A Square Shifts alternative for businesses with 2–5 locations
A good Square Shifts alternative matters mainly if you do not run Square POS: Shifts is sold only inside Square Plus ($49/month per location) and Square Premium ($149), so 3 locations cost $147/month plus card processing fees, and Square Free has no shift scheduling. If you already use Square Plus, scheduling, timecards, cash-drawer sessions and inventory counts are in one system.
Cost at 3 locations and 30 staff
Example: Square Plus is $49/month per location and Square charges it across all active locations. 3 × $49 = $147/month. Staff count does not change the price on the current US pricing page. Card processing is extra (Plus: 2.5% + 15¢ in person, per squareup.com/us/en/pricing). Square Premium would be 3 × $149 = $447/month. No annual billing option was found.
Verdict
Choose Square if you already run Square POS on Plus: shift scheduling, time off, trades, timecards with breaks and overtime, a free cash management add-on for drawer sessions and an inventory counting tool all sit in the same account, with a 30-day free trial.
Choose Assistlify if you do not run Square POS and want the schedule, time clock, drawer counts and stock counts without a POS subscription; one flat monthly price per business instead of $49 per location. Setup is done for you: we load your current schedule and staff. It has no shift swaps, payroll, POS integrations, GPS or SMS. Assistlify's price is not yet published, so we cannot say whether it costs less. It is in early access; you can try it in the preview workspace.
Side by side
| Item | Square | Assistlify |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing model | Per location per month; Shifts is included in Square Plus and Square Premium; card processing fees extra | One flat monthly price per business, not per location or per user |
| Cost at 3 locations / 30 staff | Square Plus: 3 × $49 = $147/month; staff count does not change the price; card processing fees extra | One flat monthly price per business; Assistlify's price is not yet published, so we cannot say whether it costs less. |
| Free plan | Square Free $0 per location, but shift scheduling and timecards are not included | Not published; in early access, with an open preview workspace to try |
| Scheduling | Yes, Plus and Premium only | Yes: weekly schedules built by hand or generated from staff availability and approved time off, then published to the team; staff can be assigned to one or more locations |
| Time clock | Yes: passcode or badge clock-in and timecards with breaks and overtime, Plus and Premium | Yes: clock in/out with breaks; attendance CSV export |
| Shift swaps / open shifts | Shift swapping/trades: yes. Open shifts: not found on Square's US pages | No |
| Time off | Yes, time-off requests | Yes: requests from the phone; approval flags overlapping shifts |
| Payroll | Payroll prep in Shifts; Square Payroll is separate, from $35/month + $6 per person paid | No (attendance CSV export only) |
| POS integrations | Works with Square POS; third-party POS integrations not found on Square's site | No |
| GPS / geofence | Not found on Square's site | No |
| SMS | Not found on Square's site | No |
| Cash-drawer counts | Yes, in Square POS (free Cash Management add-on: starting and expected cash per drawer session), not in Shifts | Yes, per location |
| Stock counts | Yes, in Square POS: inventory counting tool on Plus and Premium; transfer orders on Premium | Yes, per location |
| Setup and trial | 30-day free trial on Plus and Premium | We set it up for you: we load your current schedule and staff. Staff join by link or QR code and use it in the browser on iPhone, Android or desktop |
Vendor cells come from Square's own pages, checked November 12, 2026. "Not found" means we did not find it on those pages, not that it does not exist.
Related: cost of 10 scheduling apps at 3 stores and 30 staff, Homebase alternative for 2–5 locations, cash drawer count calculator.
Questions
Is Square Shifts free?
No. Square Free ($0) does not include shift scheduling or timecards; Shifts is included in Square Plus ($49/month per location) and Square Premium ($149/month per location).
Does Square charge per employee for Shifts?
No per-team-member fee appears on Square's current US pricing pages; Square Plus is priced per location.
Does Square Shifts have GPS clock-in?
Not found on the Square US pages checked on November 12, 2026.
Sources
- Square pricing (US) (checked 2026-11-12)
- Square Shifts (checked 2026-11-12)
- Square help: Advanced Access pricing (checked 2026-11-12)
- Square help: set up cash management (checked 2026-11-12)
- Square help: start and end a cash drawer session (checked 2026-11-12)