Comparison

Planday Employee Scheduling vs Shyft

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

Head to head
About

Planday Employee Scheduling

This app helps managers and staff create and manage work schedules, track hours worked, and facilitate shift swaps. It offers features for viewing shift details, requesting time off, and direct messaging with colleagues.

Highlights
  • Create and manage schedules
  • Track employee hours
  • Swap and hand over shifts
  • View staff availability and preferences
  • Request time off
  • In-app messaging
Features
Read full description

The shift planning app for managers and staff. Create and manage schedules, track hours, view and swap shifts and much more, all in one place. Joining a team already using Planday? Download the app and log in to connect with your colleagues. • Detailed schedules: View shift details at a glance • Time tracking: Clock in directly on the app • Shift swaps: Easily hand over or swap shifts • Availability: Managers can view staff preferences • Time off: Request vacation right in the app • Messaging: Send quick messages to coworkers Ready to bring Planday to your team? Download the app and start your free trial!

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

Planday Employee Scheduling4 screens
Shyft4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is monetization model: Shyft at free against Planday Employee Scheduling's free with in-app purchases. Shyft also leads on rating (4.8 vs 4.5) and ratings volume (31K vs 4.3K). On price, review sentiment, 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

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Both are free to download. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Shyft holds the better App Store score, 4.8 against 4.5. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Shyft has 31K ratings behind it against 4.3K, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews complicate that: 40% of Planday Employee Scheduling's written reviews are positive against 35% of Shyft's, so the app with the better star average is not the one people write more warmly about.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Planday Employee Scheduling ships an update every 3 weeks, Shyft monthly. Both last shipped on September 23, 2026.

Scorecard4 real differences · 6 level
Planday Employee Scheduling versus Shyft: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterPlanday Employee SchedulingShyft
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.5 (4.3K ratings)4.8 (31K ratings) — better
Positive reviews40.2% of reviews — better35.5% of reviews
Number of ratings4.3K31K — better
Update frequencyEvery 3 weeks — betterMonthly
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNoNo
MonetizationFree with in-app purchasesFree — better
DevicesiPhone, iPadiPhone, iPad, iPod — better
Requires iOS18.011.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size158 MB44 MB
Age rating4+12+
DeveloperPlanday A/SShyft Technologies, Inc.

Customer experience

Planday Employee Scheduling

All ratings4,255 ratings
Positive87.9%
Neutral4.7%
Negative7.3%
Written reviews179 reviews
Positive40.2%
Neutral12.8%
Negative46.9%

Shyft

All ratings30,707 ratings
Positive94.7%
Neutral2.7%
Negative2.5%
Written reviews155 reviews
Positive35.5%
Neutral17.4%
Negative47.1%

User reviews

Planday Employee Scheduling

From 4.3K App Store ratings

What we love

  • 🚀 User-friendly
  • 💡 Convenient communication with colleagues
  • 👍 Easy to use and navigate
  • 👍 Helpful for scheduling and shift management

Room to improve

  • 🐛 Frequent crashes and freezes
  • 🐛 Slow and laggy performance
  • 🐛 Unreliable clock-in/out functionality
  • 🐛 Notification issues
  • 🐛 Sync and connectivity problems

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

Planday Employee Scheduling

Reported bugs

4 issues
  • Login issues
  • Disappearing messages and inbox problems
  • Scheduling and shift management bugs
  • Unreliable clock-in/out functionality

Requested features

5 requests
  • Ability to view and manage employee schedules and time off requests
  • Improved notification system
  • Faster loading times
  • More customization options
  • Compatibility improvements for older devices

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

None

Planday Employee Scheduling

No in-app purchases

None

Shyft

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Planday Employee Scheduling free?
Planday Employee Scheduling is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is Shyft free?
Shyft is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, Planday Employee Scheduling or Shyft?
Shyft is rated higher. Planday Employee Scheduling averages 4.5 out of 5 from 4.3K ratings, while Shyft averages 4.8 from 31K ratings.
Do Planday Employee Scheduling or Shyft have ads?
Neither Planday Employee Scheduling nor Shyft shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Planday Employee Scheduling or Shyft?
Planday Employee Scheduling ships an update every 3 weeks, and Shyft monthly. Most recently, Planday Employee Scheduling was updated on September 23, 2026 and Shyft on September 23, 2026.

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