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're upfront where a rival wins a category, and clear about why none of them match the whole package: everything included at $8 NZD, free onboarding, and unlimited support from the team that builds it.
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 |
| Leave + forms + messaging | All included | Paid add-ons | HR module extra | Messaging only | Leave only | Separate hubs | Leave; HR tiered | Suite, quote only |
| Free onboarding & setup | Yes — done for you | Self-serve | Sales-led | Self-serve | Not published | Self-serve | Self-serve | Paid implementation |
| Unlimited free support | Yes — replies in minutes | Varies by plan | Mixed reviews | Email + help centre | Not published | Global teams | Help centre | Enterprise tiers |
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 has its niche — here's what it is, and what you'd give up next to RosterMate. Click through for the full head-to-head with pricing examples.
Deputy
The biggest global name in rostering — auto-scheduling that can forecast staffing from sales data, and 300+ integrations. For NZ businesses the catch is money and fit: no NZD price list, an A$30/US$30 minimum monthly spend, paid add-ons for HR and messaging, no IRD filing or Holidays Act engine — and no free onboarding or local support like RosterMate bundles in.
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 free for up to 10 staff and $4 NZD per employee on its top plan — but the low sticker buys a slim slice: kiosk-only clock-in (no GPS mobile clock-in), no native leave, no forms, no manager mobile app, and a payroll path that assumes PayHero. Everything it leaves out is included in RosterMate's $8.
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 covers up to 10 users — generous, but built for a world without NZ payroll. 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.
Feature tables miss the biggest difference. Every RosterMate plan comes with a New Zealand team doing the heavy lifting for you — included in the $8, not sold as services.
Free onboarding, done for you
We import your staff, build your roster templates, set up your positions and areas, and train your managers — free. You start with a working roster, not a blank screen.
Support in minutes, not days
Unlimited free support from the NZ team that actually builds RosterMate. Call or message — a human answers fast. No ticket tiers, no offshore queue, no chatbot maze.
We build what you need
Got a problem your software ignores? Tell us. We listen, design a solution and ship it — RosterMate customers watch their feedback become features that better their business.
Complex setups automated, free
Rotating patterns, event crews, multi-site rosters — our team builds your complex roster and event automations for you, at no charge. If it can be automated, we'll set it up.
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. We've still noted every genuine competitor strength we found — Droppah's free tier, Deputy's demand forecasting, Humanforce's enterprise depth — because a comparison you can't trust is worthless. But the tables can't show the part our customers say matters most: free onboarding done for you, support that answers in minutes, and a team that builds the solutions you ask for. Nothing else on this page comes with that. 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.