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Free Alternatives to HotSchedules App of 2022
Would you like to manage your shift workers easily and efficiently - without spending a dime? We have tested seven different HotSchedule alternatives to find the best solution to all your problems.

Table of Contents
As great as humanly possible
HotSchedules is some pretty tough competition, and only the best of the best can hope to knock it down from its throne. Humanity seems to have achieved doing just that.
Why we chose Humanity?
- It is completely free - all the way through
- Allows you to create, manage, and edit shifts and schedules in less than 10 seconds
- Equally easy to use for managers and employees alike
- No lag, no glitches, no quirks - just smooth sailing
- Pretty good for training new staff
Anyone starting a new business and looking for a free yet powerful solution should not think twice before opting for this amazing app.
Read Humanity's Full ReviewPlan well ahead
Your enterprise's functioning relies on your ability to adjust the calendar so that everyone's schedule is in perfect sync. This is the type of foundation every company needs to prosper. My Shift Planner allows you to build it for your team.
Why we chose My Shift Planner?
- Amazing solution for genuinely complicated shift patterns
- Offers you an option to plan up to one year ahead - in fine detail
- Backup tools will keep all your data secure - up to 10 GB of it
- Most options are available free of charge, with only a couple of advanced features requiring a paid membership
Even if the chat option seems to be missing, everything else about this app practically screams quality and reliability.
Read My Shift Planner's Full ReviewKeep the privacy of your team in check
Online security is at a premium and you will always want to make sure that whichever part of the process you're dealing with, the information you put into the system is inaccessible to potential intruders.
Why we chose When I Work?
- A strong emphasis on security and privacy
- Extremely intuitive interface that will work even for the least experienced manager
- Just the right number of options
- No setup fee of any kind
- Free and paid versions - with monthly or annual billing
If you're looking for a simple, straightforward solution that keeps your info under lock and key, this might just be the right one for you.
Read When I Work Employee Scheduling's Full ReviewEverything We Recommend
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Our PickDescription
The Humanity mobile app for employees is a natively developed companion app to the world-class employee scheduling platform of the same name.
The app helps employees stay in the loop and connect more easily with their workplace and colleagues.
It’s immaculately designed, fast, highly intuitive and incredibly easy to use. The Humanity mobile app is completely free for all Humanity clients and their teams.
As a staff member using the mobile app, you are able to perform the following actions from anywhere:
ShiftPlanning
See all your shifts in real time so that you always know when you are scheduled to work.
Get detailed summaries of your shifts and the shifts of your coworkers to know when, where and with whom you are working.
Request shift trades and drops and see the status of these requests in real time.
Time Clock
Clock in and out of your shifts from your mobile device.
Confirm your work location via GPS.
Clock in and out of breaks.
View timesheets.
Leave
See how many vacation days you have left.
Request time off from work.
Follow the status of your leave requests to if they’ve been approved.
Staff
See a list of all your coworkers in one place. Quick search options enable you to effortlessly find the coworker you need.
View the contact details of your coworkers.
Send direct chat messages and emails to your coworkers.
Dashboard
See all your most vital work schedule data on one screen. Tap to complete any actions that require your attention.
View company-wide announcements from management on your Message Wall.CostFreeFreeIn-App PurchasesNoNo -
Runner Up
My Shift Planner - Calendar
4.6 Ratings 7K+ Reviews 500K+ DownloadsIf you work shifts, you'll love MyShiftPlanner. Designed for anyone who wants to organize a work calendar. See your shifts at a glance and get back control of your shift work diary.
Powerful custom features that can handle almost any rotating shift work roster. 350,000+ shift workers around the world are enjoying our shift planning features.
📅 YOUR SHIFTS
✅ See your shift schedule in an easy-to-use color-coded calendar
✅ Common shift rotas built-in:
✅4 On/4 Off
✅DuPont Schedule
✅Days/Nights
✅Early/Late
✅Continental Pattern
✅Custom Repeating Patterns
✅Non-repeating patterns
✅ Customize shift rotas, shift types, names, times and colors
✅ See your gross pay calculations for any period*
✅ Easy to change your rota for the future*
✅ Set reminders and customize alerts*
✅ Supports multiple personal calendars for second jobs, colleagues or family*
💸 TRACK HOURS, PAY, LEAVE & OVERTIME
✅ Time and pay tracking tools*
✅ See your earnings for any period*
✅ Customize pay rates for shifts or overtime*
✅ Track of annual leave allowance*
✅ See reports for hours worked, overtime, leave and pay *
✅ Add your pay day schedules*
👩👦SHARE YOUR SHIFT ROTA
✅ Sync with a device calendar or Google Calendar to manage your work, social, and family events in one place*
✅ Sync MyShiftPlanner account and data between your devices
✅ Email and share your shift pattern information with other users*
📱CUSTOMIZE THE APP FOR YOUR NEEDS
✅ Caters for public holidays in many countries
✅ Supports split shifts and week numbers
✅ Add up to two shifts per day*
✅ Supports 24-hour shifts
✅ Choose from 3 app styles - Light, Dark and Gray
✅ Today Widget included
✅ TouchID and FaceID protection for your app
✅ Works on both
✅ Regular updates with new features, fixes and improvements
My Shift Planner is designed for:
✅ Police
✅ Firefighters
✅ Nurses
✅ Doctors
✅ Paramedics
✅ Subway Workers
✅ Bus Drivers
✅ Truckers
✅ Pilots and Airline Crew
✅ Airport and Check-in Workers
✅ Call Centre Workers
✅ Supermarket Workers
✅ Emergency Worker
✅ Military
✅ Security Guards
✅ Bartenders
✅ Waiters and Waitresses
✅ Anyone who works random hours and days.
* Denotes Pro-Feature
💚 SUPPORT OUR WORK
We are a small team, who work very hard to support our users. If you find MyShiftPlanner helpful in managing your shift work life, you can help us to improve it and add even more new features.
Buying PRO gives you even more features, but also greatly supports the continuous development of the app. Pro includes:
⭐️ Calendar Sync - Copy shifts into a device calendar
⭐️ Pay Calculations – see gross pay calculation for any period.
⭐️ Multiple Patterns - add future rotas for when your shift schedules change
⭐️ Multiple Shifts - add a second shift to any day
⭐️ Multiple Calendars - create more calendars to track second job or partner's shifts
⭐️ Calendar Overlay - see two calendars or a shared calendar together
⭐️ Custom Icons - add for personal appointments or special shifts
⭐️ Sharing - share your calendar with others (eg. partner or colleagues)
⭐️ Repeating Pay Schedules - set your payday to show automatically in your calendar
⭐️ Work Time Report - track worked hours, overtime, pay and annual leave for any period
⭐️ Shift Reminders - make sure you never miss a shift.
⭐️ Leave Allowance and Tracking - track your annual leave in hours or days. Make sure you make full use of your yearly allowance
⭐️ Removal of all adverts
• Privacy policy: https://www.myshiftplanner.com/privacy-policy/
• Terms of Use:https://myshiftplanner.com/terms-and-conditions
If you experience problems installing or using My Shift Planner, please contact us via our Facebook page or support@myshiftplanner.co.uk as we'd be more than happy to help.
Please give us the opportunity to help solve your issues before submitting bad reviews. We're here to help you and want to show you why we're so proud of My Shift Planner.CostFreeFreeIn-App Purchases$0.99 - $8.99 per item$0.99 - $9.49 per item -
Also GroovyWhen I Work is the easiest way to create an employee schedule, handle employee time tracking, and communicate with your staff— all from the app or desktop.
Why managers love it:
*Make and manage the work schedule with ease
*View entire staff schedule from anywhere at anytime
*Create, update, and publish shifts
*Alert staff of changes to the schedule
*Monitor & approve shift trades and time off requests
*Setup a time clock for staff to clock in and out
*Message with staff 1:1 or in groups without sharing personal info
Why your team will love it:
*They can see who’s working (with permissions)
*View work schedules from anywhere at anytime
*Clock in and out of shifts
*They can pick up extra hours
*Trade shifts with coworkers
*Request time off
*Chat with coworkers 1:1 or in groupsCostFreeFreeIn-App PurchasesNo$99.99 - $999.99 per item
The 411 from our Appventurer
How we tested?
We started the process by exploring the possibilities of HotSchedules, paying attention to everything that the app has to offer. We used it as a benchmark, a golden standard, if you will, by which we judged all other platforms.
The number of options, ease of use, and overall functionality were on the top of our list. How well does the software work? Is it glitchy? Does it run smoothly? Is the interface intuitive enough? We inspected every nook and cranny to find out.
Of course, the cost was another priority. For anyone just starting, it is important to remain frugal until the big cash starts rolling in. This is why only the free version was worth considering - with no added or hidden costs involved.
Why get the app?
This selection of platforms is mainly aimed at managers or business owners who want to make things easier for themselves as well as their employees. If you're running a team of more than 10 people who work in shifts, you will benefit greatly from such an app.
Any of our top three will enable you to manage the workers - be it in retail, food service, manufacturing, or any other business branch. Figuring out weekly availability - and organizing daily, weekly, and monthly schedules lies at the core of such software.
With some, you will also be able to communicate time off and plan everything well in advance - up to a year, even! In fact, once you switch to this mode of work, you will start wondering how on Earth you managed to function without it.
More About Humanity: Our Pick
Managing a team - whether small or large - is always a challenge. No matter how skilled you are with people, how well you understand their minds, you will still need every little bit of help you can get when dealing with some purely technical bits. Shifts, schedules, time off - all off that needs to be written down and filed in the correct order. So far, most experienced managers have relied on HotSchedules, but things are about to change. Humanity is very much the name on everybody's lips.
Dealing with it is easy enough. You start by creating an account for your company and adding all the employees to your team. The app will then send them invites via email and allow them to join this online hub. Then you'll be ready to rock.
You can create and edit shifts and schedules - doing this on the go. In fact, there is absolutely no need to bother with the desktop version - which is something we always greatly appreciate. You can stick to using the app at all times without ever wondering whether there are any features you are missing out on. Don't worry. They're all here.
Humanity makes it easy to stay in the loop, know when anyone is taking time off, view and confirm staff clock rotations, and have full insight into your team's workings. You will know who's doing what - when and how - and be able to compare performance based on perfectly objective numbers. Is John on time, or has Kevin done double the work today? Who is on sick leave, and who will be taking time off for a holiday next month? The answers will be at your fingertips.
In addition, the app will allow you to consider any employee working in a remote location. You will also be able to add notes, view everyone's contact info, and get in touch when needed. In fact, it is this part of the app that really stood out to us. Everything about it is as efficient as it can be. You can use the message wall to make announcements or individually ping any staff member via the inbox feature. Employees can also chat between themselves, making this an excellent alternative to Slack or Asana.
Humanity is also a great tool for supervising the training of new staff. With the ability to control which widgets you see on your dashboard, you can adapt every bit of the process to suit your needs and the needs of your team - whether it's still adapting to new conditions or already has plenty of experience under its collective belt.
And, yes, this app is completely free for everyone to use, which is something that will always put a smile on our faces. We at AppGrooves do always love a good deal or a bargain. It hardly gets any better than this.
Snags but not drags:
Yes, we love to complain, but this particular app leaves us almost no room for it. Such a robust and well-crafted system is likely to withstand the scrutiny of reviewers more experienced than us. The flaws in Humanity are not numerous at all and, in fact, we have only managed to find one single downside.
The idea of including a segment devoted to new staff training may have been a stroke of genius, but it remains obvious that the feature was added at a later date - without all that much thought put into it. Don't get us wrong; it's a fantastic thing, but it seems somewhat incomplete as of March 2021.
Comparing it to other parts of the app doesn't do it many favors but, on the other hand, it gives us great hope that this little gem will be polished to perfection in no time. For now, the rest of the software is so impressive that we may as well forgive this little flaw.
More About My Shift Planner: Runner Up
Good and thorough planning is of paramount importance for the success of any company. No matter how large or small, the enterprise will depend on your ability to deal with projects, goals, and scheduling. When it comes to all three items on this list, My Shift Planner presents itself as a robust solution to all problems that you may encounter along the way.
The process starts the usual way - by creating an account. Right after you're done with this, you will encounter the first of a series of (pleasant) surprises. Unlike most other platforms in this niche, My Shift Planner offers a detailed tutorial on how it should be used. No rock is left unturned and the videos posted on the developer's YouTube channel will be more than enough for any user. Even if you don't have much experience with this sort of software, you will still be able to get the most out of it.
Another surprise is the number of options present. You can follow the usual course of action or adapt the mechanism to fit your team's requirements. The app takes into account that some people's shifts won't repeat but are instead completely random. It enables you to enter the info manually and tweak the itinerary to suit your needs.
You can easily edit your profile, add employees, fiddle with the settings, and take full advantage of the color-coded calendar to make plans clearly visible and intelligible to everyone. Everything is about as simple as it gets, so none of your employees will ever be confused about their position in the group.
Payday settings are also taken into account and the entire segment is thought to perfection. It looks equally good both on the manager and the employee side. This is important for the app claims it can serve firefighters and nurses, workers in retail, and security guards and bartenders. Does it succeed in this? We think it definitely does.
The only complaint we could aim at My Shift Planner is that it does not have a clearly defined chat function, which definitely puts it behind our top contender. Still, everything else is so impressive that we simply couldn't help but include it in our list.
Finally, we should also mention that safety and security seem to be priorities for the developers. With backup tools, you will be able to store all your vital data on a cloud, being sure that none of it gets lost. All of the above is free of charge, and only a couple of the more advanced features - like work time reports and annual leave tracking - would require you to opt for the premium version. Still, this is by no means necessary and you can save quite a bit by sticking to the free plan.
More About When I Work Employee Scheduling: Also Groovy
Different business owners will have different priorities. For some, that will be efficiently managing large numbers of people. Others will put stress on quick and easy communications. Others still will insist upon privacy and security. For the third group, When I Work could be the best solution.
Much like with the other two in our top three, the process starts by creating an account - or signing up with Google. You can use the digital map to locate and claim an existing business or create your company's virtual headquarters from scratch. The level of "intrusion" you allow is fully up to you - with total control along every step of the way.
The number of options is well thought out, and most small businesses will benefit greatly from including this app in their digital kit. It may somewhat lag behind Humanity, but the general majority of managers won't have much to complain about.
The employee scheduler is as good as it gets and it will allow you to manage every bit of the process - from viewing and editing the calendar on the go, giving your staff a chance to pick extra hours or request time off, to creating new shifts in a matter of seconds. Your team will be able to clock in and out - and be altered of changes (through push notifications, email, or text messages). You can also chat with them 1-on-1. In fact, you can even use the app's email platform to directly message anyone - not just those on your team, but anyone you may need to reach out at the time.
Another thing we simply must not ignore is the impressive help center the app possesses. Any question you may have, any inquiry, any complaint will be dealt with in less than an hour. The staff is remarkably prompt and more than eager to help. A definite plus!
In conclusion, the slightly lower number of options present should not deter most managers from taking full advantage of this app. The privacy element is a definite standout. Overall, the platform remains a strong contender to HotSchedules (and Humanity!) - with its free service being a definite plus for those looking to minimize their expenses.
Other Apps Considered
The namesake of this article and the main reason we embarked on this journey. HotSchedules is an amazing solution that, unfortunately, will cost each and every one of your employees no less than $2.99 to download. Depending on the size of your workforce and your budget, this could pose a problem. This is why we include this app in the honorable mentions but have decided to focus on free alternatives as contenders for the top spot.
A pretty good platform for communicating in real-time. This is a neat feature that many other apps in this category lack. Well thought out and fully functional, it sets this release by Homebase apart from lesser pieces of software. Unfortunately, this option also comes with a substantial downside. For some reason, the app suffers from very pronounced lag. We are not talking about slightly lower performance standards but, sadly, a very distinct impression that every task is taking three times longer to perform than it ought to. Literally. Every. Task. If only this problem was remedied soon enough, we wouldn't hesitate one bit in including this app in our top 3.
As a manager, you have an excellent overview of your team's achievements and availability. As a team member, you can view your shifts, clock in and out, request time off, and fully manage your tasks. The app also boasts a GPS feature which, for some reason, doesn't work quite as well as it ought to. In fact, it can be awfully imprecise, leaving us to think that the idea wasn't thought out quite as thoroughly as one would expect it to. Other minor issues such as the need to manually log in every time you try to use the app are really putting us off this decent but somehow incomplete solution.
If you've been using Calendly on your desktop or laptop, you may have come to expect a lot from this amazing service. Unfortunately, the smartphone version simply does not contain all features present on the web. Instead, the program feels a bit basic and doesn't compare well enough with HotSchedules - nor indeed any of our top contenders. Neither the manager nor the employee will be satisfied with this scenario so we can only recommend that you skip it and opt for something better equipped instead.
With a simple yet powerful interface, Doodle promises to be one of the easiest apps to use. It is perhaps the software with the shortest learning curve. Still, much like Shiftboard, the advanced features it attempts to implement somehow fall flat. Anything more complicated than simple scheduling can get glitchy and, despite a wonderful interface, you will need to make more than a few attempts before you get the app to do what you want it to. Certain menus are not as responsive as they should be, leaving this one at the bottom rather than at the top, where it initially aims to be.
Stefan Racic
My phone tends to be filled to the brim with apps I am either trying on for size of using on a regular basis. I use them for a variety of tasks, including sketching and creating art, keeping in touch with friends, being up to date with the latest news, learning about diverse spiritual practices and, of course, playing games!
With over 10 years of experience as a translator and writer, I channel my creativity into writing about things I enjoy. My education in business (I hold a bachelor's degree in operations management) is but one part of expertise. I have worked for art magazines, spiritual blogs, news and business sites, and now I explore the fascinating world of apps.
My previous work is as diverse as my interests. Fresh out of college, I was employed as a translator and interpreter at the fringes of the corporate world and the NGO sector. After switching to writing, I first focused on business news, then shifted to working for a series of art magazines (WideWalls perhaps being the most well known), and even wrote content for a couple of spirituality-focused apps for Labyrinthos Academy. Little did I know that I would eventually devote a good chunk of my time to writing about all sorts of interesting new apps out there.
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Managing a substantial sector of a large company takes a special set of skills and a good deal of effort. The process is seldom easy, and every little bit of technical improvement that can offer you some help is more than welcome. When it comes to organizing shift workers, digital platforms have proven extremely efficient.
Currently, the market is dominated by HotSchedules, an app that enables you to get everything sorted in a matter of minutes. Schedules, weekly availability, as well as time off are covered in fine detail. Still, the app is not free. In fact, it charges per download, meaning that each and every one of your employees would have to spend $2.99 on it. If you're only starting to run a business, you will want to cut costs. This is why we have tested seven other free alternatives to see if any of them are worth a try.