Deputy alternative: scheduling is not the whole job
James Dean
Deputy is a scheduling engine with a time clock bolted on. Auto-scheduling, demand forecasting, biometric punches, Fair Workweek-style rules — that is the pitch. Communication is a news feed plus basic messaging. Richer chat is Messaging+ at $1.95 per user per month, unless you jump to Pro at $9.
Pebb is one employee app for the floor and the office. You pay per person. Basic is $2.50 per user per month for chat, shifts, clock-in, timesheets, and a directory. Premium is $4 and adds calls, a news feed, PTO, tasks, forms, a wiki, analytics, and SSO. Unlimited Spaces sit on both plans. Chat is not an add-on.
This Deputy alternative is for 11–80 person construction, field, security, warehouse, hospitality, and multi-location teams that bought a scheduler and still run the day in WhatsApp. If Fair Workweek templates and demand forecasting are why you opened Deputy, keep Deputy for that. This page is for everyone using it as a blunt “employee app.”
At a glance
Pick Pebb if you want chat, shifts, GPS clock-in, timesheets, and (on Premium) calls, PTO, tasks, forms, and a wiki billed per person. Spaces unlimited. Chat org-wide. Full trial, no card. Pebb does not run payroll and does not claim Fair Workweek auto-compliance.
Pick Deputy if building the roster under labor rules is the hard problem: auto-scheduling, demand forecasting, biometric kiosks, advanced labor-law compliance. Keep it if Deputy Payroll (Paycor) or Messaging+ on a compliance desk is load-bearing. Do not keep paying Core + Messaging+ just so people can talk.
Pricing and plans
USD, excl. tax. Deputy list prices from deputy.com/pricing as of August–September 2026, billed upfront or in monthly installments:
Lite: $5 per user per month
Core: $6.50 per user per month (most popular)
Pro: $9 per user per month
Minimum monthly spend: $30 USD per invoice on monthly Lite, Core, and Pro
Messaging+: $1.95 per user per month (included in Pro)
Analytics+: $1.50 per user per month (included in Pro)
HR: $2 per user per month
Deputy Payroll (Paycor, annual Core/Pro, US): $8 per user + $49 monthly base
Pebb has no free plan and no published monthly minimum. Basic $2.50/user. Premium $4/user. Trial is everything, no card. See Pebb pricing.
Ten people
Pebb Basic: $25. Chat, shifts, clock-in, timesheets, directory.
Pebb Premium: $40. Adds calls, feed, PTO, tasks, forms, wiki, analytics, SSO.
Deputy Lite: $50 list, but the $30 minimum is already cleared. Basic messaging and news feed.
Deputy Core: $65. Auto-scheduling and biometrics. Messaging+ still extra.
Deputy Core + Messaging+: $84.50.
Ten people on a compliance-heavy roster can still favor Deputy Core. Ten people who just need “who’s on” and a real chat usually overpay.
Twenty-five people
Pebb Basic: $62.50
Pebb Premium: $100
Deputy Lite: $125
Deputy Core: $162.50
Deputy Core + Messaging+: $211.25
Deputy Core + Messaging+ + Analytics+ + HR: $298.75
Deputy Pro: $225 (Messaging+ and Analytics+ included; HR still +$2/user)
Lite at $5 is not “a dollar more than Pebb.” For 25 people it is $125 vs $100 Premium — and Premium already includes calls, wiki, forms, and tasks. No Messaging+ line item.
Forty people
Pebb Basic: $100
Pebb Premium: $160
Deputy Lite: $200
Deputy Core: $260
Deputy Core + Messaging+: $338
Deputy Pro: $360
The gap widens with headcount when chat is not an add-on. Admins and supervisors count as Deputy users too.
Pros and cons
Pebb
Pros
Per-user price with chat on Basic and calls on Premium. No Messaging+ upsell.
Unlimited Spaces on Basic and Premium. Managers space = feed + group chat + private files. Site space = shifts + clock-in + forms.
Chat is org-wide, outside Spaces. Time Off is org-wide on Premium.
Tasks, forms, wiki, analytics, SSO included on Premium.
GPS clock-in with optional near-branch validation. Open shifts. Full trial, no card.
Cons
No free plan.
Scheduling is shift scheduling, not demand forecasting or Fair Workweek auto-rules.
No biometric kiosk. GPS is a stamp plus optional near-branch check, not live breadcrumbs.
Pebb does not run payroll.
Mobile needs a connection. Offline does not fully work.
Deputy
Pros
Real workforce engine: auto-scheduling, micro-scheduling, demand forecasting, labor budgets on Core.
Labor law compliance tooling on Lite, advanced on Core. Biometric clocking on Core.
Geofencing, Shift Pulse, leave and availability on Lite+.
Messaging+ and Analytics+ bundled on Pro. HR and US Paycor payroll as add-ons.
Strong fit for multi-location retail, hospitality, and healthcare that live on compliance.
Cons
Per-user price starts at $5 Lite, $6.50 Core, $9 Pro, plus a $30 monthly minimum.
Richer messaging is Messaging+ ($1.95) or Pro ($9). Not the same as a workplace with calls and a wiki.
HR is another $2/user. Payroll is another product.
Teams that only needed a better WhatsApp often overbuy a scheduler.
Who each is for
Pebb is for
11–80 people, frontline plus a small office.
Construction, field, security, warehouse, multi-location ops. Hospitality and retail yes — not only those.
Operators whose pain is “the closer never saw the swap” and “the crew lives in WhatsApp,” not “build next week under three jurisdictions.”
Teams that want who’s on, clock in, and tell the team in one login.
Deputy is for
Ops that bought Deputy for auto-scheduling, demand forecasting, or Fair Workweek-style compliance.
Locations that need biometric kiosks and buddy-punch controls.
US teams that want Deputy Payroll via Paycor on the same desk.
Large multi-site retail or hospitality with a labor analyst on staff.
If the other quotes on your desk are hub-priced or per-location, read the Connecteam alternative and the Homebase alternative. Same job, different meters.
Feature by feature
Clock-in and GPS
Winner: Deputy if you need biometrics and geofence enforcement at a kiosk. Pebb if people punch on a phone across sites next to chat.
Deputy: time clocking on Lite, geofencing listed, biometrics on Core. Built for shared devices and buddy-punch control.
Pebb: GPS stamp on the punch, optional near-branch validation. Not live tracking. Not a face-unlock kiosk. Enough for “they punched at the warehouse,” not a map of the afternoon.
Scheduling
Winner: Deputy for compliance-heavy auto-scheduling. Pebb for a roster that lives next to chat.
Deputy Core: advanced scheduling, auto-scheduling, micro-scheduling, demand forecasting, labor budgets. That is the specialty.
Pebb: shift scheduling and open shifts on Basic and Premium. The hard problem Pebb solves is “everyone saw the change,” not “AI filled the week from forecast.”
Chat and calls
Winner: Pebb.
Deputy Lite includes messaging and a news feed. Messaging+ ($1.95/user) or Pro ($9) unlocks richer shift-aware chat. Native voice/video calls are not listed on their pricing page.
Pebb chat is on Basic, org-wide, outside Spaces. Premium adds voice and video calls and a news feed on the same $4 plan. That is the difference between a schedule sidebar and a company app.
PTO
Winner: tie on “leave exists”; Pebb if leave should sit next to chat without an HR add-on.
Deputy: leave and availability on Lite. HR add-on is $2/user for broader people tooling.
Pebb Time Off is org-wide on Premium. Request, approve, see it against the roster. No third SKU to take Thursday off.
Tasks, forms, and wiki
Winner: Pebb Premium.
Deputy’s pricing page emphasizes timesheet fields and attestations on higher tiers, not a general forms and wiki product. Tasks exist in the product but are not the headline Lite/Core/Pro story.
Pebb Premium includes tasks, digital forms, and a wiki. A site space can hold the closing checklist. A Managers space can hold private files and a feed.
Payroll
Winner: Deputy if you want payroll inside the same vendor. Pebb does not run payroll.
Deputy Payroll (Paycor): $8/user + $49 base on annual US Core/Pro. Real product. Use it if that is why you bought Deputy.
Pebb timesheets leave the building. Payroll stays in payroll. Premium has HRIS sync and integrations — not paychecks.
Spaces vs add-ons
Winner: Pebb for the daily workplace. Deputy for the compliance desk.
Deputy sells tiers and add-ons: Messaging+, Analytics+, HR, Payroll. Chat quality climbs the ladder.
Pebb sells people, then gives unlimited Spaces:
Managers — feed, group chat, private files
New York — shifts, clock-in, forms
Chat stays org-wide. Time Off stays org-wide. You do not buy Messaging+ so the night shift can talk.
What a week looks like on Pebb
Monday the ops lead publishes next week’s roster into two site spaces. Open shifts sit in each. Nobody paid Messaging+ so the closer could see the change in chat.
Tuesday warehouse staff clock in on their phones. GPS stamps the punch. Near-branch validation is on for the north floor.
Wednesday a form in the site space: incident checklist, photos, done. Tasks and forms did not require a Pro tier.
Thursday a supervisor starts a Premium call from org-wide chat because a cooler died. Friday’s roster already reflects a Time Off request from Wednesday.
Friday timesheets close in Pebb and go to payroll — which is still payroll, not Pebb. That is a week billed per person, with chat included.
Setup and switching
Create a workspace. Invite with a link. One space per site or crew. Floor spaces get shifts and clock-in. A Managers space gets the feed and private files. Chat is already company-wide.
Run both products for a week if you want. Leave Deputy on the compliance desk if Fair Workweek or biometrics still earn their keep. You are not required to blow up labor templates to give people a real workplace.
Trial is the full product. No credit card.
Who should stay put
Stay if auto-scheduling, demand forecasting, or Fair Workweek-style compliance is why you log in. Pebb does not replace that engine.
Stay if biometric kiosks or buddy-punch controls are non-negotiable.
Stay if Deputy Payroll via Paycor is the reason the account exists.
Leave the Core + Messaging+ stack when the actual pain is WhatsApp, missing handoffs, and a team that never treated the scheduler as the company app.
FAQ
Is Pebb cheaper than Deputy?
At list prices for the all-in-one job, usually yes. 25 users: Pebb Premium $100 vs Deputy Lite $125 vs Core $162.50 vs Core + Messaging+ $211.25 vs Pro $225. Pebb has no published $30 monthly minimum. Confirm Deputy’s billing terms on their site.
Does Pebb replace Deputy for Fair Workweek?
Do not assume that. Deputy Core/Pro is the compliance scheduler. Pebb gives shifts, GPS clock-in, timesheets, and PTO. If labor-law templates are load-bearing, keep that requirement on the table.
Do we have to buy calls separately?
No. Voice and video are on Pebb Premium with chat and the news feed. Deputy’s pricing page does not list native voice/video; richer messaging is Messaging+ or Pro.
Can employees clock in with GPS?
Yes. Pebb GPS-stamps the punch and can require near-branch validation. Deputy lists geofencing and, on Core, biometrics. Different tools.
Does Pebb include payroll?
No. Deputy Payroll is $8/user + $49 base on annual US Core/Pro. Pebb does not run payroll. Timesheets leave the building.
Basic or Premium?
Basic ($2.50): chat, shifts, clock-in, timesheets, directory. Premium ($4): calls, news feed, PTO, tasks, forms, wiki, analytics, SSO. Trial includes everything.
Does Pebb work offline?
Not fully. The phone needs a connection. Admit that before you migrate a basement with no signal.
How fast can we switch?
Invite, Spaces per site, parallel week, cut over. See pricing, then Sign Up For Free.
Chat included. Calls included. $4.
If you opened Deputy and still needed a group chat, you bought a scheduler.
