Top 6 Jolt alternatives and competitors (in-depth comparison)

Keeping your restaurant customers satisfied sometimes means you overlook how efficiently you’re managing your staff—and your business. 
Still, well-designed time tracking, scheduling, and restaurant operations platforms can help you make more cost-effective decisions, follow labor laws, and find ways to enhance team efficiency. 
A platform like Jolt offers industry-specific tools for food safety and inventory management, as well as basic features for time tracking and scheduling. But, as Jolt users will tell you, it isn’t beginner-friendly or designed for small businesses that need more HR and administrative support. Plus, your small business staff may need extra training to use Jolt.
To steer you toward a better option for your small restaurant, cafe, or bar, we’ve reviewed the top six Jolt alternatives and consulted real customer reviews from G2 and Capterra in June 2023. Our comparison below highlights the best use cases, key features, and pros and cons of each platform so you can transition to a better restaurant management solution with confidence.







One easy app to manage your hourly team.
Get your team in sync with our easy-to-use, all-in-one employee app.



Get started for free








What is Jolt and what is it used for?
Jolt is a restaurant operations software that business owners can use to handle their food safety, inventory management, and team management tasks. Jolt customers also get access to integrated devices for meat thermometers, refrigerators, freezers, line prep stations, and bread proofers. This hardware makes it a solid option for busy restaurant managers that struggle to stay ahead of food safety regulations and inspections.
The platform also provides tools for inventory management and list making so the back of house stays organized and clean, and its information library allows managers to consolidate recipes and training docs for new and experienced team members.
Why might you need a Jolt alternative?
Jolt has plenty to offer to larger restaurants and franchises that need to update their food handling systems. But it’s not a perfect fit for food and beverage businesses of all sizes, and it has limitations when it comes to team operations.
You’re looking for more user-friendly team management tools
With its features and connected devices for handling food safety and inventory processes, Jolt is a useful solution to have in your restaurant technology toolkit. But Jolt’s team operation features aren’t as flexible or as intuitive as other platforms. The design of its time clock, scheduling tools, and chat features aren’t designed with users in mind, and they’re not mobile-friendly, which isn’t convenient for restaurant and cafe owners that often run their teams from off-site. 
As one Jolt user put it, “The design could be better . When it comes to using all-in-one software, design is critical, especially for kitchen staff that is quite busy. The simpler, the better.”
You need a solution with less of a learning curve
Many Jolt users agree that the current customer support team is readily available to teach them how the software works and troubleshoot issues. One user even says that, without customer support, they would have been “ lost and overwhelmed. ”
While it’s great to have a reliable service team on your side, very few small restaurant, cafe, and bar owners have time to reach out to customer support simply to learn how their software works. It’s important to find an alternative you — and your staff — can pick up and learn within a few hours so you can use it every day.
You’re looking for a better small business solution
The majority of Jolt customers are mid-market restaurants and chains, which means they employ 50 to 1000 staff members. Considering that, Jolt users likely have bigger budgets to spend on additional software to support them with essential tasks like storing paperwork and documentation, calculating paychecks, and automatically remitting payroll taxes — all of which Jolt doesn’t handle. 
Small business owners in the restaurant industry need software that enables them to do more with less. When you’re an owner-manager with a lean team, it’s crucial you have more versatile communication , scheduling , time tracking , payroll , and HR and compliance .
Key features to look for in a Jolt alternative
If you’ve been struggling to find a Jolt substitute, it’s possible you haven’t considered options that offer the following elements:

Designed for small businesses — You don’t have to be an expert in HR, employee law, compliance, or accounting to run a small business, but regulations will still apply to you. Consider prioritizing a team operations platform with built-in notifications and reminders that keep you on the right side of labor regulations. And it’s best if it connects you with HR resources, templates, and experts who can guide you along the way.
Usability — User-friendly software reduces the risk of mistakes or oversights during shift checks, availability updates, or clock-ins and outs. When a platform layout is well-organized, users can easily navigate its workflows without getting confused or frustrated. This means you’ll spend less time fielding employee questions or providing training.
More team management tools — Many platforms only focus on features like time tracking, scheduling, and communication, which are key for busy restaurant owners who want to keep their staff in the loop and make sure team members have what they need to collaborate effectively. Still, there are options that also offer tools for running payroll, hiring and onboarding, and centralizing team information and documentation. That allows small business owners to keep their software tool kit manageable, their processes streamlined, and their business expenses under control. 
Affordability — Every solution has its own pricing model, and not all are suitable for small business teams. It’s best to start with a platform that has a comprehensive free plan. For example, Homebase lets you access their time tracking and scheduling tools for free for up to 20 employees. For more advanced features, make sure the solution you choose offers per-location rather than per-user pricing. That way, you can avoid paying more as your team grows. 

The 6 top Jolt alternatives
Each solution on our shortlist of recommendations is designed to optimize your restaurant staff management: 

Homebase: Best all-in-one solution
7shifts: Best for tip pooling
HotSchedules: Best for labor forecasting
Push Operations: Best for performance management
Restaurant365: Best for managing business expenses
Sling: Best for scheduling on a tight budget

1. Homebase : Best all-in-one solution
“ There’s a lot to love about Homebase . 
The website and app are extremely user-friendly. Perhaps my two favorite parts about the app are the ability for my staff to request time off via the app, and to trade or cover shifts. I was getting several texts throughout the day, and this is much less invasive .”
— Homebase user
 
With its intuitive team management tools, Homebase helps restaurant, cafe, and bar owners reduce their workload and keep their teams organized . Our mobile GPS time clock lets you set up authorized worksites so employees can clock in and out from the right place. Automatic reminders for upcoming shifts, breaks, and clock-outs help you avoid timesheet errors. Additionally, our drag-and-drop employee scheduling tool lets team members swap shifts and pick up open slots with minimal manager effort — team leads only need to approve or deny swaps and shift changes with a click. 
Homebase is also highly accessible for new business owners . A free account only takes a few minutes to set up, and it’s easy for staff to use. Your team can use the free mobile app every day to check their schedules, update their availability, track time, communicate with their teammates, check their pay stubs, and even cash out up to $400 of their next check ahead of payday. 
Finally, with our per-location pricing, Homebase is well-priced for small businesses, especially considering how comprehensive our solutions are. With a paid plan, you’ll have access to the hiring and onboarding and HR and compliance tools you need to grow your business sustainably and responsibly. Plus, you’ll get access to a team of HR professionals who can review your policies, answer your burning questions on issues around employment law and tax regulations, and even design your first employee handbook . That’s great news for small business owners with limited HR knowledge.
Homebase’s schedule builder uses previous data to create timetables, saving managers hours of work every week. Source
11 features that simplify your team management workload and keep you compliant 

Mobile time tracking with GPS and geofencing tools to prevent time theft
A time clock that auto-converts hours into timesheets complete with wage and overtime data
An intuitive employee scheduling tool that can auto-populate timetables with shifts every week
Simple shift-swapping features that reduce manager workload
Full-service payroll software that calculates wages, sends payments, and files taxes for you
An employee messaging app you can use to send messages to individuals, custom groups, or the entire team 
Hiring and onboarding tools with job description templates, digital new hire onboarding, and document storage tools
HR and compliance functions that make it quick and easy to create policies and procedures and centralize staff information
Workforce forecasting tools that help you make money-saving scheduling decisions
A cash out feature that lets employees withdraw up to $400 of their wages
A mobile app that empowers managers and employees and lets them manage everyday team tasks from anywhere

Homebase’s employee time clock makes time tracking easier and more secure with GPS capabilities. Source
Pros and cons
Pros