OpenSimSim vs Planday

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Our analysts compared OpenSimSim vs Planday based on data from our 400+ point analysis of Employee Scheduling Software, user reviews and our own crowdsourced data from our free software selection platform.

Product Basics

OpenSimSim is a cloud-based platform for creating, communicating and managing schedules for hourly workers. Managers can create and manage schedules using pre-built templates, automated conflict alerts and drag-and-drop tools. It incorporates employee availability, time-off requests and shift trading into a single, unified view to avoid scheduling errors.

Employees can use self-service portals to view schedules, request time off and swap shifts with colleagues, fostering a sense of ownership over their work-life balance. The mobile app enhances accessibility, allowing managers and employees to stay connected and informed on the go.

Built-in messaging enables interaction between team members, eliminating the need for external communication modules. Additionally, analytics helps track labor costs, identify scheduling patterns and optimize staffing levels. Businesses can get actionable insights and make data-driven decisions to improve overall efficiency and profitability.

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Planday provides tools to businesses of all sizes across all industries. It automates administrative tasks like workforce schedule building and report generation for growing businesses.

Organizations can make use of built-in messaging features to improve team communication. It helps manage hourly workers, track employee activity and builds reports that provide a comprehensive overview of the business.
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$15.99 Monthly
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Tailored to your specific needs
$2.49/User, Monthly
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Tailored to your specific needs
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Windows
Mac
Linux
Android
Chromebook
Windows
Mac
Linux
Android
Chromebook
Cloud
On-Premise
Mobile
Cloud
On-Premise
Mobile

Product Assistance

Documentation
In Person
Live Online
Videos
Webinars
Documentation
In Person
Live Online
Videos
Webinars
Email
Phone
Chat
FAQ
Forum
Knowledge Base
24/7 Live Support
Email
Phone
Chat
FAQ
Forum
Knowledge Base
24/7 Live Support

Product Insights

  • Start Scheduling For Free: OpenSimSim offers the starter plan for free and doesn’t require credit card information to start scheduling. You can schedule up to 10 workers in one location and department at no cost.
  • Manage Your Team Efficiently: According to our data, OpenSimSim offers 85% of key employee management tools out of the box. This includes multiple pay rates, access permissions, staff roles, self-service portals, labor budgeting and cost tracking. It also centrally stores staff documents and certificates and sends expiry alerts based on your rules.
  • Schedule From Anywhere: The platform offers a robust mobile app, SocialSchedules, which has ratings of 4.5 and 4.8 on the Play Store and Apple Store, respectively. You can use it to create schedules, communicate with team members, publish shifts and track tasks from anywhere.
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  • Ensure Organizational Compliance: Set up compliance warnings based on organizational policies to avoid employee overscheduling and putting them in shifts too close together. 
  • Unique Templates: Save schedules as templates for future use, plan upcoming shifts and streamline the process. 
  • Decrease Scheduling Conflicts: Avoid potential scheduling conflicts by allowing employees to indicate preferred shifts. Employees can also find shift coverage outside of the app. 
  • Streamlined Workflows: Export employee work hours data directly to a payroll provider using the integrated time clock. Get an overview of payroll costs for budget planning and forecasting future schedules. 
  • Mobile Capability: Access it anytime, anywhere using iOS and Android devices. 
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  • Employee Scheduling: Easily create and adjust your team's schedule per day or week by week. See who's available, handle shift swaps and manage time-off requests in one place. You can set reminders for your team and share updated schedules instantly.
  • Team Communication: Keep your team connected with built-in messaging that supports personal messages as well as team announcements and group chats. You can also use the logbook to store files and important notices and share them with your entire team or specific groups.
  • Notifications: Improve accountability by instantly notifying employees of updated schedules and modifications. Send shift reminders and confirmations to improve staff attendance while finding replacements faster.
  • Time Clock: The mobile app allows staff members to log attendance and track time from a phone or tablet. Review timesheets, approve hours and handle breaks with ease. You can also export time data directly for payroll to avoid manual errors.
  • Timesheets: Simplify your payroll process with clear and easy-to-understand timesheets. See the hours worked, breaks taken and costs for each pay period. You can approve or edit timesheets on the go and get alerts if someone misses a break, ensuring compliance with federal labor regulations.
  • Reporting: Uncover hidden labor costs with reports that compare your scheduled hours to actual hours worked. Use punctuality reporting to identify latecomers and spot repeat offenders via overtime reports.
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  • Staff Management: Let employees submit time-off requests and set availability. Get updated employee availability information and avoid scheduling unavailable staff. 
  • Scheduling: Create, edit and publish schedules directly. Schedule qualified employees for skill-specific shifts. 
  • Communication: Send shift change alerts to team members. Employees can message coworkers directly to swap shifts or find a replacement. 
  • Time Clock: Let employees clock-in and out using mobile apps. Set location-specific rules to ensure employees clock-in for shifts. 
  • Reports: Track labor data like employee sick leaves, hours worked and shifts assigned Create reports using this data for insights into schedule standards. 
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Product Ranking

#59

among all
Employee Scheduling Software

#18

among all
Employee Scheduling Software

Find out who the leaders are

Analyst Rating Summary

73
81
78
78
86
79
52
65
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Mobile Capabilities
Employee Management
Schedule Management
Integrations and Extensibility
Security and Compliance

Analyst Ratings for Functional Requirements Customize This Data Customize This Data

OpenSimSim
Planday
+ Add Product + Add Product
Collaboration Employee Management Leave And Absence Management Mobile Capabilities Platform Capabilities Reporting And Analytics Schedule Management Security And Compliance Shift Management Time And Attendance Management 78 86 52 93 71 64 80 43 68 74 78 79 65 83 73 83 98 89 75 72 0 25 50 75 100
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8%
17%
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63%
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93%
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80%
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78%
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22%
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67%
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33%
83%
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17%
75%
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68%
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74%
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68%
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32%

Analyst Ratings for Technical Requirements Customize This Data Customize This Data

70%
0%
30%
90%
0%
10%

User Sentiment Summary

Excellent User Sentiment 552 reviews
Great User Sentiment 154 reviews
90%
of users recommend this product

OpenSimSim has a 'excellent' User Satisfaction Rating of 90% when considering 552 user reviews from 1 recognized software review sites.

87%
of users recommend this product

Planday has a 'great' User Satisfaction Rating of 87% when considering 154 user reviews from 4 recognized software review sites.

n/a
4.4 (51)
n/a
4.31 (52)
4.5 (552)
4.4 (49)
n/a
4.4 (2)

Awards

OpenSimSim stands above the rest by achieving an ‘Excellent’ rating as a User Favorite.

User Favorite Award

SelectHub research analysts have evaluated Planday and concluded it earns best-in-class honors for Integrations and Extensibility.

Integrations and Extensibility Award

Synopsis of User Ratings and Reviews

Smooth Setup: The platform is easy to implement with a guided onboarding experience that helps users set up employee profiles, departments and recurring shifts.
Efficient Communication: Users appreciate the built-in messaging option, which allows managers to share news, post announcements and message employees directly.
Prompt Customer Support: Users report receiving timely and helpful responses from the vendor’s support team, which leads to faster turnaround times for platform issues and troubleshooting.
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Easy-to-Use: The system offers a user-friendly and intuitive interface that helps group employees according to their skills for skill-specific shifts. It simplifies scheduling, payroll and break allocation, saves man hours by automating tasks, improves access to schedules and provides an overview of all projects in progress, noted 83% of users who talked about the product’s usability.
Customization: The system offers customizable fields for employee information, which makes scheduling easily. It can also personalize reports to reveal data according to user requirements, as reported by nearly 81% of the users who mentioned customizations.
Communication: Nearly 81% of the reviewers said that the product fosters team communication through its built-in messenger and sends notifications for important project milestones and deadlines.
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Sync Issues: Some users have faced syncing problems between the platform’s desktop and mobile app versions. This may affect business performance and lead to the loss of critical information.
Printing Limitations: The platform can’t print schedules, forcing users to use Microsoft Excel to print physical copies of a shift.
Customization Challenges: Users found it difficult to customize views and dashboards. Some also complained about a lack of customizations such as blackout dates, multiple types of PTO and schedule editing permissions.
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Integrations: The system offers limited integrations with popular third-party applications and cannot be integrated with special features, noted nearly 72% of reviewers who mentioned integrations.
Glitches: Nearly 79% of reviewers said that the system is prone to glitches and doesn’t offer smooth cross-platform use between the desktop version and the mobile app.
Support: Support for technical or other issues related to the product is sluggish, with many users receiving a response only after a week or more, said nearly 75% of the reviewers who talked about support.
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OpenSimSim is a user-friendly platform for small to medium-sized businesses with straightforward scheduling needs. Its onboarding process is smooth, and the ability to communicate directly with employees through the platform is a significant advantage.During testing, I found it helpful to manage a small team with features like employee profiles, user photos and color-coded positions to enhance the overall experience. Additionally, the vendor's customer support is responsive and helpful, taking inputs from users to update the software continually.However, OpenSimSim falls short in some critical areas. The lack of customization can be frustrating. For instance, I couldn't set specific blackout dates or a notice period for PTO requests. This may lead to last-minute scheduling challenges, as employees can submit requests whenever they want.On top of that, the platform doesn’t let you filter push notifications, so staff members receive notifications for every scheduling change, even if it doesn’t concern them. Another drawback is the absence of AI-driven features. You must manually input employee availability based on PTO requests to get automated conflict alerts when scheduling, which can be time-consuming and error-prone.Overall, OpenSimSim is a great starting point for businesses looking for basic scheduling and time-tracking tools. However, larger organizations with more complex needs may find the platform limiting due to its lack of customization and AI assistance.

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Planday simplifies scheduling by segregating employees according to their skills and automates recurring tasks. It offers an easy-to-use, intuitive interface that prevents double booking employees, gives a clear picture of costs against revenue and stores all employee information in one place. Businesses can use the in-built messenger to foster team communication, get budget control assistance and manage remote teams transparently. However, the system offers limited third-party integrations, encounters glitches and isn’t backed by prompt customer support.

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