Combo 2026 Review: Shift Scheduling and Payroll for Field Teams

My take on Combo (ex-Snapshift) in 2026: scheduling, time tracking, and pre-payroll for retail and restaurants. Real pricing and alternatives included.

TL;DR

Combo (formerly Snapshift) is scheduling and pre-payroll software built for retail and restaurant field teams. It manages scheduling, time clock tracking, work hour monitoring, and prepares payroll variables while already knowing HCR collective bargaining agreement rules. Expect roughly €6.90 per employee per month with annual commitment. It's a solid choice when your real headache is scheduling and payroll for field staff. Not if you need a full HR platform with recruitment and annual reviews. Its detailed profile is here: Combo.

What exactly is Combo?

Combo is French scheduling, time tracking, and pre-payroll software for teams working non-standard shifts. Formerly Snapshift, the tool rebranded in 2022 after a €40 million funding round, as noted on Combo's official site. The promise boils down to one sentence: get out of Excel-based scheduling and manual hour entry every month.

Concretely, the tool covers four connected modules. Team scheduling, time clock tracking (tablet or mobile badge reader), work contract and time tracking oversight, then payroll variable preparation. Each module feeds the next. You build the schedule, employees clock in, and Combo calculates actual hours, overtime premiums, and absences without you touching a calculator.

The difference from general-purpose payroll software like PayFit or ADP is clear. Combo doesn't generate final paychecks. It prepares everything leading up to them—the time-consuming, error-prone part—then passes the relay to your payroll tool or accounting firm. To understand where pre-payroll fits in the chain, the free payroll software directory gives the full landscape.

Who is Combo for?

Combo targets first and foremost retail stores and restaurants employing field teams on variable schedules, bound by HCR collective bargaining rules. Restaurants, hotels, cafés, bakeries, pharmacies, gyms, retail: anywhere you have split shifts and seasonality, the tool shines.

What sets it apart is mastery of the HCR collective bargaining agreement (hotels, cafés, restaurants), IDCC 1979. Split shifts, night premiums, Sundays, holidays, overtime: these rules are pre-built in. A brasserie manager who used to recount Sunday premiums in a spreadsheet saves real time. The legal framework for these premiums is available on Legifrance.

Conversely, if you're an office-based company with fixed Monday-to-Friday hours, Combo is overkill. You don't need a machine managing split shifts and seasonality. A standard HR tool like those I compare in the Eurécia review fits better.

Scheduling put to the test

Combo's scheduling builds via drag-and-drop and blocks common mistakes: missed rest days, hour overages, staff assigned without a valid contract. This is the tool's heart and its strongest point.

For this review, I rebuilt a typical brasserie schedule over two weeks: eleven employees, two service slots, a mix of full-time and casual staff. What stood out was real-time alerts. When I placed a server on a break that was too short, the tool flagged it before I could save—not three weeks later on the payslip. The payroll forecast updates as you drag shifts, so you don't discover budget overruns after publishing.

Checklist: testing a field scheduling tool

• Does scheduling alert in real time on rest days and max work hours?
• Does payroll cost display while I'm building, not after?
• Do employees get their schedule on mobile and request time off there?
• Are shift swaps between teammates validated by the manager?
• Does the standard weekly template duplicate with one click?

On the employee side, everyone sees their schedule on their phone, flags unavailability, and requests time off. This overlaps with what a good time-off management tool does: request, approval, running count. Combo covers it for field staff without the administrative weight of a full HR platform.

From time clock to payroll

Combo's real edge is turning clock-ins into payroll-ready variables with zero re-entry or missed premiums. This step justifies the subscription for most owners.

Employees clock in on a tablet at checkout or a geolocation-enabled mobile. Combo compares actual time to scheduled time, calculates gaps, applies bargaining agreement premiums, and outputs a monthly summary: regular hours, overtime, premiums, bonuses, absences. You export this to your payroll software or accountant, who issues paychecks and the DSN compliance report. DSN mechanics and variables are documented at URSSAF.

One critical point I verified building my test case: pricing grids and exact scopes on comparison sites often contradict each other. Always verify Combo's actual quote, sector by sector, before signing.

Calculating Combo's real monthly cost

Monthly cost = active employees × price per employee × (1 if annual, else month-to-month rate).

Example for 12 employees, Business annual plan: 12 × €6.90 = €82.80/month. Month-to-month with no commitment: 12 × €8.90 = €106.80/month. The annual gap exceeds €280, weigh that against the flexibility you gain.

To manage the cash flow tied to this payroll, a business account like Qonto and accounting software like Pennylane close the loop. This scheduling, bank, accounting trio is what I see with most well-equipped restaurant owners.

How much does Combo cost in 2026?

Combo runs about €6.90 per employee per month on the Business plan with annual commitment, climbing to roughly €8.90 month-to-month. Two plans structure the pricing: Business and Pro.

The Business plan covers scheduling, time tracking, and payroll prep—enough for most retail and restaurant operations. The Pro plan adds advanced tracking and reporting, useful for multi-location chains. I'm giving these as ballpark figures: pricing negotiates on volume and by sector. Always request a dated quote.

This per-active-employee model has one strength and one trap. Strength: you pay only for people actually scheduled, including seasonals. Trap: in peak season, the bill climbs with casual staff. Budget for the summer surge rather than take it as a shock.

What Combo can't do

Combo stays focused on field operations, so recruitment, talent management, and annual reviews are absent or add-ons. That's not a flaw—it's a design choice—but you need to know it before signing.

If you're after a full HR platform with candidate tracking (ATS), interview campaigns, training plans, and skills management, Combo won't replace it. You'll either need a paid add-on or a separate HR tool. For a head office managing those functions too, a platform like Eurécia covers broader ground, at the cost of complexity field staff won't use.

Another limit: Combo preps payroll but doesn't generate paychecks. You keep a payroll tool or accountant downstream. That's only a problem if you hoped for one-tool-fits-all. In practice, the split between prep and issuance is sound—each module stays good at its job.

Alternatives to Combo

Serious alternatives to Combo depend on your priority: pure scheduling with Skello, broader payroll with something like PayFit, or time tracking alone with a dedicated clock reader. None tick exactly the same boxes, so start with your actual need.

Skello is the direct competitor—same HCR terrain, same scheduling-plus-pre-payroll logic. The choice comes down to usage details and pricing; test both on your own schedule. If your need leans payroll and HR admin over scheduling, PayFit or ADP take over, with paycheck generation included. For simple time tracking without rich scheduling, a tool like Buddy Punch does the job and costs less.

Finally, don't overlook tools beside the field workstation. A solid POS system feeds peak hours and revenue per service; check the free POS software comparison. Scheduling, POS, and payroll form the backbone of a well-run business.

Should you choose Combo? My verdict

Choose Combo if your number-one pain point is field team scheduling and payroll, not broad company HR management. On that specific turf, it's among France's most mature tools.

Value for money holds up for a restaurant or store with ten to fifty employees. Onboarding is fast, the interface speaks field manager language, and HCR agreement knowledge prevents costly mistakes. ROI shows in recovered management hours and avoided payroll disputes. Check the Combo profile for feature details and to start a trial.

I'd steer clear in two scenarios. Fixed office hours: too much tool for nothing. Need a full HR platform with recruitment and talent: out of scope. In every other field scenario, it deserves a short spot on your test list.

Key takeaways

• Combo (formerly Snapshift) is scheduling and pre-payroll software built for retail and restaurants, with HCR agreement rules pre-built.
• It covers scheduling, time tracking, work hours, and payroll variables, but doesn't generate paychecks or handle recruitment.
• Pricing sits around €6.90 per employee per month annually, pricier month-to-month and on the Pro plan.
• Real competitors are Skello on scheduling and PayFit or ADP on payroll.
• Good fit for a ten-to-fifty-person store or restaurant; overkill for fixed office hours.