Best Employee Scheduling Software of 2025
September 15, 2025
Employee scheduling software allows you to automate schedule creation and maintenance while providing real-time updates, thus saving employers and employees valuable time. The software offers a simple way for employees to see schedules and swap shifts while tracking hours worked, managing paid time off (PTO), and providing communication tools. Scheduling features include AI, templates, drag-and-drop scheduling, and instant notifications for schedule changes.
Learn about the best employee scheduling software on the market today.
Best Employee Scheduling Software
CoBanker’s recommendations and reviews are selected by our team of experts who have worked directly with each company in our network. While the companies featured are all partners we work with, reviews are based on our team’s experience across multiple criteria.
| Company | Best for | Price | Stand-Alone | Time Tracking | Leave Management | Communication Tools |
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Small Business | Middle | No | Yes | Yes | Yes |
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Hourly Employees | Low | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
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Restaurants | High | No | Yes | Yes | Yes |
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Hospitality and Retail | Low | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
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Multi-Location Businesses | Middle | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
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Drag-and-Drop Scheduling | Middle | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
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Communication | Middle | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
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Scheduling Equipment | High | Yes | Yes | Yes | No |
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Deskless Workers | Middle | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
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Integrations and Reporting | High | No | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Best for Small Business TIMIFY
TIMIFY provides a scalable, all-in-one scheduling platform that streamlines how you manage bookings, staff scheduling, equipment, and rooms. Manage staff scheduling and online appointment bookings with automated and self-service features. The customizable booking system works across multiple locations, teams, and time zones and integrates into your communication channels.
TIMIFY offers over 100 features, providing varying options depending on the needs of your business. Users like that it is easy to use and works well across a wide range of industries. Users dislike that many advanced features are not available on the free or lower-cost plans.
- Manage bookings, staff scheduling, equipment, and rooms
- Customizable system with smart automation and self-service features
- Bookings for groups, meetings, rooms, interviews, time slots, and one-on-one appointments
- Employee scheduling includes multi-location users and individual permission settings
- Footfall mapping to better plan resources for low, medium, and high in-store traffic times
- Syncs with Google and Outlook calendars
There is a 14-day free trial. The classic plan is free for solo entrepreneurs. The pricing for single locations is based on how many resources you would like to manage bookings for, and increases in increments of five resources. A resource is defined as an individual, room, or equipment that participates in the booking.
The Premium plan, designed for small businesses, costs $25 per month for up to five resources and $63 per month for up to 20 resources. The Enterprise plan with customizable, advanced scheduling features for teams and mid-size enterprises costs $42 per month for up to five resources and $92 per month for up to 20 resources. For multiple locations or stores, inquire about custom pricing and add-on features.
Best for Hourly Employees Homebase
Homebase lets you schedule, track time, and communicate with optional add-ons for payroll and HR. Easily schedule shifts and allow employees to swap shifts. Instantly notify your team by text, email, or in the Homebase app when schedules are published or updated. Users like the ease of use and the ability to trade shifts.
A major disadvantage is that you have to pay extra for additional features, especially since the Essentials plan does not include PTO and time off controls, compliance, or labor cost management. Users dislike missing features, glitches, and the need for a strong internet connection for the mobile app.
- Track team availability, shift trades, and covers
- Instantly notify your team by text, email, or in the Homebase app when schedules are published or updated
- Automatic text messages to remind employees of upcoming shifts
- Add personal notes to shifts with instructions about what to do each day
- Drag-and-drop scheduling, templates, and auto-scheduling
- Track and optimize labor costs in real time
There is a 14-day free trial of the All-in-One plan. The Essentials plan is $30 per location per month for unlimited employees and includes scheduling, time tracking, and communication. The Plus plan is $70 per location per month for unlimited employees and includes additional features, including hiring, department and permissions, and PTO and time-off controls. The All-in-One plan, which includes onboarding, labor cost management, HR, and compliance, is $120 per location per month for unlimited employees. Many add-ons are available, including payroll, task manager, and tips manager.
Best for Restaurants 7shifts
7shifts is software designed for restaurants to replace disconnected tools with one platform for scheduling, time tracking, leave management, tips management, communication, and payroll if you select the Premium plan. The results are smoother and more efficient workflows with better team connection and engagement.
The Essentials plan includes the mobile app, announcements, advanced scheduling, team messaging and communication tools, labor cost controls, basic time clocking, and permissions and departments. Users like the ease of use for restaurants of all sizes and the effective communication tool. Users experience some glitches and scheduling issues. Users dislike the increasing expense for advanced features.
- Built specifically for the restaurant industry (full-service and quick-service)
- Templates with AI features that automatically factor in staffing needs, availability, and labor costs
- Team messaging and communication tools
- Time clocking with overtime and break alerts
- Some plans have leave management, built-in compliance, payroll, and digital tracking of tips and tasks.
There is a 14-day free trial. Basic scheduling for a single location with up to 15 employees is free. The Essentials plan is $39.99 per month per location for up to 30 employees. For unlimited employees, choose the Pro plan for $79.99 per month per location or the Premium plan for $134.99 per month per location plus $6 per month per employee paid. The Premium plan includes payroll, advanced reporting, tip management, and task management.
Best for Hospitality and Retail When I Work
When I Work allows you to communicate, schedule, and track attendance across multiple locations. Employers can easily and efficiently manage tips, breaks, scheduling, availability, and time off requests for hourly workers. The software works well for shift workers in the retail, restaurant, and hospitality industries.
Users like that the intuitive app is easy to use for time tracking and scheduling. It can be set up to allow employees to edit their timesheets. Users dislike inadequate tracking, inefficient reporting, missing features, and some problems with payroll integration.
- Works well for shift workers in the retail, restaurant, and hospitality industries
- Easy scheduling with auto scheduling, templates, and shift trading, swapping, and dropping
- Track absences, breaks, and tips
- Team messaging, task management, and labor distribution reporting
- Alerts for missed punches, overtime, shift confirmation, and more
There is a 14-day free trial to try all features. For a single location or schedule, the price is $2.50 per user per month. For multiple locations and schedules, the price is $5 per user per month.
Best for Multi-Location Businesses Planday
Planday is a workforce management platform that removes the complexity in building employee schedules that account for vacations, availability, payroll costs, and more. Calendars show weekly, bi-weekly, and monthly views for shifts, and employees can see the number of hours they are scheduled for and their expected pay.
Quickly create schedules using templates and AI. Users like the user-friendly interface that works well for scheduling in a wide range of shift-based businesses with multiple locations. Users dislike the slow loading times and limited features. Many features cost extra, including text messages.
- Web-based system
- Build schedules for multiple locations with templates and AI
- Employees can swap shifts
- Simple time tracking
- Working time rules and compliance warnings
- Includes online messaging
There is a 30-day free trial. The Starter plan for small teams with a minimum of five users is $2.99 per user per month. Billing is in bundles of five users that are rounded up. For example, if you have 23 users, you will be billed for 25 users. The Plus plan with a minimum of 10 users is $4.49 per user per month plus a $15 monthly subscription fee. For larger organizations, inquire about custom pricing for the Pro plan.
Best for Drag-and-Drop Scheduling Findmyshift
Findmyshift allows you to easily create schedules, manage shift and leave requests, track hours worked, communicate with employees, and track labor costs. The scheduler is designed to look and feel like editing an Excel spreadsheet, making it intuitive to use without needing any training.
The scheduler is simple to use with point and click editing, drag and drop shift swaps and copying, right click menus, multi-cell selections, and keyboard shortcuts. Findmyshift is highly rated by users. However, users report some issues with the app and the need to use the browser instead.
- The scheduler is designed to look and feel like editing an Excel spreadsheet
- Point and click editing, drag and drop shift swaps and copying, right click menus, multi-cell selections, and keyboard shortcuts
- Reusable templates, repeating shift patterns, and calendar integrations
- Employees can request shifts, submit cancellations, swap shifts, and access their schedules
- Time tracking, leave management, and many integrations
- Communication tools for updated schedules, shift reminders, missed or late shifts, and messaging
A three-month free trial is available. Pricing is a flat monthly rate based on the team size and the number of managers. A team is a group of employees that is managed by one or more managers. The free plan is available for one manager and five team members. The Starter plan is $26 per month for 20 team members and one manager. The Business plan is $42 per month for 100 team members and 100 managers. The Enterprise plan is $83 per month for 300 team members and 300 managers. For more than 300 team members, inquire about custom pricing. Higher-priced plans include longer lengths of historical data, forward planning, and the on-screen editor.
Best for Communication Sling
Sling streamlines scheduling, communication, and managing labor costs. All plans include creating shift schedules, managing time off and shift trade requests, and communication tools. Advanced features are available with higher-priced plans, including time tracking, optimizing labor costs, and PTO management.
The all-in-one employee communication app has employee messaging with private and group chats and the ability to create newsfeed pages for teams, groups, or topics. Users like the central communication, ease of scheduling, and use for many industries. Users would like some features to be improved, added, or made more prominent.
- Drag-and-drop scheduling, scheduling templates, and filters for different views
- Assign tasks and checklists to each shift or employee
- Employees can swap shifts and choose desired shifts
- Communicate and share schedules instantly, plus automatic shift reminders
- Integration with many tools
- Time tracking and labor costs management with higher-priced plans
There is a 15-day free trial. The free plan is for up to 30 users and does not include time tracking or optimizing labor costs. The Premium plan is $1.70 per user per month and includes time tracking and optimizing labor costs. The Business plan is $3.40 per user per month and includes PTO management, holiday pay, payroll, reporting, and employee documents.
Best for Scheduling Equipment Resource Guru
Resource Guru provides resource management software that streamlines scheduling people, equipment, vehicles, and meeting rooms in one place. It has the necessary tools to efficiently allocate work and resources, keep everyone aligned, and adapt to shifting priorities.
Users like that it simplifies complex scheduling and bookings, providing real-time visibility. Unlike other scheduling software, Resource Guru does not offer a communication tool. It has limited scalability, integrations, customizations, and advanced features.
- Schedule people, equipment, vehicles, and meeting rooms in one place
- Drag-and-drop scheduling, color-coding, and heatmaps make it easy to see projects, clients, activity types, and utilization
- User-friendly calendar for visibility at a glance
- Real-time capacity planning and clash management
- Leave management system
There is a 30-day free trial. Plans range from $4.16 to $10 per user per month, plus $2.08 to $5.00 each for other resources.
Best for Deskless Workers Connecteam
Connecteam simplifies communication, scheduling, time tracking, and task management in one app designed for deskless workers. Schedules are created automatically using AI, which handles availability, roles, and fairness, while preventing conflicts.
Managers can manually edit auto-generated schedules before publishing. Enjoy advanced scheduling features, including comprehensive editing, customization, and filtering. Users rate Connecteam highly for ease of use and scheduling for deskless workers. Users dislike missing features and limited access with basic plans.
- Mobile app designed for deskless workers to track time, schedule, communicate, and manage tasks
- Auto-scheduling with AI-powered accuracy that analyzes availability, work preferences, qualifications, and shift requirements, while evenly distributing unpopular shifts
- Manually adjust auto-generated schedules with drag-and-drop edits, repeating shifts, and templates
- Employees can swap and claim shifts
- Instantly communicate schedule changes
- Automatic shift reminders
There is a 14-day free trial. The software is completely free for up to 10 users. Depending on the chosen plan, prices in the Operations Hub for the first 30 users range from $29 to $99 per month.
Best for Integrations and Reporting QuickBooks Time
QuickBooks Time lets you easily manage tracking time and assigning shifts or jobs. In order to use QuickBooks Time, a QuickBooks Online account is required. Employers benefit from easy scheduling with drag-and-drop functionality and templates, plus the ability to add job codes, billable or non-billable time, and notes.
Users like that it is user-friendly and has detailed reports and analytics. Users report that the software lacks advanced features, feels outdated, and has limited customization options.
- Drag-and-drop scheduling and templates make it easy to set recurring schedules
- Send shift reminders and automatic alerts for schedule updates
- Specify job codes, billable or non-billable time, and add notes
- Integrations with many accounting and payroll systems, Mailchimp, iCal, and Google Calendar
- Detailed reports and analytics
There is a 30-day free trial. In order to use QuickBooks Time, a QuickBooks Online account is required. QuickBooks Time plans start at a base fee of $10 per month plus $8 per user. All plans include scheduling and one free admin.
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