Why people look for an alternative
Deputy is one of the most used rostering tools in Australia, and for the roster itself it is hard to fault. The reasons businesses start looking elsewhere are almost never about the roster:
- The roster is disconnected from the work. Shifts exist, but which job each person was on, and what that job cost, lives somewhere else.
- Payroll is still an export. Hours leave the roster tool and arrive in a payroll tool. Allowances and award rules get checked by hand on the way.
- Per-user pricing for everyone. Every person who clocks in is a paid user, even if they never open anything else.
- It is one more login. Staff already have an app for timesheets, another for documents, and a group chat for the rest.
What to compare
Before comparing feature lists, write down the four handovers your business does every week and who does them. For most small businesses they are roster to timesheet, timesheet to payroll, job to invoice, and job to margin. Then score each option on one question: how many of those handovers disappear?
A roster app, however good, removes none of them. It makes the first one cleaner. An all-in-one system removes them by making them the same record.
Deputy and RovrDS, side by side
| Need | Deputy | RovrDS |
|---|---|---|
| Rosters, availability, shift swaps | Yes, mature | Yes, in the base plan |
| Time clock and timesheets | Yes | Yes, phone or desk, free for every employee |
| Leave requests and balances | Yes | Yes, in Personal; HR add-on for onboarding and compliance |
| Jobs, quotes and job costing | No, needs another tool | Yes, Work in the base plan; Sales and Finance as add-ons |
| Hours flow to the invoice | Via export or integration | Yes, Finance bills from the hours already logged |
| Payroll | Export to a payroll tool | Finance add-on, connected to Xero |
| Documents, signing, inductions | Limited | Documentation add-on; signed items appear in each person's Personal area |
| Pricing model | Per user, per month check current plans | A$20 a seat a month, first 3 free, add-ons only for the people who run them |
| Data hosted in Australia | Check with vendor | Yes, Microsoft Azure in Sydney |
Deputy details are from their public product information at the time of writing. Verify current features and Australian pricing on their site before deciding.
Who should stay on Deputy
If rostering genuinely is the whole problem, stay. A café with a stable crew, no jobs to cost and payroll handled by an accountant is well served by a dedicated roster tool, and changing systems has a cost of its own. The switch makes sense when you are also running jobs, chasing timesheets against those jobs, and paying people based on both.
Moving your rosters across
- Export your people list from Deputy and load it into RovrDS People. Set roles and permissions once.
- Recreate your shift patterns in Scheduling. Most businesses have fewer than ten real patterns.
- Run one pay cycle in parallel. Staff clock in on both for a fortnight. Compare the approved hours.
- Cut over on the first day of a pay period, and keep the Deputy export for your records.
The parallel fortnight is the step people skip, and it is the one that makes the switch boring, which is what you want.
Questions people ask
Is RovrDS a Deputy replacement?
For rostering, availability, time cards and leave, yes. RovrDS Scheduling covers those in the base plan. The difference is that in RovrDS the roster is connected to the jobs, the people records and the pay run, so there is no export between them.
Does RovrDS have a time clock?
Yes. Staff clock in on their phone or at a desk through the Personal area, which is free for every employee. Logged hours roll up to the job and to the timesheet for approval.
What does it cost compared with Deputy?
RovrDS is A$20 a seat a month with the first three seats free, including GST, and staff who only need to clock in and see their shifts do not need a paid seat beyond the base plan. Check Deputy's current Australian pricing on their site, as plans change.
Can I export my data if I leave?
Yes. Your data can be exported as CSV, Excel or PDF, and you can delete your account yourself.
Try RovrDS
Rosters, time cards, jobs and people in one system, with the first three seats free. Run one pay cycle alongside your current tool and see the difference.