Comparison

Rota Calendar vs HourTide

Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.

Head to head
About

Rota Calendar

Easily plan your life around work with this shift worker's calendar. See your schedule years in advance, customize shifts with colors and emojis, and sync with your existing calendars. Share your availability with others.

Highlights
  • Scrollable calendar view
  • Generate schedules up to 5 years ahead
  • Customizable shift colors and labels
  • Sync with existing calendars
  • Share schedules via AirDrop (iOS)
  • Supports repeating and irregular shifts
Features
Read full description

Does working shifts make planning your personal life difficult? Rota Calendar helps shift workers scroll through shifts, see schedules years ahead, and plan life around work with confidence. Standard digital calendars make it hard to understand long-term shift patterns. Rota Calendar is built specifically for shift work, making it easy to see when you’re working, resting, or free — even years in advance. Enter the date of your next shift and your rotation is calculated instantly, generating your shift schedule up to five years ahead. From there, scroll smoothly through time to plan vacations, social events, family commitments, and important dates without guesswork. Designed for Real Shift Work Rota Calendar supports both repeating and irregular shift patterns. You can manually add, edit, or adjust individual shifts at any time, making it ideal for complex or changing schedules. Customize shifts with your own colors, labels, times, and emojis so different shift types are easy to recognize at a glance. Individual shifts can be edited once they are on the calendar, giving you full control over your schedule. Continuous Scroll Calendar Instead of rigid month-by-month views, Rota Calendar uses a continuous, unbroken scrolling calendar. This makes it easy to see how shifts flow across weeks and months, including where schedules overlap month boundaries. Long-term work patterns become clear and easy to understand at a glance. Sync and Compare With Your Calendar Rota Calendar syncs with calendars already on your device, including iOS, Google, and Facebook calendars. View your work shifts alongside personal events in one place, and add or edit these events directly within Rota Calendar to avoid conflicts. Simple, Clear, and Built for Individuals Rota Calendar is designed for individuals, not companies or teams. There are no accounts to create and no unnecessary features — just a clean, easy-to-use layout designed to make shift planning simple. Trusted by thousands of shift workers, Rota Calendar is used daily by people working rotating schedules, offshore roles, oil and gas, emergency services, and other non-standard work patterns. If you need a powerful yet easy-to-use shift planner that lets you scroll through years of schedules and take control of your time, Rota Calendar is built for you. Excellent - 5 Star Best app I’ve used. Extremely easy to add rota and use. Would, and have, recommended to anyone that needs a rota app. The best app I’ve got! 5 Star Of the dozens of apps I’ve got this is the best. Use it constantly and was easy to set up. I’ve moved on to a different rota but can still see my old one which is really useful. Always get a reply when I send a query and comments are taken on board. Best app out for rota - 5 Star As I work in the oil rigs 2 weeks on 2 weeks off this app was perfect for working out my rota in seconds! And worth every penny! Perfect - 5 Star This is the only shift predictor in the app store that I can actually use to plan my very random shift pattern. First class, Rota calendar - 5 Star Excellent app for offshore rotas Great great and just great - 5 Star I love this app its great for me for when i am offshore i hope they keep it on here forever Shift Cal - 5 Star Found this app so easy to use for a 3 on 3 off days and nights was done in a min forever fantastic. Rota - 5 Star This is perfect for shift workers and works well. I have a complicated shift pattern and this makes it so easy to look up future dates instantly. I rate this highly. www.facebook.com/jrwstudio www.jrw-studio.com twitter.com/jrwstudio By using this app, you agree to Apple's Standard End User License Agreement: https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/

About

HourTide

Read full description

HourTide helps you keep an accurate record of your work hours without relying on having to open an app and press start, it is your companion that just 'works' silently in the background, logging when you arrive and leave. Set your workplace once, then let HourTide help track your shifts, with HourTide Pro this happens automatically, in the background. You can also add, edit and delete shifts manually, adjust break times, add hourly wage, and see weekly or monthly totals in a clean timesheet. Features: • Automatic location-based shift logging • Manual start and stop controls • Editable timesheets by day, week and month • Break tracking for at-work and away breaks • Estimated earnings from your hourly wage • Home Screen widgets • Light and dark mode support • Local-first storage, with no account required HourTide is designed for people who want a simple, private way to keep track of work time, breaks and pay estimates. HourTide Pro subscription is required to unlock automatic background logging, Home Screen widgets and estimated earnings. Pro is available as a monthly subscription, yearly subscription with free trial, or lifetime unlock. Subscriptions renew automatically unless cancelled at least 24 hours before the end of the current period. You can manage or cancel subscriptions in your App Store account settings. Privacy Policy: https://hourtide.app/privacy Support: https://hourtide.app/support Terms of Use: https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/

Screenshots

Rota Calendar4 screens
HourTide4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is iOS requirement: Rota Calendar at 15.0 against HourTide's 17.0. On price, ads, in-app purchases and device support 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

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Both are free to download. Rota Calendar sells 10 in-app purchases, starting at $1.99 per month and HourTide sells 3 in-app purchases, starting at $1.99 per month. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

Scorecard1 real difference · 9 level
Rota Calendar versus HourTide: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterRota CalendarHourTide
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.7 (728 ratings) — better—
Positive reviews65.2% of reviews—
Number of ratings728 — better—
Update frequencyEvery 3 days—
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationFree with in-app purchases—
DevicesiPhone, iPod — betteriPhone
Requires iOS15.0 — better17.0
Further details — not scored
Size38 MB3 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperJRW Studio LimitedWilliam Jarvis

Bugs and requests

Rota Calendar

Reported bugs

4 issues
  • Rota not properly accounting for holidays and days off
  • Inability to handle complex shift patterns beyond 9 weeks
  • Sync issues between iPad and iPhone versions
  • Day/month display not working after recent update

Requested features

6 requests
  • Ability to share rota/schedule with partner
  • More color options for shifts
  • Separate view for each month
  • Ability to add travel days to shifts
  • Integration with Apple Watch
Show 1 more
  • Shift-specific alarms/notifications

HourTide

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

In-app purchases

10 purchases

Rota Calendar

Subscriptions10
  • Rota Calendar Supporter Monthly7 Days trial$1.991 Month
  • Platinum Special Monthly7 Days trial$1.991 Month
  • Pro Monthly: Unlimited Edits7 Days trial$2.991 Month
Show 7 more
  • Gold Monthly7 Days trial$2.991 Month
  • Platinum Monthly7 Days trial$3.991 Month
  • Supporter Yearly: Backup Only7 Days trial$19.991 Year
  • Platinum Special Yearly7 Days trial$19.991 Year
  • Pro Yearly: 5 Years Cloud Sync7 Days trial$29.991 Year
  • Gold Yearly7 Days trial$29.991 Year
  • Platinum Yearly7 Days trial$39.991 Year
3 purchases

HourTide

Subscriptions2
  • HourTide Pro Monthly$1.991 Month
  • HourTide Pro Yearly7 Days trial$14.991 Year
One-time1
  • HourTide Pro Lifetime$29.99

Questions

Is Rota Calendar free?
Rota Calendar is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is HourTide free?
HourTide is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Do Rota Calendar or HourTide have ads?
Neither Rota Calendar nor HourTide shows ads.

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