Comparison

Deputy vs ZoomShift Employee Scheduling

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

Head to head
About

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.

Highlights
  • 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
Features
Read full description

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

About

ZoomShift Employee Scheduling

Streamline employee scheduling and time tracking with this app. Managers can create schedules, communicate with staff, and manage time off. Employees can view their schedules, request time off, and track their hours.

Highlights
  • Create work schedules quickly
  • GPS time clock and timesheets
  • Forecast labor to sales
  • Assign shifts and allow pickups
  • Direct and group messaging
  • Approve/deny time off requests
  • Export for payroll
Features
Read full description

Employee scheduling app with GPS time clock and timesheets. With ZoomShift, you can create work schedules in minutes, forecast labor to sales, and feel confident that everyone will show up when they are supposed to. Features: FOR MANAGERS * Assign shifts to employees * Create shifts that employees can pickup * Send direct messages and group messages to your employees * Share events with your staff * Notify your employees with push, SMS and email when changes are made to your schedule * Use weekly schedule templates to make schedules faster * Approve and deny time off requests * View no show and missed punches * Export for payroll * Track overtime * See who’s working and who is available to call-in FOR EMPLOYEES * View work schedules and events * See who you are working with * Request and manage shift drops * Request and manage time off This app is free as a part of your ZoomShift subscription. Employees: Ask your manager to invite you to join their schedule so you can login to the app. Managers: Create an account and invite your employees to claim their account.

Screenshots

Deputy4 screens
ZoomShift Employee Scheduling4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is rating: Deputy at 4.8 against ZoomShift Employee Scheduling's 2.8. Deputy also leads on ratings volume (6.1K vs 60) and update cadence (weekly vs every 5 weeks). ZoomShift Employee Scheduling's advantage is in-app purchases (none vs 2) and iOS requirement (15.1 vs 18.0). On price, review sentiment, ads 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. Deputy sells 2 in-app purchases, starting at $59.99 per month. ZoomShift Employee Scheduling asks for nothing beyond the download.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Deputy holds the better App Store score, 4.8 against 2.8. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Deputy has 6.1K ratings behind it against 60, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews complicate that: 59% of Deputy's written reviews are positive against 61% of ZoomShift Employee Scheduling's, so the app with the better star average is not the one people write more warmly about.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Deputy ships an update weekly, ZoomShift Employee Scheduling every 5 weeks. The most recent releases landed on November 1, 2026 and October 29, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard6 real differences · 4 level
Deputy versus ZoomShift Employee Scheduling: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterDeputyZoomShift Employee Scheduling
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.8 (6.1K ratings) — better2.8 (60 ratings)
Positive reviews59.2% of reviews60.7% of reviews — better
Number of ratings6.1K — better60
Update frequencyWeekly — betterEvery 5 weeks
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesNo — better
MonetizationFree with in-app purchasesFree — better
DevicesiPhone, iPad, Apple Watch — betteriPhone, iPod
Requires iOS18.015.1 — better
Further details — not scored
Size285 MB43 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperDeputy.comZoomShift

Customer experience

Deputy

All ratings5,977 ratings
Positive95.5%
Neutral1.1%
Negative3.4%
Written reviews429 reviews
Positive59.2%
Neutral9.6%
Negative31.2%

ZoomShift Employee Scheduling

All ratings60 ratings
Positive40.0%
Neutral8.3%
Negative51.7%
Written reviews56 reviews
Positive60.7%
Neutral8.9%
Negative30.4%

User reviews

Deputy

From 6.1K App Store ratings

What 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

ZoomShift Employee Scheduling

From 60 App Store ratings

What we love

  • 👍 User-friendly interface
  • 👍 Simple and easy to use
  • 👍 Good for managing schedules
  • 👍 Convenient for employees
  • 👍 Good communication tool

Room to improve

  • 🐛 Frequent logging out
  • 🐛 App glitches and bugs
  • 🐛 Difficulty refreshing data
  • 🐛 Inconsistent schedule updates
  • 🐛 Poor app development

Bugs and requests

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

ZoomShift Employee Scheduling

Reported bugs

10 issues
  • App not loading or crashing
  • Unable to clock in/out
  • Schedules not updating in real-time
  • Auto-logging out frequently
  • Login issues
Show 5 more
  • Server communication issues
  • Shift times and locations randomly changing
  • App not showing schedule
  • Discussion platform not working
  • App not allowing clock in until location is found

Requested features

9 requests
  • Add Face ID or keychain login
  • Improve data refresh functionality
  • Allow employees to see timesheets and time clock
  • Add monthly calendar view
  • Enable swipe between days
Show 4 more
  • Improve discussion/messaging interface
  • Show available shifts clearly
  • Add total hours worked per day/week
  • Fix shift template display

In-app purchases

2 purchases

Deputy

Subscriptions2
  • 10 users1 Month trial$59.991 Month
  • 25 users1 Month trial$144.991 Month
None

ZoomShift Employee Scheduling

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Deputy free?
Deputy is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is ZoomShift Employee Scheduling free?
ZoomShift Employee Scheduling is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, Deputy or ZoomShift Employee Scheduling?
Deputy is rated higher. Deputy averages 4.8 out of 5 from 6.1K ratings, while ZoomShift Employee Scheduling averages 2.8 from 60 ratings.
Do Deputy or ZoomShift Employee Scheduling have ads?
Neither Deputy nor ZoomShift Employee Scheduling shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Deputy or ZoomShift Employee Scheduling?
Deputy ships an update weekly, and ZoomShift Employee Scheduling every 5 weeks. Most recently, Deputy was updated on November 1, 2026 and ZoomShift Employee Scheduling on October 29, 2026.

Other comparisons