can track and map staff availability, set staffing needs, schedule shifts, create rotating schedules and send notifications and calendar updates. monday.com’s versatile platform supports scheduling for a single shop, multiple locations and even worldwide operations.

monday.com’s pricing is user-based and starts at $24 per month for three all-access user accounts and unlimited staff accounts for schedule access. The free plan supports two users but no staff accounts. All plans deliver a core set of schedule creation and shift management features that can be customized to meet specific needs. Once you learn monday.com’s versatile system, you can connect scheduling, shift and staffing details to locations, groups, teams, projects, clients, invoices and other specifics used in your business.

monday.com only offers live 24/7 support to enterprise users, but it does provide 24/7 ticket support on all plans. Users also enjoy a complete online help center with daily webinars, video tutorials and connections to monday.com implementation pros for advanced needs.

Learn more: See our complete monday.com review

Who should use it:

Businesses that want versatile and customizable employee scheduling software plus the ability to seamlessly integrate staffing with a full array of business management tools on the monday.com platform.

ClockShark is employee scheduling software designed specifically to meet the needs of businesses that run field service crews at various locations. In ClockShark’s user-friendly interface, managers can easily schedule staff by job location, client account, team, crew and more. Field staff can clock in and out remotely using GPS-enabled iOS and Android apps, plus crew chiefs and team leaders can manage time tracking for their crews as well.

ClockShark has two plan tiers, Standard and Pro. Both support GPS tracking for geofenced clock-in-and-out, job and task tracking, overtime notifications, staff communications, customer management, built-in invoicing and much more. The Pro plan adds features, such as PTO tracking, overtime rules, clock-out questions, multiple time zones, office and dispatch controls and advanced job and labor costing. ClockShark doesn’t have a free plan, but it does offer a 14-day free trial or a 50% discount if paid six months in advance at setup.

ClockShark offers phone, chat and email support, plus Pro users have a dedicated account manager for implementation. It also provides an online knowledge base with video tutorials and documentation for every module and feature.

Who should use it:

ClockShark is ideal for any business that manages remote services and teams, such as industrial field services, construction, landscaping, housekeeping, pool cleaning, home healthcare, mobile services and more.

Snap Schedule 365 is power-packed employee scheduling software geared for enterprise-level businesses with large workforces. It delivers all of the features that you’d expect in a premium scheduling solution and more. The drag-and-drop scheduler manages complex schedules with split shifts, multiple shifts and on-calls, with pair, group and team scheduling and other shift automations.

Auto-scheduling, shift optimization and time-off tools aid in scheduling efficiency and shift averages, overtime tracking and shift premiums help set cost controls. Automated call-outs let staff know when shifts are available and staff reports support HR and compliance.

Snap Schedule 365’s pricing model differs from its competitors and can be pricey. Annual subscriptions cost $450 per user, per year, for one to five schedulers. Staff access and time tracking tools add another $36 per employee, per year, for one to 49 users. Discounts are available for larger staff, but Snap Schedule 365 isn’t a bargain solution. With built-in collective agreement and compliance tracking, communications tools and detailed reporting, Snap Schedule 365’s feature set delivers great value for larger companies.

Snap Schedule 365 offers live phone, chat and email support from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Pacific time, Monday through Friday, and has an online help center with video tutorials and a quick-reference manual.

Who should use it:

Snap Schedule 365 is best suited for businesses with large workforces and complex scheduling needs, such as hospitals, industrial operations and retailers running multiple shifts or 24-hour coverage. It’s also ideal for businesses that have shift premiums and need to track and report data for compliance and collective agreements.

Calendly is calendar-based scheduling software that helps businesses, teams and individuals schedule internal and external meetings and appointments easily. It differs from others scheduling solutions in our list since it doesn’t offer timekeeping or shift scheduling features. However, Calendly is an ideal employee scheduling tool for commission-based business models, such as real estate, auto sales, salons and manufacturers’ rep teams. It also works well for managing schedules and time assignments for freelancers, contractors and project-based workers.

With Calendly, users set availability in calendar time blocks that managers, staff and clients can view and reserve. Once booked, users receive notifications and can manage changes or cancellations as needed. This system works well for designating floor time for sales operations, assigning projects for creative staff and booking clients for appointment-based business. Calendly’s per-user pricing can add up for larger teams, but its efficiency perks make it a great value for many business models.

Time clock features aren’t built into Calendly but can be added with third-party apps such as Time Tracker, Timely and others. These turn Calendly’s scheduler into a time-tracking tool complete with clock-in-and-out functions, streamlined timesheets and productivity reporting.

All Calendly plans have 24/7 email support and access to all help center training tools and tutorials. Paid plan users enjoy live chat from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Eastern time, Monday through Friday.

Who should use it:

Calendly is ideal for real estate offices, car dealerships, salons, creative studios and businesses that schedule floor coverage, appointments and assignments but don’t need labor costing and compliance features.

Learn more:Read our full Calendly review.