Workforce scheduling
Asked as “employee scheduling software”, and as “shift scheduling tool”, on behalf of a mid-market B2B company. 47 first choices recorded across the direct, paraphrase, budget and scale prompts, twelve models each.
Standing · first-choice share
26%
Contested · Homebase 15%
26Deputy15Homebase15Sling45others
26% of first choices, contested.
By buyer segment
The same question asked on behalf of a different buyer. Each standing is computed within its segment; they sit side by side and are never added together.
The standing
Share is the count of first choices across the direct, paraphrase, budget and scale prompts, over all twelve models, for a mid-market B2B company. Ordered by share.
ProductFirst-choice shareNegative rateLabelsQuadrant
Show the four products at 0%, ordered by negative rate
Bars are the share of first choices, 0 to 100Every product with at least 10 labels here. Every product name links to its product page.
All ten head-to-head pages: the top five products, each against each
Recommended versus criticized
Every product with at least 10 labels here, on both axes. The 30% line names a quadrant, not the verdict above: that one needs more than 40%.
Criticized challengerCriticized default
Negative label rate →
01
02
03
04
05
06
07
08
09Accepted challengerEndorsed leader
0%First-choice share → · lines at 30% share and 25% negative40%
Key
01Deputy26%
Deputy26%02Homebase15%
Homebase15%03Sling15%
Sling15%04Connecteam9%
Connecteam9%05When I Work6%
When I Work6%06Calendly0%
Calendly0%07Cal.com0%
Cal.com0%08Acuity Scheduling0%
Acuity Scheduling0%097shifts0%
7shifts0%What they warned about
Four of twelve models held their first choice under the paraphrase. Claude Haiku 4.5, GPT-5.4 mini, Grok 4.20, Mistral Small, Llama 4 Maverick, Kimi K2, GLM 4.7 FlashX and MiniMax M2.5 changed. A high negative share on a product with few labels is a warning. A low share on a product with many labels is salience, not sentiment.
Calendly25%
5 of 20 labels negative · 5 of 12 models
“users frequently criticize Calendly’s billing model, which continues to charge for inactive user "seats", and its decision to lock security features ... behind expensive Enterprise tiers” Gemini 3.5 Flash, negative prompt
Homebase12%
3 of 25 labels negative · 3 of 12 models
“Sling or Homebase (note: these cap out quickly at mid-scale)” Qwen 3.7 Flash, paraphrase prompt
When I Work11%
3 of 28 labels negative · 3 of 12 models
“Employee Scheduling Tools (7shifts, HotSchedules, When I Work)... caution is about your own operational hygiene.” DeepSeek V4 Flash, negative prompt
7shifts25%
3 of 12 labels negative · 2 of 12 models · 1 hard negative
“What to avoid... 7shifts \u2014 unless you're in hospitality/restaurants” DeepSeek V4 Flash, paraphrase prompt
What they cite
Twelve of the twelve models returned a source list in this edition: four return the pages they cited and eight the search results they consulted.
Sites the answers cite
65 of 72 answers in this category came back with a source list, from 12 of 12 models: citations where the model returns them, or the search results it consulted. 915 links across 272 sites, every framing counted. Ranked by the number of answers carrying the site or page.
34 answers · 50 citations · 11 models
vendor site · Zapier32 answers · 32 citations · 11 models
28 answers · 29 citations · 10 models
vendor site · Connecteam26 answers · 36 citations · 12 models
20 answers · 29 citations · 9 models
vendor site · Guideflow18 answers · 24 citations · 11 models
17 answers · 18 citations · 9 models
vendor site · G216 answers · 23 citations · 10 models
vendor site · TimeTrex15 answers · 23 citations · 9 models
13 answers · 18 citations · 9 models
13 answers · 13 citations · 8 models
11 answers · 20 citations · 7 models
Pages the answers cite
The ten pages named in the most answers, by full address. A page here is one the models returned with a recommendation, not one the index endorses.
27 answers · 10 models
22 answers · 10 models
17 answers · 10 models
14 answers · 9 models
14 answers · 9 models
13 answers · 9 models
13 answers · 9 models
11 answers · 8 models
10 answers · 8 models
9 answers · 6 models
Search against answers
Each company's standing in the answers beside its site's footprint in Google search, one row a site: the products the models named on it with their shares, and the share they add up to; monthly searches on Google, and DataForSEO's estimate of AI search demand (modeled from search signals, directional, not a count of queries to any assistant), for the most-searched of the company's and its products' names (the name is in each row's hover text); estimated monthly organic visits to the site; and its best position in Google's top ten for “best employee scheduling software”, “employee scheduling software”, “scheduling tools”. US estimates from DataForSEO and Google's Ads Transparency Center. A small company's site, or a mid-sized company's site for its flagship, is marked company; a product on a large parent's site (Google, Microsoft) has no site figures. A column with no figures for this category is left out, and an empty cell means none were seen, not none exist. Two measurements side by side: neither is read as the cause of the other.
| Company and products | Share | Own site cited | Name searches, Google | AI search demand, est. | Organic visits | Paid search a month, est. | Google ads, last 30 days | Best Google position |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Deputy deputy.com | 26% | 356 | 40,500 | 17,000 | 45,127 | $3,222 | 32 | 3 |
| Homebase joinhomebase.com | 15% | 353 | 201,000 | 3,839 | 472,253 | $793 | 120 | 2 |
| Sling getsling.com | 15% | 95 | 368,000 | 51,638 | 363,426 | |||
| Connecteam connecteam.com | 9% | 693 | 49,500 | 288 | 312,449 | $13,504 | 120 | |
| When I Work wheniwork.com | 6% | 267 | 110,000 | 5,608 | 218,244 | $20 | 34 | 7 |
| TimeTrex timetrex.com | 6% | 15 | 590 | 16 | 1,849,211 | |||
| Rippling rippling.com | 4% | 1438 | 301,000 | 17,886 | 712,399 | $42,013 | 115 | |
| Shiftboard shiftboard.com | 4% | 26 | 12,100 | 72 | 21,163 | |||
| Paycor paycor.com | 4% | 178 | 673,000 | 1,818 | 1,002,900 | 120 | ||
| Assembled assembled.com | 4% | 11 | 90,500 | 76,788 | 46,746 | 5 |
Google's top ten for the three searches hold 22 sites; 4 of them are among the sites the models cited here (business.com, joinhomebase.com, peoplemanagingpeople.com, zapier.com). The first result for “best employee scheduling software” is buddypunch.com.
How they answered
Six framings of the same buying question, each sent to every model in a fresh session with search on. One row per model, so a row shows whether it held its answer under rewording, what it named when cost was the constraint, and what it argued against. Computed from the raw judge labels.ShowHide
How they answered
Six framings of the same buying question, each sent to every model in a fresh session with search on. One row per model, so a row shows whether it held its answer under rewording, what it named when cost was the constraint, and what it argued against. Computed from the raw judge labels.
ShowHideModelDirect“What is the best employee scheduling software for a mid-market B2B company?”Paraphrase“Which shift scheduling tool would you recommend to a mid-sized B2B company?”Comparative“What are the top scheduling tools and how do they differ?”Budget-constrained“What is the best employee scheduling software for a company with a limited budget?”Scale-constrained“We are a 500 person company evaluating an employee scheduling software. What should we look at?”Negative“Which scheduling tools should I avoid or be cautious about?”
Claude Haiku 4.5Paycorno first choiceChangedDeputy, When I WorkConnecteam, Homebaseno first choiceagainst: Jira, Setmore
Three alternatives
Buddy Punch, Sling, UKG Pro Workforce ManagementTwo alternatives
Connecteam, HomebaseTwo alternatives
Sling, When I WorkGPT-5.4 miniRipplingDeputyChangedCalendlyConnecteamagainst: Homebase, When I Workno first choicenothing named
Three alternatives
Connecteam, Homebase, When I WorkTwo alternatives
MakeShift, When I WorkThree alternatives
Acuity Scheduling, Cal.com, DoodleTwo alternatives
7shifts, SlingGemini 3.5 FlashAssembledAssembledHeldConnecteam, DeputySlingno first choiceagainst: Acuity Scheduling, Calendly, Doodle, Hootsuite, HotSchedules, Kronos/UKG, When2Work
Seven alternatives
Calendly, Chili Piper, Deputy, Float, RevenueHero, Rippling, RunnFive alternatives
Deputy, Factorial, Incident.io, PagerDuty, Zendesk WFMSeven alternatives
Acuity Scheduling, Cal.com, Calendly, Doodle, Motion, SavvyCal, TidyCalThree alternatives
7shifts, Connecteam, HomebasePerplexity SonarDeputyagainst: ConnecteamDeputyHeldCalendlyHomebase, Slingno first choicenothing named
Two alternatives
Rippling, Workforce.comFour alternatives
Findmyshift, Shiftboard, Sling, When I WorkFour alternatives
Acuity Scheduling, Cal.com, Doodle, Reclaim.aiOne alternative
ConnecteamGrok 4.20ADP Workforce Now, Ripplingagainst: Homebase, When I WorkDeputyChangedCalendlyHomebaseagainst: 7shiftsno first choiceagainst: Calendly, HubSpot Meetings, UKG Pro Workforce Management
Two alternatives
Connecteam, DeputyFour alternatives
Connecteam, Homebase, Sling, When I WorkFour alternatives
Acuity Scheduling, Doodle, Google Calendar, Microsoft BookingsTwo alternatives
Connecteam, SlingMistral SmallPaycor, TimeTrexHomebase, When I WorkChangedCalendlyHomebase, Slingno first choiceagainst: Calendly
Three alternatives
7shifts, Buddy Punch, ConnecteamTwo alternatives
ADP Workforce Now, TimeClock PlusSeven alternatives
Acuity Scheduling, ClinicSense, Connecteam, GlossGenius, HROne, Rippling, Square AppointmentsTwo alternatives
Connecteam, ShiftonDeepSeek V4 FlashDeputyDeputyHeldagainst: 7shifts, ShiftboardDeputy, Homebase, When I WorkConnecteamno first choiceagainst: 7shifts, Akiflow, Calendly, ClickUp, HotSchedules, Routine, Simply Schedule Appointments, When I Work
Five alternatives
ADP Workforce Now, Connecteam, Jobber, When I Work, Workforce.comTwo alternatives
Connecteam, When I WorkThree alternatives
Deputy, Homebase, SlingLlama 4 MaverickTimeTrexFloat, ShiftboardChangedCalendlyFindmyshiftno first choicenothing named
Two alternatives
Findmyshift, ZoomShiftFour alternatives
Clockwise, Doodle, Reclaim.ai, YouCanBookMeFour alternatives
7shifts, Connecteam, Homebase, SlingQwen 3.7 FlashDeputyDeputyHeldagainst: Homebase, SlingCalendlySlingno first choiceagainst: ActivTrak, Hubstaff, Jira, Microsoft Project, Monday.com, Notion, Oracle ERP, SAP Scheduling Modules, Smartsheet, Time Doctor
Three alternatives
Humanity, Rippling, TimeTrexOne alternative
When I WorkSeven alternatives
Acuity Scheduling, Cal.com, Google Calendar, SavvyCal, Setmore, Square Appointments, WaitWellTwo alternatives
7shifts, HomebaseKimi K2DeputyConnecteam, DeputyChangedCalendlyHomebase, Slingno first choiceagainst: Calendly, Hubstaff
Two alternatives
Humanity, When I WorkTwo alternatives
Homebase, When I WorkTwo alternatives
Acuity Scheduling, Cal.comTwo alternatives
Findmyshift, When I WorkGLM 4.7 FlashXDeputyDeputy, When I WorkChangedno first choiceSlingno first choiceagainst: Calendar.com
Six alternatives
Connecteam, Humanity, TimeTrex, When I Work, Workforce.com, Zoho PeopleTwo alternatives
7shifts, ConnecteamTen alternatives
Acuity Scheduling, Cal.com, Calendly, Clockwise, Motion, Reclaim.ai, Setmore, SimplyBook.me, Square Appointments, Zoho BookingsThree alternatives
7shifts, Deputy, HomebaseMiniMax M2.5TimeTrexShiftboard, When I WorkChangedCalendlyHomebase, Slingno first choiceagainst: Lever's Scheduler
Four alternatives
Deputy, Humanity, ScheduleAnywhere, When I WorkOne alternative
RipplingFour alternatives
Acuity Scheduling, Cal.com, Google Calendar, Square AppointmentsTwo alternatives
TimeTrex, ZoomShiftBold is the first choiceAlternatives are counted; the count opens them.What the answer argued against
The record
One row per call: the version string exactly as returned, whether the model searched, sources cited, and latency.
Seventy-two rows: every prompt, every model, every answer.
| Prompt | Model | Version string | Time (UTC) | Searched | Sources | Latency |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Direct recommendation | Claude Haiku 4.5 | claude-haiku-4-5-20251001 | 2026-09-17 20:58 | yes | 9 | 7 s |
| Direct recommendation | GPT-5.4 mini | gpt-5.4-mini-2026-03-17 | 2026-09-17 19:00 | yes | 2 | 5 s |
| Direct recommendation | Gemini 3.5 Flash | gemini-3.5-flash | 2026-09-17 18:33 | yes | 19 | 26 s |
| Direct recommendation | Perplexity Sonar | sonar | 2026-09-17 18:58 | yes | 20 | 6 s |
| Direct recommendation | Grok 4.20 | spacexai/grok-4.1-fast-non-reasoning via vertex (asked for grok-4.20-non-reasoning; the API answered as this version) | 2026-09-17 19:38 | yes | 36 | 19 s |
| Direct recommendation | Mistral Small | mistral/mistral-small via mistral | 2026-09-17 20:45 | yes | 11 | 8 s |
| Direct recommendation | DeepSeek V4 Flash | deepseek/deepseek-v4-flash via fireworks | 2026-09-17 21:46 | yes | 29 | 23 s |
| Direct recommendation | Llama 4 Maverick | meta/llama-4-maverick via bedrock | 2026-09-17 18:25 | yes | 5 | 3 s |
| Direct recommendation | Qwen 3.7 Flash | alibaba/qwen3.7-flash via alibaba | 2026-09-17 21:02 | yes | 8 | 43 s |
| Direct recommendation | Kimi K2 | moonshotai/kimi-k2 via novita | 2026-09-17 18:28 | yes | 13 | 23 s |
| Direct recommendation | GLM 4.7 FlashX | zai/glm-4.7-flashx via zai | 2026-09-17 21:27 | yes | 18 | 86 s |
| Direct recommendation | MiniMax M2.5 | minimax/minimax-m2.5 via minimax | 2026-09-17 19:24 | yes | 9 | 20 s |
| Paraphrase | Claude Haiku 4.5 | claude-haiku-4-5-20251001 | 2026-09-17 18:51 | no | 0 | 5 s |
| Paraphrase | GPT-5.4 mini | gpt-5.4-mini-2026-03-17 | 2026-09-17 21:40 | yes | 3 | 4 s |
| Paraphrase | Gemini 3.5 Flash | gemini-3.5-flash | 2026-09-17 18:37 | yes | 16 | 20 s |
| Paraphrase | Perplexity Sonar | sonar | 2026-09-17 20:06 | yes | 20 | 6 s |
| Paraphrase | Grok 4.20 | spacexai/grok-4.1-fast-non-reasoning via vertex (asked for grok-4.20-non-reasoning; the API answered as this version) | 2026-09-17 18:29 | yes | 30 | 14 s |
| Paraphrase | Mistral Small | mistral/mistral-small via mistral | 2026-09-17 21:01 | yes | 5 | 5 s |
| Paraphrase | DeepSeek V4 Flash | deepseek/deepseek-v4-flash via deepinfra | 2026-09-17 17:55 | yes | 17 | 30 s |
| Paraphrase | Llama 4 Maverick | meta/llama-4-maverick via bedrock | 2026-09-17 18:27 | yes | 5 | 3 s |
| Paraphrase | Qwen 3.7 Flash | alibaba/qwen3.7-flash via alibaba | 2026-09-17 18:55 | yes | 17 | 46 s |
| Paraphrase | Kimi K2 | moonshotai/kimi-k2 via novita | 2026-09-17 21:41 | yes | 22 | 40 s |
| Paraphrase | GLM 4.7 FlashX | zai/glm-4.7-flashx via zai | 2026-09-17 19:47 | yes | 15 | 76 s |
| Paraphrase | MiniMax M2.5 | minimax/minimax-m2.5 via minimax | 2026-09-17 19:32 | yes | 10 | 22 s |
| Comparative | Claude Haiku 4.5 | claude-haiku-4-5-20251001 | 2026-09-17 20:32 | yes | 9 | 8 s |
| Comparative | GPT-5.4 mini | gpt-5.4-mini-2026-03-17 | 2026-09-17 18:35 | yes | 6 | 9 s |
| Comparative | Gemini 3.5 Flash | gemini-3.5-flash | 2026-09-17 20:13 | yes | 18 | 24 s |
| Comparative | Perplexity Sonar | sonar | 2026-09-17 19:03 | yes | 20 | 7 s |
| Comparative | Grok 4.20 | spacexai/grok-4.1-fast-non-reasoning via vertex (asked for grok-4.20-non-reasoning; the API answered as this version) | 2026-09-17 20:16 | yes | 14 | 9 s |
| Comparative | Mistral Small | mistral/mistral-small via mistral | 2026-09-17 18:38 | yes | 8 | 8 s |
| Comparative | DeepSeek V4 Flash | deepseek/deepseek-v4-flash via deepinfra | 2026-09-17 20:05 | yes | 29 | 45 s |
| Comparative | Llama 4 Maverick | meta/llama-4-maverick via bedrock | 2026-09-17 17:54 | yes | 5 | 3 s |
| Comparative | Qwen 3.7 Flash | alibaba/qwen3.7-flash via alibaba | 2026-09-17 18:29 | yes | 5 | 30 s |
| Comparative | Kimi K2 | moonshotai/kimi-k2 via novita | 2026-09-17 19:08 | yes | 10 | 23 s |
| Comparative | GLM 4.7 FlashX | zai/glm-4.7-flashx via zai | 2026-09-17 20:59 | yes | 19 | 87 s |
| Comparative | MiniMax M2.5 | minimax/minimax-m2.5 via minimax | 2026-09-17 21:25 | yes | 10 | 24 s |
| Budget constrained | Claude Haiku 4.5 | claude-haiku-4-5-20251001 | 2026-09-17 18:55 | yes | 9 | 6 s |
| Budget constrained | GPT-5.4 mini | gpt-5.4-mini-2026-03-17 | 2026-09-17 20:17 | yes | 4 | 5 s |
| Budget constrained | Gemini 3.5 Flash | gemini-3.5-flash | 2026-09-17 20:10 | yes | 18 | 19 s |
| Budget constrained | Perplexity Sonar | sonar | 2026-09-17 20:22 | yes | 20 | 4 s |
| Budget constrained | Grok 4.20 | spacexai/grok-4.1-fast-non-reasoning via vertex (asked for grok-4.20-non-reasoning; the API answered as this version) | 2026-09-17 17:56 | yes | 27 | 15 s |
| Budget constrained | Mistral Small | mistral/mistral-small via mistral | 2026-09-17 21:29 | yes | 9 | 7 s |
| Budget constrained | DeepSeek V4 Flash | deepseek/deepseek-v4-flash via fireworks | 2026-09-17 18:02 | yes | 10 | 10 s |
| Budget constrained | Llama 4 Maverick | meta/llama-4-maverick via bedrock | 2026-09-17 20:08 | yes | 5 | 4 s |
| Budget constrained | Qwen 3.7 Flash | alibaba/qwen3.7-flash via alibaba | 2026-09-17 19:47 | yes | 10 | 27 s |
| Budget constrained | Kimi K2 | moonshotai/kimi-k2 via novita | 2026-09-17 18:32 | yes | 10 | 20 s |
| Budget constrained | GLM 4.7 FlashX | zai/glm-4.7-flashx via zai | 2026-09-17 20:09 | yes | 15 | 45 s |
| Budget constrained | MiniMax M2.5 | minimax/minimax-m2.5 via minimax | 2026-09-17 18:50 | yes | 10 | 17 s |
| Scale constrained | Claude Haiku 4.5 | claude-haiku-4-5-20251001 | 2026-09-17 19:58 | no | 0 | 6 s |
| Scale constrained | GPT-5.4 mini | gpt-5.4-mini-2026-03-17 | 2026-09-17 18:02 | no | 0 | 8 s |
| Scale constrained | Gemini 3.5 Flash | gemini-3.5-flash | 2026-09-17 19:33 | yes | 12 | 23 s |
| Scale constrained | Perplexity Sonar | sonar | 2026-09-17 18:46 | yes | 20 | 9 s |
| Scale constrained | Grok 4.20 | spacexai/grok-4.1-fast-non-reasoning via vertex (asked for grok-4.20-non-reasoning; the API answered as this version) | 2026-09-17 21:25 | yes | 13 | 9 s |
| Scale constrained | Mistral Small | mistral/mistral-small via mistral | 2026-09-17 19:57 | no | 0 | 6 s |
| Scale constrained | DeepSeek V4 Flash | deepseek/deepseek-v4-flash via fireworks | 2026-09-17 21:16 | yes | 9 | 15 s |
| Scale constrained | Llama 4 Maverick | meta/llama-4-maverick via bedrock | 2026-09-17 19:55 | yes | 5 | 3 s |
| Scale constrained | Qwen 3.7 Flash | alibaba/qwen3.7-flash via alibaba | 2026-09-17 21:00 | no | 0 | 28 s |
| Scale constrained | Kimi K2 | moonshotai/kimi-k2 via novita | 2026-09-17 17:57 | yes | 10 | 23 s |
| Scale constrained | GLM 4.7 FlashX | zai/glm-4.7-flashx via zai | 2026-09-17 19:46 | yes | 10 | 41 s |
| Scale constrained | MiniMax M2.5 | minimax/minimax-m2.5 via minimax | 2026-09-17 20:37 | yes | 5 | 16 s |
| Negative framing | Claude Haiku 4.5 | claude-haiku-4-5-20251001 | 2026-09-17 21:37 | yes | 27 | 10 s |
| Negative framing | GPT-5.4 mini | gpt-5.4-mini-2026-03-17 | 2026-09-17 21:25 | no | 0 | 3 s |
| Negative framing | Gemini 3.5 Flash | gemini-3.5-flash | 2026-09-17 19:04 | yes | 25 | 24 s |
| Negative framing | Perplexity Sonar | sonar | 2026-09-17 19:45 | yes | 20 | 8 s |
| Negative framing | Grok 4.20 | spacexai/grok-4.1-fast-non-reasoning via vertex (asked for grok-4.20-non-reasoning; the API answered as this version) | 2026-09-17 19:25 | yes | 39 | 16 s |
| Negative framing | Mistral Small | mistral/mistral-small via mistral | 2026-09-17 18:37 | yes | 5 | 7 s |
| Negative framing | DeepSeek V4 Flash | deepseek/deepseek-v4-flash via fireworks | 2026-09-17 21:37 | yes | 30 | 29 s |
| Negative framing | Llama 4 Maverick | meta/llama-4-maverick via bedrock | 2026-09-17 19:30 | yes | 5 | 2 s |
| Negative framing | Qwen 3.7 Flash | alibaba/qwen3.7-flash via alibaba | 2026-09-17 18:14 | no | 0 | 70 s |
| Negative framing | Kimi K2 | moonshotai/kimi-k2 via novita | 2026-09-17 19:33 | yes | 15 | 22 s |
| Negative framing | GLM 4.7 FlashX | zai/glm-4.7-flashx via zai | 2026-09-17 20:35 | yes | 19 | 26 s |
| Negative framing | MiniMax M2.5 | minimax/minimax-m2.5 via minimax | 2026-09-17 18:22 | yes | 7 | 29 s |
Normalization in this category
Every judgment call made between the raw labels and the numbers above, listed so it is visible and reversible.
ShowHide
Category-scoped readings
Google Calendar Appointment Schedules read as Google Calendar
UKG read as UKG Pro Workforce Management
UKG (formerly Kronos) read as UKG Pro Workforce Management
UKG Pro read as UKG Pro Workforce Management
Workday read as Workday Workforce Management
Unresolved, counted raw
Akiflow
CalClear
Calendar.com
ClinicSense
GlossGenius
Incident.io
Lever's Scheduler
MakeShift
Morgen
Oracle ERP
PagerDuty
Routine
SAP Scheduling Modules
ScheduleAnywhere
Simply Schedule Appointments
SimplyMeet.me
WaitWell
When2Work
Discontinued, still offered
No shut-down product was recommended here.