Connecteam alternatives: 6 options for shift scheduling

Connecteam's free plan is one of the most complete there is, until you pass 10 people or open a second site. Here is what else fits, and what you give up when you leave.

Free plans and prices checked against each vendor's own pricing page on 29 September 2026. Emplora is our product, and it is on this list.

Quick picks

You need more than 10 people for free: Sling
Staff turnover keeps using up your seats: Emplora
You want a free clock on a tablet or till: Homebase
You run a restaurant: 7shifts
You want a polished per-user scheduler: When I Work
You need forecasting and labor compliance: Deputy

Why teams look for a Connecteam alternative

People who have left still count

Connecteam's free Small Business Plan covers 10 users, and its help centre is explicit that archived users count towards that total. In a business with seasonal staff or high turnover, the ten seats fill with people who no longer work there.

One schedule and one time clock on free

The free plan allows a single job schedule and a single time clock. A second site, or a separate rota for the kitchen and the floor, means moving to a paid plan. There is also a free Limited plan for up to 30 users, but it carries only the essentials.

Paid pricing is per hub

Basic is $35 a month billed monthly, or $29 billed yearly, for the first 30 users. That buys one hub. Scheduling and time tracking sit in Operations, while chat and HR are separate hubs, so matching what you used on the free plan can cost up to three times the headline price.

The alternatives at a glance

Free plan limits and first paid price for Connecteam alternatives
Tool	Free plan	Time clock on free	First paid price
Sling	30 users	No	$2.00 per user a month (Premium)
Emplora	15 employees, 1 location	Not offered on any plan	$39 a month, flat, for 2 locations and 40 employees each
Homebase	10 employees, 1 location	Yes, with 90 days of timesheet history	$30 per location a month (Essentials), unlimited employees
7shifts	15 employees, 1 location	No	$44.99 per location a month (Essentials), up to 30 employees
When I Work	None, 14-day trial	Trial only	From $2.50 per user a month
Deputy	None, trial of up to 31 days	Trial only	$5.50 per user a month (Lite), with a $30 monthly minimum spend

1. Sling: best for more people for free

Shift scheduling from Toast, with the largest free user cap in the category.

The straightforward answer to the 10-user ceiling. Sling is free for up to 30 users, with shift offers, time-off requests, templates, shift alarms, announcements and private messaging. What it does not have on free is any time tracking, so if Connecteam's GPS clock was the point, this is a step backwards on hours even as it is a step forward on headcount.

Free plan: 30 users
First paid price: $2.00 per user a month (Premium)

2. Emplora: best for high-turnover teams

Our product

Scheduling for shift-based teams, where staff open their rota from a QR code or a PIN instead of an account.

This is our product, so weigh it accordingly. Two things address Connecteam's specific pain: archived employees do not count towards Emplora's free cap, and staff open the schedule from a QR code or a PIN with nothing to install. Free covers 15 active employees at one location, and paid is $39 a month flat rather than per hub. What you give up: no time clock on any plan, no chat, and no forms, so this suits teams who used Connecteam mainly for the schedule.

Free plan: 15 employees, 1 location
First paid price: $39 a month, flat, for 2 locations and 40 employees each

3. Homebase: best for keeping a free clock, with simpler paid pricing

Scheduling, a time clock and light HR for small US hourly teams, with payroll sold alongside.

The same free headcount, 10 employees at one location, with a time clock that runs on tablets, computers and POS devices rather than GPS. The difference is what happens when you pay: Essentials is $30 per location a month with unlimited employees and no hubs, so growing from 10 to 40 staff costs one flat fee. Homebase is built around US payroll, which matters if you run payroll there.

Free plan: 10 employees, 1 location
First paid price: $30 per location a month (Essentials), unlimited employees

Emplora vs. Homebase, side by side

4. 7shifts: best for restaurants

Restaurant-specific scheduling with tip pooling, POS integrations and labor tools.

Restaurant teams who used Connecteam for scheduling will find 7shifts closer to how a service runs: shift trades, availability, POS integrations and labor targets. The free Comp plan covers 15 employees at one location, but there is no time clock and no team messaging until Essentials at $44.99 per location a month.

Free plan: 15 employees, 1 location
First paid price: $44.99 per location a month (Essentials), up to 30 employees

5. When I Work: best for a focused scheduler with a strong mobile app

A polished scheduling and time-tracking app aimed at hourly teams, sold per user.

If you want scheduling and time tracking done well rather than an all-in-one, When I Work is focused and polished. There is no free plan, only a 14-day trial, and pricing starts at $2.50 per user a month with seats sold in bundles of five or ten. You lose Connecteam's chat, forms and training.

Free plan: None, 14-day trial
First paid price: From $2.50 per user a month

Emplora vs. When I Work, side by side

6. Deputy: best for compliance and forecasting

Enterprise-grade scheduling with demand forecasting, labor compliance and auto-scheduling.

If you are leaving because Connecteam's scheduling is not deep enough, Deputy is the more capable engine, with demand forecasting, auto-scheduling and labor-law compliance built in. It is paid only, from $5.50 per user a month billed monthly with a $30 monthly minimum, after a trial of up to 31 days.

Free plan: None, trial of up to 31 days
First paid price: $5.50 per user a month (Lite), with a $30 monthly minimum spend

Emplora vs. Deputy, side by side

When to stay with Connecteam

You have 10 or fewer people who stay put. At that size the free plan is the most complete in this comparison: auto-scheduling, templates, a GPS clock, chat and forms, all for nothing.
You rely on chat, forms, checklists or training. Replacing them means adding several tools, which usually costs more than a Connecteam hub.
Your team works across job sites and you need GPS clock-in with geofencing.

Moving your rota without losing a week

1
Decide what you are keeping beyond the schedule
Connecteam holds more than a rota: chat history, submitted forms, documents and training records. Export what you need to keep before you leave, because a scheduling-focused tool will not have anywhere to put it.
2
Choose the replacement for chat before you switch
If your team coordinates in Connecteam's chat, that is the habit that breaks first. Pick where conversations will happen, whether that is the new tool's messaging or a group chat, and announce it before the rota moves.
3
Export the schedule and timesheets
Connecteam's scheduling suite includes Excel export. Pull the last few weeks of schedules and any timesheet data before you close the account, then rebuild one typical week in the new tool rather than the whole history.
4
Run both for one full week
Keep Connecteam as the source of truth for a week that includes a Friday and a weekend. Once nobody has missed a shift, switch the announcement and let the old app go quiet.

Frequently asked questions

Yes, for small teams. The Small Business Plan is free for up to 10 users with one job schedule and one time clock, and there is a separate free Limited plan for up to 30 users with essentials only. Paid plans start at $35 a month per hub billed monthly, or $29 billed yearly, for the first 30 users. Checked against Connecteam's own pricing page in September 2026.

Yes. Connecteam's help centre states that the 10-user limit is the sum of active and archived users, so staff who have left still take a seat. Of the alternatives here, Emplora counts only active employees towards its free cap.

Basic is $35 a month per hub billed monthly, or $29 billed yearly, covering the first 30 users. Scheduling and time tracking sit in the Operations hub, and chat and HR are separate hubs, so using all three costs about three times as much. Above 30 users, each hub adds a per-user charge.

For free, Sling covers up to 30 users, and Emplora and 7shifts cover 15 employees at one location. If you need a time clock above 10 people, Homebase Essentials at $30 per location a month has unlimited employees and no hubs.

None of the scheduling-focused tools here match Connecteam's breadth. Sling includes announcements and private messaging on its free plan, and Homebase includes basic team messaging, but forms, checklists and training are where Connecteam is genuinely ahead.

Yes. Connecteam's scheduling suite includes Excel import and export. Export recent schedules and timesheets before closing your account, and keep anything from chat, forms or documents that you need for your records.