JMS Dev Lab

Homebase vs EasyTeam vs StaffHub: Choosing a Shopify Staff App in 2026

Q: What's the difference between Homebase, EasyTeam, and StaffHub?

Homebase is a general workforce-management app used across many industries — strong on time-clock and US payroll, with a free single-location tier, but it lives outside Shopify. EasyTeam is Shopify-native and built around the POS — time-clock, payroll-ready exports, and POS commission, with a per-seat pricing model and years of production maturity. StaffHub is Shopify-native and covers both layers: since May 2026 it does shift scheduling, POS time clock, timesheets, payroll-ready export and POS sales commission, alongside its original training, onboarding, and announcements-with-read-receipts feature set. All three now overlap on core workforce management; the real differences are pricing model, maturity, and whether you want a Shopify-native system of record.

Q: Which app is cheapest for a Shopify retailer?

It depends on team size and location count. StaffHub uses flat-tier pricing — free for up to 5 staff ($0 forever), $129/yr up to 15 staff, $249/yr up to 50 staff including multi-location — so it is generally the cheapest option once you pass roughly 10 staff, and that price now includes scheduling, time clock, timesheets, payroll export and commissions rather than just training and comms. Homebase has a genuinely free tier for a single location, which is hard to beat at $0 if one shop is all you run. EasyTeam is per-seat and scales with headcount, but it is the most mature Shopify-native workforce app and has the longest production track record. Cheapest is not always the right answer: if you want a tool that thousands of stores have already stress-tested, EasyTeam or Homebase are reasonable choices even at a higher price.

Q: Can I use more than one of these apps at the same time?

You can, but it is much less necessary than it used to be. Before May 2026, StaffHub had no time clock or payroll export, so the standard pattern was StaffHub + EasyTeam. StaffHub now covers scheduling, POS time clock, timesheets, payroll-ready export and commissions itself, so running two apps mostly means paying twice for overlapping features. The remaining reasons to pair are specific: you already run Homebase for US payroll processing and only want to add training, or you want EasyTeam's more mature time clock and StaffHub's training layer while you evaluate. If you do run two, prefer two Shopify-native apps so you don't maintain parallel staff databases.

Q: Which is best for multi-location retailers?

StaffHub is multi-location-native from day one — scheduling, time clock, announcements, permissions and reporting all work across shops with no upgrade tier, and multi-location is included in the $249/yr Pro plan. EasyTeam is also Shopify-native and handles multi-location time-clock and payroll well, but multi-location messaging sits behind its enterprise tier and per-seat costs compound across a larger team. Homebase supports multi-location on its paid tiers only, and being non-Shopify-native it adds a parallel staff database alongside Shopify. If predictable multi-shop cost matters most, StaffHub; if a long production track record matters most, EasyTeam.

Q: Which app should I install first?

Start with the one that matches your binding constraint, and note that all three now cover hours and pay. If you need US payroll actually filed and paid — not just exported — Homebase is the one that processes payroll; StaffHub and EasyTeam both stop at payroll-ready export or sync. If you want the most battle-tested Shopify-native time clock, install EasyTeam. If you want scheduling, time clock, payroll export, commissions, training and multi-location comms in one Shopify-native app at a flat fee, install StaffHub. Don't install all three — pick the one that solves your most painful current problem, run it for two weeks on its free plan or trial, then decide whether anything is actually missing.

24 April 2026 · Last updated 13 July 2026

Three apps come up more than any others when Shopify retailers search for help managing staff: Homebase, EasyTeam, and StaffHub. Choosing between them is harder than it should be, because they get lumped together in "best Shopify staff app" round-ups despite solving notably different problems.

This is an honest 3-way comparison. We'll cover what each app actually does, where they overlap, and the decision framework for picking one (or two — many merchants run a combination).

Disclosure: StaffHub is built by JMS Dev Lab. We've tried to keep this fair — Homebase and EasyTeam both have real strengths that StaffHub does not match, and we'll say so where it's true.

Correction, 13 July 2026: the original April 2026 version of this post said StaffHub did not do time-clock, scheduling, payroll export, POS commission or HR documents. That was true when we wrote it. StaffHub's workforce backend shipped on 3 May 2026 and it now does all of those. We left the stale version up for two months and it was giving readers the wrong answer. This is the corrected version; the comparison table and recommendations below have been rewritten accordingly.

30-Second Summary

Homebase — general workforce-management app. Used across many industries (restaurants, salons, retail). Strong on time-clock and US payroll, and it actually processes payroll. Free tier for single location. Lives outside Shopify.
EasyTeam — Shopify-native workforce app built around the POS. Strong on time-clock, payroll-ready exports, and POS sales commission. The most mature Shopify-native option. Per-seat pricing.
StaffHub — Shopify-native staff app built around the admin. Covers shift scheduling, POS time clock, timesheets, payroll-ready export and commissions, plus training modules, multi-location announcements and peer recognition. Tier-based pricing (no per-seat). The newest of the three.

If you only have one minute: pick Homebase if you want your US payroll actually filed and paid, or if you run one shop and want a free tier; pick EasyTeam if you want the longest-running Shopify-native time clock and don't mind per-seat billing; pick StaffHub if you want scheduling, hours, pay-prep, commissions, training and multi-location comms in one Shopify-native app on a flat fee.

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	Homebase	EasyTeam	StaffHub
Native to Shopify	No	Yes	Yes
Time-clock	Yes — strong	Yes — POS-integrated	Yes — POS clock-in with PIN, photo verification; GPS geofencing available (off by default)
Payroll integration	Yes — major US processors	Yes — payroll-ready exports	Yes — payroll periods, overtime rules, payroll-ready export (Gusto, QuickBooks, ADP, Paychex, Rippling, CSV) and Gusto sync. Not a payroll processor — it doesn't file taxes or move money
Payroll processing (files taxes, moves money)	Yes — US payroll product	No — exports only	No — exports/syncs only
POS sales commission	No	Yes	Yes — commission rules, runs, payouts, sales attribution
Shift scheduling	Yes — strong	Yes — drag-and-drop	Yes — drag-and-drop rota, shift templates, swap requests, conflict detection, plus AI sales-aware auto-scheduling
Training modules with quizzes	No	No	Yes — core feature
Announcements with read receipts	Team chat — no read receipts	Limited	Yes — per shop, per role, scheduled
Peer tips / recognition	No	No	Yes
Multi-location native	Paid tier only	Multi-loc messaging behind enterprise tier	Yes — from day one
HR document storage	Paid tier — yes	No	Yes — HR document library
Free tier	Yes — single location	No — 14-day trial	Yes — free up to 5 staff ($0 forever)
Pricing model	Per-location tiers	Base + per-seat	Tier (no per-seat)
Cost: 10 staff, 1 location	~$24.95/mo (Essentials)	~$50/mo	$129/yr (Basic, up to 15)
Cost: 25 staff, 3 locations	~$60-90/mo (Plus, 3 locations)	~$125/mo + multi-loc tier	$249/yr (Pro)

Decision Framework: Pick the One That Matches Your Binding Constraint

The single most useful question when choosing between these three apps is: what's the most painful problem with our current setup? Each of the three apps solves a different version of that problem.

If your binding constraint is "we need to pay people correctly and track hours"

All three apps now do this, so the choice comes down to how far up the pay chain you need the tool to go.

Pick Homebase if you want payroll actually run — taxes filed, money moved. Homebase sells a US payroll product. Neither EasyTeam nor StaffHub does: both stop at payroll-ready export or sync, and you run the payroll itself in Gusto, QuickBooks, ADP or similar. If "we need to pay people" literally means "we need someone to do payroll for us," Homebase is the only one of the three that answers that.

Pick EasyTeam if you want the most proven Shopify-native time clock. It has been running in Shopify POS across thousands of stores for years; StaffHub's POS clock-in shipped in May 2026. For hours tracking that a lot of merchants have already stress-tested, that track record is a legitimate reason to choose it, and we'd rather say so than pretend otherwise.

Pick StaffHub if you want hours and pay-prep in the same Shopify-native app as your rota, training and comms, on a flat fee. It does POS clock-in with PIN, photo verification (GPS geofencing is available but off by default), timesheets with manager approval and exception flags, overtime and break policies, payroll periods, and payroll-ready export to Gusto, QuickBooks, ADP, Paychex, Rippling or generic CSV, plus Gusto OAuth sync. It is not a payroll processor — same posture as EasyTeam.

If your binding constraint is "we need to onboard new staff faster"

Pick: StaffHub.

Why not the others: Neither Homebase nor EasyTeam has training modules with quizzes and completion tracking. They have team messaging and document storage but those are not the same thing.

If your binding constraint is "things are getting inconsistent across our shops"

Pick: StaffHub.

Why not the others: Both Homebase and EasyTeam treat multi-location as an upgrade-tier feature. StaffHub treats it as the default. The difference shows up in announcements (StaffHub has read receipts per location), permissions (per-shop role assignments), and reporting (per-location dashboards). For a 2-5 shop retailer specifically, the multi-location-native data model removes a lot of friction.

If your binding constraint is "we have one shop and a tight budget"

Pick: Homebase free tier — or StaffHub's free plan if your team is 5 or fewer.

The honest split: Homebase's free single-location tier is a real advantage and we're not going to talk you out of it. It covers scheduling, time-clock and team chat for one location at $0, and it doesn't cap you at five people the way StaffHub's free plan does. StaffHub is free up to 5 staff and then $129/yr — so if you're a single shop with six or more staff, Homebase free may still be the cheaper answer, and if you're a single shop with four staff, both are $0 and you should pick on features, not price. EasyTeam has no free tier, only a 14-day trial.

The Multi-App Pattern (mostly obsolete now)

The April 2026 version of this post recommended running two apps in parallel, because at the time no single app covered the full surface area — StaffHub genuinely had no time-clock or payroll export, so pairing it with EasyTeam was the sensible answer. That is no longer the case, and we're not going to keep recommending a second subscription that the product no longer needs.

Since StaffHub's workforce backend shipped in May 2026, running StaffHub + EasyTeam means paying twice for two time clocks, two rotas, two commission engines and two payroll exports. For most merchants that is now waste, not coverage. The honest advice is: pick one and run it.

The pairing that still makes sense: Homebase (or a payroll provider) + one Shopify-native app

If you need payroll actually filed and paid, you need a payroll processor — none of the Shopify-native apps do that. So the real pairing is a workforce app (StaffHub or EasyTeam) exporting hours into a payroll processor (Gusto, QuickBooks, ADP, Paychex, Rippling — or Homebase's own payroll). That's not two overlapping apps; that's a workforce tool feeding a payroll tool, which is how it's supposed to work.

Anti-patterns: any two of these three

Don't run Homebase + EasyTeam, and don't run StaffHub + EasyTeam. All three now overlap heavily on time-clock, scheduling and hours. You'd be paying twice for similar features and maintaining staff records in two places. Pick whichever fits your binding constraint and stop there.

Pricing in Real Numbers

Pricing models for these apps are different enough that direct list-price comparison is misleading. Here's what a typical multi-location Shopify retailer actually pays at various team sizes:

Solo or single-shop, <5 staff:

Homebase: $0/mo (free tier covers it)
EasyTeam: $30/mo (no per-seat surcharge under 6)
StaffHub: $0/mo (Free plan covers up to 5 staff)

Single-shop, 10 staff:

Homebase Essentials: ~$24.95/mo for one location
EasyTeam: ~$50/mo (base + 4 extra seats)
StaffHub Basic: $129/yr (covers up to 15)

3 shops, 25 staff:

Homebase Plus across 3 locations: ~$60-90/mo
EasyTeam: ~$125/mo + multi-location tier upgrade
StaffHub Pro: $249/yr (one bill, all locations)

5 shops, 50 staff:

Homebase Plus or All-in-One across 5 locations: ~$120-200/mo
EasyTeam Enterprise tier: contact for pricing — typically $200+/mo
StaffHub Pro: $249/yr (still covers up to 50 staff at one bill)

The pattern is clear: StaffHub's tier-based pricing scales differently from per-location or per-seat models, and the gap widens as the team grows. Two caveats keep this honest. First, price is not the only axis — EasyTeam and Homebase have years of production use behind them and StaffHub's workforce backend is new (May 2026), which is a fair reason to pay more for a more proven tool. Second, none of these figures include payroll processing: if you need taxes filed and money moved, that's a separate cost with Homebase's payroll product, Gusto, ADP or similar, whichever workforce app you choose.

What to Install First

Three rules of thumb:

Don't install all three at once. You'll spend more time evaluating tools than running your business.
Start with the binding constraint. If you need payroll actually filed and paid, start with Homebase. If you want the most proven Shopify-native time clock, start with EasyTeam. If you want rota, hours, pay-prep, commissions, training and multi-shop comms in one Shopify-native app at a flat fee, start with StaffHub.
Add a second app only after 30 days of running the first. By then, you'll know whether the gap that's left is real or imagined. Since all three now cover the core workforce features, a second app is usually a payroll processor rather than a second staff app.

All three apps let you start for free (Homebase has a permanent free tier; StaffHub has a free plan for up to 5 staff; EasyTeam runs a 14-day trial — all with no credit card required). Don't pay for anything until you've actually used it in your real workflow.

Deeper Reading

If you want a more detailed head-to-head on any single pair of these apps:

Try StaffHub Free

StaffHub is live on the Shopify App Store with a free plan for up to 5 staff ($0 forever), no credit card required. Paid plans from $129/year, tier-based pricing for up to unlimited staff ($129/yr up to 15, $249/yr up to 50 plus multi-location, $499/yr unlimited). Plans include shift scheduling, POS time clock, timesheets, payroll-ready export, commissions, training modules, HR documents and multi-location announcements — StaffHub does not process payroll itself, so you'll still export or sync hours to your payroll provider.

Install StaffHub on Shopify — Free Up to 5 Staff

Want a free starting point before picking a tool? The Multi-Location Rota Template Builder generates a printable weekly rota for 2–5 shops. No signup.

Or browse our full list of Shopify apps and services, or get in touch if you'd like a 15-minute call to talk through which combination of apps fits your specific Shopify retail setup.

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