Comparison

Deputy vs Shyft

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

Shyft

This app helps employees manage their work schedules, swap shifts with colleagues, and communicate with their team. It allows users to find coverage for shifts they can't work or pick up extra shifts for additional income. Managers can also use it to post open shifts and manage team schedules.

Highlights
  • Swap shifts with team members
  • Message coworkers
  • Manage work schedules
  • Find coverage for shifts
  • Pick up extra work shifts
  • Request time off
  • Post open shifts (admin)
Features
Read full description

Shyft empowers employees to swap their shifts, message team members, and manage schedules, all from their mobile device. Every day, users rely on Shyft to help make real time adjustments to their work schedule and stay connected with their team. Whether you need one important shift covered, or you are looking to broadcast thousands of shifts, Shyft is here to help. VIEW YOUR WORK SCHEDULE Access and manage your work schedule on your mobile device. View shifts you are working, all shift details, and get push notification reminders before each shift. FIND COVERAGE FOR YOUR SHIFT Can’t make it to work? No problem! Post your shift on the Shift Marketplace and find coverage from another team member. Once a manager approves, you are off the hook! PICK UP EXTRA WORK SHIFTS Looking to earn extra income? Pick up shifts by browsing available work opportunities on the Shift Marketplace. Tap on a shift to apply. Once you are approved, head in to work! COMMUNICATE WITH YOU TEAM Stay connected without trading phone numbers with your coworkers. Access the Community tab to send direct messages or post multimedia on team channels. REQUEST TIME OFF Make time off requests for days you need off in your calendar. View accrual balances, and submit the request for managers to approve. TAKE VOLUNTARY TIME OFF When VTO opportunities are made available, tap to apply and offer to take the day off. Once approved, enjoy your day off! ADMIN FEATURES: POST OPEN SHIFTS Broadcast 1 or 100s of open shifts with the tap of a button. If you need team members to work, post a shift, add a description, and select the group. Then manage applications as they come in. APPROVE AND DENY SHIFTS Review and approve or deny shift swap applications between team members, and for manager posted shifts. Manage multiple applications all on one shift card. VIEW TEAM ROSTERS Manage the daily roster and see which employees are working when. View job positions and shift start/end times. Add Open Shifts and VTOs directly from the roster card. POST ANNOUNCEMENTS Post announcements with read receipts. Send announcements to your location on a team channel, and see who has marked the announcement as read. SHARE PHOTO SCHEDULES Still using paper scheduling? Take a photo of a printed schedule to send to your team. Team members will be able to view the schedule in their shift calendar. MANAGE USERS & GROUPS View all location team members and approve or deny users into the location. Create new groups for shift posting and communication channels to send messages. Have a question? Tap Send Feedback in the app or visit support.myshyft.com.

Screenshots

Deputy4 screens
Shyft4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is in-app purchases: Shyft at none against Deputy's 2. Shyft also leads on ratings volume (31K vs 6K) and iOS requirement (13.0 vs 18.0). Deputy's advantage is review sentiment (59% vs 35%) and update cadence (weekly vs every 5 weeks). On price, rating, 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. Shyft asks for nothing beyond the download.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 4.8 for Deputy against 4.8 for Shyft. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Shyft has 31K ratings behind it against 6K, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews are what separate them: 59% of Deputy's written reviews are positive against 35% of Shyft's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Deputy ships an update weekly, Shyft every 5 weeks. Both last shipped on October 29, 2026.

Scorecard7 real differences · 4 level
Deputy versus Shyft: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterDeputyShyft
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.8 (6K ratings) — better4.8 (31K ratings)
Positive reviews59.2% of reviews — better35.5% of reviews
Number of ratings6K31K — better
Update frequencyWeekly — betterEvery 5 weeks
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesNo — better
MonetizationFree with in-app purchasesFree — better
Best chart rank#193 — better—
DevicesiPhone, iPad, Apple WatchiPhone, iPad, iPod
Requires iOS18.013.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size285 MB44 MB
Age rating4+12+
DeveloperDeputy.comShyft Technologies, Inc.

Customer experience

Deputy

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

Shyft

All ratings30,777 ratings
Positive94.7%
Neutral2.7%
Negative2.5%
Written reviews155 reviews
Positive35.5%
Neutral17.4%
Negative47.1%

User reviews

Deputy

From 6K 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

Shyft

From 31K App Store ratings

What we love

  • 🚀 Easy to use for shift swapping and scheduling
  • 💡 Helpful for managers and employees
  • 🚀 Streamlines communication and shift coverage

Room to improve

  • 🐛 Buggy and glitchy after updates
  • 🤔 Confusing and less user-friendly interface after updates
  • 🤔 Difficult to navigate and find information

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

Shyft

Reported bugs

3 issues
  • Notifications not working properly
  • Shifts disappearing from the app
  • Constant log-out issues

Requested features

3 requests
  • Ability to sync work schedule to personal calendar
  • Option to cancel shift coverage requests
  • Improved real-time schedule updates

In-app purchases

2 purchases

Deputy

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

Shyft

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Deputy free?
Deputy is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Shyft free?
Shyft is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, Deputy or Shyft?
Deputy is rated higher. Deputy averages 4.8 out of 5 from 6K ratings, while Shyft averages 4.8 from 31K ratings.
Do Deputy or Shyft have ads?
Neither Deputy nor Shyft shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Deputy or Shyft?
Deputy ships an update weekly, and Shyft every 5 weeks. Most recently, Deputy was updated on October 29, 2026 and Shyft on October 29, 2026.

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