Deputy vs Tanda vs Shiftly for a 20-staff venue: an honest comparison with prices

A 20-person venue pays Deputy somewhere between $1,620 and $3,348 a year before GST, depending on the plan. Tanda's all-in-one bundle lands at about $3,072. Shiftly costs $0 for the same rostering, timesheets and award pay tools, and that gap is the whole reason this comparison exists.

Price isn't the only thing that matters, though. Each tool is built around a different idea of what your problem is, and the right pick depends on what you already run for payroll and how often your Saturday falls apart. Here's the honest version, with the published prices pulled from each vendor's Australian pricing page on 30 October 2026.

The short answer: if you want payroll inside your rostering tool and have no payroll software yet, the Deputy and Tanda bundles earn their fee. If you already pay staff through Xero, you're paying Deputy or Tanda around $1,600 to $3,100 a year for things Shiftly does free, plus Shiftly can fill the gaps in your roster with on-demand staff. Prices below exclude GST and can change, so check each vendor's page before you sign.

What each one costs a 20-person venue

Picture a cafe in Marrickville: you, two managers and 17 staff, most of them casual. That's 20 users, because Deputy counts every admin, manager and supervisor as a paid user, not just the people on the floor.

To put that in wage terms: a casual Level 2 food and beverage attendant under the Hospitality Award earns $40.62 an hour on a Saturday. Deputy Pro's $3,120 a year buys roughly 77 of those hours. That's two full Saturday shifts a month, every month, spent on software.

The costs that aren't on the price card

Per-head pricing hurts casual-heavy venues most, a point we covered in more depth in what rostering software costs per head. Deputy's own FAQ spells out a few extras that a 20-person venue will actually hit:

• Full-month billing for comings and goings. A new user is billed for the full month, even if you add them five days before it ends. Archive someone ten days in and you still pay the whole month.
• Managers count. Every admin and supervisor is a user, so the owner who never works a shift still costs $6.75 to $13 a month.
• SMS isn't free. Publishing a roster by text costs 5c per 160 characters in Australia. A weekly SMS to 20 staff is about $52 a year.
• A minimum spend. Monthly Lite, Core and Pro plans carry a $30 minimum per invoice. That bites small cafes, not a 20-person venue, but it's there.

The churn point is the one that adds up. A venue that hires six summer casuals in December and archives six leavers in February has carried 26 names on its books for part of the year, and paid for each of them in full in the month they arrived and left. Real headcount is almost always higher than the number you think of as your team.

Tanda doesn't publish its standalone workforce management price, so you'll need to book a demo to get a number. Only the $12.80 bundle, which includes payroll and HR, is on the page.

What you actually get for the money

On the core job, all three cover the basics: build a roster, publish it to a staff app, clock in and out, and turn hours into timesheets with award pay calculated. The differences are at the edges.

Payroll is the honest point in the paid tools' favour. If you have no payroll software at all, Deputy's or Tanda's bundle puts the roster and the pay run in one place, and that's worth something. If you already pay staff through Xero, you're paying for a second payroll you don't need.

For a deeper look at how award calculations differ between tools, see our guide to award interpretation software for hospitality. Whichever you pick, run a real fortnight through it before you commit.

A five-step trial before you pay anyone

1. Count every user, including yourself and your managers, and multiply by the plan price. That's your real monthly bill.
2. Load last fortnight's actual roster, including a Saturday, a Sunday and a late close.
3. Check each casual's calculated pay against the Fair Work Ombudsman's pay guide for your award. The business stays responsible for the figures, whatever tool you use.
4. Export the timesheets into your payroll system and check the pay lines arrive the way your bookkeeper expects.
5. Ask what happens when someone drops a Saturday shift at 3pm. If the answer is "you text people", the software has stopped at the roster.

A roster tool that can't help you cover a dropped shift has done half the job and billed you for all of it.

Where Shiftly fits for a 20-person venue

Shiftly is the roster that fills itself. The platform is free at any headcount: rostering, timesheets, leave, availability, onboarding, messaging and award interpretation for seven awards including the Hospitality and Restaurant awards. Rates are loaded from Fair Work Commission data and updated when the award changes. It's a calculation tool that helps you estimate pay. Your pay run stays in your payroll system: approved timesheets go to Xero or out as a spreadsheet.

The difference from Deputy and Tanda is what happens when the roster breaks. Shiftly On-Demand is available along the east coast of Australia, and you can post an open shift to a network of independent contractors that your venue engages directly. You pay only when you fill one: the hours worked, super at 12% of the shift pay, an 8% service fee plus GST, and a $1 super processing fee plus GST. A five-hour shift at $40 an hour comes to $242.70 all in. Our guide to covering a dropped Saturday compares that against your other options.

Moving over is easier than it sounds, because Shiftly can import your staff straight from Deputy. Get started with Shiftly.

Frequently asked questions

Is Deputy free for small businesses?

No. Deputy offers a free trial, but its cheapest plan, Lite, costs $6.75 per user per month (ex GST) with a $30 minimum monthly spend per invoice, according to its Australian pricing page in October 2026.

How much does Tanda cost in Australia?

Tanda publishes one price: $12.80 plus GST per user per month for a bundle of workforce management, payroll and HR. Its standalone rostering and timesheet module is quote only, so you'll need to request pricing.

How can Shiftly be free?

Shiftly earns its revenue from the On-Demand network: the venue pays an 8% service fee plus GST and a $1 super processing fee on each filled shift, and the worker pays an 8% fee too. If you never fill a shift through On-Demand, you never pay Shiftly anything.

Do I still need payroll software if I use Shiftly?

Yes. Your pay run stays in your own payroll system. Shiftly calculates award pay on timesheets to help you check them, then sends approved timesheets to Xero or exports them as a spreadsheet for whatever payroll system you use.