Best for
Best for restaurants, from a single cafe to multi-location groups and franchises, that schedule front and back of house against sales and labor laws.
- Small and mid-sized
- Enterprise
Shift Scheduling Comparison
7shifts vs. When I Work
At a glance
At a glance
Best for
Best for hourly teams that need a published rota and a GPS time clock whose hours go straight into payroll.
- Small and mid-sized
- Enterprise
Cataleo does not name a winner. Both statements come from the vendors themselves.
Full Comparison
| Criterion | 7shifts | When I Work |
|---|---|---|
| Starting price | Free for 1 location and up to 15 employees Comp is the free plan. The paid plans are Essentials (up to 30 employees, unlimited locations), Pro and Premium (unlimited employees and locations), paid monthly or annually; companies that joined before July 2, 2025 keep the earlier plans Entrée, The Works and Gourmet. | From $2.50 / user / month Essentials $2.50, Pro $5 and Premium $8 per user per month, each with unlimited users. Time tracking and attendance is offered as an add-on toggle on every plan. |
| Free trial | 14-day free trial with access to the features of The Works plan, no credit card needed; afterwards the free Comp plan or a paid plan | 14-day free trial, no credit card required |
| Team size | Not stated | Priced per user per month, unlimited users on every plan |
| Users | Quick-service and full-service restaurants, cafes and coffee shops, bars and breweries, pizzerias, bakeries, juice bars, pubs, caterers, franchises and multi-location groups | Hourly and shift-based teams in restaurants, retail, healthcare, hospitality, manufacturing, construction, call centres, franchises, events and non-profits |
| API | Yes, a REST API at api.7shifts.com/v2 with OAuth for partners, webhooks and a read-only MCP server; API access depends on the plan | Yes, API key access and webhooks on the Premium plan |
| Hosting | Cloud, on the web with a free mobile app and the 7punches time clock app | Cloud (SaaS), with iOS and Android apps and a shared-device terminal |
| Shift planning and templates | Drag-and-drop schedule builder with availability and time off shown while planning, unlimited customisable templates per role, season or location, any published schedule reusable as a template, and auto-fill of shifts from past schedules and availability | Auto scheduling, multi-week and multi-location scheduling and reusable custom schedule templates from Essentials; Pro adds advanced scheduling, scheduling rules and role permissions |
| Shift swaps and open shifts | Shift Pool lets employees offer up shifts or pick up open ones, with manager approval on every change, and shows which staff are available to cover sick, late or no-show shifts | OpenShifts and shift swapping from Essentials, with managers keeping final approval; Pro allows overlapping OpenShifts |
| Availability and time off | Employees submit availability changes and time-off requests in the app, managers approve them from anywhere, and PTO and sick time are tracked for scheduling and payroll | Availability, time-off requests, qualifications and shift preferences in one place; managers approve or decline requests on web or mobile, and auto scheduling fills shifts from availability and qualifications |
| Time clock and attendance | Clocking in and out with the 7punches app on a smartphone or a tablet at the restaurant, break and approaching-overtime notifications, timesheet approval, punch audit reports of missed clock-ins and timesheet edits, and a live view of who is clocked in | Clock-in from mobile, web, tablet or a dedicated terminal, with GPS captured on every punch, geofencing that limits clock-in to the work location, photo clock-ins for identity verification, break logging, real-time overtime alerts, manager approval of timesheets and an edit log for the audit trail |
| Labour cost and forecasting | AI sales forecasting from historical sales and labor data to predict staffing needs, labor budgets set and tracked while scheduling, and real-time labor against sales once a POS is connected | Forecast tools from Essentials track scheduled against budgeted hours, with labour costs in the scheduling view; Pro adds custom unit forecasting and labour sharing |
| Breaks, overtime and labour rules | Real-time alerts for local labor law violations while scheduling, required breaks set up and enforced, overtime alerts, fair workweek support for California, DC, Nevada, New York and Philadelphia, scheduling restrictions for minors under 16 and 18, tracking of expired certifications, and tip credit calculations and reporting | Overtime and maximum-hours alerts while scheduling and when an OpenShift or trade would add overtime, plus break logging on the time clock |
| Payroll export and integration | Approved punches and tips exported to the existing payroll provider, or paid through 7shifts Payroll, with tip pooling fed by synced sales and time data and on-demand pay offered alongside | Payroll and point-of-sale integrations from Essentials, among them Rippling, Gusto, Square Payroll, Paychex, QuickBooks Online and OnPay, which take the approved timesheets |
| Team messaging and notifications | Direct and group messaging with attachments, one-way announcements with read receipts, automated reminders for shifts, breaks and tasks, a manager log book, task management, shift feedback and training videos sent through the app | In-app team messaging from Essentials, with notifications to managers about time-off requests and staff nearing their hours |
| Platforms and mobile app | Web app, a free mobile app for managers and employees, and the 7punches time clock app on a smartphone or a tablet at the location | Web, plus iOS and Android apps; the time clock runs on mobile, web, tablet or a dedicated terminal |
| Integrations and API | Integrations with POS, payroll, analytics, hiring, back office and training tools; a REST API at api.7shifts.com/v2 for sales, time punches, employees, schedules and reports, with webhooks, an embed SDK, OAuth for partners with endpoint access tied to the plan, and a public read-only MCP server | Prebuilt payroll and operations connectors for Rippling, Gusto, Square Payroll, Paychex, QuickBooks Online, OnPay, SimplePay, GoCo and ResaleAI, Zapier for anything else, and API key access with webhooks on the Premium plan |
| AI features | stated Yes | No |
| MCP-ready | stated Yes | No |
| Deployment | Cloud (SaaS), Browser-based | Cloud (SaaS), Browser-based |
| Support | Not stated | Chat |
| Onboarding | Documentation and knowledge base | Documentation and knowledge base |
| Company size | Small and mid-sized, Enterprise | Small and mid-sized, Enterprise |
| Integrations | Not stated | Rippling, Gusto, Square Payroll, Paychex, QuickBooks Online, OnPay, SimplePay, GoCo, ResaleAI, Zapier |
Add a tool
Adds a column to the table, from the tools in this category.
Row where the values differ The small markers point at the lower number, the longer list or the stated feature. They describe the data, they are not a verdict.
The short version
Key Differences
- Starting price 7shifts Free for 1 location and up to 15 employees When I Work From $2.50 / user / month
- Free trial 7shifts 14-day free trial with access to the features of The Works plan, no credit card needed; afterwards the free Comp plan or a paid plan When I Work 14-day free trial, no credit card required
- Hosting 7shifts Cloud, on the web with a free mobile app and the 7punches time clock app When I Work Cloud (SaaS), with iOS and Android apps and a shared-device terminal
- AI features 7shifts Yes When I Work No
- MCP-ready 7shifts Yes When I Work No
Every line is one datapoint from the table above, picked automatically. Nothing here is written text.
The trade-offs
Strengths and Limitations
7shifts
Strengths
- Free Comp plan for one location and up to 15 employees
- 14-day free trial with no credit card needed
- Fair workweek support for California, DC, Nevada, New York and Philadelphia
- Scheduling, time clocking, tip pooling and payroll in one platform
- Public MCP server and a documented REST API with webhooks
Limitations
- Built for restaurants; the product pages, templates and tip features address food service
- Comp is limited to one location and Essentials to 30 employees
- The MCP server is read-only and exposes GET endpoints only
- API endpoint access for partner integrations depends on the customer's plan
When I Work
Strengths
- GPS, geofencing and photo clock-ins tie every punch to the scheduled location
- Auto-scheduling assigns shifts by eligibility, availability and approved time off
- Forecast tools put a sales and hours budget next to the schedule while it is built
- Unlimited users on every plan, from $2.50 per user per month
Limitations
- No client invoicing: the timesheet is built for payroll rather than for billing work
- API key access, webhooks and single sign-on require the Premium plan
- Time tracking and attendance is an add-on toggle rather than part of the plan price
- No free plan, only a 14-day trial
Plans
Pricing
7shifts
- Comp Free 1 location and up to 15 employees.
- Essentials Not stated Up to 30 employees and unlimited locations.
- Pro Not stated Unlimited employees and locations.
- Premium Not stated Unlimited employees and locations.
When I Work
- Essentials $2.50 Per user per month. Unlimited users, auto scheduling, multi-week and multi-location scheduling, schedule templates, forecast tools, in-app team messaging, OpenShifts and shift swapping, help centre and live chat, and payroll and point-of-sale integrations.
- Pro $5 Per user per month. Everything in Essentials plus advanced scheduling, scheduling rules, role permissions, labour sharing, custom unit forecasting, 24-hour callout reporting, custom reporting, overlapping OpenShifts and timezone toggling.
- Premium $8 Per user per month. Everything in Pro plus API key access, webhooks and SAML single sign-on.
What users say
Review Scores · opens after launch
7shifts
- Ease of use
- Not rated yet
- User interface
- Not rated yet
- Onboarding
- Not rated yet
- Support and service
- Not rated yet
- Value for money
- Not rated yet
- Features
- Not rated yet
No reviews yet. Nothing has been published here yet, and no score is shown. How a review is checked before it appears is described below.
When I Work
- Ease of use
- Not rated yet
- User interface
- Not rated yet
- Onboarding
- Not rated yet
- Support and service
- Not rated yet
- Value for money
- Not rated yet
- Features
- Not rated yet
No reviews yet. Nothing has been published here yet, and no score is shown. How a review is checked before it appears is described below.
How we check reviews
Before sending, the author has to confirm three things: that they have used the product themselves, that they work neither for the vendor nor for a competitor, and that nobody is paying them for the review. We also ask whether the vendor invited them to write it. That answer is required, either answer is accepted, and it stays with the review.
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Where this comes from
Where this comes from
7shifts https://www.7shifts.com · checked against the official source on 2026-11-05
When I Work https://wheniwork.com · checked against the official source on 2026-09-16
This table lists factual criteria taken from information the vendors publish themselves. For how we put it together, see the methodology.