The self-hosted When I Work alternative
Rostera — Self-hosted staff shift scheduler — a weekly rota, exact hours, double-booking caught. Own it once, run it on your own server, and stop paying When I Work every month.
Stop renting When I Work
10 months of When I Work equals this one-time price.
Assumption: Per-seat monthly. Figure shown for 3 staff; Rostera is one payment, unlimited staff.
How When I Work pricing grows with you
When I Work bills per user per month, with the per-seat rate rising for multi-location businesses.
“When I Work pricing starts at just $2.50 per user per month for single-location teams, and $5 per user per month for multi-location businesses.” — their own page, read 2026-08-11
What When I Work does that we don't
When I Work integrates with Rippling so customers can run payroll and manage HR benefits alongside scheduling.
“When I Work works seamlessly with Rippling, our preferred partner, so you can run payroll, manage benefits, and stay compliant without duplicating work.” — their own page
Who should stay with When I Work
If you need built-in payroll integration and HR benefits management alongside scheduling, stay with When I Work — Rostera plans shifts only and holds no pay rates or wages. Full honest limitations are on the product page.
Why owning beats renting When I Work
- One payment. No monthly, per-seat, or per-location fees — the license is perpetual.
- Your data stays on your server. It never lives in When I Work's cloud.
- No plan ceilings. Records and users are limited by your hosting, not a pricing tier.
- It keeps working if the vendor doesn't. Self-hosted software can't be sunset or price-hiked out from under you.
Fair trade-offs: you host it, back it up, and apply updates yourself — see the product page for honest limitations, and the full Rostera vs When I Work comparison.
Sources
- When I Work — price checked 2026-09-03 —
source “$2.50 and $5.00 per user per month tiers shown on the pricing page”
Competitor prices change — always confirm on the linked page. We only print figures we could verify on the date shown. This vendor is tracked in the Price Observatory — every figure verbatim, dated, re-checked quarterly.