If you just want to know whether each day’s staff pay for themselves, start with a free tool. Build next week in the free pub rota maker and check the cost per day before you post it.
If you need proper scheduling, holiday booking, clocking in and payroll exports, the cheapest full rota apps I found today were ShiftComplete (£1.49 per staff member), Planday Starter (£2.99 per user) and RotaCloud (£40/month for 11 to 20 staff). Deputy and Rotaready cost more but do more forecasting. Bizimply is quote only.
I run a pub and I write the rota myself, every week, usually on a Sunday night with one eye on the till report. The rota is the biggest cost I control week to week, so I went through every rota app landlords keep mentioning and checked their own pricing pages today, 1 November 2026. No guesses, no old blog posts. Where a vendor doesn’t publish a price, I’ve said so.
One thing up front: StockTap is not a full rota app and I’m not going to pretend it is. Most of the apps below do rotas far better than we do. This page is here to help you pick the right one, or to work out you don’t need one yet.
The short version: prices checked 1 November 2026
| App | Price (from) | Free plan / trial | Best at |
|---|---|---|---|
| RotaCloud | £10/month for 1 to 5 staff, by headcount band | 30-day trial, no card | Simple UK rota, holidays and swaps for a fair price |
| Rotaready | £6.88 per employee/month, from 15 employees, plus set-up | Demo, no trial listed | Bigger operators who want forecasting and EPOS links |
| Deputy | £3.25 per user/month (annual), ex taxes | Up to 31 days, no card | Auto-scheduling, demand forecasting, polished apps |
| Planday | £2.99 per user/month, min 5 users | 30-day trial of Plus, no card | Hospitality scheduling with revenue reporting on Plus |
| Connecteam | Free up to 10 users, then from $29/month (USD shown) | Free plan, plus 14-day trial | Small teams, checklists and clocking in on one app |
| Bizimply | Quote only | Demo, no trial listed | UK and Irish multi-site hospitality, tronc built in |
| ShiftComplete | £1.49 per staff member/month | 60 days free, no card | Cheap all-in rota plus temp logs, allergens, checks |
| Spreadsheet / our free rota maker | £0 | Free, no sign-up | Seeing each day’s staff cost while you plan |
What that looks like for a 20-person pub
Here’s the monthly bill for 20 people on the books (count yourself and your managers, most of these apps do), paying month to month, using the list prices above. Your quote may differ, and none of these pages said whether VAT is on top except Deputy, which says it’s excluded.
| App and plan | 20 staff, per month | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Spreadsheet / free rota maker | £0 | Your time, no clocking in |
| Connecteam Small Business | Free up to 10 users | 20 staff takes you past it: Ops Basic is $35/month monthly |
| ShiftComplete | £29.80 | 20 × £1.49, everything included |
| RotaCloud Standard | £40 | £58 with the clocking in add-on |
| Planday Starter | £59.80 | 20 × £2.99 |
| RotaCloud Pro | £60 | £78 with clocking in. Adds staff cost as % of sales |
| Deputy Lite | £72 | 20 × £3.60 monthly, £65 if paid annually |
| Deputy Core | £95 | £85 annual. Adds auto-scheduling and wage budgets |
| Planday Plus | £109.80 | 20 × £3.99 + £30 fee |
| Rotaready Pro | about £138 | 20 × £6.88, plus a set-up fee |
| Bizimply | Quote only | Check their site |
Each app, honestly
RotaCloud
Price: Priced by headcount band, including you and your managers. 11 to 20 staff: Standard £40/month, Pro £60/month (pay yearly and it’s 10 months’ money). Clocking in is an add-on, £18/month at that size. 30-day trial, no payment details.
What it does well: UK company (support is in York), and the Standard plan already covers holiday management, shift swapping, staff availability, unlimited sites and daily, weekly and monthly labour costs. Pro adds labour forecasting, which they describe as staff costs as a percentage of sales, plus budget caps. Clear published pricing, which I appreciate.
Watch out for: clocking in and timesheets are a separate add-on, and the price jumps at each headcount band, so a pub at 21 staff pays the 21 to 30 rate.
Rotaready
Price: Their calculator shows Pro at £6.88 per employee per month and Pro + Forecasting at £7.82, starting at 15 employees. They call it indicative and say the set-up fee isn’t included. Premium is price on application. Demo-led, no free trial listed.
What it does well: the most hospitality-heavy feature list here. Automated rota scheduling, forecast versus actual for sales and wages, live labour calculations, a local 10-day weather forecast on the rota, covers per labour hour, holiday allowances, clocking in by GPS, PIN or photo, and free integrations with EPOS, reservations and payroll. If you run several busy sites, this is built for you.
Watch out for: it’s a demo and quote process, there’s a set-up fee, and at 15 employees minimum it’s over £100 a month before you start. A lot of tool for a single wet-led local.
Deputy
Price: Per user per month, GBP excluding taxes. Lite £3.25 (annual) or £3.60 (monthly), Core £4.25 or £4.75, Pro £6.50 or £7.25. Minimum spend of £20 per invoice on monthly plans. Trial up to 31 days, no card.
What it does well: even the Lite plan has rotas, timesheets, clocking in, shift swap and find replacement, automated leave accruals and payroll and HR integrations. Core adds auto-scheduling, demand forecasting and wage and labour budgets. The apps are polished and it’s used all over the world.
Watch out for: prices are ex taxes, the £20 minimum monthly spend catches very small teams on monthly billing, and extras like HR (£2 per user per month) are add-ons.
Planday
Price: Per user per month. Starter £2.99 (minimum 5 users). Plus £3.99 plus a £30 monthly subscription fee (minimum 10 users). Pro is custom. Billed in bundles of five users. 30-day trial of Plus, no card.
What it does well: Starter covers scheduling, simple time tracking, working time rule warnings and basic payroll reporting. Plus adds leave and absence, proper payroll reporting and integrations, and revenue integration so you can see wages against sales. Plenty of UK hospitality customers.
Watch out for: the £30 monthly fee on Plus, the 10-user minimum on Plus, billing in bundles of five (23 staff is billed as 25), paid onboarding if you want help, and a charge per SMS.
Connecteam
Price: Free Small Business plan for up to 10 users. Above that, the Operations hub (time clock and scheduling) starts at $29/month billed yearly or $35 monthly for the first 30 users. Shown in US dollars when I checked. 14-day trial, no card.
What it does well: the free plan for up to 10 users is genuinely useful for a small pub. Clocking in with GPS, scheduling with open shifts, checklists and forms, and a payroll integration on the paid Operations plans.
Watch out for: it isn’t built for pubs specifically, the prices I saw were in US dollars, and most pubs have more than 10 people once you count weekend staff.
Bizimply
Price: No prices published. They quote on number of employees, locations and products after a call. Discount for annual billing, paid by Direct Debit. Demo-led, no free trial listed.
What it does well: aimed squarely at UK and Irish hospitality. The Complete WFM plan lists rota scheduling, time and attendance, mobile apps, HR, time off, tronc, a shift log, forecasting and daily task workflows. They also give away a free Excel rota template and a tronc calculator on their site.
Watch out for: you can’t see a price without a sales call. Check their site.
ShiftComplete
Price: £1.49 per staff member per month, every feature, no per-site fee, no contract. Free for 60 days, no card.
What it does well: the cheapest full rota app I found for a typical pub, and the longest free trial. Staff set availability on their phones, it drafts a rota, you drag and publish. Their own page says labour cost is shown while you build the rota, and it has shift swaps, holiday requests and clocking in. It also does temperature logs, the 14-allergen matrix and opening and closing checks in the same app.
Watch out for: by their own account it doesn’t run payroll or connect to tills, EPOS or payroll software (hours go out as a spreadsheet), and clocking in has no GPS geofencing. It’s also a newer name than the others here.
A spreadsheet, or our free rota maker
Price: free.
Plenty of good pubs still run on a spreadsheet and a photo in the staff WhatsApp. It costs nothing and you’re in charge of it. What it won’t do is tell you the cost of each day unless you build the formulas yourself, and it won’t clock anyone in.
The two free tools on this site do one job each. The free pub rota maker lets you lay out the week and shows each day’s staff cost as you build it, so you can see a quiet Tuesday costing more than it takes before anyone’s turned up. The staff hour cost calculator works out what an hour of staff time really costs you once holiday pay, employer’s National Insurance and pension are on top of the hourly rate. Neither one needs a sign-up.
Before paying for any rota app, build next week in the free rota maker and see which days your staff cost more than they bring in. It takes about ten minutes.
How I’d choose, as a landlord
- Under 10 staff, one site, mainly want the rota on everyone’s phone: Connecteam’s free plan, or a spreadsheet plus the free rota maker.
- A typical 15 to 25 person pub that wants holidays, swaps and clocking in: trial ShiftComplete, RotaCloud and Planday Starter side by side. All three have no-card trials.
- You want the app to forecast and build the rota for you: Deputy Core or Rotaready.
- Several sites, tronc, HR and a sales rep to talk to: Bizimply or Rotaready.
- You only want to know if your wages are too high: you don’t need a rota app yet. Use the staff hour calculator and the free rota maker first.
Where StockTap fits (and where it doesn’t)
I’ll be straight, because I’m the one selling it. StockTap is a stocktaking app first. Alongside the stock side it has a staff list, a simple rota screen, clock in and out on a phone, and a weekly board showing wages as a percentage of takings. That’s it on the staff side.
It does not run payroll, book holidays, handle shift swaps, send anything to HMRC, or forecast your rota for you. If you need those, use one of the proper rota apps on this page. If you already do stock and you’d like your wage % sat next to your GP on the same screen, StockTap is £19 a month at the founding price for the first 50 customers (£39 standard), with a 14-day free trial, no card.
If one name is your current app, I’ve done closer looks at RotaCloud, Deputy and Planday, and a page on free rota apps and templates.
Common questions
What is the cheapest rota app for a UK pub?
Of the apps I checked on 1 November 2026, Connecteam is free for up to 10 users. For a bigger team, ShiftComplete was cheapest at £1.49 per staff member per month, then RotaCloud Standard (£40/month for 11 to 20 staff) and Planday Starter (£2.99 per user per month). A spreadsheet or our free rota maker costs nothing.
Which rota apps have a free trial with no card?
RotaCloud (30 days), Planday (30 days of the Plus plan), Deputy (up to 31 days), Connecteam (14 days, plus a free plan) and ShiftComplete (60 days) all said no card needed on their sites when I checked. Rotaready and Bizimply are demo-led and didn’t list a trial.
Do these prices include VAT?
Deputy says its prices exclude all applicable taxes. RotaCloud, Planday, Connecteam and ShiftComplete didn’t say either way on the pages I read, so check their site or ask before you sign up.
Can a rota app show staff cost as a percentage of takings?
Yes, several can. RotaCloud Pro, Planday Plus (revenue integration), Deputy Core (wage and labour budgets) and Rotaready (forecast versus actual sales and wages) all list it. StockTap shows wages as a percentage of takings weekly, alongside stocktaking.
Does StockTap do payroll or holiday booking?
No. StockTap is stocktaking first, with a staff list, a simple rota, clock in and out on a phone and a weekly wages as % of takings board. It doesn’t do payroll, holiday booking, shift swapping, HMRC submissions or forecast scheduling.