Best for
Best for Canadian small and mid-sized businesses that schedule shift staff and send hours to a Canadian payroll system.
- Small and mid-sized
Shift Scheduling Comparison
Agendrix 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 | Agendrix | When I Work |
|---|---|---|
| Starting price | From 3.50 dollars / user / month Essential plan billed monthly, or 3.15 dollars a month billed yearly. The pricing page shows the amounts with a dollar sign and does not name the currency. Time and Attendance is an add-on at 2.35 dollars per user per month. | 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 | Up to 21 days of free trial, no credit card required | 14-day free trial, no credit card required |
| Team size | Not stated | Priced per user per month, unlimited users on every plan |
| Users | Small and mid-sized businesses with shift staff; the vendor names retail, restaurants, clinics and health, pharmacies, retirement homes, hospitality and leisure | Hourly and shift-based teams in restaurants, retail, healthcare, hospitality, manufacturing, construction, call centres, franchises, events and non-profits |
| API | Yes, a documented API with OAuth access through a developer portal | Yes, API key access and webhooks on the Premium plan |
| Hosting | Cloud on AWS in the ca-central-1 region, with iOS and Android apps | Cloud (SaaS), with iOS and Android apps and a shared-device terminal |
| Made in | Canada | Not stated |
| Shift planning and templates | Drag-and-drop schedule editing, copying from the latest schedule, mass editing, rotating shifts, reusable shift and work week templates, day, week and month views, multilocation management, training shifts, tasks within shifts, and automatic shift assignment that accounts for availability and leave | 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 transfers and swaps as employee requests, and open shifts that qualified employees can offer to take, assigned by the manager or first come first served, with an option to offer open shifts by seniority | OpenShifts and shift swapping from Essentials, with managers keeping final approval; Pro allows overlapping OpenShifts |
| Availability and time off | Availability and preferred work hours, absence, vacation and paid or unpaid leave requests, and vacation and overtime banks per employee | 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 | Time and Attendance add-on: clocking in and out on a computer, a tablet with or without photo verification, a phone with GPS, an RFID card or a barcode, automated timesheets checked against the schedule with discrepancies highlighted, and rounding and approval rules | 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 | A labour cost calculator that works out labour costs and scheduled hours automatically, plus a daily weather forecast on the schedule | 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 | Paid and unpaid break management, an overtime tracker, automatic conflict detection when shifts overlap, availability is not respected or approved leave is forgotten, and in the add-on automatic overtime and break calculations | 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 | Timesheets exported to payroll through integrations with EmployerD, Nethris, Sage 50, Acomba, QuickBooks, Ceridian Powerpay, ADP Workforce Now, Payworks and Easypay; approved expenses can be exported with hours and premiums | 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 | One-on-one and group chat, an internal news feed for announcements and documents with read receipts, push notifications when a schedule is published or changed, and a confirmation that an employee has seen an assigned shift | 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, mobile apps for iOS and Android, and kiosk apps for iOS and Android that turn a tablet or PC into a punch clock | Web, plus iOS and Android apps; the time clock runs on mobile, web, tablet or a dedicated terminal |
| Integrations and API | API access with developer support listed in the plan comparison, OAuth access managed in the developer portal, and integrations with Lightspeed, BeLocum, Hopem and Azur besides the payroll systems | 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 |
| Deployment | Cloud (SaaS) | more entries Cloud (SaaS), Browser-based |
| Support | more entries Chat, Phone, Email helpdesk | Chat |
| Onboarding | more entries Documentation and knowledge base, Video tutorials, Guided onboarding | Documentation and knowledge base |
| Company size | Small and mid-sized | more entries Small and mid-sized, Enterprise |
| Integrations | more entries EmployerD, Nethris, Sage 50, Acomba, QuickBooks, Ceridian Powerpay, ADP Workforce Now, Payworks, Easypay, Lightspeed, BeLocum, Hopem, Azur | 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 Agendrix From 3.50 dollars / user / month When I Work From $2.50 / user / month
- Free trial Agendrix Up to 21 days of free trial, no credit card required When I Work 14-day free trial, no credit card required
- Deployment Agendrix Cloud (SaaS) When I Work Cloud (SaaS), Browser-based
- Company size Agendrix Small and mid-sized When I Work Small and mid-sized, Enterprise
- Hosting Agendrix Cloud on AWS in the ca-central-1 region, with iOS and Android apps When I Work Cloud (SaaS), with iOS and Android apps and a shared-device terminal
Every line is one datapoint from the table above, picked automatically. Nothing here is written text.
The trade-offs
Strengths and Limitations
Agendrix
Strengths
- Up to 21 days of free trial with no credit card required
- Payroll integrations with Canadian systems such as Nethris, EmployerD, Payworks and Ceridian Powerpay
- Open shifts can be offered by seniority, one employee at a time
- Kiosk apps turn an existing iPad, Android tablet or PC into a punch clock
- The vendor cites ISO/IEC 27001 compliance and AWS hosting in the Canadian ca-central-1 region
Limitations
- The pricing page does not name the currency of its amounts
- Time clock and timesheets need the paid Time and Attendance add-on
- HR records, surveys and permission customisation need the Plus plan or above
- Enterprise pricing for businesses with 250+ employees is on request
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
Agendrix
- Essential 3.50 dollars / user / month Billed monthly, or 3.15 dollars billed yearly; 5.85 dollars monthly or 5.27 dollars yearly with the Time and Attendance add-on. Currency not named on the page. Employee scheduling, communication, request management and reporting.
- Plus 5.60 dollars / user / month Billed monthly, or 5.04 dollars billed yearly; 7.95 dollars monthly or 7.16 dollars yearly with the Time and Attendance add-on. Currency not named on the page. Adds HR management, surveys and permission customisation.
- Enterprise Not stated For businesses with 250+ employees, with enhanced day-to-day support; price on request.
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
Agendrix
- 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.
Every review is read by a person before it appears. An email address is required and is confirmed: we send a link to it, and a review does not reach us until the author opens that link, so a review has a sender who was reachable at least once rather than being anonymous. Where what somebody writes needs backing, we ask them for evidence that they used the product, and a review that does not get it is not published. We publish positive and negative reviews alike, we pay nothing and offer nothing for a review, and we accept none that was bought or incentivised.
What we cannot do is verify a purchase. There is no shop here and no account, so whether the author really used the tool rests on their own declaration, on whatever we ask them for, and on the plausibility of what they write. We say so rather than implying a check that does not exist.
A vendor cannot buy a review, and cannot have one removed or changed because they dislike it. We remove or edit a review only if it breaks our rules or the law, for example a false statement of fact. Paid placement has no effect on which reviews appear or on any score.
Where this comes from
Where this comes from
Agendrix https://www.agendrix.com/ · checked against the official source on 2026-11-07
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.