7 Best 7shifts Alternatives for Small Teams (2026)
7shifts is built for restaurants, but the per-location pricing adds up fast. 7 alternatives that work for any shift-based team.
Diego Cárdenas
Founder of Turnozo
7shifts is good at what it does. Restaurant scheduling, labor forecasting tied to POS sales data, tip management. If you run a mid-size restaurant with Toast or Square and need scheduling that talks to your POS, it's a solid choice.
But there are a few patterns in the complaints.
The per-location pricing catches people off guard. $39.99/month for one location sounds reasonable. Open a second location and you're at $80/month for the Essentials plan alone. Reach 30 employees and you're forced into Pro at $79.99/month per location. Add payroll and you're looking at $134.99/month plus $6/employee.
Time tracking lives in a separate app called 7punches, which confuses staff. PTO tracking requires the Pro plan. And if you're not a restaurant, half the features (tip pooling, labor-vs-sales, POS integrations) are useless.
If you're outgrowing the free plan, hitting limits on the paid tiers, or just don't need restaurant-specific features, here are 7 alternatives. I build Turnozo, so take my comments on our own product with a grain of salt. I'll be honest about where competitors beat us.
Price Comparison Calculator
Compare 7shifts' cost against alternatives for your team.
Save €459 vs most expensive
At 25 employees, Turnozo is the most affordable full-featured option.
Try free for 30 daysQuick comparison table
| Tool | Starting price | Free tier | Time tracking | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Turnozo | €2.47/user/mo | 30-day trial | Yes (GPS) | Small teams wanting simplicity |
| Homebase | Free (1 location) | Yes | Yes | Single-location businesses |
| When I Work | $2.50/user/mo | No | Add-on ($4/user) | Mid-size teams with complex schedules |
| Connecteam | Free (10 users) | Yes | Yes | Teams needing an all-in-one hub |
| Sling | Free (30 users) | Yes | Paid plan only | Budget-conscious small teams |
| Deputy | $5/user/mo | No | Separate plan | Enterprise compliance needs |
| Planday | €3.49/user/mo | No | Yes | European hospitality businesses |
1. Turnozo
Price: €2.47/employee/month. All features included.
Turnozo is what we're building. Simple drag-and-drop scheduling, GPS time tracking, shift swaps, availability management, and automatic timesheets. No tiers, no feature gating, no per-location fees.
Where we differ from 7shifts: we're not restaurant-specific. No tip management, no POS integrations, no labor-vs-sales forecasting. If those are features you rely on, we're not the right fit.
Where we win: pricing and simplicity. A 20-person team across 2 locations costs €49.40/month total. That same team on 7shifts Pro runs $159.98/month (before any add-ons). Every feature is included from day one, no tier upgrades needed.
Why switch from 7shifts: You want straightforward per-employee pricing, you don't need restaurant-specific features, or you're tired of the time clock living in a separate app.
Why stay with 7shifts: You need POS integration, tip pooling, or labor forecasting against sales data.
2. Homebase
Price: Free for 1 location (up to 20 employees). Plus starts at $24.95/month per location.
Homebase bundles scheduling, time tracking, hiring tools, and basic HR into one platform. The free tier is genuinely useful for a single-location business. Clock in/out works from any device, and the scheduling interface is intuitive.
The catch is the same as 7shifts: per-location pricing. That free tier is one location only. A second location means paying, and the Plus plan at $24.95/month per location adds up fast for multi-site businesses. Advanced scheduling features (auto-scheduling, labor cost controls) are locked behind higher tiers.
Why switch from 7shifts: You want free scheduling + time tracking for a single location, or you need hiring tools built in.
Why stay with 7shifts: Homebase's restaurant-specific features are lighter. No tip management, no POS sales integration for labor forecasting.
3. When I Work
Price: $2.50/user/month for scheduling. Time and attendance is $4/user/month extra.
When I Work is one of the bigger names in shift scheduling. Clean interface, reliable mobile app, good shift-swapping workflow. The scheduling module at $2.50/user is affordable, but most teams end up needing time tracking too, which pushes the effective price to $6.50/user/month.
The upside over 7shifts: per-employee pricing instead of per-location. For a 30-person team, When I Work scheduling costs $75/month regardless of how many locations you have. 7shifts Essentials at 30 employees would be $39.99 per location.
Downside: time tracking is a separate add-on, similar to how 7shifts separates scheduling from 7punches. And their recent pricing increases have pushed some long-time users to look elsewhere.
Why switch from 7shifts: Per-employee pricing scales better for multi-location, and you don't need restaurant-specific features.
Why stay with 7shifts: 7shifts' scheduling UI is arguably more polished for restaurant workflows (splitting front/back of house, labor curves).
4. Connecteam
Price: Free for up to 10 users. Basic starts at $35/month for up to 30 users.
Connecteam positions itself as an all-in-one employee management app. Scheduling, time tracking, communication, training, forms, task management. For very small teams (under 10), the free plan is one of the most feature-complete options available.
It's the Swiss Army knife approach. Good at many things, best-in-class at few. The scheduling interface works but isn't as refined as dedicated scheduling tools. Where it shines is for teams that also need internal communication, onboarding checklists, or digital forms alongside scheduling.
Past 10 users, pricing jumps to $35/month (Basic) or $59/month (Advanced). At 50+ employees, you'll likely need to contact sales.
Why switch from 7shifts: You need more than just scheduling (comms, training, task management) in one app, or your team is under 10 and wants everything free.
Why stay with 7shifts: The scheduling experience itself is more purpose-built. Connecteam's scheduling is functional but generic.
5. Sling
Price: Free for up to 30 users (scheduling only). Premium at $2/user/month. Business at $4/user/month.
Sling (owned by Toast) offers free scheduling for teams up to 30. That's generous. The scheduling interface is clean, shift creation is fast, and the mobile app works.
The problem: time tracking isn't included in the free plan. You need Premium ($2/user/month) for that. And there are persistent complaints about mobile sync issues, shifts showing differently on the phone versus desktop, and notifications arriving late.
Since Toast acquired Sling, the product has leaned harder into restaurant integration. If you're already on Toast POS, Sling's integration is tighter than most alternatives. If you're not a Toast shop, the integration doesn't help you.
Why switch from 7shifts: Free scheduling for up to 30 people is hard to beat on price. Good option if you genuinely only need basic scheduling.
Why stay with 7shifts: Sling's mobile reliability issues and limited reporting are a step down from 7shifts' more mature platform.
6. Deputy
Price: $5/user/month for scheduling OR time tracking. $6.50/user for both. Premium at $9/user/month.
Deputy is built for compliance-heavy industries. Demand forecasting, labor law compliance tools, fair workweek support, detailed audit trails. For a large team with complex regulatory requirements, it's one of the most capable options.
For small teams, it's overkill. The $6.50/user/month for scheduling plus time tracking is more expensive than several alternatives on this list. And features like demand-based auto-scheduling and advanced compliance tools sit behind the $9/user Premium tier.
Why switch from 7shifts: You need robust compliance tools, multi-industry support, or you're scaling past 100 employees and need enterprise-grade features.
Why stay with 7shifts: Deputy's per-user pricing is actually more expensive for a small restaurant team (30 employees at $6.50/user = $195/month vs 7shifts Essentials at $39.99/location).
7. Planday
Price: €3.49/user/month (Starter). Plus at €5.49/user/month.
Planday is a European scheduling tool (Danish, now owned by Xero) that works well for hospitality and retail across Europe. Per-employee pricing, built-in time tracking, and payroll integrations with European systems (Xero, Visma, etc.).
The advantage for EU-based teams: GDPR compliance is native, pricing is in euros, and the product is designed around European labor law patterns. The Starter plan at €3.49/user includes scheduling and time tracking.
The downside: it's pricier than the cheapest options on this list, the mobile app gets mixed reviews, and the revenue forecasting features that justify the price only help if you're in hospitality.
Why switch from 7shifts: You're based in Europe and want EUR pricing with European payroll integrations. Or you need multi-industry support beyond restaurants.
Why stay with 7shifts: 7shifts' restaurant-specific features (tip management, labor-vs-sales) are stronger. And for a US-based restaurant, 7shifts' integrations (Toast, Square, ADP) are more relevant.
How to decide
Stay with 7shifts if:
- You run a restaurant with POS integration needs
- Tip management and labor-vs-sales forecasting matter to your business
- You have 15 or fewer employees (free plan works)
- You're single-location
Switch if:
- Per-location pricing is eating your budget
- You run a non-restaurant business (retail, gym, warehouse, cleaning)
- You don't use POS integration or tip management
- The separate 7punches time clock app frustrates your team
- You've outgrown the free plan and the jump to $39.99/month feels steep
The bottom line: 7shifts is built for restaurants, and it does restaurant scheduling well. But "built for restaurants" also means "not built for everyone else." If you're outside food service, or if the per-location pricing model doesn't work for your setup, any of the tools above will handle scheduling and time tracking at a lower cost.
Not sure which tool is right? Our full comparison of scheduling software covers even more options. And if you're curious about what scheduling tools actually cost, check our pricing breakdown.
For a quick test, try Turnozo free for 30 days. No credit card, no commitment. Set up takes about 5 minutes.
Frequently asked questions
7shifts charges per location, not per employee. For a single restaurant paying $79.99/month, that might work. But add a second location and you're at $160/month before payroll add-ons. Several alternatives offer flat per-employee pricing that scales more predictably, especially for multi-location businesses.
Technically yes, but the interface, terminology, and integrations are all restaurant-focused. Features like tip management, POS integrations (Toast, Square), and labor-vs-sales forecasting only make sense for food service. If you run a retail store, gym, or warehouse, you'll be paying for features you can't use.
Turnozo at €2.47/employee/month includes scheduling, time tracking, and timesheets with no feature gating. For a 20-person team, that's about €49/month versus $79.99/month for 7shifts Pro. Sling offers free basic scheduling for teams under 30.
You can export your employee list from 7shifts. Schedule templates will need to be rebuilt, but for a small team that takes 30-60 minutes. Most alternatives let you import employee data via CSV.
The Comp plan covers up to 15 employees at one location with basic scheduling. But it doesn't include time tracking, team messaging, or shift swap approvals. Most teams outgrow it within a few months and face the jump to $39.99/month.
Ready to simplify your scheduling?
Turnozo makes shift scheduling fast and painless. Try it free for 30 days.
