Vendor research · Scheduling & workforce

Top Restaurant Scheduling Software

Ten restaurant scheduling platforms scored on 92 requirements in 17 sections. Deputy leads with 85%, one point ahead of 7shifts, and Workforce.com is third.

  • Restaurants
  • Scheduling & workforce
  • Edition 1 · November 2026

Deputy leads Olive's evaluation of restaurant scheduling software with 85%, one point ahead of 7shifts (84%), with Workforce.com third (82%). Fourth follows with 77% and Harri with 75%, and Crunchtime Labor & Scheduling, Homebase and Planday share sixth place at 74%.

The order changes with the job. On the eight restaurant scheduling sections, 7shifts and Workforce.com share the highest group score (87%). Workforce.com scores highest on labor forecasting (92%) and labor law compliance (91%), 7shifts on the mobile employee app (99%) and tip management (94%). Pricing and contracts is the section where the platforms differ most, from 28% to 98%.

Rankings · overall score and section range (0–100)
Overall scoreWeakest to strongest section
1Deputy
858685
27shifts
848782
3Workforce.com
828777
4Fourth
778372
5Harri
757772
6Crunchtime Labor & Scheduling
747870
6Homebase
747871
6Planday
747475
9Push Operations
717666
10When I Work
686967

Deputy leads on 85. 3 vendors share sixth place on 74. The other 9 vendors sit within 16 points of each other, while every vendor's own weakest and strongest sections are at least 28 points apart.

Data table
RankVendorOverallWeakest sectionStrongest sectionRestaurant schedulingPlatform and vendor
1Deputy8560968685
27shifts8453998782
3Workforce.com8260928777
4Fourth7761898372
5Harri7545887772
6Crunchtime Labor & Scheduling7428887870
6Homebase7451947871
6Planday7446937475
9Push Operations7149897666
10When I Work6846896967

Key findings

  • Deputy ranks first with 85 out of 100 and has the highest score in 5 of 17 sections, including Support & Customer Success (91).
  • 7shifts is second with 84 and leads 7 sections, including Team Communication & Shift Swaps (99).
  • Three vendors tie for sixth on 74: Crunchtime Labor & Scheduling, Homebase and Planday. They reach it differently: Crunchtime Labor & Scheduling scores strong on 51 requirements, Homebase on 44.
  • Vendors outside the top two lead sections of their own: Workforce.com on Workflow, Automation & Intelligence (76) and Homebase on Time & Attendance (93).

What is restaurant scheduling software?

Restaurant scheduling software builds staff schedules against forecast sales, records hours at the time clock, and keeps labor within budget and within the law. For a multi-unit restaurant group that also means shift swaps managers can approve from a phone, predictive scheduling and break rules applied by location, tips and hours passed to payroll, and the same controls across company-owned and franchised stores.

This report compares 10 platforms, from tools built for restaurants to workforce suites that serve several shift-based industries. Each is scored against the same 92 requirements in 17 sections: eight on restaurant scheduling and nine on the platform and the vendor behind it. Where no public evidence was found for a requirement, that requirement is left out of the vendor's score rather than counted as zero.

How this was evaluated

Where vendors differ

Every section score, in report order. The last column gives the lowest and highest score in each row; the three widest gaps are in bold. One section, Labor Law Compliance, opens to show each vendor's score on its 6 requirements.

Section scores by vendor (0–100)
Below 4545–5960–6970–7980 and above
Requirement sectionDeputy7shiftsWorkforce.comFourthHarriCrunchtime Labor & SchedulingHomebasePlandayPush OperationsWhen I WorkLow–high
Restaurant scheduling
Schedule Building & Optimization6 requirements8987918679739091848773–91
Labor Forecasting & Budgeting6 requirements8875928568845167684848–92
Time & Attendance6 requirements9188928083669371838866–93
Labor Law Compliance8974917781875746544646–91
Team Communication & Shift Swaps5 requirements9399848779799493898979–99
Tip Management & Pay5 requirements6094788967778660754747–94
Mobile Employee Experience5 requirements8999788786798793858778–99
Multi-Location & Franchise Control5 requirements8885827275816875666363–88
Platform and vendor
Workflow, Automation & Intelligence5 requirements6966766363676659585757–76
Integrations, APIs & Ecosystem6 requirements9697858181868293707070–97
Data Management, Reporting & Analytics5 requirements8681796275736871726662–86
Architecture, Configuration & Administration5 requirements8892898172738369666262–92
Security, Privacy, Compliance & Auditability6 requirements8953856271546067526752–89
Implementation, Migration, Training & Adoption5 requirements8370776378775748495348–83
Support & Customer Success5 requirements9187658672817686858565–91
Pricing & Contracts5 requirements8898606145288393708928–98
Company & Product Overview6 requirements7396738888887080765353–96

Vendors separate most on Pricing & Contracts (28 to 98) and least on Schedule Building & Optimization (73 to 91).

What you prioritize

An overall ranking treats every requirement as equally important. No buyer does. In a real evaluation a few requirement areas decide the outcome and others barely matter, and how you weight them changes which vendor comes out ahead.

The radar shows how. Open Sections to switch off the areas that matter less to your business, and select up to four vendors to compare. Every score is recalculated on the sections you leave on, and the list re-sorts as you go.

In this report the order moves when only part of it counts. Workforce.com is third on the overall score and first on the 8 Restaurant scheduling sections alone. Planday is sixth on the overall score and fourth on the 9 Platform and vendor sections alone.

Vendor radar · score by section (0–100)
20406080100SchedulingForecastingTime clockLabor lawShift swapsTips and payMobile appMulti-locationAutomationIntegrationsDataAdministrationSecurityImplementationSupportPricingCompanyDeputy · Schedule Building & Optimization: 89Deputy · Labor Forecasting & Budgeting: 88Deputy · Time & Attendance: 91Deputy · Labor Law Compliance: 89Deputy · Team Communication & Shift Swaps: 93Deputy · Tip Management & Pay: 60Deputy · Mobile Employee Experience: 89Deputy · Multi-Location & Franchise Control: 88Deputy · Workflow, Automation & Intelligence: 69Deputy · Integrations, APIs & Ecosystem: 96Deputy · Data Management, Reporting & Analytics: 86Deputy · Architecture, Configuration & Administration: 88Deputy · Security, Privacy, Compliance & Auditability: 89Deputy · Implementation, Migration, Training & Adoption: 83Deputy · Support & Customer Success: 91Deputy · Pricing & Contracts: 88Deputy · Company & Product Overview: 737shifts · Schedule Building & Optimization: 877shifts · Labor Forecasting & Budgeting: 757shifts · Time & Attendance: 887shifts · Labor Law Compliance: 747shifts · Team Communication & Shift Swaps: 997shifts · Tip Management & Pay: 947shifts · Mobile Employee Experience: 997shifts · Multi-Location & Franchise Control: 857shifts · Workflow, Automation & Intelligence: 667shifts · Integrations, APIs & Ecosystem: 977shifts · Data Management, Reporting & Analytics: 817shifts · Architecture, Configuration & Administration: 927shifts · Security, Privacy, Compliance & Auditability: 537shifts · Implementation, Migration, Training & Adoption: 707shifts · Support & Customer Success: 877shifts · Pricing & Contracts: 987shifts · Company & Product Overview: 96Workforce.com · Schedule Building & Optimization: 91Workforce.com · Labor Forecasting & Budgeting: 92Workforce.com · Time & Attendance: 92Workforce.com · Labor Law Compliance: 91Workforce.com · Team Communication & Shift Swaps: 84Workforce.com · Tip Management & Pay: 78Workforce.com · Mobile Employee Experience: 78Workforce.com · Multi-Location & Franchise Control: 82Workforce.com · Workflow, Automation & Intelligence: 76Workforce.com · Integrations, APIs & Ecosystem: 85Workforce.com · Data Management, Reporting & Analytics: 79Workforce.com · Architecture, Configuration & Administration: 89Workforce.com · Security, Privacy, Compliance & Auditability: 85Workforce.com · Implementation, Migration, Training & Adoption: 77Workforce.com · Support & Customer Success: 65Workforce.com · Pricing & Contracts: 60Workforce.com · Company & Product Overview: 73Fourth · Schedule Building & Optimization: 86Fourth · Labor Forecasting & Budgeting: 85Fourth · Time & Attendance: 80Fourth · Labor Law Compliance: 77Fourth · Team Communication & Shift Swaps: 87Fourth · Tip Management & Pay: 89Fourth · Mobile Employee Experience: 87Fourth · Multi-Location & Franchise Control: 72Fourth · Workflow, Automation & Intelligence: 63Fourth · Integrations, APIs & Ecosystem: 81Fourth · Data Management, Reporting & Analytics: 62Fourth · Architecture, Configuration & Administration: 81Fourth · Security, Privacy, Compliance & Auditability: 62Fourth · Implementation, Migration, Training & Adoption: 63Fourth · Support & Customer Success: 86Fourth · Pricing & Contracts: 61Fourth · Company & Product Overview: 88

Vendors

Scores on all sections. Up to 4 vendors on the chart at once.

All 17 sections are on, so these are the report's overall scores. Open Sections to change what counts.

Data table
SectionDeputy7shiftsWorkforce.comFourth
Schedule Building & Optimization89879186
Labor Forecasting & Budgeting88759285
Time & Attendance91889280
Labor Law Compliance89749177
Team Communication & Shift Swaps93998487
Tip Management & Pay60947889
Mobile Employee Experience89997887
Multi-Location & Franchise Control88858272
Workflow, Automation & Intelligence69667663
Integrations, APIs & Ecosystem96978581
Data Management, Reporting & Analytics86817962
Architecture, Configuration & Administration88928981
Security, Privacy, Compliance & Auditability89538562
Implementation, Migration, Training & Adoption83707763
Support & Customer Success91876586
Pricing & Contracts88986061
Company & Product Overview73967388

This report uses one requirement set. To rank vendors on your own requirements, create your own report.

How each score is built

Two vendors can reach the same overall score in different ways. One scores strong on many requirements and limited on others. Another scores partial almost everywhere. The bands show which is which.

That matters for how you buy. If you want the strongest product for specific functions and are willing to integrate other tools around it, look for the most requirements in the strong band in the areas you care about. If you want one system that covers most needs without adding others, look for the fewest requirements in the limited band.

Requirements by score band · 92 requirements
Strong (8–10)Partial (5–7.9)Limited (below 5)
Deputy
6819
85
7shifts
6619
84
Workforce.com
6618
82
Fourth
53299
77
Harri
43379
75
Crunchtime Labor & Scheduling
512714
74
Homebase
443315
74
Planday
502615
74
Push Operations
443116
71
When I Work
422426
68

3 vendors share a score of 74. Crunchtime Labor & Scheduling gets there with 51 strong requirements; Homebase with 44 strong and 33 partial.

Data table
VendorStrongPartialLimitedOverall
Deputy6819585
7shifts6619784
Workforce.com6618782
Fourth5329977
Harri4337975
Crunchtime Labor & Scheduling51271474
Homebase44331574
Planday50261574
Push Operations44311671
When I Work42242668

The vendors in this report

In order of overall score; vendors on the same score are listed alphabetically.

Deputy

deputy.com

Deputy is a workforce management platform for shift-based businesses, covering scheduling, time and attendance, labor compliance and team communication. It is in the strong band on 68 of 92 requirements, the most in this report, and scores highest on integrations (96%), shift swaps and team communication (93%), time and attendance (91%) and support (91%). Tip management (60%) and workflow automation (69%) are its weakest sections.

Overall
85
Restaurant scheduling
86
Platform and vendor
85
Score bands
68 of 92 requirements strong

Scores highest on Integrations, APIs & Ecosystem (96), Team Communication & Shift Swaps (93) and Time & Attendance (91). Scores lowest on Tip Management & Pay (60).

Best fit: Multi-unit groups that want broad scheduling, time clock and compliance coverage from one workforce platform.

7shifts

7shifts.com

7shifts is a scheduling and team management platform built for restaurants. It shares the highest score on the restaurant scheduling sections (87%) and leads on the mobile employee app and shift swaps (99% each), pricing (98%), integrations (97%) and tip management (94%). Security, privacy and compliance (53%) is its weakest section.

Overall
84
Restaurant scheduling
87
Platform and vendor
82
Score bands
66 of 92 requirements strong

Scores highest on Team Communication & Shift Swaps (99), Mobile Employee Experience (99) and Pricing & Contracts (98). Scores lowest on Security, Privacy, Compliance & Auditability (53).

Best fit: Restaurant groups that want a restaurant-specific scheduling app with strong POS integrations and tip handling.

Workforce.com

workforce.com

Workforce.com is a workforce management platform for hourly teams in hospitality and other shift-based industries. It shares the highest score on the restaurant scheduling sections (87%) and leads on labor forecasting and time and attendance (92% each) and labor law compliance (91%). Pricing (60%) and support (65%) are its weakest sections.

Overall
82
Restaurant scheduling
87
Platform and vendor
77
Score bands
66 of 91 requirements strong

Scores highest on Labor Forecasting & Budgeting (92), Time & Attendance (92) and Schedule Building & Optimization (91). Scores lowest on Pricing & Contracts (60).

Best fit: Operators in predictive scheduling jurisdictions that want forecasting and labor law rules built into the schedule.

Fourth

fourth.com

Fourth is a hospitality operations platform whose scheduling, labor forecasting and time and attendance products carry the HotSchedules name. It scores 83% on the restaurant scheduling sections, with tip management (89%), shift swaps and the mobile app (87% each) and labor forecasting (85%) its strongest. Pricing (61%), data management (62%) and security (62%) are its weakest sections.

Overall
77
Restaurant scheduling
83
Platform and vendor
72
Score bands
53 of 91 requirements strong

Scores highest on Tip Management & Pay (89), Company & Product Overview (88) and Team Communication & Shift Swaps (87). Scores lowest on Pricing & Contracts (61).

Best fit: Enterprise restaurant brands that want scheduling alongside other hospitality back-office products from one vendor.

Harri

harri.com

Harri is a frontline workforce platform for hospitality that combines hiring, scheduling, time and attendance and pay. It scores best on company and product overview (88%), the mobile app (86%) and time and attendance (83%). Pricing (45%) is its weakest section, and three of its answers had no public evidence and are left out of its score.

Overall
75
Restaurant scheduling
77
Platform and vendor
72
Score bands
43 of 89 requirements strong

Scores highest on Company & Product Overview (88), Mobile Employee Experience (86) and Time & Attendance (83). Scores lowest on Pricing & Contracts (45).

Best fit: Hospitality brands that want hiring and scheduling in one frontline workforce platform.

Crunchtime Labor & Scheduling

crunchtime.com

Crunchtime Labor & Scheduling is the labor module of Crunchtime's restaurant operations platform, aimed at multi-unit and franchise brands. It scores best on company and product overview (88%), labor law compliance (87%), integrations (86%) and labor forecasting (84%). Pricing (28%) is its weakest section and the lowest section score in this report, because little pricing information is public.

Overall
74
Restaurant scheduling
78
Platform and vendor
70
Score bands
51 of 92 requirements strong

Scores highest on Company & Product Overview (88), Labor Law Compliance (87) and Integrations, APIs & Ecosystem (86). Scores lowest on Pricing & Contracts (28).

Best fit: Multi-unit restaurant brands that already run, or plan to run, Crunchtime for inventory and operations.

Homebase

joinhomebase.com

Homebase offers scheduling, a time clock, team communication and payroll for small and growing businesses, many of them restaurants. It scores best on shift swaps and team communication (94%), time and attendance (93%) and schedule building (90%). Labor forecasting (51%), labor law compliance (57%) and implementation (57%) are its weakest sections.

Overall
74
Restaurant scheduling
78
Platform and vendor
71
Score bands
44 of 92 requirements strong

Scores highest on Team Communication & Shift Swaps (94), Time & Attendance (93) and Schedule Building & Optimization (90). Scores lowest on Labor Forecasting & Budgeting (51).

Best fit: Independent restaurants and small groups that want simple scheduling, time tracking and payroll together.

Planday

planday.com

Planday is a workforce scheduling platform used mainly by hospitality and retail businesses in Europe. It scores best on pricing, integrations, the mobile app and shift swaps (93% each) and schedule building (91%). Labor law compliance (46%) and implementation (48%) are its weakest sections: its public material covers configurable working-time and rest rules but not US rules such as fair workweek, state break laws or limits for minors.

Overall
74
Restaurant scheduling
74
Platform and vendor
75
Score bands
50 of 91 requirements strong

Scores highest on Team Communication & Shift Swaps (93), Mobile Employee Experience (93) and Integrations, APIs & Ecosystem (93). Scores lowest on Labor Law Compliance (46).

Push Operations

pushoperations.com

Push Operations is a restaurant workforce platform that combines scheduling, time and attendance and payroll. It scores best on shift swaps and team communication (89%), the mobile app and support (85% each) and schedule building (84%). Implementation (49%), security (52%) and labor law compliance (54%) are its weakest sections.

Overall
71
Restaurant scheduling
76
Platform and vendor
66
Score bands
44 of 91 requirements strong

Scores highest on Team Communication & Shift Swaps (89), Mobile Employee Experience (85) and Support & Customer Success (85). Scores lowest on Implementation, Migration, Training & Adoption (49).

Best fit: Restaurant groups that want scheduling and payroll from a restaurant-focused vendor.

When I Work

wheniwork.com

When I Work is an employee scheduling, time tracking and team messaging app for hourly teams across industries. It scores best on pricing and shift swaps (89% each), time and attendance (88%) and schedule building (87%). It is in the limited band on 26 of 92 requirements, with labor law compliance (46%), tip management (47%) and labor forecasting (48%) its weakest sections.

Overall
68
Restaurant scheduling
69
Platform and vendor
67
Score bands
42 of 92 requirements strong

Scores highest on Team Communication & Shift Swaps (89), Pricing & Contracts (89) and Time & Attendance (88). Scores lowest on Labor Law Compliance (46).

Best fit: Small restaurant teams that want an easy scheduling and time tracking app at a published price.

Summary

This report scores 10 vendors against 92 requirements in 17 sections. Deputy ranks first with 85 out of 100, 7shifts is second with 84 and three vendors tie for sixth on 74.

Vendors separate most on Pricing & Contracts (28 to 98) and least on Schedule Building & Optimization (73 to 91). Every vendor's own strongest and weakest sections are at least 28 points apart, so the overall order says little about any one section.

No single ranking fits every buyer. A position here reflects one requirement set with every requirement weighted equally. Use the section scores to see where each vendor is strongest, the score bands to tell a specialist from an all-rounder, and the radar to see how the order changes with your priorities.

Quick answers

What is the best restaurant scheduling software?

In this report Deputy has the highest overall score (85%), one point ahead of 7shifts (84%) and three ahead of Workforce.com (82%). The lead is small, and the order changes with the sections a buyer prioritizes, which the radar chart on this page lets you test.

Which restaurant scheduling platforms does this report cover?

Ten platforms: Deputy, 7shifts, Workforce.com, Fourth (HotSchedules), Harri, Crunchtime Labor & Scheduling, Homebase, Planday, Push Operations and When I Work. Sling and Schedulefly were also researched and scored below the ten. Toast's scheduling was not ranked separately because it runs on Sling.

Which scheduling software is strongest on labor law compliance?

Workforce.com scores highest on labor law compliance (91%), followed by Deputy (89%) and Crunchtime Labor & Scheduling (87%). The section covers predictive scheduling and fair workweek rules, break and rest rules, minor labor restrictions and overtime alerts.

How were the restaurant scheduling platforms scored?

Each platform is scored from 0 to 10 on 92 requirements in 17 sections. A platform's score is the percentage of the best possible score across those requirements. In this edition every answer comes from Olive research into public information and evaluations run in Olive; no vendor has supplied responses.

Can I rank scheduling platforms on my own requirements?

Yes. This report uses one requirement set. In Olive you can build your own requirements and score the platforms that matter to you against them.

Run this evaluation on your own requirements

Olive builds a ranking from what your team needs, not from a fixed list. Start from a category and score the vendors that matter to you.

Sources, limits and disclosure

Where the scores come from
The 913 scores in this edition were produced by Olive's AI analysis and reviewed by an Olive analyst before publication. The analysis reads public information: product documentation, vendor websites and other published sources. It also draws on answers vendors have given to buyers in evaluations run in Olive, with the buyers never identified. No vendor has responded to this report's requirements directly.
What the scores represent
This is the research a buyer would do before speaking to a sales team, done faster. A score reflects the information available when the edition was built. A capability that exists but is not documented can score lower than the product deserves.
Vendor responses
A vendor's own response is the most accurate source. Olive often invites vendors to respond, and any vendor can ask to. Olive updates its reports to reflect the responses it receives. Submit vendor responses.
Limits of one ranking
This ranking uses one requirement set, with every requirement weighted equally, as of November 2026. Your requirements and priorities will produce a different order. The most accurate evaluation is one run on your own requirements, with vendors responding directly.
Independence
Olive has no commercial relationship with any vendor in this report. No vendor pays to be included, scored or ranked.