10 Deputy Alternatives That Cost Less and Do More

Deputy recently restructured its pricing: the Lite plan now starts at $5/user/month on annual billing, Core at $6.50, and Pro at $9 ($5.50, $7.25 and $10 when billed monthly), with a $30 monthly minimum on monthly plans. For a 50-person team on annual Core, that works out to $325/month before add-ons like Analytics+. If those numbers are hard to justify, or if Deputy’s feature set doesn’t match how your team actually works, this guide breaks down ten alternatives worth evaluating, with direct comparisons on price, feature depth, and where each tool handles things Deputy doesn’t.

Why Teams Switch Away from Deputy

Deputy isn’t a bad product. Its own site shows a 4.6/5 rating and says 390,000 workplaces use it. But the complaints that push teams toward alternatives tend to follow a pattern:

• Pricing has gone up. From September 1, 2025 Deputy charges a $30 minimum monthly spend on its monthly plans. That hits micro-teams hard: if you have five employees, you’re paying $6/user just for the base, before you pick a plan.
• The English-only web app is a dealbreaker for multilingual teams. Deputy’s web app, where managers schedule, is English only; employees get the mobile app in 12 languages that follow the phone’s language setting. If your managers work in Spanish, Polish, or Portuguese, every screen of the scheduling console is in English. For international operations, this creates daily friction.
• Customer support response times frustrate users. Multiple Capterra and Trustpilot reviews mention waiting days for responses on payroll-critical issues. The 24/7 live chat is listed only on the Pro plan, which is a problem for businesses that run seven days a week.
• The mobile app has reliability gaps. Field teams and deskless workers report clock-in failures, notification delays, and limited offline functionality: exactly the scenarios where a mobile app matters most.
• Payroll and HR integrations are narrow. Deputy connects with ADP, QuickBooks, and other payroll tools, but if your payroll stack sits outside its list, you’re exporting CSVs and building workarounds.
• Advanced compliance and labor cost tools sit above the Lite tier. Advanced labor law compliance, demand forecasting, and wage and labor budgets start on Core at $6.50/user/month on annual billing, while the $9 Pro plan adds custom access levels, advanced timesheets, and single sign-on.

None of these issues are universal. Deputy works well for mid-size teams in English-speaking markets with straightforward scheduling needs. But if you’re hitting any of these ceilings, the alternatives below address them directly.

The 10 Best Deputy Alternatives

1. Shifton: Best for Multilingual and Multi-Location Teams

Shifton is a workforce management platform built for teams that operate across more than one location or country. Where Deputy’s web app is English only, Shifton ships with 40 languages baked into the full interface: scheduling, notifications, mobile app, everything. A manager in Berlin and a warehouse worker in Lisbon use the same system without friction, each in their own language.

The modular pricing model is the other major differentiator. Shifton offers a free plan that includes core scheduling for up to 10 team members, with no time limits and no credit card required, while no paid module is on. Beyond that, you add only the modules you need: GPS tracking, payroll, time off requests, breaks. Most modules come with a free trial of up to 60 days (GPS has 10 days), so you can test before committing. Add-on modules range from $0.50 to $5 per employee per month depending on the feature. A 50-person team using scheduling and time tracking pays a fraction of what Deputy Core charges for the same setup.

Key features:

• Free plan with core scheduling for up to 10 employees
• Drag-and-drop shift scheduling with a Schedule Creation Wizard and auto-distribution of free shifts
• Time tracking through the paid Attendance module ($1 per employee a month) and GPS route maps through the paid Work location control module ($5)
• Budget report in the free plan, forecasting from uploaded traffic data in the paid Forecasting module ($2 per employee a month)
• Overtime and night-hours control in the free plan, break scheduling in the paid Breaks module ($0.50 per employee a month)
• Mobile app for crews, included in the free plan
• support for 40 languages across the full interface
• Modular pricing: pay only for the features you use, with a free trial of up to 60 days on most modules (10 days for GPS)

How it compares to Deputy: Shifton costs significantly less per user for equivalent features. It supports 40 languages where Deputy’s web app is English only and its mobile app covers 12. There’s a free plan (Deputy has none, only a trial). Overtime control is in the free plan and breaks are a $0.50 add-on. The trade-off: Deputy has deeper integrations with Australian award interpretation and specific payroll providers.

Pricing: Free plan for up to 10 employees. Paid modules from $0.50/user/month, and Basic functions cost $1 per employee once a module is on or the team passes 10. Annual billing saves 20%.

Best for: Mid-size to large teams, businesses running staff across multiple countries, and any operation where labor cost visibility and multilingual support matter at scale. Also the strongest option for teams that want to start free and add features gradually without switching platforms later.

2. When I Work: Best for Simple Scheduling on a Budget

When I Work focuses on one thing: getting a schedule published and keeping shift changes under control. The interface is clean enough that most managers can build their first week’s schedule within ten minutes, with no onboarding call needed. Shift swaps, open shifts, and team messaging are all baked in.

The tool covers what most small teams actually use: a drag-and-drop builder with shift templates, open shift management, in-app messaging, a GPS time clock, and payroll integrations with providers such as Gusto and Paychex. At $2.50/user/month for a single location it costs about half of Deputy’s Lite plan. What you trade away is depth: its pricing page lists standard labor reports and forecasts but no compliance automation. Compared to Shifton, it costs more per user, but the setup is faster for teams that just need shifts published quickly.

There’s no free plan, just a 14-day trial. Time tracking and attendance are included in the $2.50 price, but multiple locations or schedules move you to the $5/user/month plan, and at that point the cost starts approaching Deputy’s range. Retail, food service, and healthcare teams under 30 people running standard English-language operations get the most out of it.

3. Homebase: Best Free Option for Small Teams

Homebase’s free plan is genuinely usable, not a teaser with half the features disabled. One location gets basic scheduling and basic time tracking at no cost, indefinitely. For a single-location café or boutique that has been running schedules on paper, this is a real upgrade without any financial commitment.

The free plan covers one location with up to 10 employees — basic scheduling, basic time tracking, and a POS integration included. Hiring tools and applicant tracking are free on every plan. Team messaging starts on the $24/location/month Essentials plan (annual billing), and onboarding, HR, and compliance features sit on the top All-in-One tier.

How it compares to Deputy: Deputy has no free plan and offers only a 31-day trial. Homebase gives you a permanent free tier for one location. The gap shows up when you scale: Homebase’s paid plans ($24/location/month on annual billing) become expensive for multi-location businesses, and the feature depth doesn’t match Deputy’s compliance and forecasting tools. If you need multi-location support on a budget, Shifton’s free plan for up to 10 users plus affordable modules is a better path to growth.

The catch: Language support is limited to a few languages. Multi-location pricing adds up fast. And the reporting is basic compared to what Deputy or Shifton offer.

Pricing: Free for one location. Paid plans start at $24/location/month billed annually ($30 monthly).

Best for: Single-location small businesses that want scheduling and time tracking without paying until they’re ready to grow.

4. Connecteam: Best for Deskless and Field Workforces

Connecteam goes well beyond scheduling. It’s an operations platform for teams that never sit at a desk: construction crews, cleaning companies, delivery drivers, home care staff. Beyond shift planning and GPS time tracking, it includes digital checklists, custom forms, incident reports, and employee training modules. Field managers can run their entire operation from the mobile app.

Scheduling covers shift assignments by location or role with GPS time tracking and geofenced clock-in zones. Alongside that: digital forms, checklists, incident reports, in-app training and onboarding courses, HR document management with e-signatures, and a full communication layer — chat, updates feed, and company directory. It’s a significant amount of surface area, and smaller teams sometimes find the initial setup more involved than they expected.

How it compares to Deputy: Deputy is a scheduling-first tool with time tracking attached. Connecteam is an operations platform with scheduling included. If your team needs checklists, training modules, and digital forms alongside shift management, Connecteam covers all of that where Deputy would require separate tools. Deputy wins on payroll integrations and labor cost forecasting depth.

The catch: The free plan caps at 10 users. Paid plans ($29/month billed yearly, $35 monthly, for the first 30 users) are affordable, but the per-user pricing beyond 30 adds up. The platform is also feature-heavy and smaller teams may find the setup more involved than they need. For teams that just need scheduling and time tracking without the operational extras, Shifton keeps things simpler at a lower cost.

Pricing: Free for up to 10 users. Paid plans start at $29/month billed yearly ($35 monthly) for the first 30 users.

Best for: Construction, logistics, field services, home care, and cleaning companies where the workforce is mobile and operational compliance documentation matters.

5. 7shifts: Best for Restaurants

7shifts is purpose-built for food service. It connects directly to POS systems like Toast, Square, and Lightspeed, pulls sales data to inform labor forecasting, and handles tip pooling natively. If you’re running a restaurant on Deputy, you’re likely doing manual work that 7shifts automates: matching labor cost percentages to revenue targets, calculating tip payouts, and scheduling around role-specific shift patterns.

Key features:

• Scheduling built around restaurant roles and shift patterns
• Sales-based labor forecasting to hit target labor cost percentages
• Tip pooling and payout calculations
• POS integrations with Toast, Square, Lightspeed, and others
• Team communication and manager log
• Hiring tools and applicant tracking

How it compares to Deputy: Deputy is a general-purpose scheduling tool that restaurants can use. 7shifts is built specifically for them. The POS integration alone saves hours of manual reconciliation each week. Deputy doesn’t natively handle tip pooling or sales-to-labor forecasting, so you’d need workarounds or separate tools.

The catch: It’s only useful for food service. If you run restaurants plus other business types, you’ll need a second platform for the non-restaurant locations. Paid plans at $39.99/location/month also make multi-location groups expensive.

Pricing: Free for one location up to 15 employees. Paid plans from $39.99/location/month on annual billing ($44.99 monthly).

Best for: Restaurants, bars, cafes, and food service groups, particularly those on Toast or Square who want scheduling tied directly to their POS data.

6. Sling: Best for Teams That Need Communication + Scheduling

Sling takes a communication-first approach to workforce management. The free plan includes scheduling, news sharing, and private messaging; group messaging comes with Premium. For hospitality and retail teams where keeping everyone aligned matters as much as publishing the schedule, Sling combines both, with the basic messaging layer free.

Key features:

• Free scheduling for up to 30 employees
• Team messaging, group channels, and newsfeed
• Labor cost tracking against budgets (paid tier)
• Time clock with GPS verification
• Shift swaps and schedule templates on paid tiers
• Shift alerts and availability management

How it compares to Deputy: Sling’s free tier offers more than Deputy’s 31-day trial: you get permanent access to scheduling and private messaging at no cost. Deputy’s paid plans add deeper compliance tools and labor cost forecasting that Sling doesn’t match. But for teams whose primary pain is coordination and communication around shifts, Sling covers it without a subscription.

Pricing: Free basic plan. Premium starts at $1.70/user/month on annual billing ($2.00 monthly) for time tracking and labor cost management.

Best for: Restaurants, hospitality, and retail teams where shift coordination and real-time team communication need to live in the same tool.

7. Buddy Punch: Best for Preventing Time Theft

Buddy Punch focuses heavily on making sure clock-ins are legitimate. It offers photo verification on punches, QR code punching, GPS tracking, geofencing, and IP address locks: more verification methods than most competitors. For businesses where buddy punching (one employee clocking in for another) or time padding is costing real money, this is the tool that directly addresses it.

Key features:

• Photo on punch, with webcam punches on the Pro plan, and Face ID sign-in on the mobile app
• QR code punching and kiosk punch (Pro plan)
• GPS tracking with geofencing zones
• IP address restrictions for on-site clock-ins
• Overtime alerts and automatic break deductions
• Payroll integrations with QuickBooks, ADP, Paychex, and others
• PTO accrual tracking and management

How it compares to Deputy: Deputy offers kiosk mode with facial recognition on shared iPads, but Buddy Punch goes further with photo verification, QR codes, and IP address locks; QR codes and webcam punches start on the $6.99 Pro plan. If time theft is a specific problem you’re trying to solve, Buddy Punch gives you more tools for it. Deputy wins on scheduling depth and labor cost forecasting.

The catch: Pricing adds up. The base fee is $19/month plus $4.99/user/month on the Starter plan (annual billing, $5.99 monthly). Real-time GPS and advanced reporting cost extra ($2/user each). A 30-person team can easily hit $200+/month, not far from Deputy. For teams that need solid time verification without the price tag, Shifton’s paid Attendance ($1) and Work location control ($5) modules offer a more affordable alternative.

Pricing: $19/month base + $4.99/user/month on annual billing, $5.99 monthly (Starter). Pro and Advanced tiers available. 14-day free trial.

Best for: Businesses with hourly workers where time theft, buddy punching, or unreliable clock-ins are a real cost problem.

8. OnTheClock: Best Deputy Alternative for Small Businesses

OnTheClock keeps things straightforward: time tracking, scheduling, and payroll in one platform with flat per-employee pricing. No tiers to compare for teams under 100 employees. The payroll add-on is a standout: most scheduling tools export to a third-party payroll provider, but OnTheClock lets you run payroll directly, which cuts one more vendor from the stack.

Key features:

• GPS time tracking with geofencing
• Biometric fingerprint clock-in on the Enterprise plan (100+ employees)
• Drag-and-drop shift scheduling
• Payroll add-on (direct deposit, tax filing)
• PTO tracking and accrual management
• Overtime alerts and automatic calculations

How it compares to Deputy: OnTheClock’s pricing is simpler: $4/employee/month plus a $5 base fee, with no tier confusion for small teams. A 30-person team pays $125/month vs. $195 on Deputy Core with annual billing. The payroll add-on ($6/employee plus a $40 base fee) means you don’t need a separate payroll provider. Deputy offers more advanced scheduling features (auto-scheduling, demand-based staffing) and deeper compliance tools.

The catch: Scheduling features are basic compared to Deputy or Shifton. Its pricing page lists no labor cost forecasting and no team messaging. It works best as a time clock with scheduling attached, not a full workforce management platform.

Pricing: $5/month base + $4/employee/month. 30-day free trial. Payroll is a separate add-on ($6/employee plus a $40 base fee) with a one-time $250 onboarding fee.

Best for: Small businesses under 50 employees that want time tracking, basic scheduling, and payroll in one tool without paying for features they won’t use.

9. Hubstaff: Best for Remote and Distributed Teams

Hubstaff wasn’t designed for shift workers. It started as a remote monitoring tool — tracking app and URL usage, capturing optional screenshots, logging active versus idle time — and bolted workforce management features on afterward. That origin shows in what it does well: if you manage remote employees or project-based freelancers who work from their own devices, and you need to know what they’re working on rather than just when they punched in, Hubstaff solves something Deputy never tried to address.

The core product is time tracking with optional screenshots and app/URL monitoring — more visibility than most employers ever use, which is the tradeoff. GPS works for field teams through the Locations add-on on the Team plan; project budgeting and client billing handle the invoicing side. Scheduling and attendance are available but live on the Team plan ($12/user/month, or $10 billed annually), which is also where payroll automation unlocks. Integrations cover Asana, Trello, Jira, and more than a dozen other project tools, which matters more if your team is already running project management software.

How it compares to Deputy: These tools solve different problems. Deputy is shift scheduling and time tracking for hourly on-site workers. Hubstaff is productivity monitoring and time tracking for remote and project-based teams. If your workforce is remote or hybrid and you need to track what people are working on (not just when), Hubstaff is the better fit. For in-person shift-based teams, Deputy makes more sense.

The catch: The full feature set only unlocks on the Team plan at $10/user/month (annual). Screenshots and activity monitoring can feel intrusive and some employees push back. And if you just need scheduling, Hubstaff is overkill and overpriced for that alone.

Pricing: Starter at $7/user/month billed monthly ($4.99 annual). Grow at $9 ($7.50). Team at $12 ($10), where scheduling and payroll unlock. 2-seat minimum. 14-day free trial.

It fits operations that manage remote workers, freelancers, or hybrid teams where tracking what gets done matters as much as when someone logged in. For in-person shift-based teams, it’s the wrong tool — Deputy or Shifton handle that more cleanly at a lower price point.

10. Jibble: Best Budget Alternative with a Generous Free Plan

Jibble’s pitch is simple: free time tracking for as many employees as you have, no trial period, no credit card required. The free tier isn’t stripped-down — it includes facial recognition on clock-in, GPS verification, and timesheet export. Teams that have been tracking hours on spreadsheets or paper can switch in a day without approving a budget for it.

Beyond the time clock itself, the free plan covers overtime policies, kiosk mode for shared tablets, and integrations with Slack and Microsoft Teams for notifications. Jibble’s site now presents the product as free forever for unlimited users and shows no paid tiers or prices. The scheduling tools are thinner than Deputy’s, and no labor cost forecasting is listed, but for teams where time tracking is the primary need and scheduling is secondary, the cost-to-coverage ratio is hard to match. For a side-by-side of tools built purely around clock-ins, compare the best free employee time clock app picks.

How it compares to Deputy: Jibble’s free plan covers what Deputy’s Lite plan charges $5/user/month for: basic time tracking with verification. Jibble no longer publishes paid-tier prices. The trade-off: scheduling is thinner than Deputy’s and no labor cost forecasting is listed. If you need robust scheduling, Shifton’s free plan gives you more of it out of the box, with time tracking as a paid add-on.

Pricing: Free forever for unlimited users. Paid-tier prices are not published on Jibble’s site.

Best for: Budget-conscious teams that primarily need time tracking and attendance verification, with scheduling as a secondary need.

Deputy Alternatives Compared: Quick Reference

How to Choose the Right Deputy Alternative

The right pick depends on what’s actually broken about Deputy for your team, not just the price tag.

If Deputy is too expensive: Shifton’s free plan and modules from $0.50/user offer the biggest savings. Jibble (free) and Sling (free tier) work if you only need time tracking or basic scheduling. Run the math on your actual team size: a tool that’s $2/user cheaper saves $1,200/year on a 50-person team.

If you need multilingual support: Shifton is the only tool on this list with 40 languages across the full interface. Connecteam covers 16 dashboard languages and Deputy’s mobile app 12. Homebase, a few.

If you run a restaurant: 7shifts. It connects to your POS, works labor costs against sales data, and handles tip pooling in one place.

If your team works in the field: Connecteam combines scheduling with GPS tracking, digital checklists, and training. For teams that need scheduling and GPS without the operational extras, Shifton covers both, with GPS as the paid Work location control module ($5 per employee a month).

If time theft is the problem: Buddy Punch gives you photo verification, QR codes, geofencing, and IP address locks: more verification layers than any other tool here.

If your team is remote: Hubstaff tracks productivity, app usage, and project time: a different category from shift scheduling, but the right one for distributed teams.

If you want the most flexibility: Shifton’s modular approach lets you start free, add features as you grow, and never pay for what you don’t use. It’s the only platform on this list where a 10-person team can run for free and a 500-person operation can build a custom feature set, all within the same system.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the best alternative to Deputy?

It depends on what broke first. If the issue is cost, Shifton’s free plan and module add-ons from $0.50/user/month undercut Deputy significantly — especially for teams that were on Core or Pro. If you’re running a restaurant, 7shifts connects directly to your POS and handles tip pooling. And if all you need is a time clock without a subscription, Jibble is free for unlimited users with no trial period attached.

How much does Deputy actually cost?

Deputy’s current pricing starts at $5/user/month (Lite), $6.50 (Core), and $9 (Pro) on annual billing, or $5.50, $7.25, and $10 billed monthly. Monthly plans carry a $30/month minimum spend, so even a 3-person team pays at least $30. The Analytics+ add-on costs an extra $1.50/user/month. The $30 minimum has applied since September 1, 2025.

Is there a free Deputy alternative?

Yes. Shifton offers a free plan with core scheduling for up to 10 employees. Homebase provides free scheduling and time tracking for one location with up to 10 employees. Sling gives free scheduling with team messaging. Jibble offers free time tracking for unlimited users. 7shifts is free for one restaurant location with up to 15 employees. Connecteam is free for teams of 10 or fewer.

Can I migrate my data from Deputy to another platform?

Deputy allows you to export timesheets, schedules, and employee data as CSV files. Most alternatives on this list can import CSVs or have onboarding teams that assist with migration. The switch itself typically takes one to two weeks: the bigger task is getting employees to download a new app and learn the new clock-in flow.

Which Deputy alternative is cheapest for large teams?

Shifton is a low-cost paid option for large teams: $1 per employee a month for every employee once the team passes 10, modules from $0.50/user/month, and a free plan for up to 10 users. A 100-person team on Shifton pays a fraction of what the same team would spend on Deputy Core ($650/month on annual billing). Jibble’s free plan works for unlimited users if you only need time tracking. Sling’s free tier covers up to 30 users for basic scheduling.

Is Deputy still worth it?

Deputy remains a solid tool for English-speaking teams in Australia, the US, or the UK that need reliable scheduling and tight payroll integrations with providers like ADP. Its award interpretation features for Australian labor laws are a real strength. But if you operate internationally, need multilingual support, or find the pricing hard to justify, alternatives like Shifton cover those gaps at a significantly lower cost while offering features Deputy doesn’t have, like support for 40 languages and a free tier.

The Bottom Line

Ten tools is a lot. Most teams, once they’ve worked out what actually broke with Deputy, find that two or three of these are worth looking at closely. Deputy’s pricing changes drove a lot of customers to look for alternatives — and the market caught up. The tools on this list are genuinely competitive in ways they weren’t a few years ago.

A few of these don’t really compete with Deputy at all. Hubstaff is for remote teams tracking project work, not hourly shift workers clocking in on-site. 7shifts is a restaurant-specific tool that Deputy was never quite built to replace. Buddy Punch exists because time fraud costs some businesses serious money each pay period. Match the tool to the actual problem, not just the feature list.

Setup is rarely the hard part — most of these platforms take an afternoon to configure. The switch cost that catches teams off guard is employee adoption: getting 30 people to download a new app, learn a new clock-in flow, and stop texting the manager about shift changes. Run any new tool alongside Deputy for two or three pay periods before cutting over.

Daria Oleshko

Customer Success Manager at Shifton with extensive experience in workforce management and field service management.