Comparison

ZenShift vs Shift Planner

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

Head to head
About

ZenShift

Easily manage complex work schedules, track hours, and estimate pay. Plan shifts, add personal events, and gain insights into your earnings with customizable reports. Sync across devices and export your calendar.

Highlights
  • Customizable shift templates
  • Multiple shifts per day
  • Overnight and 24-hour shift support
  • Hours and earnings tracking
  • Personal event integration
  • Schedule export to PDF and device calendar
  • Cross-device syncing
Features
Read full description

ZenShift is a personal shift calendar for rotating work schedules, day and night shifts, and custom cycles. Set up a pattern once, see your workdays at a glance, and estimate your hours and earnings. PLAN YOUR SHIFTS • View your schedule by month, week, or year. • Add shifts from templates, paint dates with a tap, or remove them with the eraser. • Keep multiple shifts on the same day, including overnight and 24-hour shifts. • Create templates with times, breaks, hourly rates, colors, icons, and reminders. • Repeat two days on/two off, three on/three off, 24 hours on/three days off, or your own cycle. Choose start and end dates, pause a rotation, and recalculate it. • Keep manual shift edits when recalculating a rotation. Template updates apply to shifts that have not started by default; changing past linked shifts requires confirmation. Individual overrides are preserved. WORK AND PERSONAL PLANS TOGETHER • Add meetings, appointments, workouts, birthdays, and trips beside your shifts. • Use timed, all-day, and multi-day events with colors, locations, and notes. • Set daily, weekly, monthly, or yearly repeats and event reminders. • Get a warning when a timed event overlaps a shift. • Remove one occurrence or an entire recurring series. UNDERSTAND YOUR HOURS AND PAY • Track work hours after breaks, night hours, overtime, and extra income. • Set hourly rates for individual shifts and templates, with a default rate as a fallback. • Choose your monthly overtime threshold and night period. • See estimated earnings for completed shifts and the forecast for upcoming shifts. • View reports by week, month, year, or a selected period, with breakdowns by shift type, day, week, and month, plus averages. • Assign missing rates in groups from the report. Add shift notes and reuse extra-income templates. SHARE AND KEEP YOUR SCHEDULE • Customize a PDF with your calendar, summary, breakdowns, and shift details. • Send the file using your phone's sharing options. • Export shifts to a selected device calendar. • Use one account to sync your schedule between iPhone and iPad. • Get shift reminders and review notification history. MAKE IT COMFORTABLE Choose English or Russian, light or dark theme, text size, currency, week start, and 12/24-hour time. Adjust animations and haptic feedback. The basic calendar works locally without a required account. Earnings are estimates based on your entered rates, not payroll payments. Night-time breaks are estimated proportionally because their exact timing is not recorded. Cloud services need an account and internet access. Check the app for ad-removal options and terms. Set up your first template and make your work schedule easier to follow.

About

Shift Planner

Easily manage your work schedule with this app. Organize shifts, track hours, estimate earnings, and receive smart reminders. Supports custom rotations, multiple calendars, and data export.

Highlights
  • Customizable shift rotations
  • Work calendar views
  • Earnings estimation
  • Smart shift reminders
  • Schedule export (ICS, PDF, image)
  • Multiple work schedules
Features
Read full description

Shift Planner — the easiest way to manage your work schedule Tired of juggling shift schedules? Shift Planner helps you organize your work calendar, keep track of upcoming shifts, and plan your life around work—without messy spreadsheets or endless group chats. Set up your schedule in minutes - Quick onboarding to create your first schedule right after installation - Ready-made rotation templates: 2/2, 3/3, 4/4, 5/2, 24/48, and more - Create your own custom rotation with day shifts, night shifts, and days off - Different schedules for different weeks (for example, day shift one week and night shift the next) - Manually assign shifts to any date Easy-to-use calendar - Monthly, weekly, and daily calendar views - "Next Shift" card with a live countdown - Color-coded shift types (day, night, evening, or custom) - Add notes, vacation, sick leave, training days, or days off - Multiple work schedules with separate calendars Shift types & templates - Customize shift name, start and end time, and break duration - Set hourly or per-shift pay to estimate your earnings - Duplicate and archive shift templates - Unlimited shift templates Statistics & insights - Track worked hours and completed shifts - Estimate your earnings for any period - View breakdowns by shift type and week - Compare your statistics with previous months - Analyze workload and days off Smart reminders - Receive notifications before every shift (15 minutes, 1 hour, 2 hours, and more) - Get reminders the evening before or up to 2 days in advance - All reminders work locally on your device Export & sharing - Export your schedule as an ICS file for Apple Calendar and Google Calendar - Export your calendar as a PDF - Export statistics reports as PDF - Share your monthly schedule as an image Personalize your experience - Light, Dark, and System themes - Available in English, Russian, Spanish, French, Italian, Polish, and Portuguese - 12/24-hour time format, currency selection, and customizable first day of the week Terms of Use (EULA): https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/ PREMIUM LIFETIME Unlock the complete Shift Planner experience with a one-time purchase. No subscription. Premium Lifetime gives you full access to all features of the app, including all current and future Premium features. Pay once and keep Premium access permanently.

Screenshots

ZenShift4 screens
Shift Planner4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is rating: Shift Planner at 5.0 against ZenShift's 4.2. Shift Planner also leads on ads (none vs shown). ZenShift's advantage is in-app purchases (none vs 1) and ratings volume (5 vs 1). On price, review sentiment, update cadence and monetization model 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. Shift Planner sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. ZenShift asks for nothing beyond the download.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Shift Planner holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 4.2. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: ZenShift has 5 ratings behind it against 1, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews split almost evenly too, at 100% and 100% positive.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

ZenShift ships an update every 2 weeks, Shift Planner every 10 days. The most recent releases landed on November 1, 2026 and October 31, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard4 real differences · 6 level
ZenShift versus Shift Planner: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterZenShiftShift Planner
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.2 (5 ratings)5.0 (1 ratings) — better
Positive reviews100.0% of reviews100.0% of reviews
Number of ratings5 — better1
Update frequencyEvery 2 weeksEvery 10 days — better
AdsYesNo — better
In-app purchasesNo — betterYes
MonetizationFree with in-app purchasesFree with in-app purchases
DevicesiPhoneiPhone, iPod — better
Requires iOS16.015.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size64 MB36 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperDmitry NikitinIANA DROBOTUKHINA

Customer experience

ZenShift

All ratings5 ratings
Positive80.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative20.0%
Written reviews5 reviews
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

Shift Planner

All ratings1 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%
Written reviews5 reviews
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

In-app purchases

None

ZenShift

No in-app purchases

1 purchases

Shift Planner

One-time1
  • Lifetime Premium$2.99

Questions

Is ZenShift free?
ZenShift is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is Shift Planner free?
Shift Planner is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, ZenShift or Shift Planner?
Shift Planner is rated higher. ZenShift averages 4.2 out of 5 from 5 ratings, while Shift Planner averages 5.0 from 1 ratings.
Do ZenShift or Shift Planner have ads?
ZenShift shows ads; Shift Planner does not.
Which is updated more often, ZenShift or Shift Planner?
ZenShift ships an update every 2 weeks, and Shift Planner every 10 days. Most recently, ZenShift was updated on November 1, 2026 and Shift Planner on October 31, 2026.

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