Deputy vs When I Work 2026: Scheduling Pricing and Verdict

When I Work is the cheaper pick for most shift teams in 2026: Essentials costs $2.50 per user a month, or $4 with time tracking and attendance switched on, and it already includes auto scheduling. Deputy starts at $5 per user on Lite billed annually and is the better buy for teams that need labor-law compliance, biometric clocking and demand forecasting. Prices verified on vendor pages Oct 2026, read on 18 October.

The two products solve the same problem for the same buyer: an hourly workforce whose schedule changes every week. They price that problem differently. When I Work sells a low scheduling rate and charges extra to clock in; Deputy bundles the time clock into every plan and charges more for the seat. Which one costs less depends on whether your team clocks in through the app.

Toolradar data: Toolradar, the software directory we run, evaluates 107 time tracking tools in its October 2026 ranking, and 7 of its 10 top picks have a free plan. Neither Deputy nor When I Work offers a free plan on its pricing page: both sell paid plans after a trial, so the comparison below is between two bills, not a bill and a free tier.

At a glance

Plan	Price per user a month	Time clock included	Best for
When I Work Essentials	$2.50, or $4 with time tracking	Only with the attendance switch	Single-location teams that want auto scheduling cheaply
When I Work Pro	$5, or $7 with time tracking	Only with the attendance switch	Multi-location teams that need scheduling rules and labor sharing
When I Work Premium	$8, or $10 with time tracking	Only with the attendance switch	Larger operations that need API access, webhooks and SAML SSO
Deputy Lite	$5 billed annually, $5.50 monthly	Yes	Basic scheduling, timesheets and labor law compliance
Deputy Core	$6.50 billed annually, $7.25 monthly	Yes, with biometrics	Auto-scheduling, demand forecasting and labor budgets
Deputy Pro	$9 billed annually, $10 monthly	Yes, with biometrics	Location hierarchies, pay centers, SSO and 24/7 live chat

Prices are in US dollars before tax, from When I Work's pricing page and Deputy's pricing page, including Deputy's structured pricing data for the monthly rates. When I Work offers monthly or annual billing and shows one rate per plan.

How the two price models differ

When I Work's headline rate is the scheduling-only price. Each plan card carries a "Time Tracking & Attendance" switch, and turning it on adds $1.50 per user on Essentials and $2 on Pro and Premium. A shift team that wants staff to clock in from their phones pays the higher figure, so the honest comparison with Deputy uses it.

Deputy has no scheduling-only tier, so a team that already owns a time clock pays for Deputy's anyway. Time clocking, timesheets and labor law compliance are in Lite, the cheapest plan, and Deputy advertises 10% savings for annual billing. Deputy also counts every administrator and supervisor as a user, and its monthly plans carry a minimum spend of $30 per invoice, which only bites teams of five or fewer on Lite.

The result is a crossover. Without the time clock, When I Work Essentials costs half of Deputy Lite. With it, When I Work still costs less at the entry tier, but the gap narrows at the top: Premium with attendance costs more per user than Deputy Pro billed annually.

What a shift team pays each month

The scenarios below use When I Work with the attendance switch on, because both products are then selling a schedule plus a time clock, and Deputy at its annual rate.

Team and need	When I Work plan	When I Work a month	Deputy plan	Deputy a month (annual)	Deputy a month (monthly)
10 users, schedule and clock in	Essentials	$40	Lite	$50	$55
25 users, auto scheduling and clock in	Essentials	$100	Core	$162.50	$181.25
50 users across locations, SSO	Premium	$500	Pro	$450	$500
25 users, scheduling only, no clock	Essentials	$62.50	Lite	$125	$137.50

Totals multiply each vendor's per-user rate by the user count, before tax. When I Work wins the small and mid-sized scenarios by 20% to 50%. The 25-user case is the starkest, because When I Work includes auto scheduling and forecast tools in Essentials while Deputy reserves auto-scheduling and demand forecasting for Core.

At 50 users with single sign-on the order flips. When I Work puts SAML SSO on Premium, which costs $10 per user with attendance, and Deputy puts SSO on Pro at $9 billed annually. A 50-person operation saves $600 a year on Deputy in that case, and gets pay centers, location hierarchies and a sandbox in the same plan.

Scheduling and labor compliance

Deputy is the deeper scheduling tool. Core adds micro-scheduling across multiple areas inside one shift, wage and labor budgets, labor optimization and advanced labor law compliance on top of auto-scheduling. For a restaurant or retailer in a city with predictive-scheduling rules, those compliance features are the reason to pay Deputy's higher rate.

When I Work covers the everyday scheduling work at a lower price. Essentials includes auto scheduling, multi-week and multi-location scheduling, templates, forecast tools, OpenShifts and shift swaps. Pro adds scheduling rules, role permissions, labor sharing across locations, custom reporting and a time-zone toggle. When I Work's own FAQ positions Essentials for single-location teams and Pro for multi-location businesses, so a chain should budget Pro.

Time clock and timesheets

Deputy's time clock is part of the base product. Lite includes basic time clocking and timesheets; Core adds biometric time clocking and timesheet auto-approval, which removes a manager step before payroll. Biometric clock-in is the feature that stops buddy punching. When I Work answers the same problem differently, with geofencing, early clock-in prevention and photos captured at clock-in and clock-out.

When I Work's time tracking sits behind the attendance switch on every plan. Once on, it adds punch data to the second, reminders for missed punches, timesheet rounding for payroll, automatic break deductions and timesheet export to Excel. For a team that already uses a separate time clock or tracks hours on paper, the scheduling-only rate is a real saving; for everyone else, budget the higher figure from day one.

Payroll and add-ons

Both vendors sell payroll as an add-on, priced differently:

Add-on	When I Work	Deputy
Payroll	$39 a month plus $6 per active user	$8 per user a month plus a $49 monthly base fee, through Paycor, on annual Core and Pro plans in the US
HR tools	Partner offer: six free months of Rippling	Deputy HR at $2 per user a month
Advanced messaging	Included team messaging	Messaging+ at $1.95 per user a month, included in Pro
Advanced analytics	Custom reporting on Pro	Analytics+ at $1.50 per user a month, included in Pro

For 25 users, When I Work Payroll costs $189 a month and Deputy Payroll $249. Adding payroll to the 25-user auto-scheduling scenario puts When I Work at $289 a month and Deputy Core at $411.50 billed annually. Deputy's payroll also requires an annual Core or Pro plan, so a Lite customer cannot add it.

Deputy HR, Messaging+ and Analytics+ each come with a free 30-day trial, and Deputy HR covers hiring, paperless onboarding, documents and leave in the US, UK and Australia. When I Work's Rippling offer gives new customers six free months of payroll, benefits and HR, which is worth pricing if you need a full HR system rather than a payroll export. Our Deputy pricing and When I Work pricing guides break down every add-on.

Trials, billing and contracts

When I Work offers a 14-day free trial with full access and no credit card, and its FAQ says you can switch plans, add or reduce seats, or cancel at any time with no contracts. Deputy's signup terms offer a trial of up to 31 days with no credit card, and Deputy says it respects the remaining trial days if you upgrade early.

The billing difference matters for cash flow more than for the total. Deputy's annual plans are charged up front or in monthly installments, at the 10% lower rate; monthly plans cost more and carry the $30 minimum. When I Work bills monthly or annually and lists one rate. A seasonal business that shrinks its crew in winter keeps more flexibility on When I Work's monthly plan than on an annual Deputy commitment.

Who should pick which

Pick When I Work if you run one or a few locations, want auto scheduling and shift swaps at the lowest per-user price, or already have a time clock and only need the schedule. Its Essentials plan with attendance is the cheapest way to give a 10- to 30-person crew a schedule and a clock in one app.

Pick Deputy if labor law compliance is a legal requirement in your city or state, if you want biometric clock-in, or if you are a 50-person or larger operation that needs SSO, location hierarchies and pay centers in one plan. Deputy's Core plan is the one that pays for itself in compliance-heavy hospitality and retail.

For the product depth behind these prices, read the Deputy review and the When I Work review. If a free plan matters more than depth, Homebase vs Deputy and Homebase vs When I Work cover the free option, and the best shift scheduling software ranking sets both against 7shifts and Connecteam. Teams on a tight budget should also see the best free employee scheduling apps.

How we compared

Every price, plan feature, add-on rate, trial term and billing rule on this page comes from When I Work's pricing page and Deputy's pricing page, read on 18 October 2026, including Deputy's billing FAQ and the structured data that lists its monthly rates. Team totals are our arithmetic on the vendors' list prices, before tax and before any negotiated discount. HRpresso runs no test lab and holds no contract with either vendor, so no figure here is a quote.

Cite this: HRpresso, "Deputy vs When I Work 2026: Scheduling Pricing and Verdict", October 2026.

FAQ

Deputy vs When I Work: which should I choose in 2026?

Choose When I Work for the lower price: Essentials costs $2.50 per user a month for scheduling and $4 with time tracking, with auto scheduling included. Choose Deputy for labor law compliance, biometric clocking and demand forecasting, from $5 per user a month on Lite billed annually.

Which is cheaper, Deputy or When I Work?

When I Work is cheaper for most teams. Ten users with scheduling and a time clock cost $40 a month on When I Work Essentials against $50 on Deputy Lite billed annually. At 50 users with SSO, Deputy Pro billed annually costs less than When I Work Premium with attendance.

Does When I Work include a time clock?

Only when you switch on Time Tracking & Attendance, which raises the per-user price on every plan. Deputy includes time clocking and timesheets on all plans, and biometric clocking from Core.

Does Deputy have a minimum charge?

Yes. Deputy's monthly Lite, Core and Pro plans carry a minimum spend of $30 per invoice. Annual plans are billed at a 10% lower rate, up front or in monthly installments.

Which one includes payroll?

Neither includes payroll in the base plan. When I Work Payroll costs $39 a month plus $6 per active user. Deputy Payroll, run through Paycor, costs $8 per user a month plus a $49 base fee and requires an annual Core or Pro plan in the US.

Is there a free trial for Deputy and When I Work?

Yes. When I Work offers 14 days with full access and no credit card. Deputy offers a trial of up to 31 days with no credit card.

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