Legion vs Planday (2026): which should you pick?
As of Nov 12, 2026, Planday grades higher than Legion: 2.6 against 1.8 out of 4.0.
Checked Oct 18, 2026 and Nov 12, 2026 · graded Oct 18, 2026 and Nov 12, 2026 by ToolGPA
Planday grades higher on the free plan, features and ease of use. They get the same grade on value for money and platforms.
Price, platforms and features side by side. The table says where each price was read and when.
Planday
Rota planning, punch clock and payroll reports for shift-based teams
Free trial · from $2.99/mo
Which one is for you
Pick Legion if
- Fits if you run a large hourly workforce across many sites
- Works for a business that will go through a demo and a sales process
Look elsewhere if
- Skip it if you run one small site, as the site is built for large hourly workforces
- Not for you if you want a price list, as none is published
- Watch out: on-demand pay runs through a partner, Stream
- Too light for anyone who needs to know the phone platforms, as iOS and Android are not named
Pick Planday if
- Fits if you run restaurants, bars or hotels and want wage costs next to revenue
- Works for managers who need a warning before a rota breaks working-time rules
Look elsewhere if
- Tight if you're on Starter and need leave tracking, payroll links or the API, as they wait for Plus
- Pricey if you want auto-scheduling, which only comes on Pro, priced by quote
- Not for you if you have fewer than 5 staff, as Starter bills at least 5 users and Plus at least 10
- Watch out: users are billed in bundles of five, so 23 users pay for 25, and Plus adds a $30 monthly fee
- Watch out: SMS and onboarding help cost extra, with no published prices, and there's no free plan
How we grade them
| 1.8GPALegionWeak | 2.6GPAPlandayGood | |
|---|---|---|
| Value for money | CNo price or plan is published, so there is nothing to set against the $5.65 middle of the category. | CStarter is $2.99 a user a month, billed in bundles of five, so 15 staff are three bundles: $44.85 a month, with no yearly rate listed. That's the dear end of normal here. Plus, which has leave and payroll links, is $30 plus $4.49 a user, so $97.35 for 15. |
| Free plan and trial | FNo free plan and no trial. The site sends you to a demo. | CNo free plan. There's a 30-day trial of Plus with no credit card needed, long enough to build a few real rotas. |
| Features | CLabour planning, schedule optimisation, time and attendance, an employee app and AI tools. It is built for large hourly workforces, so a small single-site business is a poor match. | BRota templates built around availability, working-time warnings, a geolocated punch clock, shift swaps in the staff app, and wage costs set against revenue. Across its plans that's the whole job, with auto-scheduling only on the custom-priced Pro. |
| Ease of use | CNo store rating on record. An enterprise rollout needs set-up and integrations. | B4.55 from 4,271 App Store ratings, below the top-rated apps in this category. |
| Platforms and integrations | BWeb, with eight integrations and partners listed. The site mentions a mobile app but not which phones. | BWeb, iPhone and Android, with Xero, QuickBooks Online, Sage 50, Paychex and Personio among its connections, and an API on Plus. No desktop app. |
| Best for | workforce management for large hourly teams | rotas for restaurants, hotels and care teams |
The GPA is the average of the five grades: an A is 4 points, an F is none. The full reasons are on each tool's page: Legion and Planday. How we grade
Where they differ
- Legion also covers reports.
- Planday also covers auto-scheduling, team chat and employee records.
In commonWebShift schedulingTime clockTime off
At a glance
| Legion | Planday | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Paid | Free trial |
| Starts at | Not published | $2.99 per user / month (Starter, minimum 5 users) |
| Free plan | None | None |
| Free trial | None listed | 30-day free trial of the Plus plan, no credit card required |
| Web | ||
| iOS | ||
| Android | ||
| Made by | Legion Technologies, Inc. | Planday |
| Price read from | Not confirmed | planday.com |
| Checked | Nov 12, 2026 | Oct 18, 2026 |
Worth knowing
Legion
- No prices or plans are published; the site sends visitors to schedule a demo.
- It is described as built for enterprise teams managing large hourly workforces, not small single-site businesses.
- The site mentions a mobile app and a desktop browser but does not name iOS or Android, so only the web version is listed.
- On-demand pay (Legion InstantPay) runs through a partner, Stream.
Planday
- Users are billed in bundles of five, so 23 users are charged as 25. Starter needs at least 5 users and Plus at least 10.
- Plus adds a monthly subscription fee on top of the per-user price; the page data sets it at 30 in the visitor's currency, and Pro is priced by quote.
- Leave and absence management, payroll integrations and the API need Plus; auto-scheduling needs Pro.
- Each SMS sent through Planday and any onboarding help cost extra, and no prices are published for either.
Key features
Legion
- Labor planning
- Forecast demand and plan, allocate and model labor against budgets, adjusting when conditions change.
- Schedule optimization
- Automatically balances demand, budgets, workforce rules, availability and employee preferences so managers review a schedule rather than build one.
- Time and attendance
- Connects schedules and timekeeping from punch to payroll and surfaces exceptions. Partner time clocks from Accu-Time Systems, GT Clocks and Synel integrate.
- Employee app
- One app for schedules, availability, time off, shift pickup, swaps, messaging and Legion InstantPay on-demand pay.
- Agentic AI
- AI agents take approved actions within rules and guardrails that the customer sets, such as managed scheduling and assistants for managers.
- Control Center
- Staffing rules, operating requirements and policies can be updated by the customer without an IT ticket or a consultant project.
Planday
- Rota templates and availability
- Rotas are built from templates around the availability staff share, with warnings when a shift breaks your working-time rules. Pro adds auto-scheduling.
- Geolocated punch clock
- Staff clock in and out on their phones only from approved places, or at a kiosk station using the Planday Kiosk app, and managers see who is late across locations.
- Employee app
- Employees view their schedule, swap or hand over shifts, apply for open shifts, request time off and see their earnings in the iOS and Android app.
- Payroll reports and integrations
- Approved hours, overtime and absence become payroll reports, and Plus connects them to payroll systems such as Xero, QuickBooks Online, Sage 50 and Paychex.
- Staff cost and revenue reports
- Reports set wage costs against revenue and forecasts, so managers can see where a rota is over- or under-staffed.
- Messenger and newsfeed
- Managers message staff in the app or by SMS and post updates to a newsfeed; in-app messaging is included, while each SMS is charged.
Plans
Legion
Pricing could not be confirmed. See legion.co.
Planday
Starter$2.99
per user / month
Minimum 5 users. Scheduling, simple time tracking, working-time rule warnings, basic payroll reports, team messaging and live chat support.
Plus$30
per month, plus $4.49 per user
Minimum 10 users. Adds advanced scheduling, leave and absence, payroll and revenue integrations, API access, employee records and documents.
ProCustom
For larger organizations: auto-scheduling, custom planning metrics, configurable structure, custom roles, phone support and custom setup.
Common questions
Which is cheaper, Legion or Planday?
As of Nov 12, 2026, Legion has no price we could confirm, and Planday starts at $2.99 per user / month (Starter, minimum 5 users).
Which has a free plan, Legion or Planday?
As of Nov 12, 2026, neither Legion nor Planday has a free plan. Planday has a free trial.
Which platforms do Legion and Planday run on?
As of Nov 12, 2026, only Planday lists iOS and Android apps. Both list a web app. A platform missing from a listing is one its maker's pages did not mention.
More comparisons
How this page was made
- The verdict at the top follows a fixed rule. When both tools are in the same category and either is in our top three for it, the verdict follows that ranking: the higher-placed tool is our pick. The top three weigh who each tool suits as well as its grades, so a pick can go against the GPA. Otherwise the page does not pick one and says which grades higher: the higher GPA first; on a tie, the one with a free plan, then the one that starts cheaper in dollars a month, counted the same way for both; if they are still level, what the choice depends on.
- The grades are our own, from each tool’s review or report card. The GPA is their average.
- Prices, plans and platforms come from each tool’s listing. The table above says where each price was read and when.
- The differences and the answers to the questions are worked out from those listings.