ZoomShift is a scheduling and time tracking software that is great for small businesses and restaurants that experience seasonal highs and lows, or those that need a scheduler that works with other calendars. Starting at $2.50 per active employee, per month, it’s economical—especially for those with only a few staff but multiple locations.
What We Like
- Syncs with other calendar apps
- Shift rules
- Easy to use
What's Missing
- No free plan
- Few integrations
- Mobile app said to be slow in loading
Deciding Factors
- Pricing competitive with similar providers; monthly pricing rates:
- Starter: $2.50
- Premium: $5
- Enterprise: Custom
- Features: Scheduling, time tracking and payroll, paid time off (PTO) management, team communication, mobile app
- No auto-scheduling
- No live support but offers comprehensive guides
What We Recommend ZoomShift For
We’ve spent hundreds of hours researching and writing about scheduling software, and we believe ZoomShift has a lot to offer small businesses. Its flexible by-employee pricing is competitive with similar software while providing a mobile time clock and great tools for payroll and shift scheduling.
In short, ZoomShift is best for:
- Restaurants that experience seasonal highs and lows: ZoomShift earned a spot in our best restaurant scheduling software based on our evaluation. It lets you place a plan on hold during off-peak season, making it a good match for restaurants that have predictable busy and very slow/closed periods.
- Agricultural, construction, and tourist industries: Not every business has a stable labor force. ZoomShift accommodates staffing highs and lows by not charging for inactive employees and letting you put the software on hold for a time without charge while retaining the information.
- Businesses with few staff but multiple locations: If you have more than one location with fewer than 15 employees in each, on average, you will find ZoomShift’s per-employee pricing makes it more cost-effective than plans like Homebase or 7shifts that charge by location.
When ZoomShift Would Not Be a Good Fit
- Businesses with a large number of staff: While per-employee pricing works great for a small number of staff, it can get expensive if you have a large number of employees, even with multiple locations. If you have a staff of over 30 and at least two locations, consider doing a price comparison with software that has per-location pricing, such as Homebase or 7shifts.
- Businesses with strict certification or compliance laws: While ZoomShift has some schedule rules for keeping track of labor laws, other scheduling software can track certifications and offer checklists to help ensure employees meet industry regulations. We recommend you consider SocialSchedules if you need a platform that monitors compliance.
Looking for something different?
Read our guide to the top employee scheduling software for small businesses to find a service or software that’s right for your business.
ZoomShift Alternatives
 |  |  | |
Best for | Single-location businesses needing free employee shift scheduling | Large restaurants and restaurants with franchises | Highly regulated industries and locations |
Base monthly fees | Free for one location; $24.95–$99.95 per location | Free; $19.99–$76.99 per location | Free; $15.99–$39.99 per location |
ZoomShift Pricing
ZoomShift’s pricing is per-active employee. That makes it cost-effective if you have multiple locations with a few staff members in each and because it offers a discount or refund if a worker is deactivated. It also lets you put your plan on hold if you shut down for a month or season. Even its Premium plan is priced comparable to competitors. There’s a discount on the annual plan and a free 14-day trial.
Starter | Premium | Enterprise | |
|---|---|---|---|
Price per month* | $2.50 per active team member | $5 per active team member | Custom |
Schedule; Shift and scheduling templates | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
Availability and Time Off; Shift swap | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
Time clock and Time sheets | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
PTO and break tracking | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
Payroll report | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
Reminders; Calendar app sync | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
Overtime warnings; Shift rules | N/A | ✓ | ✓ |
Shift rules; GPS time clock | N/A | ✓ | ✓ |
Priority support | N/A | N/A | ✓ |
API access | N/A | N/A | ✓ |
*Get a 20% discount when you opt for annual billing.
ZoomShift Features
Getting started with ZoomShift isn’t difficult and goes quickly if you set up a CSV file with the employees’ information. If you have Square, Xero, or QuickBooks, you can upload employee data. You will need to set roles and permissions and shift error rules. Once you do all that, you invite employees by email or public registration page and have them download the mobile app and join.
You can start with daily, weekly, or monthly templates for shifts, locations, and even seasons that you can save and reuse, even if you put your plan on hold for a while. ZoomShift lets you copy and paste daily or weekly schedules as well.
Create schedules in minutes with rules settings, templates, and copy-and-paste.
(Source: ZoomShift)
ZoomShift tracks time off and availability, and lets you set work rules so that you can avoid assigning the wrong shift to the wrong person. If you have an open shift, it lets you find the available qualified team members and assign them or send out an invite. By allowing employees to trade shifts themselves, you can make shift fulfillment even easier for your managers.
ZoomShift’s labor forecast tool gives you a real-time view of labor costs so that you can make changes to your schedule according to the average revenue of that day.
ZoomShift also earned a spot in our best time and attendance software due to its easy-to-use time tracking features and flexible pricing. All plans come with a time clock, although GPS and geofencing require a higher-tier plan. Employees can clock in and out from a kiosk or their smartphone. You can set rules to prevent early clock-ins and to alert managers to clock-out employees who forget.
The time clock feature is not limited to location, so if you have staff that works in multiple locations or travels, they can clock in and out anywhere. With the geofencing, you can restrict clock-ins to specific locations as well.
ZoomShift’s time sheets include error tracking so that your managers can make edits before approving.
(Source: ZoomShift)
Aside from employee time tracking, ZoomShift also allows managers to edit and approve time sheets from the web version or the mobile app. Once approved, you can run a payroll report. ZoomShift breaks the information down to calculate gross pay over a set time for individuals, locations, or positions. You can save time sheets or export them to Xero or QuickBooks. ZoomShift also lets you set up reports to maintain compliance records, such as ensuring that breaks and overtime are kept according to federal or state laws.
For other options, you may check our guide on the best time tracking software for small businesses.
ZoomShift makes it easy for managers to approve time off and keep it in mind when making schedules. In addition, the software tracks accruals and use, so both managers and employees are aware of the time off they have used and still have available. PTO can be assigned by role or tenure. The built-in calculators ensure that the correct balances are available in real time via the web or mobile app. If an employee is nearing their PTO limit, they get a notification, which can help with planning. You can also create PTO reports.
Managers can easily track PTO with ZoomShift.
(Source: ZoomShift)
Part of employee management is communicating with your team. With ZoomShift, you can communicate with your employees individually or as a group. Like most scheduling software with a mobile app, ZoomShift lets you contact employees by email, push notification, or text. You can use these to send schedules, announce open shifts or shift trades, send automatic reminders of upcoming shifts, and inform employees of important events like a staff meeting or training.
Employees can also access their time sheets, adjust availability, and request time off. Meanwhile, managers are notified of missed punches, late arrivals, and employees nearing overtime.
Employees can easily swap shifts using the app.
(Source: ZoomShift)
The mobile app is free with any ZoomShift plan. It has similar functions to the desktop application, making it easy for managers to build schedules (including templates) and send them to employees. They can find replacements for shifts, approve time-off requests, send announcements, and get alerts on the mobile app.
Employees can use the app for clocking in and out, viewing time sheets, picking up shifts or requesting a swap, and managing time off. If you have higher-tier plans, the time clock also includes GPS functions.
Some of ZoomShift’s plans include geofencing in the mobile app.
(Source: ZoomShift)
The mobile app’s scores are not as high as those of most scheduling software apps. There were not a lot of complaints on use so much as its limitations. There were, however, some issues after a recent update that brought the score down. Overall, users said it was easy to use and did a good job at what it was meant to do.
User Scores
- Android: 4.1 out of 5 stars with 190+ reviews
- iOS: 2.9 out of 5 stars with 40+ reviews
ZoomShift Ease of Use
- Intuitive interface
- Good customer service
- Illustrated guides
- Schedule creation by day, week, or month
Although there were no training videos and live support, ZoomShift does well with ease of use. The how-to articles are helpful, thorough, and illustrated. The templates and copy-and-paste functions make it easy to create schedules. The interface is intuitive, and real-world users say it’s easy to use. Users say that the customer service is excellent—pleasant in answering questions, offering tips, and responding within a few hours.
What Users Think About ZoomShift
Users Like | Users Don’t Like |
|---|---|
Notification services | Mobile app glitchy |
Easy to use | Not as intuitive as other scheduling software in mobile |
Provides basic functionalities for small businesses |
Many small businesses said the program gave them exactly what they needed without too many extras to complicate matters. Those with more complex needs, like reporting compliances, wished for additional functions. Several users praised the customer service as well.
- Capterra: 4.5 out of 5 based on 90+ reviews.
- G2: 4.9 out of 5 based on 14 reviews.
Bottom Line
ZoomShift’s scheduling management solution is good for any business, but especially those with seasonal highs and lows. It offers strong PTO management and timesheet tools to help make payroll easier. The mobile app gets average ratings, but users say the software is easy to use and great for a small business. Sign up for a free trial of ZoomShift and see if it’s right for you.
