Small Business Owners

Shiftly for Small Business Owners: Employee shift scheduling you own forever

Employee shift scheduling you own forever.

Small businesses get nickel-and-dimed by per-user pricing on helpdesks, forms, signatures and scheduling. One-time software makes the toolset a capital expense instead of a creeping payroll line.

The tool this job usually means renting is When I Work, at $2.50/user/mo — roughly $600 a year, every year. Shiftly does the job for a one-time $29 — running on infrastructure you control.

Fit check

Why it fits how small business owners work

🖱️ Drag-drop weekly schedule

Drag shifts between employees and days; shift templates like Morning or Close fill a week in two clicks.

For small business owners, drag-drop weekly schedule pays off without adding another line to the monthly overhead — and it's covered by the same one-time $29, not metered per month.

🟥 Availability and time off

Weekly windows and approved time off, with unavailable, time-off and double-booked conflicts flagged red on the grid.

For small business owners, availability and time off pays off without adding another line to the monthly overhead — and it's covered by the same one-time $29, not metered per month.

🔁 Shift swaps

Employee-to-employee swap requests with manager approval; approving reassigns the shift instantly.

For small business owners, shift swaps pays off without adding another line to the monthly overhead — and it's covered by the same one-time $29, not metered per month.

Workflow

A typical workflow

STEP 01

Buy once on Whop

One payment of $29 gets you the packaged Windows installer with updates, or clone the MIT source at github.com/bensblueprints/shift-scheduler-mvp and run it free.

STEP 02

Run desktop or deploy

Run npm run desktop as a local window, or docker compose onto a $5 VPS when you need it public.

STEP 03

Build the week

Drag shifts onto the grid, publish, and affected employees get notified.

What it costs, honestly

Shiftly is $29, once. When I Work at $2.50/user/mo — roughly $600 a year, every year. One month of scheduling one small team more than pays for Shiftly, and it never bills per head again.

FAQ

Small Business Owners ask

Is Shiftly worth it for small business owners?

One month of scheduling one small team more than pays for Shiftly, and it never bills per head again. Shiftly costs $29 once; When I Work charges $2.50/user/mo — about $600 a year. For small business owners, that fixed cost is the whole point: the tool is a one-time line item, not a monthly one.

Is it really free on GitHub?

Yes — Shiftly is MIT-licensed at github.com/bensblueprints/shift-scheduler-mvp. The $29 buys the packaged Windows installer and updates; building from source is free.

Where does my roster and wage data live?

In a SQLite file on your own server or LAN — your roster and wages never leave your box.

Own Shiftly forever — $29