RosterMates vs Droppah
Two New Zealand-built rostering tools an Australian buyer might shortlist. Droppah's sticker price is lower, but it's a slimmer tool — a roster and a tablet kiosk, with leave and payroll leaning on its sister NZ payroll product. RosterMates is the complete package with a dedicated Australian rule set. Here's what each dollar actually buys.
Feature and pricing comparison for Australian businesses, from each company's public pages and third-party reviews as of July 2026.
| RosterMates | Droppah | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing (per employee/month, NZD) | NZ$8 flat — the complete platform, plus free onboarding & unlimited support | NZ$4 The Works · NZ$2 Time Clock only — rostering + kiosk |
| Free tier | No — 30-day free trial, with setup done for you | Free ≤10 employees — but no GPS clock-in, leave or forms at any tier |
| Mobile GPS clock-in with geofencing & facial verification | Yes — staff clock in from their own phones | No — photo kiosk on a shared tablet (per third-party reviews) |
| Native leave management | Yes — Australian leave types incl. personal/carer's & family and domestic violence leave | No — leave leans on PayHero, FlexiTime's NZ payroll |
| State & territory public holiday calendars | Yes — per location, all eight states & territories | Not an Australian-calendar product |
| Manager mobile experience | Yes — full manager experience on mobile | Employee app only — no manager app (per third-party reviews) |
| AI auto-rostering | Yes — AI Auto-Roster | Yes — on The Works plan |
| Australian payroll coverage | Payroll-ready exports: Xero, MYOB, KeyPay, Employment Hero + custom CSV | Xero integration documented for AU payroll; otherwise PayHero-centred (NZ) |
| Event staffing with shift bidding & waitlists | Yes | No |
| Custom forms with AI builder | Included | No |
| Team messaging | Group chats, channels & announcements | Group messaging on The Works |
| Free onboarding — setup done for you | Yes — staff imported, templates built, managers trained | Self-serve setup |
| Support | Unlimited & free — replies in minutes | Help centre + email support |
| Reviews | — | Effectively no public review footprint yet — Capterra 0 reviews (as of Jul 2026) |
| Company | NZ-built, founder-owned, dedicated Australian rule set | FlexiTime Ltd, Wellington NZ — makers of PayHero |
Droppah pricing and features from droppah.com public pages and third-party reviews as of 5 July 2026 (NZD pricing excl. GST; free plan limited to 10 employees including archived; only active employees billed). Droppah is a product of FlexiTime Ltd. RosterMates pricing is currently billed in NZD while Australian billing is finalised. Always confirm current pricing with each vendor.
Example: a café or bar with 20 rostered staff. Both products currently bill in NZD, so this is a like-for-like sticker comparison — the difference is what the sticker includes.
Droppah is a tidy product at a fair price for what it is. The question is whether what it is covers what your team needs.
Choose Droppah if…
- You have 10 or fewer staff and the free plan's roster + shared-tablet kiosk covers your whole workflow
- One venue, one counter, one tablet — you don't need staff clocking in from their own phones
- Your payroll is Xero and you're happy managing leave entirely inside payroll rather than the roster
Choose RosterMates if…
- Staff work across sites or events and need GPS clock-in with geofencing from their own phones
- You want Australian leave types and state public holiday calendars living inside the roster, not off in payroll
- Managers run the operation from their phones — approvals, timesheets, leave and messaging included
- Your payroll is MYOB, KeyPay or Employment Hero — or you want the freedom to change without changing rostering tools
- You'd rather have onboarding done for you and support that answers in minutes than a help centre
Our verdict
Droppah is an honest, well-made small tool — a clean roster with a tablet kiosk, free for tiny teams, from a respected Wellington company. If that shape matches your operation exactly, it's fair value. But for most Australian shift-based businesses the shape doesn't hold: there's no GPS mobile clock-in, no manager app, no forms or events, and the leave story leans on PayHero — a New Zealand payroll an Australian business won't be running.
RosterMates costs more per head and includes the platform those gaps point at: GPS time clock with facial verification, Australian leave types and state holiday calendars, a full manager mobile experience, events with shift bidding, AI-built forms, and payroll-ready exports for Xero, MYOB, KeyPay and Employment Hero — with onboarding done for you, free. Try it for 30 days, no credit card, and compare complete against cheap.
Try RosterMates FreeCommon questions from Australian teams comparing the two.