Scheduling, time clock, team chat, hiring and payroll for hourly teams (restaurants, retail, local services), now with Homebase Assistant, an AI that builds schedules, finds cover for open shifts and flags timecard errors and overtime before payroll. Free Basic plan for 1 location and up to 10 employees.
Free tierYesStart without a card where the vendor allows
Setup time~5 min to create an account (Homebase help center); allow an hour or two to import staff and connect a POS (est.)No-code: Yes
ReplacesPaper or spreadsheet rotas, a group chat for shift swaps, a separate punch clock, manual timesheet checks before payroll and a separate job-board account
We haven't tested Homebase hands-on yet. We researched its official documentation and pricing, checked on 2026-11-06; the review isn't a report of personal use. Our editorial SMB score and setup time are estimates, not test results.
Quick verdict
Homebase is worth considering for hourly teams, particularly restaurants and shops in North America. One location can start with free scheduling, a time clock and team messaging; growth is priced per location, not per employee. From Plus at $70 per location per month, Homebase Assistant drafts schedules, fills open shifts and flags timecard errors before payroll. We would price the actual footprint first. Many sites with few staff each can cost more than per-user alternatives such as When I Work or Deputy. An office-based salaried team has different needs, and payroll outside the US needs another provider: Homebase sells payroll as a US add-on.
What Homebase is and how it works
Homebase brings scheduling, clocking in, team messages and hiring into one account for hourly teams. Think restaurants, cafés, shops, salons and service companies rather than a salaried office. The time clock can run on tablets, computers and POS devices; payroll is an optional add-on. Homebase says more than 2,000,000 workers use the product. That is its figure, not a count we independently checked.
Homebase Assistant launched in October 2026. It uses the team’s schedules and time-off information to draft the next rota, suggest cover when someone is sick, identify missed clock-outs and prompt corrections. It can also flag overtime or understaffing before the shift. With a POS connection such as Square or Toast, labor can be compared with sales. Those are documented functions, not evidence that we tried the assistant with a restaurant’s schedule.
Count locations before employees when comparing the bill: Homebase prices per location with unlimited employees. The AI starts at Plus. Payroll is a separate decision as well, because the add-on is US payroll; another business may instead export timesheets to its provider. We used Homebase’s pricing, product, integration, security and affiliate pages, checked on 6 Nov 2026. We haven’t tested it hands-on, and the score is an editorial estimate rather than a measured workforce result.
Key features and what they do for your business
Homebase Assistant (AI)
Launched in October 2026, the Assistant uses your team's availability, time off and history to build next week's schedule, spots open shifts and finds the best people to fill them, and flags compliance risks and overtime. Homebase's marketing claims it saves businesses $591 a month (vendor figure, not verified by us). Business value: less Sunday-night rota work and fewer call-out scrambles.
Scheduling
Basic scheduling on the free plan; advanced scheduling from Essentials. Employees can trade, cover and claim open shifts in the app, and request time off. The AI-powered Scheduling Assistant is listed from the Plus plan.
Time clock and timesheets
Staff clock in on tablets, computers and POS devices. Homebase can stop early clock-ins or early returns from break, stores timesheets (90 days on Basic) and, through the Assistant, catches clock-in/out errors as they happen and prompts employees to fix them before payroll. It also calculates missed-break pay automatically.
Labour-cost and business monitoring
With a POS connected, Homebase tracks labour against sales. The Assistant monitors labour cost, overtime risk, compliance and coverage and flags issues in real time, while there's still time to change the schedule.
Hiring
Job posts and applicant tracking are included (Homebase says many rivals charge for these). The paid Hiring Assistant (from $99/mo) writes job posts, publishes them to job boards, screens applicants and invites the best ones to book interviews; job post boosts cost from $50 per post.
Team communication
In-app team messaging from Essentials, so shift changes and announcements move out of personal WhatsApp groups.
Payroll, tips and HR add-ons
Payroll can be added to any plan ($49/mo + $6 per employee paid) and uses tracked hours to calculate wages, pay staff and file taxes; onboarding is included with payroll. Tip Manager pulls tips from your POS and calculates the tip pool. All-in-One adds onboarding without payroll and HR & compliance tools.
Homebase pricing by plan
Plan
Price
What's included
Limits & minimums
Basic
Billed annually$0Billed monthly$0
Basic scheduling and time tracking, POS integration, employee app, payroll add-on available
1 location, up to 10 employees; timesheets stored 90 days
Everything in Plus + employee onboarding without payroll, HR & compliance
Unlimited employees; 14-day free trial of this plan for new accounts
Payroll add-on
Billed annually$49/mo + $6 per employee paidBilled monthly$29/mo for teams up to 5
Wage calculation from timesheets, direct payments, automatic tax filing, onboarding
First 6 months free in the current limited-time offer
Prices read on joinhomebase.com/pricing on 6 Nov 2026 in USD. The page has an Annual/Monthly toggle; our fetch showed $30 / $70 / $120 per location per month but did not render a second set of figures, so check the toggle before you buy.
Pricing is per physical location, not per user. Two addresses in the same city count as two locations (Homebase FAQ).
After the 14-day All-in-One trial you drop to the free Basic plan, unless you have more than 10 employees or more than one location, in which case you must choose a paid plan. No credit card is needed for the trial.
Plan changes take effect at the start of the next billing cycle.
The Homebase Assistant price was not disclosed separately in the launch press release (our 26 Oct research); the pricing page lists the AI Scheduling Assistant from the Plus plan.
Prices in USD per the vendor's pricing page, before tax, checked 2026-11-06. Check the current checkout price before committing. Estimate a full stack with our AI stack cost calculator.
Use cases by business type
These examples show how a business could use the documented features. They aren't customer stories, tests we've run or measured results.
Restaurant / café
A 20-person café on Toast could sync employees, roles, time cards, tips and net sales into Homebase, let the Assistant draft next week's rota and use Tip Manager to split the tip pool. Note: Toast charges its own Partner Connect fee for the integration.
Retail shop
A two-store boutique could pay $30 per store on Essentials for advanced scheduling and team chat, then move to Plus when it wants the AI to fill call-outs.
Salon or spa
A salon with 8 staff at one address could stay on the free Basic plan for rotas and the time clock, adding payroll ($29/mo for up to 5 paid staff) only for the employed stylists.
Home services
A cleaning company could use the Hiring Assistant to publish job posts and screen applicants during the busy season, and the Assistant's overtime alerts to keep labour costs within budget.
Franchise / multi-site
A five-site franchisee would pay per location; compare the total against per-user tools like When I Work or Deputy before committing.
How to get started in 5 steps
Create a free accountGo to joinhomebase.com and choose Get Started. Homebase's help center says sign-up takes about 5 minutes. New accounts get a 14-day All-in-One trial without a card.
Add your location and teamEnter each physical address as a location, then invite employees so they get the mobile app for schedules, shift swaps and time-off requests.
Connect your POS or payrollIn Settings > POS Connection, connect Square, Clover, Toast or PAR so sales and labour sit side by side. Toast users must first enable Toast Partner Connect and add Homebase there.
Build the first schedule with the AssistantOn Plus or the trial, let Homebase Assistant draft a schedule from availability and history, review it, then publish. Turn on early clock-in prevention for the time clock.
Review timesheets and choose a planBefore your first payroll, fix the errors the Assistant flags, then export to your payroll provider or switch on Homebase Payroll. Before day 14, pick Basic, Essentials, Plus or All-in-One.
Integrations, security and privacy
Homebase lists integrations with Square, Square Payroll, Clover, Toast and PAR POS, plus timesheet exports formatted for Paychex and Wells Fargo, and an API for custom integrations (joinhomebase.com/integrations, checked 6 Nov 2026). Toast syncs per location (net sales, employees, roles, time cards, tips and scheduled shifts, but not access levels or PINs). Pair it with Zapier or Make only if your other tools lack a native link.
Homebase's Trust Center lists SOC 2 Type 2, SOC 3, PCI DSS v4.0.0, NIST CSF, CCPA and PIPEDA (trust.joinhomebase.com, checked 6 Nov 2026).
Encryption and access
AES-256 encryption at rest (AWS KMS) and TLS in transit; two-factor authentication, SSO, password-less login and role-based access control; annual penetration tests and a responsible-disclosure program (joinhomebase.com/security).
AI
Homebase says its AI features are designed with security and privacy in mind; its Trust Center has AI governance, third-party AI diligence and AI training sections whose details are available on request.
GDPR
GDPR is not among the frameworks listed in the Trust Center (CCPA and PIPEDA are), and we found no EU data-hosting option. Homebase is built for North American businesses; EU employers should ask for a DPA before storing staff data.
These are the vendor's statements, not our security audit. When we write “not stated”, we couldn't find the answer on its public pages. Ask before relying on it.
Pros
Genuinely free plan for one location with up to 10 employees, including scheduling, a time clock and POS integration.
Per-location pricing with unlimited employees, good value for one big site.
AI Assistant aimed at real hourly-team pain: call-outs, timecard errors, overtime and missed-break pay.
Strong POS links (Square, Toast, Clover, PAR) that put labour next to sales.
Published security credentials: SOC 2 Type 2, SOC 3, PCI DSS.
Public affiliate program via impact.com.
Cons
AI scheduling starts on Plus at $70 per location per month.
Expensive for many small sites: per-location pricing adds up fast for chains with few staff per site.
Payroll and many tools are add-ons (payroll, tips, tasks, hiring, background checks).
North America focus: no GDPR claim or EU hosting stated.
Savings figures are vendor claims ($591 a month) that we haven't verified.
Homebase vs alternatives
Tool
Price from
Free plan
Key difference
Homebase
Free (1 location, up to 10 employees); paid from $30/location/mo
Yes
This review
When I Work
Essentials $2.50/user/mo; Pro $5; Premium $8
14-day trial, no free plan
Per-user pricing with auto scheduling, multi-location scheduling and team messaging on every plan; SSO, API and webhooks only on Premium. Usually cheaper than Homebase for small teams spread across many sites.
Deputy
Lite $5/user/mo; Core $6.50; Pro $9 (min. spend $30/mo on monthly plans)
Free trial; no free plan
Global workforce tool (billing in USD, GBP, AUD) with Deputy AI included free on every plan for now, auto-scheduling and demand forecasting from Core, and payroll via Paycor in the US. Better for UK/Australian or larger teams.
7shifts
Not shown in our fetch of 7shifts.com/pricing
Check the vendor page
Restaurant-only scheduling and team management; worth comparing for single-concept restaurants. We couldn't read its prices on 6 Nov 2026, so we don't list figures.
When I Work prices from wheniwork.com/pricing and Deputy prices from deputy.com/pricing, both checked 6 Nov 2026. 7shifts' pricing page did not render prices in our fetch. None of these alternatives is listed in our directory yet. More options: Homebase alternatives.
Homebase FAQ
How much does Homebase cost?
On 6 Nov 2026 joinhomebase.com/pricing listed Basic at $0 (1 location, up to 10 employees), Essentials at $30, Plus at $70 and All-in-One at $120 per location per month with unlimited employees. Payroll is an add-on at $49 a month plus $6 per employee paid.
Is Homebase really free?
Yes, the Basic plan is free for one location with up to 10 employees and includes basic scheduling, time tracking and POS integration. Larger teams or more locations need a paid plan.
What is Homebase Assistant?
An AI assistant, launched in October 2026, that builds schedules from availability and history, fills open shifts, catches timecard errors before payroll, calculates missed-break pay and monitors labour cost and overtime. The pricing page lists the AI Scheduling Assistant from the Plus plan.
Does Homebase integrate with Square, Toast and Clover?
Yes. Homebase lists integrations with Square, Square Payroll, Toast, Clover and PAR POS. Toast requires its paid Partner Connect add-on, billed by Toast.
Is Homebase secure and GDPR compliant?
Homebase lists SOC 2 Type 2, SOC 3 and PCI DSS v4.0.0, with AES-256 encryption at rest and TLS in transit. GDPR is not listed in its Trust Center, so EU businesses should ask for a DPA.
Does Homebase have an affiliate program?
Yes. Homebase's affiliate program is free to join and runs through impact.com; the commission rate isn't published on the vendor page. We are not a member, so our link is a plain vendor link.
Partner program: Public affiliate program (joinhomebase.com/affiliates), free to join, run through impact.com; paid 'over time for every new customer you refer'; rate not published. Verified 2026-11-06. We are not a member, so affiliateUrl is the plain vendor URL.
Last verified 2026-11-06. Spotted something out of date? See our corrections policy.
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