Managing employee shifts is one of the biggest challenges for businesses, with studies showing that poor scheduling practices can lead to a 14% decline in overall performance. To streamline workforce management, many businesses are turning to scheduling tools like Deputy and Planday, which provide automation and real-time shift coordination.
Planday is widely recognized for its compliance-driven scheduling approach, making it a strong choice for businesses that must adhere to strict labor laws and maintain accurate workforce records. Deputy, on the other hand, is ideal for businesses that prioritize flexibility and automation in shift management.
Since both platforms serve different scheduling needs, comparing them ensures you choose the right one for your business. This Deputy VS Planday comparison highlights their core differences, covering standout features, pros and cons, and key comparisons.
Deputy Vs Planday: At A Glance
Features
Deputy
Planday
Scheduling
AI-powered auto-scheduling, shift swaps, break planning, and compliance alerts
Customizable rule-based scheduling with salary and hour cost visibility
Location-based clock-in, GPS restrictions, manual time adjustments, and payroll export control
Communications
Built-in team messaging, announcements, and shift reminders
Messaging system with shift updates and direct manager-staff communication
Pricing
Starts at $4. 50/user/month
Starts at €2. 99/user/month
What Is Deputy?
Deputy software is a workforce management system designed to simplify and streamline various aspects of team management. More than 380,000 companies trust this software to create, manage, and optimize shift schedules, track employee attendance, and ensure compliance with strict labor laws.
Businesses using this system see real improvements in scheduling efficiency and cost savings. Juice Press, for example, saved over $200,000 per year by optimizing scheduling to reduce labor costs. This level of efficiency is beneficial for industries like retail, hospitality, healthcare, and food service, where labor costs and scheduling challenges add up fast.
Standout Features Of Deputy
Shift Pulse+: This built-in feedback tool allows employees to share their thoughts at the end of each shift. Managers can ask custom questions, monitor team morale, and identify potential issues before they impact engagement or retention
Document Expiry Alert: The software automatically tracks and reminds employees about expiring work permits, licenses, and certifications, ensuring compliance without manual follow-ups
Compliance Hub: This centralized dashboard provides businesses with up-to-date state labor laws, workplace policies, and compliance tracking. It helps employers stay legally compliant across multiple locations
Pros And Cons Of Deputy
Pros
Its availability tracker ensures shifts are filled based on real-time workforce data
Provides payroll cost analytics to track expenses for each schedule
It gives employees the flexibility to request time off and trade shifts without manual approvals
Cons
Employees often miss updates due to inconsistent news feed notifications
Its GPS-tracking needs improvement, as it sometimes allows staff to sign in from off-site locations
What Is Planday?
Planday software is a workforce management and employee scheduling platform designed to simplify staff administration for businesses of all sizes. It is widely used to schedule shifts, track employee availability, manage payroll, and comply with labor laws.
The software works well for industries like hospitality, retail, and healthcare, where managing staff shifts, tracking availability, and controlling payroll costs are ongoing challenges. For example, Bespoke Hotels, a hospitality group, used this system to automate scheduling. As a result, they saved 20 hours per month on rota planning and improved payroll visibility. This shows how businesses with large shift-based workforces can reduce administrative workload and enhance operational efficiency.
Standout Features Of Planday
Electronic Signature: Employees and managers can sign contracts digitally through the web or mobile app rather than printing or scanning. Once signed, documents are automatically stored in the system for easy access and future reference
Custom Clock-In Rules: It is a location-based time-tracking feature that ensures employees can only clock in under predefined conditions. Businesses can set custom rules, such as allowing clock-ins only within a set GPS range (e. g. , 400 feet from the workplace) or when connected to company Wi-Fi. This helps prevent time fraud and ensures payroll accuracy
Team Management: Planday is an all-in-one app for workforce management. Instead of juggling schedules, employee files, and emails separately, managers can oversee everything in one place. This streamlined approach improves efficiency and keeps team coordination hassle-fre
Pros And Cons Of Planday
Pros
It accurately tracks working hours while providing employees with clear visibility of their shifts
Prevent payroll disputes by keeping an accurate record of wages owed at termination
Allows managers to send group messages with private replies to avoid disruptions
Cons
The system does not allow automatic shift trades, requiring manager approval for each swap
There is no option for managers to pre-set availability restrictions for employees
Deputy Vs Planday: Key Feature Comparison
Scheduling
Deputy focuses on automation and ease of use, allowing managers to create schedules quickly, share them instantly, and make real-time adjustments. The system significantly reduces manual work with features like auto-scheduling, which uses artificial intelligence (AI) to optimize shift assignments based on employee availability, skills, and labor costs.
Additionally, its break planning tool helps businesses comply with meal and rest break regulations, making it a strong choice for industries with strict labor laws.
Planday, on the other hand, takes a more structured and compliance-driven approach to scheduling. It allows managers to build intelligent, rule-based schedules that consider employee qualifications, contractual hours, and work regulations. This makes it particularly useful for businesses that must comply with labor laws while balancing staffing needs. Unlike Deputy, Planday provides a detailed salary and hours overview, allowing businesses to see payroll costs upfront while building schedules.
One area where Deputy stands out is its shift-swapping system, which allows employees to trade shifts without requiring manual input from managers. This is a major advantage for businesses looking to reduce administrative work and improve staff flexibility. However, Planday offers stronger compliance safeguards, ensuring that scheduling rules are followed without the risk of violating contractual agreements.
Winner: Deputy takes the lead for most businesses due to its automation and flexibility.
Time And Attendance
Deputy provides a comprehensive timesheet solution that allows employees to clock in and out through multiple devices, including tablets, computers, and mobile phones. It ensures accurate records with GPS location tracking and facial recognition, which helps prevent time fraud.
Managers can approve timesheets in bulk and export them to payroll with a single tap, significantly cutting down on admin time. Additionally, Deputy’s break compliance feature ensures employees take legally required rest breaks, helping businesses stay compliant with labor laws.
Planday, in contrast, focuses on location-based clock-ins to ensure employees are physically present at their designated work site. Businesses can customize geofencing rules, allowing employees to clock in only when they are within a set range or connected to company Wi-Fi.
It also automatically compares clock-in times with scheduled shifts, helping managers detect discrepancies before approving payroll. Another advantage is its built-in rounding rules, which allow businesses to adjust time-tracking policies based on their specific needs.
What sets Deputy apart is its ability to automate compliance, handle wage calculations based on local labor laws, and track missed breaks that could trigger penalty pay. Meanwhile, Planday is more customizable for location-based tracking and allows managers to adjust time data before exporting it to payroll.
Winner: Deputy wins again for simplifying time tracking without micromanagement. It not only records work hours but also helps businesses maintain compliance with labor laws effortlessly.
Communications
Deputy acts as a centralized communication hub where managers can share company updates, policies, and announcements through a news feed. Employees can also confirm message receipts to ensure critical information is not missed.
Additionally, the platform enables shift-based feedback, allowing staff to rate their shifts and share insights after clocking out. While this feedback mechanism is useful, it focuses on post-shift insights rather than real-time communication.
Planday, meanwhile, offers a more real-time messaging system. Employees and managers can send messages or SMS notifications to individuals or groups, ensuring instant communication for shift updates or urgent announcements.
Unlike Deputy, Planday includes a required reply feature that ensures employees acknowledge important messages, reducing the risk of overlooked notifications. Additionally, it integrates notifications with punch-in reminders, so employees receive updates when they start their shift. However, Planday lacks a dedicated feedback mechanism like Deputy’s shift rating feature, making it harder to track employee satisfaction and engagement over time.
Winner: Planday wins this round due to its real-time messaging, SMS alerts, and required reply feature that ensures messages are acknowledged.
Pricing
Pricing
Deputy offers a clear pricing structure with multiple tiers to accommodate businesses of different sizes. It provides a 31-day free trial with no credit card required, allowing users to explore the platform before making a decision. However, additional charges apply for SMS messaging. The pricing plans are:
Scheduling: $4. 50/user/month
Time and Attendance: $4. 50/user/month
Premium: $6/user/month
Enterprise: Custom pricing
Planday also offers a 30-day free trial with no credit card required. While its base pricing is lower, it comes with additional fees for SMS messages, similar to Deputy. The pricing plans include:
Starter: €2. 99/user/month
Plus: €4. 99/user/month (€25. 00/month subscription fee with a minimum of 10 users)
Pro: Custom pricing
A major difference is that Deputy includes auto-scheduling in its base plan, while Planday locks this feature behind a higher-tier plan. As a result, businesses seeking automated shift planning may face higher costs with Planday.
Winner: While Planday’s pricing is affordable, its lower-tier plans offer fewer features compared to Deputy. Therefore, this section ends in a tie.
Final Verdict: Which One Wins?
With a score of 2:1 in favor of Deputy and one section ending in a tie, Deputy takes the lead as the more well-rounded solution.
However, the ideal software depends on what your business values most. If you need automation, AI-driven scheduling, and compliance-friendly time tracking, Deputy is the better fit. But if real-time messaging, SMS notifications, and strict scheduling compliance matter more, Planday is the stronger option.
If you're still unsure, the best way to decide is by trying both Deputy and Planday through their free trials. Hands-on experience will help you determine which platform best fits your business needs.
Sadia Tariq is a Technical Content Writer specializing in Human Resources Management Software. She believes that many businesses struggle to find software that fits their unique needs. Often, they assume a software is ineffective overall, not realizing it might work perfectly for another business due to differing requirements. Through her content, Sadia aims to bridge this gap by helping businesses identify the software that best suits their unique preferences and operational demands, empowering them to make informed and confident decisions.
Outside of work, Sadia enjoys painting and spending time with her three cats, along with caring for the many outdoor cats in her neighborhood.
