Homebase vs Connecteam
Homebase is a rota and time clock for an American shop or cafe, free at one location with up to 10 employees and billed per site after that. Connecteam is a phone-first operations app with scheduling beside forms, checklists and chat, billed at a flat rate for the first 30 users. Counter businesses lean towards Homebase, mobile crews towards Connecteam.
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Choose Homebase ifyou run one hospitality or retail site in the United States, want scheduling and clocking at no cost, and need payroll links and compliance alerts written for American state rules.
Choose Connecteam ifyour staff work away from a desk with only a phone, and you would otherwise pay separately for checklists, forms, training and team messaging alongside the schedule.
Homebase and Connecteam side by side
| Homebase | Connecteam | |
|---|---|---|
| Our workforce management rank | #8 of 16 | #6 of 16 |
| Established in | United States | Israel |
| Pricing | Free for one location up to 10 employees; paid per location per month, published | Free plan to 10 users; paid flat fee per hub for the first 30 users, then per user, published |
| List price, 30 September 2026 | $30 per location per month, unlimited employees (Essentials plan) | $29 per month for the first 30 users, billed yearly, then $0.80 per additional user (Operations Basic) |
| Free tier | Yes | Yes |
| Open source | — | — |
| Self-hostable | — | — |
| Built for | Single-site American hospitality and retail businesses watching cost | Deskless teams who need scheduling, checklists and messaging in one app |
| Not for | European employers who need local payroll and compliance | Employers whose schedules must satisfy collective agreement rules |
Both are reviewed in full in our workforce management ranking: Homebase and Connecteam.
Where they differ
Homebase 1 · Connecteam 1 · open 3- 01
Sites or heads: what the invoice counts
Homebase is free for one location with up to 10 employees, then $30 per location a month on Essentials with unlimited employees. Connecteam is free for up to 10 users; its Operations hub starts at $29 a month on yearly billing for the first 30 users, then $0.80 per extra user, and each of its three hubs is priced separately. Both in US dollars.
Depends on the buyer
- 02
What comes with the schedule
Connecteam wraps the rota in forms, checklists, training and staff chat, which replaces several other subscriptions for a cleaning company or a site crew. Homebase adds basic hiring tools on the free tier and labour cost reporting on paid ones. If the wider bundle would actually be used, Connecteam covers more ground in one app.
Edge: Connecteam
- 03
American payroll and state labour rules
Homebase sells its own payroll for $49 a month plus $6 per employee paid, available in all 50 states and Washington DC, and its top plan adds alerts on federal and state labour law changes and access to HR advisers. Connecteam does not run payroll; it sends timesheets to Gusto, QuickBooks, Xero, Paychex Flex and PrismHR. Inside the United States, Homebase goes further.
Edge: Homebase
- 04
Counter staff or mobile crews
Homebase is shaped for the fixed workplace, a cafe or shop where people clock in at the same door every day. Connecteam assumes the opposite: deskless workers who will only ever open a phone and who also need to file a checklist or read a message there. Which assumption matches your operation settles this round.
Depends on the buyer
- 05
Till sales in the schedule
Both connect to point-of-sale systems. Homebase lists integrations with Toast, Square, Clover, Lightspeed and Shopify, and can build a schedule from forecasted sales and labour targets. Connecteam lists Lightspeed, Square, Clover and Shopify POS integrations that bring live sales data next to worked hours. Homebase covers more restaurant tills; the rest depends on which one you run.
Depends on the buyer
When neither fits
Neither fits an employer whose rota has to satisfy a collective agreement or European working time law, since both leave that arithmetic to you. Papershift and Quinyx encode European rules directly and have the deeper scheduling logic that Connecteam is measured against.
Homebase or Connecteam: questions
4 answersIs Homebase or Connecteam cheaper for a small business?
It depends on shape. Both are free for up to 10 people, Homebase at one location only.
Beyond that Homebase charges from $30 per location a month with unlimited employees, and Connecteam from $29 a month per hub for the first 30 users on yearly billing. Count locations, headcount and hubs.
Can Homebase or Connecteam be used outside the United States?
Homebase loses most of its value abroad: its payroll is offered to US-based customers only and its compliance alerts follow federal and state law.
Connecteam lists prices in US dollars but integrates with Xero as well as US payroll systems. Working time compliance in Europe stays your responsibility with either.
Does Connecteam replace Homebase for scheduling alone?
Judge Connecteam on scheduling by itself before deciding, because the extra modules are what justify its price and unused ones are wasted spend.
If a rota and a time clock at one site are all you need, the free Homebase tier already covers that without a per-user fee.
Which payroll systems do Homebase and Connecteam connect to?
Homebase has its own payroll add-on and also syncs or exports timesheets to Gusto, ADP, Paychex, QuickBooks and Square Payroll.
Connecteam has no payroll of its own and lists integrations with Gusto, QuickBooks, Xero, Paychex Flex and PrismHR, with payroll integration included from its Operations Basic plan.
Sources
Checked 30 September 2026- Homebase pricing page: Homebase plan prices, free plan limits, payroll add-on price, labour law alerts, 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 and payroll integrations.
- Connecteam pricing page: Connecteam free plan, flat price for first 30 users, per-user price after, hubs, payroll integration.
- Connecteam integrations page: Connecteam payroll and point-of-sale integrations.