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
Shift Scheduling Comparison
Shiftbase vs. ZoomShift
At a glance
At a glance
Best for
Best for small businesses with hourly staff that want a free or low-cost schedule, time clock and team chat in one app.
- Small and mid-sized
Cataleo does not name a winner. Both statements come from the vendors themselves.
Full Comparison
| Criterion | Shiftbase | ZoomShift |
|---|---|---|
| Starting price | 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 plan; Starter from 2 US dollars / user / month Per active team member, counting managers and employees. Starter is 2 US dollars billed annually or 2.50 US dollars billed monthly; Premium is 4 US dollars billed annually or 5 US dollars billed monthly. The free Essentials plan covers up to 20 users at one location. |
| Free trial | 14-day free trial of the paid plans, 30 days on Enterprise; free plan for up to 15 employees | 14-day free trial of all features, no credit card required; free Essentials plan for up to 20 users |
| Users | Shift-based businesses; the vendor names restaurants and bars, hotels, retail, care, recreation and transport | Businesses with hourly employees; the vendor names retail, restaurants, food and beverage, hospitality, services and healthcare |
| API | API tokens through the App Center+ add-on, included on Enterprise | Not stated |
| Hosting | Cloud, in the browser, with mobile apps for iOS and Android | Cloud, in the browser, with free iPhone and Android apps |
| Made in | Netherlands | United States |
| Shift planning and templates | 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. | Drag-and-drop schedule with shift and scheduling templates, copying of weekly schedules, positions and locations, shift notes and private manager notes; the free plan schedules up to two weeks ahead at one location, Starter removes those limits |
| Shift swaps and open shifts | 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 | Shift cover requests and swaps from the Starter plan, with every qualified team member notified and an optional manager approval step; open shifts can be offered to the team |
| Availability and time off | On Basic, staff availability and absence management with requests, approvals and balances | Staff set availability preferences and request time off from the Starter plan, with a PTO tracker that tallies accrued and used balances |
| Time clock and attendance | 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 | Time clock on phone or computer and a kiosk mode with PIN, feeding timesheets with breaks tracked; Premium adds a geofenced time clock, blocking of early and late clock-ins, and a schedule versus timesheets report |
| Labour cost and forecasting | 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. | Real-time labour costs including overtime and gross pay, a comparison of scheduled and actual hours and costs, and labour cost forecasting from schedules planned ahead |
| Breaks, overtime and labour rules | 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. | Paid or unpaid breaks calculated into timesheet totals, and on Premium overtime warnings, custom overtime per employee, blocking of overtime, and prevention of overlaps between shifts, availability and time off |
| Payroll export and integration | 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 | A customisable payroll report on the Starter plan, with timesheets exported as a CSV for use in other payroll software |
| Team messaging and notifications | 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 | Shift reminders and schedule changes by email, text and push notification, shift confirmation, and a team chat with group and direct messages, file sharing and read status |
| Platforms and mobile app | Web app, mobile apps for iOS and Android, and a kiosk mode on a tablet, laptop or phone for clocking in | Web app, free iPhone and Android apps for managers and staff, a kiosk time clock, and calendar app sync on the Starter plan |
| Integrations and API | 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. | Not stated |
| AI features | Yes | Yes |
| Deployment | Cloud (SaaS), Browser-based | Cloud (SaaS), Browser-based |
| Support | Chat, Email helpdesk | Not stated |
| Onboarding | Documentation and knowledge base, Video tutorials, Guided onboarding | Documentation and knowledge base, Guided onboarding, Live online demos and webinars |
| Company size | Small and mid-sized | Small and mid-sized |
| Integrations | Nmbrs, Loket, AFAS Software, Exact Online, DATEV, Personio, Lightspeed, Datafox, Mplus, Connexie | Not stated |
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The short version
Key Differences
- Starting price Shiftbase Free up to 15 employees; Basic from €30 / month ZoomShift Free plan; Starter from 2 US dollars / user / month
- Free trial Shiftbase 14-day free trial of the paid plans, 30 days on Enterprise; free plan for up to 15 employees ZoomShift 14-day free trial of all features, no credit card required; free Essentials plan for up to 20 users
- Hosting Shiftbase Cloud, in the browser, with mobile apps for iOS and Android ZoomShift Cloud, in the browser, with free iPhone and Android apps
- Made in Shiftbase Netherlands ZoomShift United States
- Users Shiftbase Shift-based businesses; the vendor names restaurants and bars, hotels, retail, care, recreation and transport ZoomShift Businesses with hourly employees; the vendor names retail, restaurants, food and beverage, hospitality, services and healthcare
Every line is one datapoint from the table above, picked automatically. Nothing here is written text.
The trade-offs
Strengths and Limitations
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
ZoomShift
Strengths
- Free plan for up to 20 users
- 14-day trial of all features with no credit card
- Subscriptions can be paused for months when the schedule is not needed
- No cancellation fee or minimum contract, by the vendor's FAQ
Limitations
- Timesheets, the time clock, shift swaps and time off need a paid plan
- Geofencing and overtime warnings are limited to the Premium plan
- No named payroll provider integration; hours leave as a CSV export
- The scheduling FAQ says there is no auto-scheduling, while the pricing page lists it on Premium
Plans
Pricing
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.
ZoomShift
- Essentials 0 US dollars / user / month Free up to 20 users. Employee schedule, team communication, automatic reminders, shift notes and confirmation, unlimited positions, scheduling up to 2 weeks ahead, 1 location.
- Starter 2 US dollars / user / month Per active team member, billed annually, or 2.50 US dollars billed monthly. Unlimited users and locations, templates, availability and time off, shift swaps, timesheets and time clock, payroll report, calendar sync, PTO and break tracking.
- Premium 4 US dollars / user / month Per active team member, billed annually, or 5 US dollars billed monthly. Adds auto-scheduling, overtime warnings, geofenced time clock, schedule versus timesheets, change history, custom role permissions, priority support and personalised onboarding.
What users say
Review Scores · opens after launch
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.
ZoomShift
- 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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Where this comes from
Where this comes from
Shiftbase https://www.shiftbase.com/ · checked against the official source on 2026-11-06
ZoomShift https://www.zoomshift.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.