If you're sizing up an alternative to When I Work, you've likely outgrown one of these: the per-seat math, the missing production primitives, or the workflow that doesn't survive the second show. Here's what holds from pitch through wrap, and what's worked for teams that moved.
Last updated June 18, 2026
Credit where it's due before we talk alternatives. When I Work earned its place. Here's where it delivers.
These are the gaps we hear from teams weighing an alternative. Your run-of-show may vary.
When I Work is deliberately simple, and for a single-location team that simplicity is the feature: build a schedule, let the team swap, punch in and out, message the group. A production org outgrows that shape fast. Load-ins surge headcount, gates need scans, incidents need records that stand up later, gear needs custody, and the office needs it all on the same record store the field writes. That is the shape Compass is built around.
Productions spike from 20 to 400 people for a week. Per-org pricing absorbs the spike; per-user pricing bills it.
Punches, incidents, briefing sign-ins and custody moves all land as records with provenance: who, when, via which channel, signed off by whom.
What the field writes, the operator console and stakeholder portals read instantly. No sync, no CSV shuffle between the site and the office.
The path teams take to move off When I Work.
See how production teams size up the rest of the field.
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