When I Work vs Planday

Two scheduling tools side by side. Prices are the starting plan a small business would pick, in USD.

Compare	When I WorkWhen I Work	PlandayXero
In one line	Shift scheduling and time clock from $2.50 a user	Shift scheduling and time tracking for hourly teams, from $2.99 a user
Starting price	From $2.50/person	From $2.99/person
Six-person team	$15/mo	$17.94/mo
Plans	Essentials $2.50/user/mo; Pro $5/user/mo; Premium $8/user/mo	Starter $2.99 per user/mo, min. 5 users (scheduling, punch clock and kiosk app, compliance rules, basic payroll reports, 1 department, help centre and chat support); Plus $4.49 per user/mo plus a $15.00 monthly subscription fee, min. 10 users (leave and absence, revenue vs. staff costs, payroll and POS integrations, API, documents and e-signature, 10 departments, email support); Pro by quote (auto-fill schedules, custom planning KPIs and user roles, unlimited departments, call-back phone support); users are billed in bundles of 5, so 23 users are billed as 25; billed monthly or quarterly, no yearly price shown; each SMS costs extra, in-app messaging included; paid onboarding and product training ($150 an hour in the US); 30-day free trial of Plus, no credit card; no free plan; USD prices are the ones shown to US and Canada visitors
Pricing model	Free trial	Free trial
Free trial	14 days	30 days
Users	Per user	Per user; at least 5 on Starter, 10 on Plus
Both connect to	QuickBooks Payroll
Also connects to	Gusto, Rippling, OnPay, Square Payroll	No others on record
Team size	2–10 people · 11–50 people · 51–200 people	2–10 people · 11–50 people · 51–200 people
Available in	US	US · UK · CA · AU
Phone support	None listed	None listed
Live chat	Plans not stated	Every plan
Support hours	Web form: Monday-Friday: 7 A.M. to 9 P.M. Central Standard Time, Saturday-Sunday: 9 A.M. to 4:30 P.M. Central Standard Time · Live chat: Monday-Friday: 7 A.M. to 7 P.M. Central Standard Time, Saturday-Sunday: 9 A.M. to 4:30 P.M. Central Standard Time	Live chat: 7 days a week with extended hours; an English-speaking team covers evenings and weekends
Incidents posted	0 incidents posted on When I Work's status page in the 90 days to Oct 27, 2026. Status page	2 incidents posted on Xero's status page in the 90 days to Oct 27, 2026; 0 marked major or critical by Xero. Status page
Capterra score	4.5 / 5 from 1,300 reviews	Not listed
Trustpilot score	4.1 / 5 from 7 reviews (few reviews)	Not listed
Fit: Retail shop	85	82
Fit: Restaurant or café	88	92
Fit: Service business	65	60
Fit: Agency or studio	20	15
Fit: Trades or contractor	70	40
Fit: Online store	25	20
Why people pick it	Cheap per user Easy shift swaps	Punch clock, kiosk app and shift swaps on every plan Plus tracks staff costs against POS revenue
Where it falls short	No free plan Time clock features need Pro	5-user minimum, billed in bundles of five Leave, payroll integrations and email support need Plus
	Visit When I Work ↗	Visit Planday ↗

Six-person prices are what a team of six would pay on the published plans; "Not listed" means those plans don't cover six. How we calculate prices

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