Schedules vs. Microsoft Shifts
Looking for a Microsoft Teams Shifts alternative for project work?
Microsoft Shifts is a good tool for rosters of hourly frontline staff. If you need to plan who works on which project, job or customer – and see everyone’s workload on one timeline – Schedules is built for that, and it runs in the same Microsoft Teams.
No new logins · Unlimited viewers & admins · From $3 per person and month
Where Shifts gets in the way of project planning
- Shifts organizes people in schedule groups by department or job type – there is no project, job or customer to plan against.
- You want to see how busy each person is across several projects this week or month, not just who covers which shift.
- Your planners need people’s Outlook availability next to the plan before they assign work.
- Each schedule lives in one team, while your projects pull people from across the company.
What Schedules does differently
Plan against projects and jobs
Create color-coded projects and assign people to them by drag and drop. The timeline shows who works on what, by day, week or month.
Outlook availability in the plan
Turn on the Outlook overlay to see each person’s free/busy time next to their assignments before you book them.
Everyone sees their own schedule
People get a Teams notification when they are assigned and can subscribe to their personal calendar feed in Outlook or any calendar app.
Free viewers, simple roles
Only scheduled people need a license. Admins, self-editors and viewers are unlimited, so the whole company can look at the plan.
Export and integrate
Export to Excel or ICS, and connect other systems through the public REST API.
Data in Germany
Microsoft Entra ID single sign-on, hosting in Azure Germany West Central, made by Devsym GmbH.
Schedules and Shifts side by side
Both run inside Microsoft Teams. They solve different planning problems.
| Criterion | Microsoft Shifts | Schedules |
|---|---|---|
| Built for | Shift rosters for frontline workers and their managers | Planning people across projects, jobs and customers |
| How people are grouped | Schedule groups within one team (e.g. department or job type) | Color-coded projects; people picked from your company directory |
| Workload overview | Shifts per team schedule | Day, week and month timeline of each person’s assignments |
| Outlook free/busy in the plan | Not part of Shifts | Yes, with the Outlook overlay |
| Time clock, shift swaps, open shifts | Yes | No – Schedules is not a time-tracking or shift-bidding tool |
| Personal calendar feed | Shifts appear in the Shifts app | ICS feed per person for Outlook or any calendar app |
| API | Microsoft Graph | Public REST API with API keys |
| Price | Included with Microsoft Teams | $3–$5 per scheduled person and month; viewers and admins free |
Shifts information based on Microsoft’s public documentation as of October 2026.
Stay with Shifts if…
- you schedule hourly staff in recurring shifts,
- you need a time clock, shift swaps or open shifts,
- or you connect a workforce management system.
Choose Schedules if…
- you assign people to projects, jobs or customers,
- you need one workload overview across teams,
- or you are replacing a planning spreadsheet.
Frequently asked questions
- Can I use Schedules and Shifts at the same time?
- Yes. Both are separate apps in Microsoft Teams. Some companies use Shifts for hourly frontline rosters and Schedules for project and job planning.
- Does Schedules replace a time clock?
- No. Schedules plans who works on what and when. It does not record clock-in times, breaks or timesheets.
- Do my users need new accounts?
- No. Schedules uses Microsoft Entra ID single sign-on, so everyone signs in with their existing Microsoft 365 account.
- How much does Schedules cost?
- Schedules costs $3 per scheduled person and month with annual billing, or $5 with monthly billing. Viewers and admins are free and unlimited. Every company starts with a 30-day free trial; afterwards the app becomes read-only until you subscribe, so there is nothing to cancel.
Try project planning inside Teams
Install Schedules next to Shifts and test it with your real projects for 30 days.
Or read more about resource planning in teams and field service scheduling.