A 30 person team paying 6 dollars per user per month pays 180 dollars per month, while the same team paying 4.50 dollars for scheduling alone pays 135 dollars. That 45 dollar gap looks small until you add a full year, add-on modules, and the cost of a scheduling mistake that creates overtime. The cost of Deputy for small business monthly is therefore not a single price. It is a per person calculation that rises with every hire, falls when you choose the combined plan instead of two separate plans, and changes again when payroll or human resources tools enter the picture.
Deputy is workforce software for shift based teams in retail, hospitality, healthcare, and similar sectors. It builds rosters, tracks time and attendance, manages timesheets, and helps managers stay inside labour rules around breaks, overtime, and availability. For a small business with hourly staff, that job is central to daily profit, because labour is often the largest controllable cost. A roster that is ten percent overstaffed on a quiet Tuesday can erase the margin on a busy Friday, so scheduling software earns its price through labour control rather than through neat calendars alone.
Cost of Deputy for Small Business Monthly, Plans and Per User Rates
Reported Deputy pricing for the scheduling and attendance range lists Scheduling at 4.50 dollars per user per month, Time and Attendance at 4.50 dollars per user per month, and Premium at 6 dollars per user per month for both functions combined. Enterprise pricing is quoted on request for larger or more complex operations. A separate human resources add-on has been reported at 2 dollars per user per month. Confirm the current list on the official pricing page before budgeting, because Deputy has also been reported in newer material under Lite, Core, and Pro names with different rates and a monthly minimum.
Scheduling alone suits a business judging the cost of Deputy for small business monthly that mainly needs to publish rosters, manage availability, and let staff swap shifts. It covers the roster building job without the full time clock and timesheet apparatus. Time and Attendance alone suits a business that already has a roster method it likes, yet needs accurate clock-ins, timesheets, and overtime tracking. Most shift businesses need both jobs, which is why Premium matters. Premium at 6 dollars costs less than buying Scheduling and Time and Attendance separately at 9 dollars combined, so it saves 3 dollars per user per month before any other factor.
| Plan | Per user per month | What it covers | Best fit |
|---|---|---|---|
| Scheduling | 4.50 dollars | Roster building, availability, shift swaps | A team that only needs rosters |
| Time and Attendance | 4.50 dollars | Time clock, timesheets, overtime tracking | A team that only needs hours tracked |
| Premium | 6 dollars | Scheduling plus Time and Attendance | Most shift based small businesses |
| Enterprise | Quote only | Larger scale and complex needs | Multi site groups with special requirements |
Newer Lite, Core, and Pro listings complicate the picture, and they deserve a plain note. Some 2026 reviews list Lite at 5 dollars, Core at 6.50 dollars, and Pro at 9 dollars per user per month, with a 30 dollar monthly minimum per invoice in some regions. Those figures may reflect a renamed or regional price structure rather than the Scheduling and Time and Attendance split used in this guide. Do not mix the two price sets in one budget. Ask Deputy for a written quote that names your plan, your per user rate, your billing term, and any minimum charge, then build totals from that quote alone.
The human resources add-on at 2 dollars per user per month adds employee records, onboarding documents, and related people tools to a base plan. For a small business without a dedicated people manager, that add-on can replace spreadsheets and paper files that become messy as headcount grows. It also raises the per user total, so judge it by hours saved on onboarding and record keeping rather than by feature appeal. A five person team may manage records manually, while a 30 person team with frequent hiring will feel the benefit weekly.
A Five Person Team, Small Numbers With a Clear Lesson
A five person team on Scheduling alone pays 22.50 dollars per month at 4.50 dollars per user. On Time and Attendance alone, the same team also pays 22.50 dollars per month. On Premium, five people pay 30 dollars per month at 6 dollars per user. Over a year, those totals become 270 dollars for either single function plan, or 360 dollars for Premium. The yearly gap between a single function and Premium is only 90 dollars for five people, which is a small price for covering both rosters and hours in one system.
Add the human resources module to Premium and five people pay 40 dollars per month, because 6 dollars plus 2 dollars equals 8 dollars per user. Over a year, that totals 480 dollars. That figure is still modest for a small business, yet it shows how add-ons change the total faster than the base plan alone suggests. A five person team should ask whether human resources tools solve a real weekly task, such as onboarding a new hire or storing contracts, before adding 10 dollars per month to the bill.
A five person team should also watch minimum charges. If a 30 dollar monthly minimum applies to your account, a five person team on Scheduling alone at 22.50 dollars would actually pay 30 dollars, because the minimum lifts the bill above the per user maths. That detail matters most for very small teams, and it is easy to miss when a pricing page highlights a per user rate. Ask directly whether a minimum applies, what it covers, and whether it applies per invoice, per location, or per account.
For a five person team, the practical choice is usually Premium without extra modules at first. Premium covers rosters and hours for 30 dollars per month, which is less than the cost of one hour of manager time spent fixing a roster by hand each week. Start there, run a full roster cycle, and add the human resources module only when onboarding or record keeping becomes a repeated pain. That staged approach keeps the first year bill low while still covering the core scheduling job.
A 15 Person Team, Where the Gap Widens
A 15 person team on Scheduling alone pays 67.50 dollars per month at 4.50 dollars per user. On Time and Attendance alone, the same team also pays 67.50 dollars per month. On Premium, 15 people pay 90 dollars per month at 6 dollars per user. Over a year, those totals become 810 dollars for a single function plan, or 1,080 dollars for Premium. The yearly gap between single function and Premium grows to 270 dollars, which is still reasonable when both rosters and hours matter every week.
Add human resources to Premium and 15 people pay 120 dollars per month, because 8 dollars per user multiplied by 15 equals 120 dollars. Over a year, that totals 1,440 dollars. At this team size, human resources tools start to earn their place, because hiring, contracts, and leave records multiply with headcount. A manager who spends two hours per week on people admin will save enough time to cover the 30 dollar monthly add-on cost for the whole team, provided the tools are actually used consistently.
A 15 person team should also model overtime and compliance savings, not only subscription cost. A roster that respects availability and break rules reduces accidental overtime, while accurate timesheets reduce payroll disputes. If Deputy prevents even two hours of overtime per week at 20 dollars per hour, that saving equals about 160 dollars per month, which covers the Premium bill with room to spare. That comparison is the honest way to judge value, because software cost alone tells only half the story for a shift business.
Payroll integration deserves attention at 15 people, because timesheet errors flow straight into pay. Deputy offers payroll integrations on base plans in many listings, while a full Deputy Payroll add-on for the United States has been reported at 8 dollars per user per month plus a 49 dollar monthly base fee. For 15 people, that add-on alone would cost 169 dollars per month on top of the base plan, which changes the total sharply. Confirm whether you need native payroll or whether an integration with your existing payroll provider covers the job, because the two paths cost very different amounts.
A 30 Person Team, Scale Changes Every Decision
A 30 person team on Scheduling alone pays 135 dollars per month at 4.50 dollars per user. On Time and Attendance alone, the same team also pays 135 dollars per month. On Premium, 30 people pay 180 dollars per month at 6 dollars per user. Over a year, those totals become 1,620 dollars for a single function plan, or 2,160 dollars for Premium. The yearly gap between single function and Premium reaches 540 dollars, which is large enough to require a clear reason, yet small compared with a single month of labour overspend.
Add human resources to Premium and 30 people pay 240 dollars per month, because 8 dollars per user multiplied by 30 equals 240 dollars. Over a year, that totals 2,880 dollars. At 30 people, human resources tools are no longer a luxury. Onboarding, document storage, leave tracking, and training records become daily work, and a shared system prevents the version confusion that spreadsheets create. The add-on cost should be judged against manager hours saved across the whole team, not against the per user figure alone.
A 30 person team should also ask about volume terms, multi location handling, and manager seats. Some vendors count every employee as a user, while others distinguish between schedulable staff and managers who only approve timesheets. That distinction can change the bill by hundreds of dollars per year, so ask how each role is counted before signing. A team with 30 hourly staff and three managers may pay for 30 users or 33 users depending on the rule, and the difference should appear in the written quote.
Labour forecasting becomes valuable at 30 people, because small percentage errors affect many shifts. A roster built from sales patterns and demand forecasts can cut overstaffing on quiet days without leaving busy days short. That forecasting value often sits on higher tiers in newer price structures, so check which plan includes demand forecasting for your account. If forecasting requires a higher tier, model the labour saving against the tier uplift, and let that saving decide whether the upgrade pays.
Annual Terms, Trials, and What to Confirm in Writing
Deputy has been reported with a 31 day free trial in several listings, which gives a small business a full roster cycle to test the product. Use that trial with real staff, real availability, and a real pay period, not with sample data. Publish a roster, let staff swap shifts, record clock-ins, approve timesheets, and export the result to payroll. A trial that only tests roster design tells you nothing about timesheet accuracy, which is where payroll errors and disputes usually start.
Billing term matters for the cost of Deputy for small business monthly, because some reported rates assume annual billing while others show monthly billing. Ask whether your quoted per user rate requires an annual commitment, what happens if headcount falls mid term, and whether unused seats can be removed without penalty. A seasonal business that hires 30 people in summer and 15 people in winter needs flexible seat handling, because paying for summer headcount all winter wastes money. Get seat flexibility in writing before the first roster goes live.
Minimum charges, add-on pricing, and payroll terms also belong in the written quote. Ask whether a monthly minimum applies, how human resources and messaging add-ons are charged, and whether payroll integration is included or billed separately. Ask also how long data is kept after cancellation, and how timesheet history can be exported for payroll records. A quote that answers those questions is worth more than a lower headline rate that hides an add-on or minimum charge.
Implementation time is a hidden cost that grows with team size. A five person team can set up Deputy in a day, while a 30 person team needs time to enter staff records, availability, pay rules, and location settings. Assign one manager to own setup, test pay rules with a small group first, and keep the old roster method running for one pay period as a backup. That caution costs little and prevents a payroll error that would damage trust with hourly staff.
Add-on modules are the first hidden cost group inside the cost of Deputy for small business monthly. Human resources, messaging upgrades, analytics upgrades, and payroll each add a per user or flat monthly charge, and together they can double a base Premium bill. A team that starts at 6 dollars per user can reach 10 dollars or more per user once several add-ons are switched on. Audit add-ons every quarter, switch off modules nobody uses, and require a named owner for every add-on that stays.
Devices and clock hardware form a second hidden group for some businesses. A team that uses phone clock-ins may need no extra hardware, while a team that wants a kiosk, facial recognition, or badge reader may face device costs. Check whether your chosen plan supports the clock method you plan to use, and whether any hardware is included or charged separately. A business with one site can often use phones, while a business with several entrances may need dedicated hardware at each point.
Manager time is the third hidden cost, and it cuts both ways. Good scheduling software saves manager time, yet poor setup wastes it. A manager who rebuilds rosters because availability rules were entered wrongly will lose the saving the software was meant to create. Invest setup time upfront, train shift leads on swap approvals and timesheet checks, and review roster accuracy weekly for the first month. That discipline turns a subscription into a labour saving tool rather than another admin chore.
Compliance mistakes are a fourth cost that Deputy aims to reduce, yet no software removes the need for correct pay rules. Break rules, overtime thresholds, and award interpretations vary by region and industry, so confirm that your pay rules match local requirements before relying on automated calculations. An error in a pay rule can affect every timesheet in a pay period, so test rules with known examples and have payroll review the first export carefully.
Start with the pain that costs money today. If rosters take hours and staff complain about late publication, Scheduling is the priority. If timesheets are messy and payroll disputes are frequent, Time and Attendance is the priority. If both pains exist, Premium is the honest choice, because buying one function and patching the other with spreadsheets recreates the problem you wanted to solve. The cost of Deputy for small business monthly should follow the pain, not the cheapest headline rate.
Count users carefully, including part time and casual staff who work only a few shifts per month. Per user pricing charges for each person on the system, even when they work rarely, so a business with high casual turnover may pay for many users who work little. Ask how inactive users are handled, whether archived staff still count, and how seasonal staff can be paused without losing records. Those rules matter more for casual heavy teams than for stable full time teams.
Test payroll export before committing, because a clean roster with a messy payroll export still creates manual work. Export a full pay period, check overtime, breaks, and leave handling, and ask payroll whether the file matches their system without manual fixes. A payroll export that needs manual correction every period will eat the time Deputy was meant to save, so treat export quality as a pass or fail test during the trial.
Review the plan after the first full month and again after three months. Check users counted, add-ons active, timesheet accuracy, and roster publication time. Remove inactive users, switch off unused add-ons, and consider moving from a single function plan to Premium when both jobs prove necessary. When you review the cost of Deputy for small business monthly on that cycle, the subscription stays tied to real usage rather than drifting upward unnoticed.
Budgeting the First Year With a Worked Example
A 15 person cafe on Premium at 6 dollars per user pays 90 dollars per month, or 1,080 dollars per year before add-ons. Add human resources at 2 dollars per user and the monthly total rises to 120 dollars, or 1,440 dollars per year. If that cafe also adds native payroll at 8 dollars per user plus a 49 dollar base fee, the payroll add-on alone costs 169 dollars per month, taking the combined monthly total to 289 dollars. That combined figure is the honest first year budget, not the 90 dollar base figure alone.
A 30 person retail group on Premium pays 180 dollars per month, or 2,160 dollars per year before add-ons. Add human resources and the total rises to 240 dollars per month, or 2,880 dollars per year. A payroll integration with an existing provider may add little or nothing, while native payroll would add 289 dollars per month for 30 people at the reported rate, taking the combined total to 529 dollars per month. That contrast shows why payroll choice must be decided before the budget is finalised, because the two paths differ by thousands per year.
A seasonal business should budget for peak headcount, then plan seat reductions for quiet months where the contract allows. A business that peaks at 30 people and falls to 15 people should not pay for 30 users all year if seats can be paused. Model three scenarios, which are peak, average, and quiet headcount, and use the average scenario for the annual budget with a note for peak months. That method keeps cash flow realistic and prevents a quiet month bill from feeling like a surprise.
Finally, set a labour saving target alongside the subscription budget. If Premium costs 180 dollars per month for 30 people, set a target to save at least that amount through reduced overtime, fewer payroll corrections, or faster roster building. Track overtime hours, payroll correction count, and manager roster time monthly, and compare them with the period before Deputy. When those numbers move in the right direction, the cost of Deputy for small business monthly is easy to justify. When they do not move, the problem is usually setup or usage, not the price itself, and fixing usage is cheaper than switching tools.
Mistakes That Inflate the Bill
The most common mistake is buying Scheduling and Time and Attendance separately when Premium covers both for less. Separate plans cost 9 dollars per user combined, while Premium costs 6 dollars, so a 30 person team wastes 90 dollars per month or 1,080 dollars per year by splitting the purchase. Always compare the combined plan price with the sum of single function prices before choosing, because the combined plan is usually designed to be the better deal.
Another mistake is paying for every casual worker at full rate without checking inactive user rules. A business with 50 people on record but only 30 active workers may pay for 50 users if archiving is handled poorly. Clean the user list monthly, archive leavers promptly, and ask how paused seasonal staff are counted. That housekeeping takes minutes and can save a large share of the monthly bill for casual heavy teams.
A third mistake is switching on add-ons during setup and forgetting them. Human resources, messaging, and analytics add-ons each seem small per user, yet together they can add 50 percent or more to the base bill. Require a business reason for each add-on, name an owner, and review usage after one month. An add-on with no owner and no weekly use should be switched off, because its cost continues even when its value does not.
Verdict, Which Setup Fits Which Team
For a five person team with simple rosters, Premium at 30 dollars per month is the clean starting point, because it covers rosters and hours for less than the cost of a single manager hour wasted on manual scheduling each week. Add human resources only when onboarding or record keeping becomes a weekly task, taking the total to 40 dollars per month. Keep payroll integrated with your existing provider at first, and revisit native payroll only when timesheet export creates repeated manual work.
For a 15 person team, Premium at 90 dollars per month is the sensible default, with human resources at 120 dollars per month when people admin grows. The combined total remains modest compared with labour spend, and the compliance and timesheet benefits grow with headcount. Confirm payroll handling before signing, because native payroll would add a large amount on top of the base plan and may not be needed when an integration already works.
For a 30 person team, Premium at 180 dollars per month, or 240 dollars with human resources, gives a strong base for multi shift operations. The key decisions at this scale are user counting rules, forecasting availability, and payroll export quality, because those factors affect the bill and the labour saving more than the headline rate. Get those three answers in writing, run a full pay period trial, and let labour accuracy decide whether the setup stays.
Frequently Asked Questions
How much does Deputy cost for a small team per month
A five person team pays 22.50 dollars per month for Scheduling alone or Time and Attendance alone, or 30 dollars per month for Premium covering both, at the reported rates used in this guide. A 15 person team pays 67.50 dollars for a single function or 90 dollars for Premium, while a 30 person team pays 135 dollars for a single function or 180 dollars for Premium. Add-ons and any minimum charge sit on top of those base totals.
Yes, Premium at 6 dollars per user per month costs less than Scheduling at 4.50 dollars plus Time and Attendance at 4.50 dollars, which together cost 9 dollars per user per month. The saving is 3 dollars per user per month, which equals 90 dollars per month for a 30 person team or 1,080 dollars per year. Most businesses that need both rosters and hours should therefore choose Premium rather than two separate plans.
What is the cost of Deputy for small business monthly when payroll is added
Native payroll has been reported as an add-on at 8 dollars per user per month plus a 49 dollar monthly base fee in the United States, which adds 89 dollars per month for five people, 169 dollars for 15 people, and 289 dollars for 30 people on top of the base plan. Payroll integrations with an existing provider may cost less or nothing extra, so confirm which payroll path applies to your account before budgeting. The combined total, not the base plan alone, is the figure to compare.
Does Deputy charge for inactive or seasonal staff
That depends on how your account counts users, which is why the rule must be confirmed in writing before signing. Some accounts charge for every person on record, while others allow archiving or pausing without a full charge. A casual heavy or seasonal business should ask how leavers, archived staff, and paused seasonal workers are counted, and should clean the user list monthly to avoid paying for people who no longer work shifts.
Should a tiny team worry about a monthly minimum
Yes, a tiny team should ask whether a monthly minimum applies, because a reported 30 dollar minimum in some listings would lift a five person Scheduling bill from 22.50 dollars to 30 dollars. Minimums matter least for larger teams, where per user maths already exceeds the floor, and most for teams under ten people. Get the minimum rule, its scope, and its billing period in the written quote.
When should a business move to Enterprise pricing
A business should move to Enterprise pricing when headcount, locations, or compliance needs exceed standard plan limits, or when custom integrations, dedicated support, or special security requirements become necessary. Enterprise is quoted on request, so the price depends on scale and requirements rather than a published per user rate. A standard Premium plan usually serves single site and small multi site teams well, and Enterprise becomes relevant when scale or complexity grows beyond that range.