Sling vs. Zoho Shifts

At a glance

Best for

Best for restaurants, shops and other hourly teams that schedule by shift and want labour costs in view while they plan.

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	Sling	Zoho Shifts
Starting price	Free up to 30 users; from $1.70 / user / month Premium is $1.70 per user per month billed annually or $2.00 billed monthly; Business is $3.40 annually or $4.00 monthly. Paid plans charge only for active users and prorate anyone deactivated.	lower value 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	Free plan with core shift scheduling for up to 30 users; 15-day free trial of the paid plans	30-day free trial, no credit card required; free plan for up to 25 users
Users	Hourly teams in restaurants, retail, hospitality, healthcare, education, call centres, caregiving, entertainment, emergency services and non-profits	Businesses that staff shifts; the vendor names restaurants, retail, healthcare, professional services, assisted living and universities and schools
API	Yes, a REST API documented at api.getsling.com	Yes, a REST API with OAuth 2.0 authentication, from the Basic plan
Hosting	Cloud, on the web and in iOS and Android apps	Cloud, in the browser, with mobile apps for iOS and Android
Shift planning and templates	Shift scheduling, shift templates and long-term scheduling on the free plan; Premium adds reusable weekly schedule templates and day parts, and Business assigns shifts automatically	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	Available shifts and shift offers on the free plan; Premium adds shift swaps and slots on available shifts, and Business adds shift acceptance	On Basic, open shifts employees can pick up, and shift swap, offer and drop between relevant and qualified co-workers
Availability and time off	Time-off requests on the free plan; Premium adds unavailability so schedules follow staff availability, and Business adds PTO management	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	A mobile time clock on Premium and a kiosk clock on a shared device on Business, with timesheets, timesheet approvals and edit history, geofencing, early clock-in prevention, auto clock-out, break attestation, and tracking of no-shows, sick call-outs and late arrivals	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	Labour cost management against sales and budgeting while scheduling from Premium; Business imports projected sales data to compare with actual sales and adds labour 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	From Premium: mandatory meal and rest breaks applied to shifts, break attestation, overtime tracking, premium pay for missed breaks and clopening rules for mandated rest between shifts; Business adds holiday pay	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	Payroll reports on the Business plan that aggregate and sync hours for payroll processing, including sync to Toast Payroll	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	Private messaging, announcements, news sharing and shift alarms that remind staff of upcoming shifts on the free plan; Premium adds group messaging and SMS shift alarms, and Business BCC messages and newsfeed restrictions	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, iOS and Android, with mobile time tracking from Premium and a kiosk clock on a shared device on Business	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	Point-of-sale and payroll integrations with Toast, Square, Harbortouch, Restaurant Manager and POSiTouch, calendar synchronisation, and a REST API documented at api.getsling.com	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
Deployment	Cloud (SaaS), Browser-based	Cloud (SaaS), Browser-based
Support	Email helpdesk	more entries Chat, Email helpdesk
Onboarding	Documentation and knowledge base, Video tutorials	Not stated
Company size	Small and mid-sized	more entries Small and mid-sized, Enterprise
Integrations	more entries Toast, Square, Harbortouch, Restaurant Manager, POSiTouch	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

Starting price Sling Free up to 30 users; from $1.70 / user / month Zoho Shifts Free up to 25 users; Basic from $1 / user / month
Free trial Sling Free plan with core shift scheduling for up to 30 users; 15-day free trial of the paid plans Zoho Shifts 30-day free trial, no credit card required; free plan for up to 25 users
Company size Sling Small and mid-sized Zoho Shifts Small and mid-sized, Enterprise
Hosting Sling Cloud, on the web and in iOS and Android apps Zoho Shifts Cloud, in the browser, with mobile apps for iOS and Android
Support Sling Email helpdesk Zoho Shifts Chat, Email helpdesk

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

The trade-offs

Strengths and Limitations

Sling

Strengths

Shift scheduling is free for up to 30 users
Labour costs shown against sales while the schedule is being built
Point-of-sale integrations sync employees, timesheets and sales data
Only active users are billed, with proration when someone leaves

Limitations

Time tracking needs a paid plan; the free plan covers scheduling and communication
Kiosk time clock and reports are limited to the Business plan
No client invoicing or project-based time tracking

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

Sling

Free $0 Up to 30 users. Shift scheduling, time-off requests, available shifts, long-term scheduling, news sharing and private messaging.
Premium $1.70 / user / month Billed annually, or $2.00 billed monthly. Adds mobile time tracking, labour cost management, overtime tracking, group messaging and calendar synchronisation.
Business $3.40 / user / month Billed annually, or $4.00 billed monthly. Adds kiosk time tracking, reports on hours and wages, no-show and sick call-out tracking and PTO management.

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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

Sling

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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Read the full version on our methodology page

Where this comes from

Sling https://www.getsling.com · checked against the official source on 2026-09-27

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.