Best for
Best for hospitality groups that want rotas, time and attendance and HR in one app, with wage costs and sales forecasts visible while the rota is built.
Shift Scheduling Comparison
Rotaready Evo vs. When I Work
At a glance
At a glance
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 | Rotaready Evo | When I Work |
|---|---|---|
| Starting price | Not stated | 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 | Not stated | 14-day free trial, no credit card required |
| Team size | Not stated | Priced per user per month, unlimited users on every plan |
| Users | Hospitality businesses | Hourly and shift-based teams in restaurants, retail, healthcare, hospitality, manufacturing, construction, call centres, franchises, events and non-profits |
| API | Open API and webhooks in the Premium plan | Yes, API key access and webhooks on the Premium plan |
| Hosting | Cloud, with iPhone and Android mobile apps | Cloud (SaaS), with iOS and Android apps and a shared-device terminal |
| Shift planning and templates | Drag-and-drop rota editor with automated rota scheduling, a rota approval process, notable events, a local 10-day weather forecast and an audit history of all changes, listed on all three plans | 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 | Shift swaps and Shift Broadcast are listed on all three plans, and the vendor names shift swaps and absence requests among the tools in the employee app | OpenShifts and shift swapping from Essentials, with managers keeping final approval; Pro allows overlapping OpenShifts |
| Availability and time off | Availability patterns, absence and time off, holiday allowances and allowances for any absence type, with automatic holiday accrual from time and attendance | 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 via GPS, PIN code or photo capture, by tablet or mobile, with attendance matched automatically to shifts, automatic issue detection, rounding with custom rules, overtime tracking and approval, and an audited sign-off process | 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 | Live labour calculations while the rota is built, budgeting, custom sales and revenue streams, forecast against actual against budget, and tracking of wages, hours, sales, wage percentage, covers and covers per labour hour. Pro + Forecasting and Premium add sales predictions from historical sales, weather, reservations, notable events and holidays, including pooled data from industry peers | 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 | Automatic application of pay and break policies, live validation of every change and Working Time regulations compliance, listed on all three plans | 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 | Timesheets with overtime and breaks export to third-party payroll providers, with integrations named for payroll systems such as Sage Payroll, BrightPay, PayCaptain and Xero, and a fully managed payroll bureau at extra cost | 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 | Real-time chat, group conversations and messaging between sites, email, SMS and push notifications, and Engage Lite, a feed for posting updates and tagging colleagues | In-app team messaging from Essentials, with notifications to managers about time-off requests and staff nearing their hours |
| Platforms and mobile app | Cloud-based, with iPhone and Android mobile apps and clock-ins by tablet or mobile. Multiple languages on all plans; multiple time zones and currencies in Premium | Web, plus iOS and Android apps; the time clock runs on mobile, web, tablet or a dedicated terminal |
| Integrations and API | Open API and webhooks in Premium, together with single sign-on through Google and Azure and Sign-in with Rotaready over OIDC. The vendor names real-time integrations with EPoS, reservations, payroll, applicant tracking, training and tips systems, including Tenzo, ICRTouch, OpenTable, NCR Aloha, Zonal, Lightspeed, ResDiary, SevenRooms and Epos Now | 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) | more entries Cloud (SaaS), Browser-based |
| Support | Not stated | Chat |
| Onboarding | Documentation and knowledge base | Documentation and knowledge base |
| Company size | Not stated | Small and mid-sized, Enterprise |
| Integrations | more entries Tenzo, ICRTouch, Talent Funnel, Comtrex, OpenTable, NCR Aloha, eploy, Tevalis, Monotree, Zonal, Tayl, Centera, Clover, Recruit Genie, PayCaptain, Goodtill by SumUp, PointOne, Epos Now, Staffbase, CPL, Lightspeed K Series, ResDiary, Newbridge, Sage Payroll, TiPJAR, Wagestream, Workvivo, SevenRooms, Yapster, Guestline Rezlynx, Xero, Azuronaut, BrightPay, Temtailor, Lightspeed, Flow Hospitality | Rippling, Gusto, Square Payroll, Paychex, QuickBooks Online, OnPay, SimplePay, GoCo, ResaleAI, Zapier |
Add a tool
Adds a column to the table, from the tools in this category.
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 Rotaready Evo Cloud (SaaS) When I Work Cloud (SaaS), Browser-based
- Hosting Rotaready Evo Cloud, with iPhone and Android mobile apps When I Work Cloud (SaaS), with iOS and Android apps and a shared-device terminal
- AI features Rotaready Evo Yes When I Work No
- Users Rotaready Evo Hospitality businesses When I Work Hourly and shift-based teams in restaurants, retail, healthcare, hospitality, manufacturing, construction, call centres, franchises, events and non-profits
- API Rotaready Evo Open API and webhooks in the Premium plan When I Work Yes, API key access and webhooks on the Premium plan
Every line is one datapoint from the table above, picked automatically. Nothing here is written text.
The trade-offs
Strengths and Limitations
Rotaready Evo
Strengths
- Wage percentage, covers per labour hour and forecast against budget shown while the rota is built
- Clock-in via GPS, PIN code or photo capture, matched automatically with shifts
- The vendor states its integrations with EPoS, reservations and payroll systems are included free
- Chat, group conversations and messaging between sites on every plan
Limitations
- No amounts appear in the pricing page text; the monthly cost comes from a calculator
- Open API, webhooks and single sign-on are limited to the Premium plan
- Sales forecasting needs the Pro + Forecasting or Premium plan
- The product and its integration list are built around hospitality
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
Rotaready Evo
- Pro Not stated Rota scheduling, HR, wellbeing insights, time and attendance, cost control, payroll export, integrations, messaging and the mobile apps. Includes a customer success plan.
- Pro + Forecasting Not stated Everything in Pro, plus sales forecasting from historical sales, weather, reservations and events.
- Premium Not stated Everything in Pro + Forecasting, plus the open API and webhooks, single sign-on, and multiple time zones and currencies.
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.
What users say
Review Scores · opens after launch
Rotaready Evo
- 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.
Where this comes from
Where this comes from
Rotaready Evo https://www.theaccessgroup.com/en-gb/our-brands/rotaready-evo/ · checked against the official source on 2026-11-08
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.