Project and task management decision
When I Work
A competent developer can build a useful subset (scheduling, basic messaging, and timesheets) in about a week, but reproducing When I Work’s full product (mobile apps, payroll integrations, forecasting, large-scale reliability and ecosystem) is significantly larger and better served by continuing the subscription.
Visit website↗No open-source build does this yet
Nothing published replaces this one, so a replacement starts from an empty file. Here is what it would have to cover.
What a replacement has to do
- Create schedules, publish them to users, accept shift swaps/open-shifts, and record clock-ins/clock-outs.
What it still won’t have
- Mature mobile apps (iOS/Android) and app-store distribution
- Deep payroll/HR integrations (pre-built connectors to ADP, Gusto, Rippling, QuickBooks)
- Advanced features: automated labor forecasting, overtime alerts, SAML/SSO, webhooks and API access on parity
- Brand, customer support SLAs, and existing customer trust
What remains hard
- Product polish and ongoing maintenance
First-year cost
Keep paying
Paying is—cheaper in year one.
On cash alone, building overtakes the subscription at 2 seats.
Money you would actually spend
Time you would spend
—
What you would spend
What we assumed
The verdict above measures whether you could build it. This one is only about money.
Runnable build prompt
Build a minimal employee scheduling and time-tracking web app using Node.js (Express), Postgres, and React. Implement: (1) admin UI to create multi-week schedules, shifts, roles and templates; (2) user accounts with availability and time-off request forms stored in Postgres; (3) publish flow that notifies users by email and shows schedules in a user React view; (4) shift swap/OpenShift workflow where employees request swaps and managers approve; (5) clock-in/clock-out REST endpoints that record timestamp and optional lat/long, plus CSV export of timesheets. Out of scope: native mobile apps, payroll provider connectors, advanced forecasting, SSO. Include input validation, error handling, automated unit and integration tests, migration scripts, Docker Compose for local dev, and a short README with deployment steps to a single small cloud VM (2 vCPU, 4GB RAM).
How we checked
How the score was reached
- Partly verdict base52
- 3 cited sources+3
- Price verified on pricing page+3
- Evidence score58
The base comes from the verdict. Everything under it is a check that either happened or did not, and each one is a fact frozen in this record rather than a judgement made at render time — so the same evidence always produces the same number.
How scoring works →Cited sources · 3
Every page the run actually retrieved.
- official productWhen I Work — official product
- official pricingWhen I Work Pricing
- official docsEmployee Scheduling Features
Integrity checks
What held up, and what did not.
