Deputy
AI-assisted shift scheduling, time and attendance, HR and payroll integration for hourly workforces
By Deputy · HQ Sydney, Australia · 4.6/5 verified-buyer score
Positioning guardrails
Best for
- Shift-based employers with hourly teams across one or many locations
- Retail, hospitality, healthcare and education operators managing labor-law compliance
- Franchise and multi-site groups needing roll-up and drill-down labor reporting
- Businesses wanting fast self-serve onboarding instead of a long ERP-style rollout
- Teams wanting AI-supported auto-scheduling, demand forecasting and labor optimisation
Ideal size: 20–500 hourly staff people · Single- to multi-site shift operator, SMB through mid-market
Not for
- Project-based or salaried knowledge-work teams without shift patterns
- Companies needing deep ERP, manufacturing execution or field-service dispatch
- Organizations requiring FedRAMP or US federal authorisation
- Very small teams where the $30 monthly minimum dominates the bill
- Buyers wanting a full HCM suite (talent, compensation, benefits) from one vendor
Value metrics scorecard
Time-to-Value
1–2 weeks (self-serve onboarding)
~14 days to first production value
Total Cost of Ownership
$3,900/yr
Starts at $60 · Per user, per month, billed monthly or annually (10% annual saving): Lite $5, Core $6.50, Pro $9 in USD, excl. tax.
Implementation Friction
2/5
Engineering + admin effort required
Buyer Score
out of 5 · verified buyers
Full cost breakdown
Mandatory implementation fee
None
Seat tiers
No seat minimum; admins, supervisors and managers count as users. $30/month minimum invoice on monthly Lite, Core and Pro plans.
Add-on costs
- Deputy Payroll enabled by Paycor: $8/user/month plus $49 monthly base fee (US, annual Core and Pro plans)
- Deputy HR: $2/user/month (US, UK and Australia; free 30-day trial)
- Messaging+: $1.95/user/month (included in Pro)
- Analytics+: $1.50/user/month (included in Pro)
- SMS: $0.01 USD (US), 5p GBP (UK), $0.05 AUD (AU), $0.07 USD elsewhere per 160 characters
Company & support
Who is behind Deputy, and how your team gets help once it is live.
Company
- Founded
- 2008 · 18 yrs in business
- Headquarters
- Sydney, Australia
How you get support
- PhoneNot listed
- EmailNot listed
- Live chatEnterprise only
- Support portal / ticketsNot listed
- Community forumNot listed
- Help centre / docsAll plans
- Dedicated account managerPaid plans
- In person / on-siteNot listed
- Hours
- 24/7
- Response time
- Not stated
Pro lists 24/7 live chat plus a dedicated customer success manager; Core includes a customer success manager. The pricing FAQ says the monthly minimum covers demos, training and 24/7 help and support.
“Not listed” means the vendor’s public pages don’t mention that channel, not that it is unavailable. Ask about it during evaluation.
Market position
Where Deputy sits against its closest alternatives. Pick any two of cost, speed, friction and buyer score, and up to 9 companies to compare.
Quadrant view
Typical annual cost × Time-to-value
The lines cross at the median of the solutions shown, so about half sit on each side of each line. A dashed ring marks an outlier pinned to the edge; hover for its value.
Companies on the chart 6 / 10
- Deputy
- Planday
- Asset Infinity
- Homebase
- BetterCloud
- Procore
Add or change companies
Up to 10 companies including Deputy. Listed closest first.
Stack fit signal
Compatibility with standard B2B ecosystems.
No supported MCP path today, so it cannot be driven from an AI client.
AI & MCP readiness
What Deputy ships in AI, and what it asks of your ecosystem.
AI features shipped
Deputy markets an AI agent ('Deputy AI') for optimising schedules, controlling labor costs and precise staffing, listed as free on plans as an introductory offer. The Trust Center FAQ covers where Deputy AI data is processed, whether it acts without approval, permission handling and error handling. No bring-your-own-model option is documented.
In your ecosystem
- AI connection
- Not supported
- Model key
- Not recorded
- AI usage audit
- Not recorded
Compliance attestations
* IAPP AIGP certifies individuals, not products. It means named staff hold the credential — not that the platform does.
Bottom line
Deputy is a shift-work workforce management platform covering AI-assisted scheduling, time and attendance, HR, payroll integrations and labor-law compliance. It targets hourly, multi-location and franchise employers in retail, hospitality, healthcare and education. Plans start at $5 per user per month with self-serve onboarding, a 31-day free trial and a $30 monthly minimum. Deputy is ISO 27001 and SOC 2 Type II certified, runs on AWS, and cites more than 390,000 customer workplaces.
Frequently asked questions
How much does Deputy cost for a 50-person hourly team?
On Core at $6.50 per user per month, 50 users is about $325 per month, or roughly $3,900 per year before tax and add-ons. Annual billing saves 10%. A $30 per month minimum invoice applies to monthly Lite, Core and Pro plans. Optional add-ons include Payroll ($8/user/month plus a $49 monthly base fee), HR ($2), Messaging+ ($1.95) and Analytics+ ($1.50).
How long does it take to get Deputy live?
Deputy offers a free trial of up to 31 days with no credit card, self-serve onboarding on all plans, and tablet, mobile, web and watch clock-in apps that the vendor says are fast to implement. Most single-site teams can schedule, clock and approve timesheets within one to two weeks; multi-site rollouts that add SSO, payroll and location hierarchies take longer.
Does Deputy handle Fair Workweek and predictive-scheduling rules?
Yes. Deputy's compliance features cover good-faith estimates of hours, advance notice of schedules, consent capture for schedule changes and clopenings, predictability-pay flags and premium application, access-to-hours posting, and auditable Fair Workweek reports. The vendor also publishes a Compliance Hub covering labor law changes across US states. Deputy states its software is not a substitute for payroll or legal advice.
What security and compliance certifications does Deputy hold?
Deputy states on its security and trust pages that it is ISO 27001 and UK Cyber Essentials certified, SOC 2 Type II compliant, TX-RAMP Level 2 listed, a PCI-DSS level 3 merchant performing annual SAQ A self-assessments, and a CSA STAR Level 1 organisation. Data is encrypted in transit with TLS 1.2 or better and at rest with AES-256, hosted in AWS regions in Australia, the UK and the US.
Which payroll, POS and HR systems does Deputy integrate with?
Deputy publishes integrations with payroll providers including ADP, Paychex, Paycor, QuickBooks, Xero, Rippling, OnPay, SimplePay and Wagepoint; POS systems such as Square, Lightspeed, Revel, Vend and Clover; and HR platforms including BambooHR and HiBob, plus Zapier for no-code automation. Public API documentation is available for custom builds.
What AI capabilities does Deputy include, and how is data handled?
Deputy markets an AI agent, Deputy AI, for optimising schedules, controlling labor costs and precise staffing, listed as free on plans as an introductory offer. Demand forecasting, auto-scheduling and labor optimisation are Core plan features. The Trust Center answers questions on where Deputy AI data is processed, whether it can act without approval, permission handling and error handling. No bring-your-own-model option is documented.