Software
Best Free Scheduling App for Employees: 5 Apps Compared
The best free scheduling app for employees depends on your cap: Homebase, Sling and Connecteam free plans compared, plus what you pay at 15 staff.
The best free scheduling app for employees is Homebase for most single-location teams of 10 or fewer, because its free plan includes scheduling, a time clock, and POS integration. Sling is the better pick if you need free rosters for up to 30 people and can live without time tracking.
Those two answers hide the real decision. Every free plan caps users, locations, or features, and the cap you hit first decides what you end up paying. Prices below were checked against each vendor's pricing page in October 2026. For the wider picture, see our small business software hub.
Quick answer
Homebase is the best free scheduling app for employees at one location with up to 10 staff. Sling offers the highest free user cap (30) but no time clock. Connecteam suits deskless crews of up to 10. When I Work and Deputy have no free plan.
Key takeaways
- Homebase Basic is free for 1 location and up to 10 employees, with basic time tracking included.
- Sling's free plan allows up to 30 users but excludes time tracking.
- Connecteam's Small Business Plan is free for up to 10 users with access to all hubs.
- When I Work offers only a 14-day trial; Deputy has no free plan and a $30 minimum monthly spend.
- Pick the app by what it costs at your next headcount, not by today's $0.
What makes an employee scheduling app free?
An employee scheduling app builds shift rosters, sends them to staff phones, and records who works when. A free plan does this at no monthly cost, but the vendor limits headcount, locations, or features so that growing teams upgrade.
Three limits decide whether a free plan works for you: the user cap, the location cap, and whether a time clock is included. A 6-person coffee shop and a 25-person cleaning crew hit different walls, so the right app for one can be the wrong pick for the other.
Free tiers work as lead magnets. Vendors give away the roster because it is cheap to run, then charge for what costs them more or what bigger teams cannot work without: payroll, labor-cost reports, kiosk clocks, and extra locations.
Which employee scheduling apps still have a free plan?
Three of the five best-known apps still offer a free-forever plan: Homebase, Sling, and Connecteam. When I Work and Deputy offer trials only. The table compares the free tiers as listed on each vendor's pricing page in October 2026.
| App | Free user cap | Free time clock | Free team messaging | Paid plans start at |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Homebase | 10 (1 location) | Yes, basic | No | $30/location/mo |
| Sling | 30 | No | Private messaging | $1.70/user/mo (annual) |
| Connecteam | 10 | Yes | Yes | $29/mo for first 30 users |
| When I Work | No free plan | Optional add-on | Trial only | $2.50/user/mo |
| Deputy | No free plan | Trial only | Trial only | $5/user/mo ($30 minimum) |
Many older guides still list Homebase's free plan at 20 employees. Its pricing page now states "1 location, up to 10 employees," so a team of 12 already needs a paid plan.
Homebase: best free pick for one location
According to Homebase's pricing page, the free Basic plan costs $0 for one location and up to 10 employees, and the next tier, Essentials, costs $30 per location per month, as of October 2026.
Basic includes scheduling, basic time tracking, and point-of-sale integration. Team communication and a second location need a paid tier, and Essentials covers unlimited employees at that one location. A single shop with a small hourly crew can stay on Basic indefinitely.
Sling: highest free user cap
Sling's free plan covers up to 30 users but excludes time tracking, which starts on the Premium plan at $1.70 per user per month billed annually, according to Sling's pricing page as of October 2026.
The free tier includes shift scheduling, time-off requests, news sharing, and private messaging. It suits a team that needs a shared roster but already tracks hours elsewhere, such as on the POS. Premium costs $2 per user on monthly billing, and kiosk clock-ins need the Business plan.
Connecteam: best free plan for deskless crews
Connecteam's Small Business Plan is free for life for companies with up to 10 employees and includes access to all hubs, according to Connecteam's pricing page as of October 2026.
For cleaning, construction, or delivery teams, that means scheduling, time tracking, chat, and task checklists in one mobile app. The trade-off is setup weight: a team that only wants a roster may find it heavier than it needs. Paid Operations plans start at $29 per month for the first 30 users.
When I Work and Deputy: trials, not free plans
When I Work has no free plan, only a 14-day trial. Paid plans start at $2.50 per user per month on Essentials, and time tracking is an optional add-on you switch on at signup. Treat any guide that still calls it free as out of date.
According to Deputy's pricing page, its monthly Lite, Core and Pro plans have carried a minimum spend of $30 per invoice since September 1, 2025, so a 4-person team on the $5-per-user Lite plan pays $30, not $20.
Free scheduling software is free only until a user cap, a second location, or a missing time clock forces the upgrade you never budgeted for.
What does it cost when your team outgrows the free plan?
For a 15-person team at one location that needs a time clock, the cheapest paid step ranges from about $25 to $75 a month at October 2026 list prices. That gap is why the app you start on for free should be chosen for what it costs at your next headcount.
| App | Cheapest plan with a time clock | Monthly cost, 15 staff, 1 location | Pricing model |
|---|---|---|---|
| Homebase | Essentials | $30 | Per location, unlimited staff |
| Sling | Premium | $30 ($25.50 if paid annually) | Per user |
| Connecteam | Operations Basic | $29 (18% less yearly) | Flat fee for first 30 users |
| When I Work | Essentials + time add-on | $37.50 before the add-on | Per user |
| Deputy | Lite | $75 | Per user, $30 minimum |
For example, imagine a café that grows from 9 to 15 staff. On Homebase, the bill jumps from $0 to $30 a month and then stays flat as hiring continues. On Sling Premium, it rises with every person added.
The pattern holds beyond this example. Per-location and flat-fee pricing gets cheaper per head as a team grows. Per-user pricing is cheapest while the team is small.
How to match your team to the right free plan
- Up to 10 staff, one location, need a clock: Homebase Basic.
- Up to 30 staff, rosters only: Sling free.
- Up to 10 field staff who need mobile clock-ins and checklists: Connecteam Small Business.
- Over 30 staff or several sites: no free plan fits, so compare the paid costs in the 15-staff table.
Pick the free plan whose cap clears your expected headcount for the next 12 months. Switching schedulers means re-entering staff, availability, and pay rates. Doing that twice in a year wipes out the savings.
Which free CRM, password manager and website builder pair with a scheduler?
Most small teams run their scheduler next to a free CRM, free accounting software, and a free password manager. The same rule applies to every one: check the cap before you commit, because the cap sets the date of your first bill.
HubSpot's free CRM software and Wave's bookkeeping are common zero-cost starting points for leads and books. Some free CRM programs cap contacts so low that you migrate within months, so read the limits before importing a customer list.
Service businesses often add free invoicing software to bill clients and free project management software like Trello to track jobs. Owners launching a storefront start on a free website builder such as Wix or WordPress.com, then pay once they need a custom domain.
Retail teams round out the stack with a free POS system like Square, free inventory management software to watch stock, and free invoice software for wholesale orders. Homebase's free plan connects to several POS systems, which saves typing hours twice.
The best free CRM and the best free scheduler pass the same test: a cap that clears the next year of growth. For apps that work well alongside a scheduler, see our guide to productivity tools for teams.
How do you roll out a free employee scheduling app?
Start with one location and a two-week pilot. Build next week's roster, invite every staff member, and run one shift swap and one time-off request end to end before you retire the old spreadsheet or group chat.
Protect the admin login from day one. A free password manager such as Bitwarden, an open-source vault with a free individual plan, keeps the shared credentials off sticky notes when shift managers rotate.
Once the roster sticks, switch on time tracking if your plan includes it. Linking scheduling, clock-in, and messaging stops managers from chasing texts about who is covering which shift.
As the team and its tools grow, our small business security software picks cover the rest of the stack, from endpoint protection to backups.
Fair schedules also shape how staff feel about the people who build them. When review season comes round, these examples of nice things to say about your boss in a review help employees give specific, useful feedback.
Best Free Scheduling App for Employees: FAQ
Is Homebase really free for employee scheduling?
Yes, Homebase Basic costs $0 for one location and up to 10 employees as of October 2026. It includes basic scheduling, basic time tracking, and POS integration. Team communication, more staff, and extra locations require a paid plan.
Which free scheduling app includes time tracking?
Homebase Basic and Connecteam's Small Business Plan both include time tracking for free, each capped at 10 employees. Sling's free plan does not include it; mobile time tracking starts on Sling Premium.
What is the best free scheduling app for employees if you have more than 10 staff?
Sling is the best free scheduling app for employees on teams of 11 to 30, because its free plan allows up to 30 users. It has no time clock, so teams that need one should compare the paid plans in the 15-staff table.
