Updated August 2026 · prices checked at each vendor
Free employee schedule maker, no signup
If you want to build a rota right now without creating an account, open a blank week and start, then send your team a link when it is done. If you want staff to do things back, request time off, swap a shift, clock in, get a push notification, you need accounts, and the free tier of Sling or Connecteam is the better answer. Those are two different products and most "free scheduler" pages blur them.
Vendor disclosure: we make SteadyWeek, one of the tools below. We have tried to write the version of this page we would have wanted before building it, which means saying plainly where the others are the better answer. Every price here was read on the vendor's own pricing page on 3 August 2026.
"Free" means three different things
Search for a free employee schedule maker and you get three categories wearing the same label. Sorting them is most of the decision.
- Free tier of a paid product. Real software, capped. Sling is free up to 30 users. Connecteam is free up to 10. Homebase has a free Basic plan for up to 10 employees at one location. You get staff apps and messaging, and you get an upgrade prompt when you grow.
- Free trial. Not free. When I Work has a 14-day trial with no card required, then it is $2.50 per user per month and up. Deputy trials its plans too.
- Free tool with no account at all. Rare, because there is nothing to upsell. This is where SteadyWeek sits. Nobody signs in, anywhere, which is also the limitation: a share link is the only credential, so whoever holds it can read the rota.
What a no-account scheduler can actually do
More than you would guess, as long as the job is drafting. You put people down the side of a seven-day grid, define a shift time once (say "Open 07:00-15:00") and paint it across days and people, mark time off, and watch each person's weekly hours total as you go. Set a minimum number of people for a day and you get a warning when the rota drops below it, which is the check most managers are doing in their head at 10pm on a Sunday. Then export CSV or print it.
That covers the part that eats the evening. Then one press turns the week into links: one for the whole team, and a private one per person that shows only their own shifts and none of their colleagues' names. Editing on the team link is a switch you control. It does not cover anything that requires other people to log in.
What it cannot do, and who to use instead
SteadyWeek has no accounts and no staff logins. Your team reads a link, which means they cannot request time off, swap a shift, message anyone, get a notification when you change something, or clock in, and there is no mobile app, no availability collection, and no payroll. An unshared week lives in one browser's local storage, so a different laptop or cleared site data means an empty week unless you shared it. Recurring patterns do not auto-rotate, although shift times are reusable and you can copy last week forward in one press.
If two or more of those matter, stop reading and go to a real workforce tool. Sling's free plan is the strongest genuinely free option with staff access: up to 30 users, including shift scheduling, time-off requests, and private messaging. Connecteam's free plan does the same job up to 10 users. Neither of them is a trial.
The options side by side
| Tool | Free option | Paid from | Staff can see shifts | Staff can act |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| SteadyWeek | Yes, unlimited, no account | No paid plan exists | Yes, by link | No |
| Sling | Yes, up to 30 users | $2.00 per user / month | Yes | Yes |
| Connecteam | Yes, up to 10 users | $29 / month (first 30 users) | Yes | Yes |
| Homebase | Yes, up to 10 employees, 1 location | $30 / location / month | Yes | Yes |
| When I Work | No, 14-day trial | $2.50 per user / month | Yes | Yes |
| Deputy | No, free trial | $5 per user / month, $30 minimum spend | Yes | Yes |
Prices read at wheniwork.com, joinhomebase.com, deputy.com, getsling.com, and connecteam.com on 3 August 2026. If one is wrong now, it has changed since; check the vendor before deciding.
How to pick in about a minute
Does anyone other than you need to do anything in the schedule? If yes, you need accounts, so start with Sling free or Connecteam free and pay only when you outgrow the cap. If they only need to read it, and the actual problem is that building the week takes too long, a no-account planner will be faster to try because there is nothing to set up and nothing to cancel.
One more honest note about headcount and billing. Per-user pricing looks cheap at six people and stops looking cheap at forty. Per-location pricing works the other way. Do that arithmetic with your real headcount before you commit, not with the number on the pricing page.
Questions people actually ask
Is it actually free, or free for a trial?
Free, with no trial clock and no card. There is no payment path in the product at all. There is nobody to bill and nothing to recover, so planning and sharing stay free.
Do I need to create an account?
No. Open the page and start building. There is no signup, no email required, and no account to manage.
Where is my schedule stored?
In your browser’s local storage on the device you used. There is no server copy. If you clear site data, use a different browser, or switch laptops, the schedule will not follow you. Export the CSV if it matters.
Can my staff see their shifts?
Yes, through a link. You get one link for the whole week and a private link per person that shows only their own shifts, and you decide whether the team link can edit. Nobody signs in, so anyone holding a link can read it. There is still no app, no notifications, no availability collection, and no swaps: if staff need to do something rather than read something, use Sling or Connecteam, which have free tiers that include it.
How many people can I schedule?
There is no limit built in. Nothing is counted or metered because there is no account to count against.