Deputy

Name: Deputy
Price: 5 USD

Shift scheduling and time clocking for hourly teams, with timesheets that go straight into payroll.

AI features

Auto-scheduling and demand forecasting build rosters from projected labour demand, with labour optimisation against wage and labour budgets.

Starting price: From $5 / user / month
Free trial: Free trial, no credit card required
API: Yes, a developer API alongside prebuilt payroll, point-of-sale, HR and accounting connectors

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Overview

Deputy is a workforce management platform for shift work, covering scheduling, timekeeping, compliance, HR, payroll and workplace communication. Staff clock in from the mobile apps or a shared device, and the hours become timesheets with auto-approval, alongside shift swaps, leave and availability management and labour-law compliance rules. The scheduling side runs from basic rosters on Lite up to auto-scheduling, demand forecasting and labour optimisation against wage budgets on Core. Timesheets export into payroll and accounting systems through prebuilt connectors, with Zapier for the rest and a developer API underneath.

Our take

Deputy belongs to the shift-work end of this category rather than the billable-hours end, and that decides almost everything about whether it fits. The people it serves clock in at a location, so the biometric clock, the shared device, the swap requests and the compliance rules are the substance, while the reporting is aimed at labour cost against budget rather than at what to invoice a client. An agency tracking time to projects will find the shape wrong; a business rostering staff across sites will find little else that covers the same ground. The pricing needs reading twice before budgeting, because the headline 5 dollars buys the Lite plan only, forecasting and auto-scheduling sit a tier up, and payroll, HR, messaging and analytics are add-ons with their own per-user rates and, for payroll, a monthly base fee on top.

Key Facts

Category	Shift Scheduling Time Tracking
Starting price	From $5 / user / month The $5 Lite plan covers basic scheduling, timesheets and time clocking. Core is $6.50 and Pro $9 per user per month. Deputy Payroll adds $8 per user per month plus a $49 monthly base fee, HR $2, Messaging+ $1.95 and Analytics+ $1.50 per user per month.
Free trial	Free trial, no credit card required
API	Yes, a developer API alongside prebuilt payroll, point-of-sale, HR and accounting connectors
Team size	Priced per user, per month
Users	Shift-based teams across more than 15 industries, among them hospitality, healthcare, retail, manufacturing and logistics, construction and engineering, education, security and cleaning
Hosting	Cloud (SaaS), with iOS and Android apps and a shared-device time clock

Features

Shift planning and templates: Basic scheduling on Lite with shift templates for weeks, months or custom periods; Core adds advanced scheduling, micro-scheduling and auto-scheduling
Shift swaps and open shifts: Open shifts, open shifts with approval, swapping and offering shifts, and find a replacement, from the Lite plan
Availability and time off: Leave and availability management from the Lite plan
Time clock and attendance: Time clocking from the iOS and Android apps or a shared device, with biometric time clocking from the Core plan, timesheets with auto-approval from Core and advanced timesheets on Pro, plus shift swaps, find-a-replacement, leave and availability management and labour-law compliance rules
Labour cost and forecasting: Wages shown against scheduled hours; Core adds demand forecasting, labour optimisation and wage and labour budgets, with forecast-to-actual variance in sales and wage metrics
Breaks, overtime and labour rules: Labour-law compliance on Lite and advanced labour-law compliance on Core, with paid and unpaid breaks scheduled by time and duration
Payroll export and integration: Payroll and HR integrations from the Lite plan; the Deputy Payroll add-on, enabled by Paycor and offered in the US on annual Core and Pro plans, sends approved timesheets, pay rates and leave to Paycor
Team messaging and notifications: Messaging and a news feed from the Lite plan, with the Messaging+ add-on for a more integrated messaging experience, included in Pro
Platforms and mobile app: Clock-in apps on web, mobile, tablet and watch, with iOS and Android apps and a shared-device time clock
Integrations and API: A developer API plus prebuilt connectors for payroll (ADP, Gusto, Paychex, Paycor, Paylocity, OnPay, Wagepoint, Xero), point of sale (Square, Clover, Lightspeed, Revel, Epos Now), HR (BambooHR, HiBob, Rippling, TriNet, Okta) and accounting (QuickBooks, NetSuite, Xero), with Zapier for anything else
Invoicing: No. Deputy's published feature set ends at approved timesheets, which export into payroll and accounting systems such as ADP, Gusto, Paychex, Paycor, Paylocity, Xero and QuickBooks; client invoicing happens in those tools
Reporting and controlling: Basic reporting on Lite; Core adds demand forecasting, labour optimisation and wage and labour budgets; Pro includes the Analytics+ add-on alongside advanced timesheets and location hierarchies

Integrations

ADP
Gusto
Paychex
Paycom
Paycor
Paylocity
OnPay
Wagepoint
Talenox
Xero
QuickBooks
NetSuite
Square
Clover
Lightspeed
Revel
Epos Now
BambooHR
HiBob
Rippling
TriNet
Okta
JobAdder
Box
Dropbox
ServiceM8
Tapcheck
Wagestream
TipHaus
Zapier

Deployment and Support

Deployment: Cloud (SaaS)
Browser-based
Support: Chat, 24/7
Onboarding: Documentation and knowledge base
Guided onboarding
Company size: Small and mid-sized
Enterprise

Pros and Cons

Strengths

Biometric time clocking and a shared-device clock cover on-site and shift work
Deep payroll and point-of-sale connector list, including ADP, Gusto, Paychex, Xero, QuickBooks and Square
Demand forecasting and auto-scheduling build rosters against wage and labour budgets
Single sign-on, custom access levels and location hierarchies on the Pro plan

Limitations

No client invoicing: timesheets are built for payroll rather than for billing work
Forecasting, auto-scheduling and biometric clocking all require the Core plan or above
Payroll, HR, Messaging+ and Analytics+ are separately priced add-ons, and Deputy Payroll carries a monthly base fee
No free tier; Lite is the cheapest paid plan

Pricing

Lite

$5

Per user per month. Basic scheduling, timesheets and time clocking, labour-law compliance, shift swap and find a replacement, leave and availability management, basic reporting, messaging and news feed, and payroll and HR integrations.
Core

$6.50

Per user per month. Everything in Lite plus advanced scheduling, timesheet auto-approval, biometric time clocking, micro-scheduling, auto-scheduling, demand forecasting, labour optimisation, wage and labour budgets and a customer success manager.
Pro

$9

Per user per month. Everything in Core plus custom access levels, advanced timesheets, location hierarchies, single sign-on, a dedicated customer success manager, a sandbox environment, 24/7 live chat and the Analytics+ and Messaging+ add-ons.
Add-ons

Not stated

Deputy Payroll $8 per user per month plus a $49 monthly base fee, HR $2, Messaging+ $1.95 and Analytics+ $1.50 per user per month. HR, Messaging+ and Analytics+ carry 30-day free trials.

Alternatives and Comparisons

Last verified: 2026-09-12

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