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Schedio vs When I Work: which fits your floor?

Last reviewed: June 2026

TL;DR
  • Pick When I Work if you want simple, well-known scheduling with built-in team messaging and a mobile-first experience, priced per user.
  • Pick Schedio if you want the live coverage picture and structured shift hand-offs — and a price that ignores headcount.
  • Pricing: When I Work prices per user per month, with add-ons by plan; Schedio is $49/month per location, unlimited staff.

Side by side

Pricing model
Schedio

$49/month per location, unlimited team members

When I Work

Per user per month, plan tiers gate features

Per-employee fees
Schedio

None — staff logins never cost extra

When I Work

Yes — the bill scales with every person on the roster

Setup & onboarding
Schedio

Self-serve: pick a trade template at signup, import your roster from CSV

When I Work

Self-serve, quick start, mobile apps

Industries covered
Schedio

Six trades: hotels, restaurants, clinics, security, retail, support desks

When I Work

Broad small-business — retail, hospitality, healthcare, services

Hand-off notes between shifts
Schedio

Built in — structured hand-over notes attached to every shift

When I Work

Team messaging built in; no structured per-shift hand-over notes

Contract & cancellation
Schedio

Monthly, cancel anytime; data stays exportable for 30 days

When I Work

Monthly or annual, self-serve cancellation

Where When I Work is strong

When I Work made shift scheduling mainstream for small teams, and the polish shows. The mobile apps are mature, team messaging is built in, and staff adoption is famously easy — for a crew that lives on their phones, that's worth a lot.

Time tracking is available as an add-on, so it can grow into the timesheet role if that's where you're heading.

Where Schedio is different

A group thread is where shift context goes to die — the 3 am note is sixty messages up by the time the day shift reads it. Schedio's hand-over notes are structured and attached to the shift: open issues, done and verified, heads-up for the next crew. The dashboard answers "who's on, who's covered" without scrolling.

And the price is flat: $49 per location, unlimited people. Per-user pricing makes every new hire a billing decision; per-location pricing makes it nobody's problem.

Switching

Moving from When I Work is a roster export and an import. Get your people and a typical week into a CSV, and Schedio imports them with a row-by-row preview — nothing lands until you confirm it.

The 14-day trial needs no card, so the usual path is to run Schedio alongside your current tool for a week or two and let the floor decide. If you leave, your data stays exportable for 30 days after cancellation.

† Details about When I Work marked with a dagger are awaiting our routine verification against their current public materials. Spot something out of date? Write to info@schedio.team and we'll fix it.

Common questions

Does Schedio have team chat like When I Work?+

No — and on purpose. Your team already has a chat. Schedio pushes alerts and coverage gaps into Slack, Telegram or WhatsApp, and keeps shift context in structured hand-over notes that don't scroll away.

Can staff claim open shifts on their phones?+

Yes. Staff log in from any phone browser, see open shifts at their location, claim covers and propose trades — with manager approval if you keep it on.

What does switching cost?+

Nothing beyond the trial: export your roster to CSV, import it with a preview, and run the two side by side for a week. Schedio stays $49 per location whatever your headcount.

See your own floor in it.

14 days free, no card. Import your roster from a CSV and compare mornings.

Start a 14-day trial