# 7shifts Alternatives 2026: Scheduling Beyond Restaurants

> 7shifts is built for restaurants. Six alternatives for clinics, care, security, retail and other shift teams, with 2026 prices for 10, 25 and 50 people.

Published: 2026-10-19 · Reading time: 9 min · Language: English
Source: https://imroster.com/blog/7shifts-alternatives-2026

7shifts is one of the strongest scheduling tools for restaurants: it ties the schedule to sales from the point of sale, manages tips and forecasts labour by the hour. That focus is also why non-restaurant teams look elsewhere. A clinic, a care home, a security firm, a warehouse or a retail chain pays for tip pooling, sales-based forecasting and POS enforcement it will never use, while the rules that matter to it, such as rest between night shifts, on-call duties or fair weekend rotation, are not what 7shifts was built around.

In short: if you run restaurants, 7shifts is probably still the right tool. If you do not, the best alternative depends on what you need: Homebase or Sling for a low-cost shared schedule, When I Work for simple per-user scheduling, Connecteam for field teams with GPS clock-in, Deputy for compliance and payroll in one system, and imRoster if building a fair, rule-safe roster is the hard part and you want the AI to draft it for a per-account price.

Every price below was read on the vendor's official pricing page on 19 October 2026. 7shifts displayed its prices to us in Canadian dollars, so check the figure for your region; other prices are in US dollars unless stated.

## What is 7shifts best at?

To be fair to 7shifts, as of October 2026 it offers a lot to restaurants:

- A free Comp plan for single locations with up to 15 employees, covering basic scheduling, availability and time-off requests.
- Labour cost controls tied to projected sales from the POS, hourly forecasts and labour recommendations.
- Time clocks on tablets, computers, smartphones and POS devices, with tip declaration.
- Labour compliance tools on Pro: break tracking, overtime warnings, state-based labour law tools and preventing clock-ins outside the restaurant.
- Tip management, task management, hiring and employee training on the top plan or as add-ons.
- A 14-day trial of the Pro plan with no credit card.

## Why do non-restaurant teams look for 7shifts alternatives?

### The best features are restaurant features

Sales-based labour targets, POS integration, schedule enforcement on the POS, tip management and weather-aware forecasting are where 7shifts stands out. Outside food service, most of that value disappears, and you are left comparing its general scheduling and time clock with tools that cost less.

### Per-location plans with employee caps

7shifts charges per location, and each plan has a headcount ceiling: Comp up to 15 employees, Essentials (CAD 39.99) up to 30, Pro (CAD 79.99) up to 60, and Premium (CAD 134.99) unlimited, per location per month. A 16-person team has to pay, and a 61-person site has to move to Premium. Multi-site businesses pay for every location.

### Duty rosters are a different job

Hospitals, care homes, security and 24/7 operations work in rotations: nights, weekends and on-call duties that must be shared fairly, with minimum rest between shifts. 7shifts can generate schedules from labour targets and projected sales, which suits restaurants, but it is not built to draft a monthly duty roster from rules like these.

## What does a 10, 25 or 50-person team pay per month?

The table compares list prices for one location with monthly billing, using each vendor's official pricing page on 19 October 2026.

| Tool and plan | How it is charged | 10 people | 25 people | 50 people |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 7shifts Comp / Essentials / Pro (cheapest plan that fits the headcount) | Per location, capped at 15, 30 and 60 employees | Free | CAD 39.99 | CAD 79.99 |
| 7shifts Pro (labour compliance, advanced time clock) | Per location, up to 60 employees | CAD 79.99 | CAD 79.99 | CAD 79.99 |
| Homebase Basic / Essentials | Per location: free for 1 location up to 10 employees, then $30 | $0 | $30 | $30 |
| Sling Free / Premium | Free up to 30 users, then $2 per user | $0 | $0 | $100 |
| When I Work Essentials (no time tracking) | Per user, $2.50 | $25 | $62.50 | $125 |
| Connecteam Free / Basic | Free up to 10 users, then $35 flat for 30 users plus $1 per extra user | $0 | $35 | $55 |
| Deputy Core (auto-scheduling, forecasting) | Per user, $6.50; $30 monthly minimum | $65 | $162.50 | $325 |
| imRoster Starter / Growth / Pro | Per account, credit-based, not per user | $5 to $50 | $5 to $50 | $5 to $50 |

How to read it, and what it leaves out:

- Figures are list prices for monthly billing, excluding tax, on one location. 7shifts annual billing saves 10%; Homebase about 20%, Sling 15%, Connecteam roughly 18% and Deputy about 10%.
- 7shifts' Comp plan has no time clock; time clocking starts on Essentials. Tip management (CAD 49.99), task management and the manager log book are add-ons below Premium.
- When I Work's time tracking is a separate add-on not priced on its pricing page; Sling Free has no time clock.
- imRoster prices are limited-time launch prices (regular $12, $45 and $110). Plans differ by monthly credit allowance (100, 500 or 1,500), not by user count, and every plan has the same features.

## The best 7shifts alternatives for non-restaurant teams

### 1. Homebase: best low-cost option for a single US site

- Best for: US retail and service businesses on one site.
- Pricing model: per location. Free for one location and up to 10 employees; Essentials $30, Plus $70 and All-in-One $120 per location per month with unlimited employees (as of October 2026).
- Better than 7shifts at: no headcount caps on paid plans and a lower price for large single-site teams.
- What it lacks: AI scheduling only on Plus; payroll and HR are built for the US.

### 2. Sling: best free shared schedule

- Best for: teams of up to 30 that need a shared schedule and messaging.
- Pricing model: per user. Free for up to 30 users; Premium $2 and Business $4 per user per month (as of October 2026).
- Better than 7shifts at: a free plan for twice the headcount, with no restaurant-specific assumptions.
- What it lacks: no time clock, swaps or unavailability on the free plan; auto-assigning only on Business. Sling is now owned by Toast, a restaurant POS company.

### 3. When I Work: best simple per-user scheduling

- Best for: retail, support and service teams with straightforward shifts.
- Pricing model: per user. Essentials $2.50, Pro $5 and Premium $8 per user per month, 14-day free trial (as of October 2026).
- Better than 7shifts at: industry-neutral scheduling, Auto Scheduling from the entry plan and no headcount caps.
- What it lacks: time tracking is a separate add-on; scheduling rules are on Pro.

### 4. Connecteam: best for field teams

- Best for: cleaning, construction, home care and other teams that work across sites.
- Pricing model: flat for the first 30 users, then per extra user. Free up to 10 users; Basic $35, Advanced $59 and Expert $119 a month (as of October 2026).
- Better than 7shifts at: GPS clock-in and geofencing on the entry plan, forms and checklists for work away from a fixed site.
- What it lacks: automatic shift assignment only on Expert; per-user charges above 30 users.

### 5. Deputy: best for compliance-heavy multi-site teams

- Best for: healthcare, retail and logistics businesses in Australia, the UK and the US that need time, pay and compliance together.
- Pricing model: per user. Lite $5, Core $6.50 and Pro $9 per user per month, $30 minimum per monthly invoice (as of October 2026).
- Better than 7shifts at: industry-neutral compliance, Australian award interpretation and biometric clocking.
- What it lacks: per-user pricing grows with every employee.

### 6. imRoster: best for duty rosters in healthcare, security and 24/7 teams

- Best for: nurse and doctor duty rosters, care homes, security guards, factories and any team that rotates nights, weekends and on-call duties.
- Pricing model: per account, credit-based. Starter $5, Growth $20 and Pro $50 a month at limited-time launch prices (regular $12, $45 and $110), with a 30-day free trial and no card (as of October 2026). Every plan has the same features.
- Better than 7shifts at: drafting the whole roster from a plain-language description of your team and rules; never scheduling past the rules you set, such as 11 hours of rest between shifts or night-shift limits; spreading nights and weekends fairly; no headcount caps; and seven app languages.
- What it lacks: no POS integration, tip management, sales forecasting, payroll or hiring, no biometric, QR or kiosk clocking (staff clock in from a phone or browser, with location checked against a geofence and flagged, not blocked) and no free-forever plan. It is also a younger product with fewer third-party reviews.

## imRoster vs 7shifts at a glance

|  | 7shifts | imRoster |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Built for | Restaurants | Any team that works in shifts or duty rotations |
| How the schedule is built | Manual, templates, or generated from labour targets and projected sales | You describe the team and rules in a sentence; the AI drafts the whole roster for you to review, edit and publish |
| Pricing | Per location: free up to 15 employees, then CAD 39.99, 79.99 or 134.99 with headcount caps | Per account: $5, $20 or $50 a month (launch prices), credit-based, no headcount caps |
| Time clock | Tablets, computers, phones and POS devices from Essentials; geofenced clock-in on Pro | Phone or browser; location checked against a geofence and flagged, not blocked; attendance report in XLSX or PDF |
| POS, tips and payroll | POS integration, tip management, payroll integration | No |
| Free trial | 14 days of Pro, no card; free Comp plan | 30 days, no card; no free plan |

Put simply: for restaurants, 7shifts' POS, tip and forecasting features are worth paying for. For a clinic, care home, security company or any team whose hard problem is a fair duty rotation under rest rules, imRoster is the closer fit.

## How to choose a 7shifts alternative

| If your priority is | Look at | Why |
| --- | --- | --- |
| You run restaurants | Stay with 7shifts | POS, tips and sales-based forecasting are its strength |
| Lowest cost for one US site | Homebase | Free up to 10 employees, then a flat fee with no headcount cap |
| A free schedule for up to 30 people | Sling | Free plan up to 30 users |
| Simple per-user scheduling | When I Work | Industry-neutral, Auto Scheduling from $2.50 per user |
| Field teams with GPS clock-in | Connecteam | GPS time clock on the entry plan |
| Compliance and payroll in one system | Deputy | Its strongest area |
| Fair duty rosters under rest and night rules | imRoster | The AI drafts the roster from your rules; one price, no headcount caps |

Test any tool with a real month: build next month's roster, approve leave, process a swap and check whether a missed rest period would have been caught. To try the AI approach, imRoster is free for 30 days without a card: describe your team and rules in one sentence and compare the first draft with your current schedule.

## Frequently asked questions

### Is 7shifts only for restaurants?

7shifts is built for restaurants: its standout features are POS integration, sales-based labour targets, tip management and restaurant-specific forecasting. Other teams can use its scheduling and time clock, but most of what sets it apart will go unused.

### What is the best 7shifts alternative for non-restaurant teams?

Homebase and Sling are the cheapest for small teams, When I Work suits simple per-user scheduling, Connecteam suits field teams that need GPS clock-in, Deputy suits compliance-heavy multi-site businesses, and imRoster suits healthcare, security and 24/7 teams that need fair duty rosters drafted under rest rules.

### How much does 7shifts cost in 2026?

As of October 2026, 7shifts showed us Comp free for single locations up to 15 employees, Essentials at CAD 39.99 (up to 30 employees), Pro at CAD 79.99 (up to 60) and Premium at CAD 134.99 (unlimited), per location per month, with 10% off for annual billing. Prices may differ in your region.

### Does 7shifts have a free plan?

Yes. The Comp plan is free for a single location with up to 15 employees and includes basic scheduling, availability and time-off requests, and one-way announcements. It does not include time clocking.

### imRoster vs 7shifts: which should I choose?

Choose 7shifts if you run restaurants and want scheduling tied to POS sales and tips. Choose imRoster if you run a clinic, care home, security team or any 24/7 operation and your main problem is building a fair roster that respects rest and night-shift rules, at one price with no headcount caps.