Deputy vs. Tanda

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 Australian employers with hourly staff under Modern Awards who want rosters, time and attendance, award-interpreted pay and payroll in one system.

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

Full Comparison

Criterion	Deputy	Tanda
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.	From 12.80 dollars + GST / user / month Price for the bundle of HR, Payroll and Workforce Management. The pricing page shows a dollar sign plus GST and does not name the currency. Prices for the individual modules are given on request.
Free trial	Free trial, no credit card required	Free trial set up by the vendor on request
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	Australian employers with hourly staff; the vendor names hospitality, retail, healthcare, professional services, early learning, pharmacy, clubs, franchises, quick service restaurants, restaurants and grocery
API	Yes, a developer API alongside prebuilt payroll, point-of-sale, HR and accounting connectors	Yes, a REST API with OAuth authorisation and webhooks
Hosting	Cloud (SaaS), with iOS and Android apps and a shared-device time clock	Cloud, in the browser, with a mobile app and a tablet time clock app
Made in	Not stated	Australia
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	Rosters built from templates for a typical week or specific events, or generated from staff's regular hours; shifts are copied, pasted or dragged and named by title or team, a heads-up view shows who works, for how long and at what cost, and rosters can be planned weeks ahead. Published rosters go to staff in the app, where they accept shifts or flag a problem
Shift swaps and open shifts	Open shifts, open shifts with approval, swapping and offering shifts, and find a replacement, from the Lite plan	Staff request replacements or offer to cover shifts in the app with manager approval, and vacant shifts are offered to staff by push notification. Suggested replacements are filtered by availability, by qualifications such as an RSA or blue card and by a minimum number of hours between shifts, with award-interpreted cost differences shown for each candidate
Availability and time off	Leave and availability management from the Lite plan	Staff apply for leave and unavailability in the app and see their leave balances; managers approve requests on the go in a leave planner calendar, split requests above the balance into paid and unpaid leave, add custom events to discourage or block leave in peak periods, and manage time off in lieu
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	Time Clock app that turns an Android or Apple tablet into a time clock for shift starts, finishes and breaks, plus GPS clock-ins from the mobile app that flag clock-ins away from an approved location. Timesheets are built from clock-ins, and shifts that match the roster can be auto-approved
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	Roster costs shown while the roster is built, and Live Insights with sales, wage cost and wages as a percentage of revenue through the day against expected numbers, by location. Staffing levels can be planned from historical sales, foot traffic and weather data, with sales streamed from over a dozen supported point-of-sale integrations
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	Over 30 vendor-maintained Modern Award templates and custom rules for enterprise agreements, breaks added to rosters and timesheets according to the award, minimum break durations enforced at clock-in, and roster validations that warn about overtime, qualification risks, maximum hours and days, staff rostered on leave or shifts in different locations; the vendor states that pay rates are updated after Fair Work wage rulings
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	Tanda Payroll runs pay inside the same system, including STP filing and superannuation contributions; award-interpreted timesheets and leave also export to ADP, Xero, Ascender, Attache, iPayroll, iChris, Ready Pay, WageEasy, Aurion and TriniTEQ
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	Push notifications for shifts that need filling and for pending requests, shift reminders with multiple alerts, announcements with acknowledgement requests and attached documents, and manager notifications when staff are late, work past their finish time, go into unexpected overtime or miss a required break
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 app at my.tanda.co, the Tanda mobile app for staff and managers, and a separate Time Clock app for Android and Apple tablets from Google Play and the App Store
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	REST API (v2) with OAuth authorisation code or personal access tokens, covering rosters, schedules, shifts, timesheets, leave, availability, clock-ins, payroll and users, with webhooks and code samples on GitHub; integrations with payroll, point-of-sale and HR systems such as ADP, Xero, Square, Lightspeed, SwiftPOS, Redcat and ELMO
AI features	stated Yes	No
Deployment	Cloud (SaaS), Browser-based	Cloud (SaaS), Browser-based
Support	Chat, 24/7	Not stated
Onboarding	more entries Documentation and knowledge base, Guided onboarding	Documentation and knowledge base
Company size	Small and mid-sized, Enterprise	Not stated
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	ADP, Xero, Ascender, Attache, iPayroll, iChris, Ready Pay, WageEasy, Aurion, TriniTEQ, Beam, Square, Lightspeed, Vend, SwiftPOS, Redcat, Impos, Doshii, Tenzo, Peiso, Tip Sheet, vSure, WorkJam, ELMO, ROLLER, Kidsoft, Allara Global, etrainu, Paytime

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 Tanda From 12.80 dollars + GST / user / month
Free trial Deputy Free trial, no credit card required Tanda Free trial set up by the vendor on request
Hosting Deputy Cloud (SaaS), with iOS and Android apps and a shared-device time clock Tanda Cloud, in the browser, with a mobile app and a tablet time clock app
AI features Deputy Yes Tanda No
Users Deputy Shift-based teams across more than 15 industries, among them hospitality, healthcare, retail, manufacturing and logistics, construction and engineering, education, security and cleaning Tanda Australian employers with hourly staff; the vendor names hospitality, retail, healthcare, professional services, early learning, pharmacy, clubs, franchises, quick service restaurants, restaurants and grocery

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

Tanda

Strengths

Rostering, timesheets, payroll and HR bundled from 12.80 dollars plus GST per user per month
Over 30 Modern Award templates maintained by the vendor's compliance team
Replacement suggestions filtered by availability, qualifications and rest time between shifts, with cost differences shown
Documented REST API with OAuth and webhooks

Limitations

Prices for the individual modules are only given on request
The pricing page does not name the currency of its dollar price
No self-serve trial; a free trial is arranged through the vendor
Award templates and payroll are built around Australian Fair Work rules

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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Tanda

HR + Payroll + Workforce Management 12.80 dollars + GST / user / month All three modules in one discounted subscription.
Workforce Management Not stated Rosters, time and attendance and leave. Price on request.
Payroll Not stated Pay runs from timesheets, entitlements and STP filing. Price on request.
HR Not stated Hiring, onboarding and staff records. Price on request.

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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.

Tanda

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

Tanda https://www.tanda.co · checked against the official source on 2026-11-07

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