Deputy alternatives: 6 options for small shift-based teams
Most people leave Deputy over price, not product. Here is what each alternative costs, what its free plan covers, and what you give up compared with Deputy.
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 want one flat price however many you hire
- Homebase
- You want a similar per-user app for less per head
- When I Work
- You need a free time clock and have 10 or fewer staff
- Connecteam
- Your team turns over and will not install an app
- Emplora
- You want to pay nothing for up to 30 people
- Sling
- You run a restaurant
- 7shifts
Why teams look for a Deputy alternative
There is no free plan to fall back on
Deputy offers a trial of up to 31 days and then paid plans only. When a small business stops paying, there is no free tier to drop down to, so the question is not whether to pay but how much.
Per-user pricing with a monthly minimum
Lite is $5.50 per user a month billed monthly, and since 1 September 2025 there is a $30 monthly minimum on monthly plans, so a five-person team is billed $30 rather than $27.50. Admins and supervisors count as billable users too, which quietly adds seats.
More platform than a small team uses
Demand forecasting, compliance engines and enterprise integrations are the reason Deputy costs what it does. A single cafe or shop with 12 staff pays per head for depth it rarely touches.
The alternatives at a glance
| Tool | Free plan | Time clock on free | First paid price |
|---|---|---|---|
| Homebase | 10 employees, 1 location | Yes, with 90 days of timesheet history | $30 per location a month (Essentials), unlimited employees |
| When I Work | None, 14-day trial | Trial only | From $2.50 per user a month |
| Connecteam | 10 users, 1 schedule, 1 time clock | Yes, with GPS and geofencing | $35 a month per hub (Basic), flat for the first 30 users |
| Emplora | 15 employees, 1 location | Not offered on any plan | $39 a month, flat, for 2 locations and 40 employees each |
| Sling | 30 users | No | $2.00 per user a month (Premium) |
| 7shifts | 15 employees, 1 location | No | $44.99 per location a month (Essentials), up to 30 employees |
1. Homebase: best for cutting the bill without losing the clock
Scheduling, a time clock and light HR for small US hourly teams, with payroll sold alongside.
The biggest saving for a single site. Homebase charges per location rather than per person, so Essentials at $30 a month covers 25 staff or 40 staff for the same price, where Deputy Lite would be $137.50 or $220 billed monthly. You keep a time clock, which is free for up to 10 employees and runs on tablets, computers and POS devices. What you give up is Deputy's forecasting and its compliance engine.
- Free plan
- 10 employees, 1 location
- First paid price
- $30 per location a month (Essentials), unlimited employees
2. When I Work: best for the closest like-for-like swap
A polished scheduling and time-tracking app aimed at hourly teams, sold per user.
If what you like about Deputy is a per-user app your staff actually open, this is the nearest match for less per head: from $2.50 per user a month against Deputy's $5.50, with swaps, availability and time tracking. There is no free plan either, only a 14-day trial, and seats sell in bundles of five or ten, so price your real headcount rounded up before you compare.
- Free plan
- None, 14-day trial
- First paid price
- From $2.50 per user a month
3. Connecteam: best for teams of 10 or fewer who need a clock
An all-in-one deskless workforce app: scheduling, GPS time clock, chat, forms and training.
For a small team this replaces Deputy for nothing. The free plan covers 10 users with GPS clock-in, geofencing, auto-scheduling and templates. Past 10 users, paid plans are $35 a month per hub for the first 30 people, which is still a fraction of Deputy's per-user bill. Archived staff count towards the free 10, and you get one schedule and one time clock until you pay.
- Free plan
- 10 users, 1 schedule, 1 time clock
- First paid price
- $35 a month per hub (Basic), flat for the first 30 users
4. Emplora: best for single sites that want flat pricing and easy onboarding
Our productScheduling 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 with that in mind. Emplora is free for 15 employees at one location, then $39 a month flat for 2 locations and 40 employees each, so 25 staff cost $39 rather than Deputy's $137.50. Staff open the schedule from a QR code or a PIN with no account to create. Where we fall short of Deputy: no time clock on any plan, no forecasting and no compliance rules, so if you rely on any of those, look at Homebase or stay.
- Free plan
- 15 employees, 1 location
- First paid price
- $39 a month, flat, for 2 locations and 40 employees each
5. Sling: best for paying nothing at up to 30 people
Shift scheduling from Toast, with the largest free user cap in the category.
The only way to schedule 25 people for nothing on this list. Sling's free plan covers 30 users with shift offers, time-off requests, templates and announcements. There is no time tracking at all on free, so if Deputy was also your timesheet system, hours have to live somewhere else, and shift swaps are a paid feature.
- Free plan
- 30 users
- First paid price
- $2.00 per user a month (Premium)
6. 7shifts: best for restaurants
Restaurant-specific scheduling with tip pooling, POS integrations and labor tools.
If you are a restaurant paying Deputy for general-purpose depth, a restaurant-specific tool fits better and costs less. The free Comp plan covers 15 employees at one location, including shift trades and availability. There is no time clock until Essentials at $44.99 per location a month, which is flat up to 30 employees rather than per head.
- Free plan
- 15 employees, 1 location
- First paid price
- $44.99 per location a month (Essentials), up to 30 employees
When to stay with Deputy
- You operate under predictive scheduling or fair workweek rules. Built-in labor-law compliance is Deputy's real strength, and none of the free tools here replace it.
- You schedule against demand across several sites, using sales or footfall forecasts. That is what the platform is built for.
- You need timesheets, a time clock and swaps from the first paid plan, and at your headcount per-user pricing is simply normal.
Moving your rota without losing a week
- 1
Export timesheets and reports before the last invoice
Deputy has no free tier to fall back to, so once billing stops there is no plan left to log into. Export your timesheets, pay-period reports and anything your accountant needs while the subscription is still active, not after.
- 2
Write down the compliance rules Deputy was enforcing
Break rules, overtime thresholds and advance-notice requirements may have been handled for you. Most alternatives will not enforce them, so list them before you leave and decide who checks them by hand from now on.
- 3
Use the move to give supervisors access
In Deputy, admins and supervisors are billable seats, so teams often keep access to a minimum. In a tool priced per location or flat per account, extra managers cost nothing, which is worth setting up on day one.
- 4
Overlap for a full pay period, not just a week
If Deputy was producing your timesheets, keep it running until one full pay period has been reconciled in the new setup. Schedules can switch in a week; payroll should not switch until the numbers match.
Frequently asked questions
No. Deputy offers a trial of up to 31 days and then paid plans only, starting with Lite at $5.50 per user a month billed monthly or $5 billed annually. Since 1 September 2025 monthly plans also carry a $30 monthly minimum. Checked against Deputy's own pricing page in September 2026.
It depends on your team size and whether you need a time clock. Sling is free for up to 30 users but has no time tracking. Connecteam is free for 10 users and includes a GPS time clock. Homebase is free for 10 employees at one location, also with a time clock. Emplora and 7shifts are free for 15 employees at one location, without a clock.
On Lite billed monthly: $30 for up to five people because of the monthly minimum, $55 for 10, $82.50 for 15 and $137.50 for 25. Annual billing brings the per-user rate to $5. Admins and supervisors count as users, so include them in the headcount.
Sling is free at 25 users if you do not need a time clock. Among paid options on one location, billed monthly: Homebase Essentials is $30, Connecteam Basic is $35 for the scheduling hub, Emplora Starter is $39, 7shifts Essentials is $44.99 and When I Work is about $62.50. Deputy Lite at the same size is $137.50.
Not on a free plan. Deputy's compliance tooling for breaks, overtime and predictive scheduling is its main advantage over everything else in this comparison. If you operate under a fair workweek ordinance, weigh that before switching purely on price.
Export your timesheets and reports while the subscription is still active, because there is no free tier to fall back to afterwards. Then add your people and roles to the new tool, rebuild one typical week, and run both until a full pay period has been reconciled.
Or compare Emplora directly
Head-to-head on pricing, free plans and features, one tool at a time.
Flat pricing, no per-seat maths
Emplora is free for one location and up to 15 employees, then $39 a month flat. No credit card to start, and your team opens the schedule from a QR code.