Homebase vs Sling: Free Plans, Pricing, Time Clock

Homebase is the better pick if you need scheduling and time tracking together for one location. Sling is the better pick if you want free scheduling, team messaging, and up to 30 users before paying.

That is the whole Homebase vs Sling decision for most small teams. The confusing part is that both products advertise a useful free plan, but the free plans solve different problems.

Homebase gives you a smaller free plan with basic time tracking included. Sling gives you a bigger free scheduling plan, but no time clock until you upgrade.

Quick comparison

Free plans: similar headline, different catch

Homebase's free plan is built around one physical location. You get basic scheduling, time tracking, employee management, and simple team communication. That makes it useful for a small cafe, shop, salon, or local service business that wants one app for schedules and clock-ins.

The catch is the limit. Once you need more advanced scheduling controls, labor cost management, permissions, or a larger team, you move into paid per-location plans.

Sling's free plan is more generous on seats. Up to 30 users can use scheduling, time-off requests, shift templates, team messaging, and the newsfeed. If your only job is publishing next week's rota, Sling's free plan is hard to beat.

But Sling keeps the time clock, overtime alerts, PTO tracking, and labor-cost reporting on paid tiers. That is fine if you already track attendance somewhere else. It is annoying if you hoped one free tool would cover both scheduling and punches.

Pricing: when each model wins

Homebase charges by location. That is great when you have one busy location with a lot of employees. A 30-person restaurant on one site can pay one location fee instead of 30 user fees.

It gets less attractive as locations multiply. Three small locations can cost more than one larger location, even if the total headcount is similar.

Sling charges per user once you leave the free plan. Premium is the cheaper path for scheduling plus time clock. Business is the tier for labor-cost management, advanced reports, and payroll integrations.

The practical rule:

• Pick Homebase when you have one location and need clock-ins included.
• Pick Sling when you have up to 30 users and only need scheduling.
• Recalculate once you need labor reporting, payroll exports, or multiple locations.

Scheduling: Sling feels lighter, Homebase feels broader

Sling is clean for schedule building. Managers can create shifts, reuse templates, handle time-off requests, post open shifts, and message the team without much setup. It feels like a scheduling app first.

Homebase also handles drag-and-drop scheduling, templates, notifications, and availability. It adds more HR-adjacent pieces around hiring, onboarding, payroll, and team management. That can be useful, or it can feel like extra furniture in a room where you only wanted a table.

For pure scheduling, I would give Sling the edge. For a small business that wants scheduling connected to time tracking and payroll workflows, Homebase is the safer all-around pick.

Time clock and attendance

This is where Homebase pulls ahead.

Homebase includes basic time tracking on the free plan. Employees can clock in from mobile, tablet, or computer, and managers get timesheets without adding a second system. Paid tiers add stronger controls.

Sling does not include time tracking on the free plan. You need Premium for time clock features and overtime alerts. You need Business for deeper labor-cost reporting and payroll integrations.

If you are comparing free plans because you need both schedules and daily attendance, Homebase wins. If you only need scheduling today and time tracking later, Sling gives you more runway before paying.

Team messaging

Sling is stronger here. Messaging, group chats, announcements, and a newsfeed are part of the product's core workflow. For shift teams that do not live in Slack, that matters.

Homebase includes team communication too, but it feels more like one part of a broader small-business platform. Good enough for many teams, less central than Sling.

Payroll, hiring, and admin extras

Homebase is much broader. It offers hiring tools, onboarding, payroll add-ons, POS integrations, and HR-style admin features. If you want one vendor across scheduling, time clock, hiring, and payroll, Homebase makes sense.

Sling stays closer to scheduling, communication, tasks, and labor management. That can be a strength. Some teams do not want their scheduling app to become an HR platform.

Where both fall short

Homebase can get expensive across multiple locations, and some of the best controls sit behind paid plans. If you picked it because the free plan looked simple, the upgrade path can feel heavier than expected.

Sling's biggest issue is the split between scheduling and attendance. The free plan is excellent until the day someone asks, "Can we use this for clock-ins too?" Then you are comparing paid tiers.

Neither product is especially focused on tiny teams that just need scheduling, the app, daily clock-in, and a clean archive without payroll or hiring modules attached.

A simpler third option: Turnozo

If you are choosing between Homebase and Sling because both feel close but not quite right, the missing category may be simpler scheduling with time tracking included.

Turnozo is built for small teams that want the basics done cleanly:

• drag-and-drop scheduling
• mobile app for employees
• daily clock-in
• 90-day history on the free plan
• Pro archive, exports, reports, and compliance flags
• €2.47/employee/month from employee #1 when you upgrade

It is not trying to replace payroll, hiring, POS, or restaurant management software. That is the point. If you need those extras, Homebase or Sling may be better. If you do not, paying for them is waste.

Final verdict

Choose Homebase if you have one location and want scheduling plus basic time tracking in the same free plan.

Choose Sling if you want free scheduling for more users, strong team messaging, and you do not need a time clock yet.

Choose Turnozo if you run a small team and want scheduling plus daily clock-in without dragging a larger HR platform into the business.

Sources

• Homebase pricing
• Sling pricing
• Homebase review
• Sling Scheduling review
• Best Sling alternatives
• Best Homebase alternatives