Papershift vs. Rotageek

At a glance

Best for

Best for small and medium-sized businesses with shift-based staff who want rotas, clock-ins, absences and a DATEV or LODAS payroll export in one cloud system.

Small and mid-sized

Rotageek

Best for

Best for retailers and other multi-site operators who plan shift teams centrally against demand forecasts and labour budgets.

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

Full Comparison

Criterion	Papershift	Rotageek
Free trial	14-day free trial of all features	Not stated
Users	Small and medium-sized businesses with shift-based work; the vendor names hospitality, healthcare, retail and production	Shift teams across multiple locations; the vendor names retail, entertainment and leisure, care homes and hospices, and facilities management
API	Public API documented at developers.papershift.com; access is activated on request	Yes, a REST API with Swagger documentation and signed webhooks, plus CSV exchange by secure file transfer
Hosting	Cloud, in the browser, with the Plan app for Android and iOS and a time clock app for iPad and Android tablets; the pricing page lists GDPR-compliant data storage with EU hosting	Cloud on Microsoft Azure; the vendor states that UK and European customer data is held in Europe
Made in	Germany	Not stated
Shift planning and templates	Online roster across locations, departments and teams, with shifts created in the calendar, recurring shifts, copied weeks, work schedules and a required number of employees per shift. The pricing page lists rule-based automatic shift allocation from Premium and fully automated roster allocation in Professional; the help article on automatic assignment names the Professional package and uses availabilities, target hours and working areas	Drag-and-drop rota building with saved shifts and rotating patterns, copying a week to future weeks, contracted and maximum hours totalled as shifts are added, multi-week and store-by-store views, activities within shifts linked to skills, and drafts hidden from staff until a manager approves them; the Auto Scheduling add-on drafts rotas to cover targets, rules and budgets
Shift swaps and open shifts	Employees apply for open shifts in the Plan app, and assign themselves where the planner allows it. Assigned shifts can be released for trading to colleagues in the same working area who are free at that time, who are notified by email; if the colleague already has a shift then, an admin makes the trade	Staff swap shifts with colleagues or drop them for cover in the app, dropped and open shifts go only to staff with the right skills and no clashing shift, and each site chooses manager approval or automatic approval of agreed swaps
Availability and time off	Employees enter one-off or recurring availabilities in the calendar, which planners see while scheduling. Absence requests for holidays, sick days and other absence types go through approval processes, with vacation entitlements, a team absence calendar, alerts on overlapping absences and blocked holiday periods; the pricing page lists blackout periods in Professional	Availability and shift preferences sent from the app, leave types with fixed or accrued allowances in hours or days, blocked key dates and percentage caps per role, time off in lieu, and leave approvers set by role and site
Time clock and attendance	Clock-ins through a time clock app on iPad and Android tablets with PIN, signature or IP authentication, a browser time clock and the mobile app, synchronised in real time. Timesheets are created from the roster or from clock-in times, can carry job or client names, and are edited and approved under custom user rights	Clocking in on the iOS and Android app, a web timeclock on approved shared devices, or third-party terminals such as Grosvenor, TimeMoto and Sign In App, with site boundaries, optional photos, break clocking, reasons for early or late clock-ins, and timesheets matched to planned shifts
Labour cost and forecasting	A reports module for custom reports such as sick leave hours per month, hours worked per shift type or staff costs per project, and an Insights add-on that shows Papershift data in graphical reports	Labour budgets in hours or money per location or task with live variance while the rota is built and against hours worked, dynamic schedule costing, and with the Forecasting add-on demand predicted in 15, 30 or 60-minute slots from footfall, transactions, orders or check-ins
Breaks, overtime and labour rules	Custom rules for overtime and required rest periods, employee-specific break rules and an automatic break feature, scheduled against contracted hours, maximum weekly or monthly hours, and warning notifications for back-to-back scheduling. Advanced break logic is listed from Premium	Warnings on shifts that break working time rules on rest, shift length, days worked and breaks, set per person, site, contract or age, with hours left against each maximum; the vendor states that rules warn rather than block a rota
Payroll export and integration	Professional calculates pay types and allowances such as night, Sunday and public holiday supplements and exports to DATEV and LODAS with a flexible payroll period. A payroll add-on calculates wages including bonuses from tracked time, and the vendor names a monthly report to import into payroll software	Signed-off hours coded for basic, overtime and other pay by pay rules, sent to the payroll system by API, FTP or file in a layout agreed with the payroll team, with an optional payroll sign-off step
Team messaging and notifications	Published rotas are sent to employees with an optional message, individual working times go out by email, and saving a shift can notify everyone assigned to it. Shift trades send email notifications, and a Slack integration shares information about shifts and absences	Messages to one, some or all staff received in the mobile app, and push and email notifications when a new or changed shift is approved
Platforms and mobile app	Web app in current Chrome, Firefox, Safari or Edge on Windows, Mac and Linux, the Plan app for Android and iOS, and a time clock app for iPad and Android tablets	Web app, staff app for iOS and Android with calendar sync, web timeclock on shared devices, and single sign-on with Microsoft Entra ID, Okta and Google
Integrations and API	Public API with endpoints for absences, absence types, accounts, availabilities, evaluations, locations, payrolls, shifts, shift assignments, tags, target hours, time tracking, uploads, users, vacation entitlements and working areas, with rate limiting; it is activated on request. Integrations listed in the marketplace include Personio, CharlieHR, bookingkit, FareHarbor, EasySecure, sevdesk and Slack, plus Google Calendar, Outlook and iCal links	Public REST API to create and update people, leave and open shifts and pull approved rotas, timesheets and staffing gaps, signed webhooks for rota approval, timesheet sign-off and changes, scheduled CSV imports by secure file transfer, and integrations with HR, payroll, POS, booking and BI systems
AI features	Yes	Yes
Deployment	more entries Cloud (SaaS), Browser-based	Cloud (SaaS)
Support	more entries Email helpdesk, Phone, Chat	Chat
Onboarding	more entries Documentation and knowledge base, Guided onboarding	Guided onboarding
Company size	Small and mid-sized	Not stated
Integrations	more entries Personio, CharlieHR, bookingkit, FareHarbor, EasySecure, curaMED, Opushero, Oneteam, sevdesk, Slack, DATEV, LODAS, Google Calendar, Outlook, iCal	ELMO, Grosvenor, TimeMoto, Sign In App, Microsoft Entra ID, Okta, Google

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

Deployment Papershift Cloud (SaaS), Browser-based Rotageek Cloud (SaaS)
Hosting Papershift Cloud, in the browser, with the Plan app for Android and iOS and a time clock app for iPad and Android tablets; the pricing page lists GDPR-compliant data storage with EU hosting Rotageek Cloud on Microsoft Azure; the vendor states that UK and European customer data is held in Europe
Support Papershift Email helpdesk, Phone, Chat Rotageek Chat
Users Papershift Small and medium-sized businesses with shift-based work; the vendor names hospitality, healthcare, retail and production Rotageek Shift teams across multiple locations; the vendor names retail, entertainment and leisure, care homes and hospices, and facilities management
API Papershift Public API documented at developers.papershift.com; access is activated on request Rotageek Yes, a REST API with Swagger documentation and signed webhooks, plus CSV exchange by secure file transfer

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

The trade-offs

Strengths and Limitations

Papershift

Strengths

Shift planning, time tracking, absences and payroll preparation in one cloud system
Time clock app for iPad and Android tablets with PIN, signature or IP authentication
DATEV and LODAS payroll export in the Professional plan
Documented public API covering shifts, time tracking, absences and payrolls

Limitations

A monthly base fee of 39 euros applies on top of every plan
The English pricing page shows the per-employee amounts with a dollar sign while the base fee is stated in euros
Automated roster allocation and the DATEV export are limited to the upper plans
API access is activated through a request to the vendor rather than self-serve

Rotageek

Strengths

Dropped and open shifts are offered only to staff with the right skills who are free at that time
Labour budget and variance shown while the rota is built
Public REST API with webhooks for approved rotas and signed-off timesheets
Certified to ISO 27001 and ISO 9001, as stated by the vendor
Works with existing clocking terminals such as Grosvenor, TimeMoto and Sign In App

Limitations

Prices are not published
Auto-scheduling, forecasting, labour modelling and insights are add-ons to the core package
Working time rules warn on a shift but do not stop a manager approving the rota
Third-party terminals, forecasts and integrations are set up with the vendor during implementation

Plans

Pricing

Papershift

Core Not stated Per employee per month plus the monthly base fee. Digital time tracking via smartphone, tablet or browser, absence management, target hours, employee profiles and self-service, document management, employee-specific break rules and EU hosting.
Premium Not stated Per employee per month plus the monthly base fee. All Core features, plus digital rota planning, rule-based automatic shift allocation, custom working time models, multi-site planning and advanced break logic.
Professional Not stated Per employee per month plus the monthly base fee. All Premium features, plus fully automated roster allocation, holiday blackout periods, roster confirmation workflows, timesheet processing, pay types and allowances, DATEV and LODAS export, custom reports, an audit trail and location templates.
Enterprise Not stated Individual offer for larger companies, with tailored modules, integration through the open API and personal onboarding.

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Rotageek

Digital Scheduling Not stated Core package; Auto Scheduling, Forecasting, Labour modelling and Insights are add-ons. Prices are not published.

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What users say

Review Scores · opens after launch

Papershift

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.

Rotageek

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.

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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.

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Read the full version on our methodology page

Where this comes from

Papershift https://www.papershift.com/en · checked against the official source on 2026-11-08

Rotageek https://www.rotageek.com/ · 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.