7shifts vs Homebase: The Best Scheduling App for Small Restaurants (From a Former Owner)
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I ran restaurants with over 100 employees, and I scheduled them on a spreadsheet. The schedule itself rarely changed. The people did.
Restaurant staff take these jobs for the flexibility, so shifts change constantly. Someone swaps with a friend, someone calls out an hour before service, and suddenly the spreadsheet is fiction. By the end of the week I’d find out who actually worked when I saw the overtime on payroll.
That’s the real problem a scheduling app solves. It isn’t about making a pretty schedule. It’s about keeping up with the changes and protecting your labor cost. Here’s how the two most popular restaurant scheduling apps, 7shifts and Homebase, handle it.
The quick verdict
- Choose 7shifts if you run a full-service or busy restaurant and labor cost is your biggest worry. It’s built only for restaurants, and its labor budgeting ties your schedule to projected sales.
- Choose Homebase if you want the simplest tool that just works, or you run a quick-service spot, café, or a mix of businesses. It’s easy for staff to pick up and strong on time clock and overtime alerts.
Both let employees trade and pick up shifts from their phones. Either one is a big step up from a spreadsheet.
What actually matters when you schedule a restaurant
Most reviews compare feature lists. After years of doing this myself, I’d judge any scheduling app on four things:
- Shift swaps without the chaos. Staff will trade shifts no matter what. The question is whether you know about it. A good app lets them swap on their phones while you approve with one tap, and the schedule updates itself.
- Call-outs. When someone calls out, you need to post the open shift and get it covered fast, not spend 30 minutes texting people.
- Overtime before it happens. By the time you see overtime on payroll, it’s too late. You want an alert while there’s still time to send someone home or move a shift.
- Labor cost against sales. Labor is one of your biggest costs. You should see what a schedule will cost while you build it, compared with the sales you expect that week.
Here’s how each app handles those four.
7shifts: built for restaurants, strongest on labor cost
7shifts is made only for restaurants, and it shows. Its standout feature is labor budgeting: you set labor targets based on projected sales, and you see the cost of the schedule as you build it. You can connect it to your POS so it pulls real sales and labor numbers.
- Shift swaps: Employees can offer up shifts, trade with coworkers, and claim open shifts through a shift pool. You approve, and the schedule updates.
- Call-outs: Post the open shift to the pool and your team gets notified on the app.
- Overtime: It tracks breaks and overtime, and its dashboard shows sales, labor, and overtime hours together.
- Labor cost: This is where it beats Homebase. Labor budgets, sales forecasting, and even weather-aware scheduling help you staff for the day you’ll actually have.
Downsides: The free plan only fits a single, small location, and the labor budgeting features need a paid plan. Pricing is per location, so it adds up if you run several restaurants.
Pricing (October 2026): a free Comp plan, then paid plans from roughly $40 to $135 per location per month. Check current rates before you sign up, because 7shifts changes them often.
[ADD YOUR FIRSTHAND NOTE: try the free trial and add one thing you noticed, e.g. how quickly you built a week’s schedule.]
Homebase: simple, and strong on the time clock
Homebase serves restaurants, retail, and other hourly businesses. It’s less specialized than 7shifts, but it’s very easy to use, which matters when your staff turns over often.
- Shift swaps: Employees can trade, cover, and claim open shifts from the app.
- Call-outs: Post the open shift and your team can claim it. Late alerts tell you when someone hasn’t clocked in.
- Overtime: This is its strength. You set your overtime and break rules, and it alerts you when employees approach or reach overtime, before the week is over.
- Labor cost: It tracks hours, wages, and tips, and it can pull tips from your POS into the tip pool. Sales-based labor forecasting is less developed than 7shifts.
Downsides: Like 7shifts, it charges per location, and the free plan only covers one small location. Many useful features sit in the higher plans.
Pricing (October 2026): a free Basic plan, then paid plans from roughly $30 to $120 per location per month, with payroll as an optional add-on.
[ADD YOUR FIRSTHAND NOTE: try the free trial and mention one thing you’d have loved back when you ran the spreadsheet.]
Side by side
| 7shifts | Homebase | |
|---|---|---|
| Built for | Restaurants only | Restaurants, retail, any hourly team |
| Shift swaps and open shifts | Yes, all plans | Yes |
| Overtime alerts | Tracks overtime; strongest on higher plans | Alerts as staff approach overtime |
| Labor budget vs sales | Yes, its best feature (paid plans) | Basic |
| POS integration | Yes | Yes |
| Free plan | One small location | One small location |
| Paid plans (per location, per month) | About $40 to $135 | About $30 to $120 |
| Best for | Labor-cost control at busy restaurants | Simplicity and time tracking |
Which one should you choose?
With a team of over 100 like mine, the free plans won’t cover you, so you’ll be on a paid plan either way. That’s fine. One avoided overtime shift a week can pay for the app.
If I were back in my restaurant today, I’d pick 7shifts. Labor cost was my biggest headache, and seeing the schedule’s cost against projected sales while I build it would have saved me real money. The shift pool also would have ended the swap-and-surprise problem my spreadsheet never solved.
I’d pick Homebase instead if I ran a smaller or quick-service place, or a convenience store alongside a restaurant. It’s easier to roll out, and its overtime alerts cover the most expensive surprises.
Both offer free trials. Set up one week of your real schedule in each, have two or three staff try swapping a shift, and keep the one your team actually uses.
Try 7shifts free · Try Homebase free
FAQ
Is there a free restaurant scheduling app? Yes. Both 7shifts and Homebase have free plans, but they only fit a single location with a small team.
Can employees swap shifts without the manager? In both apps, employees request the swap and a manager approves it, so you always know who’s working.
Do these apps help with overtime? Yes. Homebase alerts you as employees approach overtime. 7shifts tracks overtime and shows it alongside your sales and labor numbers.