For planners comparing Deputy for a multi-site contractor of 20–250 staff
A Deputy alternative for rosters that have to explain themselves
Build the week under your working-time rules, cover the 6am call-in with people who are genuinely eligible, and keep the reason for every decision. Fivexer adds direct MCP access for AI agents and a payroll-ready record, at €0.50 a person instead of $6.50.
- €0.50 a person, past the first 15
- Your rules, no vendor defaults
- MCP-native for AI agents
Test the same absence before switching
Use this evaluation scenario in both products: 40 workers, five client sites, recurring shifts, site permissions and one same-day absence. These are trial assumptions, not a benchmark or customer result.
Check whether the replacement is available, qualified and permitted at the site. Inspect rest and existing assignments, then confirm how the change reaches the worker. Record what each product actually does in your trial, including any setup needed.
Use the shift-cover workflow as your test sheet. If you are also migrating a spreadsheet, follow the rota migration checks.
Deputy also offers scheduling and shift-change workflows. Review the vendor’s own scheduling documentation alongside your trial.
What you would be looking at instead of Deputy
Three screens from the running console, so you can compare them with what you use today.
Screenshots of the console with demonstration data, not mock-ups. See every screen.
Fivexer and Deputy, question by question
Deputy combines scheduling with time and attendance. Fivexer is built for a harder scheduling question: who is actually allowed, qualified, rested and close enough to take this shift or live job — and can the system prove why? Compare the operational differences below, including the places where an all-in-one suite may fit better.
Deputy
$390
a month for 60 workers. How it is reached is in the price table below.
Fivexer
€22.50
a month for 60 workers. The first 15 are free.
Published list prices in each vendor’s own currency, not converted. Read 2 September 2026.
Question by question
Whose working-time rules are these?
vendor defaults against figures you set
Deputy
Deputy publishes labour-law compliance features and advanced compliance on Core
Fivexer
Yours only. Country packs are editable starting points, not rules applied automatically — a blank rule is not checked, and a configured one is enforced and explained in words.
Why him and not her?
a record a worker or a works council can read
Deputy
Not something the published pages describe — one to put to them
Fivexer
Every decision is one sentence: who took it, and who was ruled out by which rule.
Who covers Anna at 6am?
into qualified, rested, permitted replacements
Deputy
Shift swapping and open shifts are published on every tier
Fivexer
Ranked replacements with the exclusions shown, scoped to the shifts the absence actually broke.
Can she work three sites this week?
site permission and the journey between shifts
Deputy
Location hierarchies are published on Pro
Fivexer
Permitted sites are a hard boundary, and a stated journey holds the gap between two shifts open for it.
Who takes the job that arrives at 11am?
live allocation once the roster is published
Deputy
Not what the product sells — scheduling and attendance are
Fivexer
The same engine allocates the ticket, job or case that arrives during the day, against who is on shift.
Can an AI agent use it directly?
MCP tools, open source and API access
Deputy
Integrations are published; an MCP interface is not described — one to ask them
Fivexer
Yes. Claude, ChatGPT, Cursor or any MCP client can inspect and operate the workspace through documented tools — the same rules and decision record as the UI. The engine and MCP server are open source.
Does it track hours and feed payroll?
payroll-ready records against an integrated time clock
Deputy
Yes — timesheets, biometric clocking and payroll integrations are the product
Fivexer
Worked hours become a reviewable payroll report with premiums, corrections, payroll IDs, period close and CSV export. It is not a GPS clock or a payroll processor.
The vendor column states what that vendor publishes on its own pricing and feature pages, read on 2 September 2026. Where a product does more than its published pages say, that is theirs to say — every unfilled row above is a question you can put to them, and they are gathered further down this page. Prices are list prices in each vendor’s own published currency and are not converted; negotiated discounts are not modelled.
What each one costs as the team grows
Published list prices, read on 2 September 2026, in each vendor’s own currency and not converted. Deputy bills for every person on the rota; Fivexer’s first 15 people are free, and each one after is €0.50 a month.
| How it is priced | 30 workers | 60 workers | 120 workers |
|---|---|---|---|
| DeputyCore at $6.50 per user per month — the cheapest published tier that includes auto-scheduling, the capability this comparison is about. Lite is $5 with basic scheduling. Both carry a $30 monthly invoice minimum. | $195/mo | $390/mo | $780/mo |
| FivexerFirst 15 people free, then €0.50 a person a month. Rostering is never a paid extra. | €7.50/moPay as you go | €22.50/moPay as you go | €52.50/moPay as you go |
Deputy’s published add-ons (Payroll, HR, Messaging+, Analytics+) are priced separately and are not modelled here. Plans are sold on matched tasks. A 120-person rota is about 2,600 shifts a month, inside the free 10,000, so for a rota the per-person price is the whole bill.
What to ask Deputy
Everything above the price row is checkable on Deputy’s own pages. These are the four that are not, and a vendor’s written answer to his own customer is worth more than an assertion we make about him.
- When a worker asks why the shift went to someone else, what does the system show him?
- Which working-time figures are yours to set, and which come from a template we cannot edit?
- Is the roster held in an EU region if we ask for one, and does that cover backups?
- What comes out on export — the published roster only, or the decisions behind it?
We have not answered these for you on purpose. A product’s capabilities and its data posture both change without notice, and the only reliable version is the one the vendor puts in writing for you.
Choose Fivexer — unless attendance is the product
For a contractor buying operational scheduling, Fivexer is the stronger choice: qualifications, rest, contracted hours, permitted sites and travel control the roster and the live work after it; every exclusion is recorded; and human or AI operators use the same explainable system. That record continues into payroll review, corrections, premiums, period close and CSV export. Choose Deputy instead only when biometric clocking, attendance proof, sales-driven demand forecasting or a native payroll integration matters more than how the work is assigned.
What this page will not claim
It does
- Build and validate a roster against rest, hours, qualifications and site permission you configured
- Turn one absence into scoped openings and rank the people who may cover them
- Allocate live work to whoever is on shift, on the same rules and the same record
- Let an AI agent inspect and operate the workspace directly through MCP tools
- Review worked against rostered hours, close the period and export payroll-ready totals and premiums
It does not
- Prove attendance by GPS or photograph, calculate tax, or pay anybody
- Forecast demand or headcount from sales
- Apply legal limits automatically — country packs are editable starting points and a blank rule is not checked
Not for you if
- You require a biometric clock or a native integration with your payroll provider
- One site, and anybody spare can cover anything
- You want the vendor to be responsible for what the law says
Questions we get asked first
Is Fivexer cheaper than Deputy?
The two are priced on different things, so it depends on headcount rather than on a discount. Deputy publishes $6.50 per user per month on Core, so its bill grows with every person you hire. Fivexer bills per person too, but the first 15 are free and each one after is €0.50 a month. At 60 people that is €22.50 against $390.
Can Fivexer replace our time clock or payroll system?
Not either one. Fivexer does not prove attendance, calculate tax or pay people. It does prepare the handoff between them: a reviewable report of worked and rostered hours, premiums, corrections and payroll IDs; close or reopen the period; then export shift detail and per-person totals to CSV.
Does Fivexer enforce our country’s working-time law?
It enforces the figures you configure and nothing else. Start from a published country pack or enter the rules yourself, then review every figure because requirements vary by jurisdiction, sector, agreement and person. A blank rule is not checked; a configured rule is enforced and explained in plain language.
We already run Deputy. Can we move mid-year?
The usual route is shadow, not cutover: import the people and sites, build the same fortnight in Fivexer beside the roster you are already running, and compare the two before anybody’s shift depends on it. Import is a CSV of people and sites, so the first draft is a working session rather than a project.