Deputy is good software. The problem small venues run into is not the product, it is the shape of the bill: it is priced per user, with a minimum monthly spend, so a three-person café pays close to what a ten-person one does. This is how to work out whether you need what you are paying for — and the honest list of what you give up by leaving.
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If you roster a small team and mostly need a roster — build it, share it, let people tell you when they cannot work — a flat-price tool will do the job for less. If you need award interpretation, timesheets that feed payroll, or HR records, you need Deputy or something like it, and this page should not talk you out of it.
The question is not which is better. It is whether you are buying a rostering tool or a workforce-management platform, because you are currently paying for the second.
Read off Deputy's Australian pricing page on 18 October 2026. Prices are per user per month, in AUD, excluding tax. Check the current figures before deciding — this is a snapshot, not a quote.
The line that catches small venues is the last one. Deputy's FAQ states a minimum monthly spend of A$30 per invoice on monthly Lite, Core and Pro plans, effective 1 September 2025. Below about four or five staff, the per-user price stops mattering: you pay the minimum either way.
| Deputy plan | Per user / month | 3 staff | 5 staff | 10 staff |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lite | A$6.75 | A$30 (minimum) | A$33.75 | A$67.50 |
| Core | A$8.75 | A$30 (minimum) | A$43.75 | A$87.50 |
| Pro | A$13.00 | A$39.00 | A$65.00 | A$130.00 |
Regentflow Pro is A$29.99 a month, in AUD, whatever the headcount. There is no per-user line, so the bill does not move when you take on three casuals for summer. There is also a A$5 day pass, which exists for the operator who builds a roster once a fortnight and does not want a subscription for it, and a free tier that never expires.
Those figures were read off our own pricing page on the same day, and they are the live ones — if they change, that page changes with them.
| Shape of the bill | 3 staff | 10 staff | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Deputy Core | Per user, A$30/mo minimum | A$30.00 | A$87.50 |
| Regentflow Pro | Flat, unlimited staff | A$29.99 | A$29.99 |
| Regentflow Day Pass | A$5 for 24 hours, nothing renews | A$5.00 | A$5.00 |
Deputy does a great deal that Regentflow does not, and most of it is the reason it costs what it costs. If any of the following is load-bearing for you, switching would be a downgrade, not a saving.
The parts of rostering a small venue actually does every week are all here, and they are the parts a spreadsheet does badly.
Open your last Deputy invoice and look at two numbers: what you paid, and how many of the features on it you touched that month. If the answer is "the roster and nothing else", the per-user bill is buying you optionality you are not using.
Then try the other one for a day. A$5 is a cheaper way to find out than a migration, and if the answer is that you need the award engine, you have lost five dollars and settled the question.
Build the roster, send staff a link to set their own availability, and let the sheet add the hours up. Flat price, however many staff you put on it.