What is the best restaurant scheduling software in 2026?
Five apps compared on a real restaurant week: front of house, kitchen, dish, doubles and the Saturday night rush.
The short answer: for a single restaurant, start with Homebase. Its Basic plan is free for one location and up to 10 employees, paid plans are priced per location (from $30 a month), and Tip Manager adds tip pooling from your POS for $25. If you run a busy full-service room and want forecasting tied to sales, 7shifts is the restaurant specialist, with The Works at $74.99 per location a month billed annually. If you want free scheduling for a bigger crew, Sling is free up to 30 users.
A restaurant schedule is not an office roster. Labor is usually your biggest cost after food, and it moves with every slow Tuesday and every packed Friday. Tips have to be split under federal rules, and some cities make you post schedules 14 days ahead. We compared each app on those cases, not on a generic demo.
Some links may be affiliate links. The ranking is editorial: a sponsored spot is always labeled on its card, and no affiliate link changes a score.
The best scheduling app for your floor
5 restaurant scheduling apps compared
The full ranking, with how each app is priced. Per location or per user decides your bill more than the sticker price. Click a tool to read its card.
| Best for | How it's priced | Free plan | Team size | Visit | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Homebase | One location | Per location | 4.4/5 | Free (1 location, 10 employees); Essentials $30/location/mo | ✓ | Single restaurant, café, bar | Visit → |
| 2 | 7shifts | Full-service specialist | Per location | 4.2/5 | Free Comp plan; The Works $74.99/location/mo billed annually | ✓ | Full-service restaurant, 1 to 10 locations | Visit → |
| 3 | Sling | Big crew, zero spend | Per user | 4.0/5 | Free up to 30 users; Premium $2/user/mo | ✓ | Restaurant with a large part-time crew | Visit → |
| 4 | Deputy | Compliance-heavy cities | Per user, $30 minimum | 4.1/5 | Lite $5, Core $6.50, Pro $9 per user/mo | — | Multi-unit group in fair workweek cities | Visit → |
| 5 | Connecteam | Opening and closing checklists | Flat for 30 users | 4.2/5 | Free up to 10 users; Basic $29/mo billed yearly for 30 users | ✓ | Small restaurant, food truck, catering | Visit → |
Prices from official pricing pages in 2026, in US dollars. Payroll and tip add-ons are extra.
Is your tool missing from this page? Email us: hello@hackceleration.com
How we compared and scored
We started from a real restaurant week: lunch and dinner, servers, line cooks, a dishwasher, two doubles and a Saturday call-in. For each app we read the official pricing page and the restaurant features it actually lists, then went through manager reviews, worst ones first. We asked three questions: does it show labor cost against sales from your POS, does it handle tips and local scheduling laws, and what does it cost for your headcount.
Scores match our general employee scheduling ranking: a tool keeps the same score from one page to the next. The order here follows the restaurant angle, which is why Homebase leads and Deputy sits fourth despite a higher score than Sling on some criteria. 7shifts is new to our rankings; its 4.2 reflects strong restaurant features and a price that managers often call high.
- Labor law and complianceOvertime alerts, breaks, predictive scheduling notice and tip pooling rules.25%
- Scheduling and shift swapsTemplates by station, shift trades, availability and forecasting from sales.25%
- Time clock and payrollClock-in, scheduled vs. actual hours and export to payroll.20%
- Value for moneyReal price for 8, 15 and 30 staff, add-ons included.15%
- Ease of use and appStaff app, onboarding and complaints read in reviews.15%
Some links may be affiliate links. The ranking is editorial: a sponsored spot is always labeled on its card, and no affiliate link changes a score.
Scheduling app prices change every year. Get the updates
Homebase
Homebase wins for one simple reason: it charges per location, and its free plan is real. Basic covers one location and up to 10 employees, with scheduling, basic time tracking and a POS link. Paid plans run $30 (Essentials), $70 (Plus) and $120 (All-in-One) per location a month, 20% less on an annual plan, with a 14-day trial.
For restaurants, the add-on that matters is Tip Manager, at $25 per location a month. It pulls tips from your POS and calculates the pool, which is the part most managers still do in a spreadsheet at 1 a.m. Payroll is another $49 a month plus $6 per employee.
The catch is the bill creeping up. Essentials plus Tip Manager plus payroll for 15 people is $194 a month, not $30. And managers report that canceling can be painful, with charges after cancellation mentioned in secondhand reviews. Cancel in writing and check your next statement.
- Free plan for 1 location and 10 employees
- Priced per location
- Tip Manager pools tips from your POS
- Payroll in the same app
- ✓Cheapest serious option for one restaurant
- ✓Simple app for hourly staff
- ✓Clear public pricing
- ✗Add-ons stack up fast
- ✗Cancellation complaints in reviews
- ✗Forecasting lighter than 7shifts
The best start for a single restaurant: free up to 10 employees, then a flat price per location. Add Tip Manager the day tip pooling eats your Sunday.
7shifts
7shifts is built only for restaurants, and it shows in the features: schedules forecast from your POS sales (Toast and Square among others), labor cost shown against sales, tip pooling, and a manager log book for shift notes. If your problem is staffing a 120-cover Friday without overspending on a dead Monday, it is the most focused tool here.
Price is the hard part. 7shifts' own announcement puts The Works at $84.99 per location a month, or $74.99 billed annually ($899.88 a year), with a 14-day trial. There is a free Comp plan; check its limits on the pricing page before relying on it. Third-party sites list other tiers at conflicting prices; we only quote what 7shifts publishes.
Managers rate it well on review sites. The recurring complaint is cost, with owners calling it on the higher end once they add locations. That is why it scores 3.6 on value and ranks behind Homebase for a single room.
- Built only for restaurants
- Forecasting from POS sales
- Tip pooling and manager log book
- Labor cost vs. sales
- ✓Deepest restaurant feature set
- ✓Strong reviews from managers
- ✓Free plan to start
- ✗Expensive per location as you grow
- ✗Tier pricing hard to read
- ✗Overkill for a small café
Pick it if labor cost against sales is the number you manage every day. Ask for a written quote per location before signing, and price it against Homebase plus Tip Manager.
Sling
Sling is free up to 30 users, the most generous free plan in this ranking. For a restaurant with lots of part-timers, that covers scheduling, shift trades and messaging at $0.
Sling belongs to Toast. If you already run Toast, Sling is sold through the Toast Shop, which keeps scheduling close to your sales. Paid plans are per user: Premium at $2 ($1.70 annually) and Business at $4 ($3.40). Inactive seats are prorated, a useful detail for seasonal teams.
Its limit is compliance. It scores 3.5 on labor law, the lowest of the four restaurant picks, and its free plan has no forecasting from sales.
- Free up to 30 users
- Owned by Toast
- Inactive seats prorated
- ✓Most generous free plan
- ✓Cheap per-user upgrades
- ✓Natural fit for Toast restaurants
- ✗Light on labor law
- ✗Per-user pricing grows with the crew
- ✗No sales forecasting on the free plan
The right free tool for a big hourly crew, especially on Toast. Move up when you need labor cost against sales.
Deputy
Deputy scores highest here on labor law (4.3), and that is its reason to be on a restaurant list. If you run locations in cities with predictive scheduling laws, where schedules go out 14 days ahead, you want software that tracks changes and warns you before you owe premium pay.
It is priced per user: $5 (Lite), $6.50 (Core) or $9 (Pro) a month, with a $30 minimum per invoice. For 30 staff on Core, that is $195 a month, the most expensive option in our 30-person example.
For one café, it is too much tool: Homebase or Sling cover a single room for less.
- Strongest compliance score in this ranking
- Built for multi-site groups
- Per-user plans from $5
- ✓Handles predictive scheduling rules
- ✓Good shift swap workflow
- ✓Scales across locations
- ✗Expensive for 30+ staff
- ✗$30 minimum per invoice
- ✗Too much tool for a single café
Worth the price if a scheduling law fine costs more than the software. Otherwise Homebase or 7shifts fit a restaurant better.
Connecteam
Connecteam is not a restaurant app, but it does one thing restaurant apps often skip: opening and closing checklists. Walk-in temps logged, drawer counted, patio stacked, all in the same app as the schedule and time clock.
Pricing is flat for a group: free up to 10 users, then $35 a month ($29 billed yearly) for 30 users on Basic. Archived users still count toward the free 10, so delete seasonal staff who won't come back.
It has no POS link and no tip pooling, and it scores 3.4 on labor law. Use it for discipline on the floor, not for labor cost.
- Checklists, schedule and chat in one app
- Free up to 10 users
- Flat $35 for 30 users
- ✓Flat $35 for up to 30 users
- ✓Well-rated staff app
- ✓Useful beyond scheduling
- ✗No POS or sales link
- ✗No tip pooling
- ✗Weak on labor law
A good fit for a small restaurant that wants consistent openings and closings. Pair it with your POS reports for labor cost.
The rules your scheduling app should check for you
A restaurant schedule rarely fails on layout. It fails on a tip pool that breaks federal rules, a schedule posted too late or overtime nobody saw coming.
Tip pools and the kitchen
Under the federal rules, you can share tips with back-of-house staff only if you don't take a tip credit. Take the credit, and the pool stays with tipped front-of-house staff.
Managers stay out
Managers and supervisors can't keep any part of employees' tips, even through a pool. Set roles carefully in your app so a shift lead's status is clear.
Fair workweek cities
Oregon, New York City, Chicago, Seattle, San Francisco and Philadelphia have predictive scheduling laws, with schedules posted 14 days ahead in many cases. Late changes can trigger extra pay.
Labor cost vs. sales
A schedule tied to POS sales shows labor as a share of revenue by day or shift. Without that link, you find out at month end, too late to cut a shift.
- Build a tip pool including the kitchen and see if the app asks about tip credit
- Change a shift 10 days out and check for a predictive pay alert
- Ask which POS systems sync sales, and how often
- Price payroll and tip add-ons, not just the base plan
- Cancel trials in writing
What a scheduling app costs for 8, 15 or 30 staff
Sticker prices hide the per-user math. Here is the monthly bill for one location, from the official price lists.
A café with 8 staff
Small crewHomebase Basic, Sling and Connecteam are all free at 8 people. Deputy Core costs $52. 7shifts' Comp plan is free, The Works $74.99 billed annually.
Tip: at this size, free is enough unless you need tip pooling, then Homebase Essentials plus Tip Manager is $55.
- Homebase, Sling, Connecteam
- $0
- Deputy Core
- $52/mo
A restaurant with 15 staff
Tipping pointHomebase moves to Essentials at $30. Sling stays free. Connecteam is $35 on monthly billing. Deputy Core reaches $97.50. 7shifts The Works stays $74.99 annually, whatever the headcount.
Tip: per-location pricing starts to win here, especially if you staff up for summer.
- Homebase Essentials
- $30/mo
- Deputy Core
- $97.50/mo
A restaurant with 30 staff
Big crewHomebase Essentials is still $30 per location. Sling is free up to 30, or $60 on Premium. Connecteam Basic stays $35. Deputy Core is $195.
Tip: at 30 staff, one overstaffed slow shift a week costs more than any plan. Pay for the sales link.
- Homebase Essentials
- $30/mo
- Deputy Core
- $195/mo
Go further
Your schedule feeds on POS sales and ends up in payroll.
Restaurant scheduling FAQ
What is the best free restaurant scheduling app?
Sling, if you have a big crew: free up to 30 users. Homebase Basic is free for one location and 10 employees and adds a POS link. Connecteam is free up to 10 users.
How much does 7shifts cost?
7shifts publishes The Works at $84.99 per location a month, or $74.99 billed annually, with a 14-day trial and a free Comp plan. Other tiers are on its pricing page; ask for a written quote per location.
7shifts or Homebase for a restaurant?
Homebase for one location on a budget: free to start, $30 per location after. 7shifts if you manage labor cost against sales every day and want forecasting from your POS. Price both with tip pooling included.
Can a scheduling app handle tip pooling?
Yes. Homebase Tip Manager ($25 per location a month) pulls tips from your POS and calculates the pool, and 7shifts includes tip pooling. Check that the pool excludes managers and only includes the kitchen if you don't take a tip credit.
What labor cost percentage should a restaurant aim for?
It depends on the concept: fine dining runs higher than fast casual. What matters is tracking it by day from your POS, so you can cut a shift before the week is over, not after.
Do I need to post schedules two weeks ahead?
Only where a predictive scheduling law applies, such as Oregon, New York City, Chicago, Seattle, San Francisco and Philadelphia. Deputy is the strongest app here on these rules.
Is Excel enough for a restaurant schedule?
For a few people, yes. The real cost of a spreadsheet is the shift swap texts at midnight and the lack of a record. A free plan from Sling or Homebase fixes that for $0.