How Much Does Homebase Cost? | Real Price Math

If you’re comparing staff scheduling apps, Homebase pricing looks simple at a glance, then gets more layered once payroll, add-ons, and location count enter the math. The main plans are priced per location, not per worker, which can help small teams with lots of hourly staff.

The catch is that payroll is separate unless you choose one of the newer bundled payroll tiers. So the right number depends on three things: how many sites you run, how many workers you pay, and which tools you need beyond scheduling and time clocks.

How Much Does Homebase Cost? By Plan

Homebase has a free Basic plan for one location with up to 10 employees. Paid plans start at $30 per location per month when billed monthly. Annual billing lowers the monthly rate, but you pay for the year upfront.

The current public plan prices are listed on the Homebase pricing page. The monthly rates are easy to budget because each plan covers a location rather than charging one fee for every employee on the team.

Monthly Plan Prices

Here’s the plain version of the plan ladder:

• Basic: $0 per month for one location, up to 10 employees.
• Essentials: $30 per location monthly, or $24 monthly with annual billing.
• Plus: $70 per location monthly, or $56 monthly with annual billing.
• All-in-One: $120 per location monthly, or $96 monthly with annual billing.

That makes the free plan a solid test run for a small shop. Once you need stronger scheduling, time tracking, team messaging, hiring, permissions, labor controls, onboarding, or HR tools, the paid plans make more sense.

What The Free Plan Gives You

The free Basic plan is not a fake trial. It includes basic scheduling, basic time tracking, point-of-sale integration, and the employee app. For a small cafe, salon, food truck, boutique, or local service desk with one site, it may be enough to replace paper schedules and messy time sheets.

Still, the free tier has clear limits. It is built for one location and up to 10 employees. If your team grows, or if you need tighter controls around breaks, overtime, permissions, and labor costs, the free plan will feel thin.

When Paying Makes Sense

Move beyond Basic when you need fewer manual fixes. Paid tiers are better when managers spend too much time fixing missed punches, answering schedule texts, tracking time-off requests, or checking labor spend by hand.

A paid plan also helps when staff count changes often. Restaurants, retail shops, fitness studios, clinics, and event teams can burn hours each week on shift edits. If the app saves even two manager hours a month, the lower paid tier can pay for itself.

Plan Comparison For Real Buyers

The table below gives a cleaner way to pick a tier without reading every feature line twice.

Plan Or Cost Item	Price	Best Fit
Basic	$0 monthly	One small site with up to 10 workers and simple schedules.
Essentials Monthly	$30 per location	Teams needing stronger scheduling, time tracking, and messaging.
Essentials Annual	$24 per location monthly	Owners ready to prepay for lower month-by-month cost.
Plus Monthly	$70 per location	Growing teams needing hiring, PTO controls, departments, and permissions.
Plus Annual	$56 per location monthly	Multi-manager teams that want stronger controls at a lower yearly rate.
All-in-One Monthly	$120 per location	Teams needing onboarding, labor cost tools, HR, and compliance features.
All-in-One Annual	$96 per location monthly	Owners who want the fullest non-payroll plan and can commit yearly.
Standard Payroll Add-On	$39 monthly + $6 per paid employee	Businesses that want payroll tied to timesheets and tax filings.

Payroll Changes The Total

Payroll is the line item that changes the bill most. Standard payroll costs $39 per month plus $6 for each employee paid, based on Homebase’s payroll fee list. So a 12-person team using payroll adds $111 per month before any plan fee: $39 plus 12 times $6.

That means Homebase can be cheap for scheduling only, but the bill rises when it becomes your payroll system too. This isn’t odd. Payroll products often charge a base fee plus a worker fee because tax filing, direct deposit, forms, and payment runs create ongoing work.

Sample Payroll Math

Say you run one location with 12 employees and choose Essentials monthly. Your plan is $30. Payroll adds $39 plus $72 for the paid employees. Your estimated monthly total is $141 before taxes or extra tools.

For one location with 25 paid employees on Plus monthly, the plan is $70. Payroll adds $39 plus $150. That lands at $259 monthly before add-ons.

Extra Fees To Watch

Homebase also sells optional tools. These are not mandatory, but they matter if you’re pricing a hiring push, tip pooling, task lists, or background checks.

Common extras include Tip Manager at $25 per location monthly, Task Manager at $13 per location monthly, background checks at $30 each, Hiring Assistant starting at $30 per post, and job post boosts starting at $79 per post. G2’s Homebase pricing snapshot also shows the per-location structure and annual savings notes.

Business Setup	Likely Monthly Cost	Why It Lands There
One site, 8 workers, scheduling only	$0–$30	Basic may fit, or Essentials if better time tools are needed.
One site, 12 workers, Essentials plus payroll	About $141	$30 plan plus $39 payroll base plus $72 worker fee.
One site, 25 workers, Plus plus payroll	About $259	$70 plan plus $39 payroll base plus $150 worker fee.
Two sites on All-in-One, no payroll	$240	Two locations at $120 each on monthly billing.
Annual Essentials for one site	$24 monthly rate	Lower rate, paid yearly rather than month to month.

How To Pick The Right Tier

Start with the smallest plan that removes the mess you already have. Don’t buy All-in-One just because it has the longest feature list. Buy it when onboarding, HR, compliance, and labor cost controls are part of your weekly work.

Use this simple check:

• Choose Basic if you have one site, fewer than 11 employees, and simple shift needs.
• Choose Essentials if scheduling and time tracking need tighter controls.
• Choose Plus if hiring, PTO, permissions, and departments matter.
• Choose All-in-One if HR, onboarding, and labor cost control are worth the larger bill.
• Add Payroll only if you want timesheets, pay runs, filings, and employee payments in one flow.

Is Homebase Worth The Price?

Homebase is worth pricing out if you run hourly staff and want scheduling, time clocks, messages, and payroll closer together. The per-location model can be friendly for teams with many workers in one place. It gets more costly across multiple locations or when payroll covers a large team.

For the lowest risk start, test Basic or the All-in-One trial, then price the plan with your real employee count. The math is simple once you write it down: location plan plus payroll base plus employee payroll fee plus any extras. That number tells you whether Homebase saves enough manager time to earn its spot on the monthly bill.