Comparison

ZenShift vs Shift Calendar

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

Head to head
About

ZenShift

This app helps manage complex shift schedules, automatically calculating hours, overtime, and earnings. It supports various rotation patterns and offers customizable templates for quick entry. View your schedule on a monthly, weekly, or yearly basis and export reports.

Highlights
  • Customizable shift rotation patterns
  • Automatic calculation of hours, overtime, and earnings
  • Monthly, weekly, and yearly calendar views
  • Shift templates with reminders
  • Export schedule and reports to PDF
  • Cloud synchronization across devices
  • Widgets for upcoming shifts
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 Calendar

Features
Read full description

Set your rotation once and see the whole year ahead. SIMPLE Pick your pattern — 4 on 4 off, 2-2-3, DuPont, twelve-hour days and nights, rotating three shifts — then tap the day of the cycle you are on today. Done. No sign-up, no account. YOUR OWN ROTATION Nothing on the list fits? Build a cycle of any length yourself. Hospital rotas, irregular rotations, on-call. WHAT YOU GET • When your next shift starts, and how long until it does • A whole month on one screen • Your shifts in the iPhone Calendar, kept up to date • A reminder before every shift, even offline • Hours worked and estimated pay • A home screen widget • Backup and restore, to move to a new phone • In 31 languages Without a purchase you see this month's calendar and your next shift. Other months, editing days, your own rotation, Calendar sync, reminders, hours and pay, the widget and backups come with Shift Cycle Pro, an in-app purchase. CHANGES Swapped a shift? Tap the day and change it. Add a note. Your rotation stays intact around it, and your Calendar and reminders follow. WHAT WE PROMISE A lifetime purchase stays a lifetime purchase. We will not move it to a subscription later, and we will never put ads in this app. We never see your shifts. No server, no account, no tracking — your rotation stays on your phone. Terms of Use (EULA): https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/ Privacy Policy: https://anilsancarr-web.github.io/shiftcycle-site/privacy/

Screenshots

ZenShift4 screens
Shift Calendar4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is in-app purchases: ZenShift at none against Shift Calendar's 2. Shift Calendar's advantage is ads (none vs shown). On price, update cadence, device support and iOS requirement 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 Calendar sells 2 in-app purchases, starting at $2.99 per month. ZenShift asks for nothing beyond the download.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

ZenShift ships an update every 2 weeks, Shift Calendar every 3 weeks. The most recent releases landed on October 31, 2026 and October 29, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard2 real differences · 8 level
ZenShift versus Shift Calendar: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterZenShiftShift Calendar
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.2 (5 ratings) — better—
Positive reviews100.0% of reviews—
Number of ratings5 — better—
Update frequencyEvery 2 weeks — betterEvery 3 weeks
AdsYesNo — better
In-app purchasesNo — betterYes
MonetizationAd-supported—
DevicesiPhoneiPhone
Requires iOS16.0 — better16.4
Further details — not scored
Size64 MB45 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperDmitry Nikitinanil sancar

In-app purchases

None

ZenShift

No in-app purchases

2 purchases

Shift Calendar

Subscriptions1
  • Monthly7 Days trial$2.991 Month
One-time1
  • Pro$14.99

Questions

Is ZenShift free?
ZenShift is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is Shift Calendar free?
Shift Calendar is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Do ZenShift or Shift Calendar have ads?
ZenShift shows ads; Shift Calendar does not.
Which is updated more often, ZenShift or Shift Calendar?
ZenShift ships an update every 2 weeks, and Shift Calendar every 3 weeks. Most recently, ZenShift was updated on October 31, 2026 and Shift Calendar on October 29, 2026.

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