The headline plan price on most Shopify staff apps is not the number you will actually pay once you factor in your team size, location count, and which features you genuinely need. Per-seat pricing does not scale linearly. Once you cross the per-seat threshold and start hitting feature gates at the next tier, the monthly bill compounds in ways most merchants do not model before they commit.
The "monthly cost" of any software tool tends to be deceptive until the maths are run for an actual team at an actual size. This article does that maths for Shopify staff scheduling apps — showing what the major options cost at five realistic team sizes across one to four locations, so the comparison can be made before installation rather than after workflows have been built around a tool that turns out to be twice the price expected at scale.
Shopify staff scheduling apps broadly use one of two pricing approaches, and the choice between them matters more than any individual feature comparison.
Per-seat pricing means you pay a fixed amount per staff member per month, sometimes with a base platform fee on top. The headline plan price looks affordable; the actual bill grows with every new hire. At five staff it looks fine. At fifteen staff across three shops it looks different. At twenty-five staff it is the dominant cost driver, not the platform fee.
Flat-tier pricing means you pay a fixed monthly amount up to a staff or location limit. Your bill does not change when you hire someone new or open a second shop (as long as you stay within the tier). Predictable for budgeting; sometimes more expensive at very small team sizes, and significantly cheaper at medium-to-large ones.
Most merchants choose an app at three to five staff and evaluate cost at that scale. The tool that looks cheapest at three staff is not necessarily the cheapest at twelve. That gap is where the surprise bills come from.
This comparison covers the three apps most commonly recommended for Shopify retailers managing staff across multiple locations:
One important note on Homebase: it is not a Shopify-native app. That means a separate login, a separate staff database maintained alongside your Shopify staff records, and a separate subscription. For some merchants that overhead is worth it for the feature depth. For others it is a hidden cost that never shows up in the per-seat comparison.
The table below shows estimated monthly cost at five realistic team sizes. EasyTeam pricing is based on their published per-seat rates (approximately $2–3 per active staff member per month on the base plan, with multi-location and advanced scheduling features sitting at higher tiers — verify current pricing before committing). Homebase pricing uses their published paid tiers (approximately $20/mo for one location at the Essentials tier, with per-location charges for additional sites). StaffHub pricing is flat: free for up to 5 staff, $12.99/mo for up to 15 staff (single location), and $24.99/mo for up to 50 staff across multiple locations on the Pro plan.
| Team size / locations | EasyTeam (est.) | Homebase (est.) | StaffHub |
|---|---|---|---|
| 5 staff / 1 location | ~$10–15/mo | ~$20/mo (Essentials) | Free |
| 10 staff / 2 locations | ~$20–30/mo | ~$40/mo (2× Essentials) | $24.99/mo (Pro) |
| 15 staff / 2 locations | ~$30–45/mo | ~$40–60/mo | $24.99/mo (Pro) |
| 25 staff / 3 locations | ~$50–75/mo | ~$60–80/mo | $24.99/mo (Pro) |
| 50 staff / 4 locations | ~$100–150/mo | ~$80–120/mo | $24.99/mo (Pro) |
Note: App pricing changes. Verify current plans before committing. EasyTeam and Homebase rates above are estimates based on published pricing as of April 2026; per-location charges and feature-tier gates may alter these significantly for your specific scenario.
The table above only tells part of the story. Per-seat pricing often bundles features into tiers that you hit before you need them. A 10-staff, 2-location retailer might need to upgrade to a higher tier simply because multi-location manager dashboards sit behind the tier boundary — not because they want payroll exports or performance reviews.
This pattern shows up repeatedly with merchants evaluating tools for two retail locations. The per-seat rate looks manageable. Then multi-location scheduling features turn out to be in the next tier up. Then compliance reporting is in the tier above that. The total lands at roughly three times the headline price once the features they actually need are switched on.
The features most commonly gated behind higher tiers on per-seat Shopify workforce apps:
None of these are unreasonable to gate. But if you need two of them and they live in different tiers, you end up paying for the higher tier to unlock one feature, and inadvertently paying for a dozen others you will never touch.
EasyTeam is the strongest Shopify-native option if time-clock is your binding requirement. It handles clock-in and clock-out natively inside the Shopify POS or through a standalone tablet, tracks hours per staff member and location, and produces clean exports for payroll. For a retailer who needs to track hourly staff attendance accurately — rather than just manage schedules and training — EasyTeam is the tool to evaluate seriously.
The per-seat cost is the consideration. At five to eight staff across one or two locations, EasyTeam is competitive. At fifteen or more staff, the monthly bill grows with the team, which is predictable but worth modelling in advance. Our full StaffHub vs EasyTeam comparison covers where the two tools diverge in more detail.
Homebase is a mature workforce platform with strong time-clock, payroll integration, and HR features. Its free tier — genuinely useful for a single-location operator with basic scheduling needs — is a real advantage at small scale. The limitation for multi-location Shopify retailers is the overhead of running a non-native tool alongside Shopify: separate login, separate staff data, separate billing. For a business where Shopify is the operational centre of gravity, that overhead matters. For a business where Shopify is primarily the storefront and the operational work happens outside it, Homebase is a more natural fit.
The per-location billing on Homebase paid plans means costs compound at the same rate as per-seat tools for multi-location operators. A 3-location retailer pays roughly three times the single-location plan rate, which at 25+ staff starts to look similar to EasyTeam's per-seat numbers. Our full StaffHub vs Homebase comparison has the specifics.
StaffHub's flat-tier pricing is its most distinctive feature: the free plan covers up to 5 staff, and the $24.99/mo Pro plan covers up to 50 staff across any number of Shopify locations. No per-seat charge, no per-location surcharge. For a retailer at 15 staff across 3 locations, StaffHub is almost certainly the cheapest Shopify-integrated option by a significant margin.
The trade-off is scope. StaffHub does not do time-clock, payroll, or HR document management. What it does: training modules with quizzes and completion tracking, multi-location announcements with read receipts (so you know who's seen the new pricing policy), peer tips and recognition, and native multi-location scheduling tied to Shopify's existing staff data model.
If your primary needs are keeping staff trained and informed across multiple shops — rather than tracking their clock-in times or running payroll — StaffHub is the lower-cost and lower-complexity choice. If you need time-clock, start with EasyTeam.
Rather than a blanket recommendation, here is how to choose:
Start with EasyTeam if: Time-clock and hourly attendance tracking is your primary need. You run shift-based hourly staff and need accurate in/out records. You are comfortable with per-seat billing growing as your team grows.
Start with Homebase if: You need time-clock AND payroll integration AND HR features in one platform. You are not Shopify-first — Shopify is your storefront but your operations live elsewhere. You have one location with a small team and the free tier covers you for now.
Start with StaffHub if: Training, announcements, and multi-location consistency are your primary needs. You have 10 or more staff across 2 or more locations and want a predictable flat fee. You want one login, one bill, and one staff record system tied to Shopify.
If training modules, read-receipt announcements, and multi-location simplicity match what you are looking for, StaffHub is free for up to 5 staff, with paid tiers from $12.99/mo and a 14-day free trial. No per-seat charges, no per-location surcharges. Install it, set up your first training module and announcement, and see whether it fits your operation before you commit.
Install StaffHub on Shopify — 14-Day Free Trial
It depends on the pricing model. Per-seat apps (EasyTeam, Homebase) put a 10-staff, 2-location retailer at roughly $20–40/mo and a 25-staff, 3-location retailer at $50–80/mo once per-location charges are included. Flat-tier apps (StaffHub) charge $24.99/mo on the Pro plan regardless of staff count up to 50 or location count, with a free plan for up to 5 staff. The gap between models is small at 5 staff and significant at 20+.
EasyTeam's pricing is primarily per-seat. Multi-location support may require a higher plan tier — check their current pricing for whether your specific multi-location scenario sits in the base plan or requires an upgrade. Always model your actual team size and location count, not just the headline per-seat rate.
If you need time-clock and payroll integration, Homebase is worth evaluating. The limitation is that it is not Shopify-native — separate login, separate staff database, separate bill. For retailers whose primary need is training and multi-location communication rather than time-clock and payroll, a Shopify-native option is likely cheaper and simpler.
A fixed monthly fee regardless of staff count or location count (up to the plan limit). StaffHub's Pro plan charges $24.99/mo for up to 50 staff across any number of Shopify locations, and there's a free plan for up to 5 staff. This contrasts with per-seat pricing where your bill grows with every new hire. Flat-tier pricing is more predictable and generally significantly cheaper for teams of 15 or more.
At 10 staff across 2 locations, StaffHub ($24.99/mo Pro, flat, covering multi-location and up to 50 staff) is almost certainly the cheapest Shopify-integrated option. Per-seat apps at $2–3 per seat put you at $20–30/mo before per-location surcharges. The gap widens at 15+ staff.
Related reading: Multi-location staff scheduling for Shopify: the practical guide · How to handle last-minute staff absences across shops · How to track staff hours across multiple Shopify locations · StaffHub vs EasyTeam: which Shopify staff app? · StaffHub vs Homebase: Shopify-native or general workforce app?