# Sling: how AI models rank it, November 2026

Gane Index, November 2026 Edition. Named in 48 judge labels across 6 categories by 14 of 14 models. Page: https://www.gane.ai/index/hr/vendors/sling

## Standing by category

| Category | Share | Rank | Negative rate | Labels |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| [Workforce scheduling](https://www.gane.ai/index/hr/core/workforce-scheduling/index.md) | 25% | 2 | 6% | 36 |
| [Frontline employee apps](https://www.gane.ai/index/hr/experience/frontline-employee-apps/index.md) | 0% | 21 | 0% | 4 |
| [Workforce management suites](https://www.gane.ai/index/hr/core/workforce-management-suites/index.md) | 0% | 23 | 0% | 4 |
| [Time and attendance](https://www.gane.ai/index/hr/core/time-and-attendance/index.md) | 0% | 54 | 0% | 2 |
| [Leave and absence management](https://www.gane.ai/index/hr/core/leave-and-absence-management/index.md) | 0% | 72 | 0% | 1 |
| [Workforce planning](https://www.gane.ai/index/hr/planning/workforce-planning/index.md) | 0% | 72 | 0% | 1 |

## What the models said for it

- "Sling is likely your best bet—it offers the most comprehensive free plan combined with very affordable paid upgrades" (MiniMax M2.5, Workforce scheduling)
- "If you're on a very tight budget, start with Sling or Homebase as both offer genuinely useful free plans" (Kimi K2, Workforce scheduling)
- "The best employee scheduling software for a company with a limited budget is Sling, which is a free option" (Llama 4 Maverick, Workforce scheduling)
- "Often cited as the best "budget" option generally, Sling allows you to pay only for the modules you need." (Qwen 3.7 Flash, Workforce scheduling)

## And against it

- "more capable than lightweight tools such as Sling, without immediately requiring an enterprise workforce-management platform" (Perplexity Sonar, Workforce scheduling)
- "Good starter option (~$2–$4/user/month) but may lack depth in compliance/reporting for growing mid-sized firms." (Grok 4.20, Workforce scheduling)

## By model

| Model | First choice | Alternative | Mention | Warning | Labels |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Claude Haiku 4.5 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| GPT-5.4 mini | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Gemini 3.5 Flash | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| Perplexity Sonar | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 3 |
| Grok 4.20 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 3 |
| Mistral Small | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 3 |
| DeepSeek V4 Flash | 1 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 5 |
| Llama 4 Maverick | 1 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 4 |
| Qwen 3.7 Flash | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 3 |
| Kimi K2 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 4 |
| GLM 4.7 FlashX | 1 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 5 |
| MiniMax M2.5 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 3 |
| GPT-6 Luna | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 3 |
| Muse Glimmer 30B | 1 | 1 | 6 | 0 | 8 |

## Sources returned with these answers

The sites and pages cited by the answers that named Sling, from 95 of the 103 answers that named it (only the models that return a source list).

### Domains cited

- capterra.com: 46
- peoplemanagingpeople.com: 39
- forbes.com: 38
- softwareadvice.com: 35
- leadchangegroup.com: 33
- selecthub.com: 25
- fitsmallbusiness.com: 24
- zapier.com: 21
- selectsoftwarereviews.com: 19
- spotsaas.com: 19

### Pages cited

- https://forbes.com/advisor/business/software/best-employee-scheduling-software: 35
- https://leadchangegroup.com/employee-scheduling-software/mid-market: 24
- https://capterra.com/resources/best-employee-scheduling-software-for-small-business: 21
- https://zapier.com/blog/best-employee-scheduling-software: 21
- https://peoplemanagingpeople.com/tools/best-employee-scheduling-software-for-small-business: 20
- https://capterra.com/employee-scheduling-software: 19
- https://selectsoftwarereviews.com/buyer-guide/best-employee-scheduling-software-for-small-business: 18
- https://selecthub.com/employee-scheduling/employee-scheduling-small-business: 17

## In its own words

What Sling's own pages state, read 2026-09-28. Stated by the vendor, not checked by the index.

- Positioning: Free Employee Scheduling And Shift Planning Made Easy (https://getsling.com/)
- For: businesses (https://getsling.com/)
- Price stated: For free (https://getsling.com/)
- Starting price: Free (https://getsling.com/pricing)
- Free plan or trial: free (https://getsling.com/)
- Integrations claimed: 6 (https://getsling.com/)
- Customers named: Sunday in Brooklyn, Vessel NOLA, Expeditors, The Arches, ILoveKickboxing, Larry's II, The Musket Room, The Market Line

## What it publishes

Every page getsling.com exposes, read 2026-09-29: 789 addresses. By kind, pages and the last 90 days:

- blog: 403 pages, 7 in the last 90 days, latest 2026-09-01
- case study: 1 pages, 0 in the last 90 days, latest undated
- comparison: 9 pages, 0 in the last 90 days, latest 2026-03-18
- template or tool: 4 pages, 0 in the last 90 days, latest undated
- glossary or explainer: 4 pages, 0 in the last 90 days, latest 2025-01-15
- Recent: 2026-09-01 blog: Restaurant accounting https://getsling.com/blog/restaurant-accounting
- Recent: 2026-08-31 blog: How To Deal With No Call, No Show Employees https://getsling.com/blog/no-call-no-show
- Recent: 2026-08-21 blog: 17715 https://getsling.com/blog/17715
- Recent: 2026-08-21 blog: New toast sling deactivation update https://getsling.com/blog/new-toast-sling-deactivation-update
- Recent: 2026-08-01 blog: Areas of improvement for employees https://getsling.com/blog/areas-of-improvement-for-employees
- Recent: 2026-07-16 blog: Shift differential https://getsling.com/blog/shift-differential

## Record

- Method: https://www.gane.ai/index/hr/methodology
- License: CC BY 4.0. Cite as Gane Index, November 2026 Edition, www.gane.ai/index/hr.