A restaurant manager spends 4-7 hours every week building the schedule. That's 200-350 hours a year. At $22/hour, that's $4,400-$7,700 in labor just to create the document that tells people when to work. Then the schedule goes out. Then the text messages start. "Can I switch my Friday?" "I need Saturday off." "I can't work Tuesday." Another 2-3 hours of schedule changes. Another $2,200-$3,300 a year. Labor costs are the single biggest expense for restaurants, running 30-35% of gross sales according to the National Restaurant Association's 2026 State of the Industry report (restaurant.org).
A scheduling app cuts schedule creation from 4-7 hours to 45-90 minutes. It handles availability, time-off requests, shift swaps, and compliance automatically. The labor cost savings from better scheduling typically exceed the app's subscription cost by 3-5x.
I've watched managers go from Excel spreadsheets to scheduling apps. The first week they're skeptical. By week 3 they tell me they'll never go back. Here's which one to pick.
We've partnered with 7shifts, Sling, and Homebase to help restaurant owners find the right scheduling solution. Our recommendations below are based on hands-on testing and feedback from restaurant operators.
The Short Answer
If you run a single restaurant with 15-50 employees, use 7shifts. It was built specifically for restaurants. The scheduling logic understands split shifts, tipped vs non-tipped roles, and the weird shift patterns that only exist in restaurants. It starts at $29.99/month for up to 30 employees. For a 25-person restaurant, that's $1.20 per employee per month.
If you need the cheapest option and don't need restaurant-specific features, use Sling. It's free for basic scheduling and shift reminders. The paid plan is $1.95 per user per month. For a 20-person restaurant, that's $39/month. It's not restaurant-specific, but it handles the basics well.
If you need scheduling plus time tracking and HR in one platform, use Homebase. It combines scheduling, time clocks, hiring, and onboarding. Pricing starts at $24.95/month per location for scheduling and time tracking. For a single-location restaurant, that's $24.95/month. The all-in-one approach means fewer systems to manage.
| Feature | 7shifts | Sling | Homebase |
|---|---|---|---|
| Monthly Cost | Free (up to 30 employees) / $29.99-$135/month per location | Free / $1.95-$3.95 per user/month | Free (up to 20 employees) / $24.95-$99.95/month per location |
| Best For | Independent restaurants with 15-50 employees that want restaurant-specific logic | Very small restaurants on a tight budget | Restaurants that want scheduling, time tracking, and hiring in one place |
| Free Tier | Yes, basic scheduling for up to 30 employees | Yes, basic scheduling for unlimited employees | Yes, scheduling and time tracking for up to 20 employees at 1 location |
| Employee Self-Service | Shift swaps, time-off requests, availability (mobile app) | Shift swaps, time-off requests, availability | Shift swaps, time-off requests, clock-in/out, availability |
| POS Integration | Toast, Square, Lightspeed, Clover, 50+ systems | No restaurant POS integration | Toast, Square, Clover (limited) |
| Mobile App | Excellent. Employees and managers both well-supported | Functional but not as polished | Good. Combined with time clock and GPS |
| Tip Pooling | Yes (Entree plan and above) | No | No |
| Labor Budgeting | Yes, real-time projected cost vs sales | Basic labor cost tracking (no sales comparison) | Scheduled vs actual hours and costs |
Why Excel Schedules Are Costing You Money
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An Excel schedule has no intelligence. It doesn't know that Sarah can't work Tuesdays. It doesn't know that you scheduled 4 servers for a Tuesday lunch that historically does 12 covers. It doesn't know that Juan is approaching overtime. It doesn't know that you have 3 people on at 2 PM and nobody at 4 PM.
A scheduling app knows all of this. It flags availability conflicts before you publish. It shows projected labor cost against forecasted sales. It warns you when someone is approaching overtime. It lets employees swap shifts without involving you.
The labor cost savings come from two places. First, you stop overstaffing slow shifts. A scheduling app shows you historical sales by hour. If last Tuesday's lunch did $380 in sales and your labor target is 30%, you can spend $114 on labor. That's 2 servers at $14/hour for 4 hours. Not 3 servers. Not 4. Two. For a full breakdown of how to calculate and manage your labor costs, read our restaurant labor cost guide.
Second, you stop the shift overlap waste. The lunch crew leaves at 3 PM. The dinner crew arrives at 4 PM. That 1-hour gap saves you 1 hour of labor per person per day. For 6 people at $16/hour, that's $96/day. $35,040/year. Just from a 1-hour gap between shifts.
A scheduling app makes this obvious. Excel hides it.
7shifts: Built for Restaurants
7shifts was founded in 2014 by a former restaurant manager who was tired of building schedules in Excel. It's now used by 40,000+ restaurants including Five Guys, Bareburger, and Yogurtland (7shifts.com).
Pricing: Free for up to 30 employees (basic scheduling only). Comp at $29.99/month per location (adds labor budgeting, overtime alerts, and manager log). Entree at $69.99/month per location (adds tip pooling, advanced reporting, and multi-location). The Works at $135/month per location (adds task management and food safety).
What it does well: The scheduling engine understands restaurant operations. It handles split shifts, rotating schedules, and the fact that your best server also wants to bartend on Fridays. The labor budgeting tool shows your projected labor cost as you build the schedule. If you're over budget, it turns red. You adjust in real time instead of discovering the problem after the pay period ends. The mobile app is excellent. Employees can check their schedule, swap shifts, and request time off from their phone. Managers can approve swaps with one tap. The tip pooling feature (Entree plan and above) calculates tip distributions based on your pool rules. If you're still doing tip outs by hand, our server tip out calculator can save you the math. It integrates with Toast, Square, and most major POS systems to pull actual sales data for labor vs sales reporting.
Where it falls short: The free plan is limited. You get scheduling and shift reminders but not labor budgeting or overtime alerts. The features you actually need are on the Comp plan at $29.99/month. The reporting could be deeper. You get labor cost vs sales but not the granular station-level reporting that some operators want. The task management (Works plan) is basic. It's a checklist, not a full operations platform.
Who should use it: Independent restaurants with 15-50 employees. Multi-location groups that want consistent scheduling across locations. Any restaurant that wants a scheduling tool built by people who understand restaurant operations. If you're still figuring out how many people you actually need on each shift, our restaurant staffing guide walks through the math.
Sling: The Budget Option
Sling is a general-purpose scheduling app used across industries. It's not restaurant-specific, but it's free for basic features and the paid plan is cheap.
Pricing: Free for basic scheduling, shift reminders, and time-off requests. Premium at $1.95 per user per month (adds labor cost tracking, overtime alerts, and availability management). Business at $3.95 per user per month (adds time tracking, PTO management, and advanced reporting).
What it does well: The price. Free scheduling for unlimited employees is hard to beat. The interface is clean and intuitive. It takes about 15 minutes to learn. The shift reminders are automatic. Employees get a notification before their shift without you doing anything. The availability management (Premium plan) lets employees set their recurring availability and Sling flags conflicts when you schedule outside it.
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Where it falls short: It's not restaurant-specific. Sling doesn't understand tipped vs non-tipped roles. It doesn't integrate with restaurant POS systems for labor vs sales reporting. The labor cost tracking is basic. You enter hourly rates and Sling calculates labor cost, but it doesn't compare against sales data. The mobile app is functional but not as polished as 7shifts.
Who should use it: Very small restaurants with under 15 employees. Restaurants on a tight budget that need basic scheduling. Operations where the manager handles labor cost analysis separately.
Homebase: Scheduling Plus Everything Else
Homebase is an all-in-one platform for hourly teams. It combines scheduling, time tracking, hiring, onboarding, and HR. For restaurants that want one system instead of three, it's compelling (joinhomebase.com).
Pricing: Basic is free for 1 location with up to 20 employees (scheduling and time tracking only). Essentials at $24.95/month per location (adds team communication, remote work tools, and basic hiring). Plus at $59.95/month per location (adds PTO management, advanced time tracking, and permissions). All-in-One at $99.95/month per location (adds HR, compliance, and onboarding).
What it does well: The all-in-one approach. You manage scheduling, time clocks, hiring, and onboarding in one platform. Employees use one app for everything. The time clock integrates with the schedule. Employees clock in on their phone with GPS verification. You can see who's late, who's on time, and who didn't show up. The hiring features are genuinely useful. You can post job listings, collect applications, and onboard new hires without leaving Homebase. The labor cost tracking compares scheduled vs actual hours and costs.
Where it falls short: The scheduling engine isn't as sophisticated as 7shifts. It handles basic scheduling well but doesn't have the restaurant-specific logic for split shifts and tipped roles. The free plan is limited to 20 employees and 1 location. Most restaurants will need at least the Essentials plan. The interface can feel cluttered because it does so many things. There's a learning curve.
Who should use it: Restaurants that want scheduling, time tracking, and hiring in one platform. Single-location restaurants with 20-50 employees. Operations where the manager handles both scheduling and HR.
The Scheduling Features That Actually Matter
Every scheduling app has a feature list. Most of the features don't matter. Here are the ones that do. For a deeper look at how to structure your shifts, see our restaurant shift management guide.
Labor cost vs sales forecasting. This is the feature that saves you money. The app shows projected labor cost as a percentage of forecasted sales while you build the schedule. If you're over 30%, you adjust before the schedule goes out. Without this, you discover the problem when you run payroll 2 weeks later.
Overtime alerts. The app warns you when an employee is approaching 40 hours. Overtime is 1.5x the regular rate. A $16/hour cook on overtime costs $24/hour. If you accidentally schedule them for 42 hours, those 2 overtime hours cost you $48 instead of $32. Over a year, catching 2 overtime incidents per week saves $1,664.
Shift swapping without manager involvement. Employees swap shifts. It happens constantly. If every swap requires manager approval, the manager spends 2-3 hours a week on schedule changes. If the app handles swaps automatically within rules you set, the manager spends zero hours on it.
POS integration. The app pulls actual sales data from your POS and compares it against scheduled labor. This is how you know if your scheduling is working. Without POS integration, you're guessing.
Mobile app for employees. Your staff doesn't have desk jobs. They check their schedule on their phone. If the mobile app is bad, they won't use it. They'll text you instead.
FAQ
Can I use a scheduling app if my employees don't have smartphones?
Most scheduling apps support SMS notifications for employees without smartphones. They receive their schedule via text message. It's not ideal but it works.
Does 7shifts integrate with my POS?
7shifts integrates with Toast, Square, Lightspeed, Clover, and 50+ other POS systems. The integration pulls sales data for labor vs sales reporting.
How long does it take to set up a scheduling app?
Initial setup: 2-4 hours to input employees, roles, availability, and pay rates. First schedule build: 1-2 hours. After that, 45-90 minutes per week. The time savings come from the template feature. Once you build a schedule that works, you save it as a template and reuse it.
What happens if the app goes down?
Most scheduling apps store data locally on your device as a backup. If the cloud service goes down, you can still view the current schedule. Outages are rare. 7shifts and Homebase both report 99.9%+ uptime.
Next steps: A scheduling app is one piece of the labor cost puzzle. To get your full labor costs under control, including overtime, benefits, and staffing ratios, read our restaurant labor cost guide.
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