Deputy vs. Sling

At a glance

Best for

Best for businesses rostering hourly staff across sites, where the hours have to reach payroll rather than an invoice.

Small and mid-sized
Enterprise

Best for

Best for restaurants, shops and other hourly teams that schedule by shift and want labour costs in view while they plan.

Small and mid-sized

Cataleo does not name a winner. Both statements come from the vendors themselves.

Full Comparison

Criterion	Deputy	Sling
Starting price	From $5 / user / month The $5 Lite plan covers basic scheduling, timesheets and time clocking. Core is $6.50 and Pro $9 per user per month. Deputy Payroll adds $8 per user per month plus a $49 monthly base fee, HR $2, Messaging+ $1.95 and Analytics+ $1.50 per user per month.	lower value Free up to 30 users; from $1.70 / user / month Premium is $1.70 per user per month billed annually or $2.00 billed monthly; Business is $3.40 annually or $4.00 monthly. Paid plans charge only for active users and prorate anyone deactivated.
Free trial	Free trial, no credit card required	Free plan with core shift scheduling for up to 30 users; 15-day free trial of the paid plans
Team size	Priced per user, per month	Not stated
Users	Shift-based teams across more than 15 industries, among them hospitality, healthcare, retail, manufacturing and logistics, construction and engineering, education, security and cleaning	Hourly teams in restaurants, retail, hospitality, healthcare, education, call centres, caregiving, entertainment, emergency services and non-profits
API	Yes, a developer API alongside prebuilt payroll, point-of-sale, HR and accounting connectors	Yes, a REST API documented at api.getsling.com
Hosting	Cloud (SaaS), with iOS and Android apps and a shared-device time clock	Cloud, on the web and in iOS and Android apps
Shift planning and templates	Basic scheduling on Lite with shift templates for weeks, months or custom periods; Core adds advanced scheduling, micro-scheduling and auto-scheduling	Shift scheduling, shift templates and long-term scheduling on the free plan; Premium adds reusable weekly schedule templates and day parts, and Business assigns shifts automatically
Shift swaps and open shifts	Open shifts, open shifts with approval, swapping and offering shifts, and find a replacement, from the Lite plan	Available shifts and shift offers on the free plan; Premium adds shift swaps and slots on available shifts, and Business adds shift acceptance
Availability and time off	Leave and availability management from the Lite plan	Time-off requests on the free plan; Premium adds unavailability so schedules follow staff availability, and Business adds PTO management
Time clock and attendance	Time clocking from the iOS and Android apps or a shared device, with biometric time clocking from the Core plan, timesheets with auto-approval from Core and advanced timesheets on Pro, plus shift swaps, find-a-replacement, leave and availability management and labour-law compliance rules	A mobile time clock on Premium and a kiosk clock on a shared device on Business, with timesheets, timesheet approvals and edit history, geofencing, early clock-in prevention, auto clock-out, break attestation, and tracking of no-shows, sick call-outs and late arrivals
Labour cost and forecasting	Wages shown against scheduled hours; Core adds demand forecasting, labour optimisation and wage and labour budgets, with forecast-to-actual variance in sales and wage metrics	Labour cost management against sales and budgeting while scheduling from Premium; Business imports projected sales data to compare with actual sales and adds labour reports
Breaks, overtime and labour rules	Labour-law compliance on Lite and advanced labour-law compliance on Core, with paid and unpaid breaks scheduled by time and duration	From Premium: mandatory meal and rest breaks applied to shifts, break attestation, overtime tracking, premium pay for missed breaks and clopening rules for mandated rest between shifts; Business adds holiday pay
Payroll export and integration	Payroll and HR integrations from the Lite plan; the Deputy Payroll add-on, enabled by Paycor and offered in the US on annual Core and Pro plans, sends approved timesheets, pay rates and leave to Paycor	Payroll reports on the Business plan that aggregate and sync hours for payroll processing, including sync to Toast Payroll
Team messaging and notifications	Messaging and a news feed from the Lite plan, with the Messaging+ add-on for a more integrated messaging experience, included in Pro	Private messaging, announcements, news sharing and shift alarms that remind staff of upcoming shifts on the free plan; Premium adds group messaging and SMS shift alarms, and Business BCC messages and newsfeed restrictions
Platforms and mobile app	Clock-in apps on web, mobile, tablet and watch, with iOS and Android apps and a shared-device time clock	Web, iOS and Android, with mobile time tracking from Premium and a kiosk clock on a shared device on Business
Integrations and API	A developer API plus prebuilt connectors for payroll (ADP, Gusto, Paychex, Paycor, Paylocity, OnPay, Wagepoint, Xero), point of sale (Square, Clover, Lightspeed, Revel, Epos Now), HR (BambooHR, HiBob, Rippling, TriNet, Okta) and accounting (QuickBooks, NetSuite, Xero), with Zapier for anything else	Point-of-sale and payroll integrations with Toast, Square, Harbortouch, Restaurant Manager and POSiTouch, calendar synchronisation, and a REST API documented at api.getsling.com
AI features	stated Yes	No
Deployment	Cloud (SaaS), Browser-based	Cloud (SaaS), Browser-based
Support	more entries Chat, 24/7	Email helpdesk
Onboarding	Documentation and knowledge base, Guided onboarding	Documentation and knowledge base, Video tutorials
Company size	more entries Small and mid-sized, Enterprise	Small and mid-sized
Integrations	more entries ADP, Gusto, Paychex, Paycom, Paycor, Paylocity, OnPay, Wagepoint, Talenox, Xero, QuickBooks, NetSuite, Square, Clover, Lightspeed, Revel, Epos Now, BambooHR, HiBob, Rippling, TriNet, Okta, JobAdder, Box, Dropbox, ServiceM8, Tapcheck, Wagestream, TipHaus, Zapier	Toast, Square, Harbortouch, Restaurant Manager, POSiTouch

Compare more tools

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 Deputy From $5 / user / month Sling Free up to 30 users; from $1.70 / user / month
Free trial Deputy Free trial, no credit card required Sling Free plan with core shift scheduling for up to 30 users; 15-day free trial of the paid plans
Company size Deputy Small and mid-sized, Enterprise Sling Small and mid-sized
Hosting Deputy Cloud (SaaS), with iOS and Android apps and a shared-device time clock Sling Cloud, on the web and in iOS and Android apps
Support Deputy Chat, 24/7 Sling Email helpdesk

Every line is one datapoint from the table above, picked automatically. Nothing here is written text.

The trade-offs

Strengths and Limitations

Deputy

Strengths

Biometric time clocking and a shared-device clock cover on-site and shift work
Deep payroll and point-of-sale connector list, including ADP, Gusto, Paychex, Xero, QuickBooks and Square
Demand forecasting and auto-scheduling build rosters against wage and labour budgets
Single sign-on, custom access levels and location hierarchies on the Pro plan

Limitations

No client invoicing: timesheets are built for payroll rather than for billing work
Forecasting, auto-scheduling and biometric clocking all require the Core plan or above
Payroll, HR, Messaging+ and Analytics+ are separately priced add-ons, and Deputy Payroll carries a monthly base fee
No free tier; Lite is the cheapest paid plan

Sling

Strengths

Shift scheduling is free for up to 30 users
Labour costs shown against sales while the schedule is being built
Point-of-sale integrations sync employees, timesheets and sales data
Only active users are billed, with proration when someone leaves

Limitations

Time tracking needs a paid plan; the free plan covers scheduling and communication
Kiosk time clock and reports are limited to the Business plan
No client invoicing or project-based time tracking

Plans

Pricing

Deputy

Lite $5 Per user per month. Basic scheduling, timesheets and time clocking, labour-law compliance, shift swap and find a replacement, leave and availability management, basic reporting, messaging and news feed, and payroll and HR integrations.
Core $6.50 Per user per month. Everything in Lite plus advanced scheduling, timesheet auto-approval, biometric time clocking, micro-scheduling, auto-scheduling, demand forecasting, labour optimisation, wage and labour budgets and a customer success manager.
Pro $9 Per user per month. Everything in Core plus custom access levels, advanced timesheets, location hierarchies, single sign-on, a dedicated customer success manager, a sandbox environment, 24/7 live chat and the Analytics+ and Messaging+ add-ons.
Add-ons Not stated Deputy Payroll $8 per user per month plus a $49 monthly base fee, HR $2, Messaging+ $1.95 and Analytics+ $1.50 per user per month. HR, Messaging+ and Analytics+ carry 30-day free trials.

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Sling

Free $0 Up to 30 users. Shift scheduling, time-off requests, available shifts, long-term scheduling, news sharing and private messaging.
Premium $1.70 / user / month Billed annually, or $2.00 billed monthly. Adds mobile time tracking, labour cost management, overtime tracking, group messaging and calendar synchronisation.
Business $3.40 / user / month Billed annually, or $4.00 billed monthly. Adds kiosk time tracking, reports on hours and wages, no-show and sick call-out tracking and PTO management.

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What users say

Review Scores · opens after launch

Deputy

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.

Sling

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.

Read the full version on our methodology page

Where this comes from

Deputy https://www.deputy.com · checked against the official source on 2026-09-12

Sling https://www.getsling.com · checked against the official source on 2026-09-27

This table lists factual criteria taken from information the vendors publish themselves. For how we put it together, see the methodology.