Quick answer
Yes — Shiftly is a one-time-purchase alternative to When I Work. It costs $29 once, while When I Work runs $2.50/user/mo — about $600 per year, every year. Self-hosted drag-drop scheduling, swaps, open shifts and live labor cost — no per-employee fees. It is for people who want the job done on their own hardware without a renewal date — not for teams that live inside When I Work's ecosystem.
The verdict
Switch to Shiftly if you are an individual or small team paying When I Work $2.50/user/mo for work your own machine can do. One month of scheduling one small team more than pays for Shiftly, and it never bills per head again.
Stay with When I Work if your workflow depends on its integrations, you need enterprise features (SSO, admin controls, SLAs), or your team is large enough that per-seat collaboration tooling is worth the bill. Shiftly does not try to replicate those.
Head to head
| Shiftly | When I Work | |
|---|---|---|
| Price | $29 once | $2.50/user/mo |
| 20 employees, 1 year | $29 | $600 |
| Drag-drop schedule | Yes | Yes |
| Availability + time off | Yes | Yes |
| Shift swaps + open shifts | Yes | Yes |
| Labor cost + budget alert | Yes | Paid tier |
| Self-hosted, data stays yours | Yes | No |
| Works offline / on your LAN | Yes | No |
| 5-year cost | $29 | $3,000 |
Where When I Work still wins
- Ecosystem and integrations. Established tools accumulate years of third-party integrations, templates and add-ons. If your workflow is wired into When I Work's ecosystem, switching means rebuilding that plumbing — a real cost.
- Team and enterprise features. Shared workspaces, granular permissions, SSO, audit logs and a vendor to call when something breaks — that is what the higher subscription tiers actually buy, and a pay-once app does not come with it.
- Familiarity and hiring. When I Work is the name people already know. Onboarding a team onto a tool nobody has used before takes time the subscription never charges for.
Where Shiftly wins
- Price, permanently. $29 once versus $600/yr for as long as you use it. There is no renewal, no seat count and no tier gate.
- Drag-drop weekly schedule. Drag shifts between employees and days; shift templates like Morning or Close fill a week in two clicks.
- Availability and time off. Weekly windows and approved time off, with unavailable, time-off and double-booked conflicts flagged red on the grid.
- Shift swaps. Employee-to-employee swap requests with manager approval; approving reassigns the shift instantly.
The math
One month of scheduling one small team more than pays for Shiftly, and it never bills per head again.
- After 1 year: Shiftly has cost you $29 total — When I Work has cost $600.
- After 3 years: Shiftly is still $29 — the subscription is at $1,800.
- After 5 years: Shiftly is still $29 — the subscription is at $3,000.
Common questions
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.
Is this a subscription in disguise?
No. $29 once, no renewal, no per-employee monthly fee.
Try Shiftly — $29, one time
Or get Shiftly plus every other app in the suite: the OneTimeSuite bundle is currently $97, one time.