Compared

InShift vs RotaCloud: the rota, the app and the price, side by side

RotaCloud is an established British rota tool with a time and attendance add-on and a Pro plan full of controls. InShift is a rota with payroll built in, a team app, and a Free plan for one site with up to ten people. This page puts the two next to each other, with the prices as the two pricing pages showed them on 21 September 2026, and says plainly what each one does not do.

Start for freeSee the comparison ↓

Who each one is for

RotaCloud has been selling rotas to British hospitality, retail and care for well over a decade, and it shows in the Pro plan: labour forecasting, budget caps, leave request rules, a logbook, document storage, secure share links and enforced two-factor sign-in. Time and attendance is an add-on with its own monthly price, and so are SMS notifications. If you run a site where the week is checked against a wage budget and staff clock in and out on a device by the door, that is the shape RotaCloud is built for.

InShift starts from the other end. The rota is the source of the hours, and payroll sits inside the same product: an hourly rate, a price per shift or a salary on each person, premiums for nights, holidays and overtime as rules, and what is owed to each person at the end of the period, exported to Excel. The team gets an app on iPhone and Android with swaps, open shifts, time off and their own hours. There is a Free plan for one site with up to ten people, and the paid plan is priced per active person with no limit on locations.

The rule of thumb: if you need labour forecasting or budget caps, RotaCloud has them and InShift does not. If you want the rota, the app and the pay in one place at a price per person, and you would rather not pay for controls you will not use, read on.

Price and terms

InShift from our pricing page; RotaCloud from rotacloud.com/pricing, both on 21 September 2026. InShift shows its prices in the currency of your country.

How it is priced

InShift
Per active person on the “Employees” list, monthly or yearly; locations without limit
RotaCloud
By the size of the team: one price for up to five employees, then a slider by headcount; sites and departments without limit

The smallest team

InShift
Free for one location and up to 10 people
RotaCloud
Standard £10 a month or £120 a year, Pro £15 a month or £180 a year, for one to five employees

The paid plan

InShift
$1.99 per person a month, $1.59 on the yearly plan, billed in packs of 5 people
RotaCloud
Standard and Pro priced by headcount above five employees; Enterprise from 500 people on a quote

Time and attendance

InShift
In Basic at no extra charge: a tablet by the door, a code or a PIN
RotaCloud
Add-on, £4.50 a month

Other add-ons

InShift
AI assistants such as Claude and ChatGPT, and property tracking, in Basic at no extra charge
RotaCloud
SMS notifications, £2 a month

Trying it

InShift
Start on the Free plan and move up when the team grows
RotaCloud
30-day free trial, no payment details

Feature by feature

RotaCloud’s column is what its pricing page lists per plan. “Not listed” means we could not find the feature there, so ask them before you decide.

 InShiftRotaCloud
The rota
Building the weekShift typesDrag & drop
Several sites and departmentsPaid plan, no limitNo limit
Open shifts offered to the teamNot listed
Labour forecastingPro plan
Budget caps on the weekPro plan
Bulk actions“Add multiple”Pro plan
The team
App on iPhone and Android
Swaps between colleagues, approved by the managerNot listed
Holiday, sickness and absence requests
Rules for leave requestsBalance, approvalPro plan
Chat and announcements with a “Read by” countNot listed
SMS notificationsAdd-on
Document storagePro plan
LogbookPro plan
Hours and pay
Time and attendanceIn BasicAdd-on
Rates on each person: per hour, per shift, salaryNot listed
Premiums as rules: nights, holidays, overtimeNot listed
What is owed to each person, payments, “Export to Excel”Not listed
Reporting“Dashboard”, “Stats”“In-depth reporting”
Admin
Roles and rights per locationPaid planNot listed
Enforced two-factor sign-inPro plan
API keys and webhooksPaid planNot listed
Claude, ChatGPT and other assistants via MCPIn BasicNot listed
Interface languagesEnglish, Ukrainian, RussianNot listed
SupportChat in the panelLive chat and phone

The rota in InShift

A week built from shift types, published to every phone

The “Planner” is a week with people in rows and a shift per cell: pick the shift type, the planner counts the shifts under each day and the hours and pay under each name. Open shifts and substitutions have rows of their own. “Publish” sends the week to every phone with a push; next week is “Copy last week” and the changes.

  • Shift types with days of the week, times and a price per shift
  • “Week”, “Month”, “Year” and “List” views; one location or “All locations”
  • “Open shift” with “How many people needed”, offered to the team by position
  • “Print” for the wall and “Download Excel” for whoever still wants the file
The admin panel screen by screen

Pay inside the rota

The published shifts become the hours, the premiums and the amount owed

“Payroll” is part of the same product. The “Pay” tab holds each person’s rate from a date: per hour, per shift, a monthly salary, or “Unpaid” for the owner. The “Premiums” tab holds the rules: “Night hours” with a window and a percentage, “Holiday work” from a calendar, “Over the daily norm” at a multiplier. The “Accruals” tab shows shifts, hours, premiums, accrued, paid and owed per person, with “Export to Excel” and “Close period”.

  • “Per hour”, “Per shift”, “Monthly salary”, “Shift price” or “Unpaid”, effective from a date
  • “Night hours”, “Holiday work”, “Over the daily norm”, “Per-shift bonus” and more as rules
  • “Accruals”: shifts, scheduled hours, premiums, accrued, paid and owed per person
  • “Export to Excel” for the accountant, “Close period” to lock the month

The team app

Every person sees their own shifts, swaps and hours on their phone

The InShift app on iPhone and Android shows the person their month, the selected day and “Who else is working”. A shift they cannot make goes up for a swap and a colleague takes it with the manager’s approval; a “Day off” request goes in with the balance shown; “Stats” shows their hours and what they have earned to date. Joining takes the invite code and their own email.

  • The month with the person’s shifts and “Who else is working”
  • “Substitute”: offer a shift, take a colleague’s, the manager approves
  • “Day off” with the balance, “Stats” with hours and “Earned to date”
  • Push before the shift and on every change; chat and announcements
The app screen by screen

Moving from RotaCloud to InShift

There is no rota import. People, shift types and the first week are an afternoon for a team of twenty.

  1. 1

    Export your people

    Take the staff list out of RotaCloud as a spreadsheet and paste it into “Add multiple” with a location, a job position and a rate for each person.

  2. 2

    Shift types

    The three or four shifts your week is made of, each with its days and times. Positions and departments as you have them now.

  3. 3

    The first week

    Build it by hand from the shift types, check the hours under each name, then “Publish”. From the second week on it is “Copy last week” and the changes.

  4. 4

    The team joins

    “Invite team” prints a code and a QR for everyone who has not joined; the app is on the App Store and Google Play. Run both tools for a month if you want to be sure before you cancel.

Frequently asked questions

Is InShift cheaper than RotaCloud?▾

For one site with up to ten people, yes: that is the Free plan, while RotaCloud charges £10 or £15 a month for up to five employees and more above that. On Basic InShift is $1.99 per person a month, or $1.59 on the yearly plan, billed in packs of 5 people, with locations, payroll and the app included; RotaCloud is priced by headcount on its slider, and time and attendance is a separate add-on. Run your own headcount through both pricing pages before you decide.

Does InShift have a time clock like RotaCloud’s Time & Attendance?▾

Yes, it comes with Basic at no extra charge: a tablet by the door shows a code that changes every 30 seconds, people scan it with the app or type a staff number and a PIN, and the “Board” shows who is on site. Pay is still counted from the published rota, with the clocked hours in their own column next to it. RotaCloud sells its Time & Attendance as an add-on too, so compare the two prices for your headcount.

Can I move my rota from RotaCloud to InShift?▾

People, yes: export the staff list and paste it into “Add multiple”. Rotas, no: there is no import of past or future weeks. You build the first week from your shift types and copy it forward. For a team of twenty that is an afternoon, and you can run both tools side by side for a month.

What does RotaCloud have that InShift does not?▾

From its pricing page: labour forecasting, budget caps, leave request rules, document storage, a logbook, secure share links and enforced two-factor sign-in on the Pro plan, SMS notifications and time and attendance as add-ons, and phone support. If any of these is the reason you are shopping, RotaCloud is the better fit.

What does InShift have that RotaCloud’s pricing page does not list?▾

Payroll inside the rota: rates per person, premiums as rules, and the amount owed to each person with “Export to Excel”. A Free plan for one site with up to ten people. Assistants such as Claude and ChatGPT connected to the rota through MCP. An interface in English, Ukrainian and Russian. Ask RotaCloud about any of these before you count them as missing.

What does InShift cost?▾

Free for one location and up to 10 people. Beyond that it is $1.99 per person a month, or $1.59 on the yearly plan, billed in packs of 5 people, with locations, payroll, the team app and every module included. The details are on the pricing page.

Try InShift on your own rota

Add the team, build a week, publish it to their phones. Free for one location and up to ten people.

Start for free