7shifts vs. Square Payroll

Overview
ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price
7shifts
Score 9.9 out of 10
N/A
7shifts is a restaurant workforce and scheduling management application, which also features collaboration features, from the Canadian company of the same name.
$0
Square Payroll
Score 6.1 out of 10
N/A
Square Payroll is a payroll solution for hourly employees, from Square headquartered in San Francisco, California.
$0
per month
Pricing
7shiftsSquare Payroll
Editions & Modules
Free
$0.00
Appetizer
$19.99
per location/per month
Entree
$43.99
per location/per month
The Works
$74.97
per location/per month
Gourmet
Contact sales team
Free
$0
per month
Plus
$29
per month
Premium
Custom
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
7shiftsSquare Payroll
Free Trial
YesNo
Free/Freemium Version
YesYes
Premium Consulting/Integration Services
NoNo
Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeNo setup fee
Additional Details
More Pricing Information
Community Pulse
7shiftsSquare Payroll
Considered Both Products
7shifts
Chose 7shifts
We used When I Work when it first debuted, but 7Shifts technology is much more advanced than When I Work's was at that time.
Chose 7shifts
Slack is great for communicating and you can add photos, but 7shifts seems like it was built for our business model (restaurant/bar). It’s easy to use by staff and management and can be mobile or desktop. 7shifts also has the best prompt questions/bubbles that keep you …
Chose 7shifts
For me, 7Shifts has the same amount of functionality, but for a much better price. The app functionality of 7shifts was easier to navigate and allowed me to do more than HotSchedules. I've recommended it to several other local businesses who have implemented it as well and had …
Chose 7shifts
I prefer the customer service, implementation and the constant add-ons and improvements 7shifts make in comparison to Hot Schedules.
Square Payroll
Chose Square Payroll
ADP is much too expensive. Gusto was great for us but we found Square Payroll to be more cost effective, though the difference is not very much.
Chose Square Payroll
We used Quickbooks for a long time. Our payroll/HR person for the past 20+ years retired around the time our company was sold and bought. Her replacement had experience in using Square Payroll. We gave it a shot and liked it. We went live rather quickly and it did take some …
Chose Square Payroll
We have tested the QuickBooks Online platform. Before using Square, we tried QuickBooks, but the experience we had was not to our liking. QuickBooks Online is a much more complicated platform to use, the interface is much larger and has complexity in the configuration of the …
Chose Square Payroll
I would say that Square Payroll has a step up in comparison to the competition. It is a great platform for small companies that don't need the resources and expense that bigger systems might offer. Square is the exact thing I was looking for.
Chose Square Payroll
I liked patriot, but I found it to be more confusing than Square and took me too much time to setup. I setup Square Payroll in about an hour. I would also say the Square interface made more sense to me. I also like how Square offers more things like benefits, etc. that can be …
Chose Square Payroll
Cheaper and easier to implement Square payroll versus the competition. Accessible to the small business. Doesn't have a learning curve. Quick deployment to usage/adoption. The other options don't compare when looked at feature for feature vs. price.
Features
7shiftsSquare Payroll
Payroll Management
Comparison of Payroll Management features of Product A and Product B
7shifts
-
Ratings
Square Payroll
7.8
Ratings
5% below category average
Pay calculation00 Ratings8.90 Ratings
Support for external payroll vendors00 Ratings8.60 Ratings
Off-cycle/On-Demand payment00 Ratings4.40 Ratings
Benefit plan administration00 Ratings9.10 Ratings
Direct deposit files00 Ratings7.00 Ratings
Salary revision and increment management00 Ratings8.90 Ratings
Reimbursement management00 Ratings7.80 Ratings
Best Alternatives
7shiftsSquare Payroll
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PowerDMS by NEOGOV
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Score 7.0 out of 10
Dayforce Powerpay
Dayforce Powerpay
Score 9.5 out of 10
Medium-sized Companies
PowerDMS by NEOGOV
PowerDMS by NEOGOV
Score 7.0 out of 10
Paypro Workforce Management
Paypro Workforce Management
Score 9.7 out of 10
Enterprises
Zoho People
Zoho People
Score 8.4 out of 10
Infor Human Resources
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Score 7.1 out of 10
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User Ratings
7shiftsSquare Payroll
Likelihood to Recommend
10.0
(0 ratings)
4.7
(0 ratings)
Usability
-
(0 ratings)
9.0
(0 ratings)
Support Rating
10.0
(0 ratings)
9.0
(0 ratings)
User Testimonials
7shiftsSquare Payroll
Likelihood to Recommend
7Shifts is ideal for a broad number of restaurant clients, whether it is a single unit, independent location or multi-unit, multi-jurisdiction group like ours. Pricing is very reasonable, and as mentioned earlier, a lightweight and intuitive platform makes it easy to implement and maintain, and scalable for growth
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I would say that Square Payroll is perfect for companies that don't exceed 100 employees. The multistate payroll system allows for us to be able to handle business with ease when we go do work in Mississippi or Arkansas. The multiple payout options are great for our particular business. We might deal with a multimillion dollar contract one day and a $120 order the next.
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Pros
  • Staff can easily access fellow team members' contact info (phone & email).
  • Staff can easily enter availability or time off.
  • Managers have a log book to share issues or updates from the days’ shift so quick action can be completed easily if needed.
  • Being able to communicate with managers only, with a specific department, or with the entire staff easily is very helpful.
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  • 1099 contractor payments are easy, and they provide you with the IRS filing as part of the service.
  • Direct deposit/debit from your already connected account to the employee.
  • Reporting and management features are simple yet inclusive.
  • Low cost compared to alternative solutions.
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Cons
  • iPhone app: I'm not able to change the preset time frames so I have to manually enter the shifts
  • When working from the app it doesn't block out the time off as it does on the desktop so I have to make sure I haven't approved anyone first before I start doing the schedule
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  • [In my experience] they can cancel your service at any time, without warning or explanation. When they do this your funds are held by them for up to 90 days, at which time they are presumably accruing interest on your money. This could take a small business under very quickly and there is nothing you can do about it.
  • [I believe] getting verified is complex and not customer friendly. Until you are verified you can't talk to payroll customer service, which is paradoxical. Even getting a hold of account services for this purpose is tricky and exceedingly time-consuming, plus they can not answer most questions directly.
  • [I feel] they don't communicate well, closed my account with no notice whatsoever. The only notification I had about the need to verify my account was one easily lost email. Not having responded to this email fast enough created months of stress and difficulty in the setup process, only to find in the end I would need to start from scratch to attempt to sign up again.
  • [In my experience] if they close your account you can never reopen it. You have to start a new account from scratch.
  • [In my experience] they can hold your money and not deposit funds if your account is "under review". This can happen without explanation. No customer service is directly available for this. I was told I had to wait for them to call me.
  • [I believe] they are either lying, or the left hand doesn't know what the right hand is doing to such an extent that they give a great deal of misinformation.
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Usability
No answers on this topic
It could use a mobile-friendly interface. Other than that it's a simple layout and non-cluttered which allows you to get done what you need to get done. No unnecessary dodads or distractions.
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Support Rating
Support - whether via email or chat - has generally been prompt, reliable, courteous and effective. Support follows-up and works proactively to ensure our questions and issues are addressed. 7Shifts also genuinely cares about customer success, which is important to us
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I think they have quick and helpful customer service reps, however, I give them a 9 because I have had to wait on hold for long periods of time before.
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Alternatives Considered
We used When I Work when it first debuted, but 7Shifts technology is much more advanced than When I Work's was at that time.
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We have tested the QuickBooks Online platform. Before using Square, we tried QuickBooks, but the experience we had was not to our liking. QuickBooks Online is a much more complicated platform to use, the interface is much larger and has complexity in the configuration of the collection of hours of work of the employees. In addition, QuickBooks technical support does not respond in time to users' doubts, on several occasions we had several doubts about the operation of the platform and the response was too late and inconsistent. We decided to use Square Payroll because it offered us a much more accessible UI, a simpler but more precise interface for what we needed in our company, to be able to make payroll payments and make detailed reports on the workers.
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Return on Investment
  • I have worked in the service industry before where we just had a phone directory and copy of the schedule posted on a cork board by the office. It was a nightmare! I would say 7shifts has made a major impact on ensuring proper coverage for different meal hours and special events. We do not run short staffed very often anymore.
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  • Square Payroll has dramatically reduced the time it takes to process payroll.
  • We could have a faster payroll with the Square POS integration for commission, but that is not something we've implemented yet.
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ScreenShots