Deputy Review Australia 2026
Best-in-class rostering for Australian shift-based businesses
Deputy is still the published-price rostering pick: Lite $6.75 / Core $8.75 / Pro $13 per user excl tax on the annual/instalment cards, with a $30 monthly floor. Awards sit on Lite; auto-scheduling waits until Core. Payroll ($5) and HR/onboarding ($3.50) are add-ons — it is not a full HRIS at $6.75. Hosting is AWS AU/UK/US, not proven AU-only. Tanda's All-in-One is $12.80+GST with payroll in the bundle. Employment Hero Essentials $10 is HR records without payroll.
- Best for
- Hospitality, retail, healthcare, and any shift-based business needing Australian Modern Award-compliant rostering with strong mobile time tracking.
- Not ideal for
- Office-based 9-to-5 teams, buyers who need AU-only hosting, or companies that want HR+payroll in one published SKU without add-ons (Employment Hero OS Lite or Tanda All-in-One).
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Overview
Deputy is rostering, time tracking, and workforce management. Founded in 2008 and headquartered in Sydney, NSW, it serves Australian businesses with local data hosting and AU-based support.
Feature highlights
These highlights come from vendor documentation and editorial analysis of public sources. They are not firsthand test results or a claim that every listed capability was exercised in a trial.
- Lite/Core/Pro from $6.75 excl tax
Printed annual/instalment cards Lite $6.75 / Core $8.75 / Pro $13 per user. Month-to-month schema $7.50 / $9.75 / $14.50. $30 monthly minimum. Not the old $6/$11 GST-incl list.
- Award library on Lite; advanced on Core
Australian award pay-rate library is on Lite. Auto-scheduling, demand forecasting and advanced award interpretation start on Core.
- Payroll is a $5 add-on
Deputy Payroll $5/user/month excl tax (annual $4.50). Vendor STP2 copy. Base plans still export timesheets to Xero, MYOB, Employment Hero and KeyPay.
- HR/onboarding is a $3.50 add-on
Paperless onboarding, documents and surveys are the HR add-on, not Lite. A separate onboarding package page also prints $15/user with five free onboards.
- Not AU-only hosted
AWS regions Australia, UK and United States. ISO 27001 and SOC 2 Type II. Do not keep AWS Sydney as the AU-only story.
- Mobile clock-in
Clock-in apps on tablet, mobile, web and watch; geofencing on Lite. Biometrics on Core.
AU Compliance Scores
These scores apply to Australian tax, payroll and banking capabilities where they are relevant to Deputy. They are SoftwareHQ editorial judgements from public documentation, not firsthand product tests.
Not applicable means this product type is not scored on that dimension (for example BAS lodgement on a CRM). Not supported means the vendor does not offer it. Unknown means we could not verify it from public sources — that is not the same as unsupported.
Workforce management — not an accounting tool.
Deputy Payroll add-on FAQ (8 Sep 2026): designed to support STP Phase 2. Vendor copy, not an ATO register extract. Not on Lite/Core/Pro without the add-on. Timesheets still export to Xero/MYOB/Employment Hero/KeyPay.
Payroll page discusses Payday Super cash-flow impact. No explicit 'ready' clearing-house claim on the pages opened this check.
Lite includes the Australian award pay-rate library. Core adds advanced award interpretation. Payroll add-on uses regularly updated award templates / Pay Rate Builder. Vendor copy, not Fair Work certification.
Plan prices excl all applicable taxes. Not an accounting tool.
Not a bank-feeds product.
When this was checked
Status as of (page snapshot) against a 90-day review target. Checked dates are not updated when the site is rebuilt.
Editorial article date: . That is not proof that pricing, hosting, or compliance was re-checked.
- PricingVerified
Verified — checked 8 September 2026.
AUD excl all applicable taxes. Cards Lite $6.75 / Core $8.75 / Pro $13 per user (upfront or monthly instalments). Schema month-to-month $7.50 / $9.75 / $14.50. Min $30/month from 1 Sep 2025. Add-ons Payroll $5 / HR $3.50 / Messaging+ $2.75 / Analytics+ $2. SMS 5c AUD. Old $6/$11 GST-incl list gone.
- HostingVerified
Verified — checked 8 September 2026.
AWS Australia, UK or United States. ISO 27001, SOC 2 Type II, PCI-DSS SAQ A, CSA Star Level 1. Not AU-only.
- Modern AwardsVerified
Verified — checked 8 September 2026.
Lite: AU award pay-rate library. Core: advanced award interpretation. Vendor copy, not Fair Work cert.
- Payday SuperUnknown
Unknown — no field-level check recorded.
Payroll page mentions Payday Super cash flow. No ready/clearing-house claim opened.
- STP Phase 2Verified
Verified — checked 8 September 2026.
Payroll add-on FAQ: designed to support STP2. Vendor copy. Not on base Lite/Core/Pro.
- SuperannuationUnknown
Unknown — no field-level check recorded.
No SuperStream product page opened for Deputy Payroll this check.
Pricing (AUD)
All prices below are in Australian dollars and exclude GST. Verified — checked 8 September 2026. Source: deputy.com/pricing.
- Users: unlimited
- Minimum Monthly: 30
- Users: unlimited
- Minimum Monthly: 30
- Users: unlimited
- Minimum Monthly: 30
Estimate first-year cost for Deputy
Observed price changes
Recorded when a listed price changed. This is not a complete vendor timeline.
- Live AU cards Lite $6.75 / Core $8.75 / Pro $13 excl tax (annual/instalments). Schema month-to-month $7.50 / $9.75 / $14.50. Old Scheduling $6 / T&A $6 / Premium $11 GST-incl list is gone. Payroll add-on $5. Monthly min $30.
- Lite · $6 → $6.75 · Live AU cards Lite $6.75 / Core $8.75 / Pro $13 excl tax (annual/instalments). Schema month-to-month $7.50 / $9.75 / $14.50. Replaced stored Scheduling $6 / T&A $6 / Premium $11 GST-incl. Payroll add-on $5. Monthly min $30.
- Monthly Lite/Core/Pro minimum spend AUD $30 per invoice from 1 September 2025 (pricing FAQ).
- Premium · $9 → $11 · Premium plan increased from $9 to $11/user/month
- Scheduling · $5 → $6 · Individual modules (Scheduling, Time & Attendance) increased from $5 to $6/user
Pros & Cons
Pros
- Published AU cards Lite $6.75 / Core $8.75 / Pro $13 excl tax
- Award pay-rate library on Lite; auto-scheduling on Core
- Optional AU Payroll add-on $5 with vendor STP2 copy
- Native timesheet export to Xero, MYOB, Employment Hero, KeyPay
- ISO 27001 and SOC 2 Type II on the security page
- 30-day trial printed on add-on cards
Cons
- HR/onboarding and payroll are paid add-ons, not Lite
- $30 monthly minimum and per-user billing for every person in People (including admins)
- Prices exclude GST
- AWS AU/UK/US — not AU-only hosted
- Payday Super clearing not documented on the pages opened
- Old Scheduling/Premium SKUs are discontinuing — compare the live Lite/Core/Pro table
How this review was made
Reviews separate vendor documentation, editorial analysis and firsthand records. They are not interchangeable.
- Vendor documentation — Public pages from Deputy and other sites. Recorded HTTP(S) URLs are listed under Sources. A source URL is a document we recorded, not a claim that every sentence on this page was checked against that URL.
- Editorial analysis — SoftwareHQ's written verdict and scores for Australian buyers. The header score is an editorial assessment, not a user-review average, not a lab result, and not a number derived from how many evidence records exist.
- Firsthand records — This review has no firsthand observation records, trial walkthroughs, or screenshots from a logged-in SoftwareHQ account. Missing tests stay not tested.
This page does not rank products by speed or security from documentation or from evidence count.
Checked by SoftwareHQ Editorial Team. There is no named author profile for this page; attribution stays with the SoftwareHQ editorial team. How we test and the editorial policy for scoring, independence and affiliate rules.
Sources
Public pages recorded when this review was compiled. They are not a checklist that every claim was verified, and they are not evidence of hands-on product testing.
- Deputy pricing
- Deputy Payroll Software
- Deputy Hr Software
- Deputy security
- Deputy 4755678296335 Pricing Faqs
- Deputy 4755605465743 Pricing Plans
- Deputy 13320246018831 Draft Pricing For Deputy Payroll Au
- Deputy Award Interpretation
Deputy Alternatives
If Deputy doesn’t quite fit your needs, consider these alternatives for Australian businesses:
- Employment Hero — All-in-one HR, payroll and benefits platform for AU businesses. From $10/employee/mo ex GST.
- Tanda — Workforce management with Modern Award compliance. From $12.8/user/mo ex GST.
- ELMO Software — End-to-end AU-built HR, payroll and learning platform for mid-market.
Related Comparisons
Migration Guides
Step-by-step switching guides involving Deputy for Australian businesses.