Shiftbase

Shiftbase is workforce management software for shift-based businesses that covers employee scheduling, time tracking, absence management, HR records and payroll preparation. Shiftbase ranks first here because it is the only vendor in this comparison that publishes a free plan, a complete price list and a public trust page at the same time.

The company says its first code was written in 2010 and the product launched in 2011, and it reports more than 8,000 businesses and 250,000 users. The Shiftbase mobile app for iOS and Android lets employees clock in, swap or claim shifts and request time off, while managers approve hours and fill open shifts.

Shiftbase B.V. is registered with the Dutch Chamber of Commerce under number 59514701 and gives Groeneweg 2A in Zoetermeer as its address.

The Shiftbase trust page states an EU data location and names Amazon Web Services and Google Cloud as infrastructure providers, so the hosting is in the EU but on American clouds. Shiftbase states ISO/IEC 27001 certification and lists multi-factor authentication, role-based access control and encryption at rest. The same trust page lists subprocessors including Sentry, SendGrid and Cloudflare, with Mixpanel and Customer.io as recent additions.

Shiftbase charges EUR 30 per month for Basic including 6 employees and EUR 4 per extra employee, EUR 72 per month for Premium including 12 employees and EUR 5 per extra employee, and EUR 336 per month for Enterprise including 48 employees and EUR 6 per extra employee.

Yearly billing takes 10% off. The Free plan costs nothing for up to 15 employees in one department. Shiftbase suits hospitality, retail and care teams that want to see the bill before talking to sales.

Buyers who need payroll links should budget for the App Center+ add-on at EUR 20 per month, and buyers who rule out American cloud providers should look further down this list.

What Shiftbase does well

• Shiftbase has a Free plan at EUR 0 for up to 15 employees
• Shiftbase publishes base fee, included employees and per-employee price for every paid plan
• Shiftbase states ISO/IEC 27001 certification and an EU data location on a public trust page
• Shiftbase lists payroll integrations with AFAS Software, Nmbrs, Loket, Exact Online and SD Worx
• Shiftbase offers iOS and Android apps with clock-in, shift swaps and absence requests

Where Shiftbase falls short

• Shiftbase runs on Amazon Web Services and Google Cloud rather than a European cloud provider
• The Shiftbase Free plan is limited to one department and five teams
• Integrations on Basic and Premium go through the App Center+ add-on at EUR 20 per month
• The Shiftbase pricing page does not say whether prices exclude VAT

Standout feature. Shiftbase is the only scheduling tool in this comparison with a permanent free plan, covering up to 15 employees, next to a fully published price list and a public trust page.