Last Updated on September 2, 2025 by Ewen Finser
Running a small business is hard work, of course, but what is extra rewarding for me is building a solid, close team of employees. There are a lot of tasks that you may not be prepared for when you first start out.
Managing payroll, HR, onboarding, sick leave, PTO requests, that kind of thing. These tasks can sneak up on you and spiral out of control if you don’t have software dedicated to organizing them.
I have been looking for a platform that allows me to manage everything easily, something that feels intuitive to use and easy to teach to my employees. Sling and Homebase are both strong contenders, and I tested them both to see which one works best for me.
Sling vs Homebase – The Key Differences
- Sling has a slightly more cluttered UI and a more difficult learning curve, whereas Homebase is cleaner in terms of UI and easier to learn
- Sling is a little cheaper for those on a tight budget, whereas Homebase is more expensive, especially if you want to access the payroll features
- Sling offers shift reporting, which allows them to express how a shift went for them, whereas Homebase offers slightly different features, like employee shout-outs
The Bottom Line:
Sling and Homebase are both similar in some aspects.
Both offer time tracking and employee scheduling. Both allow you to manage payroll more easily by keeping track of who has worked what shifts. Both allow you to manage multiple sites.
However, there are some key differences when I sit down to compare them directly. I’d say that if you want to keep things to a tighter budget, Sling is your top choice. The learning curve is higher, the UI isn’t ideal, but it does work well, and I think small businesses will benefit from using it.
But I much prefer using Homebase. It’s easy to navigate, the learning curve is very simple, and I can easily see my most urgent tasks/messages right away when I log in. I like that employees can shout out each other’s good work, and communicate easily with both me and each other. It’s a little more pricey, but I do think it’s worth the money for all the features you get. For my business, I think Homebase works really well.
Sling vs Homebase: Head-to-Head Comparison
Sling | Homebase | |
Purpose | To manage employee scheduling, time tracking, and tasks | HR, payroll, and scheduling tools |
Best For | Small businesses on a tighter budget | Businesses wanting to do everything to do with employee management under one roof |
Pricing | From $0 p/m | $0 p/m |
Learning Curve | Fairly easy | Very straightforward |
Biggest Value | Being able to communicate with your employees easily, keeping everyone on the same page | Ease of use, and a focus employee wellbeing |
When to Use Sling
Let’s talk about ease of use. The UI of Sling is a little more cluttered than I’d like, but I’d say the learning curve is pretty simple. You can flick between scheduling, tasks, messaging, and reporting easily. If I were being picky, I would want the UI to be more visually appealing, but it does work.
There are some good scheduling features here. It’s really easy to set up your employees, and once they’re on the system, you can start scheduling shifts across several locations depending on their role in the company.
I like that I can set up events, assigning everyone to the same thing at once (so if I have a product launch, I can make sure everyone’s available). This is helpful because I have employees overseas, and it’s hard to keep track of sometimes.
I don’t pay hourly rates for my employees, but you can do this using Sling, and employees can track their hours worked. You can then export this for easy payroll management. So for employees working an hourly rate, this is super useful.
Employees can also request PTO and shift swapping. You can choose to approve or deny (or delegate that job to a manager). It’s that kind of thing that makes employee management a lot easier.
There are team announcements you can make. I quite like this. It’s a nice way of sharing company news or even sharing documents like brand guidelines, for example, without having to email them out to everyone. Saves me time and allows my employees to find things easily.
You can also set tasks. I like this; you can assign it to specific people, set subtasks, and attach documents. So if I expand and want to bring on a social media manager, I can send them straight to our brand documentation.
Again, I’d like it if the UI was a bit nicer to look at here (being really picky again), but it’s fairly simple to run everything.
You can also communicate with employees using the messaging feature. It works fine and allows me to create group conversations or private ones. It’s not available on the free plan though; you’ll have to spring for Premium to access it.
Lastly, I want to talk about the reporting. You can run reports on metrics like sales vs. wages, or hours vs. overtime. I’m not sure how much I’d use these, but I can see they’d be useful for other types of businesses.
A cool bonus feature is that you can collect feedback from your employees. I run a small business and we’re a tight team, but if you have more than a handful of people working for you, it can be hard to make sure everyone’s okay. I like that you can collect feedback after a shift. It gives employees a chance to report if something wasn’t okay, and if you run multiple locations, for example, that’s invaluable for employee retention.
There’s a free plan, but it’s pretty limited; you’ll need Premium for a lot of features, which starts at $2 per user per month. For small businesses, this is pretty manageable, I’d say. The Business plan, at $4 per user per month, unlocks reporting and more insights, which a larger business would find helpful.
The Bottom Line on Sling
I think Sling works well for scheduling, task management, and communication. It’s not perfect in terms of UI, but it does the job, and I can see it saving me time in a few different areas, and the pricing is small-business-friendly. I’d recommend checking out the free plan for yourself.
When to Use Homebase
Homebase is much nicer to look at, in my opinion. It’s cleaner, it feels a little more modern, and I find it easier to navigate. Because of that, I felt that the learning curve was a little easier. So if you want something super simple, Homebase is the better option of the two.
I liked the dashboard more than Sling’s; it shows all the stuff I want to see upfront (shifts, hours worked, schedule, trade requests, etc). So the most urgent things show up quickly, so I can get to them when I log in every morning.
Shift management is easy once your employees are onboarded. They can request paid time off, manage shift swaps, etc. The mobile app comes in handy here because employees can message other members of the team and keep in touch with each other.
I prefer this for on-the-go collaboration between team members. If you have a team spread far apart from each other, it’s worth it. And the mobile app is very easy to set up, so you shouldn’t have to worry about teaching your employees a difficult platform.
As I said, I don’t pay an hourly rate, but if you do, managing overtime and wages is pretty straightforward. And Homebase is good for helping you to stay compliant with local laws and guidance. Having this all in one place is helpful.
I like that there is a real focus on employee wellbeing. Similar to Sling’s shift reporting, Homebase offers features for employees, like the ability to cash out early if they’re having a financial emergency.
There’s also the ‘shout out’ feature. This allows employees to big each other up and highlight great work. I like this for fostering a good relationship between my employees. Sometimes I get busy and I forget to go out of my way to find this stuff out, so it’s nice to have a platform that encourages sharing.
I would say that the reporting isn’t that strong in Homebase. Larger businesses might want more detailed insights. But it works for what I need it to tell me.
Homebase is pricier than Sling. I think it’s worth it; they still have a limited free plan that you can play around with, but to unlock the good features, you’ll need to pay $30 per month for unlimited employees (per location). So if you’re a team of, say, three people, you’re going to end up paying quite a bit more.
So if you have a larger business with multiple locations, Homebase might start to become expensive. Also, the payroll features cost more, so that may be prohibitive if you’re on a tight budget. I do think it’s worth the price, however.
The Bottom Line on Homebase
I think that UI is more important than people realize. I’m using software every day to manage my business, and I want it to be easy to navigate but also easy on the eye. Homebase is great for this. The tools (HR, shift management, payroll) are all great, and I like the collaborative, supportive vibe the platform fosters between my employees.
Sling vs Homebase – Which One is the Best for Employee Management?
Sling and Homebase were both useful to test out.
But for me, Homebase is the top choice. Everything I need is here. I can manage my employees, communicate with them, manage pay and PTO requests, and the UI makes it so easy to navigate and learn. I like that there are employee well-being features built in. Sometimes I get so busy that I forget to seek feedback and celebrate hard work. So it’s nice that employees can shout out each other, so I can see it.
Having said that, I do think that Sling does have good features. It works well, it just takes a little longer to learn. And it’s more accessible in terms of pricing, whereas some of Homebase’s payroll features are more expensive.
But on the whole, Homebase is the top choice for me.
If you’re running a business and you want to know more about employee management, you can read our guide to The Best HR Software for Startups for more recommendations.