Sling vs When I Work 2026: Free Scheduling or Paid per User?

Sling is the better value for most small teams in 2026: it schedules up to 30 users for free, and its paid plans cost $2 or $4 per user a month, with a time clock included from the first paid tier. When I Work has no free plan and starts at $2.50 per user a month on Essentials, but it offers auto scheduling, forecasting and payroll and POS integrations from that entry plan, plus SSO and an API on Premium.

Prices were read on October 21, 2026 on Sling's pricing page and When I Work's pricing page. Sling prints monthly and annual rates side by side; When I Work's page shows one rate per plan, and its help center describes a 5% discount for annual billing at checkout. The comparisons below use monthly billing on both.

Toolradar data: Toolradar, the software directory Dupple runs, tracks 110 time tracking tools as of October 20, 2026, and both products appear in its time tracking ranking. Their directory pages are Sling and When I Work, with a head-to-head view of both.

At a glance

Price: Sling is cheaper at every tier

Sling's free plan is the headline. It covers shift scheduling, time-off requests, available shifts, long-term scheduling, news sharing and private messaging for up to 30 users. A cafe, salon or retail store under that size can schedule its whole team without paying anything.

The paid tiers stay low. Premium is $2.00 per user a month on monthly billing, or $1.70 billed annually, and adds mobile time tracking, labor cost management against sales, overtime tracking, group messaging and calendar sync. Business is $4.00, or $3.40 annually, and adds kiosk clock-in on a shared device, hours and wages reports, no-show and sick call-out tracking, and PTO management.

When I Work charges per user from the first seat. Essentials is $2.50 per user a month, Pro $5 and Premium $8. Its time clock is sold as a Time & Attendance add-on that you toggle on for any plan, and the plan price updates to include it; check the current add-on rate on When I Work's pricing page before you budget. The scenarios below price When I Work's scheduling plans on their own and flag where the add-on would come on top.

The cheapest paid comparison favors Sling by 50 cents a user, and Sling's price already includes a mobile time clock while When I Work's entry price does not. At the top of each ladder, Sling Business costs half of When I Work Premium per user.

What 20 and 40 staff cost each month

Our arithmetic on list prices, monthly billing, scheduling plans only.

Crossing 30 users is the moment Sling stops being free. A 40-person team pays $80 a month on Sling Premium, or $68 on annual billing, against $100 on When I Work Essentials before any time clock. For a year, that is $960 on Sling Premium against $1,200 on When I Work Essentials at monthly rates, our arithmetic.

The comparison only holds if Sling's features cover your needs. A team that needs scheduling rules, labor sharing between locations or SSO will be comparing Sling Business with When I Work Pro or Premium, and those When I Work plans cost $200 and $320 a month at 40 users.

Scheduling depth: When I Work does more for you

When I Work's Essentials plan lists auto scheduling, multi-week scheduling, schedule templates, forecast tools, open shifts and shift swapping, and in-app messaging. Pro adds scheduling rules, role permissions, labor sharing, custom unit forecasting, custom reporting, overlapping open shifts and a time-zone toggle. That depth is the reason to pay more: a manager who builds the schedule for several departments every week gets more of it done by the software.

Sling covers the core tasks well. Its plan list includes shift and schedule templates, shift offers and swaps, unavailability, day parts, SMS shift alarms, auto-assigning, tags and mandatory breaks applied to shifts. What it leaves out at the self-serve level are the scheduling rules, role permissions and API access that larger operations ask for.

For one site with simple shifts, Sling's tools are enough. For a multi-department or multi-site operation that wants rules enforced and labor shared, When I Work Pro is the stronger buy. The When I Work review and Sling review cover each feature set in full.

Time clock and attendance

Sling builds the time clock into its paid plans. Premium adds mobile clock-in and out plus overtime tracking, and Business adds kiosk clock-in on a shared tablet with reports of hours worked and wages earned, which is the setup most shops use at the back door.

When I Work sells Time & Attendance separately. Its pricing FAQ says employees can clock in using GPS or geofencing and that attendance data syncs with schedules and labor reports. Because it is an add-on, a buyer comparing the two should price When I Work with the toggle on. For other options, our best free time clock apps list covers tools with a no-cost clock.

Integrations and admin

When I Work includes payroll and POS integrations from Essentials, and its Premium plan adds API key access, webhooks and SAML/SSO. It also promotes a partnership with Rippling, offering new customers six months of Rippling payroll and HR free, a limited-time partner offer rather than part of the plan price.

Sling's plans list calendar synchronization from Premium and payroll-ready reports on Business. A team that wants schedules flowing into a payroll provider automatically, or single sign-on for managers, will find those on When I Work rather than on Sling's self-serve plans.

Billing flexibility differs too. When I Work's help center says monthly accounts can add or remove seats at any time, while annual accounts can add seats any time but remove them only within the 30-day renewal window. Annual plans are paid in advance.

Who should choose which

Choose Sling if your team has 30 people or fewer and scheduling is the main job, or if you want a time clock at the lowest per-user price. A single restaurant, shop or clinic gets the most from its free plan and its $2 Premium tier.

Choose When I Work if your managers want auto scheduling, forecasting and rules, you need payroll or POS integrations from the entry plan, or IT requires SSO and an API. Its cost runs higher per user, and the time clock adds to it, so price the full setup before you sign.

Look at a per-location tool if you have many staff at few sites. Our 7shifts vs Homebase comparison prices per-location plans for restaurants, and Homebase vs When I Work and Deputy vs When I Work set When I Work against two other options. The best free employee scheduling apps ranking covers the no-cost field, the best shift scheduling software ranking the paid one, and the pricing pages for Sling and When I Work list every tier.

How we compared them

We read both pricing pages and When I Work's help center on October 21, 2026, and compared plans a small business would buy at 20 and 40 users on monthly billing. Totals are our arithmetic on printed list prices and exclude partner offers and add-ons without a printed rate. Feature descriptions come from the vendors' own plan lists, not from trials of the software.

FAQ

Is Sling or When I Work cheaper in 2026?

Sling is cheaper. Its free plan covers up to 30 users, and its paid plans are $2.00 (Premium) and $4.00 (Business) per user a month on monthly billing, against $2.50, $5 and $8 for When I Work Essentials, Pro and Premium. At 40 users, Sling Premium costs $80 a month and When I Work Essentials $100, before When I Work's time clock add-on.

Is Sling really free?

Yes, for up to 30 users. The free plan includes shift scheduling, time-off requests, available shifts, long-term scheduling, news sharing and private messaging. Time tracking, labor cost tools and group messaging require Premium, and a team above 30 users needs a paid plan.

Does When I Work have a free plan?

No. When I Work offers a 14-day free trial with full access and no credit card, then charges per user from its Essentials plan upward. Its time clock is a separate Time & Attendance add-on that can be switched on for any plan.

Which has a better time clock?

Sling includes its time clock in the plan: mobile clock-in from Premium and a shared-device kiosk from Business. When I Work's Time & Attendance add-on offers GPS and geofenced clock-in synced with schedules and labor reports, at an extra cost per user.

Which is better for multiple locations?

When I Work, for most groups: Pro adds labor sharing, scheduling rules, role permissions and a time-zone toggle, and Premium adds SSO and an API. Sling suits several small sites that only need scheduling and a basic clock, since its per-user price stays lower.

Cite this: HRpresso, "Sling vs When I Work 2026: Free Scheduling or Paid per User?", November 2026.

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