Free employee scheduling software for shift teams
Build the rota, publish it to everyone's phone, and let staff swap shifts and log their hours without the group chat. Free forever, with no cap on the number of employees or sites.
Everything you need to schedule a shift team
The parts that actually save a manager time, in one free tool, instead of a spreadsheet and three chat groups.
Schedule from a pattern
Set a shift pattern once (4 on 4 off, 2-2-3, a plain 5-2) and the software fills the month. Drag to adjust, or copy last week in a click.
The team sees it on their phones
Publish and every employee gets the schedule in the app with a push notification. No "which version is this", no reprinting the wall chart.
Swaps without the phone calls
An employee offers a shift, a colleague picks it up, the manager approves in one tap. The schedule updates itself and keeps the history.
Hours add themselves up
Every published shift counts towards the timesheet, including shifts that run past midnight. Export to Excel for payroll at the end of the period.
See what a shift costs
Give each employee an hourly rate and the schedule shows the wage cost of the day as you build it, so you catch an expensive week before you publish it.
One account, every location
Run one site or a chain from a single login. Locations, roles and managers live in the same place, with no extra spreadsheets per branch.
Free employee scheduling, not a trial
Most scheduling software charges a few pounds per employee every month, which adds up fast on a team of twenty and gets worse as you grow. InShift keeps scheduling, the app, swaps and timesheets free at any size, so cost is never the reason a shift goes uncovered. You get the parts that save a manager time, without a per-seat bill and without a trial that expires.
From sign-up to a published schedule
Create a free account
Email and a password, about 30 seconds. In the browser, nothing to install.
Add your employees
Type them in or import a list. Each person joins from their phone with a code.
Build the schedule
Pick a pattern or drag shifts onto the grid. The software flags clashes and adds up the hours.
Publish
The team gets it instantly with a push. Any later change reaches them the same way.
Try it without an account
Three free tools that need no sign-up and no email. Build a rota or add up hours right now, and move to an account when the team has to see it.
Schedule your team this week
Set up the team, drop in the shifts, publish. Everyone sees it on their phone. Free, with no cap on employees or sites.
Create a free account →Questions
Is the employee scheduling software really free?
Yes. Building schedules, the mobile app, shift swaps and hours tracking are free with no cap on the number of employees or sites, and no trial that expires. We plan to charge only for enterprise extras (SSO, API, advanced reports).
How is this different from Deputy, When I Work or 7shifts?
Those are strong tools, but they charge per employee per month once you pass a small free tier. InShift keeps scheduling, swaps, the app and timesheets free at any team size. The trade-off is that we are younger and have fewer deep integrations.
Can employees swap shifts themselves?
Yes. An employee offers a shift, a colleague picks it up, and the manager approves it in one tap. Nothing changes on the schedule until you approve, and the swap is kept in the history.
Does it track hours and night shifts?
Every published shift counts towards the timesheet, and a shift from 19:00 to 03:00 is stored as one shift with its hours counted correctly. You set each employee's hourly rate and the timesheet totals the hours worked.
How do employees get their schedule?
They install the InShift app (iOS or Android) and join with a code. When you publish or change the schedule, they get a push notification and see the current version, not a screenshot in a chat.
Can I export the schedule and hours for payroll?
Yes. The timesheet exports to Excel for any period, with each employee, their shifts, hours, rate and total, ready to hand to whoever runs payroll.