Homebase vs 7shifts
Both bill per location, both have a free single-site plan and both grew up in North America, but 7shifts is written for restaurants alone and ties the rota to till sales and labour targets. Homebase is a general scheduler and time clock for small shops and cafes. Restaurant groups pick 7shifts; a shop or mixed business picks Homebase.
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Choose Homebase ifyou have one American location, in retail as easily as hospitality, and want a working rota, time clock and point-of-sale link with unlimited employees on the first paid plan.
Choose 7shifts ifyou run restaurants, your till system is one it connects to, and managers are judged on labour as a percentage of daily sales while they build the rota.
Homebase and 7shifts side by side
| Homebase | 7shifts | |
|---|---|---|
| Our workforce management rank | #8 of 16 | #9 of 16 |
| Established in | United States | Canada |
| Pricing | Free for one location up to 10 employees; paid per location per month, published | Free plan for one location; paid per location per month, published |
| List price, 30 September 2026 | $30 per location per month, unlimited employees (Essentials plan) | $39.99 CAD per location per month, up to 30 employees (Essentials plan) |
| Free tier | Yes | Yes |
| Open source | — | — |
| Self-hostable | — | — |
| Built for | Single-site American hospitality and retail businesses watching cost | Restaurant groups managing labour as a percentage of daily sales |
| Not for | European employers who need local payroll and compliance | Warehouses, care homes or any non-hospitality shift operation |
Both are reviewed in full in our workforce management ranking: Homebase and 7shifts.
Where they differ
Homebase 1 · 7shifts 0 · open 3- 01
Sales data inside the rota
7shifts pulls daily sales from the point of sale, lets managers set labour targets on projected sales and lists tills such as Toast, Square, Clover, Lightspeed, TouchBistro and Revel. Homebase also syncs sales from Toast, Square, Clover, Lightspeed and Shopify and can build schedules from forecasted sales. Both do the job; 7shifts covers more restaurant-specific tills.
Depends on the buyer
- 02
What it costs to begin
Both start at zero for one location: Homebase Basic allows up to 10 employees, 7shifts Comp up to 15. Paid plans then count sites. Homebase Essentials is listed at $30 per location a month with unlimited employees; 7shifts Essentials at $39.99 CAD per location a month for up to 30 employees, with higher plans raising the cap. Note the different currencies.
Depends on the buyer
- 03
Life outside the restaurant
Homebase serves retail as well as hospitality, and nothing in it presumes a kitchen. 7shifts speaks in kitchen roles and tip pooling, and its reports stop making sense in a warehouse or a care home. A business that is not a restaurant, or that runs a shop beside one, is better served by Homebase.
Edge: Homebase
- 04
Which side of the border
Both sell payroll only in the United States. Homebase payroll covers all 50 states and Washington DC at $49 a month plus $6 per employee paid. 7shifts Payroll is for US-based customers at $39.99 a month per location plus $6 per employee paid, with restaurants elsewhere on a waiting list. Outside the United States, each is a scheduler without payroll.
Depends on the buyer
When neither fits
Neither suits a restaurant or shop in Europe: both vendors offer their payroll to US customers only, and both leave local premiums to a spreadsheet. Skello and Papershift encode European rules directly and publish their prices per employee.
Homebase or 7shifts: questions
5 answersIs 7shifts better than Homebase for a restaurant?
For a restaurant group that steers on labour percentage, yes: 7shifts reads sales from the till and shows the ratio while the rota is being built.
For one small cafe that mainly needs a schedule and a clock, the free Homebase tier may be all that is required.
Do Homebase and 7shifts both charge per location?
Yes. Both publish prices per location per month instead of per user, and both have a free plan for a single location: Homebase for up to 10 employees, 7shifts for up to 15.
Homebase paid plans allow unlimited employees, while 7shifts caps Essentials at 30 and Pro at 60.
Can a retail shop use 7shifts instead of Homebase?
It would be an awkward fit. 7shifts is built around restaurant vocabulary, tip pooling and till integrations, and is described as wrong for non-hospitality shift work. Homebase lists retail alongside hospitality as its intended use, so a shop should start there.
Is there a free version of 7shifts?
Yes. The 7shifts pricing page lists a free Comp plan for a single location with up to 15 employees, covering basic scheduling, announcements, and availability and time off requests.
After the 14-day trial of the top plan you can stay on Comp or subscribe to a paid plan.
What does payroll cost on Homebase and 7shifts?
Homebase lists payroll as an add-on to any plan at $49 a month base fee plus $6 per employee paid.
7shifts lists its payroll at $39.99 a month per location plus $6 per employee paid, added to any paid plan. Both are available to US-based customers only.
Sources
Checked 30 September 2026- Homebase pricing page: Homebase plan prices, free plan limits, payroll add-on price, sales forecasting.
- Homebase payroll page: Homebase payroll is available to US-based customers in all 50 states and Washington DC.
- Homebase integrations page: Homebase point-of-sale integrations.
- 7shifts pricing page: 7shifts free Comp plan, paid plan prices in CAD, employee caps, labour targets on projected sales.
- 7shifts integrations page: 7shifts point-of-sale integrations and sales import.
- 7shifts payroll page: 7shifts Payroll price and US-only availability.