Best Scheduling Software

Restaurants work differently than other kinds of businesses. 7shifts knows that just as well as you do, so it comes with all the tools restaurants need to manage their unique workforce―and none of the tools they don’t.

Take its task lists. 7shifts lets you set up custom task lists for specific shifts and specific workers. Whenever someone clocks in for a shift, 7shifts will show them their assigned tasks. You’ll be able to make sure your openers always remember to count the cash drawer and that your closers always remember to turn off the oven. Need another example? As a restaurant-specific software, 7shifts charges by the location―not by the employee.

Of course, because it was designed for restaurants specifically, 7shifts won’t work well for most other businesses. It’s a niche product that way. But if you’ve got a restaurant to run, 7shifts offers the best software for managing your staff.

If you’re teaching yoga classes or holding cooking workshops, you need scheduling software that can handle scheduling groups―like Acuity. It lets you set up classes or workshops with a certain number of participants. Then your customers can sign up for the class that works with their schedule, as long as you still have open spots.

Want to get repeat class members? Acuity even lets you offer appointment packages, so your customers can get discounts when they sign up for a number of workshops at once. So while Acuity offers limited support in comparison to other software, it still sets you up to successfully hold all the classes and workshops you want.

Cake HR tries to make it as easy as possible for you to schedule your employees. It offers tools both for employees―like the ability to provide a schedule of availability―and for managers―like drag-and-drop scheduling for your shifts. In other words, it makes scheduling easier for everyone involved. And if you’re the kind of person that likes to optimize your scheduling, you can also view daily, weekly, and monthly reports for your shifts.   

You can get lots of other features too, from timesheets to goal setting to expense management. Be aware, though, that Cake HR prices both per employee and per feature. The cost can add up, so make sure you’re only paying for features you plan on using.

Pretty much all the companies on this list offer their software as a subscription. But sometimes you want a purchase that’s one-and-done. Enter Amelia. While you can subscribe to its scheduling software on an ongoing basis, you can also choose to simply purchase it. You won’t have to worry about your Amelia software becoming old and obsolete, either, since your purchase comes with lifetime updates and support.

Fortunately, Amelia offers scheduling software worth buying. It includes neat features like scheduling search, so your customers can narrow down times by provider, appointment type, day of the week, and more. So if you want a feature-rich one-time buy for your WordPress website (Amelia only works on WordPress), then Amelia’s just the software for you.

Online scheduling is great, but sometimes your customers will want a human touch. Setmore gives you both. You’ll get all the online scheduling tools you’d expect, plus a receptionist who answers calls and books appointments for you―day or night. And if someone happens to call with an urgent question, your Setmore receptionist can put you in touch.

Note that only the premium Live Booking plan has this feature―and that you only get 90 minutes of receptionist call time per month. Other plans still give you a variety of online scheduling tools, but not the killer receptionist feature that makes us love Setmore.

Some scheduling―like setting interviews with job candidates―can feel like a delicate balancing act. You want to give your candidate choices, but you also need to respect your own time. GoReminders makes this balancing act easier with its appointment request feature. It allows candidates to select a few times that would work well for them, and then you get to approve the one that works best for you.

GoReminders includes more features to help you attract top candidates, like reminder texts from a dedicated phone number that keep your company looking professional. So while GoReminders does have a higher starting price than some competitors, it will be worth it when you snag the perfect hire.

An important part of scheduling is making sure people stick to it once it’s set. Time Doctor lets you do just that, no matter where your employees are working. It includes a number of time-tracking and monitoring tools (including taking periodic screenshots of their computers, alerts when they go to non-work websites, and more), so you can feel confident they’re also on task and on schedule.

Now, your employees may not love all these features (they might feel micromanaged and become resentful), and you could easily end up with way more data about their workdays than you could ever use. So you may want to be picky about which Time Doctor features you actually use. But for keeping tabs on work-from-home employees, Time Doctor’s software can’t be beat.

If you’re one of those businesses that lives and dies by billable hours―like a law firm―then Desktime’s time billing features could be just what you need. It lets you track the time spent on a project, and then you can easily convert that to an invoice for your customer. Keep in mind, though, that Desktime doesn’t support custom time units when you track. So if you bill by 0.6 of an hour, for example, you might have to do some math.

Still, Desktime has plenty of other tools―like vacation scheduling and software integrations―that make it worth pulling out a calculator once in a while. Because in the end, Desktime can help ensure that you and your team have all the information you need to keep projects running (and billing!) smoothly.

Depending on the software you choose, it can help with some of the following:

• Scheduling employee shifts
• Keeping track of employee time cards
• Tracking employee productivity
• Tracking time spent on projects
• Scheduling appointments (for services, interviews, and more)
• Sending reminders about upcoming events

But no matter what scheduling software you go with, it can help keep your business running like clockwork.

The exact cost of scheduling software will depend on the features you need and the number of users you have, but you can find software at every price point.

If you need basic features for one user, you can find free scheduling software. But if you need advanced features (like reports, payroll, or text reminders) for dozens of users, you may want to budget for hundreds of dollars per month.

Different scheduling software exists to fill different needs. So if you’re trying to schedule shifts for the people you’ll manage, you’ll want to look for software designed for managing schedules and productivity.

But if you’re trying to schedule appointments, services, or interviews with people outside your organization, you’ll do better with software designed to set meeting times and send reminders.

Before you buy, consider how your users will affect the way you use your software. If you’re managing a large team, for example, you might want to find a software that lets you set shifts by locations and lets you see time off requests as you schedule. If you have a smaller team, on the other hand, you might prefer simple scheduling features.

And keep in mind, most scheduling software sets prices (and sometimes features) based on how many people will be using it or the number of appointments you’re setting. In other words, your numbers will end up affecting your cost.

Be sure to take any LMS you’re interested in for a test drive to see how the user interface works. Keep tabs on how easily you can build courses, whether completing training is straightforward, and what it’s like to view the analytics and reporting side of things.

It may also be worthwhile to ask about accessibility features for any employees who can’t easily access the content you build.

Some businesses come with unique needs. Medical practices, for example, need to stay HIPAA-compliant. Law Firms often bill clients by the hour. Construction companies may have employees spread across locations. Dance studios might need to fill class slots instead of one-on-one appointments.

As you shop for scheduling software, think about what specific needs your type of business has. You can probably find software that meets those needs―but don’t assume that all software can.

Whether you’re scheduling employees, clients, or your own day, these scheduling softwares can help.