Zip Schedules review (2026): is it worth $19 a month?
Employee scheduling with per-location pricing, aimed at restaurants
Black Friday: is there a Zip Schedules sale?
Zip Schedules report card
Fair · out of 4.0 · graded Nov 13, 2026
Best for small restaurants paying per location
Zip Schedules charges $19 a month per location for up to 20 employees, with schedules, swaps and labor budgeting. But no trial or integrations are listed, and the site shows signs it may not be maintained.
Who Zip Schedules is for
- Fits if you run a restaurant with 20 or fewer staff and want a low flat price
- Works for owners with several locations and one per-location bill
Who Zip Schedules is not for
- Skip it if you want a trial first, as none is mentioned
- Not for you if you need integrations, since none are listed
- Watch out: the site footer reads 2023 and its 404 page carries the Altametrics name
- Watch out: over 50 employees per location is custom
Why Zip Schedules gets a 2.0
Five grades, each with its reason. The GPA is their average: an A is 4 points, an F is none.
- BValue for money$19 a month per location for 1 to 20 employees, $39 for 21 to 50. A five-person team pays under $4 a head.
- FFree plan and trialNo free plan and no trial on the pricing page.
- CFeaturesSchedule building, swaps, time-off requests, labor budgeting and labor law settings. But no time clock and no integrations are listed.
- CEase of useNo store rating on record. Setting up locations and templates is the work.
- BPlatforms and integrationsWeb plus iPhone and Android apps and multi-location support. No desktop app and no integrations.
What these grades rest on. Graded from this listing, whose facts were read from Zip Schedules's own pages on 13 November 2026. Not based on using the product, and shorter than our full reviews. How we review and grade.
Make Zip Schedules? Put this grade on your site
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<a href="https://toolgpa.com/tools/zipschedules#review"><img src="https://toolgpa.com/badge/zipschedules.svg" alt="Zip Schedules: 2.0 GPA on ToolGPA" width="196" height="56"></a>Where Zip Schedules stands among shift scheduling apps
Zip Schedules's GPA of 2.0 is higher than 17 of the 49 other shift scheduling apps we grade, and level with 8.
It stands best on value for money (B, above 38 of 49) and worst on free plan and trial (F, above 0).
Its paid plans start at $19 a month for each person, against a middle price of $16.76 for the category: 15 of the 28 others that charge start lower.
On features, ease of use and platforms it scores 2.3 out of 4. 7 tools score higher and cost less.
Each grade against the category
Every bar is all 50 shift scheduling apps we grade, cut by the letter each got. Zip Schedules’s own letter is outlined.
- BValue for moneyAbove 38 of 49, level with 11
- FFree plan and trialAbove 0 of 49, level with 22
- CFeaturesAbove 0 of 49, level with 22
- CEase of useAbove 0 of 49, level with 42
- BPlatforms and integrationsAbove 16 of 49, level with 33
Price against what you get
Each dot is one of 29 shift scheduling apps. Further left costs less, and higher up scores better on features, ease of use and platforms. Point at a dot to see which tool it is.
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
Keep Zip Schedules, or make your own?
Keep it
The plain part of Zip Schedules you could make: time off, calendar and reports. What surrounds it you could not. The 3 things listed below take a company, not a weekend.
It costs $228 a year.
What you could make
- Time off, calendar and reports: an app builder makes these well.
What you could not
- A rota the whole staff sees on their phones, with swaps and alerts.
- A real app for iOS and Android. Something home-made would be a web page.
- It is priced for each person, which means accounts and billing for a team.
What this rests on. Zip Schedules’s listing: what it does, where it runs, what it plugs into and what it costs. It is a judgement about the kind of software this is. We have not built a replacement for it, and making your own means looking after it too. How we decide, and every tool’s verdict.
What is Zip Schedules?
Zip Schedules is employee scheduling software that markets itself mainly to restaurants. Managers build schedules, handle shift swaps, time-off and availability requests, and watch labor budgets, while staff use a free iPhone and Android app. Pricing is a flat monthly fee per location, set by headcount.
Worth knowing
- Price depends on headcount per location: $19 up to 20 employees, $39 for 21 to 50, and custom above 50.
- The pricing page does not mention a free trial.
- The site's footer reads 2023, and its 404 page carries the name Altametrics, so check that the product is actively maintained.
- No integrations are listed on the pages we read.
Key features
- Schedule building
- Managers check staff availability and build schedules from templates, with alerts for schedule changes and reminders.
- Employee requests
- Shift swaps, time-off requests and availability changes are handled in one request queue.
- Labor budgeting
- Forecasting tools and budget alerts help schedule the right number of staff, and overtime is flagged automatically.
- Labor law settings
- The vendor says it tracks timesheet data, certifications and schedule-change records and offers settings for minimum wage rules.
- Free mobile app
- Managers and employees use iPhone and Android apps to view schedules, send broadcast messages and approve requests.
- Multiple locations
- Every plan lists multi-location support, with the price counted per location.
Zip Schedules pricing
As of Nov 13, 2026, Zip Schedules is a paid product, starting at $19 per location / month for 1-20 employees.
- Starts at
- $19 per location / month for 1-20 employees
- Free plan
- None
- Free trial
- None listed
| Plan | Price | What you get |
|---|---|---|
| 1-20 employees | $19per location / month for 1-20 employees | Scheduling, communication tools, templates, shift swap, time-off and availability requests, multi-location support, labor budgeting and the iPhone and Android apps. |
| 21-50 employees | $39per location / month for 21-50 employees | The same feature list as the smaller tier, for locations with 21 to 50 employees. |
| Enterprise | Custom | For locations with more than 50 employees; the page offers a demo instead of a price. |
Read from zipschedules.com on Nov 13, 2026. Prices change, so confirm with Zip Schedules before you buy.
Zip Schedules alternatives
- Zip Schedules vs 7shifts
Free plan · from $39.99/mo
- Zip Schedules vs When I Work
Free trial · from $2.50/mo
- Zip Schedules vs Homebase
Free plan · from $24/mo
- Zip Schedules vs Sling by Toast
Free plan · from $1.70/mo
- Zip Schedules vs Schedulefly
Free trial · from $30/mo
Common questions
Does Zip Schedules have a Windows app?
No Windows app was listed when its pages were read on Nov 13, 2026. Zip Schedules is listed for Web, iOS and Android.
Does Zip Schedules have a macOS app?
No macOS app was listed when its pages were read on Nov 13, 2026. Zip Schedules is listed for Web, iOS and Android.
Is Zip Schedules open source?
Zip Schedules is not described as open source on its own site, as read on Nov 13, 2026.
Sources for this page
The prices, plans, platforms and features above were read from these pages on Nov 13, 2026.