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
Shift Scheduling Comparison
When I Work 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 | When I Work | ZoomShift |
|---|---|---|
| Starting price | 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 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, no credit card required | 14-day free trial of all features, no credit card required; free Essentials plan for up to 20 users |
| Team size | Priced per user per month, unlimited users on every plan | Not stated |
| Users | Hourly and shift-based teams in restaurants, retail, healthcare, hospitality, manufacturing, construction, call centres, franchises, events and non-profits | Businesses with hourly employees; the vendor names retail, restaurants, food and beverage, hospitality, services and healthcare |
| API | Yes, API key access and webhooks on the Premium plan | Not stated |
| Hosting | Cloud (SaaS), with iOS and Android apps and a shared-device terminal | Cloud, in the browser, with free iPhone and Android apps |
| Made in | Not stated | United States |
| Shift planning and templates | Auto scheduling, multi-week and multi-location scheduling and reusable custom schedule templates from Essentials; Pro adds advanced scheduling, scheduling rules and role permissions | 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 | OpenShifts and shift swapping from Essentials, with managers keeping final approval; Pro allows overlapping OpenShifts | 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 | 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 | 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 | 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 | 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 | Forecast tools from Essentials track scheduled against budgeted hours, with labour costs in the scheduling view; Pro adds custom unit forecasting and labour sharing | 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 | Overtime and maximum-hours alerts while scheduling and when an OpenShift or trade would add overtime, plus break logging on the time clock | 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 and point-of-sale integrations from Essentials, among them Rippling, Gusto, Square Payroll, Paychex, QuickBooks Online and OnPay, which take the approved timesheets | A customisable payroll report on the Starter plan, with timesheets exported as a CSV for use in other payroll software |
| Team messaging and notifications | In-app team messaging from Essentials, with notifications to managers about time-off requests and staff nearing their hours | 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, plus iOS and Android apps; the time clock runs on mobile, web, tablet or a dedicated terminal | 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 | 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 | Not stated |
| AI features | No | stated Yes |
| Deployment | Cloud (SaaS), Browser-based | Cloud (SaaS), Browser-based |
| Support | Chat | Not stated |
| Onboarding | Documentation and knowledge base | more entries Documentation and knowledge base, Guided onboarding, Live online demos and webinars |
| Company size | more entries Small and mid-sized, Enterprise | Small and mid-sized |
| Integrations | Rippling, Gusto, Square Payroll, Paychex, QuickBooks Online, OnPay, SimplePay, GoCo, ResaleAI, Zapier | 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 When I Work From $2.50 / user / month ZoomShift Free plan; Starter from 2 US dollars / user / month
- Free trial When I Work 14-day free trial, no credit card required ZoomShift 14-day free trial of all features, no credit card required; free Essentials plan for up to 20 users
- Company size When I Work Small and mid-sized, Enterprise ZoomShift Small and mid-sized
- Hosting When I Work Cloud (SaaS), with iOS and Android apps and a shared-device terminal ZoomShift Cloud, in the browser, with free iPhone and Android apps
- AI features When I Work No ZoomShift Yes
Every line is one datapoint from the table above, picked automatically. Nothing here is written text.
The trade-offs
Strengths and Limitations
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
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
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.
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
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.
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.
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.
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Where this comes from
Where this comes from
When I Work https://wheniwork.com · checked against the official source on 2026-09-16
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.