ShiftTracker vs Guardhouse: UK Security Workforce Management Compared

ShiftTracker and Guardhouse both schedule staff, record hours and support billing for UK security companies, but they organise the work differently. Guardhouse's UK homepage leads with scheduling visibility, overtime and fatigue management, a mobile patrol app and daily automated SIA licence checks. ShiftTracker is newer, founded in 2025 in Leighton Buzzard, and keeps the rota, BS 7858 screening, check-call records and exact pay and charge figures together in one system. Choose Guardhouse if scheduling visibility and a mobile patrol app matter most to you. Choose ShiftTracker if screening evidence, check-call records and a published price matter more to you. This comparison uses only what each company states on its own website and in ShiftTracker's documentation, checked on 31 October 2026 by reading each page. Where a point is not stated on those pages, we say so, so you can test it in a demo before you commit to either platform.

Which platform fits your operation?

Choose Guardhouse if your main need is rostering visibility, a mobile patrol app and automated SIA licence checks. Choose ShiftTracker if you need BS 7858 screening, check-call records and Working Time checks in one system, with a price you can read before a demo. Neither company states every feature the other offers, so your clients' record requirements should decide.

The table lists what each company states on its own site. Where a feature does not appear on the pages we read, the cell says so. A feature missing from a web page is not proof it is missing from the product, so treat those cells as questions for a demo.

AreaShiftTrackerGuardhousePricing£49 a month plus £3 per active employee; Professional adds £1.50 per active employeeNo price on the pages we could open; the integrations page directs buyers to book a demoFree trial30 days, no cardNot stated on the pages we readSchedulingRecurring patterns; each assignment checked for overlaps, approved leave, rest and the 48-hour averageAvailability, overtime, fatigue management, financials and conflicting shifts, per its homepageBS 7858 screeningScreening tab: 5 or 10 year window, gaps of 31 days or more flagged, consent before referencesNo BS 7858 vetting workflow found on its UK homepageSIA licencesRecorded with expiry alerts and a link to the public register; not checked against itDaily automated SIA licence checks and renewal reminders, per its homepageCheck callsIn-app, verified by PIN, site ID or GPS; a missed call alerts staff but places no call to the workerNo check-call feature found on its UK homepagePatrolsPricing page lists patrols with photos, GPS and NFC; no patrol documentation page yetMobile patrol app with runsheets, time on site, incident reports and site toursPayroll and invoicingPayroll Export as a Sage 50 timesheet or generic hours file; Xero push on Professional per the pricing pageIntegrates through CSV exports; its integrations page lists KeyPay, QuickBooks, MYOB and XeroHosting and securityEU hosting in Amsterdam; provider audited to SOC 2 Type IIMultiple daily backups on Microsoft Azure, with a 99% uptime guarantee, per its homepageSupportNot stated in the documentation we readFree support by email, phone and in-app chat, per its homepageTrack recordFounded in 2025; no named customer case studies publishedCustomer stories on its homepage

How do scheduling and Working Time checks compare?

ShiftTracker checks each assignment against overlapping shifts, approved leave, 11 hours' rest and the 48-hour average over a 17-week reference period, and refuses clashes. Guardhouse says its scheduling shows availability, overtime, fatigue management and conflicting shifts. Its UK homepage does not say whether it blocks an assignment that breaks Working Time limits, so ask it directly.

ShiftTracker's overtime and Working Time documentation treats a breach as a warning rather than a silent failure. A manager must give a reason to override it, and that reason is kept as a record. The roster shows each person's average and colours anyone over 48 hours. ShiftTracker does not calculate overtime pay as part of Working Time, and its documentation says night-work limits are not checked.

The underlying rule is in the Working Time Regulations 1998. Regulation 4(1) says a worker's working time, including overtime, must not exceed an average of 48 hours for each seven days over the reference period. This is a summary of the regulation, not legal advice; check how it applies to your contracts with a qualified adviser.

The ShiftTracker roster, with recurring patterns and coverage gaps visible.

How do BS 7858 vetting and SIA licences compare?

ShiftTracker has a built-in BS 7858 screening tab with a five or ten year window, gap detection from 31 days, consent before references, and a completion step once one employment and two character references are recorded. Guardhouse says it runs daily automated SIA licence checks, but its UK homepage does not describe a BS 7858 vetting workflow.

ShiftTracker's documentation says it records SIA licences and does not check them. Nothing in the platform contacts the Security Industry Authority, and a licence shows as valid only until the typed expiry date passes. The SIA Compliance Report links to the public register so you can check by hand. Guardhouse does not say what its daily checks query, so ask whether they check the public register.

BS 7858 requirements come from the British Standard itself. Ask each vendor which edition its workflow reflects, and ask for a demo of the screening record a client would actually receive.

ShiftTracker Screening tab: vetting window, coverage timeline and references.

How do check calls and lone worker welfare compare?

ShiftTracker runs check calls in the app and verifies each one by PIN, site ID or GPS. A missed call alerts Admin and Control users by in-app notification and push, and emails the organisation contact. It does not place a call to the worker. Guardhouse's UK homepage does not mention check calls, so confirm its welfare features in a demo.

The Health and Safety Executive says employers must manage the risks before people work alone, and that this includes security staff. Check calls are one control among others. They do not replace a risk assessment or a written response plan. Write down who watches the board and what they do when a call is missed.

ShiftTracker's documentation says a missed check call changes nothing else: the shift keeps its status, the person is not marked absent and no cover is arranged. An Escalate button on the Check Calls board raises the alert sooner. The separate Lone Worker module is described in the docs as still in build, so check calls are the welfare tool to test today.

ShiftTracker check-call settings: pattern, window and verification method.

How do patrols and site logs compare?

Guardhouse describes a mobile patrol app with runsheets, time on site, incident reports and site tours. ShiftTracker's pricing page lists patrols with photos, GPS and NFC, but its documentation has no patrol page yet. Neither can be fully judged from a website, so test each with a real site walk before you rely on it as evidence.

ShiftTracker's form builder covers incident reports, inspections and checks, with photo points, signatures and a required GPS location and timestamp on photos. Submissions go through review and are approved or rejected, and each one joins the form's audit trail. Guardhouse says its form builder lets reports be submitted through the app and sent automatically to customers.

Ask each vendor to show one complete incident, from the guard's phone to the client's inbox. That tests the whole route rather than the feature list.

How do payroll and invoicing compare?

ShiftTracker's Payroll Arbitration turns each worked shift into a pay and charge record, and Payroll Export builds a Sage 50 timesheet or a generic hours file. Its pricing page lists a Xero push on Professional. Guardhouse's integrations page lists CSV exports to payroll and invoicing tools, including KeyPay, QuickBooks, MYOB and Xero. Confirm your exact package with both vendors.

In ShiftTracker, Payroll Arbitration accepts shifts that ran to time and flags any shift booked on or off more than 15 minutes out, for a person to decide. Records lock once they are marked paid and invoiced. Pay and charge rates are set on each employee before you run it.

Guardhouse's homepage says one data entry point feeds time and attendance, invoicing and payroll. ShiftTracker reaches the same goal through arbitration and export files. Ask each to run payroll on a week of your own timesheets.

The Payroll Export preview: check the warnings, then download the file for your payroll software.

What does each platform cost?

ShiftTracker publishes its price: £49 a month plus £3 per active employee, with £1.50 more per active employee for Professional, and a 30-day free trial with no card. An active employee is someone with a recorded book-on, check call, form or clock-in in the month. Guardhouse's pages we could open show no price and direct buyers to a demo.

On ShiftTracker's pricing page, 25 active employees on the base plan come to £124 a month, with no VAT added. Staff who did no work in a month cost nothing. Enterprise is quoted for more than 500 active employees.

We could not open a Guardhouse pricing page, so we have not stated any Guardhouse price. Ask for a written quote that lists the modules you need before you compare totals.

How we checked this and what to test in a demo

We read ShiftTracker's pricing page and documentation, and Guardhouse's UK homepage and integrations page, on 31 October 2026. We did not test either product, and we did not speak to either company. Each claim in the table traces to one of those pages, and any claim we could not trace is marked as not stated.

Before you choose, put these questions to each vendor:

• Guardhouse: how its daily SIA licence checks work, and whether they query the public register.

• Guardhouse: whether it has BS 7858 vetting and check calls, and where they sit in the app.

• Guardhouse: its price for your headcount, in writing.

• ShiftTracker: how patrols, NFC and the panic button work, since these appear on the pricing page but not in its documentation.

• ShiftTracker: the Xero push on Professional, tested against your own Xero file.

• ShiftTracker: how it performs across your largest site and agency mix, given it is newer and publishes no named case studies.

Start with the records your clients ask for, then compare the two on those records alone.