Rota planner: build the week, send the link, done
Drag shifts onto a weekly grid, copy last week in one click, and share the rota as a link. Your team opens it on their phone, no account, no app, and it still opens with no signal in the stockroom. The 11 hours of rest and the break on shifts over 6 hours are checked as you type. Free up to 10 staff.
Free up to 10 staff. No card. $29 a month flat beyond that, unlimited staff and sites.
| Week commencing 21 Sep | Mon | Tue | Wed | Thu | Fri | Sat | Sun | Hours |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Amy | 9-5:30 | 9-5:30 | off | 12-8 | 12-8 | 9-3 | off | 37.5h |
| Tom | off | 12-8 | 12-8 | 9-5:30 | off | 12-8 | 10-4 | 37.5h |
| Priya | 12-8 | off | 9-5:30 | off | 9-5:30 | 9-5:30 | 12-6 | 37.5h |
Illustration. Each chip is a shift with its break; the hours column deducts a 30-minute break per shift.
Add your people
First names are enough. No email addresses, no invitations, no waiting for anyone to accept.
Drag shifts onto the week
Click a cell, set the times and the break, or drag a shift from one day to another. Copy last week and adjust. Rest between shifts, breaks and the 48-hour average are flagged as you go.
Send the link
One link for the whole team. Each person opens it on their phone and sees their week. Change a shift later: the link shows the new version.
What the rota planner does
- Weekly grid, Monday to Sunday, with hours per person added up
- Copy last week in one click, then adjust
- Shift templates: open, close, mid, one click each
- Breaks written into the shift, not left implied
- Warnings for less than 11 hours between shifts, a missing break on a 6-hour-plus shift, or a week over 48 hours
- Shared as a link: no account, no app, works offline once opened
- Holiday and shift change requests land in the rota, not in a group chat
- Optional clocking in from the phone or a tablet, and export for payroll
Who it is for
Shops, cafes, pubs, restaurants, salons, pharmacies, clinics: teams of 3 to 50 where half the staff have no work email and the rota used to be a photo in the WhatsApp group. Built by a retailer with 18 shops who never found a tool his shop managers would actually use. See the pages for restaurants, cafes, pharmacies and all sectors.
Rota planner or rota template?
If the team is two people and nothing changes week to week, a spreadsheet does the job: the free Excel and Google Sheets rota templates add up the hours for you. The planner earns its place the first time a shift changes on a Thursday and someone did not get the message, or the first time a closer is rota-ed to open with nine hours of rest. The method is in how to make a rota; the rules are in UK rest breaks and your rota; annual leave in the holiday entitlement calculator.
Frequently asked questions
- Is the rota planner free?
- Yes. Up to 10 staff, with no time limit and no card. Beyond 10 staff, or with a second site, the paid plan is $29 a month flat (charged in the currency shown at checkout), with no per-person fee.
- Do staff need an account to see the rota?
- No. You send a link by text, WhatsApp or email. Each person opens it, picks their name once, and sees their week. No password, nothing to install, and the page still works offline once opened.
- Does it check the Working Time Regulations?
- It flags a shift that starts less than 11 hours after the previous one ended, a shift over 6 hours with no break written in, and a week over 48 hours, as you build the rota. Whether the person has opted out of the 48-hour limit is for you to record.
- Can it track hours and holiday?
- Time tracking is an optional module: switch it on and staff clock in from their phone or a tablet at the till, and hours are counted against the rota. Annual leave requests land in the rota, with the balance next to each name.
- How is this different from a rota template?
- A template is a file you fill in; it does not tell anyone the rota changed, does not check rest or breaks, and lives on one computer. The rota planner keeps one live rota the whole team sees. The free Excel and Google Sheets rota templates are here if you want the file anyway.