Teams reconsider Deputy for three reasons: a per-user price that counts managers and is charged for a full month per change, payroll that is sold only in the US, and compliance and integrations organised around Australia, the UK and the US. The alternatives below include European rota tools, per-location pricing, and mobile-only apps.
Short answer: The first three alternatives to Deputy in our workforce management ranking are Shiftbase, Papershift and Skello. The first three places are kept for challengers when the category has enough of them; the best-known brands come after that, in ranked order. Choose Shiftbase if you want a euro price with a free tier and a base fee that covers the first few staff. Each of the 11 alternatives sits in Best Workforce Management Software in 2026 and is described against Deputy.
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Built for: Multi-site hourly businesses wanting a proven scheduling app across several countries
Not for: Companies needing local collective agreements encoded out of the box
01
Why buyers look past Deputy
01
Every seat counts, and changes cost a month
Deputy's pricing page lists Lite at $5, Core at $6.50 and Pro at $9 per user per month. Admins, managers and supervisors count as users, and adding, archiving or unarchiving a person incurs a full month's charge. Monthly plans carry a minimum invoice of $30 (AUD 30 or GBP 20). A business with seasonal staff pays for that churn.
02
Payroll is a US add-on
The payroll add-on, enabled by Paycor, costs $8 per user plus a $49 monthly base, on annual Core and Pro plans in the US only. HR is offered in the US, UK and Australia. Elsewhere in Europe, the pay side depends on exporting to a third-party payroll product.
03
Plans gate the useful parts, and extras add up
Demand forecasting, auto-scheduling and wage budgets start on Core; SSO, location hierarchies and a sandbox on Pro. Messaging+ ($1.95) and Analytics+ ($1.50) are per-user extras unless you take Pro, and SMS is charged per 160 characters. Annual plans cannot be reduced in headcount mid-term.
you run many sites and want schedules driven by forecast demand under union agreements
#13
03
What each one does differently
1
Shiftbase
Netherlands · Published
Shiftbase is a Dutch product with a free plan for up to 15 employees, one department and five teams. Paid plans combine a base fee with a per-head rate: Basic €30 with six people included, Premium €72 with twelve, Enterprise €336 with 48. Trials run 14 days without a card. Where the servers sit is not stated on the pricing page we read.
Switch from Deputy if you want a euro price with a free tier and a base fee that covers the first few staff.
Papershift is German and sells four plans, Core, Premium, Professional and Enterprise, all priced on request after a 14-day trial. Rota planning, automatic shift allocation and break logic begin at Premium; DATEV and LODAS export begin at Professional. Core states EU hosting. The HR tools and payroll add-on are separate products.
Switch from Deputy if your staff work under German or Dutch rest and break rules and the payroll runs through DATEV.
Skello lists self-serve plans from €79 a month for scheduling, €59 for clocking and €99 for both, each with a 14-day trial. Staffing forecasts and automatic schedules start on the Max tier. Its pricing pages cover France, Italy, Switzerland, Belgium and Luxembourg, and a Business offer runs from 200 to 10,000 employees on request.
Switch from Deputy if you run shops or restaurants in France or Benelux and want a monthly price per site, not per head.
Tamigo is based in Copenhagen and prices Essential from €15 and Standard from €30 per location a month, while Advanced and Premium need a demo. Its comparison table names collective agreement configuration, payroll export and time bank among its features. The interface is offered in many languages.
Switch from Deputy if you operate several locations across Europe and the price should follow locations, not headcount.
RotaCloud publishes £10 a month (Standard) or £15 (Pro) for one to five employees, cheaper by the year, with bands above that and a quote past 500. Time and attendance and SMS are add-ons. The trial lasts 30 days with no payment details. Nothing on the page we read mentions anything beyond the UK.
Switch from Deputy if you are a UK team of a few people who want a rota and leave booking at a pound figure.
Connecteam sells three hubs, Operations, Communications and HR and Skills. Each paid tier is a flat monthly fee for the first 30 users (from $29 on annual billing), with extra users at cents-to-dollars rates. A free Small Business plan covers up to 10 users with every hub. Prices are in dollars.
Switch from Deputy if you want clocking, chat and checklists in one phone app and have fewer than 30 staff.
Homebase gives one location with up to 10 employees a free Basic plan. Essentials is $30, Plus $70 and All-in-One $120 per location per month, with unlimited employees on those tiers. Payroll is a US add-on at $49 a month plus $6 per paid employee, and Tip Manager and Task Manager cost extra.
Switch from Deputy if you manage a single small site and want to start free, accepting dollar prices and US payroll.
7shifts is a Canadian restaurant scheduler. We could not read its pricing page this session, so we quote only the category record: a free plan for one location, paid plans per location. Its design ties the rota to till sales and labour as a share of revenue, which suits restaurants and little else.
Switch from Deputy if you run restaurants and want labour percentage visible while you build the rota.
When I Work lists Essentials at $2.50 per user per month with auto-scheduling and forecasting, Pro at $5 with scheduling rules and custom reports, and Premium at $8 with API access and SSO. A 14-day trial needs no card. The page itself contradicts its tiers in one FAQ line, so confirm the price with the vendor.
Switch from Deputy if you want a per-user price in the low single digits and a simple app for hourly shifts.
Workforce.com comes from Australia, as Deputy does, and brings scheduling, HR and payroll as separate or combined modules. Category research credits its schedule with warnings before an underpayment is created and live labour cost against sales. Pricing is quoted per user by bundle, so budget comparisons need a conversation.
Switch from Deputy if you leave Deputy for something with the same Australian roots and stronger wage-cost controls.
Quinyx is Swedish and sells scheduling, time and attendance, analytics, messenger and task modules. Its pricing page gives no figures and asks you to describe your needs first. Our category record notes forecast-driven scheduling and Nordic and European union rules, with implementation measured in months.
Switch from Deputy if you run many sites and want schedules driven by forecast demand under union agreements.
You need Dutch or German working time rules handled
Papershift: Rest periods and break logic sit on Premium, and DATEV and LODAS export on Professional; all prices are on request after a 14-day trial.
02
You are a small team who wants to start free
Shiftbase: The free plan covers up to 15 employees, one department and five teams, and paid plans start at a €30 base.
03
You run shops or restaurants in France
Skello: Plans start at €79 a month for scheduling, with forecasts and automatic schedules on the Max tier and a 14-day trial.
04
You pay per head and want to stop paying for every manager
Tamigo: Pricing starts at €15 per location a month for Essential, so seat count does not drive the bill.
05
Your staff only use phones
Connecteam: A free plan covers up to 10 users, and paid hubs charge a flat fee for the first 30.
04
When Deputy is still the right choice
Deputy remains sensible for a business in Australia, the UK or the US that wants rostering, timesheets and payroll connectors in one product with a self-serve start. Auto-scheduling, demand forecasting and biometric clocking are on Core, and the integration list includes Xero, ADP, Gusto, Square and Lightspeed. If your pain is only the user count, compare Lite against Core before leaving.
05
What moving off Deputy involves
01
Staff history and availability need re-entering
Deputy keeps former employees and their history, but a new product will want contracts, availability and leave balances loaded afresh. Export timesheets before you cancel and check that annual terms have ended, since early cancellation carries no refund.
02
Rules differ by country
Deputy's compliance features are written for its home markets. A European tool will ask for working time rules, break logic and collective agreements that you must configure, and your payroll export format may change. Run one pay period in parallel before cutting over.
06
Questions about replacing Deputy
6 answers
How much does Deputy cost?
Deputy lists $5 for Lite, $6.50 for Core and $9 for Pro per user per month, billed in USD, AUD or GBP by country. A $30 monthly minimum invoice applies, and a 10% discount is advertised for annual billing.
Does Deputy have a free plan?
The pricing page shows no permanent free plan. Lite and Core offer a free trial whose length is not stated. Shiftbase, Connecteam and Homebase publish free plans, each with its own size limit.
Is Deputy payroll available in Europe?
Its payroll add-on is listed for the US only, and its HR add-on for the US, UK and Australia. European teams normally export timesheets to their own payroll provider.
Which Deputy alternative is based in Europe?
Shiftbase (Netherlands), Papershift (Germany), Skello (France), Tamigo (Denmark), RotaCloud (UK) and Quinyx (Sweden) are all European.
Which alternatives charge per location instead of per user?
Tamigo prices from €15 per location, Homebase charges per location, and Skello sells flat monthly plans from €79. Connecteam charges a flat fee for the first 30 users.
Does Deputy connect to payroll and till systems?
Its integrations page lists 58 entries across payroll, point of sale, HR and other categories, including ADP, Gusto, Xero, Paychex, Square and Lightspeed. The page does not give a total count.
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Sources
Checked 2 November 2026
Deputy pricing: Lite $5, Core $6.50, Pro $9, minimum invoice, full-month charge, payroll US only, HR countries, add-ons, SMS, annual terms.
Founder of The Knowledge Engineers and of 2 Steps Ahead, an AI search visibility agency. Editorially responsible for every page on this site; research and drafting are AI-assisted.
Author and fact-checker: Sebastiaan Smits. This page was last reviewed on 2 November 2026; our review process is public.
