The RotaCloud alternative with time tracking in the plan, not as an add-on.
The two build a rota much the same way. The difference is what sits outside the plan: with RotaCloud, clocking in, timesheets, holiday accrual and payroll export are all in a £4.50 add-on.
- Rota, hours and absence in one plan
- Nothing to bolt on to clock in
- Free for up to 15 employees
From local operators to household names: 8,000+ businesses and 250,000+ employees plan with Shiftbase.
Where Shiftbase pulls ahead.
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Clocking in comes with the plan.
Clocking in from app, tablet or browser is in every paid plan, and clocked hours are checked against the shift you planned.
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Cost targets fed by your till.
Set a cost target per department and see green, amber or red as you plan. Connect a till and the ratio runs against real takings rather than a figure you typed.
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Free for small teams.
Up to 15 employees Shiftbase stays free, with the rota, time tracking and the app. No deadline and no card details.
Where the two part ways.
With RotaCloud
Rota, holiday and absence in the plan, with open shifts and availability included.
Clocking in, timesheets, holiday accrual and payroll export sit in a £4.50 add-on.
Labour forecasting against sales and budget caps are on the Pro tier.
No till connection, so the sales figure is the one you enter.
With Shiftbase
Rota, time tracking and absence in every paid plan from €30 a month.
Clocking, timesheets and payroll export with no add-on to buy.
Cost targets in the rota from Premium, fed by real turnover from your till.
Push notifications at no charge, plus a free plan for up to 15 employees.
What each tool covers.
The rota itself is a close match. Look at which rows say add-on or Pro, because that is where the bill changes.
One plan, nothing bolted onDrag-and-drop rota planning
Templates and copying tools
Open shifts staff can claim
Shift swaps between employees
Staff availability on the rota
Holiday, sickness and absence
Unlimited sites and departments
Clocking in and automatic timesheets
GPS restrictions and terminal clock-in
Scheduled vs. worked hours compared
Automatic holiday accrual
Payroll report and export
Daily, weekly and monthly labour costs
Labour forecasting against sales
Budget caps per team or site
Till integration for real turnover
Cross-site flex pool
Document storage and logbook
SMS notifications
Published pricing
Free plan
Free trial
Shiftbase or RotaCloud: what actually differs.
What the add-on contains, how much of the labour cost picture you get, and how to work out the real monthly figure.
Both tools plan a rota by drag and drop, show availability while you build, let your team claim open shifts and swap between themselves, and handle holiday and absence. The rota is not where this decision gets made.
It gets made on the shape of the bill. RotaCloud sells the rota and the hours as two separate things. Shiftbase sells them as one. Work out what a complete system costs on each side before you compare the headline numbers, because they are not measuring the same thing.
What the £4.50 add-on actually contains
Neither the Standard nor the Pro plan includes time and attendance. The add-on is a good piece of software, which is part of the point: mobile and terminal clocking in with PIN entry and photo capture, GPS restrictions, automatically generated timesheets, clock-in reminders, lateness flagging, scheduled against worked hours, automatic holiday accrual, attendance reporting and the payroll report and export.
That is a long list for something that sits outside both plans, and it includes two things people assume are standard. Holiday allowances accruing automatically from the shifts your staff work is in the add-on. So is getting the hours out to payroll.
The rota and the hours are the same job. You plan a shift, then you need to know whether it was worked, and whether what goes to payroll matches what you scheduled. In Shiftbase that runs end to end in every paid plan: clocking from app, tablet or browser, hours checked against the shift you planned, deviations raised as conflicts, and the payroll export at the end of it.
How much of the labour cost picture you get, and in which plan
On RotaCloud, the Standard plan shows daily, weekly and monthly labour costs. Forecasting against sales and budget caps per team or site are Pro, one tier up.
Shiftbase puts cost targets per department and the red, amber and green indicator in the rota from Premium, and connects to your till. Link Lightspeed, unTill or Vectron and real takings arrive daily, so the labour cost ratio moves with what actually came through the door instead of the figure you forecast on Monday. In a week that goes badly, that is the difference between finding out on Tuesday and finding out at month end.
Working out the real monthly figure
RotaCloud prices by headcount through a calculator on its pricing page, so put your own number in rather than reading the headline. Then add £4.50 for time and attendance if you need clocking in, holiday accrual or a payroll export, and £2 for SMS notifications if push and email are not enough. Above 500 employees it moves to a custom quote.
Shiftbase Basic is €30 a month with six users included and €4 for each one after, with the rota, time tracking and absence together and support in the price. Under 15 employees the free plan covers the rota, clocking and the app for nothing.
Which one to choose
Choose RotaCloud if the rota and the holiday side are the whole job and clocking in is not something you need to solve, or if a 30-day evaluation suits how you buy software.
Choose Shiftbase if the hours matter as much as the rota: clocking in every paid plan, worked hours checked against what you scheduled, holiday accruing without a second purchase, cost targets driven by your real takings, and a free plan for up to 15 employees to make your mind up on.
Build next week's rota and compare.
Free for up to 15 employees, or 14 days free on a paid plan from €30 a month. Rota, hours and absence included, with nothing to bolt on.
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No. Neither the Standard nor the Pro plan includes it. Clocking in, timesheets, GPS restrictions, terminal clock-in, automatic holiday accrual and the payroll export are all in a £4.50 add-on. With Shiftbase, all of that is in every paid plan and the hours are checked against the shift you planned.
With RotaCloud, automatic accrual from the shifts your staff work is part of the £4.50 time and attendance add-on. Holiday management itself is in the plans. With Shiftbase, balances build automatically from contract and worked hours in every paid plan, and staff check their own balance in the app.
Price the whole stack rather than the headline. Shiftbase Basic is €30 with six users included and €4 for each one after, with the rota, hours, holiday accrual and payroll export together and support in the price. RotaCloud charges by headcount through a calculator, then £4.50 for time and attendance and £2 for SMS on top.
Yes, in both. Shiftbase publishes the shift and the first available person takes it from the app, and RotaCloud has an open shifts row staff can claim from. This one will not separate them, so spend your trial on the parts that will.
In Shiftbase, from Premium: a cost target per department and a red, amber and green indicator in the rota as you build it, with real takings arriving daily from tills including Lightspeed, unTill and Vectron. RotaCloud shows labour costs on Standard and moves forecasting against sales to Pro, working from the sales figure you enter.
Both compare them, and both flag lateness. The difference is where it lives: with RotaCloud that comparison is part of the £4.50 add-on, and with Shiftbase it is in the plan, with deviations raised as conflicts before the export.
Shiftbase gives you 14 days on a paid plan, and under 15 employees the free plan has no deadline at all, so a small team can carry on rather than decide when a clock runs out. RotaCloud runs a 30-day trial with no card required.
No. Shiftbase has no minimum term and no monthly base fee, so if your team shrinks in January the bill shrinks with it. RotaCloud is pay-as-you-go with no setup fee and no long-term commitment either.