Workforce management software for hourly teams: costs and terms

Quick picks by situation

• One or two big sites: Homebase, because the fee is per location, not per head (confirm any headcount cap on paid tiers).
• Many deskless or field workers: Connecteam, at $1.0 per user past the first 30 on Basic.
• You want the software to build the schedule from demand: Deputy, the only one with forecasting and auto-scheduling documented.
• Restaurant group or franchise: 7shifts for tip pooling, once you have a written quote, or see restaurant scheduling apps.

For small teams under 20, the scheduling software rankings are a better starting point.

Workforce management software ranked

Ordered by our scheduling scores out of 100. Price for 20 staff carries 30 points, so these scores favor small-team pricing; at 50 or more staff, read the cost table below as well. Method: how we score providers.

What it costs at 50 staff and across 3 sites

Per-location pricing wins at scale on a single site, and per-user pricing wins for many tiny sites. Connecteam sits between: flat for the first 30 users, then a small fee per user. Deputy and When I Work grow in a straight line with headcount.

Add payroll and the gap changes. Homebase payroll for 50 people is $49 + 50 x $6 = $349 a month; Deputy Payroll is $49 + 50 x $8 = $449, on annual Core or Pro only. For 10 and 20 staff, see the time tracking and payroll cost table.

Forecasting, labor law tools and the rest

Forecasting is the feature that separates workforce management from a shared calendar. Among these five, only Deputy documents it. If you mainly need shifts, a clock and payroll, you may not need to pay per head for it.

Labor rules: what we can and cannot tell you

Labor law compliance features are documented for Deputy and 7shifts, but what they cover is not detailed in our research. We have not sourced state overtime, meal and rest break or predictive scheduling (fair workweek) rules for this page, so we do not rate how any app applies them. Ask each vendor which rules for your city and state are built in, and test a schedule that breaks one.

One federal figure that matters for who you track: a salaried worker generally must earn at least $684 a week ($35,568 a year) to be exempt from federal overtime, after DOL restored the 2019 level on May 15, 2026 (29 CFR 541.600; 91 FR 27833). Below that, salaried staff need their hours tracked too. More on exempt and non-exempt employees. The federal minimum wage is still $7.25 an hour, but most states set more: see minimum wage by state in 2026.

Contracts at scale: the lock-in risk

• Deputy monthly: runs to the end of the billing period; $30 minimum per invoice; new, archived and unarchived users billed a full month.
• Connecteam: annual plans refunded pro rata only in the first 30 days; seats added mid-cycle are prorated.
• Homebase: monthly or annual (annual saves 20%); cancel anytime; no annual refund rule published.
• When I Work: cancel anytime, "no contracts or hidden fees"; annual terms not detailed.

Seasonal operators should price monthly billing. It costs more per month but follows headcount down.

Scores in full

Common mistakes when buying workforce software

• Comparing per-user rates across different pricing models. $5 per user and $30 per location are not comparable until you plug in your headcount and site count.
• Forgetting manager logins. Deputy counts admins and managers as users.
• Buying forecasting you will not use. Deputy's per-user cost at 60 staff is $300 to $540 a month.
• Separate EINs. Homebase runs multi-location payroll only under one EIN.
• Leaving payroll for later. Compare payroll providers and HCM suites if you need payroll, HR and scheduling from one vendor. ADP does not publish prices; see what is known about ADP pricing.

To budget labor itself, use our employer cost calculator. Vendor detail: Homebase, Connecteam, Deputy, When I Work, 7shifts, and time clock apps compared.