Deputy Pricing Explained: What You Actually Pay in 2026

Deputy's Pricing Looks Simple — Until You Start Adding Modules

If you've looked at Deputy's pricing page, you've probably seen the headline number: ~A$7 per user per month for their Scheduling or Time & Attendance plan. That looks incredibly competitive for a workforce management tool. But very few businesses actually pay ~A$7 per user — because that price gets you only one piece of the puzzle.

Here's what Deputy's pricing actually looks like when you need a complete workforce management solution.

Deputy's Module Breakdown

Deputy sells its product in separate modules. Each module is priced per active user per month, billed monthly (annual billing offers a small discount):

Module	Monthly Price (per user)	What You Get
Scheduling	~A$7	Roster building, shift swaps, availability, demand-based scheduling
Time & Attendance	~A$7	Clock in/out, timesheets, GPS tracking, break management
Premium	A$13.50	Scheduling + T&A bundled, plus auto-scheduling, advanced reporting
HR (Deputy HR)	A$4.50+	Onboarding, document management, employee records, compliance
Enterprise	Custom	Custom pricing for 250+ employees, SLA, dedicated support

Prices as at early 2026. Deputy adjusts pricing periodically — verify at deputy.com.

What Most Hospitality and Retail Businesses Need

A typical cafe, restaurant, or retail store with 15–30 staff needs:

• Scheduling (to build and publish rosters) — ~A$7
• Time & Attendance (to track hours and manage timesheets) — ~A$7
• Some form of team communication (Deputy's built-in messaging requires the scheduling module)
• Basic HR features (onboarding, document storage) — A$4.50+

That brings the real cost to somewhere between A$18 and A$23 per user per month, depending on which modules you select and whether you add on HR. For a team of 20 staff, that's A$360 to A$460 per month.

The October 2025 Price Increase

In late 2025, Deputy increased prices significantly across its plans, with reports suggesting increases of around 35% for some tiers. This affected both new and existing month-to-month customers. Always check Deputy's current pricing page for the latest figures.

The price increase was part of Deputy's shift toward positioning itself as a premium product for larger businesses, with more advanced scheduling and HR features. For SMBs on tight margins, though, a 35% increase is material — especially when it hits mid-financial year with no corresponding increase in revenue.

Existing customers who were paying legacy rates from 2023 or earlier were particularly affected, with some reporting price increases of 40% or more once the new rates took effect.

What Deputy Does Well

In fairness, Deputy is a well-established product with genuine strengths:

• Market presence: Deputy has been in the Australian market since 2008 and has deep integrations with Xero, MYOB, and most major payroll systems
• Demand-based auto-scheduling: Works reasonably well for businesses with stable traffic patterns
• Mobile app: Solid mobile experience for clock-in/out and schedule viewing
• International support: If you have operations outside Australia, Deputy supports multiple countries and currencies

Where Deputy Falls Short for Australian SMBs

Despite its strengths, several aspects of Deputy's approach create friction for small Australian businesses:

Module Multiplication

The modular pricing structure means every capability you add increases your per-user cost. Need scheduling and time tracking? That's two modules. Want HR on top? Three. For SMBs, this "build your own bundle" approach often results in paying more than a comparable all-in-one solution.

Award Compliance Is Bolt-On, Not Built-In

Deputy can flag award rate issues, but its compliance engine relies on configuration by the employer. If you don't set up your award rates correctly, Deputy won't catch the error. The system doesn't natively understand the full complexity of Australian modern awards — penalty rate stacking rules, overtime threshold variations by award, or casual conversion obligations.

Pricing in USD Context

Deputy is a global company (headquartered in Australia but with significant US operations). Product decisions increasingly reflect the US and UK markets. Features like Australian award interpretation, Fair Work compliance, and STP2 integration sometimes lag behind more US-focused development priorities.

How Mustr Compares

Mustr takes a fundamentally different approach to pricing and product design:

Feature	Deputy	Mustr
Pricing model	Per module, per user	All-inclusive, per user
Scheduling	~A$7/user/mo	Included
Time & Attendance	~A$7/user/mo	Included
Team messaging	Included with Scheduling	Included
HR & onboarding	A$4.50+/user/mo	Included
Award compliance engine	Basic / config-dependent	Built-in, deterministic
Right to Disconnect	Manual policy	Automated enforcement
Payday Super tracking	Manual / via payroll	Built-in deadline tracking
Currency	AUD (but global product)	AUD only, Australia-first
Data residency	Global infrastructure	Sydney region (Australia)
Typical cost (20 users)	A$360–460/mo	A$100–180/mo

Mustr uses one active-employee plan with volume bands: A$9 / A$8 / A$7 / A$6 per active employee per month, GST inclusive. Scheduling, time and attendance, team messaging, HR features, and award-accurate compliance calculations are included. No module multiplication. No surprise add-ons.

How Mustr Helps

If you're currently on Deputy and feeling the pinch of the October 2025 price increase, or if you're shopping for your first workforce management tool and want to avoid the module trap, Mustr is built for you.

• One price, everything included: No need to buy scheduling, T&A, HR, and messaging separately
• Australia-first compliance: Every modern award rate, every penalty calculation, every overtime threshold — built in, not configured by you
• Priced in AUD for Australian businesses: No exchange rate surprises, no USD-to-AUD conversion, GST-inclusive pricing
• Data stays in Australia: All data hosted in the Sydney region — Australian data sovereignty by default

See the difference for yourself. Compare Mustr pricing or request pilot access — pilot onboarding is guided by the Mustr team.