Hospitality Scheduling Software: 10 Compared
Hospitality scheduling software compared on real cost at 10, 25, and 50 staff, plus the per-location vs per-user math that decides which is cheaper.
Hospitality Scheduling Software Compared
Two platforms can look identically priced on their pricing pages and differ by three hundred dollars a month for the same restaurant, because one charges per location and the other charges per person, and almost no comparison guide does that arithmetic for you
A 50-person restaurant pays $24 a month for Homebase Essentials and $325 a month for Deputy Core. Both are legitimate hospitality scheduling platforms, both list their prices publicly, and the reason for a thirteen-fold difference is not features. It is that one charges per location and the other charges per person.
That single structural fact decides more of your bill than any feature comparison will, and almost no guide in this category does the arithmetic. So this one starts there: ten platforms, priced at 10, 25, and 50 staff, with the crossover point where per-location pricing overtakes per-user made explicit.
It also splits the market into the three classes that actually behave differently, restaurant-specific tools with point of sale forecasting, general shift schedulers, and hotel-scale platforms, and is direct about where the free tiers are genuinely sufficient. It is written for an operator running 5 to 50 staff at one or two sites.
What hospitality scheduling software does
The category covers more than a shared calendar, and the pieces beyond the roster are where the price differences come from.
| Capability | What it does | Who has it |
|---|---|---|
| Shift scheduling | Build, publish, and change rosters by role | Everyone here |
| Time clock | Turn scheduled hours into paid hours | Most, sometimes on paid tiers only |
| Shift swaps and open shifts | Staff resolve gaps without a manager | Everyone here |
| Sales forecasting | Schedule against projected revenue via a POS | Restaurant-specific and enterprise tools |
| Tip pooling | Distribute pooled tips from recorded hours | Restaurant-specific tools, often an add-on |
| Predictive scheduling rules | Automate fair workweek notice and premium pay | Higher tiers of compliance-focused tools |
| Payroll | Pay staff from the same hours | A minority, usually a paid add-on |
The first three rows are table stakes and available on nearly every free tier. Everything below them is what you are actually paying for when you move up a tier, which is why the honest first question is which of those lower rows you will genuinely use.
Restaurant-specific, hotel-broad, or general
Hospitality is not one buyer. Three classes of tool compete for the same search term and suit noticeably different operations.
| Class | Examples | Distinguishing feature | Right when |
|---|---|---|---|
| Restaurant-specific | 7shifts, Schedulefly, Push Operations | POS integration, tip pooling, labor as a percentage of sales | You manage labor cost against daily revenue |
| General shift scheduling | Sling, When I Work, Deputy, Homebase | Cheaper, industry-agnostic, strong free tiers | Your schedule is stable and tips are not pooled |
| Hotel and multi-unit | HotSchedules, Harri | Multi-property, forecasting, full HCM breadth | You run several properties or departments |
The mistake worth avoiding is buying restaurant-specific software for a hotel front desk or a small venue. Point of sale forecasting and tip pooling are the reasons those tools cost more, and if you do not run a POS with variable daily covers or pool tips, you are paying for machinery you will not switch on. Our guide to tip pooling covers when that feature genuinely matters.
The 10 tools compared
Read the pricing model column alongside the price column. Two platforms with similar headline numbers can differ by hundreds of dollars a month once you apply your own headcount.
| Platform | Best For | Monthly Price | Pricing Model | Scheduling and Time Clock | Sales Forecasting | Payroll Included | Trial |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 7shifts | Restaurants on a POS system | Free to $149.99 | Per location | 14 days | |||
| Schedulefly | Independent restaurants and bars | $30 to $60 | Flat by staff | 30 days | |||
| Homebase | Single-location hourly teams | Free to $96 | Per location | 14 days | |||
| Sling | Teams wanting a large free tier | Free to $3.40 | Per user | Free plan | |||
| When I Work | Cheapest per-user scheduling | $2.50 to $8 | Per user | 14 days | |||
| Deputy | Compliance-heavy shift rules | $5 to $9 | Per user | 31 days | |||
| Planday | Hospitality groups on Xero | $2.99 to $4.49 | Per user | 30 days | |||
| HotSchedules | Hotel and multi-unit operations | Quote | Quote | 30 days | |||
| Harri | Hotel groups wanting full HCM | Quote | Quote | Demo | |||
| Push Operations | Restaurants wanting native payroll | Quote | Quote | Demo |
Real cost at 10, 25, and 50 staff
This is the table the category is missing. All figures are for a single location on published list rates.
| Platform | 10 staff | 25 staff | 50 staff | How the number is built |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sling Premium | $17 | $43 | $85 | Per user at $1.70, annual billing |
| When I Work | $25 | $63 | $125 | Per user at $2.50, single location |
| Planday Starter | $30 | $75 | $150 | Per user at $2.99, minimum 5 users |
| Schedulefly | $30 | $40 | $50 | Flat band by staff count, all features |
| Homebase Essentials | $24 | $24 | $24 | Per location, unlimited employees |
| 7shifts Essentials | $39.99 | $39.99 | n/a | Per location, capped at 30 employees |
| 7shifts Pro | $69.99 | $69.99 | $69.99 | Per location, needed above 30 staff |
| Deputy Core | $65 | $163 | $325 | Per user at $6.50, $30 monthly minimum |
Read across the rows and the crossover is obvious. At 10 staff, per-user pricing wins: Sling Premium is $17 against $24 for Homebase Essentials. At 25 staff they have already inverted, with Sling at $43 and Homebase still at $24. By 50 staff the gap is not close, at $85 against $24, and Deputy Core reaches $325 for the same team that Homebase covers for $24.
One caveat on the 7shifts rows. Essentials is capped at 30 employees per location, so a 50-person restaurant cannot use it and must move to Pro at $69.99. That kind of tier cap is easy to miss when comparing entry prices, and it is worth checking on any platform before assuming the cheapest tier applies to you. Our guide to labor cost covers how these subscriptions sit against the wider payroll line.
Restaurant-specific platforms
7shifts
The most widely used restaurant-specific platform, built around scheduling against forecast sales via point of sale integrations with Toast, Square, Clover, and others. Pricing is per location: a free Comp plan for a single location with a low double-digit employee cap, then Essentials at $39.99, Pro at $69.99, and Premium at $149.99 per month. There is a 14-day trial of Pro with no credit card, and no contract lock-in.
Two things to check before buying. Essentials caps at 30 employees per location, and payroll processor integrations sit on Pro and above, so the tier most operators actually need is usually not the entry one. Payroll itself is a separate add-on at roughly $39.99 per location plus $6 per employee.
Schedulefly
A deliberately narrow product for independent restaurants and bars, priced flat by staff count: $30 per month up to 19 staff, $40 for 20 to 39, $50 for 40 to 59, and $60 for 60 to 79, with custom pricing above that. Every feature is included at every tier, there are no add-ons or upsells, and it is month to month with a 30-day free trial.
The pricing structure is the appeal. There is no tier to climb, no feature gated behind an upgrade, and no per-user meter, which for a single independent restaurant is a genuinely simpler proposition than anything else here.
Push Operations
A restaurant and hospitality platform for the US and Canada that bundles scheduling, time tracking, native payroll, and HR compliance, with Toast and Square integrations. Pricing is quote-based, with custom arrangements above 50 employees, so it cannot be compared on list price against the published platforms.
General shift scheduling platforms
Homebase
The strongest per-location option for a single hospitality site, because its paid tiers carry unlimited employees. Basic is free for one location with a modest user cap and includes basic time tracking; Essentials is $24 per month, Plus $56, and All-in-One $96 on annual billing. Payroll is a separate add-on at roughly $39 per month plus $6 per employee.
At 50 staff on one site, $24 a month is the cheapest credible option in this comparison by a wide margin, and that is entirely a function of the pricing model rather than a discount.
Sling
The most generous free tier here, covering up to 30 users with scheduling, messaging, and labor cost tools, which for a small restaurant team is a genuinely complete free product. Paid tiers are Premium at $1.70 and Business at $3.40 per user per month on annual billing, which are the lowest published per-user rates in this comparison.
When I Work and Deputy
Two general shift platforms with different arguments. When I Work is the price play at $2.50 per user per month for a single location, rising to $5 for multi-location and up to $8 for Premium. Deputy is the compliance play, restructured in October 2025 into Lite at $5, Core at $6.50, and Pro at $9 per user, with a $30 monthly minimum introduced in September 2025, and its break and overtime rule handling is the most jurisdiction-aware in this group.
If you operate where predictive scheduling laws apply, Deputy is worth its premium. If you do not, it is the most expensive way to solve a problem the cheaper tools also solve. Our guide to predictive scheduling laws covers which jurisdictions impose them.
Planday
Part of Xero, which is the main reason to shortlist it: if your accounting already runs on Xero, the scheduling and cost data lands where your books are. Starter is $2.99 per user per month with a five-user minimum, and Plus is $4.49 per user plus a $15 monthly subscription fee with a ten-user minimum, with Pro quoted.
Hotel and multi-unit platforms
Two platforms built for scale, both quote-only, both worth ruling out quickly if you run a single site.
| Platform | Positioning | Pricing |
|---|---|---|
| HotSchedules (Fourth) | Hospitality scheduling with forecasting and back office | Quote only, third-party estimates place the low end at a few dollars per user |
| Harri | Recruitment through scheduling to engagement, full HCM | Quote only, one published review cites roughly $875 a month at about 100 employees |
Both figures above are third-party estimates rather than vendor rates, since neither company publishes pricing. The practical filter is simple: these platforms earn their cost across multiple properties or departments with dedicated operations staff to configure them. A single 30-seat restaurant will use a fraction of either.
Free tiers and how long setup takes
| Platform | Free offering | Trial |
|---|---|---|
| Sling | Free for up to 30 users, permanent | Free plan, no trial needed |
| Homebase | Basic free for one location with a low user cap | 14 days on paid tiers |
| 7shifts | Comp free for one location, low double-digit cap | 14 days on Pro, no card |
| Schedulefly | None | 30 days, no card |
| Deputy | None | 31 days |
| When I Work | None | 14 days |
| Planday | None | 30 days |
Free tier limits move periodically and sources disagree on the current employee caps for Homebase Basic and the 7shifts Comp plan, so confirm the number on the vendor pricing page rather than from a comparison article, including this one.
Where scheduling tools stop
Every platform above assumes the person you are scheduling is already hired, documented, and trained. In hospitality that assumption is doing a lot of work, because the industry replaces staff faster than almost any other and each replacement restarts the paperwork.
Before a new server takes a first shift there is an I-9, a W-4, an offer or wage notice, a handbook acknowledgment, and often food safety training to complete and record. Scheduling platforms mostly treat this as someone else's job: 7shifts sells onboarding as a paid add-on, and Homebase places it in its most expensive All-in-One tier at $96 per month. Our guide to the cost of employee turnover covers why that recurring load is usually underestimated.
How to choose
Frequently Asked Questions
What is hospitality employee scheduling software?
Software that builds, publishes, and manages staff shifts across restaurants, hotels, bars, and food service. Beyond the roster it typically adds a time clock, shift swapping and open-shift pickup, labor cost visibility against projected sales, and compliance rules for breaks and overtime. Our guide to shift management covers the operational side.
How much does hospitality scheduling software cost?
Free to about $150 per month per location. Per-location platforms charge regardless of headcount: Homebase Essentials $24, and 7shifts at $39.99 for Essentials, $69.99 for Pro, and $149.99 for Premium. Per-user platforms charge per person: Sling Premium $1.70, When I Work from $2.50, Planday from $2.99, Deputy $5 to $9 with a $30 monthly minimum. Schedulefly uses flat bands from $30 to $60.
Is per-location or per-user pricing cheaper?
It depends on staff per site, and the crossover is near 20. A 10-person team pays about $17 on Sling Premium against $24 for Homebase Essentials. A 50-person team pays about $85 on Sling and still $24 on Homebase. Above roughly 20 staff at one location, per-location pricing wins and the gap widens with every hire.
Do I need restaurant-specific software or will a general tool work?
Restaurant-specific tools add point of sale integration for sales-driven forecasting, tip pooling, and front-of-house role logic. If you run on Toast or Square and manage labor against daily revenue, those justify the cost. For a hotel front desk or a venue with a stable schedule and no pooled tips, a general tool does the job for less.
Is there free hospitality scheduling software?
Yes, and the tiers are permanent. Sling is free for up to 30 users, Homebase Basic covers one location with a lower cap and includes basic time tracking, and 7shifts Comp covers a single location with a low double-digit employee cap. Confirm current caps on the vendor pricing page, since they change.
How long does it take to implement scheduling software?
A single location on a self-serve platform is running in a day: import staff, set roles and availability, publish a schedule. Adoption takes two or three schedule cycles before staff reliably check the app. Point of sale integration adds a few days. Quote-based platforms involve a sales process and configured implementation measured in weeks.
What is predictive scheduling and does the software handle it?
Fair workweek laws in cities including Seattle, San Francisco, New York City, Philadelphia, and Chicago, plus Oregon statewide, require advance schedule notice and premium pay for late changes. Higher tiers of compliance-focused platforms automate the notice periods and premium triggers; cheap general tools generally do not.
Do scheduling tools handle onboarding new hires?
Only partially, and usually at the top tier. Each hospitality hire needs an I-9, W-4, wage notice, handbook acknowledgment, and often food safety training before a first shift. 7shifts sells onboarding as a paid add-on and Homebase places it in All-in-One. Our guide to new hire paperwork covers the full set.
What should a small hospitality business prioritize?
Count staff per site first, since that determines whether per-location or per-user wins. Then decide whether sales-driven forecasting is something you will use. Then check the free tiers honestly, because a team under 30 at one site may be fully covered without paying. Our guide to restaurant hiring covers the staffing side that scheduling follows.