7shifts

POSFree / from $39.99/mo

About

AI workforce management with demand-based scheduling, tip pooling, and labor compliance.

Key Features

Demand-based scheduling with labor forecasting: builds schedules against projected sales and flags labor-cost and overtime issues; Premium adds advanced hourly labor forecasts and labor recommendations (per official pricing page).

Free staff mobile app with shift swaps (manager-approved), availability, time-off requests, wages view, and one-way announcements even on the free Comp plan.

Time clocking on tablets, computers, smartphones, and POS devices, with break tracking for labor compliance and hours synced to payroll.

Tip Management: automates tip pool calculations and distribution, gives employees mobile tip-earning reports, and sends tips to payroll for payment or taxation ($49.99/mo add-on, included in Premium).

Built-in US payroll ($39.99/mo + $6 per employee paid) with automatic wage and tip calculations, tax filing, and earned wage access; over $1 billion in payroll processed per vendor.

State-based labor compliance tools with custom attestations, compliance warnings, and reports - vendor maintains dedicated guidance for California, New York fair workweek, and DC rules in its support center.

Hiring, onboarding, and training modules: job posting, applicant tracking, paperless onboarding packages ($2.99 each, US only), and training courses with auto-generated quizzes built from your existing documents.

Pricing

Free / from $39.99/mo

Contact 7shifts directly for detailed pricing information, custom plans, and enterprise quotes.

What is 7shifts?

7shifts is a restaurant-specific workforce management platform covering scheduling, time clocks, team messaging, tip pooling, US payroll, hiring, and training - it is not a POS itself, but connects to Toast, Square, Clover, Lightspeed, TouchBistro, Revel, Aloha and other restaurant POS systems to pull sales data for labor forecasting. It serves 55,000+ restaurants and about 1.5 million restaurant professionals, from single-location independents (free plan for up to 15 employees) to multi-location groups and franchises. Unlike generic schedulers, its features are restaurant-native: tip management, state-based labor-law compliance (e.g.

California, NYC fair workweek), and demand-based scheduling tied to POS sales. The company remains independent (no acquisition), having raised $128M total including an $80M SoftBank-led Series C. Note: in 2026 it renamed its plans to Comp/Essentials/Pro/Premium - the old Entrée/The Works/Gourmet names still shown on many review sites are outdated.

7shifts pricing

Plan	Price	Notes
Comp (Free)	$0	As of July 2026. Single location, up to 15 employees. Basic scheduling, one-way announcements, availability and time-off requests. Verified live on the official pricing page 2026-07-02.
Essentials	$39.99/location/mo (annual billing) or $44.99 month-to-month	As of July 2026. Up to 30 employees. Adds advanced scheduling, team messaging, basic time clocking, custom permissions. Official page geo-displays currency (shown as CAD outside the US); US tracker costbench.com (verifie
Pro	$79.99/location/mo (annual billing) or $89.99 month-to-month	As of July 2026. Up to 60 employees. Adds PTO accruals, labor compliance and labor cost tools, advanced time clocking, performance/retention tools, Manager Log Book. Marked 'Best value' by vendor.
Premium	$134.99/location/mo (annual billing) or $149.99 month-to-month	As of July 2026. Unlimited employees. Adds Tip Management, Task Management, advanced hourly labor forecast, advanced labor recommendations, operational reporting. Enterprise/franchise: custom quote via sales.
7shifts Payroll (add-on, US)	$39.99/mo per location + $6/mo per employee paid	As of July 2026, quoted verbatim from the official payroll page: 'It's $39.99/month per location, plus $6/month per employee paid, and can be added to any 7shifts paid plan.'
Other add-ons	Tip Management $49.99/mo/location; Manager Log Book $14.99/mo/location; Task Management $12.99/mo/location; Employee Onboarding $2.99 per onboarding package (US only)	As of July 2026. Tip Management and Task Management are included in the Premium plan. 14-day free trial on paid tiers; after trial you drop to free Comp or subscribe.

Pricing verified July 2026 from the vendor website and public sources; plans and rates can change - confirm with the vendor before purchase.

7shifts pros and cons

Pros

+Intuitive interface accessible to all experience levels - ease of use is the most praised aspect (94% positive mentions on Capterra, 4.7/5 from 1,212 reviews).
+Centralized team communication - reviewers describe messaging and announcements as seamless for keeping staff informed (93% positive mentions on Capterra).
+Significant time savings via automation - users report it reduces manual scheduling work and minimizes scheduling errors (97% positive mentions on Capterra).

Cons

−Recurring glitches and performance complaints: slow loading times, random logouts, and occasional server crashes are the most cited issue in negative Capterra reviews.
−Unreliable notifications - reviewers report shift-pool and schedule alerts that do not always fire, e.g. 'shift pool notifications don't always work & resolution hasn't been reached'.
−Mobile app is described as slower and less robust than the web version with occasional sync failures; some long-time customers also complain about repeated price increases (paid tiers were raised again with the 2026 plan rebrand).

Top 7shifts alternatives

HotSchedules

The enterprise standard for large restaurant chains and franchise groups that need deeper labor forecasting tied into the broader Fourth back-office suite (inventory, HR); heavier and pricier than 7shifts for independents.

Homebase

Better for budget-conscious single-location operators - a general-purpose SMB scheduling/time-clock/payroll tool with a generous free tier, but without 7shifts' restaurant-specific tip pooling and POS-driven labor forecasting.

Deputy

Stronger choice if you run mixed businesses beyond restaurants - multi-industry scheduling with a robust compliance engine and per-user pricing that can be cheaper than 7shifts' per-location model for very small teams.

Compare all 7shifts alternatives

7shifts FAQ

How much does 7shifts cost in 2026?

There is a free Comp plan (1 location, up to 15 employees). Paid tiers are per location per month: Essentials $39.99, Pro $79.99, and Premium $134.99 on annual billing ($44.99/$89.99/$149.99 month-to-month), as of July 2026. Payroll is a US add-on at $39.99/mo per location plus $6 per employee paid. Note the 2026 plan names replaced the old Entrée/The Works/Gourmet tiers.

Is 7shifts a POS system?

No. 7shifts is workforce management software - scheduling, time clocks, tip management, payroll, and team communication. It integrates with major restaurant POS systems (Toast, Square, Clover, Lightspeed, TouchBistro, Revel, Aloha and more) to pull sales data for labor forecasting and to run time clocks on POS devices.

What are the best alternatives to 7shifts?

HotSchedules (Fourth) for large chains and enterprise groups, Homebase for small independents wanting a cheaper general-purpose tool with a free tier, and Deputy for multi-industry operators needing strong compliance features. Sling (by Toast) is another low-cost option for basic scheduling.

Who is 7shifts best for?

Restaurants, cafes, QSRs, and bars of any size: single-location independents can run scheduling free (up to 15 employees), while multi-location groups and franchises use Pro/Premium for compliance, tip management, and forecasting. The payroll and employee onboarding add-ons are US-only; the platform itself is used in the US and Canada (prices display in local currency).

Pricing and feature details verified July 2026from vendor websites and public review platforms. Adoption figures come from RestaurantTools.ai's scan of US restaurant websites and reflect detectable integrations only.