Papershift vs. Zoho Shifts

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

Zoho Shifts

Best for

Best for small and mid-sized businesses that want shift scheduling and a mobile time clock at a low per-user price, starting on a free plan.

Small and mid-sized
Enterprise

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

Full Comparison

Criterion	Papershift	Zoho Shifts
Starting price	Not stated	Free up to 25 users; Basic from $1 / user / month Basic and Standard require a minimum of 10 users, so Basic starts at $10 a month and Standard at $2 per user, $20 a month. Billed yearly, Basic is $10 and Standard $20 per user per year, two months off. Prices are also shown in INR, EUR and GBP; pay as you go, with no contract.
Free trial	14-day free trial of all features	30-day free trial, no credit card required; free plan for up to 25 users
Users	Small and medium-sized businesses with shift-based work; the vendor names hospitality, healthcare, retail and production	Businesses that staff shifts; the vendor names restaurants, retail, healthcare, professional services, assisted living and universities and schools
API	Public API documented at developers.papershift.com; access is activated on request	Yes, a REST API with OAuth 2.0 authentication, from the Basic plan
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, in the browser, with mobile apps for iOS and Android
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 scheduling with shift templates, copying schedules from earlier weeks, multiple locations, teams and departments as separate schedules, and break scheduling on every plan; Basic adds advanced scheduling, schedule templates, recurring shifts, job sites, skills management and custom access levels
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	On Basic, open shifts employees can pick up, and shift swap, offer and drop between relevant and qualified co-workers
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	Time off requests on every plan; Basic adds availability preferences and time off management, and Standard adds time off accrual based on hours worked
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	On Standard, clock-in from the mobile app or a shared device running the Shifts Kiosk app, timesheet management that staff can edit, break tracking, time clock rules and reports, GPS tagging and geofencing; attendance shows in real time who is working, on a break or late, with notifications for missed clock-ins and clock-outs
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	The vendor describes monitoring staffing expenses while schedules are created; Standard adds shift premiums and custom overtime rules, and reports cover logged hours, time off and availability
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	Break scheduling on every plan; Standard adds break tracking, time clock rules and custom overtime rules, and the vendor states that wages and overtime pay are calculated according to the region's labour laws
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	On Standard, timesheets and the pay rates assigned to each employee or designation are reviewed and exported to payroll software, with pay periods set weekly, bi-weekly or monthly
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	Built-in messenger with direct messages, group chats and announcement channels, email and push notifications on every plan, and shift reminders on Basic
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, mobile apps for iOS and Android, and the Shifts Kiosk app that turns a tablet or mobile device into a shared time clock
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	REST API from the Basic plan, authenticated with OAuth 2.0 and scoped per resource, covering employees, shifts, timesheets, time off requests, availability, schedules, positions and job sites; schedules sync with Google Calendar, Outlook and Apple Calendar
AI features	stated Yes	No
Deployment	Cloud (SaaS), Browser-based	Cloud (SaaS), Browser-based
Support	more entries Email helpdesk, Phone, Chat	Chat, Email helpdesk
Onboarding	Documentation and knowledge base, Guided onboarding	Not stated
Company size	Small and mid-sized	more entries Small and mid-sized, Enterprise
Integrations	more entries Personio, CharlieHR, bookingkit, FareHarbor, EasySecure, curaMED, Opushero, Oneteam, sevdesk, Slack, DATEV, LODAS, Google Calendar, Outlook, iCal	Google Calendar, Outlook Calendar, Apple Calendar

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

Free trial Papershift 14-day free trial of all features Zoho Shifts 30-day free trial, no credit card required; free plan for up to 25 users
Company size Papershift Small and mid-sized Zoho Shifts Small and mid-sized, Enterprise
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 Zoho Shifts Cloud, in the browser, with mobile apps for iOS and Android
Support Papershift Email helpdesk, Phone, Chat Zoho Shifts Chat, Email helpdesk
AI features Papershift Yes Zoho Shifts No

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

Zoho Shifts

Strengths

Free plan for up to 25 users with scheduling, team messaging and the mobile apps
30-day free trial with no credit card required
Pay-as-you-go subscription with no contract
REST API included from the Basic plan

Limitations

Paid plans require a minimum of 10 users
Clocking in, timesheets and payroll export need the Standard plan
The pricing page names a payroll export but no specific payroll integration

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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Zoho Shifts

Free $0 Up to 25 users. Basic scheduling, multiple locations, team messaging, break scheduling, time off requests, schedule reports, shift templates, iOS and Android apps, email and push notifications, chat and email support.
Basic $1 / user / month Minimum 10 users, so from $10 a month; $10 per user per year billed yearly. Adds unlimited users, open shifts, job sites, schedule templates, recurring shifts, shift reminders, shift swap, offer and drop, availability preferences, custom access levels, skills management, time off management and REST API access.
Standard $2 / user / month Minimum 10 users, so from $20 a month; $20 per user per year billed yearly. Adds time tracking, mobile and kiosk clock-in, timesheets, time clock rules and reports, break tracking, custom overtime rules, shift premiums, GPS tagging, geofencing, payroll export and time off accrual.

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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.

Zoho Shifts

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

Zoho Shifts https://www.zoho.com/shifts/ · 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.