7shifts Alternatives for UK Restaurants and Pubs

7shifts has a strong reputation with restaurants in North America. It was founded in 2014 ("born in the back office of a sandwich shop", as its About page puts it), has offices in Toronto and Saskatoon, and is built around restaurant scheduling. UK operators come across it in reviews and recommendations, then find the pricing in another currency and some of the compliance language aimed at US states. This page sets out what 7shifts does well and the alternatives that are priced and built for the UK.

All facts were checked on each company's own website, plus Capterra UK for 7shifts' availability, as of October 2026. ShiftComplete publishes this page; we've tried to be fair.

What 7shifts does well

From 7shifts' own pricing and product pages:

• A free plan. Comp is free for a single location with up to 15 employees.
• Sales-aware scheduling. Schedules generated from labour targets and projected sales, with POS sales-based budgeting.
• Time clock on tablet, phone or POS, with geofenced clock-in and overtime alerts.
• Team messaging and SMS shift reminders.
• Tip management and tip pooling (paid add-on).
• Task management and a manager log book (paid add-ons). Task management can record temperature readouts as a completion type.
• Hiring, document storage, certification expiry alerts and training on higher plans.
• POS integrations including Toast, Square, Lightspeed, TouchBistro, Clover and Revel.

For a North American restaurant on one of those tills, it's an easy recommendation.

Why UK operators look for a 7shifts alternative

1. Pricing isn't in pounds. When we checked from the UK, prices were in Canadian dollars, per location per month.
2. Availability. Capterra UK lists 7shifts' available countries as Canada and the United States. 7shifts' own site doesn't say either way that we could find.
3. Compliance focus. Its compliance tools are described as "state-based labor law compliance tools". UK venues work under UK working time rules: here's what they are.
4. UK payroll and tills. We didn't see UK payroll providers such as Sage or Xero, or UK-focused EPOS such as Tevalis or ICR Touch, on its integrations page.
5. Food safety. Beyond temperature readouts within task management, we didn't find allergen management or UK-style food-safety records.

7shifts vs ShiftComplete at a glance

The main 7shifts alternatives for the UK

ShiftComplete

Best for: UK restaurants, pubs, cafés, bars and hotels that want the rota, clock-in and kitchen records in one app at a pound-priced flat rate.

Staff set availability from their phones weeks ahead. You add events (a Saturday wedding needs three more on the floor), weight the people you want on, and ShiftComplete builds a fair draft rota in seconds. Labour cost shows as you go. Publish and it's on every phone under "My rota" and in their email. Switch on time tracking and staff clock in and out on their phone or the tablet by the pass; download hours as a spreadsheet for your payroll provider.

The kitchen side is included: temperature logs with out-of-range flags, every dish mapped to the 14 UK allergens, weekday opening and closing checks with photos, incidents and maintenance, and risk assessments. See our restaurant staff rota software guide for more.

Trade-off: no POS-based sales forecasting, no tip pooling, no payroll or till integrations, no geofencing.

Price: £1.49 per staff member per month, no contract, no per-site fee. 60 days free, no card.

Deputy

Best for: restaurants wanting 7shifts-style automation (auto-scheduling, demand forecasting, geofenced clock-in) with a UK price list and UK integrations.

Deputy's UK site lists Xero and Sage for payroll and Lightspeed and Square among its POS partners, and TipHaus for tip pooling.

Price (UK, excl. taxes): Lite £3.25, Core £4.25, Pro £6.50 per user per month. Free trial up to 31 days. See Deputy alternatives.

Planday

Best for: hospitality teams who want scheduling, time tracking and payroll integrations such as Xero, Sage 50 and QuickBooks, with revenue integrations including Square and Lightspeed.

Price: Starter £2.99 per user per month (minimum 5 users); Plus £3.99 per user plus £30 a month (minimum 10 users); Pro custom. 30-day free trial. See Planday alternatives.

RotaCloud

Best for: small UK businesses wanting a simple rota tool with free mobile apps. Based in York, with integrations including Sage, PayCaptain and Staffology for payroll and Tevalis for EPOS. Clock-in is an add-on.

Price: banded by headcount, Standard from £10 a month for up to 5 employees. 30-day free trial.

UK-specific things to check in any rota app

Whatever you choose, make sure it suits how UK hospitality works:

• Working time. Workers have a right to 11 hours' rest between working days and a 20-minute break when working more than 6 hours. A rota tool should make it easy to spot a close followed by an open.
• Holiday. You need to see who's booked off before you build the rota, not after.
• Allergens. UK food businesses work with the 14 allergens, and front-of-house staff need accurate answers at the table. See our allergen app guide.
• Records for the EHO. If your temperature logs and cleaning checks are still on paper, think about whether they belong in the same app as the rota.
• Pricing in pounds, with VAT treatment you understand, and no surprise currency conversion.

Choosing between them

If you handle tips, make sure whichever tool you choose fits your written tipping policy; our UK tips and tronc guide explains the rules.

"The rota stopped being a Sunday-night argument the week we switched over. The chef stopped being the only person who knows what's in the kitchen. And the EHO turn up to a screen, not a box file."

Graeme Kirkham, Owner, The Lounge Oswestry & Knock & Snitch

Try ShiftComplete free for 60 days, or book a free 15-minute set-up call and we'll help you move your team across.