Sling Pricing 2026: Free for 30 Users, Premium and Business Costs

Sling is free for up to 30 users, then $2 per user a month on Premium ($1.70 billed annually) and $4 per user a month on Business ($3.40 billed annually), read on Sling's pricing page on 19 October 2026. The free plan is enough for a small team that only needs a shared schedule and messaging; it has no time clock.

Our view: Sling has the most generous free scheduler of the four shift tools compared on this page, and the cheapest per-user upgrade when hours need tracking. The catch is what Free leaves out. Employee availability, shift swaps and any form of clocking in are paid features, so most teams that run payroll from Sling end up on a paid plan sooner than the 30-user ceiling suggests.

Toolradar data: Sling's entry paid plan, at $2 per user a month billed monthly, ranks #2 of 15 internal communication tools with a verified per-user price on Toolradar, the software directory we run, where the peer median is $6.67 per user, as of October 2026.

Sling plans at a glance

Prices are in USD from Sling's pricing page, which says annual billing saves 15%, and both paid plans come with a 15-day free trial. Sling shows the annual rate as a per-user monthly figure and does not print a yearly total. Restaurants on Toast are pointed to the Toast Shop for their Sling plans, so a Toast customer should check that listing rather than this table.

What does Sling's free plan include?

The free plan covers the schedule itself and the conversation around it for teams of up to 30 users. Managers can build shifts with templates, schedule months ahead, post open shifts for staff to pick up, let employees offer shifts to coworkers, set shift alarms and approve time-off requests. On the communication side, Free includes the news feed, announcements and one-to-one private messages.

The gaps are specific, and three of them matter for most shift teams:

• No availability. Employees cannot mark when they are unavailable, so the manager schedules around availability kept somewhere else.
• No shift swaps. Staff can offer a shift to a coworker, but the swap workflow that keeps the manager in the loop is a Premium feature.
• No time tracking. Free has no clock-in, no timesheets and no labor cost view, so hours still reach payroll from a separate tool or paper.

Who Free suits: a small café, studio or volunteer group that needs one shared schedule and a place to post updates. Who should skip it: any team that pays hourly staff from Sling's data, because nothing on Free produces hours.

What does Sling Premium add?

Premium is where Sling becomes a time-and-attendance tool. It adds mobile clock-in with geofencing, early clock-in prevention, auto clock-out, break attestation, timesheets with history and approvals, and mandatory breaks applied to qualifying shifts. On the scheduling side it adds the missing pieces from Free: unavailability, shift swaps, weekly schedule templates, day parts, multiple slots on an open shift, calendar sync and SMS shift reminders.

The cost-control features are what make Premium worth paying for. Labor cost management compares wages against sales, budgeting sets a target for each schedule, overtime tracking warns before someone crosses the line, and clopening and premium pay rules flag the shifts that cost more. For a manager who builds the schedule with labor percentage in mind, those tools are the reason to upgrade, more than the time clock itself.

Group messaging is also a Premium feature, which catches out teams that assume all messaging is free: Free allows private messages and announcements, but a group thread for the closing crew needs the paid plan.

Is Business worth $4 per user?

Business doubles the per-user price and adds reporting and HR records. Its time-tracking additions are a kiosk mode for a shared clock-in device, attendance reports and tracking for no-shows, sick call-outs and late arrivals. Its workforce additions are PTO management, holiday pay, payroll reports, labor reports, sales reports, salary support and employee documents. On scheduling it adds auto-assigning of shifts and tags.

Two of those decide it for most buyers. Payroll reports sit only on Business, so a team that exports hours to a payroll provider from Sling needs this tier. Kiosk time tracking is also Business-only, which matters for a shop or kitchen that wants one tablet by the door instead of personal phones. A team that clocks in on phones and runs payroll from timesheet exports can stay on Premium.

What does Sling cost for a team of 12, 25 or 40?

The table below is our arithmetic on Sling's per-user rates, assuming every user on the account is billed. Monthly figures are per month; the annual column shows the monthly equivalent on annual billing.

For a 12-person team, Premium on annual billing costs less than a single Homebase Essentials location, a modest line once hours need to be tracked rather than reconstructed by hand. For 25 people, the gap between Premium and Business on annual billing is $42.50 a month, the price of payroll reports and a kiosk. At 40 users the free plan no longer fits, so the cheapest Sling setup becomes Premium.

Annual billing saves 15% on either paid plan. On the 25-person Business account, that is $15 a month, worth taking once you are sure the team will stay on Sling for a year.

How does Sling compare with Homebase, When I Work and Deputy?

Sling charges per user, while Homebase charges per location, and that difference decides who is cheaper. The comparison below uses each vendor's own pricing page, read in October 2026.

Sling's free plan is the widest: 30 users against Homebase's 10, and neither When I Work nor Deputy has a free tier. For a 25-person team that only needs a schedule, Sling costs nothing where Homebase's free plan has already run out.

Homebase wins on paid plans for large single-location teams. Its Essentials plan is a flat per-location price with unlimited employees, so a 25-person shop pays Homebase $30 a month on monthly billing against $50 for Sling Premium. On monthly billing Sling Premium is cheaper below 15 users; above that, Homebase's flat fee wins, though the two plans do not include identical features. Our Homebase pricing page details what Essentials includes.

When I Work and Deputy cost more per user than Sling at entry level, at $2.50 and $5 per user against Sling's Premium rate. When I Work charges $5 per user for multi-location businesses, which our When I Work pricing page covers, and Deputy's minimum spend makes it expensive for very small teams; see Deputy pricing. Restaurant teams comparing shift tools should also read 7shifts pricing, and teams that want scheduling inside a broader frontline app can check Connecteam pricing.

Hidden costs and limits to check

• The free plan stops at 30 users. A team that adds seasonal staff should check its user count before a busy month, not after.
• Payroll reports mean Business. Payroll reports are not on Premium, so a team that budgeted for Premium may pay twice that per user once payroll is involved.
• Group messaging and SMS reminders are paid. Free covers private messages and in-app alarms only.
• Toast customers buy through Toast. Sling's pricing page sends Toast restaurants to the Toast Shop, so check that listing for the plan terms that apply.

Which Sling plan should you choose?

Choose Free if your team has 30 or fewer people and you need a shared schedule, open shifts and announcements, with hours tracked elsewhere. Choose Premium once hourly staff clock in, or once you want labor cost and overtime warnings while you build the schedule. Choose Business if you export payroll from Sling, want a shared kiosk for clock-in, or manage PTO and employee documents in one place.

For broader shortlists, see the best free employee scheduling apps and the best shift scheduling software, and for full product reviews, the Sling review, Homebase review, When I Work review and Deputy review. Teams weighing two rivals head to head can start with Homebase vs When I Work. Homebase and When I Work also have Toolradar profiles.

How we built this page

We read Sling's pricing page and its plan-by-plan feature table, plus the pricing pages of Homebase, When I Work and Deputy, on 19 October 2026, and took the price ranking from Toolradar. We did not open a Sling account or run a schedule for this page; every team cost is our arithmetic on the published per-user rates. We re-check the page when Sling changes a price, a plan or the free-user limit. Louis Corneloup, who founded Toolradar and Dupple, edited it.

FAQ

How much does Sling cost in 2026?

Sling is free for up to 30 users. Premium costs $2 per user a month billed monthly or $1.70 billed annually, and Business costs $4 per user a month or $3.40 billed annually, per Sling's pricing page in October 2026. Both paid plans include a 15-day free trial.

Is Sling's free plan enough?

For a team of 30 or fewer that only needs a shared schedule, open shifts, time-off requests and announcements, yes. It is not enough if staff clock in, if employees need to set their availability or swap shifts, or if you want group messaging, because those features start on Premium.

Does Sling have time tracking on the free plan?

No. Mobile clock-in, timesheets, geofencing and timesheet approvals start on Premium, the first paid plan. Kiosk clock-in on a shared device, attendance reports and payroll reports require Business.

What happens when a team passes 30 users on Sling?

The free plan covers up to 30 users, so a larger team moves to a paid plan. Assuming every user is billed, a 40-person team pays $80 a month on Premium or $160 on Business with monthly billing, about 15% less on annual billing.

Is Sling cheaper than Homebase?

For small teams, yes: Sling's free plan covers 30 users against Homebase's 10, and Sling Premium costs less than Homebase Essentials below 15 users. For a single location with more staff, Homebase's flat per-location price becomes cheaper than paying Sling per user.

Does Sling offer annual billing?

Yes. Annual billing saves 15%, bringing Premium to $1.70 and Business to $3.40 per user a month. Sling shows the annual price as a monthly equivalent per user rather than a yearly total.

Cite this: HRpresso, "Sling Pricing 2026: Free for 30 Users, Premium and Business Costs", November 2026.

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