Soon vs Shiftboard: plant-grade rules or a schedule that follows demand?
Shiftboard became a UKG company on 30 May 2025. Its flagship, SchedulePro, is built for refineries, chemical plants, pipelines, and corrections, where a rules engine that blocks fatigue and union violations is the whole point, and it is sold the enterprise way: quoted pricing, a three-year initial term, and a nine to fourteen week implementation. Soon is the opposite shape: self-serve, live in a day, monthly billing, and built for teams whose coverage needs change by the hour rather than by the rotation. Here is where each belongs.
| Feature | Soon | Shiftboard |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Published: $4 to $16 per user per month billed yearly; 14 to 60 day free trial | Quote only; minimum subscription fees, minimum user counts, and implementation fees apply; demo rather than trial |
| Time to go live | Under a day, self-serve | 9 to 14 weeks of professional services plus 4 weeks of hypercare, with a customer project manager and integration specialist |
| Contract | Monthly billing, cancel any time | Three-year initial term per order, auto-renewing yearly; fees non-refundable; commitment cannot be reduced mid-term |
| Fatigue and union rules | Working time, rest, contract hours, and certification rules enforced during generation | Far deeper: PHMSA, API RP 755, custom hours-of-service, California day-of-rest, union grievance tracking, audited overrides, a compliance guarantee |
| How the schedule gets built | Generated from staffing requirements, skills, and availability; rotation patterns supported | Rule-driven Auto Schedule mirroring each plant's rotation, eligibility, bidding, and overtime policy |
| Forecasting | Native forecasting of service demand, converted into staffing requirements per interval | Converts production demand data into staffing level requirements |
| Planning inside a shift | Timed activity scheduling, intraday coverage requirements and tracking, automated on Scale | No published sub-shift activity scheduling |
| Time and attendance | None; hours export to your payroll or time system | ScheduleFlex has mobile and station clocks with geofencing; SchedulePro maps timesheets and connects to UKG clocks |
| Integrations | Real-time Google and Outlook sync, Slack, Teams, Zendesk, Twilio Flex, Amazon Connect, REST API on every plan | Flat files over SFTP, open API, SAML SSO; named connectors are UKG Workforce Central and UKG Pro WFM |
| Support | Email on Start, in-app chat on Grow, priority support on Scale, included | Weekdays 6am to 5pm Pacific included; premium tier with a named CSM costs 20 percent of the annual subscription |
| Ownership and roadmap | Independent scheduling company | UKG since May 2025; the SchedulePro app is now UKG Shiftboard and the roadmap integrates with UKG Pro WFM |
| Best fit | Support, healthcare, logistics, security, and operations teams that plan coverage by the hour | Manufacturing, energy, and corrections sites where fatigue regulation and union agreements define the roster |
The verdict
Choose Shiftboard if PHMSA, API RP 755, or union hours-of-service rules govern your roster and a multi-year UKG contract fits your site. Choose Soon if coverage changes with demand through the day and you want published pricing, a one-day setup, and the freedom to cancel.
Try Soon FreeFrequently asked questions
Is Soon a good Shiftboard alternative?
For service operations, yes. Soon covers the scheduling problems of support teams, clinics, logistics desks, and security operations: forecasting demand, generating the schedule, planning timed activities inside each shift, and syncing everything to Google and Outlook Calendar in real time. It is not a Shiftboard alternative for a refinery or a prison. If your roster is governed by PHMSA, API RP 755, or a collective agreement with hours-of-service clauses, Shiftboard's rules engine is built for that and Soon is not.
What does the UKG acquisition mean for Shiftboard customers?
UKG completed its acquisition of Shiftboard on 30 May 2025. The company now trades as Shiftboard, a UKG Company, the SchedulePro mobile app has been renamed UKG Shiftboard, and ScheduleFlex documentation lives on UKG's library. UKG has said the platform will integrate with UKG Pro Workforce Management for oil and gas, energy, and manufacturing customers. For buyers that is a clear signal about where the product is heading: deeper into the UKG suite, with the pricing and contract model that implies.
How much does Shiftboard cost?
Shiftboard does not publish prices. Its plans page lists Enterprise and Enterprise Plus tiers with a feature matrix, and the footnotes state that minimum subscription fees, minimum user counts, and implementation fees apply. Review sites quote a starting figure of about $6 per month, but the vendor does not confirm it and it is not clear what unit it refers to. Soon publishes its pricing: $4 to $16 per user per month billed yearly, with no implementation fee.
Which product is better for fatigue management and union rules?
Shiftboard, without question. SchedulePro automatically blocks assignments that would breach fatigue rules, union agreements, employment law, or internal policy, names PHMSA and API RP 755 among the standards it enforces, tracks grievances, audits overrides, and backs it with a compliance guarantee. Soon enforces working time, rest, contract hour, and certification rules during schedule generation, which is enough for most service teams but is not a regulated-industry fatigue engine.
How long does Shiftboard take to implement?
Shiftboard's own implementation document describes a five-phase professional services project with a typical go-live of 9 to 10 weeks for its smallest package and 13 to 14 weeks for Enterprise Plus, followed by about four weeks of hypercare. The customer is expected to commit a project manager, subject matter experts, and an integration specialist. Soon is self-serve: most teams import staff by CSV, set staffing requirements, and publish a first schedule the same day.
What is the difference between ScheduleFlex and SchedulePro?
ScheduleFlex is Shiftboard's platform for service organizations such as healthcare, staffing agencies, call centers, education, and events; it includes mobile and station time clocks and fills open shifts from callouts. SchedulePro is the flagship for mission-critical manufacturing, energy, and corrections, with the fatigue and union rules engine. If you were pointed at ScheduleFlex, you are in Soon's territory and should compare the two directly. If you were pointed at SchedulePro, you probably need it.
Can Soon handle rotating shift patterns?
Yes. Soon schedules continuous rotations such as four-on-four-off, DuPont, Panama, and Continental patterns, and its shift pattern library documents the coverage math for each. What Soon adds on top is demand: it forecasts how many people each interval needs and fills the pattern accordingly, then plans activities inside each shift. Shiftboard's strength is the reverse, enforcing the rules of a fixed rotation in a regulated plant.
How do I move from Shiftboard to Soon?
Export your employee list and positions, import them into Soon via CSV, define staffing requirements and shift templates, and publish. Compared with a fourteen-week implementation, the contrast is stark: teams usually publish their first Soon schedule within a day, and Soon's team will build it from your export free of charge. Check your Shiftboard order first: the published SaaS agreement sets a three-year initial term that auto-renews for one-year periods unless notice is given, and fees are non-refundable, so plan the switch around the renewal date.
More comparisons
Need the wider field? Read our guides to the best employee scheduling software and best AI shift scheduling software.
How does the switching process work?
Switch from Shiftboard to Soon with confidence.
There are multiple ways to move from Shiftboard to Soon. You can transition at your own pace, or reach out so we can help with your migration.
- 01
Create your Soon workspace
Sign up and create your first team. It takes less than two minutes and no credit card is needed.
- 02
Import your team
Add your employees manually or import them from a CSV file. Set roles, skills, and contract hours.
- 03
Set your scheduling rules
Define shift templates, coverage requirements, rest period rules, and any constraints your team needs.
- 04
Run a pilot alongside your current tool(optional)
Most teams run a 1 to 2 week pilot with one team before rolling out to the full organization.
- 05
Go live
Publish your first schedule and invite your team. Our support team is available if you need help along the way.
Your next schedule could take 2 minutes.
Import your team, set your rules, hit auto-fill. Most teams are live the same day.
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