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    Overview
    ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price

    HotSchedules

    Score8 out of 10
    N/AHotSchedules is a cloud-based scheduling, labor and communication management software solution serving the restaurant and hospitality industry. According to the vendor, key benefits include: Build & Communicate Schedules The scheduling and labor management software reduces the time it takes managers to create and communicate schedules. All scheduling and employee information is stored in one central location, so managers have access to time-off requests,…

    $2

    per month per employee

    Square POS

    Score9 out of 10
    N/ASquare POS is a point-of-sale software solution for restaurants, retail, or appointment-based businesses. It features numerous inventory (or menu) management and control features, and options that allow customers to pay in any way they want or can.

    $10

    per each additional reader; first reader free

    Pricing
    HotSchedulesSquare POS
    Editions & Modules
    Essentials
    $2
    per month per employee
    Plus
    $4
    per month per employee
    Quote-Based
    Quote-based pricing
    Each Transaction
    2.6% + $0.10
    per transaction
    Square Reader for magstripe
    $10
    per each additional reader; first reader free
    Square Stand for contactless and chip
    $16
    per month
    Square Terminal
    $27
    per month
    Square Register
    $39
    per 24 months
    Square Reader for contactless and chip
    $49
    per reader
    Square Point of Sale
    Free
    Offerings
    Pricing Offerings
    HotSchedulesSquare POS
    Free Trial
    YesYes
    Free/Freemium Version
    NoYes
    Premium Consulting/Integration Services
    NoNo
    Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeNo setup fee
    Additional Details——
    More Pricing Information
    Community Pulse
    HotSchedulesSquare POS
    Considered Both Products
    HotSchedules and Fourth
    No answer on this topic
    Block, Inc (Square)
    No answer on this topic
    Key User Insights
    Would buy again
    No answers on this topic
    98%
    Would buy again
    39 Answers
    Delivers good value for the price
    No answers on this topic
    100%
    Delivers good value for the price
    39 Answers
    Happy with the feature set
    No answers on this topic
    95%
    Happy with the feature set
    38 Answers
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    No answers on this topic
    94%
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    32 Answers
    Implementation went as expected
    No answers on this topic
    100%
    Implementation went as expected
    37 Answers
    Best Alternatives
    HotSchedulesSquare POS
    Small Businesses
    Jolt
    Score9.7 out of 10
    Clover
    Score8.9 out of 10
    Medium-sized Companies
    Jolt
    Score9.7 out of 10
    No answers on this topic
    Enterprises
    No answers on this topic
    No answers on this topic
    All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
    User Ratings
    HotSchedulesSquare POS
    Likelihood to Recommend
    1.0
    (167 ratings)
    9.0
    (61 ratings)
    Likelihood to Renew
    9.1
    (2 ratings)
    10.0
    (2 ratings)
    Usability
    8.9
    (12 ratings)
    9.0
    (11 ratings)
    Support Rating
    8.9
    (4 ratings)
    8.7
    (18 ratings)
    User Testimonials
    HotSchedulesSquare POS
    Likelihood to Recommend
    HotSchedules and Fourth
    For small to medium-sized companies HotSchedules works great when business is very static. If you are simply using HotSchedules for a schedule writing tool, it is phenomenal. However, it does miss the mark as a labor control software. Needs more controls to keep managers aware of spending versus historical sales data.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Block, Inc (Square)
    Square POS is by far the easiest POS software to use at events and train additional team members on - even with temporary or first-time employees. It's easy to see how each event is doing in live time. It gives the event manager a real-time view of revenue earned. Its really easy to create/manage/delete users to keep the platform secure.
    Incentivized
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    Pros
    HotSchedules and Fourth
    • Communication is so simple on HotSchedules. Whether it is communicating a new schedule release, or a quick note about tonight's shift we as managers are able to easily communicate and know that it will reach our team through text notifications, or email notifications.
    • The Meal Break planning tool is very useful in being able to help our floor leaders clearly understand and plan for what breaks are needed throughout the shift. This allows them to come up with a strategic game plan quickly and spend more time with our guests.
    • Shift Swaps and Releases are so seamless. This is our favorite tool as it makes helping our team cover shifts extremely easy and painless. On the flip side it also makes staff who want more hours be able to find what is available in real time.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Block, Inc (Square)
    • Mobile transactions (not like from a phone, but in terms of the ability to physically relocate rapidly).
    • Simple setup.
    • Generally uncomplicated pricing.
    • Widespread customer familiarity: because it's so regularly in use in our industry (musicians/entertainment professionals), people know and trust it in a way that you might not with a different provider.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Cons
    HotSchedules and Fourth
    • Clocking In and out can be a little slow. It takes longer to clock in then our previous method. Before we just had a card you swiped and it would clock you in. Took 2 seconds. Now with the Hotschdules method we use it take 30 seconds or so. Not a huge issue but it can add up if you have one computer and a line of employees waiting to clock in.
    • Time Cards. It does not allow you to view someones current time until the "punch" has ended. If the manager would like to check what time the employee clocked in/out from lunch they have to wait until the employee has clocked out for the day before the record is generated. As a shift lead you may send and employee to lunch but forget to note what time you sent them. Awhile passes and you feel like they should be back by now, so you want to go in and see what time they left for lunch but it does not show you that punch record because the employee is still "clocked in" they are just on their "Meal Break"
    • The ability to customize the restrictions for Clocking in and out. You can set it up so that employees can only clock in from a specific location, however if you have a manager who is allowed to work from home they would not be able to clock in without being at the same location as set in the software. It would be nice to see it able to be customized per user.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Block, Inc (Square)
    • Too much going on for simple users. There are so many different apps and pages now that I get lost almost every time I log onto Square
    • The high percentage of fees taken from sales
    • The difficulty in changing default settings
    • The layout of the “website” you can create is truly a nightmare
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Likelihood to Renew
    HotSchedules and Fourth
    Ease of use, efficiently creating and posting staff schedules.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Block, Inc (Square)
    I don't really foresee anything being able to dislodge Square from our organization—we're not evangelists or anything like that—it's just the best solution we've found for our use case. Being able to quickly handle transactions from customers and then track all of those sales for analysis/bookkeeping later on.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Usability
    HotSchedules and Fourth
    6 Years of Experience provides me the insight on the upgrades and changes that HotSchedules has done to improve the experience of its users. There are so many features that we still have not started or used to the fullest, but we believe that we are currently getting a strong value out of the money that is paid for this product.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Block, Inc (Square)
    We find Square POS is very user friendly. Its interface is customizable to our needs and very easy to use. Before we adopted Square POS, we used a combination of solutions from different manufacturer to try and achieve a portion of the functionality that Square POS provides under only 1 login
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Support Rating
    HotSchedules and Fourth
    On rare occasions a phone call has been required to find the solution to a problem, the HotSchedules response staff have been helpful, courteous, and genuinely seem to care for their clients and take pride in what they do. The consistent development and fine tuning of the platform, interface, and mobile environment shows that this is not a program full of people who rest on their laurels.
    Incentivized
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    Block, Inc (Square)
    An admission - I have NEVER had to use Square POS support. The system is seamless, it just works! I have never had any queries about how the system worked as everything is so clearly laid out. I have never had any problems with payments. If their support systems are anywhere near as good as their software, I think we'll be in good hands.
    Incentivized
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    Alternatives Considered
    HotSchedules and Fourth
    I have not used any other Scheduling software for employees. As a campground manager in the summer season, we are using campground master for reservations. it is very similar in process to employee scheduling. the ability to the user of that program to set up their own parameters for time and reservations is something that would benefit the employee scheduling software.
    Incentivized
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    Block, Inc (Square)
    We only used Square POS while we were getting set up with Authorize.Net. It isn't as flashy or recognized by the general public, but in our industry, that isn't a priority. We do very large transactions so the higher rates and fees from Square add up insanely quickly making the lower rates and fees from Authorize.Net the nail in Square's coffin for us.
    Incentivized
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    Return on Investment
    HotSchedules and Fourth
    • Saving time on scheduling means our managers can focus more on guest experience, managing the floor and other areas that contribute to the success of our business.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Block, Inc (Square)
    • The opportunity cost of waiting for payments and manually bringing them to a bank means that we don't have to visit our bank branch. That alone saves us several hours each month.
    • We can use ordinary computers and mobile devices with Square instead of paying for expensive software or terminals.
    • Our clients appreciate not having to process payments to us, and anything that helps our clients and makes them happy carries more import than I can explain in this space.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    ScreenShots

    HotSchedules Screenshots

    Screenshot of Time-Off, Availability, Employee Hours, Sales Volume are all available in the scheduler.Screenshot of Employees are able to swap and pick-up shifts from the HotSchedules Mobile App. All shift changes or requests require a manager's approval.Screenshot of Managers and employees can communicate with each other from the mobile and web apps - from anywhere and at anytime.Screenshot of Employees can submit a time-off, request - paid, or unpaid - and can request to work or request off right from the mobile app.Screenshot of Managers can view sales and labor data from their phone.