Best free rostering software for Australian hospitality businesses (2026)
Most free rostering plans stop at 5, 10, 25 or 30 staff, and none of the big four mentions Australian awards on its pricing page. Here's what each free tier really covers, what a 22-person cafe pays once it runs out, and the Sunday maths that matters more than the subscription.
Most "free" rostering software in Australia is free until your fifth, tenth or twenty-fifth staff member, and then it isn't. The bigger catch is quieter: of the four best-known free plans we checked in October 2026, none mentions Australian modern awards on its pricing page. For a cafe paying casuals Sunday rates, that gap costs more than any subscription.
The short version: Square Shifts is free for up to 5 team members, Connecteam for up to 10 users, Zoho Shifts for up to 25 and Sling's scheduling for up to 30. Deputy, RosterElf and Microkeeper offer free trials, not free plans. Shiftly is free at any headcount, with rostering, timesheets and award interpretation included. Before you pick one, check three things: the headcount cap, whether timesheets are in the free tier, and whether it reads your award. Prices are from each vendor's public pricing page in October 2026 and they change. General information, not legal or financial advice.
The free plans, side by side
Here's what each free tier actually gives a hospitality venue, and where it stops. We've kept it to products you can sign up for in Australia today.
| Product | Free for | What the free tier leaves out | Price once you outgrow it |
|---|---|---|---|
| Square Shifts | Up to 5 team members, owner included | Advanced features sit in Shifts Plus | From A$5 per team member a month |
| Connecteam | Up to 10 users | Nothing at 10 users; the cap is the catch | US$29 a month for the first 30 users (Operations Basic, annual) |
| Zoho Shifts | Up to 25 users | Time tracking and clock-in (Standard plan) | Paid plans have a 10-user minimum |
| Sling | Up to 30 users for scheduling | Time clock and labour cost (Premium) | US$1.70 to US$2.00 per user a month |
| Deputy, RosterElf, Microkeeper | No free plan, free trial only | Not applicable | A$6 to A$6.75 per user a month on the entry rostering plan |
| Shiftly | Any headcount | No per-user fee for rostering, timesheets or award interpretation | $0; venues pay an 8% service fee only on shifts filled through On-Demand |
Two things jump out. Sling and Zoho are generous on headcount but hold back time tracking, so you're rostering in one place and collecting hours somewhere else. And the Australian-built tools that do read the Hospitality Award don't have a free plan at all. That's the trade most free plans ask you to make: free scheduling, or award-aware pay, rarely both.
Why award interpretation is the line that matters
A roster grid is the easy part. The hard part is that the same hour of work has a different price depending on the day, the time and the employment type, and in hospitality most of the team is casual.
Under the Hospitality Industry (General) Award (MA000009), a Level 2 casual earns $33.85 an hour on a weekday from 1 July 2026, including the 25% casual loading. On a Sunday the casual rate is 175% of the minimum, which is $47.39 an hour. A tool that only knows a flat hourly rate will cost every Sunday at the weekday number unless someone fixes it by hand. Our award explainer covers the full penalty grid.
What a missed Sunday rate costs, worked through
| Line | Amount |
|---|---|
| Level 2 casual, Sunday rate (175%) | $47.39 an hour |
| Level 2 casual, weekday rate (125%) | $33.85 an hour |
| Gap per hour | $13.54 |
| One 6-hour Sunday shift | $81.24 underpaid |
| Four casuals on every Sunday | $324.96 a week |
| Over 52 weeks | about $16,898 |
A free roster that prices Sunday like Tuesday can cost a small cafe more in back pay than every paid rostering plan on the market combined.
Rates come from the award's Table 3 and Table 14, consolidated to 1 July 2026. The point isn't that a free tool will underpay your staff on purpose. It's that the tool doesn't know, so the checking falls back on you every pay run, which is the same problem a free roster template has.
The second thing to check: are hours recorded?
A roster is a plan. Fair Work requires employers to keep time and wages records for 7 years, and for a casual paid by the hour that includes the hours actually worked. Those records must be legible, in English and readily available to a Fair Work Inspector, and they can't be changed except to correct an error.
So a free plan that rosters well but leaves clock-ins to a paper sheet or a separate app hasn't solved the record-keeping half. Sling and Zoho both put time tracking in a paid tier. Square's free tier does include clock in and out at the point of sale, which is a real plus for a five-person coffee window.
What a 22-person cafe pays once the free tier runs out
Hospitality headcount runs well above full-time equivalents, because you keep weekend-only students and December casuals on the books. Here's the list price for a team of 22 for a year, before GST, on each product's entry plan that includes rostering. We cover the per-head trap in more depth in what rostering software costs per head.
| Product and plan | 22 staff, a year | Award interpretation in that plan |
|---|---|---|
| Zoho Shifts Free | $0 | Not mentioned on pricing page; no time tracking |
| Sling Premium (annual) | about US$449 | Not mentioned on pricing page |
| Connecteam Operations Basic (annual) | US$348 | Not mentioned on pricing page |
| Square Shifts Plus | up to about A$1,320 at the starting rate | Not mentioned on pricing page |
| RosterElf Core (annual) | A$1,584 | Check the plan in your demo |
| Microkeeper Standard | A$1,584 | Check the plan in your demo |
| Deputy Lite | A$1,782 | Listed in Lite |
| Shiftly | $0 | Included for seven awards, including MA000009 and MA000119 |
Ask every vendor, free or paid: which awards does it support, by code? Who updates the rates after the 1 July wage review? Can I export every timesheet if I leave? A clear answer to all three beats any feature table. Our buyer's guide has the full list of demo questions.
Which free option suits which venue
- A coffee window or food truck with five staff on Square: Square Shifts Free is hard to beat, because clock-ins sit on the till you already use.
- A small team that only needs a shared calendar: Sling or Zoho Shifts will do it, as long as you price pay yourself and keep hours somewhere else.
- A cafe, bar or restaurant with casuals on weekend rates: you need award interpretation and timesheets in the same place, and that's where most free tiers stop.
- A group with an enterprise agreement or an in-house pay team: go and price an enterprise suite; a free tool isn't built for that job.
Where Shiftly fits: the roster that fills itself
Every roster tool tells you when you're short. Shiftly is built to fill the gap. Rostering, timesheets, award interpretation, leave, availability, paperless onboarding and Xero export are free at every headcount, so 22 staff costs the same as 5. Rates for the seven supported awards are loaded from Fair Work Commission data and updated when the award changes, and every estimate shows its breakdown.
The free platform is the entry ticket. Shiftly On-Demand, a marketplace of hospitality workers you can call on when someone drops a Saturday, is coming soon, starting in Sydney, with a waitlist open now. Venues pay an 8% service fee only on shifts filled through it. Shiftly's award estimates are a calculation tool that helps you check pay; you still review and approve what your team is paid. Get started with Shiftly.
Frequently asked questions
Is there completely free rostering software in Australia?
Yes, with conditions. Square Shifts, Connecteam, Zoho Shifts and Sling all have free plans capped at 5, 10, 25 and 30 users respectively, according to their pricing pages in October 2026. Shiftly is free at any headcount, with rostering, timesheets and award interpretation included.
Does free rostering software calculate penalty rates?
Usually not on the free tier. None of the four capped free plans above mentions Australian modern awards on its pricing page, so ask by award code before you rely on one to cost a Sunday or a public holiday.
Is a roster enough to meet Fair Work record-keeping rules?
No. Fair Work requires employers to keep time and wages records for 7 years, including the hours worked by casuals paid by the hour. Choose a tool that records actual clock-ins, not just the planned roster.
What is the cheapest rostering software with award interpretation?
Among paid Australian products, entry plans run about A$6 to A$6.75 per user a month on public price lists, and award interpretation is not always in the cheapest tier. Shiftly includes award interpretation for its seven supported awards at no cost.
Co-founder of Shiftly. Milan works with hospitality businesses across Australia to make rostering, timesheets and award-based pay radically simpler.
