Best for
Best for UK security guarding companies that want rota, officer compliance records and billing in one system priced per worked officer.
Shift Scheduling Comparison
BOOK ON vs. Zoho Shifts
At a glance
At a glance
Best for
Best for small and mid-sized businesses that want shift scheduling and a mobile time clock at a low per-user price, starting on a free plan.
- Small and mid-sized
- Enterprise
Cataleo does not name a winner. Both statements come from the vendors themselves.
Full Comparison
| Criterion | BOOK ON | Zoho Shifts |
|---|---|---|
| Starting price | From £2.95 / worked officer / month One rate with all platform features included. Each officer who worked at least one shift in the calendar month is counted once; controllers, managers and office users are not counted. No VAT is added while the vendor is not VAT registered. | Free up to 25 users; Basic from $1 / user / month Basic and Standard require a minimum of 10 users, so Basic starts at $10 a month and Standard at $2 per user, $20 a month. Billed yearly, Basic is $10 and Standard $20 per user per year, two months off. Prices are also shown in INR, EUR and GBP; pay as you go, with no contract. |
| Free trial | First partial calendar month free, no credit card required; the next complete calendar month is the first chargeable one | 30-day free trial, no credit card required; free plan for up to 25 users |
| Users | Not stated | Businesses that staff shifts; the vendor names restaurants, retail, healthcare, professional services, assisted living and universities and schools |
| API | Not stated | Yes, a REST API with OAuth 2.0 authentication, from the Basic plan |
| Hosting | Not stated | Cloud, in the browser, with mobile apps for iOS and Android |
| Made in | United Kingdom | Not stated |
| Shift planning and templates | Shifts added per client, site and day with start and end times; Copy Roster carries a whole week forward and Copy Shifts repeats a pattern across days, and an existing rota can be imported from Excel | Drag-and-drop scheduling with shift templates, copying schedules from earlier weeks, multiple locations, teams and departments as separate schedules, and break scheduling on every plan; Basic adds advanced scheduling, schedule templates, recurring shifts, job sites, skills management and custom access levels |
| Shift swaps and open shifts | Counters show unassigned and unconfirmed shifts; the planner fills them through the Near By Officers search by postcode and radius, and a no-show shift is reassigned to a replacement and confirmed | On Basic, open shifts employees can pick up, and shift swap, offer and drop between relevant and qualified co-workers |
| Availability and time off | Leave requests are queued for HR with the number of days and whether they are paid, then approved or rejected; leave policies are applied per employee with a simultaneous-leave limit and carry-over setting, approved leave is visible when the roster is built, and unplanned absence is recorded on an Absentees screen | Time off requests on every plan; Basic adds availability preferences and time off management, and Standard adds time off accrual based on hours worked |
| Time clock and attendance | Yes, book on and book off from the officer app with time and position recorded against the rostered shift, or by the control room from the roster; those records become the timesheet, with planned hours shown next to hours worked | On Standard, clock-in from the mobile app or a shared device running the Shifts Kiosk app, timesheet management that staff can edit, break tracking, time clock rules and reports, GPS tagging and geofencing; attendance shows in real time who is working, on a break or late, with notifications for missed clock-ins and clock-outs |
| Labour cost and forecasting | Each shift carries its pay rate and charge rate, Change Rate sets night, weekend or bank holiday rates for one shift, planned hours sit next to actual hours, and a finance dashboard shows revenue, cost, profit and margin by contract | The vendor describes monitoring staffing expenses while schedules are created; Standard adds shift premiums and custom overtime rules, and reports cover logged hours, time off and availability |
| Breaks, overtime and labour rules | A seven-day consecutive-work alert on the manager dashboard lists officers who have worked every day of the past week, the officer roster flags double-booking and rest-period problems, and the vendor lists overtime detection and cost alerts | Break scheduling on every plan; Standard adds break tracking, time clock rules and custom overtime rules, and the vendor states that wages and overtime pay are calculated according to the region's labour laws |
| Payroll export and integration | Payroll is generated in BOOK ON Accounts from approved shifts for a chosen period and frequency, with payslips; statutory calculations and HMRC submissions stay with your payroll software or bureau, and how the output is passed to them is agreed during onboarding | On Standard, timesheets and the pay rates assigned to each employee or designation are reviewed and exported to payroll software, with pay periods set weekly, bi-weekly or monthly |
| Team messaging and notifications | Confirmed shifts appear in the officer app, which also carries employer notifications and a news feed; the control room works with handover tickets | Built-in messenger with direct messages, group chats and announcement channels, email and push notifications on every plan, and shift reminders on Basic |
| Platforms and mobile app | Officer app for iOS and Android, free on the App Store and Google Play, which needs a connection to send a book-on, check call or report; the office side runs as a cloud web platform | Web app, mobile apps for iOS and Android, and the Shifts Kiosk app that turns a tablet or mobile device into a shared time clock |
| Integrations and API | Excel import for existing rotas; exports to accounting and payroll packages are confirmed during onboarding for the packages a firm uses | REST API from the Basic plan, authenticated with OAuth 2.0 and scoped per resource, covering employees, shifts, timesheets, time off requests, availability, schedules, positions and job sites; schedules sync with Google Calendar, Outlook and Apple Calendar |
| Deployment | Cloud (SaaS), Browser-based | Cloud (SaaS), Browser-based |
| Support | Phone, Email helpdesk | Chat, Email helpdesk |
| Onboarding | Guided onboarding | Not stated |
| Company size | Not stated | Small and mid-sized, Enterprise |
| Integrations | Not stated | Google Calendar, Outlook Calendar, Apple Calendar |
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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 BOOK ON From £2.95 / worked officer / month Zoho Shifts Free up to 25 users; Basic from $1 / user / month
- Free trial BOOK ON First partial calendar month free, no credit card required; the next complete calendar month is the first chargeable one Zoho Shifts 30-day free trial, no credit card required; free plan for up to 25 users
- Support BOOK ON Phone, Email helpdesk Zoho Shifts Chat, Email helpdesk
- Shift planning and templates BOOK ON Shifts added per client, site and day with start and end times; Copy Roster carries a whole week forward and Copy Shifts repeats a pattern across days, and an existing rota can be imported from Excel Zoho Shifts Drag-and-drop scheduling with shift templates, copying schedules from earlier weeks, multiple locations, teams and departments as separate schedules, and break scheduling on every plan; Basic adds advanced scheduling, schedule templates, recurring shifts, job sites, skills management and custom access levels
- Shift swaps and open shifts BOOK ON Counters show unassigned and unconfirmed shifts; the planner fills them through the Near By Officers search by postcode and radius, and a no-show shift is reassigned to a replacement and confirmed Zoho Shifts On Basic, open shifts employees can pick up, and shift swap, offer and drop between relevant and qualified co-workers
Every line is one datapoint from the table above, picked automatically. Nothing here is written text.
The trade-offs
Strengths and Limitations
BOOK ON
Strengths
- One published rate of £2.95 per worked officer, with all platform features included
- Controllers, managers and office users are not counted towards the bill
- Approved shifts feed timesheets, payroll and client invoices from the same record
- SIA licence, BS 7858 vetting and right-to-work records held against each officer
- Officer app for iOS and Android for booking on, check calls, patrols and incident reports
Limitations
- Licensing and vetting records are built around UK security rules (SIA, BS 7858, ACS)
- Exports to accounting and payroll packages are confirmed per package during onboarding rather than listed
- Minimums, setup and contract length are set in each company's commercial agreement, not on the pricing page
- The vendor states its records support SIA, ACS, BS 7858 and ISO work but do not award certification or guarantee compliance
Zoho Shifts
Strengths
- Free plan for up to 25 users with scheduling, team messaging and the mobile apps
- 30-day free trial with no credit card required
- Pay-as-you-go subscription with no contract
- REST API included from the Basic plan
Limitations
- Paid plans require a minimum of 10 users
- Clocking in, timesheets and payroll export need the Standard plan
- The pricing page names a payroll export but no specific payroll integration
Plans
Pricing
BOOK ON
- Subscription £2.95 Per qualifying worked officer per month, with Operate, Compliance and Accounts included and no feature tiers. Subcontractor billing is subject to client approval.
Zoho Shifts
- Free $0 Up to 25 users. Basic scheduling, multiple locations, team messaging, break scheduling, time off requests, schedule reports, shift templates, iOS and Android apps, email and push notifications, chat and email support.
- Basic $1 / user / month Minimum 10 users, so from $10 a month; $10 per user per year billed yearly. Adds unlimited users, open shifts, job sites, schedule templates, recurring shifts, shift reminders, shift swap, offer and drop, availability preferences, custom access levels, skills management, time off management and REST API access.
- Standard $2 / user / month Minimum 10 users, so from $20 a month; $20 per user per year billed yearly. Adds time tracking, mobile and kiosk clock-in, timesheets, time clock rules and reports, break tracking, custom overtime rules, shift premiums, GPS tagging, geofencing, payroll export and time off accrual.
What users say
Review Scores · opens after launch
BOOK ON
- 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.
Zoho Shifts
- 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
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Where this comes from
Where this comes from
BOOK ON https://bookonsolutions.com/ · checked against the official source on 2026-11-04
Zoho Shifts https://www.zoho.com/shifts/ · checked against the official source on 2026-11-06
This table lists factual criteria taken from information the vendors publish themselves. For how we put it together, see the methodology.