TabPref review
A free, broad workforce platform with detailed tip rules and payroll exports.
Reviewed by iTechGuides Editors · Editorial team · Updated Oct 2026
TabPref is a hospitality workforce management platform for restaurants, bars, hotels, catering companies, spas, and casinos. It brings together tip pooling, staff scheduling, time tracking, labor analytics, team messaging, vendor management, and event promotion. For small hospitality teams, the free starter plan combines scheduling, a digital time clock, team chat, and basic labor analytics with access through web, iOS, and Android apps.
Tip management is the product’s clearest differentiator. Teams can distribute tips by hours, points, or sales, then create custom pools with role percentages and concurrent pools. Shift-level and split-shift calculations provide more detailed allocation, while audit trails and manager sign-off add a documented approval step. Labor tools extend beyond distribution: TabPref includes labor cost tracking, overtime alerts, drag-and-drop scheduling, shift swaps, an open-shift marketplace, and mobile or kiosk time-clock access.
Its ecosystem covers restaurant POS, payments, payroll, calendar, and automation connections. Integrations include Toast, Square, Clover, Stripe Terminal, Union, ADP, Gusto, Paychex, Toast Payroll, Square Payroll, Heartland, Workday, Google Calendar, and Zapier. Payroll outputs are available as CSV and Excel exports, giving teams a file-based option alongside those integrations. TabPref fits operators that want tip rules, scheduling, time clocks, and labor oversight in one product. Teams seeking only a narrowly focused tip calculator may find its wider workforce scope unnecessary, while larger operators should compare the per-location paid tiers against their operational needs.
TabPref pros and cons
- Where it wins
- Flexible hours-, points-, and sales-based tip distribution
- Shift-level calculations, audit trails, and manager sign-off
- Free starter plan includes scheduling and time-clock tools
- Where it doesn't
- Payroll exports are limited to CSV and Excel files
- Paid plans use per-location monthly pricing
- Broader workforce features may exceed tip-only needs
TabPref fact sheet, pricing and score →
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