What Per-User Scheduling Really Costs (and Why Flat Wins)

Most scheduling tools charge per user. A few pounds per person per month. It sounds fair, and at five staff it is barely anything. The problem is that hospitality teams are not five people, and they do not stay one size. Per-user pricing has a habit of quietly growing exactly when you can least afford it.

Here is the maths, and why we went flat instead.

The per-seat trap

Say a tool charges around £3.50 per user per month. With five staff that is £17.50, cheap enough to not think about. Now run a normal hospitality year:

• 5 staff: about £17.50 a month
• 15 staff: about £52 a month
• 25 staff: about £87 a month
• 40 staff over summer: about £140 a month

You did not choose to spend more on software. Your team grew, or you hired seasonal cover, and the bill grew with it. The tool costs the most in your busiest months, when your margins are already thin and you are adding people just to cope.

And the awkward part: every new hire has a small cost attached before they have served a single customer. It is a tiny tax on growing your team.

Flat pricing flips it

Batch is £19 a month per location, full stop. Five staff or fifty, the price does not move. Run the same year:

• 5 staff: £19 a month
• 15 staff: £19 a month
• 25 staff: £19 a month
• 40 staff over summer: £19 a month

The busier you get, the better value it becomes, because the cost is fixed while the work it saves grows. You never think twice about adding someone, and you never get a surprise line on the invoice after a good month.

The comparison, roughly

Based on published rates in early 2026, the picture at fifteen staff looks something like this. Rotaready starts around £89 a month. Deputy is per-user and lands around £52 and climbs with headcount. 7shifts starts around £29. Batch is £19 flat, and it is the only one of them with an AI rota builder included rather than as an add-on.

Prices change, so check the current rates, but the shape holds: per-user tools cost more as you grow, and flat does not.

What "unlimited" should actually mean

Flat pricing only works if unlimited really means unlimited. With Batch, £19 covers your whole team, unlimited rotas, swaps, time-off, notifications, UK compliance checks and Ask-AI reporting. No feature gates, no per-seat fees hiding behind the headline. The only thing that scales your bill is opening a second venue, and that is a good problem.

The real cost is time, anyway

Software pricing matters, but it is small next to the hours. If a tool saves you three hours of scheduling a week, that is worth far more than £19 whatever your rate. The point of flat pricing is that it takes cost off the table entirely, so the decision comes down to the only thing that matters: does it save you time and hassle.

Batch is £19 a month, unlimited staff, and free for the first 30 days with no card. Add your whole team and the price still does not move.