If you are searching "Astalty vs ShiftCare", your provider is probably growing. The spreadsheet roster is straining, shift texts are piling up, and you want one system that handles rostering, timesheets and invoicing. Both products are real options, and both have been built for care providers. The harder question is what happens when your roster gets bigger and more complicated.
The short answer
- Astalty is an Australian-built system with simple per-user pricing, no lock-in and a dedicated support coordination workflow. It suits providers who want a straightforward tool and a low-commitment start.
- BondiByte builds a whole roster period for you as a draft, checks hard rules first, shows its reasons and waits for a manager to publish. It includes every feature on every plan and covers SIL, audit readiness and support coordination in one system.
- ShiftCare is a broad all-in-one care platform with low entry pricing and direct NDIA claiming through PRODA on its top plan. It suits providers who want that claiming path and are comfortable choosing a plan by feature.
Astalty: Australian-built and straightforward
Astalty is built in Australia for NDIS providers. It says it is trusted by 1,400+ NDIS businesses. It offers a dedicated support coordination workflow, and its commercial terms are easy to read: no minimum users, no lock-in, cancel anytime, a 14-day free trial with no credit card and a 3-month money-back guarantee.
On rostering, its scheduling page describes how it will "Match workers to shifts based on availability, skills, and Participant preferences automatically", with the best-fit workers surfacing first. That is genuinely useful when you are filling a shift.
Where a growing provider may feel limits
Astalty prices per user, at $64 per standard user and $30 per support worker a month (GST inclusive), so the monthly cost rises with headcount. The matching it describes works one shift at a time. We did not find a description of building a whole roster period from a pattern, of hard rules being checked before a suggestion, or of a draft reviewed before publishing. On AI, Astalty says "We're still researching" and "We're not rushing to build anything we're not confident in". SIL-specific rostering and NDIS audit tooling were not described on the pages we reviewed.
BondiByte: whole-roster scheduling with the reasons shown
BondiByte is an Australian NDIS operations platform from BondiByte Robotics Pty Ltd, hosted on Microsoft Azure with Australian data residency. It covers rostering, timesheets, service agreements, invoicing, support coordination, reports and forms, and an Audit Centre in one system.
Pricing is simple. Every feature is included on every plan, with no feature gating. For a team of 10, the Starter plan works out at about $9.90 per staff member a month, with tax treatment confirmed at onboarding. Staff numbers are an allowance, never a cap. There is a 28-day free trial.
Its standout strengths are Smart Rostering that builds a whole period, audit readiness you can see every day, and depth for SIL homes. It fits best for small to mid providers running SIL houses and community rosters together, and for providers who want an audit trail and a roster they can explain to a participant, a family or an auditor.
ShiftCare: broad, low entry price, direct claiming at the top
ShiftCare is an all-in-one care management platform. It says it is "Trusted by 8,000+ care providers worldwide". Its Basic plan starts at $8 per user a month (billed annually, ex GST) and includes rostering, GPS clock in and out, AI progress notes and "Signals". Every plan has seven days free with no card. If you want to lodge claims with the NDIA straight from your software, its Premium plan offers direct NDIA claims with PRODA, along with a Family Portal, care plans and eMAR.
Its rostering has some useful automation. SmartMatch automatically publishes declined shifts to a job board and offers them to suitable carers, and its care-rostering page describes an option to automatically assign an open shift to the first staff member who applies. Its pricing page also lists "SIL rostering".
Where a growing provider may feel limits
Plans start from a 5-staff minimum, and the features you need for NDIS billing sit on higher tiers. Bulk invoicing and NDIS claim file upload need Professional ($13 billed annually or $15 monthly), and direct NDIA claiming with PRODA needs Premium ($20 or $25). HR ($2) and Certifications ($3) are add-ons per user a month. The pricing page lists "SIL rostering" without saying which plan includes it, so ask before you buy. The automation is also shift by shift: offering a vacant shift, or assigning it to the first applicant, rather than building a whole roster period for review.
The gap Astalty and ShiftCare share
Both help with one shift at a time. ShiftCare's SmartMatch offers open shifts to suitable carers automatically, its job board can auto-assign an open shift to the first applicant, and its marketing calls its rostering AI-enabled. Astalty matches workers to shifts on availability, skills and participant preferences and shows the best fit first.
That is helpful when a shift is open. But neither describes building a whole roster period from a pattern, checked against hard rules first, ranked with reasons shown, and delivered as a draft to review before publishing. For a provider with ten, thirty or sixty staff, the weekly pain is not one empty shift. It is a whole fortnight that has to fit leave, availability, qualifications, hours and fairness at the same time. That is the problem BondiByte Smart Rostering was built for.
Where BondiByte pulls ahead
Rosters built for you
Smart Rostering is switched on site by site. By default, shifts are created from the pattern about three weeks before the period, a draft roster is generated, a manager reviews it, and then publishes. Review before publish is the default, and auto-publish stays off unless you turn it on, per site. A SIL house and a community roster can run different settings.
Critical conflicts are blocked first. Leave, inactive status, double-booking, blocked time and full shifts stop an assignment outright. Then five suitability checks run: availability, requirements, site team, hours cap and compliance, where expired evidence does not count. Candidates are ranked on eleven factors: availability and no clash, what the site and shift require, primary, secondary or relief team, continuity, fatigue, fair spread, weekday and weekend balance, registered interest, preferred hours and recent cancellation history. Cost is a factor only if you choose the cost-aware setting. Every recommendation shows its reasons, and when a shift cannot be filled, BondiByte shows the reason.
Audit readiness every day
The Audit Centre gives a live readiness score by domain, with evidence mapped to the NDIS Practice Standards (Core Module plus supplementary modules). You can invite auditors with a limited scope, and track samples, findings and corrective actions in the same place. Audit preparation becomes something you check weekly instead of something you scramble for.
Every feature on every plan
There is no feature gating. You do not need to work out whether invoicing, audit tools or SIL support sit on a higher tier. Staff numbers are an allowance, never a cap, so growth does not trigger a surprise.
Built for SIL
SIL homes have primary, secondary and relief teams, and the rostering uses them. Sleepover timesheets arrive as three components, so the pay side matches how the shift actually ran.
Service agreements and invoicing
Service agreements auto-fill more than 30 details, support e-signature, pull NDIS catalogue line items, and lock the signed copy. Invoices are drafted from rostered shifts and sent as PDF and email, with a bulk payment request CSV in the NDIS layout. BondiByte prepares claim-ready data; it does not lodge claims with the NDIA directly. Timesheets are drafted from the roster, staff submit, managers approve, and pay levels apply. There is a Xero Payroll connection, plus MYOB-ready and Employment Hero-ready exports.
Support coordination in the same system
Caseloads, billable case notes, plan budgets and burn, goals, tasks, referrals and reports sit alongside rostering and invoicing, so a provider that offers both services does not need a second tool.
AI a person always reviews
AI is optional. Your organisation switches it on, and a person always reviews what it suggests. Reports, forms and charts are yours to build.
Side-by-side comparison
| Feature | BondiByte | Astalty | ShiftCare |
|---|---|---|---|
| Shift matching | Builds a whole roster period from a pattern as a draft | Matches workers to shifts on availability, skills and participant preferences; best fit first | SmartMatch offers open shifts to suitable carers; option to auto-assign to the first applicant |
| Hard rules checked first | Yes: leave, inactive status, double-booking, blocked time, full shifts, plus five suitability checks | Not described | Not described |
| Reasons shown | Every recommendation shows its reasons | Not described | Not described |
| Review before publishing | Default; auto-publish off unless turned on per site | Not described | Not described |
| SIL | Primary, secondary and relief teams; sleepover timesheets in three components | Not described | "SIL rostering" listed; plan not stated |
| Audit readiness | Audit Centre with live score mapped to the NDIS Practice Standards | Not described | Not described |
| Invoicing and claims | Drafts from rostered shifts; bulk payment request CSV in the NDIS layout | Ask the vendor | Bulk invoicing and claim file upload on Professional; direct NDIA claims with PRODA on Premium |
| Support coordination | Caseloads, case notes, plan budgets, goals, referrals | Dedicated workflow | Ask the vendor |
| AI | Optional; a person always reviews | "Still researching" | AI progress notes and Signals |
| Pricing model | Same features on every plan | One plan, two user types | Four tiers by feature, plus add-ons |
| Team size | Staff numbers are an allowance, never a cap | No minimum users | 5-staff minimum; Enterprise from 250 staff |
| Free trial | 28 days | 14 days, no credit card; 3-month money-back guarantee | 7 days, no card |
What it costs for a team of 10
These figures use each vendor's public prices as of 15 October 2026. They are not like for like on GST, and the features included differ, so compare features per dollar rather than the lowest number.
| Product | Plan | Monthly cost for a team of 10 |
|---|---|---|
| Astalty | 10 support workers plus 1 standard user | $364 GST inclusive (about $331 ex GST) |
| BondiByte | Starter, every feature included | About $9.90 per staff member a month; tax treatment confirmed at onboarding |
| ShiftCare | Basic, 10 staff (no invoicing) | $80 annual to $90 monthly, ex GST |
| ShiftCare | Professional, 10 staff (bulk invoicing and claim file upload) | $130 annual to $150 monthly, ex GST |
| ShiftCare | Premium (direct NDIA claims with PRODA) | $20 to $25 per user, so $200 to $250 for 10 staff, ex GST |
The Astalty figure assumes one standard user, such as a coordinator or manager, on top of 10 support workers. The ShiftCare figures count 10 staff only and exclude the HR and Certifications add-ons.
Which should you choose?
- Choose BondiByte if your biggest time sink is building the roster, if you run SIL houses, or if you want audit evidence, service agreements, invoicing and support coordination in one system with every feature on every plan. It is also the pick if you want a draft you can review, with reasons attached.
- Choose Astalty if you want an Australian-built tool with simple per-user pricing, no lock-in, a money-back guarantee and a dedicated support coordination workflow, and you are comfortable with shift-by-shift matching.
- Choose ShiftCare if you want direct NDIA claiming with PRODA from your software, a broad all-in-one platform, or a low-cost Basic plan, and you are happy to match your plan to the features you need and check which plan covers SIL rostering.
- If you are still unsure, run the same fortnight through each trial. Count how long it takes to produce a roster you would publish.
See it on your own roster
The fastest way to compare is to try it. BondiByte has a 28-day free trial. Set up one site, load a real roster pattern, and see the draft it builds, the conflicts it blocks and the reasons it shows. Watch the Smart Rostering video on this page to see why every roster gap has a reason.
How we compared
We checked the vendors' public pages on 15 October 2026. Prices and plans change, so confirm current details with each vendor. BondiByte details come from bondibyterobotics.com.au. "Not described" means we did not find it on the pages we reviewed, not that the product lacks it.