Index › Core HR and payroll › Workforce scheduling › Small business › September 2026 Edition

Workforce scheduling for small business buyers

Asked as “employee scheduling software”, and as “shift scheduling tool”, on behalf of a small B2B company. 42 first choices recorded across the direct, paraphrase, budget and scale prompts, twelve models each.

Standing

Homebase

Clear leader

43% of first choices, clear leader.

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 leaderThis page Mid-market

Deputy26%ContestedStanding →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 small B2B company. Ordered by share.

ProductFirst-choice shareNegative rateLabelsQuadrant

Homebase2%51endorsed leader

Connecteam2%42endorsed leader

Sling0%31accepted challenger

When I Work9%46accepted challenger

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

7shifts19%21accepted challenger

Calendly11%18accepted challenger

Deputy6%36accepted 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% negative60%

Key

Homebase43%

Connecteam38%

Sling12%

When I Work7%

Deputy0%

Calendly0%

7shifts0%

02What they warned about

Two of twelve models held their first choice under the paraphrase. Claude Haiku 4.5, GPT-5.4 mini, Perplexity Sonar, Grok 4.1 Fast, 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.

7shifts

19%

4 of 21 labels negative · 3 of 12 models · 2 hard negative

“I'd steer away from restaurant-specific platforms like 7shifts, HotSchedules, and Toast Scheduling” DeepSeek V4 Flash, direct prompt

Acuity Scheduling

43%

3 of 7 labels negative · 3 of 12 models

“flagged for glitches (app instability, frequent logouts, slow refreshes), no free tier, and steep pricing” Grok 4.1 Fast, negative prompt

When I Work

4 of 46 labels negative · 3 of 12 models

“**When I Work** is worth a look, but it can be less feature-rich and may require more manual work than the others” GPT-5.4 mini, direct prompt

Vagaro

100%

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

“service-based avoid Vagaro” Grok 4.1 Fast, 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

62 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. 770 links across 189 sites, every framing counted. Ranked by the number of answers carrying the site or page.

joinhomebase.com

39 answers · 75 citations · 10 models

capterra.com

36 answers · 49 citations · 10 models

connecteam.com

vendor site · Connecteam33 answers · 57 citations · 10 models

zapier.com

vendor site · Zapier31 answers · 32 citations · 9 models

peoplemanagingpeople.com

vendor site · People Managing People25 answers · 31 citations · 10 models

shifton.com

vendor site · Shifton22 answers · 23 citations · 10 models

forbes.com

22 answers · 22 citations · 9 models

buddypunch.com

vendor site · Buddy Punch14 answers · 15 citations · 9 models

selectsoftwarereviews.com

vendor site · Select Software Reviews13 answers · 13 citations · 6 models

guideflow.com

vendor site · Guideflow12 answers · 16 citations · 8 models

salesforce.com

vendor site · Salesforce12 answers · 12 citations · 6 models

softwareadvice.com

11 answers · 14 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.

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

30 answers · 9 models

capterra.com/resources/best-employee-scheduling-software-for-small-business

23 answers · 9 models

shifton.com/blog/best-employee-scheduling-software-small-business

22 answers · 10 models

joinhomebase.com/blog/best-employee-scheduling-apps

21 answers · 8 models

connecteam.com/scheduling-software-small-business

19 answers · 9 models

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

19 answers · 9 models

connecteam.com/online-employee-scheduling-apps

18 answers · 10 models

peoplemanagingpeople.com/tools/best-employee-scheduling-software-for-small-…

15 answers · 7 models

buddypunch.com/blog/employee-scheduling-software

14 answers · 9 models

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

14 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 a small B2B company?”Paraphrase“Which shift scheduling tool would you recommend to a small business that sells to other businesses?”Comparative“What are the top scheduling tools for a small team and how do they differ?”Budget-constrained“What is the best employee scheduling software for a small company with a tight budget?”Scale-constrained“We are a 30 person company evaluating an employee scheduling software. What should we look at?”Negative“Which scheduling tools should a small business avoid or be cautious about?”

Claude Haiku 4.5Connecteam, Homebase

Two alternatives

Deputy, When I Work

no first choiceChangedWhen I Work

Eight alternatives

7shifts, Appointlet, Calendly, Connecteam, Deputy, Rallly, Sling, SuperSaaS

Sling, When I Work

Three alternatives

Deputy, Homebase, Shifton

no first choiceagainst: HoneyBook, YouCanBookMe

GPT-5.4 miniConnecteam

One alternative

Deputy

against: When I WorkHomebaseChanged

One alternative

When I Work

against: 7shifts, DeputyCalendly

Three alternatives

Doodle, Google Calendar, Microsoft Bookings

Homebase, Sling

One alternative

When I Work

against: Connecteamno first choicenothing named

Gemini 3.5 FlashConnecteam

Five alternatives

Calendly, Chili Piper, Float, Resource Guru, When I Work

ConnecteamHeld

Three alternatives

Float, Homebase, When I Work

When I Work

Four alternatives

7shifts, Connecteam, Homebase, Sling

Homebase

Three alternatives

7shifts, Connecteam, Sling

no first choice

Six alternatives

7shifts, Connecteam, Deputy, Homebase, Sling, When I Work

against: Dayforce, Hootsuite, Salesforce Scheduler, Sprout Social, TimeTrade, UKG Pro Workforce Management, Workday

Perplexity SonarConnecteam

Four alternatives

Buddy Punch, Deputy, Homebase, When I Work

HomebaseChanged

Four alternatives

Connecteam, Deputy, Sling, When I Work

Connecteam, Homebase

Three alternatives

Deputy, Sling, When I Work

Sling

Two alternatives

Connecteam, Homebase

no first choicenothing named

Grok 4.1 FastConnecteam

One alternative

Homebase

against: 7shiftsHomebaseChanged

Two alternatives

Connecteam, When I Work

against: 7shiftsHomebase, Sling

One alternative

When I Work

Homebase

Four alternatives

7shifts, Connecteam, Shifton, Sling

against: When I Workno first choiceagainst: Acuity Scheduling, Calendly, Homebase, Setmore, Vagaro, When I Work, Workiz

Mistral SmallConnecteam

Three alternatives

Deputy, Homebase, When I Work

ConnecteamHeld

Two alternatives

Buddy Punch, Homebase

Calendly

Six alternatives

Doodle, Microsoft Bookings, Reclaim.ai, SavvyCal, Setmore, YouCanBookMe

Connecteam, Homebase

Two alternatives

7shifts, Sling

no first choicenothing named

DeepSeek V4 FlashConnecteam

Three alternatives

Buddy Punch, Homebase, When I Work

against: 7shifts, HotSchedules, Toast SchedulingHomebaseChanged

Two alternatives

Deputy, Jobber

Homebase

Seven alternatives

7shifts, Cal.com, Calendly, Connecteam, Deputy, Sling, When I Work

Sling

Two alternatives

Connecteam, Homebase

no first choiceagainst: Acuity Scheduling, Calabrio, Deputy, Jobber, NICE CXone, OpenCal, Oracle Workforce Management, Shiftboard, Verint, When I Work, Zoho

Llama 4 MaverickConnecteam

Two alternatives

Deputy, When I Work

Connecteam, HomebaseChangedno first choiceno first choiceno first choicenothing named

Qwen 3.7 FlashWhen I Work

Three alternatives

Calendly, Gusto, QuickBooks Time

HomebaseChanged

Two alternatives

Connecteam, When I Work

Sling, When I Work

Four alternatives

Calendly, Homebase, Square Appointments, YouCanBookMe

Homebase

Three alternatives

7shifts, Connecteam, When I Work

no first choice

Four alternatives

Deputy, Homebase, Pinpoint, When I Work

against: Acuity Scheduling, Asana, Calendly, Google Calendar, Microsoft Dynamics 365, Oracle NetSuite, Salesforce, Smartsheet, Wrike

Kimi K2Connecteam, Homebase

Two alternatives

Sling, When I Work

Homebase, When I WorkChanged

Two alternatives

Deputy, Sling

Homebase

Seven alternatives

Calendly, Clockify, Connecteam, Deputy, Koalendar, Sling, When I Work

Homebase

Four alternatives

7shifts, Shifton, Sling, TimeTrex

Connecteam

Four alternatives

Deputy, Homebase, Sling, When I Work

against: Thryv, Vagaro

GLM 4.7 FlashXSling

Four alternatives

Deputy, Homebase, When I Work, ZoomShift

against: BambooHRConnecteamChanged

Two alternatives

Homebase, When I Work

Homebase

Six alternatives

7shifts, Connecteam, Deputy, Rippling, Sling, When I Work

Homebase

Five alternatives

7shifts, Connecteam, Deputy, Sling, When I Work

no first choicenothing named

MiniMax M2.5no first choiceConnecteam, HomebaseChanged

One alternative

Calendly

Homebase

Four alternatives

7shifts, Connecteam, Deputy, When I Work

Homebase

Three alternatives

Connecteam, Shifton, Sling

no first choicenothing named

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 21:22	yes	9	8 s
Direct recommendation	GPT-5.4 mini	`gpt-5.4-mini-2026-03-17`	2026-09-17 18:21	yes	3	9 s
Direct recommendation	Gemini 3.5 Flash	`gemini-3.5-flash`	2026-09-17 18:01	yes	14	229 s
Direct recommendation	Perplexity Sonar	`sonar`	2026-09-17 19:44	yes	20	5 s
Direct recommendation	Grok 4.1 Fast	`spacexai/grok-4.1-fast-non-reasoning via vertex`	2026-09-17 18:42	yes	26	16 s
Direct recommendation	Mistral Small	`mistral/mistral-small via mistral`	2026-09-17 21:00	yes	15	8 s
Direct recommendation	DeepSeek V4 Flash	`deepseek/deepseek-v4-flash via fireworks`	2026-09-17 20:58	yes	14	16 s
Direct recommendation	Llama 4 Maverick	`meta/llama-4-maverick via bedrock`	2026-09-17 21:22	yes	5	3 s
Direct recommendation	Qwen 3.7 Flash	`alibaba/qwen3.7-flash via alibaba`	2026-09-17 20:52	no	0	30 s
Direct recommendation	Kimi K2	`moonshotai/kimi-k2 via novita`	2026-09-17 18:26	yes	13	37 s
Direct recommendation	GLM 4.7 FlashX	`zai/glm-4.7-flashx via zai`	2026-09-17 18:20	yes	25	44 s
Direct recommendation	MiniMax M2.5	`minimax/minimax-m2.5 via minimax`	2026-09-17 20:13	yes	8	23 s
Paraphrase	Claude Haiku 4.5	`claude-haiku-4-5-20251001`	2026-09-17 17:59	no	0	4 s
Paraphrase	GPT-5.4 mini	`gpt-5.4-mini-2026-03-17`	2026-09-17 20:33	no	0	3 s
Paraphrase	Gemini 3.5 Flash	`gemini-3.5-flash`	2026-09-17 22:01	yes	7	58 s
Paraphrase	Perplexity Sonar	`sonar`	2026-09-17 21:25	yes	20	5 s
Paraphrase	Grok 4.1 Fast	`spacexai/grok-4.1-fast-non-reasoning via vertex`	2026-09-17 20:38	yes	31	15 s
Paraphrase	Mistral Small	`mistral/mistral-small via mistral`	2026-09-17 19:56	yes	5	4 s
Paraphrase	DeepSeek V4 Flash	`deepseek/deepseek-v4-flash via fireworks`	2026-09-17 19:01	yes	15	16 s
Paraphrase	Llama 4 Maverick	`meta/llama-4-maverick via bedrock`	2026-09-17 19:24	yes	5	2 s
Paraphrase	Qwen 3.7 Flash	`alibaba/qwen3.7-flash via alibaba`	2026-09-17 18:56	yes	13	51 s
Paraphrase	Kimi K2	`moonshotai/kimi-k2 via novita`	2026-09-17 20:15	yes	9	17 s
Paraphrase	GLM 4.7 FlashX	`zai/glm-4.7-flashx via zai`	2026-09-17 20:50	yes	15	52 s
Paraphrase	MiniMax M2.5	`minimax/minimax-m2.5 via minimax`	2026-09-17 20:03	yes	13	39 s
Comparative	Claude Haiku 4.5	`claude-haiku-4-5-20251001`	2026-09-17 20:47	yes	9	10 s
Comparative	GPT-5.4 mini	`gpt-5.4-mini-2026-03-17`	2026-09-17 21:38	yes	6	7 s
Comparative	Gemini 3.5 Flash	`gemini-3.5-flash`	2026-09-17 22:02	yes	15	44 s
Comparative	Perplexity Sonar	`sonar`	2026-09-17 18:47	yes	20	8 s
Comparative	Grok 4.1 Fast	`spacexai/grok-4.1-fast-non-reasoning via vertex`	2026-09-17 20:06	yes	26	15 s
Comparative	Mistral Small	`mistral/mistral-small via mistral`	2026-09-17 18:19	yes	15	11 s
Comparative	DeepSeek V4 Flash	`deepseek/deepseek-v4-flash via fireworks`	2026-09-17 17:54	yes	20	20 s
Comparative	Llama 4 Maverick	`meta/llama-4-maverick via bedrock`	2026-09-17 20:34	yes	5	2 s
Comparative	Qwen 3.7 Flash	`alibaba/qwen3.7-flash via alibaba`	2026-09-17 20:39	yes	5	23 s
Comparative	Kimi K2	`moonshotai/kimi-k2 via novita`	2026-09-17 20:47	yes	15	30 s
Comparative	GLM 4.7 FlashX	`zai/glm-4.7-flashx via zai`	2026-09-17 20:51	yes	20	103 s
Comparative	MiniMax M2.5	`minimax/minimax-m2.5 via minimax`	2026-09-17 19:48	yes	8	18 s
Budget constrained	Claude Haiku 4.5	`claude-haiku-4-5-20251001`	2026-09-17 19:48	yes	9	8 s
Budget constrained	GPT-5.4 mini	`gpt-5.4-mini-2026-03-17`	2026-09-17 21:29	yes	4	5 s
Budget constrained	Gemini 3.5 Flash	`gemini-3.5-flash`	2026-09-17 19:44	yes	15	19 s
Budget constrained	Perplexity Sonar	`sonar`	2026-09-17 20:13	yes	20	6 s
Budget constrained	Grok 4.1 Fast	`spacexai/grok-4.1-fast-non-reasoning via vertex`	2026-09-17 19:16	yes	16	11 s
Budget constrained	Mistral Small	`mistral/mistral-small via mistral`	2026-09-17 20:21	yes	9	5 s
Budget constrained	DeepSeek V4 Flash	`deepseek/deepseek-v4-flash via fireworks`	2026-09-17 19:12	yes	19	19 s
Budget constrained	Llama 4 Maverick	`meta/llama-4-maverick via bedrock`	2026-09-17 19:10	yes	5	3 s
Budget constrained	Qwen 3.7 Flash	`alibaba/qwen3.7-flash via alibaba`	2026-09-17 20:05	yes	15	56 s
Budget constrained	Kimi K2	`moonshotai/kimi-k2 via novita`	2026-09-17 18:59	yes	8	19 s
Budget constrained	GLM 4.7 FlashX	`zai/glm-4.7-flashx via zai`	2026-09-17 21:40	yes	11	81 s
Budget constrained	MiniMax M2.5	`minimax/minimax-m2.5 via minimax`	2026-09-17 21:46	yes	9	26 s
Scale constrained	Claude Haiku 4.5	`claude-haiku-4-5-20251001`	2026-09-17 18:00	no	0	8 s
Scale constrained	GPT-5.4 mini	`gpt-5.4-mini-2026-03-17`	2026-09-17 20:25	no	0	5 s
Scale constrained	Gemini 3.5 Flash	`gemini-3.5-flash`	2026-09-17 21:53	yes	12	35 s
Scale constrained	Perplexity Sonar	`sonar`	2026-09-17 18:25	yes	20	8 s
Scale constrained	Grok 4.1 Fast	`spacexai/grok-4.1-fast-non-reasoning via vertex`	2026-09-17 19:17	yes	14	11 s
Scale constrained	Mistral Small	`mistral/mistral-small via mistral`	2026-09-17 21:14	no	0	6 s
Scale constrained	DeepSeek V4 Flash	`deepseek/deepseek-v4-flash via fireworks`	2026-09-17 17:58	yes	10	14 s
Scale constrained	Llama 4 Maverick	`meta/llama-4-maverick via bedrock`	2026-09-17 20:49	yes	5	3 s
Scale constrained	Qwen 3.7 Flash	`alibaba/qwen3.7-flash via alibaba`	2026-09-17 19:06	no	0	29 s
Scale constrained	Kimi K2	`moonshotai/kimi-k2 via novita`	2026-09-17 21:08	yes	8	22 s
Scale constrained	GLM 4.7 FlashX	`zai/glm-4.7-flashx via zai`	2026-09-17 19:41	no	0	56 s
Scale constrained	MiniMax M2.5	`minimax/minimax-m2.5 via minimax`	2026-09-17 19:29	no	0	7 s
Negative framing	Claude Haiku 4.5	`claude-haiku-4-5-20251001`	2026-09-17 18:45	yes	17	7 s
Negative framing	GPT-5.4 mini	`gpt-5.4-mini-2026-03-17`	2026-09-17 17:53	no	0	5 s
Negative framing	Gemini 3.5 Flash	`gemini-3.5-flash`	2026-09-17 19:51	yes	16	22 s
Negative framing	Perplexity Sonar	`sonar`	2026-09-17 20:08	yes	20	8 s
Negative framing	Grok 4.1 Fast	`spacexai/grok-4.1-fast-non-reasoning via vertex`	2026-09-17 21:30	yes	41	17 s
Negative framing	Mistral Small	`mistral/mistral-small via mistral`	2026-09-17 21:12	yes	9	8 s
Negative framing	DeepSeek V4 Flash	`deepseek/deepseek-v4-flash via fireworks`	2026-09-17 21:22	yes	18	16 s
Negative framing	Llama 4 Maverick	`meta/llama-4-maverick via bedrock`	2026-09-17 21:42	yes	5	2 s
Negative framing	Qwen 3.7 Flash	`alibaba/qwen3.7-flash via alibaba`	2026-09-17 18:18	yes	10	47 s
Negative framing	Kimi K2	`moonshotai/kimi-k2 via novita`	2026-09-17 18:22	yes	19	35 s
Negative framing	GLM 4.7 FlashX	`zai/glm-4.7-flashx via zai`	2026-09-17 21:41	yes	27	53 s
Negative framing	MiniMax M2.5	`minimax/minimax-m2.5 via minimax`	2026-09-17 18:57	yes	9	23 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

Acuity read as Acuity Scheduling

Ceridian Dayforce read as Dayforce

Unresolved, counted raw

BIGContacts

CalendarHero

Lunchbox

MeetFox

Metricool

OpenCal

Publer

ServiceM8

SuperSaaS

Thryv

TimeTrade

Toast Scheduling

Workfeed

Zorka

Discontinued, still offered

No shut-down product was recommended here.

Workforce scheduling for small business 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