Compare NZ rostering software
Every major rostering and staff scheduling tool available to New Zealand businesses — Deputy, Tanda, Droppah, Rosterit, Connecteam, RosterElf and Humanforce — compared honestly against RosterMate, with sources and dates. We concede where competitors genuinely win, because that's the only kind of comparison worth reading.
Eight products compared on the things NZ businesses actually get caught out by: pricing transparency, currency, minimums, Holidays Act handling, NZ payroll and IRD filing. Scroll sideways to see them all.
| RosterMate | Deputy | Tanda | Droppah | Rosterit | Connecteam | RosterElf | Humanforce | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Published pricing | Yes | Yes | Mostly no | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | No |
| Price per user | $8 NZD flat | A$6.75–13 | Quote only | $2–4 NZD | Quote only | US$29+ per hub | A$6–10 | Quote only |
| Currency | NZD | AUD / USD | AUD (quoted) | NZD | Undisclosed | USD | AUD | Quoted |
| Free tier | No — 30-day trial | No — 31-day trial | No | Free ≤10 staff | No | Free ≤10 users | No — 15-day trial | No |
| Minimum spend / seats | None | A$30 / US$30 invoice | Quote-based | None | Not published | Per-hub base fee | 3–10 seat minimums | Implementation fees |
| NZ owned | Yes | No — AU | No — AU/US | Yes — FlexiTime | Yes — Auckland | No — Israel/US | No — AU | No — AU, US PE |
| NZ Holidays Act focus | Built in | AU awards focus | Via NZ payroll | Via PayHero | Not documented | No | AU awards focus | ANZ enterprise |
| GPS mobile clock-in | Yes + facial | Yes | Yes | Kiosk only | Yes + facial | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| AI auto-rostering | Yes | Yes + POS demand | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | Assisted matching | Yes |
| IRD payday filing | Yes — built in | No | No | No | No | No | No | No |
| PayHero / Smartly / Crystal | All three + Xero NZ | File export only | None found | PayHero only | Smartly + Crystal | None — Xero only | None — Xero NZ | None — Datapay |
| Events + shift bidding | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | No | Bidding, no events |
| Month-to-month | Yes, cancel anytime | Yes; annual traps | Contract-led | Yes | Not published | Yes, costs more | Yes, costs more | Contract-led |
All competitor pricing and features from each vendor's public pages as of 5 July 2026. Deputy, Tanda, Droppah, Rosterit, Connecteam, RosterElf and Humanforce are trademarks of their respective owners. RosterMate is our product — we've tried to be scrupulously fair, but always confirm current pricing with each vendor before you buy.
Each product below genuinely wins at something — here's what, and who it actually suits. Click through for the full head-to-head with pricing examples.
Deputy
The biggest global name in rostering, and deservedly so — Deputy's auto-scheduling can forecast staffing from sales data and it connects to 300+ systems. For NZ businesses the catch is money: no NZD price list, an A$30/US$30 minimum monthly spend, paid add-ons for HR and messaging, and no IRD filing or Holidays Act engine.
Tanda / Workforce.com
Tanda's award and wage interpretation engine is best-in-class, and it has a genuine NZ payroll product that claims Holidays Act compliance — a rarity in this list. But pricing is essentially quote-only with contract-length discounts and a sales-led process, which is a hard sell for a 15-person café that just wants a price on a page.
Droppah
Wellington-built by FlexiTime (the PayHero people), Droppah is genuinely free for up to 10 staff and only $4 NZD per employee on its top plan — cleaner and cheaper than us on sticker price, and we'll happily say so. The trade-offs: kiosk-only clock-in (no GPS mobile clock-in), no native leave management, no manager mobile app, and a payroll path that assumes PayHero.
Rosterit
An Auckland-based, 100% NZ-owned scheduler with the longest local payroll export list in this comparison — iPayroll, Smartly, IMS, ACE, Crystal and MYOB — plus SMS shift notifications and facial-recognition clock-in. The downsides are opaque pricing (no public price list), no AI auto-rostering, and almost no public review footprint to judge it by.
Connecteam
Connecteam's free Small Business Plan — genuinely everything, up to 10 users — is the best free deal in workforce software, full stop. Past 10 users the per-hub USD pricing stacks up fast (scheduling, chat and HR are separate US$29+ hubs), and NZ payroll support is thin beyond a Xero sync with no allowances. Huge feature breadth, weak NZ localisation.
RosterElf
A Perth company with 14+ years behind it, transparent A$6–10 pricing and a genuinely strong Xero pedigree — including a dedicated NZ Xero setup path and top ratings on the Xero App Store. Watch the fine print: minimum seat counts (10 on annual plans), admins count as billable, AUD billing, and a compliance engine built for Australian awards rather than the Holidays Act.
Humanforce
Twenty-plus years of ANZ workforce management with real enterprise depth — award interpretation, biometric clocks, a full HCM suite, native payroll and a native Datacom Datapay integration used by large NZ employers. It's quote-only with implementation fees and a proper sales cycle, which makes it the wrong tool for a small business but a credible one for a 1,000-person operation.
How we compare
Every fact on this page and the linked head-to-head pages comes from each vendor's own public pricing and feature pages, checked on 5 July 2026, with review scores taken from public review sites on the same date. Where something couldn't be verified — like a vendor that doesn't publish NZ pricing — we say "quote only" or "not published" rather than guessing. Prices change and features ship, so always confirm current details with the vendor before buying.
Full disclosure: RosterMate is our product, so of course we think it's the right choice for most NZ teams — but we've deliberately conceded every genuine competitor strength we found, from Droppah's free tier to Deputy's demand forecasting to Humanforce's enterprise depth. If you spot anything outdated or unfair, tell us via our contact page and we'll correct it.
See RosterMate PricingThe questions NZ businesses ask most when comparing rostering tools.