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
Shift Scheduling Comparison
Sling 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 | Sling | ZoomShift |
|---|---|---|
| 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. | 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 | Free plan with core shift scheduling for up to 30 users; 15-day free trial of the paid plans | 14-day free trial of all features, no credit card required; free Essentials plan for up to 20 users |
| Users | Hourly teams in restaurants, retail, hospitality, healthcare, education, call centres, caregiving, entertainment, emergency services and non-profits | Businesses with hourly employees; the vendor names retail, restaurants, food and beverage, hospitality, services and healthcare |
| API | Yes, a REST API documented at api.getsling.com | Not stated |
| Hosting | Cloud, on the web and in iOS and Android apps | Cloud, in the browser, with free iPhone and Android apps |
| Made in | Not stated | United States |
| 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 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 | Available shifts and shift offers on the free plan; Premium adds shift swaps and slots on available shifts, and Business adds shift acceptance | 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 | Time-off requests on the free plan; Premium adds unavailability so schedules follow staff availability, and Business adds PTO management | 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 | 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 | 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 | 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 | 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 | 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 | 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 | Payroll reports on the Business plan that aggregate and sync hours for payroll processing, including sync to Toast Payroll | A customisable payroll report on the Starter plan, with timesheets exported as a CSV for use in other payroll software |
| 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 | 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, iOS and Android, with mobile time tracking from Premium and a kiosk clock on a shared device on Business | 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 | 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 | Not stated |
| AI features | No | stated Yes |
| Deployment | Cloud (SaaS), Browser-based | Cloud (SaaS), Browser-based |
| Support | Email helpdesk | Not stated |
| Onboarding | Documentation and knowledge base, Video tutorials | more entries Documentation and knowledge base, Guided onboarding, Live online demos and webinars |
| Company size | Small and mid-sized | Small and mid-sized |
| Integrations | Toast, Square, Harbortouch, Restaurant Manager, POSiTouch | Not stated |
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
- Starting price Sling Free up to 30 users; from $1.70 / user / month ZoomShift Free plan; Starter from 2 US dollars / user / month
- Free trial Sling Free plan with core shift scheduling for up to 30 users; 15-day free trial of the paid plans ZoomShift 14-day free trial of all features, no credit card required; free Essentials plan for up to 20 users
- Hosting Sling Cloud, on the web and in iOS and Android apps ZoomShift Cloud, in the browser, with free iPhone and Android apps
- AI features Sling No ZoomShift Yes
- Users Sling Hourly teams in restaurants, retail, hospitality, healthcare, education, call centres, caregiving, entertainment, emergency services and non-profits 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
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
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
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.
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
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.
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
Sling https://www.getsling.com · checked against the official source on 2026-09-27
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.