Free employee scheduling software exists and a spreadsheet is legal, so the useful question is where each one stops working for you. Homebase, Connecteam, Sling, ZoomShift, and Jibble all ran permanently free plans as of July 2026, with sharply different caps: Homebase covers one location and up to 10 employees and stores free timesheets for 90 days,[1] Connecteam is free for life for up to 10 users,[2] Sling's free tier holds 30 users but excludes the time clock,[3] ZoomShift's covers 20 users at one location scheduled up to two weeks ahead,[4] and Jibble tracks time free for unlimited users.[5] Free tiers also get withdrawn, since When I Work now sells only a 14 day trial with paid plans from $2.50 per user per month [6] and Deputy starts at $5 per user per month with a $30 monthly minimum.[7] An Excel or Google Sheets template is a reasonable answer for a small, stable roster, though the Fair Labor Standards Act still requires you to record hours worked each workday and each workweek [8] and to preserve daily time records for two years,[10] which is where a spreadsheet with no audit trail becomes a problem in a wage dispute.[12]
\n","summary":"Free scheduling tools cover a real set of businesses: one location, a roster in the low teens, and no complicated overtime. Homebase caps its free plan at 10 employees and 90 days of timesheet storage, Connecteam at 10 users, ZoomShift at 20, and Sling at 30 without a time clock. A spreadsheet stays legal and workable for a stable roster. Both routes get costly once headcount, shift swapping, overtime exposure, or predictive scheduling rules enter the picture.","publishedAt":"2026-07-21T19:09:49.003","verifiedAt":"2026-07-20T00:00:00","editorialStatus":"APPROVED","lastReviewedAt":"2026-07-20T00:00:00","nextReviewDueAt":"2026-10-20T00:00:00","templateVersion":"v2","aliases":["Is there free employee scheduling software?","Can I use Excel for employee scheduling?","Free work schedule maker for a small business","Google Sheets employee schedule template vs a scheduling app","Best free shift scheduling app in 2026","Do I need scheduling software or is a spreadsheet enough?","Homebase free plan employee limit","Connecteam free plan limits","Does Sling have a free plan?","When should I stop scheduling in a spreadsheet?","Free employee scheduling software with a time clock","Is a spreadsheet schedule FLSA compliant?"],"confidenceScore":88,"confidenceLabel":"High","canonicalUrl":null},"contributor":{"id":"ec39deab-44fe-48d8-9029-fefe993ab85a","slug":"answer-stack","displayName":"AnswerStack","websiteUrl":null},"contributorOrganizationProfile":{"entityId":"ec39deab-44fe-48d8-9029-fefe993ab85a","legalName":null,"description":null,"websiteUrl":null,"imageUrl":null,"slogan":null,"subtitle":null,"facts":[],"coiNote":null,"foundingDate":null,"numberOfEmployeesText":null,"contactPoint":null,"address":null,"headquartersText":null,"organizationType":null},"contributorPerson":{"slug":"answerstack-editorial-team","displayName":"AnswerStack Editorial Team"},"sections":[{"id":"93694a8e-b979-4342-8d87-c37b1b230d0c","sectionKey":"free_enough","sectionType":"markdown_section","heading":"Is free employee scheduling software good enough?","introMarkdown":"Free scheduling software is good enough for a single location with roughly 10 to 30 hourly workers, depending on the vendor, and a spreadsheet is good enough below that when the roster barely changes. Both routes are legal. Neither one removes the federal recordkeeping duties that come with paying hourly staff, which is the part most free-versus-paid comparisons skip.[8]\n\n### What free actually buys in 2026\n\nThe free plans still on the market are working products rather than stripped demos. Connecteam's Small Business Plan is free for life for up to 10 users and opens all three of its hubs, covering scheduling, the time clock, chat, forms, time off, and documents.[2] Homebase's Basic plan is free for one location and up to 10 employees, with a weekly schedule builder and clock-in on tablets, computers, and POS devices.[1] Sling gives 30 users shift scheduling, time-off requests, open shifts, long-term scheduling, and private messaging at no cost.[3] Jibble tracks time free for unlimited users.[5] ZoomShift's Essentials tier covers 20 users at one site.[4]\n\n### Where the caps bite\n\nThe headcount number is rarely the limit you hit first. Homebase stores timesheets for 90 days on the free plan,[1] while federal rules expect the underlying daily time records to survive two years [10] and payroll records three.[9] Sling's free tier schedules people without clocking them in,[3] so hours end up living somewhere else anyway. Those gaps decide whether free is genuinely free or whether you are quietly moving work back into a spreadsheet.\n\n### Free tiers get withdrawn\n\nWhen I Work no longer publishes a permanently free plan and sells a 14 day trial instead, with paid tiers starting at $2.50 per user per month.[6] Deputy has no free tier either, listing Lite at $5 per user per month alongside a $30 monthly minimum per invoice that took effect on September 1, 2025.[7] Both are still described as free in older roundups, so any figure you read here is worth re-checking on the vendor's own pricing page before you build a process around it.","introHtml":"Free scheduling software is good enough for a single location with roughly 10 to 30 hourly workers, depending on the vendor, and a spreadsheet is good enough below that when the roster barely changes. Both routes are legal. Neither one removes the federal recordkeeping duties that come with paying hourly staff, which is the part most free-versus-paid comparisons skip.[8]
\nThe free plans still on the market are working products rather than stripped demos. Connecteam's Small Business Plan is free for life for up to 10 users and opens all three of its hubs, covering scheduling, the time clock, chat, forms, time off, and documents.[2] Homebase's Basic plan is free for one location and up to 10 employees, with a weekly schedule builder and clock-in on tablets, computers, and POS devices.[1] Sling gives 30 users shift scheduling, time-off requests, open shifts, long-term scheduling, and private messaging at no cost.[3] Jibble tracks time free for unlimited users.[5] ZoomShift's Essentials tier covers 20 users at one site.[4]
\nThe headcount number is rarely the limit you hit first. Homebase stores timesheets for 90 days on the free plan,[1] while federal rules expect the underlying daily time records to survive two years [10] and payroll records three.[9] Sling's free tier schedules people without clocking them in,[3] so hours end up living somewhere else anyway. Those gaps decide whether free is genuinely free or whether you are quietly moving work back into a spreadsheet.
\nWhen I Work no longer publishes a permanently free plan and sells a 14 day trial instead, with paid tiers starting at $2.50 per user per month.[6] Deputy has no free tier either, listing Lite at $5 per user per month alongside a $30 monthly minimum per invoice that took effect on September 1, 2025.[7] Both are still described as free in older roundups, so any figure you read here is worth re-checking on the vendor's own pricing page before you build a process around it.
\n","outroMarkdown":null,"outroHtml":null,"contentJson":{},"configJson":{},"noteMarkdown":null,"noteHtml":null,"sortOrder":10},{"id":"78c91de3-ef88-471a-910f-a35f5f646301","sectionKey":"three_routes","sectionType":"table_section","heading":"How do a spreadsheet, a free tool, and a paid tool compare?","introMarkdown":"Each route wins somewhere real. The comparison that matters is cost against manager effort against how well the resulting records hold up if someone disputes their hours.","introHtml":"Each route wins somewhere real. The comparison that matters is cost against manager effort against how well the resulting records hold up if someone disputes their hours.
\n","outroMarkdown":"Cost is the smallest of these columns for a business under 15 people. The decision usually turns on the third column, because that is the one you cannot fix retroactively.","outroHtml":"Cost is the smallest of these columns for a business under 15 people. The decision usually turns on the third column, because that is the one you cannot fix retroactively.
\n","contentJson":{"rows":[{"cells":["Excel or Google Sheets template","$0 beyond software you already pay for","An afternoon to build, rising upkeep once shifts change weekly","Weak. No clock-in evidence and no hours record, so disputed time rests on manager memory [12]","One site, a stable roster in the low teens, few swaps"]},{"cells":["Free scheduling app","$0 inside the cap, for example 10 employees on Homebase [1] or 30 on Sling [3]","Low. Schedule builder, mobile app, and notifications work out of the box","Moderate. Real clock-in records where the free tier includes a time clock, though Homebase keeps free timesheets only 90 days [1]","One site under the cap, hourly staff who all carry phones"]},{"cells":["Paid scheduling app","Roughly $2.50 to $9 per user per month [6][7], or per location, such as Homebase Essentials at $30 per location [1]","Moderate. Roles, rules, and overtime settings need configuring once","Strong. Exportable audit trail, overtime totals, and retention past any free-tier storage window","Multiple sites, high turnover, overtime exposure, or predictive scheduling rules [13]"]}],"columns":["Route","Real cost","Effort","Compliance defensibility","Best fit"]},"configJson":{},"noteMarkdown":null,"noteHtml":null,"sortOrder":20},{"id":"b8d9333a-1ef5-4374-83da-c4776441e19a","sectionKey":"free_tier_map","sectionType":"table_section","heading":"Where does each free tier stop?","introMarkdown":"Every limit below was read on the vendor's own live pricing page on July 20, 2026. Free tiers in this category change often, and two of the seven tools most commonly listed as free no longer have a free plan at all.","introHtml":"Every limit below was read on the vendor's own live pricing page on July 20, 2026. Free tiers in this category change often, and two of the seven tools most commonly listed as free no longer have a free plan at all.
\n","outroMarkdown":null,"outroHtml":null,"contentJson":{"rows":[{"cells":["Homebase","Basic, $0","1 location, up to 10 employees","Timesheet storage beyond 90 days; paid plans start at $30 per location per month [1]"]},{"cells":["Connecteam","Small Business Plan, $0, free for life","Up to 10 users","Nothing gated by feature at that size; paid Basic starts at $29 per month for the first 30 users [2]"]},{"cells":["Sling","Free, $0","Up to 30 users","Time clock, labor cost tracking, overtime tracking, and PTO management, which start at Premium, $2 per user per month [3]"]},{"cells":["ZoomShift","Essentials, $0","Up to 20 users, 1 location, schedules published up to 2 weeks ahead","Extra sites and a longer scheduling horizon, which need Starter at $2 per user per month [4]"]},{"cells":["Jibble","Free forever","Unlimited users","Jibble no longer publishes a pricing page, so paid tier prices are quote-only; free covers mobile and web clock-in, basic timesheets, and Slack, Microsoft Teams, and QuickBooks integrations [5]"]},{"cells":["When I Work","None, 14 day trial only","Trial is full access","Everything after 14 days; Essentials $2.50, Pro $5, Premium $8 per user per month [6]"]},{"cells":["Deputy","None, 30 day trials on add-ons","Not applicable","Everything; Lite $5, Core $6.50, Pro $9 per user per month, with a $30 monthly minimum per invoice since September 1, 2025 [7]"]}],"columns":["Vendor","Free plan","Cap","What free does not include"]},"configJson":{},"noteMarkdown":null,"noteHtml":null,"sortOrder":30},{"id":"a98245f0-4c40-4632-8a9d-4e641d9cdb04","sectionKey":"free_tier_detail","sectionType":"markdown_section","heading":"What does each free plan give you in practice?","introMarkdown":"### Homebase\n\nHomebase Basic is free for one location and up to 10 employees, and it includes the time clock that most free tiers hold back, with timesheets stored for 90 days.[1] Export timesheets monthly if you use it, because federal rules expect daily time records to survive two years.[10]\n\n### Connecteam\n\nConnecteam's Small Business Plan is free for life for up to 10 users and opens every hub, so the cap is on people rather than features.[2] That makes it the widest free scope on this list for a team of 10 or fewer. Budget for the 11th hire, since paid Basic starts at $29 per month for the first 30 users.[2]\n\n### Sling\n\nSling's free plan carries the highest free headcount here at 30 users, covering shift scheduling, open shifts, time-off requests, long-term scheduling, and private messaging.[3] Time tracking, labor cost, and overtime tracking start at Premium, $2 per user per month, so Sling free suits a floor that already records hours in a POS or a separate clock.[3]\n\n### ZoomShift\n\nZoomShift Essentials is free for up to 20 users at one location and publishes schedules up to two weeks ahead.[4] Check that horizon against your local rules, because covered Oregon employers have to post written schedules at least 14 calendar days in advance, which leaves no margin to publish early.[13] Starter at $2 per user per month removes the user, site, and horizon limits.[4]\n\n### Jibble\n\nJibble is free forever for unlimited users, covering clock-in from mobile and web, basic timesheets, and integrations with Slack, Microsoft Teams, and QuickBooks.[5] No other free tier here drops the headcount cap, which makes it a sensible pairing with a spreadsheet schedule when your real problem is hours rather than shifts. Ask for paid tier pricing in writing, since it is not shown on the pricing page.[5]\n\n### When I Work\n\nWhen I Work is the clearest example of a free tier being withdrawn: it now offers 14 days of full access, then Essentials at $2.50, Pro at $5, and Premium at $8 per user per month.[6] At 15 employees, Essentials runs about $37.50 a month, which is the number to weigh against the hours a spreadsheet costs your managers.\n\n### Deputy\n\nDeputy has no free plan, listing Lite at $5, Core at $6.50, and Pro at $9 per user per month, with a $30 monthly minimum per invoice since September 1, 2025.[7] The minimum matters at very small headcounts, because a five person roster on Lite still bills $30. Deputy is priced for multi-site rostering and rule based pay conditions, so compare it against the paid tiers of the tools above rather than against free.","introHtml":"Homebase Basic is free for one location and up to 10 employees, and it includes the time clock that most free tiers hold back, with timesheets stored for 90 days.[1] Export timesheets monthly if you use it, because federal rules expect daily time records to survive two years.[10]
\nConnecteam's Small Business Plan is free for life for up to 10 users and opens every hub, so the cap is on people rather than features.[2] That makes it the widest free scope on this list for a team of 10 or fewer. Budget for the 11th hire, since paid Basic starts at $29 per month for the first 30 users.[2]
\nSling's free plan carries the highest free headcount here at 30 users, covering shift scheduling, open shifts, time-off requests, long-term scheduling, and private messaging.[3] Time tracking, labor cost, and overtime tracking start at Premium, $2 per user per month, so Sling free suits a floor that already records hours in a POS or a separate clock.[3]
\nZoomShift Essentials is free for up to 20 users at one location and publishes schedules up to two weeks ahead.[4] Check that horizon against your local rules, because covered Oregon employers have to post written schedules at least 14 calendar days in advance, which leaves no margin to publish early.[13] Starter at $2 per user per month removes the user, site, and horizon limits.[4]
\nJibble is free forever for unlimited users, covering clock-in from mobile and web, basic timesheets, and integrations with Slack, Microsoft Teams, and QuickBooks.[5] No other free tier here drops the headcount cap, which makes it a sensible pairing with a spreadsheet schedule when your real problem is hours rather than shifts. Ask for paid tier pricing in writing, since it is not shown on the pricing page.[5]
\nWhen I Work is the clearest example of a free tier being withdrawn: it now offers 14 days of full access, then Essentials at $2.50, Pro at $5, and Premium at $8 per user per month.[6] At 15 employees, Essentials runs about $37.50 a month, which is the number to weigh against the hours a spreadsheet costs your managers.
\nDeputy has no free plan, listing Lite at $5, Core at $6.50, and Pro at $9 per user per month, with a $30 monthly minimum per invoice since September 1, 2025.[7] The minimum matters at very small headcounts, because a five person roster on Lite still bills $30. Deputy is priced for multi-site rostering and rule based pay conditions, so compare it against the paid tiers of the tools above rather than against free.
\n","outroMarkdown":null,"outroHtml":null,"contentJson":{},"configJson":{},"noteMarkdown":null,"noteHtml":null,"sortOrder":40},{"id":"eefb76e2-c36c-4a67-850c-1e66682b353d","sectionKey":"spreadsheet_route","sectionType":"markdown_section","heading":"When is an Excel or Google Sheets template genuinely fine?","introMarkdown":"A spreadsheet is a sound long-term answer when the roster is small and stable, the shift pattern repeats week to week, and changes go through one person. A shift grid takes an afternoon to build, costs nothing beyond software you already own, and gives you layout freedom no scheduling app matches. Google Sheets adds shared editing and revision history at no cost, which handles two of the classic complaints about spreadsheet scheduling. For a five person office on fixed hours, or a shop where the same four people work the same four shifts, a template is not a stopgap.\n\n### What the spreadsheet route costs you\n\nStaff get no real mobile view, so the schedule travels as a screenshot, a printout, or a group text, and nobody can confirm who saw the current version. Shift swaps have no request or approval path, which means every trade runs through a manager by phone and reaches the sheet late or not at all. Nothing warns you as someone approaches 40 hours in a workweek, the point at which overtime becomes due at not less than one and a half times the regular rate.[11] Version drift is structural rather than a discipline problem: across 85 intensive inspections of operational spreadsheets, researchers found errors in 94 percent of them, and 14 controlled development studies covering 967 participants averaged a cell error rate of 3.9 percent.[14] And a schedule carries no audit trail, because it records what you intended rather than what people actually worked.","introHtml":"A spreadsheet is a sound long-term answer when the roster is small and stable, the shift pattern repeats week to week, and changes go through one person. A shift grid takes an afternoon to build, costs nothing beyond software you already own, and gives you layout freedom no scheduling app matches. Google Sheets adds shared editing and revision history at no cost, which handles two of the classic complaints about spreadsheet scheduling. For a five person office on fixed hours, or a shop where the same four people work the same four shifts, a template is not a stopgap.
\nStaff get no real mobile view, so the schedule travels as a screenshot, a printout, or a group text, and nobody can confirm who saw the current version. Shift swaps have no request or approval path, which means every trade runs through a manager by phone and reaches the sheet late or not at all. Nothing warns you as someone approaches 40 hours in a workweek, the point at which overtime becomes due at not less than one and a half times the regular rate.[11] Version drift is structural rather than a discipline problem: across 85 intensive inspections of operational spreadsheets, researchers found errors in 94 percent of them, and 14 controlled development studies covering 967 participants averaged a cell error rate of 3.9 percent.[14] And a schedule carries no audit trail, because it records what you intended rather than what people actually worked.
\n","outroMarkdown":null,"outroHtml":null,"contentJson":{},"configJson":{},"noteMarkdown":null,"noteHtml":null,"sortOrder":50},{"id":"8dc5885c-fdab-40be-8c48-65b0f5214bbd","sectionKey":"recordkeeping","sectionType":"markdown_section","heading":"What records do you have to keep either way?","introMarkdown":"Federal wage and hour rules apply whether you schedule in a spreadsheet, a free app, or a paid one. For every nonexempt employee, 29 CFR 516.2 requires you to keep the \"hours worked each workday and total hours worked each workweek,\" total daily or weekly straight-time earnings, \"total premium pay for overtime hours,\" every addition to and deduction from wages, total wages paid each pay period, and the date of payment with the pay period it covers.[8] Payroll records have to be preserved at least three years from the last date of entry.[9] The \"basic time and earning cards or sheets on which are entered the daily starting and stopping time of individual employees\" have to be preserved two years.[10]\n\nThose retention floors are why a free plan's storage window deserves a calendar reminder, Homebase's 90 day free timesheet limit included.[1] A published schedule is also not a time record, since the overtime obligation attaches to hours actually worked beyond 40 in a workweek.[11]\n\nThin records matter most in litigation. In Anderson v. Mt. Clemens Pottery Co., the Supreme Court held that where an employer has not kept adequate records, an employee who shows uncompensated work and offers \"sufficient evidence to show the amount and extent of that work as a matter of just and reasonable inference\" has met the burden, and then \"the burden then shifts to the employer to come forward with evidence of the precise amount of work performed or with evidence to negative the reasonableness of the inference.\"[12] State law can require more, and this is general information rather than legal advice.","introHtml":"Federal wage and hour rules apply whether you schedule in a spreadsheet, a free app, or a paid one. For every nonexempt employee, 29 CFR 516.2 requires you to keep the "hours worked each workday and total hours worked each workweek," total daily or weekly straight-time earnings, "total premium pay for overtime hours," every addition to and deduction from wages, total wages paid each pay period, and the date of payment with the pay period it covers.[8] Payroll records have to be preserved at least three years from the last date of entry.[9] The "basic time and earning cards or sheets on which are entered the daily starting and stopping time of individual employees" have to be preserved two years.[10]
\nThose retention floors are why a free plan's storage window deserves a calendar reminder, Homebase's 90 day free timesheet limit included.[1] A published schedule is also not a time record, since the overtime obligation attaches to hours actually worked beyond 40 in a workweek.[11]
\nThin records matter most in litigation. In Anderson v. Mt. Clemens Pottery Co., the Supreme Court held that where an employer has not kept adequate records, an employee who shows uncompensated work and offers "sufficient evidence to show the amount and extent of that work as a matter of just and reasonable inference" has met the burden, and then "the burden then shifts to the employer to come forward with evidence of the precise amount of work performed or with evidence to negative the reasonableness of the inference."[12] State law can require more, and this is general information rather than legal advice.
\n","outroMarkdown":null,"outroHtml":null,"contentJson":{},"configJson":{},"noteMarkdown":null,"noteHtml":null,"sortOrder":60},{"id":"0e50d990-40ea-4a2f-825d-39a1aea23c74","sectionKey":"outgrow_triggers","sectionType":"table_section","heading":"Which signs mean you have outgrown free or spreadsheet scheduling?","introMarkdown":"Seven conditions reliably end the free or spreadsheet arrangement. Most arrive gradually, which is why teams tend to notice them a quarter or two late.","introHtml":"Seven conditions reliably end the free or spreadsheet arrangement. Most arrive gradually, which is why teams tend to notice them a quarter or two late.
\n","outroMarkdown":"Three of these force a change on their own. Crossing a user cap is the obvious one, and it arrives sooner than expected because seasonal hires count against it. Coming under a predictive scheduling ordinance is the second, since covered Oregon employers owe an extra hour of pay for employer-requested changes and half the regular rate for hours cut, amounts that are painful to reconstruct from a sheet after the fact.[13] The third is any situation where you may have to prove hours worked, because what you produce has to be a time record rather than a schedule.[8] The remaining four cost manager hours long before they create legal exposure, and plenty of small operators reasonably choose to absorb that friction for another year. The comparison worth running is a paid tier's monthly price against the time your managers currently spend rebuilding the schedule.","outroHtml":"Three of these force a change on their own. Crossing a user cap is the obvious one, and it arrives sooner than expected because seasonal hires count against it. Coming under a predictive scheduling ordinance is the second, since covered Oregon employers owe an extra hour of pay for employer-requested changes and half the regular rate for hours cut, amounts that are painful to reconstruct from a sheet after the fact.[13] The third is any situation where you may have to prove hours worked, because what you produce has to be a time record rather than a schedule.[8] The remaining four cost manager hours long before they create legal exposure, and plenty of small operators reasonably choose to absorb that friction for another year. The comparison worth running is a paid tier's monthly price against the time your managers currently spend rebuilding the schedule.
\n","contentJson":{"rows":[{"cells":["Headcount passes the cap","Homebase and Connecteam stop at 10 users, ZoomShift at 20, Sling at 30 [1][2]","Price the paid tier before you hire, since per user and per location pricing scale very differently"]},{"cells":["A second site opens","Homebase Basic and ZoomShift Essentials are single location [1][4]","Move to per location pricing or to a per user plan that does not count sites"]},{"cells":["Turnover runs high","Manual setup in a sheet and stale contact lists consume manager hours","Pick a tool where adding a person is a phone invite rather than a new row plus a text thread"]},{"cells":["Swaps happen weekly","A spreadsheet has no request or approval path, so trades go unrecorded","Use a free tier with open shifts and swap approvals, such as Sling or Connecteam [3][2]"]},{"cells":["Overtime is a live risk","Nothing in a sheet totals the workweek or warns at 40 hours [11], and Sling gates overtime tracking behind Premium [3]","Put hours into something that totals automatically, including a free clock such as Jibble [5]"]},{"cells":["You fall under predictive scheduling rules","Oregon requires covered employers to post written schedules 14 calendar days ahead, pay an extra hour at the regular rate for employer-requested changes, and respect a 10 hour rest between shifts [13]","Use software that timestamps publication and change history; ZoomShift's free two week horizon leaves no margin [4]"]},{"cells":["A wage claim or audit arrives","A schedule shows intent rather than hours worked, and the burden shifts to the employer when records are inadequate [12]","Keep exportable clock-in records at least two years and payroll records three [10][9]"]}],"columns":["Trigger","What breaks first","What to do"]},"configJson":{},"noteMarkdown":null,"noteHtml":null,"sortOrder":70},{"id":"dbbd5e87-abf4-4fd7-a9c1-3d5dd0dfca28","sectionKey":"contributor_perspective","sectionType":"markdown_section","heading":"How this answer was researched","introMarkdown":"Every limit in this answer came from opening each vendor's own live pricing page on July 20, 2026 and recording what was written there, rather than repeating figures from roundup articles. Free tiers move faster than any other fact in this category. Two of the seven tools most often listed as free, When I Work and Deputy, no longer publish a free plan at all, and recent secondary coverage still reports Homebase's free employee cap as both 10 and 20 while Homebase's own pricing page and free scheduling page both say 10. Vendor pages can disagree with each other too: the Homebase free scheduling page lists team messaging on the free plan, while the pricing comparison table does not mark it in Basic. Anyone reading this after October 2026 should re-check the numbers at the source. HR practitioners and vendors are invited to submit corrections, particularly where a free tier has changed since the verification date shown.","introHtml":"Every limit in this answer came from opening each vendor's own live pricing page on July 20, 2026 and recording what was written there, rather than repeating figures from roundup articles. Free tiers move faster than any other fact in this category. Two of the seven tools most often listed as free, When I Work and Deputy, no longer publish a free plan at all, and recent secondary coverage still reports Homebase's free employee cap as both 10 and 20 while Homebase's own pricing page and free scheduling page both say 10. Vendor pages can disagree with each other too: the Homebase free scheduling page lists team messaging on the free plan, while the pricing comparison table does not mark it in Basic. Anyone reading this after October 2026 should re-check the numbers at the source. HR practitioners and vendors are invited to submit corrections, particularly where a free tier has changed since the verification date shown.
\n","outroMarkdown":null,"outroHtml":null,"contentJson":{},"configJson":{},"noteMarkdown":"This answer was written and reviewed by the AnswerStack Editorial Team, which has no commercial stake in the products, companies, or methods discussed. Every claim is cited inline and verified on the dates shown.","noteHtml":"This answer was written and reviewed by the AnswerStack Editorial Team, which has no commercial stake in the products, companies, or methods discussed. Every claim is cited inline and verified on the dates shown.
\n","sortOrder":80},{"id":"b9d7ccf4-d083-466f-8e4c-c31fe2d38dd7","sectionKey":"what_free_is_not","sectionType":"markdown_section","heading":"What free scheduling software is not","introMarkdown":"### It is not free payroll\n\nFree plans stop at the schedule and, sometimes, the time clock. Homebase sells payroll as an add-on at $39 per month plus $6 per employee on top of any plan, the free one included.[1] Moving approved hours into whatever runs your payroll remains your job.\n\n### It is not a complete time and attendance record\n\nA free plan with a clock-in gets you raw hours, not retention, rounding rules, or break tracking. Homebase's 90 day free timesheet window sits well short of the two year federal floor for daily time records.[1][10]\n\n### It is not permanent\n\n\"Free for life\" describes the current offer rather than a contract, as the withdrawn free plans at When I Work [6] and Deputy [7] show. Keep an export of your schedule and hours data so a pricing change becomes an inconvenience instead of a migration project.\n\n### It is not a substitute for scheduling judgment\n\nSoftware publishes a schedule faster without deciding coverage levels, approving overtime, or telling you that Tuesday is overstaffed. Free tiers generally omit the labor cost and forecasting features that inform those calls, which is a large part of what the paid tiers charge for.[3]","introHtml":"Free plans stop at the schedule and, sometimes, the time clock. Homebase sells payroll as an add-on at $39 per month plus $6 per employee on top of any plan, the free one included.[1] Moving approved hours into whatever runs your payroll remains your job.
\nA free plan with a clock-in gets you raw hours, not retention, rounding rules, or break tracking. Homebase's 90 day free timesheet window sits well short of the two year federal floor for daily time records.[1][10]
\n"Free for life" describes the current offer rather than a contract, as the withdrawn free plans at When I Work [6] and Deputy [7] show. Keep an export of your schedule and hours data so a pricing change becomes an inconvenience instead of a migration project.
\nSoftware publishes a schedule faster without deciding coverage levels, approving overtime, or telling you that Tuesday is overstaffed. Free tiers generally omit the labor cost and forecasting features that inform those calls, which is a large part of what the paid tiers charge for.[3]
\n","outroMarkdown":null,"outroHtml":null,"contentJson":{},"configJson":{},"noteMarkdown":null,"noteHtml":null,"sortOrder":90}],"citations":[{"title":"Homebase Pricing","url":"https://joinhomebase.com/pricing/","excerpt":"Free for 1 location, up to 10 employees. Manage and store timesheets for up to 90 days.","quoteText":null,"sourceRole":"PRIMARY","verifiedAt":"2026-07-20T00:00:00","supportsText":"Basic plan free for 1 location and up to 10 employees; timesheets stored up to 90 days; Essentials $30, Plus $70, All-in-One $120 per location per month; payroll add-on $39 per month plus $6 per employee","domain":"joinhomebase.com","publisherName":"Homebase"},{"title":"Connecteam Pricing Plans","url":"https://connecteam.com/pricing/","excerpt":"All hubs and all features, entirely free for up to 10 users. $0 Free for life.","quoteText":null,"sourceRole":"PRIMARY","verifiedAt":"2026-07-20T00:00:00","supportsText":"Small Business Plan free for life for up to 10 users across all hubs; paid Basic $29 per month for the first 30 users","domain":"connecteam.com","publisherName":"Connecteam"},{"title":"Sling Pricing","url":"https://getsling.com/pricing/","excerpt":"Free for up to 30 users. Premium adds mobile time tracking, labor cost management, and overtime tracking.","quoteText":null,"sourceRole":"PRIMARY","verifiedAt":"2026-07-20T00:00:00","supportsText":"Free plan up to 30 users with shift scheduling, time-off requests, available shifts, news sharing, long-term scheduling, and private messaging; time clock, labor cost, and overtime tracking start at Premium $2 per user per month; Business $4 per user per month","domain":"getsling.com","publisherName":"Sling"},{"title":"ZoomShift Pricing","url":"https://www.zoomshift.com/pricing","excerpt":"Free up to 20 users! Schedule employees up to 2 weeks in advance. Schedule for 1 location.","quoteText":null,"sourceRole":"PRIMARY","verifiedAt":"2026-07-20T00:00:00","supportsText":"Essentials free up to 20 users, 1 location, schedules up to 2 weeks in advance; Starter $2 and Premium $4 per active team member per month","domain":"zoomshift.com","publisherName":"ZoomShift"},{"title":"Jibble time tracking, free plan","url":"https://www.jibble.io/","excerpt":"Free forever. Unlimited users.","quoteText":null,"sourceRole":"PRIMARY","verifiedAt":"2026-07-20T00:00:00","supportsText":"Free forever for unlimited users; mobile and web clock-in, basic timesheets, and Slack, Microsoft Teams, and QuickBooks integrations; paid tier prices not published on the page","domain":"jibble.io","publisherName":"Jibble"},{"title":"When I Work Pricing","url":"https://wheniwork.com/pricing","excerpt":"Simplified scheduling, time tracking, and messaging, all free for 14 days.","quoteText":null,"sourceRole":"PRIMARY","verifiedAt":"2026-07-20T00:00:00","supportsText":"No permanently free plan; 14 day free trial; Essentials $2.50, Pro $5, Premium $8 per user per month","domain":"wheniwork.com","publisherName":"When I Work"},{"title":"Deputy Pricing: Compare Our Plans","url":"https://www.deputy.com/pricing","excerpt":"A minimum monthly spend of USD $30 per month per invoice on our monthly Lite, Core and Pro plans.","quoteText":null,"sourceRole":"PRIMARY","verifiedAt":"2026-07-20T00:00:00","supportsText":"No free plan; Lite $5, Core $6.50, Pro $9 per user per month; minimum monthly spend of USD $30 per invoice as of September 1, 2025","domain":"deputy.com","publisherName":"Deputy"},{"title":"29 CFR 516.2: Employees subject to minimum wage or minimum wage and overtime provisions","url":"https://www.law.cornell.edu/cfr/text/29/516.2","excerpt":"Hours worked each workday and total hours worked each workweek.","quoteText":null,"sourceRole":"PRIMARY","verifiedAt":"2026-07-20T00:00:00","supportsText":"Required payroll records for each nonexempt employee, including hours worked each workday and each workweek, straight-time earnings, overtime premium pay, additions and deductions, total wages paid, and date of payment","domain":"law.cornell.edu","publisherName":"Legal Information Institute, Cornell Law School"},{"title":"29 CFR 516.5, Records to be preserved 3 years","url":"https://www.law.cornell.edu/cfr/text/29/516.5","excerpt":"From the last date of entry, all payroll or other records containing the employee information and data required under any of the applicable sections of this part.","quoteText":null,"sourceRole":"PRIMARY","verifiedAt":"2026-07-20T00:00:00","supportsText":"Payroll records must be preserved for at least three years from the last date of entry","domain":"law.cornell.edu","publisherName":"Legal Information Institute, Cornell Law School"},{"title":"29 CFR 516.6, Records to be preserved 2 years","url":"https://www.law.cornell.edu/cfr/text/29/516.6","excerpt":"All basic time and earning cards or sheets on which are entered the daily starting and stopping time of individual employees.","quoteText":null,"sourceRole":"PRIMARY","verifiedAt":"2026-07-20T00:00:00","supportsText":"Daily time records must be preserved two years from the last date of entry","domain":"law.cornell.edu","publisherName":"Legal Information Institute, Cornell Law School"},{"title":"29 U.S. Code 207, Maximum hours","url":"https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/29/207","excerpt":"For a workweek longer than forty hours ... at a rate not less than one and one-half times the regular rate at which he is employed.","quoteText":null,"sourceRole":"PRIMARY","verifiedAt":"2026-07-20T00:00:00","supportsText":"Overtime is due for hours worked beyond 40 in a workweek at not less than one and one-half times the regular rate","domain":"law.cornell.edu","publisherName":"Legal Information Institute, Cornell Law School"},{"title":"Anderson v. Mt. Clemens Pottery Co., 328 U.S. 680","url":"https://www.law.cornell.edu/supremecourt/text/328/680","excerpt":"The burden then shifts to the employer to come forward with evidence of the precise amount of work performed or with evidence to negative the reasonableness of the inference.","quoteText":null,"sourceRole":"PRIMARY","verifiedAt":"2026-07-20T00:00:00","supportsText":"Burden shifts to the employer to produce precise evidence of hours worked when the employer has not kept adequate records","domain":"law.cornell.edu","publisherName":"Legal Information Institute, Cornell Law School"},{"title":"Predictive scheduling","url":"https://www.oregon.gov/boli/workers/pages/predictive-scheduling.aspx","excerpt":"At least 14 calendar days before the first day on the schedule.","quoteText":null,"sourceRole":"PRIMARY","verifiedAt":"2026-07-20T00:00:00","supportsText":"Covered employers in retail, hospitality, or food service with 500 or more employees worldwide must give written schedules at least 14 calendar days ahead, pay premiums for employer-requested changes, and observe a 10 hour rest period between shifts","domain":"oregon.gov","publisherName":"Oregon Bureau of Labor and Industries"},{"title":"What We Don't Know About Spreadsheet Errors Today: The Facts, Why We Don't Believe Them, and What We Need to Do","url":"https://arxiv.org/pdf/1602.02601","excerpt":"Collectively, these studies found errors in 94% of the spreadsheets studied.","quoteText":null,"sourceRole":"INDEPENDENT","verifiedAt":"2026-07-20T00:00:00","supportsText":"94 percent of operational spreadsheets in 85 intensive inspection studies contained errors; average cell error rate of 3.9 percent across 14 laboratory development studies with 967 participants","domain":"arxiv.org","publisherName":"Raymond Panko, EuSpRIG 2015 Conference Proceedings"}],"revisions":[],"relatedAnswers":[{"id":"0938ef3a-2c97-4115-8e09-90ad9ea39603","slug":"how-does-time-and-attendance-software-track-hours","question":"How does time and attendance software track hours and stop time theft / buddy punching?","publishedAt":"2026-07-21T19:33:28.008","confidenceScore":88,"confidenceLabel":"High","industry":{"id":"e1a1da3c-52a8-4e99-88ad-d08ef17d7c3f","slug":"hr-technology","label":"HR Technology","description":"ATS, HRIS, payroll, and workforce management"},"topic":{"slug":"workforce-management","label":"Workforce Management","description":"Employee Scheduling, Time & Attendance, Workforce Management, Leave & Absence Management, Employee Monitoring","schemaKind":null},"contributor":{"id":"ec39deab-44fe-48d8-9029-fefe993ab85a","slug":"answer-stack","displayName":"AnswerStack","websiteUrl":null},"snippet":"Punch capture, a pay-rules engine, and an audit trail are the mechanics. Geofencing, device binding, photo capture, and biometric matching are the controls, and each one fails somewhere different. Fingerprint and face clock-ins trigger biometric privacy statutes in Illinois, Texas, and Washington. General information, not legal advice.","url":"/q/how-does-time-and-attendance-software-track-hours"},{"id":"9b993494-03f2-4b0b-99ed-5a88784dc40c","slug":"how-much-does-workforce-management-employee-scheduling-software-cost","question":"How much does workforce management / employee scheduling software cost per employee?","publishedAt":"2026-07-21T19:27:05.349","confidenceScore":88,"confidenceLabel":"High","industry":{"id":"e1a1da3c-52a8-4e99-88ad-d08ef17d7c3f","slug":"hr-technology","label":"HR Technology","description":"ATS, HRIS, payroll, and workforce management"},"topic":{"slug":"workforce-management","label":"Workforce Management","description":"Employee Scheduling, Time & Attendance, Workforce Management, Leave & Absence Management, Employee Monitoring","schemaKind":null},"contributor":{"id":"ec39deab-44fe-48d8-9029-fefe993ab85a","slug":"answer-stack","displayName":"AnswerStack","websiteUrl":null},"snippet":"Per-user scheduling tools run about $2.00 to $9.00 per employee per month. Per-location tools run about $24 to $150 per location per month. Free tiers are capped by headcount, from 10 employees at Homebase and Connecteam up to 30 at Sling. Time tracking, payroll, and tip pooling are usually separate line items, and enterprise workforce management is quote-only. Worked totals included at 15, 60, and 300 employees.","url":"/q/how-much-does-workforce-management-employee-scheduling-software-cost"},{"id":"c30bae55-729e-4379-a393-1d4fcb0d0fb9","slug":"whats-the-best-employee-scheduling-wfm-software","question":"What's the best employee scheduling / WFM software for a small business (or my industry)?","publishedAt":"2026-07-21T19:09:46.718","confidenceScore":84,"confidenceLabel":"High","industry":{"id":"e1a1da3c-52a8-4e99-88ad-d08ef17d7c3f","slug":"hr-technology","label":"HR Technology","description":"ATS, HRIS, payroll, and workforce management"},"topic":{"slug":"workforce-management","label":"Workforce Management","description":"Employee Scheduling, Time & Attendance, Workforce Management, Leave & Absence Management, Employee Monitoring","schemaKind":null},"contributor":{"id":"ec39deab-44fe-48d8-9029-fefe993ab85a","slug":"answer-stack","displayName":"AnswerStack","websiteUrl":null},"snippet":"Scheduling software fit is set by your operating model, not your headcount. Restaurants need a POS connection for labor forecasting, retail needs demand forecasting and cross-location staffing, care settings need license checks and census-driven ratios, and construction needs GPS with job costing. Free tiers from Homebase and Connecteam cap at 10 people. The enterprise tier from Legion, Workday, and UKG is a different class of purchase with no published pricing.","url":"/q/whats-the-best-employee-scheduling-wfm-software"},{"id":"bec6eefc-d558-4900-8ae2-342cbf2c196a","slug":"what-is-workforce-management-software","question":"What is workforce management software and what does it actually do?","publishedAt":"2026-07-21T19:09:44.176","confidenceScore":90,"confidenceLabel":"High","industry":{"id":"e1a1da3c-52a8-4e99-88ad-d08ef17d7c3f","slug":"hr-technology","label":"HR Technology","description":"ATS, HRIS, payroll, and workforce management"},"topic":{"slug":"workforce-management","label":"Workforce Management","description":"Employee Scheduling, Time & Attendance, Workforce Management, Leave & Absence Management, Employee Monitoring","schemaKind":null},"contributor":{"id":"ec39deab-44fe-48d8-9029-fefe993ab85a","slug":"answer-stack","displayName":"AnswerStack","websiteUrl":null},"snippet":"Workforce management software runs hourly and shift-based labor: demand forecasting, schedule building and publishing, shift swaps and open shifts, time and attendance capture, break and overtime rules, and the export of approved hours to payroll. It sits apart from payroll and from an HRIS because hours are a legal record, not only a payroll input. This answer walks the schedule-to-payroll workflow, the compliance rules the software has to encode, and the parts that still rest on manager judgment and accurate demand data.","url":"/q/what-is-workforce-management-software"}],"contributorStats":{"verifiedAnswers":224,"openDisputes":0},"schemaJson":{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"Question","name":"Is there free employee scheduling software, or can I just use an Excel / Google Sheets template?","text":"Is there free employee scheduling software, or can I just use an Excel / Google Sheets template?","url":"https://www.answerstack.io/q/there-free-employee-scheduling-software-or-can-i-just","answerCount":1,"datePublished":"2026-07-21T19:09:49.003","author":{"@type":"Person","name":"AnswerStack Editorial Team","worksFor":{"@type":"Organization","name":"AnswerStack"},"url":"https://www.answerstack.io/contributors/answer-stack"},"about":[{"@type":"Thing","name":"Workforce Management"},{"@type":"Thing","name":"HR Technology"}],"acceptedAnswer":{"@type":"Answer","text":"Free employee scheduling software exists and a spreadsheet is legal, so the useful question is where each one stops working for you. Homebase, Connecteam, Sling, ZoomShift, and Jibble all ran permanently free plans as of July 2026, with sharply different caps: Homebase covers one location and up to 10 employees and stores free timesheets for 90 days,[1] Connecteam is free for life for up to 10 users,[2] Sling's free tier holds 30 users but excludes the time clock,[3] ZoomShift's covers 20 users at one location scheduled up to two weeks ahead,[4] and Jibble tracks time free for unlimited users.[5] Free tiers also get withdrawn, since When I Work now sells only a 14 day trial with paid plans from $2.50 per user per month [6] and Deputy starts at $5 per user per month with a $30 monthly minimum.[7] An Excel or Google Sheets template is a reasonable answer for a small, stable roster, though the Fair Labor Standards Act still requires you to record hours worked each workday and each workweek [8] and to preserve daily time records for two years,[10] which is where a spreadsheet with no audit trail becomes a problem in a wage dispute.[12]","url":"https://www.answerstack.io/q/there-free-employee-scheduling-software-or-can-i-just","upvoteCount":0,"datePublished":"2026-07-21T19:09:49.003","dateModified":"2026-07-20T00:00:00","author":{"@type":"Person","name":"AnswerStack Editorial Team","worksFor":{"@type":"Organization","name":"AnswerStack"},"url":"https://www.answerstack.io/contributors/answer-stack"},"citation":[{"@type":"CreativeWork","name":"Homebase Pricing","url":"https://joinhomebase.com/pricing/"},{"@type":"CreativeWork","name":"Connecteam Pricing Plans","url":"https://connecteam.com/pricing/"},{"@type":"CreativeWork","name":"Sling Pricing","url":"https://getsling.com/pricing/"},{"@type":"CreativeWork","name":"ZoomShift Pricing","url":"https://www.zoomshift.com/pricing"},{"@type":"CreativeWork","name":"Jibble time tracking, free plan","url":"https://www.jibble.io/"},{"@type":"CreativeWork","name":"When I Work Pricing","url":"https://wheniwork.com/pricing"},{"@type":"CreativeWork","name":"Deputy Pricing: Compare Our Plans","url":"https://www.deputy.com/pricing"},{"@type":"CreativeWork","name":"29 CFR 516.2: Employees subject to minimum wage or minimum wage and overtime provisions","url":"https://www.law.cornell.edu/cfr/text/29/516.2"},{"@type":"CreativeWork","name":"29 CFR 516.5, Records to be preserved 3 years","url":"https://www.law.cornell.edu/cfr/text/29/516.5"},{"@type":"CreativeWork","name":"29 CFR 516.6, Records to be preserved 2 years","url":"https://www.law.cornell.edu/cfr/text/29/516.6"},{"@type":"CreativeWork","name":"29 U.S. Code 207, Maximum hours","url":"https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/29/207"},{"@type":"CreativeWork","name":"Anderson v. Mt. Clemens Pottery Co., 328 U.S. 680","url":"https://www.law.cornell.edu/supremecourt/text/328/680"},{"@type":"CreativeWork","name":"Predictive scheduling","url":"https://www.oregon.gov/boli/workers/pages/predictive-scheduling.aspx"},{"@type":"CreativeWork","name":"What We Don't Know About Spreadsheet Errors Today: The Facts, Why We Don't Believe Them, and What We Need to Do","url":"https://arxiv.org/pdf/1602.02601"}]}}}