Alternatives
6 Deputy alternatives for small teams
Deputy is a capable platform, and if you use its forecasting, compliance, and payroll machinery, keep it. This page is for the other case: the bill outgrew the value, or the product outweighs the problem. We build RosterShare, one of the options below, so the bias is disclosed and the other five entries are real recommendations, not straw men. Prices checked July 2026.
Before you switch: know which Deputy you bought
People buy Deputy for different reasons, and the right alternative depends on which reason was yours. If it was award interpretation and compliance, your shortlist is the Australian platforms that also do it. If it was the verified time clock, you need a product with a kiosk, and the simple tools will disappoint you. If, like a lot of small teams, you bought it just to build and share a roster, you have been paying for a lot of machinery around a simple job, and that is where the savings are.
The other number to check is Deputy's minimum: since late 2025, invoices have a $30 monthly floor. At $5 to $6.50 USD per user, a team of five is paying the minimum, not the rate. Every alternative below either has no minimum or a lower one.
The alternatives
1. RosterShare
Best for small teams that need the roster, not the platform
Our product, so apply salt as needed. RosterShare does the core loop: build the roster on a drag-and-drop grid or from an AI draft, publish it with change tracking, and get it to staff by email, SMS, read-only link, or PDF with nothing to install. Staff handle availability, time off, open shift claims, and cover requests themselves. A built-in time clock covers actual hours: staff clock in and out from their own account or a tablet kiosk with a PIN, and punches become timesheet entries that get manager approval and export as CSV for payroll. What it does not have: Deputy's biometric and GPS verification, award interpretation, or payroll integrations. Free for up to 5 staff, then from $3.99 AUD per staff member per month on annual billing ($4.99 monthly) with no minimum spend, and no minimum is the specific line item that makes Deputy expensive for a six-person team.
2. RosterElf
Best Australian alternative with award interpretation
Australian-built, and covers most of the same compliance ground as Deputy: award interpretation, a tablet kiosk time clock with photo and GPS verification, and payroll-ready exports to Xero and MYOB. Core is $8 AUD per employee per month billed monthly, $6 on annual, ex GST, with a 3-staff minimum on monthly billing and no free plan. If you are leaving Deputy over price you will not save much here, but if you are leaving over complexity while still needing award compliance, it is a tighter, more focused product. We compare it with our own product in detail in our RosterShare vs RosterElf guide.
3. Tanda
Best if payroll is the real problem
Australian workforce management with strong time and attendance and award interpretation, sold increasingly as a bundle with HR and payroll. Tanda does not publish simple per-user pricing; expect a sales conversation and module-based quotes, with third-party sources putting the full bundle above ten dollars AUD per user per month. That makes it hard to shortlist quickly, but if your actual pain is payroll accuracy rather than roster communication, it belongs on the list.
4. When I Work
Best low-cost option for US-style scheduling
A US scheduling product with a cheap entry point: Essentials at $2.50 USD per user per month as of mid 2026, with auto-scheduling and team messaging. The catch for a like-for-like Deputy comparison is that time and attendance is a paid add-on rather than included, and the compliance features are built around US labor rules, not Australian awards. Fine for simple rosters, less fine if you picked Deputy for compliance reasons.
5. Connecteam
Best free plan for teams under 10
An all-in-one operations app: scheduling, time clock, forms, chat, and training. The standout is the free plan, which Connecteam calls the Small Business Plan: genuinely free for up to 10 employees with most features included, listed below the paid tiers on their pricing page where it is easy to miss. Paid plans start around $29 to $35 USD a month covering the first 30 users, but note the pricing is per hub, so combining operations and communications features means paying for each. Broader than a rostering tool, which is the appeal or the bloat depending on what you need.
6. A spreadsheet and a template
Best if the software was never the problem
The honest last entry. If your team is small, shifts barely change, and Deputy felt like flying a cockpit to run a corner store, you might not need a replacement subscription at all. A structured template, printed or shared, covers a static roster fine. Our free staff schedule template is a reasonable starting point, and if the roster later starts changing weekly, that is the signal to come back to software.
For the detailed head-to-head on the Australian option, see our RosterShare vs RosterElf comparison. The template mentioned above is our free staff schedule template, and the full market view is in our best rostering software in Australia shortlist.
At a glance
| Product | Pricing from | Minimum | Time clock | Award interpretation |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| RosterShare | Free to 5 staff, then from $3.99 AUD/staff/mo (annual) | None | Yes, self and tablet kiosk with PIN | No |
| Deputy | From $5 USD/user/mo (Lite) | $30 minimum monthly invoice | Yes, with biometrics on Core+ | Yes |
| RosterElf | From $6 AUD/user/mo (annual) | 3 staff monthly, 10 seats annual | Yes, kiosk with photo and GPS | Yes |
| Tanda | Quote-based, modular | Sales-led | Yes | Yes |
| When I Work | From $2.50 USD/user/mo | None | Paid add-on | US rules only |
| Connecteam | Free to 10 users, then from ~$29 USD/mo per hub | Plan covers first 30 users | Yes | No |
Prices from each vendor's public pricing page or, for Tanda, third-party sources, checked July 2026 and simplified; check current pricing before deciding. Deputy, RosterElf, Tanda, When I Work, and Connecteam are trademarks of their owners, none of whom are affiliated with RosterShare.
How to switch without a bad week
- Export your data from Deputy first: staff details, current rosters, and timesheet history you need for the seven-year record.
- Run one week in parallel. Build the same roster in both tools and publish from the new one only when staff have confirmed they can see it.
- Switch at the start of a pay period, not mid-cycle, so timesheets live in one system per period.
- Tell staff what changes for them in one message: where the roster now lives and what, if anything, they need to do differently.
Common questions
What is the cheapest alternative to Deputy?
For very small teams, Connecteam's free plan (up to 10 users) and RosterShare's free plan (up to 5 staff) cost nothing. Beyond free tiers, When I Work starts at $2.50 USD per user per month but charges extra for time tracking, and RosterShare is from $3.99 AUD per staff member per month on annual billing with no minimum invoice. Deputy's $30 minimum monthly invoice is the number to beat for teams of five or six, where the minimum, not the per-seat rate, sets the bill.
Which Deputy alternatives have award interpretation?
RosterElf and Tanda both interpret Australian modern awards, which is the feature that usually keeps Australian businesses on Deputy. RosterShare, When I Work, and Connecteam do not. If award interpretation is why you bought Deputy and you still need it, shortlist RosterElf and Tanda only.
Why do people switch away from Deputy?
The patterns we hear: the bill grew as add-ons stacked on the per-user price, the $30 monthly minimum stings for very small teams, and small businesses using a fraction of the feature set find the product heavier than their problem. None of these mean Deputy is bad; it is a capable platform priced and built for operations bigger than a ten-person roster.
When is Deputy still the right choice?
Larger multi-site operations, teams that live on demand forecasting and labor optimization, and businesses that want scheduling, attendance, HR, and payroll in one vendor. If you are using those features, the alternatives on this page will feel like a downgrade, and staying put is the right call.
Test the simplest option on this list.
Build next week's roster in RosterShare and publish it to your team. Free for up to 5 staff, no card, no minimum invoice.