Index › Core HR and payroll › September 2026 Edition

Workforce scheduling

Asked as “employee scheduling software”, and as “shift scheduling tool”, on behalf of a mid-market B2B company. 47 first choices recorded across the direct, paraphrase, budget and scale prompts, twelve models each.

Standing

Deputy

Contested

26% of first choices, contested.

ShowinginAll 50 categories →

By buyer segment

The same question asked on behalf of a different buyer. Each standing is computed within its segment; they sit side by side and are never added together.

Small business

Homebase43%Clear leaderStanding →Mid-market

Deputy26%ContestedThis page Enterprise

UKG Pro Workforce Management14%ContestedStanding →

01The standing

Share is the count of first choices across the direct, paraphrase, budget and scale prompts, over all twelve models, for a mid-market B2B company. Ordered by share.

ProductFirst-choice shareNegative rateLabelsQuadrant

Deputy0%26accepted challenger

Homebase12%25accepted challenger

Sling6%18accepted challenger

Connecteam4%25accepted challenger

When I Work11%28accepted challenger

Show the four products at 0%, ordered by negative rate

Calendly25%20criticized challenger

7shifts25%12criticized challenger

Acuity Scheduling10%10accepted challenger

Cal.com0%12accepted challenger

Bars are the share of first choices, 0 to 100Every product with at least 10 labels here. Every product name links to its vendor page.

Head to head

Deputy vs Homebase Deputy vs Sling Homebase vs Sling

Recommended versus criticized

Every product with at least 10 labels here, on both axes. The 30% line names a quadrant, not the verdict above: that one needs more than 40%.

Criticized challengerCriticized default

Negative label rate →

Accepted challengerEndorsed leader

0%First-choice share → · lines at 30% share and 25% negative40%

Key

Deputy26%

Homebase15%

Sling15%

Connecteam9%

When I Work6%

Calendly0%

Cal.com0%

Acuity Scheduling0%

7shifts0%

02What they warned about

Four of twelve models held their first choice under the paraphrase. Claude Haiku 4.5, GPT-5.4 mini, Grok 4.1 Fast, Mistral Small, Llama 4 Maverick, Kimi K2, GLM 4.7 FlashX and MiniMax M2.5 changed. A high negative share on a product with few labels is a warning. A low share on a product with many labels is salience, not sentiment.

Calendly

25%

5 of 20 labels negative · 5 of 12 models

“users frequently criticize Calendly’s billing model, which continues to charge for inactive user "seats", and its decision to lock security features ... behind expensive Enterprise tiers” Gemini 3.5 Flash, negative prompt

Homebase

12%

3 of 25 labels negative · 3 of 12 models

“**Sling** or **Homebase** (note: these cap out quickly at mid-scale)” Qwen 3.7 Flash, paraphrase prompt

When I Work

11%

3 of 28 labels negative · 3 of 12 models

“Employee Scheduling Tools (7shifts, HotSchedules, When I Work)... caution is about your own operational hygiene.” DeepSeek V4 Flash, negative prompt

7shifts

25%

3 of 12 labels negative · 2 of 12 models · 1 hard negative

“What to avoid... **7shifts** \u2014 unless you're in hospitality/restaurants” DeepSeek V4 Flash, paraphrase prompt

03What they cite

Citations exist only for the models that return a source list: twelve of the twelve in this edition, and all six flagship models on the expanded tier.

Sites the answers cite

65 of 72 answers in this category came back with a source list, from 12 of 12 models: citations where the model returns them, or the search results it consulted. 6 of those lists are Google grounding redirects that name no site and are left out of the counts. 807 links across 236 sites, every framing counted. Ranked by the number of answers carrying the site or page.

peoplemanagingpeople.com

vendor site · People Managing People31 answers · 47 citations · 10 models

zapier.com

vendor site · Zapier31 answers · 31 citations · 10 models

forbes.com

28 answers · 29 citations · 10 models

connecteam.com

vendor site · Connecteam22 answers · 32 citations · 11 models

capterra.com

20 answers · 29 citations · 9 models

softwareadvice.com

17 answers · 18 citations · 9 models

guideflow.com

vendor site · Guideflow16 answers · 22 citations · 10 models

timetrex.com

vendor site · TimeTrex15 answers · 23 citations · 9 models

learn.g2.com

15 answers · 22 citations · 9 models

worldmetrics.org

13 answers · 18 citations · 9 models

business.com

13 answers · 13 citations · 8 models

joinhomebase.com

10 answers · 18 citations · 6 models

Pages the answers cite

The ten pages named in the most answers, by full address. A page here is one the models returned with a recommendation, not one the index endorses.

zapier.com/blog/best-employee-scheduling-software

27 answers · 10 models

forbes.com/advisor/business/software/best-employee-scheduling-software

22 answers · 10 models

connecteam.com/online-employee-scheduling-apps

14 answers · 9 models

learn.g2.com/employee-scheduling-tools

14 answers · 9 models

peoplemanagingpeople.com/tools/best-employee-scheduling-software

14 answers · 9 models

timetrex.com/resources/best-online-employee-scheduling-software

13 answers · 9 models

peoplemanagingpeople.com/tools/best-employee-shift-scheduling-software

12 answers · 8 models

business.com/categories/employee-scheduling-software

11 answers · 8 models

softwareadvice.com/hr/employee-scheduling-comparison

10 answers · 8 models

capterra.com/resources/best-scheduling-software-reviews-analysis

9 answers · 6 models

04How they answered

Six framings of the same buying question, each sent to every model in a fresh session with search on. One row per model, so a row shows whether it held its answer under rewording, what it named when cost was the constraint, and what it argued against. Computed from the raw judge labels.

ModelDirect“What is the best employee scheduling software for a mid-market B2B company?”Paraphrase“Which shift scheduling tool would you recommend to a mid-sized B2B company?”Comparative“What are the top scheduling tools and how do they differ?”Budget-constrained“What is the best employee scheduling software for a company with a limited budget?”Scale-constrained“We are a 500 person company evaluating an employee scheduling software. What should we look at?”Negative“Which scheduling tools should I avoid or be cautious about?”

Claude Haiku 4.5Paycor

Three alternatives

Buddy Punch, Sling, UKG Pro

no first choiceChangedDeputy, When I Work

Two alternatives

Connecteam, Homebase

Two alternatives

Sling, When I Work

no first choiceagainst: Jira, Setmore

GPT-5.4 miniRippling

Three alternatives

Connecteam, Homebase, When I Work

DeputyChanged

Two alternatives

MakeShift, When I Work

Calendly

Three alternatives

Acuity Scheduling, Cal.com, Doodle

Connecteam

Two alternatives

7shifts, Sling

against: Homebase, When I Workno first choicenothing named

Gemini 3.5 FlashAssembled

Seven alternatives

Calendly, Chili Piper, Deputy, Float, RevenueHero, Rippling, Runn

AssembledHeld

Five alternatives

Deputy, Factorial, Incident.io, PagerDuty, Zendesk WFM

Connecteam, Deputy

Seven alternatives

Acuity Scheduling, Cal.com, Calendly, Doodle, Motion, SavvyCal, TidyCal

Sling

Three alternatives

7shifts, Connecteam, Homebase

no first choiceagainst: Acuity Scheduling, Calendly, Doodle, Hootsuite, HotSchedules, Kronos/UKG, When2Work

Perplexity SonarDeputy

Two alternatives

Rippling, Workforce.com

against: ConnecteamDeputyHeld

Four alternatives

Findmyshift, Shiftboard, Sling, When I Work

Calendly

Four alternatives

Acuity Scheduling, Cal.com, Doodle, Reclaim.ai

Homebase, Sling

One alternative

Connecteam

no first choicenothing named

Grok 4.1 FastADP Workforce Now, Rippling

Two alternatives

Connecteam, Deputy

against: Homebase, When I WorkDeputyChanged

Four alternatives

Connecteam, Homebase, Sling, When I Work

Calendly

Four alternatives

Acuity Scheduling, Doodle, Google Calendar, Microsoft Bookings

Homebase

Two alternatives

Connecteam, Sling

against: 7shiftsno first choiceagainst: Calendly, HubSpot Meetings, UKG Pro

Mistral SmallPaycor, TimeTrex

Three alternatives

7shifts, Buddy Punch, Connecteam

Homebase, When I WorkChanged

Two alternatives

ADP Workforce Now, TimeClock Plus

Calendly

Seven alternatives

Acuity Scheduling, ClinicSense, Connecteam, GlossGenius, HROne, Rippling, Square Appointments

Homebase, Sling

Two alternatives

Connecteam, Shifton

no first choiceagainst: Calendly

DeepSeek V4 FlashDeputy

Five alternatives

ADP Workforce Now, Connecteam, Jobber, When I Work, Workforce.com

DeputyHeld

Two alternatives

Connecteam, When I Work

against: 7shifts, ShiftboardDeputy, Homebase, When I WorkConnecteam

Three alternatives

Deputy, Homebase, Sling

no first choiceagainst: 7shifts, Akiflow, Calendly, ClickUp, HotSchedules, Routine, Simply Schedule Appointments, When I Work

Llama 4 MaverickTimeTrexFloat, ShiftboardChanged

Two alternatives

Findmyshift, ZoomShift

Calendly

Four alternatives

Clockwise, Doodle, Reclaim.ai, YouCanBookMe

Findmyshift

Four alternatives

7shifts, Connecteam, Homebase, Sling

no first choicenothing named

Qwen 3.7 FlashDeputy

Three alternatives

Humanity, Rippling, TimeTrex

DeputyHeld

One alternative

When I Work

against: Homebase, SlingCalendly

Seven alternatives

Acuity Scheduling, Cal.com, Google Calendar, SavvyCal, Setmore, Square Appointments, WaitWell

Sling

Two alternatives

7shifts, Homebase

no first choiceagainst: ActivTrak, Hubstaff, Jira, Microsoft Project, Monday.com, Notion, Oracle ERP, SAP Scheduling Modules, Smartsheet, Time Doctor

Kimi K2Deputy

Two alternatives

Humanity, When I Work

Connecteam, DeputyChanged

Two alternatives

Homebase, When I Work

Calendly

Two alternatives

Acuity Scheduling, Cal.com

Homebase, Sling

Two alternatives

Findmyshift, When I Work

no first choiceagainst: Calendly, Hubstaff

GLM 4.7 FlashXDeputy

Six alternatives

Connecteam, Humanity, TimeTrex, When I Work, Workforce.com, Zoho People

Deputy, When I WorkChanged

Two alternatives

7shifts, Connecteam

no first choice

Ten alternatives

Acuity Scheduling, Cal.com, Calendly, Clockwise, Motion, Reclaim.ai, Setmore, SimplyBook.me, Square Appointments, Zoho Bookings

Sling

Three alternatives

7shifts, Deputy, Homebase

no first choiceagainst: Calendar.com

MiniMax M2.5TimeTrex

Four alternatives

Deputy, Humanity, ScheduleAnywhere, When I Work

Shiftboard, When I WorkChanged

One alternative

Rippling

Calendly

Four alternatives

Acuity Scheduling, Cal.com, Google Calendar, Square Appointments

Homebase, Sling

Two alternatives

TimeTrex, ZoomShift

no first choiceagainst: Lever's Scheduler

Bold is the first choiceAlternatives are counted; the count opens them.What the answer argued against

05The record

One row per call: the version string exactly as returned, whether the model searched, sources cited, and latency. Full answer text is in the free responses file. Download the record

Seventy-two rows: every prompt, every model, every answer.

Prompt	Model	Version string	Time (UTC)	Searched	Sources	Latency
Direct recommendation	Claude Haiku 4.5	`claude-haiku-4-5-20251001`	2026-09-17 20:58	yes	9	7 s
Direct recommendation	GPT-5.4 mini	`gpt-5.4-mini-2026-03-17`	2026-09-17 19:00	yes	2	5 s
Direct recommendation	Gemini 3.5 Flash	`gemini-3.5-flash`	2026-09-17 18:33	yes	19	26 s
Direct recommendation	Perplexity Sonar	`sonar`	2026-09-17 18:58	yes	20	6 s
Direct recommendation	Grok 4.1 Fast	`spacexai/grok-4.1-fast-non-reasoning via vertex`	2026-09-17 19:38	yes	36	19 s
Direct recommendation	Mistral Small	`mistral/mistral-small via mistral`	2026-09-17 20:45	yes	11	8 s
Direct recommendation	DeepSeek V4 Flash	`deepseek/deepseek-v4-flash via fireworks`	2026-09-17 21:46	yes	29	23 s
Direct recommendation	Llama 4 Maverick	`meta/llama-4-maverick via bedrock`	2026-09-17 18:25	yes	5	3 s
Direct recommendation	Qwen 3.7 Flash	`alibaba/qwen3.7-flash via alibaba`	2026-09-17 21:02	yes	8	43 s
Direct recommendation	Kimi K2	`moonshotai/kimi-k2 via novita`	2026-09-17 18:28	yes	13	23 s
Direct recommendation	GLM 4.7 FlashX	`zai/glm-4.7-flashx via zai`	2026-09-17 21:27	yes	18	86 s
Direct recommendation	MiniMax M2.5	`minimax/minimax-m2.5 via minimax`	2026-09-17 19:24	yes	9	20 s
Paraphrase	Claude Haiku 4.5	`claude-haiku-4-5-20251001`	2026-09-17 18:51	no	0	5 s
Paraphrase	GPT-5.4 mini	`gpt-5.4-mini-2026-03-17`	2026-09-17 21:40	yes	3	4 s
Paraphrase	Gemini 3.5 Flash	`gemini-3.5-flash`	2026-09-17 18:37	yes	16	20 s
Paraphrase	Perplexity Sonar	`sonar`	2026-09-17 20:06	yes	20	6 s
Paraphrase	Grok 4.1 Fast	`spacexai/grok-4.1-fast-non-reasoning via vertex`	2026-09-17 18:29	yes	30	14 s
Paraphrase	Mistral Small	`mistral/mistral-small via mistral`	2026-09-17 21:01	yes	5	5 s
Paraphrase	DeepSeek V4 Flash	`deepseek/deepseek-v4-flash via deepinfra`	2026-09-17 17:55	yes	17	30 s
Paraphrase	Llama 4 Maverick	`meta/llama-4-maverick via bedrock`	2026-09-17 18:27	yes	5	3 s
Paraphrase	Qwen 3.7 Flash	`alibaba/qwen3.7-flash via alibaba`	2026-09-17 18:55	yes	17	46 s
Paraphrase	Kimi K2	`moonshotai/kimi-k2 via novita`	2026-09-17 21:41	yes	22	40 s
Paraphrase	GLM 4.7 FlashX	`zai/glm-4.7-flashx via zai`	2026-09-17 19:47	yes	15	76 s
Paraphrase	MiniMax M2.5	`minimax/minimax-m2.5 via minimax`	2026-09-17 19:32	yes	10	22 s
Comparative	Claude Haiku 4.5	`claude-haiku-4-5-20251001`	2026-09-17 20:32	yes	9	8 s
Comparative	GPT-5.4 mini	`gpt-5.4-mini-2026-03-17`	2026-09-17 18:35	yes	6	9 s
Comparative	Gemini 3.5 Flash	`gemini-3.5-flash`	2026-09-17 20:13	yes	18	24 s
Comparative	Perplexity Sonar	`sonar`	2026-09-17 19:03	yes	20	7 s
Comparative	Grok 4.1 Fast	`spacexai/grok-4.1-fast-non-reasoning via vertex`	2026-09-17 20:16	yes	14	9 s
Comparative	Mistral Small	`mistral/mistral-small via mistral`	2026-09-17 18:38	yes	8	8 s
Comparative	DeepSeek V4 Flash	`deepseek/deepseek-v4-flash via deepinfra`	2026-09-17 20:05	yes	29	45 s
Comparative	Llama 4 Maverick	`meta/llama-4-maverick via bedrock`	2026-09-17 17:54	yes	5	3 s
Comparative	Qwen 3.7 Flash	`alibaba/qwen3.7-flash via alibaba`	2026-09-17 18:29	yes	5	30 s
Comparative	Kimi K2	`moonshotai/kimi-k2 via novita`	2026-09-17 19:08	yes	10	23 s
Comparative	GLM 4.7 FlashX	`zai/glm-4.7-flashx via zai`	2026-09-17 20:59	yes	19	87 s
Comparative	MiniMax M2.5	`minimax/minimax-m2.5 via minimax`	2026-09-17 21:25	yes	10	24 s
Budget constrained	Claude Haiku 4.5	`claude-haiku-4-5-20251001`	2026-09-17 18:55	yes	9	6 s
Budget constrained	GPT-5.4 mini	`gpt-5.4-mini-2026-03-17`	2026-09-17 20:17	yes	4	5 s
Budget constrained	Gemini 3.5 Flash	`gemini-3.5-flash`	2026-09-17 20:10	yes	18	19 s
Budget constrained	Perplexity Sonar	`sonar`	2026-09-17 20:22	yes	20	4 s
Budget constrained	Grok 4.1 Fast	`spacexai/grok-4.1-fast-non-reasoning via vertex`	2026-09-17 17:56	yes	27	15 s
Budget constrained	Mistral Small	`mistral/mistral-small via mistral`	2026-09-17 21:29	yes	9	7 s
Budget constrained	DeepSeek V4 Flash	`deepseek/deepseek-v4-flash via fireworks`	2026-09-17 18:02	yes	10	10 s
Budget constrained	Llama 4 Maverick	`meta/llama-4-maverick via bedrock`	2026-09-17 20:08	yes	5	4 s
Budget constrained	Qwen 3.7 Flash	`alibaba/qwen3.7-flash via alibaba`	2026-09-17 19:47	yes	10	27 s
Budget constrained	Kimi K2	`moonshotai/kimi-k2 via novita`	2026-09-17 18:32	yes	10	20 s
Budget constrained	GLM 4.7 FlashX	`zai/glm-4.7-flashx via zai`	2026-09-17 20:09	yes	15	45 s
Budget constrained	MiniMax M2.5	`minimax/minimax-m2.5 via minimax`	2026-09-17 18:50	yes	10	17 s
Scale constrained	Claude Haiku 4.5	`claude-haiku-4-5-20251001`	2026-09-17 19:58	no	0	6 s
Scale constrained	GPT-5.4 mini	`gpt-5.4-mini-2026-03-17`	2026-09-17 18:02	no	0	8 s
Scale constrained	Gemini 3.5 Flash	`gemini-3.5-flash`	2026-09-17 19:33	yes	12	23 s
Scale constrained	Perplexity Sonar	`sonar`	2026-09-17 18:46	yes	20	9 s
Scale constrained	Grok 4.1 Fast	`spacexai/grok-4.1-fast-non-reasoning via vertex`	2026-09-17 21:25	yes	13	9 s
Scale constrained	Mistral Small	`mistral/mistral-small via mistral`	2026-09-17 19:57	no	0	6 s
Scale constrained	DeepSeek V4 Flash	`deepseek/deepseek-v4-flash via fireworks`	2026-09-17 21:16	yes	9	15 s
Scale constrained	Llama 4 Maverick	`meta/llama-4-maverick via bedrock`	2026-09-17 19:55	yes	5	3 s
Scale constrained	Qwen 3.7 Flash	`alibaba/qwen3.7-flash via alibaba`	2026-09-17 21:00	no	0	28 s
Scale constrained	Kimi K2	`moonshotai/kimi-k2 via novita`	2026-09-17 17:57	yes	10	23 s
Scale constrained	GLM 4.7 FlashX	`zai/glm-4.7-flashx via zai`	2026-09-17 19:46	yes	10	41 s
Scale constrained	MiniMax M2.5	`minimax/minimax-m2.5 via minimax`	2026-09-17 20:37	yes	5	16 s
Negative framing	Claude Haiku 4.5	`claude-haiku-4-5-20251001`	2026-09-17 21:37	yes	27	10 s
Negative framing	GPT-5.4 mini	`gpt-5.4-mini-2026-03-17`	2026-09-17 21:25	no	0	3 s
Negative framing	Gemini 3.5 Flash	`gemini-3.5-flash`	2026-09-17 19:04	yes	25	24 s
Negative framing	Perplexity Sonar	`sonar`	2026-09-17 19:45	yes	20	8 s
Negative framing	Grok 4.1 Fast	`spacexai/grok-4.1-fast-non-reasoning via vertex`	2026-09-17 19:25	yes	39	16 s
Negative framing	Mistral Small	`mistral/mistral-small via mistral`	2026-09-17 18:37	yes	5	7 s
Negative framing	DeepSeek V4 Flash	`deepseek/deepseek-v4-flash via fireworks`	2026-09-17 21:37	yes	30	29 s
Negative framing	Llama 4 Maverick	`meta/llama-4-maverick via bedrock`	2026-09-17 19:30	yes	5	2 s
Negative framing	Qwen 3.7 Flash	`alibaba/qwen3.7-flash via alibaba`	2026-09-17 18:14	no	0	70 s
Negative framing	Kimi K2	`moonshotai/kimi-k2 via novita`	2026-09-17 19:33	yes	15	22 s
Negative framing	GLM 4.7 FlashX	`zai/glm-4.7-flashx via zai`	2026-09-17 20:35	yes	19	26 s
Negative framing	MiniMax M2.5	`minimax/minimax-m2.5 via minimax`	2026-09-17 18:22	yes	7	29 s

Normalization in this category

Every judgment call made between the raw labels and the numbers above, listed so it is visible and reversible.

Category-scoped readings

Google Calendar Appointment Schedules read as Google Calendar

Unresolved, counted raw

Akiflow

Apple Calendar

Appointy

CalClear

Calendar.com

ClinicSense

GlossGenius

Incident.io

Lever's Scheduler

MakeShift

Meetergo

Microsoft Bookings / Outlook Calendar

Morgen

Oracle ERP

PagerDuty

Routine

SAP Scheduling Modules

ScheduleAnywhere

Simply Schedule Appointments

SimplyMeet.me

WaitWell

When2Work

Discontinued, still offered

No shut-down product was recommended here.

Workforce scheduling

By buyer segment

01The standing

Recommended versus criticized

02What they warned about

03What they cite

Sites the answers cite

Pages the answers cite

04How they answered

05The record

Normalization in this category

Also in core hr and payroll