Auto Shift Planner review
A free, open-source desktop planner for teams with detailed staffing and rest rules.
Reviewed by iTechGuides Editors · Editorial team · Updated Oct 2026
Auto Shift Planner is free, open-source desktop software for creating employee rosters, particularly for workplaces with continuous operating hours and staffing constraints. Managers define employees, weekly hours, schedule boundaries, and scheduling rules; the application then generates a schedule from those rules and preferences. It is aimed at small teams that want detailed scheduling controls on Windows, macOS, or Linux, rather than a mobile-first scheduling service.
Its strength is the range of constraints it can apply to a roster. Managers can set maximum daily hours and shifts per day, minimum staffing for each time period, and minimum overnight rest between workdays. Scheduling uses half-hour units, which can be marked mandatory or forbidden to express restrictions. This gives teams a way to represent specific staffing requirements, breaks, and time boundaries in the schedule-generation process. For a small workplace with stable rules and staffing needs, those controls are more relevant than broader workforce-management features.
The product stays focused on desktop scheduling: schedules and settings can be saved in an XML file, while the listed deployment is desktop and support is through the community. There are no mobile apps, integrations, availability-management features, or shift swaps, so teams that need employees to manage availability or coordinate schedule changes through connected services should look elsewhere. The free, open-source model may suit teams comfortable with desktop software and community support; organizations seeking mobile access or a wider scheduling workflow should choose an alternative built around those needs.
Auto Shift Planner pros and cons
- Where it wins
- Generates schedules from employee rules and preferences.
- Sets staffing, hours, daily shift, and overnight rest constraints.
- Runs on Windows, macOS, and Linux; saves schedules as XML.
- Where it doesn't
- No availability-management feature or shift swaps.
- No mobile apps or integrations.
- Desktop-only deployment with community support.
Auto Shift Planner fact sheet, pricing and score →
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