Index › Core HR and payroll › Workforce scheduling › Enterprise › September 2026 Edition

Workforce scheduling for enterprise buyers

Asked as “employee scheduling software”, and as “shift scheduling tool”, on behalf of an enterprise B2B company. 51 first choices recorded across the direct, paraphrase, budget and scale prompts, twelve models each.

Standing

UKG Pro Workforce Management

Contested

14% of first choices, contested.

ShowinginAll 50 categories in the September 2026 Edition →

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%ContestedStanding →Enterprise

UKG Pro Workforce Management14%ContestedThis page

01The standing

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

ProductFirst-choice shareNegative rateLabelsQuadrant

UKG Pro5%19accepted challenger

Workday Workforce Management0%10accepted challenger

Deputy25%20criticized challenger

Shiftboard5%22accepted challenger

Dayforce0%14accepted challenger

Rippling18%11accepted challenger

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

Calendly55%20criticized challenger

Acuity Scheduling45%11criticized 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% negative30%

Key

UKG Pro12%

Workday Workforce Management8%

Deputy8%

Shiftboard6%

Dayforce2%

Rippling2%

Acuity Scheduling0%

Calendly0%

02What they warned about

One of twelve models held their first choice under the paraphrase. Claude Haiku 4.5, GPT-5.4 mini, Gemini 3.5 Flash, Perplexity Sonar, Mistral Small, DeepSeek V4 Flash, Llama 4 Maverick, Qwen 3.7 Flash, 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

55%

11 of 20 labels negative · 11 of 12 models · 8 hard negative

“**Why to avoid:** While popular for individuals and small teams, Calendly lacks the complexity, compliance, and integration capabilities required by large enterprises.” Mistral Small, negative prompt

Acuity Scheduling

45%

5 of 11 labels negative · 5 of 12 models · 3 hard negative

“Missing enterprise features like advanced routing, compliance, and multi-department controls” Grok 4.1 Fast, negative prompt

Deputy

25%

5 of 20 labels negative · 3 of 12 models · 3 hard negative

“I would not pick lighter tools like Deputy or When I Work as the primary platform for a very large enterprise” GPT-5.4 mini, paraphrase prompt

Doodle

60%

3 of 5 labels negative · 3 of 12 models · 3 hard negative

“**Doodle**: Free tiers display advertising to invitees, has no CRM integration, no routing/round-robin logic, and weak admin controls—unacceptable for customer-facing enterprise use.” Kimi K2, negative 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

69 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. 1038 links across 313 sites, every framing counted. Ranked by the number of answers carrying the site or page.

peoplemanagingpeople.com

vendor site · People Managing People35 answers · 66 citations · 10 models

learn.g2.com

29 answers · 33 citations · 9 models

zapier.com

vendor site · Zapier26 answers · 26 citations · 10 models

guideflow.com

vendor site · Guideflow24 answers · 34 citations · 10 models

worldmetrics.org

18 answers · 28 citations · 8 models

cal.com

vendor site · Cal.com18 answers · 24 citations · 10 models

cio.economictimes.indiatimes.com

16 answers · 18 citations · 9 models

nowsta.com

vendor site · Nowsta15 answers · 20 citations · 8 models

forbes.com

14 answers · 14 citations · 8 models

gitnux.org

12 answers · 22 citations · 8 models

g2.com

12 answers · 17 citations · 6 models

leadangel.com

vendor site · LeadAngel12 answers · 12 citations · 7 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.

learn.g2.com/employee-scheduling-tools

29 answers · 9 models

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

24 answers · 10 models

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

18 answers · 8 models

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

17 answers · 9 models

cio.economictimes.indiatimes.com/amp/tools/10-best-workforce-management-sof…

16 answers · 9 models

cal.com/blog/enterprise-scheduling-software

15 answers · 9 models

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

13 answers · 8 models

nowsta.com/blog/best-employee-scheduling-software-for-large-teams

13 answers · 7 models

leadangel.com/blog/operations/enterprise-scheduling-software

12 answers · 7 models

guideflow.com/blog/workforce-scheduling-software

11 answers · 8 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 an enterprise B2B company?”Paraphrase“Which shift scheduling tool would you recommend to a large B2B company with thousands of employees?”Comparative“What are the top enterprise-grade scheduling tools and how do they differ?”Budget-constrained“What is the best employee scheduling software for a large company that needs predictable total cost across thousands of users?”Scale-constrained“We are a 5,000 person company with SSO, SOC 2 and procurement review requirements evaluating an employee scheduling software. What should we look at?”Negative“Which scheduling tools should a large enterprise avoid or be cautious about?”

Claude Haiku 4.5ADP Workforce Now

Two alternatives

Connecteam, Paycor

ADP Workforce Now, UKG ProChanged

Two alternatives

Deputy, Nowsta

Dayforce

Two alternatives

ADP Workforce Now, Paychex

Quinyx

Four alternatives

Paylocity, Shiftboard, UKG Pro, Workday

no first choiceagainst: Calendly

GPT-5.4 miniUKG Pro Workforce Management

One alternative

Dayforce Workforce Management

ADP WorkForce Suite, Workday Workforce ManagementChangedagainst: Deputy, When I WorkCalendly

Five alternatives

Acuity Scheduling, Doodle, Google Calendar, Google Workspace, Microsoft Outlook / Microsoft 365

Workday, Workday GO

One alternative

UKG Pro

no first choicenothing named

Gemini 3.5 FlashAssembled, Chili Piper

Five alternatives

Cal.com, Calendly, Dayforce, UKG Pro, Zendesk WFM

UKG Pro Workforce ManagementChanged

Five alternatives

Dayforce, Deputy, Shiftboard, Skedulo, Workday Workforce Management

Calendly

Six alternatives

ActiveBatch, BMC Control-M, Chili Piper, Redwood RunMyJobs, Stonebranch, Timify Enterprise

UKG Shiftboard, Workforce.com

Three alternatives

7shifts, Connecteam, Homebase

no first choiceagainst: Acuity Scheduling, Cal.com, Calendly, Doodle, X.ai

Perplexity SonarWorkday

Two alternatives

Deputy, Shiftboard

Shiftboard, WorkdayChanged

One alternative

SAP SuccessFactors

Shiftboard

Three alternatives

Deputy, Rippling, UKG Pro

Connecteam

Two alternatives

Rippling, Shiftboard

no first choiceagainst: Calendly, Microsoft Project, Oracle ASCP, SAP APO/IBP, Siemens Opcenter

Grok 4.1 FastUKG Pro Workforce Management

Four alternatives

ADP WorkForce Suite, Dayforce, Oracle HCM Cloud, Workday Workforce Management

against: Deputy, ShiftboardUKG Pro Workforce ManagementHeld

Four alternatives

Dayforce, Oracle HCM Cloud, Shiftboard, Workday Workforce Management

against: Deputy, Homebase, RipplingUKG Pro

Three alternatives

ADP Workforce Now, Shiftboard, Workday

UKG Pro

Two alternatives

Rippling, Zoho People

against: EpicShiftsRippling, Workforce.com

Two alternatives

Deputy, When I Work

against: 7shifts, Acuity Scheduling, Calendly, Doodle, Homebase, When I Work, YouCanBookMe

Mistral SmallQuinyx, UKG Pro Workforce Management

Three alternatives

Dayforce, Shiftboard, Workday Adaptive Planning

QuinyxChanged

Two alternatives

Indeavor, Shiftboard

Resource Guru

Two alternatives

Clockwise, Shiftboard

EpicShifts

Two alternatives

7shifts, Homebase

against: Ripplingno first choiceagainst: Calendly, HotSchedules

DeepSeek V4 FlashUKG Pro Workforce Management

Three alternatives

ADP WorkForce Suite, Quinyx, Workday Workforce Management

Blue Yonder Workforce Management, Workday Workforce ManagementChanged

Two alternatives

Quinyx, Shiftboard

Deputy

Three alternatives

Connecteam, Rippling, Shiftboard

When I Work

One alternative

Deputy

against: EpicShifts, Oracle, SAP, Sling, UKG Pro, Workforce.comno first choiceagainst: Calendly, Excel, Google Sheets, SAP, Workday

Llama 4 MaverickDeputyShiftboardChanged

One alternative

Indeavor

no first choiceno first choiceno first choiceagainst: Calendly, Opsgenie

Qwen 3.7 FlashWorkday Workforce Management

Three alternatives

ADP Time and Labor Management, Deputy, UKG Pro

UKG ReadyChanged

Two alternatives

Dayforce, Rippling

no first choiceagainst: Redwood RunMyJobsDeputy, Workday HCM

Two alternatives

UKG Pro, User Solutions

no first choiceagainst: Acuity Scheduling, Calendly, Cron, Microsoft Bookings, Motion, Quartz, Reclaim.ai, When2Meet, Windows Task Scheduler

Kimi K2Deputy, Shiftboard

One alternative

ADP Time and Labor Management

Dayforce, UKG ProChanged

Three alternatives

Blue Yonder Workforce Management, SAP SuccessFactors, Workday HCM

against: Deputy, When I WorkCalendly, Oracle Primavera P6

Three alternatives

Chili Piper, Microsoft Project, Smartsheet

against: Microsoft BookingsHumanity, UKG Pro

Two alternatives

EpicShifts, Shiftboard

against: Deputy, Homebase, When I WorkUKG Pro

Five alternatives

ADP WorkForce Suite, Shiftboard, Smartsheet, TCP Software, Workday Workforce Management

against: Acuity Scheduling, Appointlet, Calendly, Doodle

GLM 4.7 FlashXWorkday Workforce Management

Five alternatives

ADP WorkForce Suite, Blue Yonder Workforce Management, Dayforce, Rippling, UKG Pro Workforce Management

Blue Yonder Workforce ManagementChanged

Four alternatives

Dayforce, Nowsta, Shiftboard, UKG Pro

Shiftboard

Four alternatives

Acuity Scheduling, Calendly, Monday.com, Resource Guru

Deputy

Two alternatives

Dayforce, UKG Pro

no first choiceagainst: Acuity Scheduling, Asana, Calendly, Findmyshift, Jira, Setmore, ZoomShift

MiniMax M2.5ADP WorkForce Suite, Workday

Two alternatives

Humanity, Microsoft Teams Shift

UKG ProChanged

Three alternatives

ADP Workforce Now, Dayforce, Rippling

UKG Pro

Three alternatives

Dayforce, Oracle Workforce Management, SAP SuccessFactors

UKG Pro Workforce Management

Two alternatives

Legion, When I Work

against: Schedaddleno first choiceagainst: Calendly

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 21:39	yes	9	7 s
Direct recommendation	GPT-5.4 mini	`gpt-5.4-mini-2026-03-17`	2026-09-17 18:35	yes	4	6 s
Direct recommendation	Gemini 3.5 Flash	`gemini-3.5-flash`	2026-09-17 18:55	yes	12	27 s
Direct recommendation	Perplexity Sonar	`sonar`	2026-09-17 20:57	yes	20	6 s
Direct recommendation	Grok 4.1 Fast	`spacexai/grok-4.1-fast-non-reasoning via vertex`	2026-09-17 21:33	yes	39	16 s
Direct recommendation	Mistral Small	`mistral/mistral-small via mistral`	2026-09-17 19:08	yes	14	8 s
Direct recommendation	DeepSeek V4 Flash	`deepseek/deepseek-v4-flash via fireworks`	2026-09-17 18:50	yes	23	24 s
Direct recommendation	Llama 4 Maverick	`meta/llama-4-maverick via bedrock`	2026-09-17 21:12	yes	6	4 s
Direct recommendation	Qwen 3.7 Flash	`alibaba/qwen3.7-flash via alibaba`	2026-09-17 18:39	yes	5	17 s
Direct recommendation	Kimi K2	`moonshotai/kimi-k2 via novita`	2026-09-17 19:04	yes	10	40 s
Direct recommendation	GLM 4.7 FlashX	`zai/glm-4.7-flashx via zai`	2026-09-17 20:19	yes	13	114 s
Direct recommendation	MiniMax M2.5	`minimax/minimax-m2.5 via minimax`	2026-09-17 21:43	yes	8	27 s
Paraphrase	Claude Haiku 4.5	`claude-haiku-4-5-20251001`	2026-09-17 18:32	yes	9	8 s
Paraphrase	GPT-5.4 mini	`gpt-5.4-mini-2026-03-17`	2026-09-17 20:03	yes	3	5 s
Paraphrase	Gemini 3.5 Flash	`gemini-3.5-flash`	2026-09-17 19:43	yes	19	24 s
Paraphrase	Perplexity Sonar	`sonar`	2026-09-17 21:02	yes	18	5 s
Paraphrase	Grok 4.1 Fast	`spacexai/grok-4.1-fast-non-reasoning via vertex`	2026-09-17 21:03	yes	37	21 s
Paraphrase	Mistral Small	`mistral/mistral-small via mistral`	2026-09-17 21:41	yes	19	15 s
Paraphrase	DeepSeek V4 Flash	`deepseek/deepseek-v4-flash via fireworks`	2026-09-17 19:52	yes	8	11 s
Paraphrase	Llama 4 Maverick	`meta/llama-4-maverick via bedrock`	2026-09-17 21:03	yes	5	3 s
Paraphrase	Qwen 3.7 Flash	`alibaba/qwen3.7-flash via alibaba`	2026-09-17 20:47	yes	10	38 s
Paraphrase	Kimi K2	`moonshotai/kimi-k2 via novita`	2026-09-17 21:08	yes	19	34 s
Paraphrase	GLM 4.7 FlashX	`zai/glm-4.7-flashx via zai`	2026-09-17 18:01	yes	26	137 s
Paraphrase	MiniMax M2.5	`minimax/minimax-m2.5 via minimax`	2026-09-17 19:42	yes	10	32 s
Comparative	Claude Haiku 4.5	`claude-haiku-4-5-20251001`	2026-09-17 20:50	yes	17	14 s
Comparative	GPT-5.4 mini	`gpt-5.4-mini-2026-03-17`	2026-09-17 20:25	yes	8	7 s
Comparative	Gemini 3.5 Flash	`gemini-3.5-flash`	2026-09-17 18:13	yes	25	28 s
Comparative	Perplexity Sonar	`sonar`	2026-09-17 19:41	yes	20	14 s
Comparative	Grok 4.1 Fast	`spacexai/grok-4.1-fast-non-reasoning via vertex`	2026-09-17 20:16	yes	42	19 s
Comparative	Mistral Small	`mistral/mistral-small via mistral`	2026-09-17 20:13	yes	10	9 s
Comparative	DeepSeek V4 Flash	`deepseek/deepseek-v4-flash via fireworks`	2026-09-17 18:04	yes	17	24 s
Comparative	Llama 4 Maverick	`meta/llama-4-maverick via bedrock`	2026-09-17 19:33	yes	5	2 s
Comparative	Qwen 3.7 Flash	`alibaba/qwen3.7-flash via alibaba`	2026-09-17 21:12	yes	5	24 s
Comparative	Kimi K2	`moonshotai/kimi-k2 via novita`	2026-09-17 18:11	yes	14	31 s
Comparative	GLM 4.7 FlashX	`zai/glm-4.7-flashx via zai`	2026-09-17 17:57	yes	25	88 s
Comparative	MiniMax M2.5	`minimax/minimax-m2.5 via minimax`	2026-09-17 18:00	yes	10	48 s
Budget constrained	Claude Haiku 4.5	`claude-haiku-4-5-20251001`	2026-09-17 21:39	yes	17	9 s
Budget constrained	GPT-5.4 mini	`gpt-5.4-mini-2026-03-17`	2026-09-17 21:11	yes	4	5 s
Budget constrained	Gemini 3.5 Flash	`gemini-3.5-flash`	2026-09-17 18:44	yes	23	30 s
Budget constrained	Perplexity Sonar	`sonar`	2026-09-17 18:37	yes	20	6 s
Budget constrained	Grok 4.1 Fast	`spacexai/grok-4.1-fast-non-reasoning via vertex`	2026-09-17 20:37	yes	37	26 s
Budget constrained	Mistral Small	`mistral/mistral-small via mistral`	2026-09-17 18:35	yes	14	9 s
Budget constrained	DeepSeek V4 Flash	`deepseek/deepseek-v4-flash via fireworks`	2026-09-17 19:12	yes	26	45 s
Budget constrained	Llama 4 Maverick	`meta/llama-4-maverick via bedrock`	2026-09-17 20:41	yes	5	3 s
Budget constrained	Qwen 3.7 Flash	`alibaba/qwen3.7-flash via alibaba`	2026-09-17 20:14	yes	31	87 s
Budget constrained	Kimi K2	`moonshotai/kimi-k2 via novita`	2026-09-17 19:37	yes	19	34 s
Budget constrained	GLM 4.7 FlashX	`zai/glm-4.7-flashx via zai`	2026-09-17 21:06	yes	27	169 s
Budget constrained	MiniMax M2.5	`minimax/minimax-m2.5 via minimax`	2026-09-17 21:41	yes	19	71 s
Scale constrained	Claude Haiku 4.5	`claude-haiku-4-5-20251001`	2026-09-17 19:12	yes	18	12 s
Scale constrained	GPT-5.4 mini	`gpt-5.4-mini-2026-03-17`	2026-09-17 19:46	yes	5	10 s
Scale constrained	Gemini 3.5 Flash	`gemini-3.5-flash`	2026-09-17 21:54	yes	7	37 s
Scale constrained	Perplexity Sonar	`sonar`	2026-09-17 19:08	yes	20	9 s
Scale constrained	Grok 4.1 Fast	`spacexai/grok-4.1-fast-non-reasoning via vertex`	2026-09-17 19:16	yes	15	14 s
Scale constrained	Mistral Small	`mistral/mistral-small via mistral`	2026-09-17 21:29	no	0	6 s
Scale constrained	DeepSeek V4 Flash	`deepseek/deepseek-v4-flash via fireworks`	2026-09-17 20:45	yes	19	21 s
Scale constrained	Llama 4 Maverick	`meta/llama-4-maverick via bedrock`	2026-09-17 21:15	yes	5	3 s
Scale constrained	Qwen 3.7 Flash	`alibaba/qwen3.7-flash via alibaba`	2026-09-17 18:34	no	0	34 s
Scale constrained	Kimi K2	`moonshotai/kimi-k2 via novita`	2026-09-17 18:15	yes	20	43 s
Scale constrained	GLM 4.7 FlashX	`zai/glm-4.7-flashx via zai`	2026-09-17 18:03	yes	13	94 s
Scale constrained	MiniMax M2.5	`minimax/minimax-m2.5 via minimax`	2026-09-17 18:36	no	0	15 s
Negative framing	Claude Haiku 4.5	`claude-haiku-4-5-20251001`	2026-09-17 18:13	yes	18	11 s
Negative framing	GPT-5.4 mini	`gpt-5.4-mini-2026-03-17`	2026-09-17 21:39	yes	4	6 s
Negative framing	Gemini 3.5 Flash	`gemini-3.5-flash`	2026-09-17 20:06	yes	16	26 s
Negative framing	Perplexity Sonar	`sonar`	2026-09-17 19:35	yes	20	7 s
Negative framing	Grok 4.1 Fast	`spacexai/grok-4.1-fast-non-reasoning via vertex`	2026-09-17 20:40	yes	39	18 s
Negative framing	Mistral Small	`mistral/mistral-small via mistral`	2026-09-17 18:02	yes	9	8 s
Negative framing	DeepSeek V4 Flash	`deepseek/deepseek-v4-flash via fireworks`	2026-09-17 21:37	yes	23	24 s
Negative framing	Llama 4 Maverick	`meta/llama-4-maverick via bedrock`	2026-09-17 18:14	yes	5	3 s
Negative framing	Qwen 3.7 Flash	`alibaba/qwen3.7-flash via alibaba`	2026-09-17 19:31	yes	22	69 s
Negative framing	Kimi K2	`moonshotai/kimi-k2 via novita`	2026-09-17 19:58	yes	30	65 s
Negative framing	GLM 4.7 FlashX	`zai/glm-4.7-flashx via zai`	2026-09-17 19:49	yes	27	69 s
Negative framing	MiniMax M2.5	`minimax/minimax-m2.5 via minimax`	2026-09-17 20:07	yes	19	35 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

ADP Workforce Management read as ADP WorkForce Suite

Acuity read as Acuity Scheduling

Blue Yonder read as Blue Yonder Workforce Management

Blue Yonder (formerly JDA) read as Blue Yonder Workforce Management

Ceridian Dayforce read as Dayforce

RunMyJobs by Redwood read as Redwood RunMyJobs

Unresolved, counted raw

Amelia

Apache Airflow

Broadcom AutoSys

Cron

IBM Workload Automation

IBM Z Workload Scheduler

Microsoft Outlook / Microsoft 365

Opsgenie

Oracle ASCP

Oracle Primavera P6

Quartz

SAP APO/IBP

SchedPro

Schedaddle

Schedly

Shyft

Siemens Opcenter

Snap Schedule 365

SubItUp

Synchronize Pro

Teamsly

Tidal

Tidal Workload Automation

TimeTap

Timify Enterprise

Trackforce

UKG Shiftboard

User Solutions (RMDB)

When2Meet

Windows Task Scheduler

Workload Automation by Automic

Discontinued, still offered

No shut-down product was recommended here.

Workforce scheduling for enterprise buyers

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