Best for
Best for a small business with hourly staff at one or a few sites, where a per-location price beats paying per employee.
- Small and mid-sized
Shift Scheduling Comparison
Homebase vs. Shiftbase
At a glance
At a glance
Best for
Best for shift-based businesses in the Netherlands and Germany that want scheduling, clocking in and a payroll-ready export in one tool.
- Small and mid-sized
Cataleo does not name a winner. Both statements come from the vendors themselves.
Full Comparison
| Criterion | Homebase | Shiftbase |
|---|---|---|
| Starting price | Free plan; Essentials $30 / location / month The free Basic plan covers one location and up to ten employees. Paid plans are per location per month with unlimited employees: Essentials $30, Plus $70, All-in-One $120. Payroll adds $49 a month plus $6 per employee, Tip Manager $25 and Task Manager $13 per location per month. | Free up to 15 employees; Basic from €30 / month Basic, billed monthly, includes 6 employees and charges €4 a month for each additional one; Premium is €75 a month for 12 employees plus €5.25 each. Yearly billing saves 10% and lowers the extra-employee rate to €3.60 (Basic) and €4.73 (Premium). Enterprise includes 48 employees and is priced on request. Prices are also shown in GBP; App Center+ is a €20 monthly add-on. |
| Free trial | 14-day free trial of the All-in-One plan, no credit card required | 14-day free trial of the paid plans, 30 days on Enterprise; free plan for up to 15 employees |
| Team size | Priced per location per month, unlimited employees on the paid plans | Not stated |
| Users | Small businesses with hourly staff in restaurants, retail, beauty and wellness, medical and veterinary practices, home services, hospitality, education and caregiving | Shift-based businesses; the vendor names restaurants and bars, hotels, retail, care, recreation and transport |
| API | Yes, API access for custom integrations on the All-in-One plan | API tokens through the App Center+ add-on, included on Enterprise |
| Hosting | Cloud (SaaS), with iOS and Android apps and a tablet time clock | Cloud, in the browser, with mobile apps for iOS and Android |
| Made in | Not stated | Netherlands |
| Shift planning and templates | Weekly schedule building on the free Basic plan, advanced scheduling from Essentials and an AI-powered scheduling assistant from Plus | Drag-and-drop scheduling on every plan, with one department and five teams on Free, five departments and unlimited teams on Basic, and unlimited departments on Premium. Premium adds auto-scheduling that fills the required shifts for several departments and locations up to a month ahead as a draft to review, required-shift targets per team and day, and skill-based scheduling. |
| Shift swaps and open shifts | Employees trade, cover and claim open shifts, from the Essentials plan | On Basic, shift swaps and open shifts that staff can claim; Premium adds a flexpool of people who can be pulled into any location when gaps appear |
| Availability and time off | Availability and time-off requests from Essentials; Plus adds a team-wide time-off dashboard and PTO policies that track accruals and balances | On Basic, staff availability and absence management with requests, approvals and balances |
| Time clock and attendance | Time clock on tablets, computers and point-of-sale devices with PIN, photo and GPS or geofence verification, timesheets that flag missed punches, breaks and overtime, availability and time-off requests, shift trading and cover from Essentials, and 90 days of timesheet storage on the free plan | Manual time tracking with manager approval on Free; Basic adds clocking in and out on mobile, desktop or one shared kiosk device with a personal PIN, and Premium adds clock locations with geofencing and unlimited kiosks |
| Labour cost and forecasting | Labour cost management on All-in-One, with overtime alerts, reports on activity, sales and labour costs, and schedules built against forecasted sales and custom labour targets | On Basic, performance insights on turnover, productivity, average wage and labour cost per department and team. Premium adds a labour cost target checked while the schedule is built, budget management with a labour cost or hours target per team and day, a KPI dashboard with trends and period comparison, and an AI forecast of next week's busyness from the business's own turnover data, which can come back from the POS. |
| Breaks, overtime and labour rules | Custom overtime and break preferences from Essentials, with the option for staff to waive breaks; the HR and compliance package on All-in-One notifies about changes to federal and state labour laws | On Basic, surcharges for a whole day such as Sundays or public holidays and tracking of German minijob hour thresholds; Premium adds surcharges for part of a day such as night or evening rates. Compliance+, which checks every shift against the working-hours rules of the employee's contract type, is announced as coming soon as an add-on at €0.50 per employee a month, with custom rulesets on Enterprise. |
| Payroll export and integration | Payroll integrations with providers such as ADP, Paychex, Gusto and QuickBooks, or Homebase's own payroll add-on, available on every plan and fed from the timesheets | On Basic, a payroll export of contract versus worked hours, surcharges and leave payouts as Excel or CSV; payroll integrations such as Nmbrs, Loket, AFAS, Exact Online and DATEV through the App Center+ add-on |
| Team messaging and notifications | Real-time team messaging, custom messenger channels and announcements from Essentials, with automated reminders and notifications to employees | News messages for announcements to the whole team on every plan; a Chat add-on with one-to-one chats and group chats per location, per department or custom is listed with its price still to be determined |
| Platforms and mobile app | Web and iOS and Android apps, with a time clock on tablets, computers and point-of-sale devices and location-based clock-in on the mobile app | Web app, mobile apps for iOS and Android, and a kiosk mode on a tablet, laptop or phone for clocking in |
| Integrations and API | Point-of-sale and payroll connectors including Square, Toast, Clover, Lightspeed, Shopify, PAR, GoDaddy, ADP, Paychex, Gusto, QuickBooks, Square Payroll, Heartland and SurePayroll, with API access for custom integrations on the All-in-One plan | Basic includes three integrations (Datafox, Mplus and Connexie); the App Center+ add-on at €20 a month opens every App Center integration across payroll, HR such as Personio and POS such as Lightspeed, plus API tokens. Enterprise includes App Center+, API access and custom integrations against the Shiftbase API. |
| AI features | Yes | Yes |
| Deployment | Cloud (SaaS), Browser-based | Cloud (SaaS), Browser-based |
| Support | more entries Chat, 24/7, Phone | Chat, Email helpdesk |
| Onboarding | Documentation and knowledge base | more entries Documentation and knowledge base, Video tutorials, Guided onboarding |
| Company size | Small and mid-sized | Small and mid-sized |
| Integrations | more entries Square, Toast, Clover, Lightspeed, Shopify, PAR, GoDaddy, ADP, Paychex, Gusto, QuickBooks, Square Payroll, Heartland, SurePayroll | Nmbrs, Loket, AFAS Software, Exact Online, DATEV, Personio, Lightspeed, Datafox, Mplus, Connexie |
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The short version
Key Differences
- Starting price Homebase Free plan; Essentials $30 / location / month Shiftbase Free up to 15 employees; Basic from €30 / month
- Free trial Homebase 14-day free trial of the All-in-One plan, no credit card required Shiftbase 14-day free trial of the paid plans, 30 days on Enterprise; free plan for up to 15 employees
- Hosting Homebase Cloud (SaaS), with iOS and Android apps and a tablet time clock Shiftbase Cloud, in the browser, with mobile apps for iOS and Android
- Support Homebase Chat, 24/7, Phone Shiftbase Chat, Email helpdesk
- Users Homebase Small businesses with hourly staff in restaurants, retail, beauty and wellness, medical and veterinary practices, home services, hospitality, education and caregiving Shiftbase Shift-based businesses; the vendor names restaurants and bars, hotels, retail, care, recreation and transport
Every line is one datapoint from the table above, picked automatically. Nothing here is written text.
The trade-offs
Strengths and Limitations
Homebase
Strengths
- Priced per location with unlimited employees, so the bill does not grow with the roster
- A genuinely free plan for one location with up to ten employees
- The time clock verifies punches by PIN, photo and GPS or geofence, including on point-of-sale devices
- Payroll, hiring, HR compliance and tip pooling sit in the same product as the schedule
Limitations
- Departments, permissions and PTO policies need Plus; HR compliance, labour cost controls and API access need All-in-One
- Payroll, Tip Manager and Task Manager are separately priced add-ons on top of the plan
- The free plan stops at one location, ten employees and 90 days of timesheet history
- No client invoicing: hours are built for payroll rather than for billing work
Shiftbase
Strengths
- Free plan for up to 15 employees with drag-and-drop scheduling and the mobile app
- Payroll export separates contract and worked hours, surcharges and leave payouts
- Hours go to Dutch and German payroll such as Nmbrs, AFAS and DATEV through App Center+
- Monthly billing, or 10% off for yearly billing
Limitations
- Most integrations and API access need the App Center+ add-on at €20 a month
- Clocking in needs the Basic plan; on Free, hours are logged manually
- Automatic checks against working-hours rules are announced as coming soon
- Shiftbase Academy courses are available in Dutch and German only
Plans
Pricing
Homebase
- Basic $0 Per location per month, for one location with up to ten employees. Scheduling and time tracking, a time clock on tablets, computers and point-of-sale devices, timesheets with 90 days of storage, point-of-sale integration and 24/7 AI chat support.
- Essentials $30 Per location per month, unlimited employees. Everything in Basic plus advanced scheduling and time tracking, custom overtime and break preferences, availability and time-off requests, shift trading and cover, team messaging and live chat and phone support.
- Plus $70 Per location per month, unlimited employees. Everything in Essentials plus an AI-powered scheduling assistant, a team-wide time-off dashboard, departments and permissions, and PTO policy automation.
- All-in-One $120 Per location per month, unlimited employees. Everything in Plus plus employee onboarding and paperwork, certified HR advisers, HR compliance and handbooks, labour cost management with overtime alerts, business insights and API access for custom integrations.
- Add-ons Not stated Payroll $49 a month plus $6 per employee, Tip Manager $25 per location per month, Task Manager $13 per location per month, background checks $30 per check, job post boosts from $50 per post and a Hiring Assistant from $99 a month.
Shiftbase
- Free €0 / month Up to 15 employees, one department and five teams. Drag-and-drop scheduling, manual time tracking, employee profiles, news messages and the mobile app.
- Basic €30 / month Billed monthly, includes 6 employees, €4 a month for each additional one (€3.60 billed yearly). Adds availability, shift swaps and open shifts, clocking in, absence management, basic performance insights, payroll export, day surcharges, minijob contracts, three integrations and one kiosk.
- Premium €75 / month Billed monthly, includes 12 employees, €5.25 a month for each additional one (€4.73 billed yearly). Adds auto-scheduling, labour cost insights, KPI dashboard, part-day surcharges, budget management, AI forecast, skill-based scheduling, required shifts, flexpool, geofencing, custom fields and unlimited kiosks.
- Enterprise Not stated On request, includes 48 employees. Adds App Center+, API access, custom integrations, a dedicated success manager and personalised onboarding; Compliance+ and custom compliance rulesets are announced as coming soon.
What users say
Review Scores · opens after launch
Homebase
- 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
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Shiftbase
- 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
Homebase https://joinhomebase.com · checked against the official source on 2026-09-16
Shiftbase https://www.shiftbase.com/ · 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.