Key takeaway
Choose Parim if you need NFC guard tours, automated phone-call alarms or daily SIA badge checks. Choose ShiftTracker if your contracts ask for BS 7858 screening records per officer and one audit trail across rota, pay and client billing. Neither platform covers every need, so read your contracts first.
Parim and ShiftTracker both schedule UK shift workers, but they suit different security and cleaning businesses. Parim is shift scheduling software for events, security and temporary staffing. Its public pages describe NFC and iBeacon guard tour checkpoints, automated check calls, incident reporting and daily SIA badge checks. ShiftTracker is a UK-built platform for security agencies, cleaning firms and facilities operators. It holds a BS 7858 screening record for each person, records SIA licences with expiry alerts, and runs check-calls that alert your control users when one is missed. Choose Parim if you need physical checkpoint tours, phone-call alarms or automatic badge checking. Choose ShiftTracker if your client contracts ask for BS 7858 evidence and one audit trail across rota, pay and billing. This comparison uses Parim's public pages and ShiftTracker's own documentation, checked in October 2026, and it names the gaps on both sides. Neither product wins on every point.
What Parim is built for
Parim is shift scheduling software aimed at events, security and temporary staffing. Every plan includes unlimited users, and the product offers a GPS time clock app, a clock-in kiosk mode and self-scheduling of open shifts. Parim's own pages report more than 330,000 employees on the platform and a 4.8 rating on Capterra.
Its pricing page lists scheduling patterns, timesheet lists, pay run reports and CSV exports on the first plan. The second plan adds payroll export, an invoicing report, pay lock and client shift requests. Events manager, checkpoints, incident reporting and check calls appear as separate modules.
That makes Parim a broad scheduling tool with security features attached. It is a sensible fit for a business that mixes event staffing, temporary labour and some guarding.
Guard tours, check calls and lone worker safety
Parim is stronger on physical guard tours. It uses NFC tags and iBeacon devices as checkpoints and produces timestamped tour reports for clients. ShiftTracker does not use checkpoint tags. It runs check-calls from the officer's phone on an interval you set, and a missed call alerts your control users.
Parim describes check calls as a bespoke alarm policy with real-time alerts by automated phone call, plus customisable check-in periods for each lone worker.
ShiftTracker works differently. The default interval is 60 minutes, and each call has a window that opens 15 minutes early and lasts 30. PIN and site ID checks are on by default, and GPS is optional. A missed call sends an in-app and push alert to every active Super Admin, Admin and Control user, and an Escalate button raises it by hand. ShiftTracker does not phone the officer or arrange cover. The check-call windows and escalation guide lists each setting and its default.
SIA licences and BS 7858 vetting
Parim advertises daily SIA badge checks that run in the background. ShiftTracker does not check the SIA register. It records licences, raises expiry alerts and blocks deployment after expiry, and links to the public register for a manual check. For BS 7858 screening, ShiftTracker has a dedicated Screening tab, and Parim's public pages describe no equivalent.
If automatic register checking is a contract requirement, that point favours Parim. ShiftTracker leaves the register check with you, so your team must do it by hand and keep the evidence.
Where ShiftTracker leads is the screening record itself. The BS 7858 screening guide shows how the Screening tab holds a five- or ten-year vetting window, employment and other periods, gaps between them, the applicant's consent and references. An auditor sees one record per person.
Licence tracking follows the SIA licence verification process. A licence uploaded as a verified document raises alerts at 30, 7 and 0 days before expiry and stops the officer being put on a shift dated after it lapses. A licence only typed onto the officer record does neither.
Scheduling, time and attendance, and payroll
Both platforms build recurring rotas, let staff pick up open shifts and record time worked from a phone. ShiftTracker builds patterns site by site, with a seat for each person needed, and can broadcast an open shift to chosen employees so the first to accept is assigned. Parim publishes open shifts to staff with matching roles and locations.
ShiftTracker book-on can be blocked outside a site's geofence once you switch geofencing on for that site. Parim offers a GPS time clock and a kiosk mode for shared tablets.
On pay, ShiftTracker's Payroll Export produces a Sage 50 timesheet file or a generic hours file from approved shifts. It has no Xero export. The payroll export guide covers the steps. Parim lists a payroll export and an invoicing report. ShiftTracker builds client invoices from the same arbitrated hours, so pay and billing share one source.
Pricing and the size of operation you are buying for
Neither platform publishes a single price per user. Parim states that all plans include unlimited users and that it prices on the functionality you need and the number of shifts you schedule each month. It asks you to book a call or complete a form.
ShiftTracker quotes custom prices across three capacity tiers: Base, Organization Professional and Enterprise. Tiers are defined by sites, users, agencies and agency requests.
That difference matters if your headcount is high but your shift volume is modest, or the reverse. Ask both vendors for a quote against your real numbers, and confirm which modules are included, because Parim lists several as separate items.
Who should choose ShiftTracker
Choose ShiftTracker when compliance evidence sits in the contract. If a client asks for BS 7858 screening records, licence expiry control and a clear history of who changed what, the Screening tab and audit trail hold that evidence per person.
It also suits organisations that work with partner agencies, because requests, proposals and confirmed officers sit in the same system as your own rota. The agency partnership guide describes the process. Choose it if you want pay and client billing built from one set of hours.
Who should choose Parim
Choose Parim when your clients expect verifiable guard tours. NFC and iBeacon checkpoints give timestamped proof that an officer visited a point, and ShiftTracker cannot match that today. Parim's checkpoint reports go to your clients as evidence of each patrol round.
Parim also fits if you want automatic daily SIA badge checks with no manual register lookup, or phone-call alarms for lone workers. Event staffing and temporary labour are further strengths, with an events manager and unlimited users. If none of your contracts name BS 7858, the gap in vetting may not matter to you.
How to decide between them
Start with your two largest contracts and mark every clause about vetting, patrols and lone working. If a clause demands physical checkpoint evidence, put Parim at the top of the list. If it demands BS 7858 screening records, put ShiftTracker there.
Then ask both vendors to demonstrate your own workflow: a screening record, a missed check-call and a pay run. Try the open-shift task too, using the broadcast open shifts guide as a reference for how ShiftTracker does it. Check each claim in this comparison against the vendor's current pages before you buy, because both products change.
