Best Rota Software for Hospitality (2026)
Staff rota and scheduling software for UK pubs, restaurants, cafes and hotels, compared.
Paddl includes a per-site rota in its £69 per location per month; RotaCloud publishes from £10 a month for five staff, Deputy from £3.25 per user with a £20 minimum, 7shifts has a free tier, and Planday and Bizimply quote.
- Paddl: Rota inside the compliance app
- RotaCloud: Rota-only, per user
- Deputy: Scheduling for larger teams
Rota software takes the weekly grid out of the spreadsheet and turns it into something staff can see on their phones, managers can build against a forecast, and payroll can read without retyping. For hospitality the test is narrower than for a call centre: can it handle split shifts and late finishes, does it work out holiday for zero-hours staff on the 12.07% rule, does it clock people in and out, and does it get the hours to payroll without a manager reconciling two systems on a Monday morning. We compared the leading options on those questions, on price for a single venue and a small group, and on whether the rota lives next to the compliance records or in a separate tool.
We compared each product on the questions a hospitality operator asks in the first ten minutes of a demo: rota building, holiday and accrual, clocking and timesheets, payroll export, forecasting and price at a fifteen-person venue. Paddl is our own product and is listed first; the strengths and weaknesses of every pick, including ours, are stated the same way.
How We Evaluated
Rota building and publishing
How fast a manager can build a week, copy a pattern, and publish it to staff phones with swaps and availability handled in the app.
Holiday and accrual
Statutory entitlement for fixed patterns and 12.07% accrual for irregular hours, with requests approved against the rota.
Time and attendance
Clocking in and out, timesheets that flow from actual shifts, and the difference between rostered and worked hours made visible.
Payroll and forecasting
Payroll export in a format a UK bureau accepts, and whether the rota can be built against a sales forecast rather than last week.
Value for a single venue
What one site with fifteen staff pays a month, and whether the price climbs per user or per module.
Our Picks
Paddl
Best for: Rota inside the compliance appA per-site rota with open shifts, swaps, timesheets and labour cost against forecast sales, included in the per-location price rather than sold per user.
RotaCloud
Best for: Rota-only, per userA UK rota and time-and-attendance tool priced per user, from a published starting price for small teams.
Deputy
Best for: Scheduling for larger teamsRota, timesheets and time clock per user with a monthly minimum.
Planday (Xero)
Best for: Rota with Xero payrollRota and timesheets per user, owned by Xero.
7shifts
Best for: Restaurant scheduling from North AmericaRestaurant-specific scheduling with a free tier and per-location plans, priced in dollars.
Bizimply
Best for: Scheduling and HR on quoteWorkforce management for hospitality: scheduling, time and attendance, HR and communications, priced after an assessment call.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the best rota software for a small pub or restaurant?
For a single venue the choice is between a rota-only tool priced per user, such as RotaCloud, and a platform that includes the rota alongside compliance and training records at a per-location price, such as Paddl. Add up the monthly cost at your real headcount before deciding.
Does rota software calculate holiday entitlement?
The better ones do. Look for statutory 5.6-week entitlement for fixed patterns, 12.07% accrual for irregular hours, pro-rata for starters and a balance shown on each request. Our free holiday entitlement calculator does the same maths if you want to check a tool's answer.
Can rota software export to UK payroll?
Most export a CSV or connect directly to common UK payroll providers. Check the export includes worked hours from the timesheet rather than rostered hours from the plan, and that it separates holiday pay.
Is a free rota template good enough?
For a handful of staff on fixed patterns, a printed template works. It stops working when hours vary, holiday balances need tracking, or staff expect to see the rota on their phone. The free staff rota template on this site is a reasonable starting point and the same layout a digital rota uses.
Find the right tool for your business
Paddl brings compliance, operations, and team management into one platform built specifically for UK hospitality. See how it compares.