Overview

7shifts is a restaurant workforce platform that combines scheduling with hiring, training, payroll, and tip management. It is best suited to restaurant operators who want those jobs connected, rather than a scheduling tool alone. Its free Comp plan gives smaller teams a way to start, but its employee and location caps matter quickly as a restaurant grows.

Founded by Jordan Boesch in 2014, the company is headquartered in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada. The product serves independents and multi-location groups, with tools for administrators, managers, and employees. That broad audience is a strength, though the fit depends on whether a restaurant needs more than shift planning.

Key features

Scheduling and availability

Drag-and-drop calendars provide a direct way to build schedules, while auto-scheduling can account for employee availability and labor targets. Availability collection, time-off management, open shifts, and shift swaps cover the recurring changes that can otherwise turn schedule maintenance into a separate administrative chore. The labor-target input is useful for managers balancing coverage and labor needs, but 7shifts is not just a calendar for teams with simpler requirements.

Hiring and training

Job posting and applicant tracking extend the platform into recruiting. Onboarding documents, courses, quizzes, and training progress tracking give managers ways to organize staff preparation and follow its progress. Restaurants that need to coordinate hiring and development alongside scheduling may benefit from keeping those workflows together; a business seeking only a roster and shift calendar may not need this breadth.

Payroll, tips, and integrations

Payroll and tip management include automatic wage and tip calculations, plus earned wage access. These capabilities make 7shifts relevant to restaurants that want workforce administration to reach beyond the published schedule. Its named restaurant POS integrations include Toast, Square, Clover, Lightspeed, and TouchBistro, and the Partner API gives integration partners an access route. The platform says it encrypts data in transit using SSL/TLS 1.2 and at rest using AES 256, and describes PCI-DSS compliance and security audits.

Pricing

7shifts uses a freemium model, with a free plan and a 14-day trial. The Comp plan is free and is limited to 15 employees and one location. That is a practical entry point for a small independent restaurant, but the cap rules it out for larger teams or operators coordinating more than one site.

Essentials has custom pricing, a 30-employee limit, and unlimited locations. It may suit a smaller multi-location operator that does not exceed its employee cap, though the location allowance does not remove that staffing ceiling. Premium and Pro also have custom pricing, with unlimited employees and locations on each. Those plans are the relevant options for growing or larger groups that need room to scale, but the available plan facts do not establish how their features differ. Comp is the only plan with a stated price; Essentials, Premium, and Pro require weighing their custom pricing against the organization’s size and needs.

Platforms

7shifts is available on Android, iOS, and the web, with API access for integrations. Its desktop system requirements set Windows 10 and macOS 12 Monterey as minimum operating systems. That combination supports access from mobile devices as well as desktop systems, while older desktop operating systems fall outside those stated minimums.

Who it's for

7shifts is a strong candidate for restaurants that want scheduling, hiring, onboarding, staff training, payroll, and tips managed within one workforce platform. Comp is aimed at the smallest operation: one location and no more than 15 employees. Essentials can accommodate multiple locations but stops at 30 employees, while Premium and Pro remove the stated employee and location caps. Restaurants that only need basic shift coordination may find the broader HR and payroll scope unnecessary.

Pros and cons

Pros: Scheduling combines auto-scheduling with availability, time-off, open-shift, and swap tools, covering both schedule creation and common changes.
Pros: Hiring, onboarding, and training tools take the platform beyond shift planning and support several stages of staff management.
Pros: Payroll, tips, automatic wage and tip calculations, and earned wage access bring compensation-related tasks into the same product.
Cons: Comp is capped at 15 employees and one location, so even a modestly larger or multi-site operation needs another plan.
Cons: Essentials caps teams at 30 employees despite allowing unlimited locations; the larger plans have no stated employee or location cap but use custom pricing.
Cons: The product's wide workforce scope may be more than a restaurant needs if its main requirement is scheduling alone.

Alternatives

For a narrower look at the category, browse Restaurant Scheduling Software, Restaurant Management Software, Restaurant Labor Management Software, Restaurant Tip Management Software, Employee Scheduling Software, or Calendar apps.

Sling is worth considering for a restaurant that needs free scheduling for up to 30 users, with time-off requests, available shifts, news sharing, long-term scheduling, and private messaging. Deputy is a paid option with a free trial and a Lite plan at 5.00 USD per month, billed per user per month; consider it if that paid per-user entry plan better fits your buying preference.

Planday has no free plan and offers a Starter plan at 2.99 GBP per month, billed per user/month, with a five-user minimum and the ability to upgrade or cancel anytime. It may suit a team comfortable with that minimum and a per-user price. When I Work offers a paid Essentials plan at 2.50 USD per month, billed per user/month, with unlimited users and auto, multi-week, and multi-location scheduling; it is a relevant alternative when those scheduling features are the priority.

HotSchedules, PAR Ordering, Push Scheduling, and Tanda are other alternatives to compare.

Verdict

Choose 7shifts if you run a restaurant and want one platform to cover shift planning as well as hiring, training, payroll, and tips. Its strongest case is the range of workforce tasks it brings together, backed by scheduling tools that address availability and labor targets. Look elsewhere if you only need a straightforward schedule, or if Comp’s 15-employee and one-location ceiling is too restrictive and the custom-priced plans do not suit your budget.

	7shifts	InstaCal
Free plan	Yes	No
Free trial	Yes
Paid from	Free	$29.99/mo
Platforms	Android, api, iOS, Web	iOS
Free plan	Yes	No
Auto-scheduling	Yes
Availability collection	Yes
Time-off management	Yes
Open-shift management	Yes
Shift swaps	Yes
Mobile apps	Yes	ios
Scheduling links		No
Calendar sync		two_way
Video meeting support		Yes

7shifts vs InstaCal

7shifts

InstaCal