When I Work Staff Scheduling vs Deputy
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
When I Work Staff Scheduling
Streamline employee scheduling, time tracking, and team communication. This app helps reduce chaos and costs by improving accountability, facilitating shift trades, and providing instant notifications for schedule changes. It's designed for shift-based workplaces to enhance team management and boost productivity.
- Employee scheduling
- Time clock
- Team messaging
- Shift trades
- Time off requests
- Auto scheduling
- Labor forecasting
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Join more than 200,000 workplaces running on When I Work to reduce chaos, costs, and turnover with employee scheduling and time tracking for the modern workforce. When I Work is an employee scheduling app that does more than just save you time on scheduling. It also helps you improve communication, eliminate excuses, boost accountability among your staff, track time and attendance, and grow your business. “2026 Shortlist” - Capterra “2025 Category Leader” - Getapp "Fastest Implementation" - G2 Crowd MANAGERS LOVE IT: • Easy to use time clock to clock in and out • Message with staff 1:1 or in groups • Monitor and approve shift trades and time off requests • View the entire staff schedule anywhere at anytime • Create a work calendar to efficiently plan schedules • Quickly alert staff of changes and updates to the schedule • Messaging and scheduling permissions for easier management • Geofencing features to prevent buddy punching EMPLOYEES LOVE IT: • Clock in and out of shifts from the app • Instantly trade shifts with coworkers • View work schedules from anywhere at anytime • Pick up extra hours with open shifts • Check the work calendar to easily request time off • Privately message coworkers 1:1 or in groups within the app • Easily check who's working which shifts WHEN I WORK FEATURES: When I Work is employee-focused and built exclusively for shift-based workplaces. We monitor our systems 24/7/365 to give you and your employees peace of mind that your data is safe and secure. Choose When I Work to get the best in: • Team management - Onboard new employees, approve time off requests, review shift trades, and fill shifts in seconds. • Team accountability - Shift confirmation, mobile clock in, shift task lists, team task lists, and chat ensure everyone is on the same page. • Team communication - Notify your team of changes instantly and communicate with coworkers 1:1 or in group chats. • Team empowerment - Your team can manage availability, submit time-off requests, and collaborate on shift trades. • One-click scheduling - Build your entire work schedule in one click with Auto Scheduling. • Confident shift coverage - Receive shift confirmations from employees and be notified immediately of swaps and drops. • Share schedules - Publish the schedule and your whole team is instantly notified of their shifts. • Labor forecasting - Easy-to-use labor tools help you manage your labor budget efficiently. • Control overtime costs - Get overtime alerts and labor reporting to make managing labor costs easier. • Schedule enforcement - Limit clock ins to shifts and locations to ensure that everyone is where they need to be at the right time. • Payroll integration - Import your timesheets to quickly and accurately process payroll. • Labor reports - Use labor distribution to manage costs and forecast for the future. Terms of use: https://wheniwork.com/terms Privacy policy: https://wheniwork.com/privacy
Deputy
This app simplifies employee scheduling, time tracking, and workforce management for businesses. It allows for easy creation of balanced schedules, communication with staff, and integration with payroll systems. Employees can view their schedules, manage availability, and clock in/out.
- Create balanced, cost-effective schedules
- Publish shift information via push notification
- Fill open shifts with team pick-up
- Approve leave and shift changes
- Manage team communications and tasks
- Track time and attendance
- Integrate with payroll and POS systems
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Deputy is the ultimate employee scheduling app, shift planner, staff timesheet app, & complete workforce management solution. Get started for free today! Over 250,000 workplaces in 90+ countries trust Deputy for their employee scheduling software, leave management, time & attendance tracking, team task management, staff communication, demand forecasting and performance management. HOW DEPUTY HELPS BUSINESSES ◆ Easily create balanced, cost-effective schedules in minutes from any device. ◆ Publish personalized shift information to your team via push notification, email, and SMS. ◆ Fill open shifts easily by pushing alerts to your team and letting them pick up available shifts. ◆ Approve leave from your mobile easily so you're never caught off guard. ◆ Quickly approve employee shift swaps and shift changes in seconds straight from a mobile device. ◆ Manage team communications easily in one place: broadcast announcements, assign tasks to specific individuals / shifts, and get confirmation that your team has seen it. ◆ Get greater insight and control of your business, and keep yourself compliant with inbuilt fair workweek compliance. ◆ Connect with your existing apps to give you end-to-end visibility. Deputy syncs with over 300+ of the world's most used solutions such as ADP, Square, QuickBooks, Xero, Gusto, NetSuite, Revel, LightSpeed and many more! HOW DEPUTY HELPS EMPLOYEES ◆ Get your work schedule on your device as soon as it’s published. ◆ View all your upcoming shifts in one place and receive alerts on days when you’re due to work. ◆ Manage your availability and time off easily, see what’s approved, and make it simple for your manager to know when you are and aren’t available. ◆ Clock in and out of work quickly from the app. ◆ See important company updates, manage your tasks and communicate with your team from your mobile device. TRY DEPUTY TODAY Setting up your business? Sign up for a free trial today. No setup fee. Pick the plan to suit your business: monthly, annually or flexi. Always know that you have the right people scheduled with our Shift Planner: Deputy makes it easy to create fully costed schedules in minutes, then notify staff when they’re working. Deputy will even automatically remind employees of their shifts on the morning that they are due to work. Manage employees’ leave requests or unavailability from a central location, then integrate with your online schedules so there’s no risk of scheduling someone who is not available. Need to be smart about staffing levels? Deputy integrates with your POS & payroll information to make sure you’re scheduling efficiently, and pulls in real-time weather information so you know if you need extra shifts or not! Clocking in to work is made simple with our time clock software, including GPS validation, to quickly track time and attendance (or optionally from a tablet Kiosk, using our inbuilt facial detection technology). Finalizing your timesheets and exporting to payroll can be done with one click from your mobile device. Joining an existing team? It's free - just log in. CUSTOMER TESTIMONIALS “Straightaway, the time and attendance headache disappeared. There’s no need to manually enter data from one system to another. It’s all uploaded effortlessly. And on our tablets or phones, we can sign off timesheets with a swipe." "Everyone gets alerted to their shifts, which they can check on their smartphones. Everyone knows where they should be, when they should be there and what they should be doing." "Deputy has been a revelation for our business. We’re saving approximately $30,000 a year in admin costs alone. But even more importantly, we’re now able to optimize all shifts and staffing levels." ABOUT DEPUTY APP Our staff scheduling app is updated regularly to make sure we’re always providing the best and most flexible features to the businesses we work with. Any feedback? Need help? Email experience+ios@deputy.com Terms of Use: https://www.deputy.com/subscription-agreement
Screenshots
Verdict
When I Work Staff Scheduling and Deputy both sit at 4.8 stars, but that hides the real split: 90% of When I Work Staff Scheduling's written reviews are positive against 59% of Deputy's. When I Work Staff Scheduling also leads on ratings volume (57K vs 5.4K) and chart position (#100 vs unranked). On price, rating, update cadence and ads there is nothing between them.
Scored on Price · Rating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings · Update frequency · Ads · In-app purchases · Monetization · Best chart rank · Devices · Requires iOS
Both are free to download. When I Work Staff Scheduling sells 10 one-off in-app purchases and Deputy sells 2 in-app purchases, starting at $59.99 per month. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.
On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 4.8 for When I Work Staff Scheduling against 4.8 for Deputy. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: When I Work Staff Scheduling has 57K ratings behind it against 5.4K, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews are what separate them: 90% of When I Work Staff Scheduling's written reviews are positive against 59% of Deputy's.
When I Work Staff Scheduling ships an update every 9 days, Deputy weekly. Both last shipped on September 24, 2026.
| Parameter | When I Work Staff Scheduling | Deputy |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.8 (57K ratings) | 4.8 (5.4K ratings) |
| Positive reviews | 90.1% of reviews — better | 58.9% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | 57K — better | 5.4K |
| Update frequency | Every 9 days | Weekly — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | Yes |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases | Free with in-app purchases |
| Best chart rank | #100 — better | — |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad | iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch — better |
| Requires iOS | 17.0 | 17.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 229 MB | 285 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | When I Work, Inc. | Deputy.com |
Customer experience
When I Work Staff Scheduling
Deputy
User reviews
When I Work Staff Scheduling
From 57K App Store ratingsWhat we love
- 👍 Easy to use
- 🚀 Convenient for scheduling
- 💡 Helpful for shift swapping and communication
- 👍 User-friendly interface
- 👍 Effective for managing staff
Room to improve
- 🐛 Occasional bugs and glitches
- 🔍 Difficult to navigate some features
- 🔍 Lack of customization options
- 🔍 Issues with shift approval and time-off requests
- 🔍 Problems with the messaging/chat functionality
Deputy
From 5.4K App Store ratingsWhat we love
- 👍 Easy to use
- 👍 Convenient for scheduling and timekeeping
- 👍 Helpful for managing staff
- 👍 Reliable and efficient
Room to improve
- 🐛 Glitches and bugs
- 🐛 Unreliable location tracking
- 🐛 Inconsistent performance after updates
- 🔍 Limited customization options
- 💰 Expensive for some businesses
Bugs and requests
When I Work Staff Scheduling
Reported bugs
4 issues- App crashes or freezes frequently
- Unreliable notifications and alerts
- Syncing issues between mobile and web versions
- Problems with location-based clock-in/out features
Requested features
6 requests- Allow employees to view Sunday schedules
- Improve shift drop/swap process
- Add a sick day request feature
- Provide more flexibility in availability settings
- Enhance the calendar view and scheduling tools
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- Improve the messaging/chat experience
Deputy
Reported bugs
4 issues- App crashes or freezes frequently
- Timesheets not accurately recording hours worked
- Shift scheduling issues after updates
- Notification system not reliable
Requested features
5 requests- Add ability to cancel shifts
- Improve communication features between employees
- Provide more detailed reporting and analytics
- Allow employees to view their leave balances
- Integrate with more payroll/HR systems
In-app purchases
When I Work Staff Scheduling
- Annual Micro Scheduling Plan$99.99
- Annual Mini Scheduling Plan$209.99
- Annual Small Scheduling Plan$299.99
Show 7 moreShow fewer
- Annual Medium Scheduling$399.99
- Annual Large Scheduling$499.99
- Annual Small Scheduling and Attendance$599.99
- Annual XL Scheduling$599.99
- Annual Medium Scheduling and Attendance$799.99
- Annual Super Scheduling$799.99
- Annual Plus Scheduling$999.99
Deputy
- 10 users1 Month trial$59.991 Month
- 25 users1 Month trial$144.991 Month
Questions
Is When I Work Staff Scheduling free?
Is Deputy free?
Which has better reviews, When I Work Staff Scheduling or Deputy?
Do When I Work Staff Scheduling or Deputy have ads?
Which is updated more often, When I Work Staff Scheduling or Deputy?
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