A Sling alternative for when availability arrives as messages

Sling (now Sling by Toast) is a solid, low-cost scheduling tool. Spatto is built for one specific situation: your staff already tell you when they can work in their own words — "Weekends are out, as a rule. And 10/12 is no good." — and someone has to turn those messages into a schedule. Here is how to tell which one fits.

When Sling is the better fit

• You want free or very cheap. Sling has a free plan for up to 30 users, and paid plans at $2 and $4 per user per month. Spatto costs more than any of them.
• You need a time clock or payroll reports. Sling's paid plans track hours and labor costs. Spatto does neither — it only builds the schedule.
• You already run on Toast. Sling is part of Toast's team management suite.

When Spatto is the better fit

• Availability comes in as sentences, and someone retypes it. In Spatto, each person writes when they can work in their own words, and the schedule is built from what they wrote — days off, weekly limits, hours, who works well together, and your shop's own staffing needs.
• You want to see how each sentence was read. Every reading sits next to the sentence it came from, so a misreading shows up right away.
• You want to know what could not be met. Short staffing, contract limits, and requests that had to be broken are listed, instead of a schedule that quietly breaks someone's request.
• Someone calls in sick. Ask from that day's schedule and Spatto suggests a change that breaks no one's requests or contract limits — or tells you there isn't one.

Pricing at a glance

Sling prices are from getsling.com/pricing as of September 21, 2026. Spatto's first month is free, with no credit card needed. A month for 10 staff builds in about 3–5 minutes.

Try it

See how Spatto reads sentences, or start free.