# Workforce scheduling: what AI models recommend, September 2026

HR AI Recommendation Index, September 2026 Edition. Asked as "employee scheduling software" and as "shift scheduling tool", six framings each, to twelve models with search on, on behalf of a mid-market B2B company. Page: https://hr-ai-index.com/core/workforce-scheduling/

**Standing:** Deputy leads with 26% of first choices; verdict contested. 47 first choices across the direct, paraphrase, budget and scale prompts.

## First-choice share

| # | Product | Share | Negative rate | Labels |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Deputy | 26% | 0% | 26 |
| 2 | Homebase | 15% | 12% | 25 |
| 3 | Sling | 15% | 6% | 18 |
| 4 | Connecteam | 9% | 4% | 25 |
| 5 | When I Work | 6% | 11% | 28 |
| 6 | Calendly | 0% | 25% | 20 |
| 7 | Cal.com | 0% | 0% | 12 |
| 8 | Acuity Scheduling | 0% | 10% | 10 |
| 9 | 7shifts | 0% | 25% | 12 |

## Each model's first choice on the direct prompt

- Claude Haiku 4.5: Paycor; alternatives Buddy Punch, Sling, UKG Pro
- GPT-5.4 mini: Rippling; alternatives Connecteam, Homebase, When I Work
- Gemini 3.5 Flash: Assembled; alternatives Calendly, Chili Piper, Deputy, Float
- Perplexity Sonar: Deputy; alternatives Rippling, Workforce.com
- Grok 4.1 Fast: ADP Workforce Now, Rippling; alternatives Connecteam, Deputy
- Mistral Small: Paycor, TimeTrex; alternatives 7shifts, Buddy Punch, Connecteam
- DeepSeek V4 Flash: Deputy; alternatives ADP Workforce Now, Connecteam, Jobber, When I Work
- Llama 4 Maverick: TimeTrex
- Qwen 3.7 Flash: Deputy; alternatives Humanity, Rippling, TimeTrex
- Kimi K2: Deputy; alternatives Humanity, When I Work
- GLM 4.7 FlashX: Deputy; alternatives Connecteam, Humanity, TimeTrex, When I Work
- MiniMax M2.5: TimeTrex; alternatives Deputy, Humanity, ScheduleAnywhere, When I Work

## Sources the answers cite

65 of 72 answers came back with a source list, from 12 of 12 models. Sites named in the most answers:

- peoplemanagingpeople.com: 31 answers, 47 citations
- zapier.com: 31 answers, 31 citations
- forbes.com: 28 answers, 29 citations
- connecteam.com: 22 answers, 32 citations
- capterra.com: 20 answers, 29 citations
- softwareadvice.com: 17 answers, 18 citations
- guideflow.com: 16 answers, 22 citations
- timetrex.com: 15 answers, 23 citations

Pages named in the most answers:

- https://zapier.com/blog/best-employee-scheduling-software (27 answers)
- https://forbes.com/advisor/business/software/best-employee-scheduling-software (22 answers)
- https://connecteam.com/online-employee-scheduling-apps (14 answers)
- https://learn.g2.com/employee-scheduling-tools (14 answers)
- https://peoplemanagingpeople.com/tools/best-employee-scheduling-software (14 answers)
- https://timetrex.com/resources/best-online-employee-scheduling-software (13 answers)
- https://peoplemanagingpeople.com/tools/best-employee-shift-scheduling-software (12 answers)
- https://business.com/categories/employee-scheduling-software (11 answers)
- https://softwareadvice.com/hr/employee-scheduling-comparison (10 answers)
- https://capterra.com/resources/best-scheduling-software-reviews-analysis (9 answers)

## Warned against

- Calendly: 5 of 20 labels negative. "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: 3 of 25 labels negative. "Sling or Homebase (note: these cap out quickly at mid-scale)" (Qwen 3.7 Flash, paraphrase prompt)
- When I Work: 3 of 28 labels negative. "Employee Scheduling Tools (7shifts, HotSchedules, When I Work)... caution is about your own operational hygiene." (DeepSeek V4 Flash, negative prompt)
- 7shifts: 3 of 12 labels negative. "What to avoid... 7shifts \u2014 unless you're in hospitality/restaurants" (DeepSeek V4 Flash, paraphrase prompt)

## Record

- Method: https://hr-ai-index.com/methodology/
- Raw judge labels and full responses: https://hr-ai-index.com/data/
- License: CC BY 4.0. Cite as HR AI Recommendation Index, September 2026 Edition, hr-ai-index.com.