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Shift Scheduling Comparison

Humanity Schedule vs. When I Work

At a glance

At a glance

Humanity Schedule

Best for

Best for organisations with frontline shift workers that need schedules checked against labour rules, from a single site to many locations.

  • Small and mid-sized
  • Enterprise

When I Work

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 Humanity Schedule When I Work
Starting price From $2.75 / employee / month Essentials plan for up to 250 employees, billed annually. Professional starts at $3.75 per employee a month billed annually, with volume discounts; Enterprise is quoted on request. The vendor states annual billing saves 20% against monthly billing. Managers and administrators with a login count as employees, and employees added mid-term are prorated. lower value 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 30-day free trial of the Professional plan, no contract or 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 Organisations scheduling frontline staff in shifts; TCP names healthcare, manufacturing, business services, hospitality, retail, construction, education, public safety and government Hourly and shift-based teams in restaurants, retail, healthcare, hospitality, manufacturing, construction, call centres, franchises, events and non-profits
API Open API, available as an add-on on the Professional and Enterprise plans Yes, API key access and webhooks on the Premium plan
Hosting Cloud, in the browser, with mobile apps for iOS and Android Cloud (SaaS), with iOS and Android apps and a shared-device terminal
Shift planning and templates Drag-and-drop schedules in daily, weekly, bi-weekly and monthly views, filtered by department, location, date and position, with schedule templates, one-click publishing and unlimited schedules and locations on every plan. Professional adds auto-fill of empty shifts by availability, skills and labour rules, re-assignment of vacant shifts by seniority or weekly hours, and Demand Scheduler, which builds a schedule from a forecast; shift tasks are an add-on on Professional and included on Enterprise. 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 Employees swap, pick up, release and drop shifts with automatic or manual manager approval, request coverage from colleagues and pick up full or partial open shifts in the app or by text. A released shift or a last-minute callout can start AI-assisted backfill, which ranks replacements by availability, pay, location and workload and sends SMS offers in phases until someone accepts. OpenShifts and shift swapping from Essentials, with managers keeping final approval; Pro allows overlapping OpenShifts
Availability and time off Employees set ad-hoc or recurring availability and request time off from the mobile app; managers see upcoming time off, leave balances and pending approvals, with custom leave types on every plan 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 Clock-in and clock-out for shifts and breaks on the mobile app, timesheets for every employee, and geofencing with GPS location tracking on every plan; the app also offers webcam capture and passwords for clock-in security, and a dashboard shows who is clocked in, late or on leave 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 On Professional, a budget view compares the daily and weekly hours and cost of scheduled shifts with a budget, Demand Scheduler forecasts demand from uploaded historical data, a staffing checker compares coverage with demand by hour and position, and an HPPD scheduler compares scheduled nursing hours with targets. Labor Optimizer, an add-on on Professional and included on Enterprise, combines clocked hours with upcoming shifts to project weekly hours and cost and flag potential overtime, with optional daily email or SMS alerts. 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 On Professional, a rules engine with built-in or custom policies, paid and unpaid meal and rest breaks, minor rules synced with school calendars, Fair Workweek guardrails for advance notice and right-to-rest, overtime thresholds based on FLSA, state or industry rules, skills and certifications, a conflict checker before and after assignment, and event logs of every schedule edit and request 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 Payroll export of timesheets on every plan; HRIS and HCM integration that syncs scheduling data, employee details and leave balances is an add-on on Professional and included on Enterprise, with ADP, Oracle, Workday and BambooHR named 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 SMS, email and in-app notifications for published schedules, changes and shift assignments, shift reminders 1 or 24 hours before a shift, a message wall for announcements and events, and messages to employees; Professional adds employee communications 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 plus mobile apps for iOS and Android, also compatible with Apple Watch Web, plus iOS and Android apps; the time clock runs on mobile, web, tablet or a dedicated terminal
Integrations and API Open API as an add-on on Professional and Enterprise for custom solutions; payroll export on every plan and HRIS/HCM integration from Professional, with ADP, Oracle, Workday and BambooHR named 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), Browser-based Cloud (SaaS), Browser-based
Support more entries Email helpdesk, Phone Chat
Onboarding Not stated Documentation and knowledge base
Company size Small and mid-sized, Enterprise Small and mid-sized, Enterprise
Integrations ADP, Oracle, Workday, BambooHR more entries Rippling, Gusto, Square Payroll, Paychex, QuickBooks Online, OnPay, SimplePay, GoCo, ResaleAI, Zapier

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 Humanity Schedule From $2.75 / employee / month When I Work From $2.50 / user / month
  • Free trial Humanity Schedule 30-day free trial of the Professional plan, no contract or credit card required When I Work 14-day free trial, no credit card required
  • Hosting Humanity Schedule Cloud, in the browser, with mobile apps for iOS and Android When I Work Cloud (SaaS), with iOS and Android apps and a shared-device terminal
  • Support Humanity Schedule Email helpdesk, Phone When I Work Chat
  • AI features Humanity Schedule Yes When I Work No

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

The trade-offs

Strengths and Limitations

Humanity Schedule

Strengths

  • 30-day free trial of the Professional plan, with no contract or credit card required
  • Essentials includes clocking in with geofencing and payroll export
  • AI-assisted backfill sends SMS shift offers to ranked replacements until one accepts
  • Rules for breaks, minors, Fair Workweek notice and FLSA overtime thresholds on Professional

Limitations

  • Auto-fill, demand forecasting, labour budgeting and compliance rules need the Professional plan
  • Open API access is an add-on, and HRIS/HCM integration is an add-on below Enterprise
  • Essentials is limited to 250 employees
  • Enterprise pricing is quoted 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

Humanity Schedule

  • Essentials $2.75 / employee / month Billed annually, for up to 250 employees. Drag-and-drop scheduling, shift swaps, availability and time off, multiple locations, notifications, clock-in with geofencing, basic reporting, payroll export, mobile apps and 24/7/365 customer support.
  • Professional $3.75 / employee / month Starting price, billed annually; volume discounts may apply. Adds auto-fill and demand-based scheduling, employee communications, compliance rules, labour cost and budgeting, skills and certifications, advanced reporting and SSO/SAML. Shift Tasks, Labor Optimizer and Open API access are add-ons.
  • Enterprise Not stated Custom quote. Adds Shift Tasks, Labor Optimizer and HCM integrations; Open API access is an add-on.
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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.
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What users say

Review Scores · opens after launch

Humanity Schedule

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.

Read the full version on our methodology page

Where this comes from

Where this comes from

Humanity Schedule https://tcpsoftware.com/products/humanity/ · checked against the official source on 2026-11-06

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.