The number of scheduling tools available may seem overwhelming at times, which can make choosing the right one a difficult task. Whether you’re a small business that’s been relying on Excel spreadsheets or a large company switching from your existing employee scheduling tool, learning what’s available can help you choose the right one for your business.The best employee scheduling software for you will be one that helps you save time on schedule planning, streamline team communication, cut labor costs, and offers pricing that works with your budget.
Workforce.com
Best for growing shift-based businesses looking to optimize their staffing levels and reduce labor costs with AI.
Sling
Best for businesses that need a simple solution that offers messaging and communication features.
Shiftboard
Best for medium- to large-sized businesses and those in the oil and gas, petrochemical, and manufacturing industries.
TCP Humanity
Best for businesses of all sizes that are seeking an affordable scheduling solution.
Skedulo
Best for companies where employees are in non-traditional environments, such as remote workers and field workers.
Connecteam
Best for medium- to large-sized businesses that are looking for scheduling software that also offers project management features.
Ceridian Dayforce
Best for medium and large businesses in need of scheduling software with broader human capital management functions.
When I Work
Best for small businesses looking for a basic employee scheduling app that’s simple to use.
Employee scheduling apps are platforms that allow you to create employee schedules and track time and attendance, and they often connect to payroll tools to make payroll easier. A good employee scheduling app should help you save time on scheduling processes, reduce costs, and help make time and attendance easier for your employees.An employee scheduling app should offer:
Best for growing shift-based businesses looking to optimize their staffing levels and reduce labor costs with AI.
Workforce.com was created as a solution for companies’ hourly employee scheduling, time and attendance, labor compliance, and payroll needs.
Workforce.com is used by businesses of all sizes and is popular in the hospitality, healthcare, tourism, FEC, and retail industries. Customers include Domino’s, Altitude Trampoline Park, Third Space Brewing, and the Lake Elsinore Storm.
Workforce.com is an all-in-one workforce management and payroll platform designed for businesses that manage hourly teams. It includes employee scheduling, time and attendance tracking, labor forecasting, real-time staffing alerts, absence management, wage and hour compliance, and staff communication tools. Pricing is quote-based and tailored to each business depending on employee count, locations, and required functionality.
Workforce.com uses quote-based pricing tailored to each business depending on employee count, locations, and required features. Contact sales staff for a price quote.
Best for businesses that need a simple solution that offers messaging and communication features.
Sling was created to help companies with hourly shift employees with their scheduling, time tracking, and communication needs.
Sling is often used by small and medium-sized businesses in the education, healthcare, restaurant, and retail industries. Customers include Vessel NOLA, Expeditors, and The Arches.
The Free plan includes shift scheduling and templates, shift offers and available shifts, time-off requests, long-term scheduling, news sharing, and announcements.
The Premium plan includes all Free features plus shift swapping, schedule templates, unavailability, calendar synchronization, group and individual messaging, mobile time tracking, timesheets, early clock-in prevention, auto clock-out, labor cost management, budgeting, and more.
The Business plan includes all Premium features plus auto assigning and tags, kiosk time tracking, attendance reports, late arrivals, holiday pay, PTO management, reporting, employee documents, and more.
Sling offers a Free plan, a Premium plan for $1.70 per user per month, and a Business plan for $3.40 per user per month.
Best for medium- to large-sized businesses and those in the oil and gas, petrochemical, and manufacturing industries.
Shiftboard was created to provide workforce scheduling software to product-centric and service-centric organizations that align with strategic business goals.
Shiftboard is used by many medium-sized and enterprise-level companies in the healthcare, non-profit, IT, transportation, and manufacturing industries. Customers include Medline, Shell, and Lush.
Shiftboard offers two plans: Enterprise and Enterprise Plus. Both include advanced scheduling features like shift pattern management, employee availability tracking, shift bidding and trading, notifications, compliance tools, reporting, and integrations. Enterprise Plus adds more advanced automation and configuration options for organizations with more complex scheduling needs.
Shiftboard offers custom pricing. Contact their team for a quote based on your organization’s needs.
Shiftboard | SchedulePro User Reviews & ScheduleFlex User Reviews
Best for businesses of all sizes that are seeking an affordable scheduling solution.
TCP Humanity was created to streamline daily workforce management and employee scheduling while integrating with HCM and payroll platforms.
TCP Humanity is used by companies of all sizes in the healthcare, retail, higher education, food and beverage, and health and wellness industries. Customers include Atrium Health, BlaBlaCar, and Manassas Park Fire and Rescue.
TCP Humanity focuses on employee scheduling, with features like shift planning, budget management, compliance tools, mobile access and integrations with other workforce management systems. Businesses can also pair it with TCP’s time-and-attendance tools, including time clocks to manage employee hours alongside scheduling.
TCP offers custom pricing. Contact their team for a quote based on your organization’s needs.
Best for companies where employees are in non-traditional environments, such as remote workers and field workers.
Skedulo was created as a platform to boost efficiencies when managing a deskless, mobile workforce, including scheduling, managing field work, and more.
Skedulo is used by many medium-sized businesses in the healthcare, health and wellness, real estate, and construction industries. Clients include Solace Pediatric Home Healthcare, American Red Cross, and BB Imaging.
The Schedulers plan focuses on managing and assigning work. It includes tools for appointment booking, resource scheduling and dispatching, managing leave and availability, filtering jobs across calendar and list views, tracking resource activity, and collaborating with field teams.
The Mobile Workers plan is designed for teams in the field. It includes the Skedulo mobile app, SMS and push notifications, the ability to create and manage jobs from mobile devices, submit availability and leave requests, complete mobile forms, and capture job data on the go.
Skedulo offers custom pricing. Contact their team for a quote based on your organization’s needs.
Best for medium- to large-sized businesses that are looking for scheduling software that also offers project management features.
Connecteam was created as an all-in-one, easy-to-use scheduling app to manage non-desk employees and streamline communications, task management, and training.
Connecteam is used by businesses of all sizes in the health and wellness, retail, consumer goods, and hospitality industries. Clients include Caremark Home Care Services, Biggby Coffee, and NAE Cleaning Solutions.
Connecteam offers a free plan for small teams that includes access to the platform’s three main hubs: Operations, Communications, and HR & Skills. These hubs provide tools for scheduling, time tracking, internal messaging, training, and HR management.
Paid plans expand on these features with more advanced tools, including time clocks, job scheduling, digital forms, task management, reporting and analytics, and workforce management features. Higher-tier plans also add advanced security, API access, custom branding, and a dedicated account manager.
Connecteam offers a free Small Business plan for up to 10 users. Paid plans include Basic, Advanced, and Expert tiers, with pricing starting at $29 per month and going up to $99 per month for the first 30 users. Custom Enterprise packages are also available for larger organizations.
Best for medium and large businesses in need of scheduling software with broader human capital management functions.
Ceridian Dayforce is a cloud-based HCM platform created as an all-in-one solution for HR, time tracking, workforce management, payroll needs, and more.
Ceridian Dayforce is frequently used by medium to large businesses in the retail, healthcare, non-profit, financial services, and hospitality industries. Customers include Orica, Kansas City Royals, and BCU.
Dayforce provides advanced employee scheduling as part of its workforce management platform. Key features include shift scheduling, time and attendance tracking, absence management, labor forecasting, and task management.
Contact the Ceridian Dayforce sales team directly for pricing.
Best for small businesses looking for a basic employee scheduling app that’s simple to use.
When I Work was created to help businesses schedule employee shifts, track time and attendance, and improve communication with hourly employees.
When I Work is used by many small and medium-sized businesses in the healthcare, consumer services, food and beverage, and retail industries. Clients include BlackStack Brewing, The Glow Lounge, and The Donut Trap.
When I Work’s pricing generally separates teams managing a single location from businesses operating across multiple locations. Plans for single-location teams include core scheduling tools such as shift planning, team messaging, and time and attendance tracking. Options for multi-location businesses add more advanced controls for managing staff across sites, including labor sharing between locations, custom role permissions, and multiple zone management views.
When I Work’s pricing generally ranges from about $2.50 to $5 per user per month, depending on the size of your team and whether you’re managing a single location or multiple sites.
If you’re using manual timesheets, spreadsheets, Google Calendar, or other basic tools for staff scheduling and shift management, you’re probably spending more time than necessary on it and potentially losing money. Employee scheduling apps streamline the entire process. They make it faster to build schedules using templates, fill open shifts, and avoid conflicts or no-shows. Many platforms also include forecasting and labor budgeting tools that help managers control staffing costs. Manual scheduling leaves more room for mistakes and takes longer to maintain. Errors can result in overstaffing, understaffing, or last-minute schedule changes that require time-consuming calls or messages to fix. These processes also increase the risk of timesheet errors, which can lead to payroll issues and unnecessary labor costs.
If you’re using manual timesheets, spreadsheets, Google Calendar, or other basic tools for staff scheduling and shift management, you’re probably spending more time than necessary on it and potentially losing money. Employee scheduling apps streamline the entire process. They make it faster to build schedules using templates, fill open shifts, and avoid conflicts or no-shows. Many platforms also include forecasting and labor budgeting tools that help managers control staffing costs. Manual scheduling leaves more room for mistakes and takes longer to maintain. Errors can result in overstaffing, understaffing, or last-minute schedule changes that require time-consuming calls or messages to fix. These processes also increase the risk of timesheet errors, which can lead to payroll issues and unnecessary labor costs.
Workforce.com is a cloud-based workforce management platform designed to simplify employee scheduling for shift-based teams. Managers can quickly build schedules, track staffing needs, and manage employee availability from a single system. AI-driven forecasting helps managers predict staffing demand based on historical trends, allowing businesses to optimize schedules and control labor costs. Managers can also compare scheduled wage costs with real-time labor data to make adjustments before overtime or overstaffing becomes an issue. Because Workforce.com connects scheduling with time tracking and payroll data, teams can manage the entire workforce process—from scheduling shifts to running payroll—within the same platform. Employees can also access schedules through the mobile app, request time off, swap shifts, and clock in and out directly from their phones. Learn more about how Workforce.com can help streamline employee scheduling and workforce management. Book a call today.