Homebase vs. Connecteam (2024)

As your business grows, you’ll likely find yourself spending more and more time on paperwork. That’s why you need a human resources app like Homebase or Connecteam to automate time-consuming tasks like writing schedules or running payroll.

But if you pick a solution that isn’t right for you, you can cause more problems. Instead of saving time, you could end up stuck behind your desk trying to figure out your new software.

So, dig into this comparison of Homebase and Connecteam to see which one suits your small business best. We’ll look at everything from essential features to pricing and top use cases to help you make the best decision.

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Why choose Homebase over Connecteam in 2024?

With Homebase, you’ll get all the indispensable scheduling, time tracking, and payroll tools small businesses need. These save you time and effort by automating repetitive tasks like writing timetables and paying employees. That’s essential when you need to free some time up to focus on growing your business.

Connecteam also offers a great auto-scheduling tool so you can easily and quickly assign shifts to staff members.

Comparison chart: Homebase vs. Connecteam at a glance

How Homebase and Connecteam stack up against each other

Homebase and Connecteam cater to a different range of business sizes. Homebase prioritizes small businesses with its robust free plan and affordable pricing plans. On the other hand, Connecteam caters to a broader spectrum of businesses with a free plan for small businesses at one end and an Enterprise plan for larger companies on the other.

In terms of global appeal, the majority of Connecteam’s customers are in the USA. Homebase’s focus on United States businesses allows us to offer more specialized HR and compliance support.

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An in-depth breakdown of Homebase’s fees and features

Scheduling

Scheduling is probably one of your most time-consuming tasks, so the right tools could make a big impact on your timetable. That’s why Homebase includes all its automations in the free plan. You can:

• Auto-populate a schedule based on team availability and roles with the click of a button
• Let staff organize shift swaps and covers or claim open shifts via the app
• Save your best schedules as templates and select them from the dropdown menu to reuse in the future

But creating schedules is only half the battle. You also need to show everyone their hours and check there aren’t any issues. Spare yourself more headaches by instantly publishing your schedules to the Homebase app and notifying staff once it’s there. That’ll give you plenty of time to uncover problems and make any necessary edits.

Time and attendance

It’s no use having scheduling features if you can’t also track your team’s hours. So, Homebase also includes timesheets and a multi-device time clock in its free plan. Employees can download our app and, as they clock in and out of work, it’ll automatically generate timesheet data that’s ready for payroll.

For extra control and flexibility, you can upgrade to access labor cost controls and performance tracking. These tools let you verify each employee’s arrival time using GPS and automatically prevent early sign ins and late sign outs. That way, you ensure you’re recording hours accurately and not overpaying wages.

Payroll

Once you’ve finished scheduling and overseeing your team’s hours, the best HR apps let you complete the process with payroll features. Homebase uses your timesheet data to auto-calculate each employee’s wages and tax filings. That way, you’ll consistently pay everyone on time and avoid any issues with the Internal Revenue Service (IRS).

And if you already have a payroll app and don’t want to overhaul your system, don’t worry. Homebase offers all our accounting tools as an optional add-on so you only have to pay for what you need. Our platform also has a wide range of integrations with popular payroll tools in case you want to stick with a system you’re already using.

Team communication

Small businesses get the best results from their team management apps when they include a robust messaging feature. That means managers can contact staff quickly when issues like rushes or late arrivals happen.

Homebase lets users send individual or group messages via the employee app. Admins can also pin important announcements to the dashboard so nobody misses them. That’s ideal for business updates but also for celebrating milestones like work anniversaries and birthdays.

Managers also have the ability to create instant groups based on who’s working or who’s available from inside the schedule. This feature can save vital time when you’re urgently looking for cover or trying to guide employees through a problem when you’re offsite.

Hiring and onboarding tools

Many small businesses like restaurants and shops depend on seasonal and temporary staff during busy periods. But hiring batches of employees and bringing them up to speed can be challenging.

A good HR app like Homebase streamlines hiring and onboarding for you with tools like:

• A job template library for hundreds of roles
• Job posting on all the most popular sites
• Screener questions to eliminate candidates before they reach the interview stage
• Applicant tracking to get an overview of your hiring progress
• Welcome packets to send to new hires, including employee handbooks
• E-signing tools so new staff can sign and return paperwork before their first day of work

Team happiness tools

Truly great HR apps not only allow you to manage calendars and time tracking for your small business but also care for your team’s wellbeing. Homebase offers three employee happiness tools:

• Early wage access: Sometimes, an employee’s payday might not line up with their bill due dates. They might also have unexpected emergencies like burst water pipes or vet bills. Help them get more control over their finances with early cash outs.
• Employee feedback: Prompt team members to rate each shift to uncover any issues that are affecting their performance or well-being.
• Team recognition and shoutouts: Track your staff’s conduct across areas like no-shows and late arrivals and shout out excellent work on the app so the whole team can congratulate them too.

HR and compliance tools

As a small business owner, you probably don’t have the budget for an HR manager. That means you have to keep on top of labor laws and check for compliance issues yourself.

Homebase can help with our selection of HR tools and services. Our standout feature is our access to live HR professionals who can advise you on your internal policies and guide you through challenging situations. Our team can even make you a bespoke employee handbook following a short phone interview with you.

Homebase also has compliance tools built into the platform. Receive alerts for changing labor laws that might affect your business so you can adjust your policies. Or set notifications for employees before they reach the overtime limit or miss their allocated break.

Mobile app

The Homebase app has a 4.8 rating on the App Store and a 4.4 rating on Google Play as of June 2024. Employees can download it to access the schedule, time tracking, and communication features. As an admin, you can also manage schedules, track your staff’s hours, and send them messages.

Homebase pricing

Homebase has a free plan for businesses with one location. With that, you can take advantage of basic scheduling, time tracking, and communication tools for no cost.

Otherwise, Homebase has three paid plans that are charged per location. These are:

• The Essentials plan for $24.95 per location, which has extra scheduling, time tracking, and communication tools.

• The Plus plan for $59.95 per location, which gives you tighter control over overtime and time off management.

• The All-in-One plan for $99.95 to access everything from HR tools to onboarding management.

As mentioned, Homebase payroll is a separate add-on at $39 per month plus $6 per employee.

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An in-depth breakdown of Connecteam’s fees and features

Scheduling

Connecteam shares many of Homebase’s scheduling features, like templates and open shifts.

Time and attendance

Like Homebase, Connecteam has all the essential time tracking features you need, from the time clock to GPS verification and labor cost controls. Businesses with remote crews may also benefit from the location tracking feature.

Although Connecteam has robust time tracking tools, the lack of payroll features means you have to integrate with another app to pay your staff. This may cost you extra time and effort as you’ll have to switch between windows to export your timesheet data.

Task management

If you have a larger team, a complex business, or remote crews where it’s hard to supervise all your employees at the same time, Connecteam’s task management features may interest you. You can create tasks with descriptions and attachments and then assign them to staff members. Then, you can track whether team members are on course to meet their deadlines.

Homebase doesn’t have a dedicated task management feature, but the scheduling and communication tools have some similar capabilities. For instance, you can assign employees to roles and departments and leave to-do lists for them in your shift notes.

Team communication

Similarly to Homebase, Connecteam has a wide range of communication tools. They let your team chat with one another and view pinned announcements, too.

Although Connecteam has more group chat filters than Homebase, you have to upgrade to its Advanced plan to access them.

Hiring and onboarding tools

In contrast to Homebase, Connecteam focuses more on training. You can create custom onboarding courses and have employees complete them.  You can also use your premade courses built with SCORM (storyline), or existing slides, PDFs, videos and more.

You can find some of the same onboarding features as Homebase within Connecteam’s platform. Connecteam also offers document management tools, the ability to pre-onboard new hires, and a knowledge base (the equivalent of Homebase’s employee handbook).

But Connecteam doesn’t have any hiring tools, which may put you at a disadvantage if you have to recruit manually and your competition keeps beating you to the best candidates.

Team happiness tools

Like Homebase, Connecteam has the option to shout employees out for great work. You can choose to do this publicly or privately.

In addition, Connecteam has a token system where team members can earn points for exceptional performance and use them to earn gift cards. But you have to buy those tokens, so this might not be the best option for small businesses on a tight budget.

HR and compliance tools

Connecteam has many of the HR tools and services as Homebase.

Mobile app

As of May 2024, the Connecteam app has a 4.8 rating on the App Store and Google Play.

Admins and employees can use the Connecteam app to access the full range of tools. One difference between Homebase is that Connecteam also lets staff members use the app for checklists.

Connecteam pricing

Connecteam is notable for its flexible pricing plans. It has:

• A 14-day free trial
• A free account for up to ten users with all the basic features
• The Operations hub with scheduling and time tracking features
• The Communications hub with chat and quiz features
• The HR & Skills hub with document and people management features
• The Enterprise plan with custom pricing

Each hub breaks down into three additional plans. They all follow the same pricing structure:

• $35 monthly for 30 users and $0.60 for each extra person
• $59 monthly for 30 users and $1.30 for each extra person
• $119 monthly for 30 users and $3.60 for each extra person

You can mix and match the plans from each hub according to your business’s needs. But the charges for different hubs and extra employees can quickly build up, making Connecteam a less cost-effective choice than Homebase.

Homebase vs. Connecteam’s integrations compared

Homebase vs. Connecteam’s scalability

Both Homebase and Connecteam consider growing businesses with their flexible pricing plans. They each have different upgrades and add-ons, so you only pay for what you need. That’s essential for small businesses with a tight budget for expansion.

But Connecteam’s restrictions on employees and features could hinder your plans for growth. You have to pay extra for each team member over the limit of 30, meaning your expenses will rise as you hire more people. Homebase only charges per business location, except for its payroll feature.

Plus, even Connecteam admits it has a limited range of integrations. That means there’s a risk you’ll need to start using a new app but won’t be able to sync it with your human resources app. On the other hand, Homebase partners with a range of point of sale, task management, and hiring apps to ensure you can always connect with the tools you need.