Our methodology: how we review software.

Homebase publishes three kinds of content to help small business owners pick the right software for their business:

• Comparison pages: Pages that compare two software providers against one another.
• "Best of" roundups: Lists of software that meet a specific need.
• “Alternatives” roundups: Lists of software for business owners looking for an alternative to their existing tool.

And we do this to make the search easier for small businesses. It takes a lot of time to research and build a tech stack, and the wrong software purchase can stress an owner out–or even cause turnover (everyone knows what retail employees sometimes call a “POS” behind their manager’s back).

But before we get into our methodology, we need to acknowledge that Homebase is a participant in the workforce management market. We make scheduling, time tracking, payroll, and hiring software for hourly teams, and the tools we review often include our direct competitors.

Pretending otherwise would be dishonest. So instead, we're transparent about it, and we work to make sure being a participant doesn't become an excuse for shading the truth.

This page explains how we put that work together: what we look at, who writes it, and the standards we hold ourselves to.

Who writes our reviews.

Our reviews are written by an editorial team working closely with subject matter experts — people at Homebase who've spent their careers in operations, payroll, customer support, and product roles serving small business owners and hourly teams. Many of them came to Homebase from the kinds of businesses we write for: restaurants, retail shops, salons, coffee shops, clinics.

They know what a late-night schedule scramble looks like, and they know which features matter when you're running payroll on a morning between rushes.

Our review writers aren't evaluated or compensated based on how tools are rated. Editorial recommendations don't go through anyone on the revenue side before they're published. They are all produced by our content team, which is headed by former keyholders, store assistants, and even small business owners (one runs a small press!).

How we learn from small businesses.

Homebase works with more than 150,000 small businesses, and in 2025 alone, 3.5 million employees logged 1.2 billion hours on our app. The lessons we’ve learned from our customers shows up across our work in the following ways:

• Customer stories and case studies with owners and managers running businesses on Homebase.
• Our customer product council, a group of small business owners who give us direct feedback on what's working and what isn't.
• NPS surveys and in-product feedback from owners, managers, and hourly employees.
• Reviews on Capterra, G2, and the App Store — both ours and our competitors'.
• Day-to-day conversations between our customer support, success, and product teams and the businesses they work with.

The sources we use.

Here's how we rank our sources, from most to least authoritative:

1. First-hand experience — product testing, free-trial walkthroughs, and conversations with the businesses using the software.
2. Primary sources from the vendor — pricing pages, product documentation, help centers, and official announcements.
3. Verified third-party review platforms — Capterra, G2, the App Store, and Google Play, with a preference for products with a meaningful volume of recent reviews.
4. Established editorial coverage — publications like Forbes Advisor, PCMag, and Business.com, where the methodology is disclosed.
5. Industry and government data — the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the SBA, and named industry research.

How often we update reviews.

Software and pricing change often. We update our reviews and comparison pages when something material shifts — a new pricing tier, a discontinued feature, a meaningful product launch, a change in plan structure or what's included at each tier.

We also do a full review pass on a regular basis, even when nothing obvious has changed (at least annually, at most every three months). Competitive landscapes shift. A software that was the right call last year might not be this year. Or, sometimes reviews change, and we need to listen to the voice of the customer.

How we review software.

Whether it's a head-to-head comparison or a category roundup, the process is the same. We look at each tool the way a small business owner would, and ask: does this fit my team?

Here's what we evaluate and how we weight each software:

• Features — the categories that matter most to hourly and shift-based businesses: scheduling, time tracking, payroll, team communication, hiring, onboarding, HR and compliance, mobile experience, and integrations. This and pricing are the heaviest factors for cost-sensitive small businesses.
• Pricing transparency — what you'll pay, including add-ons, per-employee fees, and which features sit behind higher tiers.
• Ease of use — how fast a manager can get started, and whether employees can use it without a training session.
• Mobile experience — whether managers can run the business from their phone, or whether they're stuck at a laptop.
• Customer support — what kind of help is available, on which plans, and through which channels.
• Fit for hourly teams — whether the software is built for shift-based work or whether shift features feel bolted on.

We gather information through hands-on use where we can get access, vendor documentation, public pricing pages, and verified user reviews. When a tool has a free trial or free tier, we use it. When it doesn't, we work from documentation and third-party reviews.

What we won't do.

• Accept payment for placement on listicles or comparison pages
• Invent scoring systems designed to make us look better
• Downplay competitor strengths

If a competitor does something well, we say so.

How we build comparison pages.

Comparison pages — Homebase vs. Gusto, Homebase vs. Connecteam, and so on — exist because business owners are already doing this work themselves. They've narrowed the field to two or three tools, and they're trying to figure out which one fits. We want to save them the five open tabs.

Every comparison page follows the same process:

1. We start with the audience. Before we write anything, we figure out which kinds of businesses each software is built for. 7shifts is built for restaurants, and a coffee shop owner comparing it to Homebase is making a different decision than a retail store owner comparing Homebase to Square. A good comparison page makes that obvious in the first 30 seconds.
2. We research the competitor. Pricing pages, feature documentation, help center articles, third-party reviews from verified users, and hands-on testing where we can access it.
3. We map features side by side across scheduling, time tracking, payroll, team messaging, hiring, HR, mobile, and integrations. We note what's included on each plan and what costs extra, because the answer to "is this cheaper?" depends on which features you need.
4. We build cost examples using current pricing, with the date listed. A 7-employee coffee shop and a 25-employee retail store will reach different conclusions, so we run the math for both.
5. We give clear "go with X if…" guidance for both sides. When a competitor is the better choice for a specific business, we say so.

These pages live on our site, and we're not a neutral third party. We think we're a great fit for a lot of small businesses, and we'll tell you why — but we use the same framework for every tool, and we'll tell you when we're not the right fit.

How we build listicles.

Roundups — best scheduling software, best time clocks, best payroll for small business — help readers who haven't narrowed the field yet. These are short lists of software worth a closer look.

Our process:

1. We define the category clearly. "Scheduling software for hourly teams" is a different list from "enterprise workforce management," and we say which one we're writing and who it's for.
2. We build the candidate list from market presence and category fit. We pull from Capterra and G2 rankings in the relevant category, App Store ratings, and the tools small business owners ask us about most often.
3. We apply the same criteria to every tool on the list — the dimensions from the section above.
4. We test what we can. When possible, we sign up for free trials, walk through the software, talk to the businesses using it, and pull pricing directly from each vendor's site.
5. Each entry gets a distinct best-fit use case. We tell readers who each tool is for.
6. We organize by use case, not a universal #1. Best-for-restaurants is a different answer than best-for-construction-crews.

A note on Homebase appearing in Homebase listicles: we used to include ourselves in the ranked list, but we won’t do this moving forward. Now every listicle that mentions Homebase should open with a short "why we created this list" disclosure: we're the publisher, we make scheduling and time tracking software for hourly teams, and the rest of the list is unbiased.

See something wrong?

If you spot something outdated, inaccurate, or off — tell us. We'd rather fix it than defend it. 

Email content@joinhomebase.com to flag an error.

Last updated: June 2026

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