Free staff scheduling software for shift teams
Draw up the rota, send it straight to every phone, and let your team cover their own swaps and read their own hours. Free forever, with no limit on how many staff or sites you run.
Staff scheduling that saves the manager an afternoon
The handful of jobs a rota actually costs you each week, handled in one free tool rather than a spreadsheet plus a stack of WhatsApp threads.
Repeating patterns do the heavy lifting
Tell it the pattern your team works (4 on 4 off, 2-2-3, a straight 5-2) and the rota fills itself for the month. Nudge any shift by dragging it, or clone last week when the week is much the same.
Everyone works from the same rota
Hit publish and the current rota lands in each person's app with a push. No arguing over which printout is the latest, no photo of the whiteboard doing the rounds.
Cover gets sorted between shifts
When someone cannot make a shift they put it up, a colleague claims it, and you give it the nod in a single tap. The rota redraws itself and the swap stays on record.
The timesheet writes itself
Hours come off the published rota, so a shift that runs 19:00 to 03:00 lands as one shift with the right total. Pull the whole period into Excel when it is time to pay people.
Wage cost shows as you build
Put an hourly rate against each person and the day's wage cost tots up while you place shifts, so a pricey week shows itself before you publish rather than after.
Every site under one login
A single cafe or a dozen branches run from the same account. Sites, roles and managers all sit together, with no separate spreadsheet kept per location.
Staff scheduling that stays free as you grow
Most rota software bills a few pounds per head each month, which is bearable on a team of five and painful on a team of fifty. InShift keeps the rota, the app, swaps and timesheets free whatever your headcount, so budget is never the reason a shift goes uncovered. You get the parts that hand a manager their time back, with no per-seat invoice and no clock ticking down on a trial.
From sign-up to a live rota
Open a free account
An email and a password, half a minute. It runs in the browser, so there is nothing to download first.
Add the team
Type your staff in or paste a list. Each person joins from their own phone using a code you share.
Lay out the rota
Start from a pattern or drag shifts onto the grid. It flags a double-booking and keeps a running total of the hours.
Publish it
The team gets the rota at once via push. Change something later and the update 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.
Get this week's rota out today
Add the staff, place the shifts, publish. It shows up on every phone. Free, with no cap on staff or sites.
Create a free account →Questions
Is the staff scheduling software actually free?
Yes. The rota, the mobile app, shift swaps and hours tracking are free with no cap on staff or sites, and nothing expires. In time we will charge only for enterprise extras such as SSO, an API and advanced reports.
How does it compare with Deputy, When I Work or 7shifts?
They are capable tools, but each bills per person per month once you outgrow a small free tier. InShift leaves the rota, swaps, the app and timesheets free at any team size. In fairness, we are the newer product and carry fewer deep integrations.
Can staff arrange swaps on their own?
Yes. One person offers a shift, another picks it up, and you approve it with a single tap. The rota does not change until you sign it off, and the swap is kept in the history.
Does it handle hours and shifts that run past midnight?
Every published shift feeds the timesheet, and a shift from 19:00 to 03:00 is held as one shift with its hours counted correctly. Set each person's hourly rate and the timesheet totals the hours worked.
How do staff receive the rota?
They install the InShift app (iOS or Android) and join with a code. Whenever you publish or edit the rota they get a push and see the live version, not a screenshot buried in a chat.
Can I export the rota and hours for payroll?
Yes. The timesheet exports to Excel for any period you choose, listing each person, their shifts, hours, rate and total, ready to pass to whoever runs the payroll.