Rostera — Staff Shift Scheduler & Rota (PHP + MySQL, Self-Hosted) vs. renting SaaS
Self-hosted staff shift scheduler — a weekly rota, exact hours, double-booking caught.
The subscription math
Rostera — Staff Shift Scheduler & Rota (PHP + MySQL, Self-Hosted) — yours
$69.00
one-time · self-hosted · your data, your server
Buy once
Homebase — rented
Basic $0 per location/month for 1 location and up to 10 employees; Essentials $30 monthly or $24 on annual billing, per location, unlimited employees; the two tiers above are $70/$56 and $120/$96. Payroll is an add-on: "$39 base fee per month plus $6 per employee" [1]
Break-even: 3 months
of Homebase equals the one-time price.
Assumption: The entry PAID tier on annual billing, per location. Homebase is the one rival on this product that does not meter people — employees are unlimited and the location is the unit — so a big single-site team is where it is strongest and a multi-site operator is where it costs. Rostera is $69 once, for any number of staff on any number of sites you run it on under its licence.
How their pricing grows:
Homebase meters by LOCATION rather than by employee, and adds payroll as a second meter with its own base fee plus a per-head rate.
“payroll is available as an add-on on all plans for a standard $39 base fee per month plus $6 per employee” — read 2026-09-03
What Homebase does that we don't:
Homebase keeps a genuinely free tier for a single site of up to ten people, with scheduling in it rather than behind a trial.
Stay with Homebase if you want hiring, messaging, payroll and time clocks in one hosted account across sites. Rostera is the rota itself — a weekly schedule, exact hours and double-bookings caught — bought once and run on your own server.
When I Work — rented
Essentials $2.50/user/mo, Pro $5.00/user/mo. A third tier was recorded here at $8.00/user/mo; on the 2026-09-07 read only $2.50 and $5 appear, so the figure is withdrawn rather than carried [2]
Break-even: 10 months
of When I Work equals the one-time price.
Assumption: Per-seat monthly. Figure shown for 3 staff; Rostera is one payment, unlimited staff.
How their pricing grows:
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.” — 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.
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.
Sling — rented
Premium $2.00/user/month ($1.70 billed annually); Business $4.00/user/month ($3.40 annually); free for up to 30 users [3]
Break-even: 12 months
of Sling equals the one-time price.
Assumption: Per-user - calculator assumes 3 staff x $2.00 = $6.00/mo on Premium (monthly billing; $1.70/user billed annually). Sling is genuinely cheap per head, so the payback is long for a small team and shortens as the roster grows; Rostera is one payment for unlimited staff. Annual billing is a stated 15% off on both paid tiers.
How their pricing grows:
Sling charges per active user on its paid Premium and Business tiers and automatically prorates the bill when a team member is removed.
“If a team member leaves or is deactivated, we’ll prorate your account for the unused spot.” — read 2026-08-11
What Sling does that we don't:
Sling offers a permanently free scheduling plan for teams of up to 30 users, not just a time-limited trial.
If you need built-in time-clock attendance tracking with GPS or kiosk clock-ins, stay with Sling — Rostera is NOT a time clock; it only plans shift hours with no clock-in/attendance capture.
Deputy — rented
Lite $5, Core $6.50, Pro $9 per user/month, with a USD $30/month minimum spend on monthly plans [4]
Break-even: 3 months
of Deputy equals the one-time price.
Assumption: Per-seat with a $30/mo floor, so small teams pay at least that every month. Rostera has no seats and no recurring bill.
How their pricing grows:
Deputy bills per user across its Lite, Core, and Pro plans, and additionally enforces a minimum monthly spend per account regardless of how few people are on the team.
“Yes - there is a minimum monthly spend of USD $30/AUD $30/GBP £20 per month per invoice on our monthly Lite, Core & Pro plans from September 1, 2025.” — read 2026-08-11
What Deputy does that we don't:
Deputy provides native clock-in apps across tablet, mobile, web, and smartwatch.
If you need a built-in time clock with biometric attendance capture, stay where you are — Rostera is not a time clock and has no time or biometric capture.
Savings calculator
SaaS figures use the cited plan price above (see the sources below); per-seat plans scale by the seat count from the same cited price. This is arithmetic, not a quote.
Also in this category
7shifts [5]
Essentials $39.99-44.99 CAD/mo/location (max 30 employees); Pro $79.99-89.99 (max 60); Premium $134.99-149.99 (unlimited)
Priced per location AND capped by employee count, so growth forces a tier upgrade. Figures are CAD; no monthly break-even is computed because our calculator models USD/EUR only.
How their pricing grows: 7shifts charges per location per month, with tiers capped by employee count that force an upgrade as headcount grows.
“$44.99 CAD $39.99 CAD Per month/location Up to 30 employees”
What 7shifts does that we don't: 7shifts lets employees offer up, trade, and claim open shifts directly — built-in automated shift-swapping.
If you need built-in time clocking or automated shift-swap requests with push notifications, stay where you are — Rostera is NOT a time clock and has no automated shift-swap requests; the published rota is only viewed in the app or as a PDF.
Why owning beats renting here
- One payment. No per-month, per-seat, or per-location fees — the license is perpetual.
- Your data stays on your server. Customer records never live in someone else's cloud.
- No plan ceilings. Records, users, and usage are limited by your hosting, not a pricing tier.
- It keeps working if the vendor doesn't. Self-hosted software can't be sunset out from under you.
Fair trade-offs: you host it, you back it up, and updates are yours to apply — see the product page for honest limitations.
Sources
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Homebase — price checked 2026-09-03 —
source
“basicget started with homebase and set up a new team.$0/ location / month for 1 location, up to 10 employees ... essentialssimplify the process of tracking & managing shifts.$30$24/ location / month unlimited employees ... payroll is available as an add-on on all plans for a standard $39 base fee pe”
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When I Work — price checked 2026-09-03 —
source
“$2.50 and $5.00 per user per month tiers shown on the pricing page”
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Sling — price checked 2026-09-03 —
source
“$ 2.00 1.70 per user per month”
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Deputy — price checked 2026-09-03 —
source
“there is a minimum monthly spend of USD $30 ... per month per invoice on our monthly Lite, Core & Pro plans from September 1, 2025”
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7shifts — price checked 2026-08-11 —
source
“$89.99 CAD $79.99 CAD Per month/location Up to 60 employees”
Competitor prices change — always confirm on the linked page. We only print figures we could verify on the date shown.