Planday alternative for a small business
Most scheduling tools are built for chains. You notice it the moment you have three employees and a summer temp, and the advertised price hides a minimum-license clause. This guide is the checklist you can run through before you switch — no matter which tool you’re looking at, including ours.
How to read the price
A “price per employee per month” figure tells you nothing until you also know two things: how many licenses you must buy at minimum, and whether licenses are counted per person on payroll or per person actually rostered that month. Do the math for your own site, not an average one. Take the headcount you have in peak season — including weekend and summer temps — and multiply by the per-license price. Compare that total with a flat monthly fee. For a café with fewer than ten on payroll, the flat fee usually wins, and the gap is larger than people expect because the minimum kicks in exactly when you’re smallest.
Check the commitment period before you check the features
Feature lists are easy to compare. Contract terms are not, and that’s where the costly surprises hide. Pull up the quote or agreement and look for three items: the contract length (month-to-month or twelve months at a time?), the notice period (how long it runs after you cancel?), and renewal (does it auto-renew, and how far in advance must you cancel to avoid the next period?). Terms vary between vendors and change over time, so read your own agreement instead of relying on what someone wrote in a review last year. If anything is unclear, ask the vendor to confirm it in writing before you sign.
Check how you can get out again
A tool you can’t exit is more expensive than its sticker price. Ask three questions before you move your whole operation into a system: Can I cancel myself, from my account, without calling anyone? Can I download my schedules and timesheets as files? What happens to the data when the subscription ends — is it deleted, and how long do I have to export it? The answers should be yes, yes, and “you have plenty of time.” If you don’t get clear answers, that’s the answer.
The four features a small business actually uses
Most of what you see in a demo are HR-department features you don’t actually need. For a café, bakery or kiosk there are basically four things you’ll use every week: A weekly schedule where you can drag shifts around without thinking. Availability—i.e. which days each employee has said they can’t work. Shift swaps, so you don’t have to keep track in a chat thread. And an export of the hours your payroll system can read. Everything else is nice-to-have. Weigh the comparison accordingly: a tool that does these four things quickly beats one that does twenty things slowly.
Where the data lives
Your schedule contains employee names and when they work. That’s personal data, and you’re the controller even if the provider runs the system. Ask where the data is stored, whether there’s a data-processing agreement you can get, and who at the provider has access. A provider that has this in order answers instantly—because they get the question all the time. Rota runs on servers in the EU. The planner on this page stores the week in your browser and doesn’t send it anywhere, so there’s no copy here for us to hand over.
How Rota works
Rota costs $1.90 a month for the whole location—no per-employee fee, no minimum number of licences, no contract lock-in. The subscription isn’t open yet. The planner on this page, however, is ready, free and requires no account: add the employees, fill the week from your shift templates, and download the hours as CSV. The week stays in your browser and goes nowhere. Try it on the week you’re in right now; in ten minutes you’ll see whether the tool fits your place—without giving away anything.
Frequently asked questions
What does Planday cost?
Planday publishes its pricing on its own site, and it changes—check there and ask for written confirmation of minimum licences and contract length before you sign. We don’t reproduce other vendors’ prices here because they quickly become outdated.
Can I move my schedule from another system?
If you can export it as CSV or Excel, you can use it. In Rota you’ll re-enter the employees and shift templates—it only takes a few minutes—and then continue planning from there.
Do employees need an app?
No. Rota runs in the browser, and the schedule can be shared as a file or a link. No installation for those who just need to see when they work.