Planday vs Shiftie
We give Planday a 2.6 GPA and Shiftie a 2.0, out of 4.0. Planday grades higher on features, ease of use and platforms. They get the same grade on value for money and the free plan.
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
Shiftie
UK rota and time clock web app with one per-employee plan
How we grade them
| 2.6GPAPlandayGood | 2.0GPAShiftieFair | |
|---|---|---|
| Value for money | 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. | C£2.75 an employee a month, billed monthly with no yearly plan, so 15 staff cost £41.25 a month. Prices are in pounds only. That's above the middle of this category for a team that size, though it buys every feature. |
| Free plan and trial | CNo free plan. There's a 30-day trial of Plus with no credit card needed, which is plenty of time to build a few real rotas. | CNo free plan, but a 28-day trial with no card details needed. Enough to run a month of real rotas before you pay. |
| Features | 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. | CRota templates, open shifts, swaps with conflict checks, GPS-limited clock-ins, timesheets, leave and documents, all on one plan. The gap the listing names is payroll: there's no payroll connection, only a timesheet export. |
| Ease of use | B4.55 from 4,271 App Store ratings. Good, though a step behind the best-rated apps in this category. | CNo App Store rating to go on, since there's no store app. Staff save the web app to their home screen, and a rota still needs teams, roles and templates set up first. |
| Platforms and integrations | BWeb, iPhone and Android, with Xero, QuickBooks Online, Sage 50, Paychex and Personio among its connections, and an API on Plus. No desktop app. | CWeb only, as a progressive web app, with no native phone or desktop app. Its connections are UK ticketing, till and vetting tools such as DigiTickets and ICRTouch, and API access is by request. |
| Best for | rotas for restaurants, hotels and care teams | UK venues that staff to bookings |
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: Planday and Shiftie. How we grade
Price against what you get
Planday starts at $2.99 a month for each person and scores 3.0 out of 4 on features, ease of use and platforms. Shiftie starts at about $3.64 a month for each person and scores 2.0.
Planday scores higher and starts $0.65 a month lower. Of the other shift scheduling apps on the chart, 1 scores higher than Planday for less, and 4 score higher than Shiftie for less.
Features, ease of use and platforms, averaged
What paid plans start at, a month (each step along is roughly double) →
- The best score at each price
- Has a free plan
- No free plan
Where they differ
- Planday starts at $2.99 per user / month (Starter, minimum 5 users). Shiftie starts at £2.75 per employee / month.
- Only Planday lists iOS and Android apps.
- Planday also covers auto-scheduling and team chat.
- Shiftie also covers reports.
At a glance
| Planday | Shiftie | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Free trial | Free trial |
| Starts at | $2.99 per user / month (Starter, minimum 5 users) | £2.75 per employee / month |
| Free plan | None | None |
| Free trial | 30-day free trial of the Plus plan, no credit card required | 28-day free trial, no card details required |
| Web | ||
| iOS | ||
| Android | ||
| Made by | Planday | Shiftie |
| Price read from | planday.com | shiftie.co |
| Checked | Oct 18, 2026 | Oct 18, 2026 |
Who each one suits
Planday
- Restaurants, bars and hotels running rotas across several sites
- Care providers and retailers that must follow working-time rules
- Teams that want payroll-ready hours flowing into Xero or Sage
Shiftie
- UK visitor attractions and hospitality venues that staff to bookings
- Small teams that want every feature on one per-employee price
- Employers tracking holiday allowances and absence patterns
Worth knowing
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.
Shiftie
- Prices are shown in pounds sterling only; the site gives no dollar price.
- There is no native mobile app: Shiftie is a progressive web app that staff save to their phone's home screen.
- Listed integrations are UK ticketing, till and vetting tools; there is no named payroll integration, only a timesheet export, and API access is arranged on request.
- Billing is monthly for each user active in the previous month, with no annual plan, and teams of 200 or more need a quote.
Key features
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.
Shiftie
- Rota building
- Shifts are added by drag and drop or from shift and schedule templates, with open shifts staff can volunteer for and suggestions for who to assign.
- Swaps and conflict checks
- Staff can swap shifts and acknowledge new ones, and conflict detection flags clashes in the rota, which can be split by team, role or location.
- Clock-in with GPS limits
- Staff clock in on their phones or at a shared on-site portal, with optional GPS restrictions, and managers see who is on site at any moment.
- Timesheets for payroll
- Clock-ins create timesheet entries automatically, with auto-approval and auto clock-out settings, and approved timesheets export for payroll.
- Leave, absence and documents
- Holiday requests and allowances, absence tracking, an employee directory and stored documents such as policies and personal records.
- Booking-led scheduling
- Integrations with DigiTickets, TrekkSoft and ICRTouch bring pre-booked visitor numbers or till sales into the rota so staffing can follow demand.
Plans
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.
Shiftie
Monthly Plan£2.75
per employee / month, £1.50 for each employee past 30
Every feature: scheduling, availability, leave, documents, time clock and timesheets, multiple venues, team messaging, reports and 7-day support.
EnterpriseCustom
For teams of 200 or more employees, priced by quote.
