Workzenly makes time clock, scheduling, PTO and payroll software, and it appears in this list as one option. We researched every product on its own website on November 7, 2026. No company paid to be included. Features and prices change, so check each vendor’s site before you buy.
The best restaurant scheduling app for most independent US restaurants is 7shifts: it is built only for restaurants, reads sales from POS systems such as Toast, Square and Clover, and checks predictive scheduling, minor labor and California break rules. A single cafe with up to 10 staff can start free on Homebase, and groups with five or more locations should look at HotSchedules from Fourth.
Restaurants are harder to schedule than most businesses. Demand swings by the hour, servers trade shifts constantly, front of house and back of house have different roles and wages, and many of your employees are under 18. Good restaurant scheduling software helps on all four: it schedules to forecast sales and a labor target, handles swaps and pickups on the phone, separates FOH and BOH positions, and warns you before a schedule breaks a rule. This list is for owners, GMs and kitchen managers at US cafes, bars, pizzerias, quick-service and full-service restaurants. Running a tighter budget? Our weekly schedule templates include a restaurant layout you can print today.
Top picks at a glance
7shiftsBest overall for restaurants
HomebaseBest free plan for one restaurant
HotSchedulesBest for multi-unit groups
SlingBest free plan for larger staffs
Square ShiftsBest if you use Square POS
WorkzenlyBest for scheduling plus payroll
Comparison table
| Tool | Best for | Free plan or trial | Starting price | Platforms |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 7shifts | independent restaurants and growing groups | Free plan: 1 location, up to 15 employees | $39.99 per location/month (Essentials, up to 30 employees) | Web, iOS, Android |
| Homebase | single cafes, counters and small restaurants | Free for 1 location, up to 10 employees | $30 per location/month (Essentials) | Web, iOS, Android |
| HotSchedules | multi-unit and franchise restaurant groups | Demo; no public trial listed | Quote | Web, mobile app |
| Sling | restaurants with up to 30 staff that want to start free | Free for up to 30 users; 15-day trial | $1.70 per user/month (Premium, annual) | Web, iOS, Android |
| Square Shifts | restaurants and cafes already on Square POS | 30-day free trial of Square Plus | Included in Square Plus, $49 per location/month | Square Dashboard (web), Square POS, Square Team app |
 Deputy | restaurants in fair workweek cities and multi-site groups | Free trial up to 31 days; no free plan | $5 per user/month (Lite) | Web, iOS, Android, tablet kiosk |
 When I Work | cafes and QSRs that want simple auto-scheduling | 14-day free trial; no free plan | $2.50 per user/month (Essentials) | Web, iOS, Android |
| Workzenly | restaurants that want scheduling, time clock and payroll in one system | Book a demo | Book a demo | Web, employee phone app, shared tablet clock |
- Best for
- independent restaurants and growing groups
- Free plan or trial
- Free plan: 1 location, up to 15 employees
- Starting price
- $39.99 per location/month (Essentials, up to 30 employees)
- Platforms
- Web, iOS, Android
7shifts is restaurant scheduling software and nothing else, which shows in the details: positions for every station, schedules built against POS sales and a labor target, tip management, a manager log book and labor law alerts made for restaurants. Its free Comp plan covers one location with up to 15 employees. Most full-service restaurants will want Pro for labor compliance and labor cost tools; it is $89.99 per location per month for teams of 31 or more.
7shifts is built only for restaurants. It connects to POS systems including Toast, Square, Clover, Lightspeed, TouchBistro and Aloha so you schedule against sales. Its compliance tools flag late changes under predictive scheduling rules in places such as Chicago, Seattle and Oregon and calculate predictability pay, check minor hour limits against a school calendar, and check California meal and rest breaks.
Strengths
- Restaurant features: POS sales, tips and labor targets
- Predictive scheduling and minor labor law checks
- Free Comp plan for one location
- Tip management and payroll in the same platform
Drawbacks
- Free plan capped at 15 employees and one location
- Prices rise with team size: Pro is $89.99 per location for 31+ employees
- Tip management is a $49.99/location add-on below Premium
- Best for
- single cafes, counters and small restaurants
- Free plan or trial
- Free for 1 location, up to 10 employees
- Starting price
- $30 per location/month (Essentials)
- Platforms
- Web, iOS, Android
Homebase is a strong pick for a single restaurant, cafe or food truck with a small crew. The free plan covers one location with up to 10 employees, including scheduling and clock-in on a tablet or POS. It syncs sales from Toast, Square and Clover, and add-ons include a Tip Manager at $25 per location per month. Paid plans are priced per location with unlimited employees.
Homebase prices by location, not by head, so paid plans cover unlimited employees. The schedule builder warns about overtime and conflicts before you publish, and it can show labor cost against a sales forecast pulled from Square, Clover, Shopify or Toast. Employees trade, cover and pick up open shifts from the app.
Strengths
- Free plan for one location with up to 10 employees
- Flat per-location price with unlimited employees on paid plans
- POS sales sync from Square, Clover, Shopify and Toast
- Payroll add-on in the same app ($49/month plus $6 per employee)
Drawbacks
- The AI scheduling assistant needs the $70 Plus plan
- Free plan stops at one location and 10 employees
- Payroll costs extra on every plan
- Best for
- multi-unit and franchise restaurant groups
- Free plan or trial
- Demo; no public trial listed
- Starting price
- Quote
- Platforms
- Web, mobile app
HotSchedules, now part of Fourth, is a long-standing scheduling product for chain and franchise restaurants. Fourth positions it for operations from five to five hundred locations, with forecasts from POS sales and guest counts, auto-scheduling by skill and labor rules, and schedule scoring. Pricing is by quote after a demo, so it is not the tool for a single independent cafe.
HotSchedules, part of Fourth, forecasts demand from POS sales and guest-count history, then auto-assigns staff by availability, skill level and labor rules. Releases, swaps and pickups run through the app, and the approving manager sees compliance warnings. Alerts cover overtime, Fair Workweek rules and minor labor laws, and missed breaks when it is linked to time tracking.
Strengths
- AI forecasting from POS sales and guest counts
- Fair Workweek, overtime and minor labor alerts
- Swap approvals show compliance warnings
- Fourth also sells payroll, tips and inventory tools
Drawbacks
- No published price; a sales demo is required
- Aimed at groups of five or more locations
- No self-serve free trial listed
- Best for
- restaurants with up to 30 staff that want to start free
- Free plan or trial
- Free for up to 30 users; 15-day trial
- Starting price
- $1.70 per user/month (Premium, annual)
- Platforms
- Web, iOS, Android
Sling, owned by Toast since its acquisition, is a general scheduling app with a strong restaurant following and a free plan for up to 30 users. That makes it the best free server scheduling app for a mid-sized restaurant that outgrows a 10- or 15-person cap. Paid plans add labor cost alerts as you schedule, overtime tracking and a kiosk clock-in for the back door.
Sling, now owned by Toast, lets employees on the free plan see their shifts, request time off, offer shifts to coworkers and pick up open shifts. Premium adds unavailability, shift swaps, group messaging, a mobile time clock with overtime tracking, and labor cost alerts when a shift breaks the budget. Business adds shift tasks, kiosk clock-in and labor reports.
Strengths
- Free scheduling for up to 30 users
- Low per-user price on paid plans
- Labor cost and budget alerts as you schedule
- Open shifts and time-off requests on the free plan
Drawbacks
- Swaps, availability, time clock and labor cost need a paid plan
- Kiosk clock-in only on Business ($3.40 per user, annual)
- Sling recommends a desktop for building schedules
- Best for
- restaurants and cafes already on Square POS
- Free plan or trial
- 30-day free trial of Square Plus
- Starting price
- Included in Square Plus, $49 per location/month
- Platforms
- Square Dashboard (web), Square POS, Square Team app
Square Shifts is the natural choice if your restaurant runs on Square for Restaurants. Staff clock in on the same POS they ring orders on, timecards build themselves, and sales vs. labor reports show labor percentage without an integration. It comes with Square Plus at $49 per location per month. It is less specialized than 7shifts for restaurant labor rules.
If you already ring sales on Square, Square Shifts schedules staff in the same Dashboard. Team members swap shifts, including open shifts, and request time off. Timecards are created automatically from clock-ins on the POS, and sales vs. labor reports show labor cost against revenue. Hours flow to Square Payroll or export to another payroll provider.
Strengths
- Schedules, timecards and sales in one Square account
- Sales vs. labor reports with no integration to set up
- Timecards feed Square Payroll
- Per-location price, not per employee
Drawbacks
- Built for businesses that use Square POS
- Sold inside the $49/location Square Plus plan, not on its own
- No auto-scheduling listed on its Shifts page
- Best for
- restaurants in fair workweek cities and multi-site groups
- Free plan or trial
- Free trial up to 31 days; no free plan
- Starting price
- $5 per user/month (Lite)
- Platforms
- Web, iOS, Android, tablet kiosk
Deputy serves hospitality alongside retail and healthcare, and it is a good fit for restaurants that need compliance help: it schedules paid rest and unpaid meal breaks, flags missed breaks and offers a fair workweek feature. Auto-scheduling builds a roster from forecast demand and can aim for the lowest labor cost. Plans start at $5 per user per month.
Deputy’s auto-scheduler builds rosters from forecast demand, with priorities such as lowest cost or an even spread of hours. It plans paid rest breaks and unpaid meal breaks, flags missed ones, and offers a fair workweek compliance feature for cities with predictive scheduling laws. It connects to Square and Lightspeed POS, and payroll by Paycor is an add-on.
Strengths
- Auto-scheduling and demand forecasting (Core plan and up)
- Break planning and fair workweek compliance tools
- Biometric face clock-in on tablets with Core
- Built for multiple locations and franchises
Drawbacks
- No free plan
- Auto-scheduling is not in the $5 Lite plan
- $30 monthly minimum on monthly billing
- Best for
- cafes and QSRs that want simple auto-scheduling
- Free plan or trial
- 14-day free trial; no free plan
- Starting price
- $2.50 per user/month (Essentials)
- Platforms
- Web, iOS, Android
When I Work is not restaurant-only, but restaurants and coffee shops are among the industries it is built for, and it suits quick-service and counter restaurants with simple roles. The auto-scheduler fills a week from availability and eligibility, OpenShifts cover call-outs, and POS integrations are included in Essentials at $2.50 per user per month.
The auto-scheduler fills shifts in one click from each person’s eligibility, availability and preferences. OpenShifts post uncovered shifts to everyone qualified, swap requests go to a manager for approval, and team messaging keeps shift talk out of personal phone numbers. Attendance data syncs to payroll tools such as Gusto, QuickBooks Online, Paychex and Rippling.
Strengths
- Auto-scheduling, OpenShifts and swaps on the lowest plan
- Per-user pricing that stays low for small teams
- GPS and geofenced clock-in once you add time tracking
- Payroll integrations with Gusto, QuickBooks Online, Paychex and Rippling
Drawbacks
- No free plan, only a 14-day trial
- Time Tracking & Attendance is a separate add-on
- Scheduling rules and role permissions need the $5 Pro plan
8. Workzenly Our product
Best for restaurants that want scheduling, time clock and payroll in one system
- Best for
- restaurants that want scheduling, time clock and payroll in one system
- Free plan or trial
- Book a demo
- Starting price
- Book a demo
- Platforms
- Web, employee phone app, shared tablet clock
Workzenly is our product. It is workforce software for US small and mid-sized businesses, including restaurants, that want one system from schedule to paycheck. You schedule FOH and BOH shifts, staff clock in on their phone or a shared tablet at the host stand, and approved hours, overtime and PTO flow into payroll with pay stubs in the app.
Workzenly puts the schedule, time clock, PTO and payroll in one system with one employee app. Managers build shifts and approve swaps; employees clock in on their phone with GPS and geofencing or on a shared tablet. Approved hours and PTO flow into payroll, and pay stubs appear in the app. Onboarding forms are e-signed, and documents and performance reviews live in the same place.
Strengths
- Schedule, time clock, PTO and payroll in one system
- GPS and geofenced phone clock-in, or a shared tablet
- Pay stubs and PTO balances in the employee app
- Onboarding with e-signed forms
Drawbacks
- No published price; you get pricing in a demo
- No self-serve signup; you start with a demo
How we chose these restaurant scheduling apps
Our criteria
- Restaurant fit. Positions or roles for FOH and BOH, shift swaps and pickups on the phone, and POS integration or POS-based clock-in.
- Labor control. Labor cost or sales forecasts while you build the schedule, and overtime or compliance warnings.
- A range of sizes. Picks for a single counter-service cafe up to multi-unit franchise groups.
- Verified today. Prices, free plans and features come from each vendor’s own website on November 7, 2026. Restaurant tools that we could not verify, or that mainly serve markets outside the US, were left out.
How to choose restaurant scheduling software
Restaurant scheduling software pays for itself when it cuts labor cost and compliance risk, not just when it replaces the paper schedule. Check these points during the trial.
- POS connection. Scheduling against forecast sales needs your POS data. 7shifts lists integrations with Toast, Square, Clover, Lightspeed, TouchBistro, Revel and Aloha, and Homebase with Toast, Square and Clover. Confirm your POS and version.
- Labor target. Set a target labor percentage and see it while you build the schedule, by day and by daypart, before you publish.
- Overtime. Non-exempt employees, including servers and cooks, earn 1.5 times their regular rate after 40 hours in a workweek. For tipped employees paid a cash wage as low as $2.13 under federal law, overtime is figured on the full minimum wage, not the cash wage. Our overtime guide walks through the math, and California overtime law adds daily overtime after 8 hours.
- Minors. Restaurants hire many teenagers. Under federal rules, 14- and 15-year-olds may work only 3 hours on a school day and 18 hours in a school week, between 7 a.m. and 7 p.m. (9 p.m. from June 1 through Labor Day). 7shifts and HotSchedules flag minor labor issues on the schedule.
- Breaks. Rest breaks of 20 minutes or less must be paid under federal rules. California requires a 30-minute meal period for shifts over five hours and a 10-minute rest period per four hours, with an extra hour of pay when one is missed.
- Predictive scheduling. New York City requires fast food employers to post schedules 14 days ahead and pay premiums for late changes. Chicago’s Fair Workweek covers restaurants with at least 250 employees and 30 locations worldwide, and Oregon covers food service employers with 500 or more employees. Multi-unit operators in these places need fair workweek tools.
- Tips and payroll. Decide whether tips and payroll stay in the same system as the schedule. Fewer exports mean fewer errors; read our shift differential guide if late shifts earn a premium.
Frequently asked questions
What is the best restaurant scheduling app?
7shifts is the best restaurant scheduling app for most independent US restaurants because it is built only for restaurants, schedules against POS sales and flags predictive scheduling, minor labor and California break issues. Homebase is the best free choice for a single small restaurant, and HotSchedules suits multi-unit groups with five or more locations.
Is there a free restaurant scheduling app?
Yes. 7shifts is free for one restaurant with up to 15 employees, Homebase for one location with up to 10, and Sling for up to 30 users. Free plans cover building and sharing the schedule and time-off requests. Time clocks, labor cost tools and tip management usually need a paid plan.
How much does restaurant scheduling software cost?
7shifts paid plans start at $39.99 per location per month for teams up to 30, with Pro at $89.99 for 31 or more employees. Homebase starts at $30 per location. Sling and When I Work charge per user, from $1.70 and $2.50 a month. Square Shifts comes with Square Plus at $49 per location. HotSchedules prices by quote. Tip and payroll modules usually cost extra.
What is a server scheduling app?
A server scheduling app lets restaurant managers publish shifts by position, such as server, bartender, host or line cook, and lets staff swap shifts, pick up open shifts and set availability on their phones. Restaurant-focused apps also link to the POS to schedule against forecast sales and track labor percentage during service.
Do restaurant scheduling apps handle tip pooling?
Some do. 7shifts includes Tip Management on its Premium plan and sells it as a $49.99 per location add-on on other plans. Homebase offers a Tip Manager add-on at $25 per location per month. General scheduling apps such as Sling and When I Work focus on schedules and time, and tips are handled in payroll or the POS.