If you run an NDIS provider, you know the Sunday night feeling. The roster is half built, two people are on leave, a SIL house needs a sleepover covered, and you are matching names to shifts one at a time.
Then an audit notice lands and you spend weeks chasing evidence across folders, inboxes and spreadsheets. And when you go looking for software to help, you find the feature you need sits on the next pricing tier up.
This guide gives you an honest three-way comparison of ShiftCare, Brevity and Astalty. Then it introduces a fourth option, BondiByte, built for growing providers who want rostering done for them and audit readiness built in. We are BondiByte, so we are not neutral. To keep this fair, everything we say about the other three comes from their own public pages.
The short answer
- ShiftCare suits small providers who want a low per-user entry price and are happy to step up plans as they add invoicing and claiming.
- BondiByte suits growing providers, particularly those running SIL or several sites, who want rosters built for them and to be audit-ready every day.
- Brevity suits providers who prefer pricing by client, and those who also work in aged care.
- Astalty suits providers, especially in support coordination, who want no minimum users and no lock-in.
ShiftCare
ShiftCare is an all-in-one care management platform. Its plans start from a 5-staff minimum, with Enterprise from 250 staff, and it says more than 8,000 care providers use it.
Pricing model. It charges per user per month, excluding GST. On its public pricing page in October 2026, Basic is $8 on annual billing or $9 monthly, Professional is $13 or $15, and Premium is $20 or $25. Enterprise, for 250 or more staff, is contact sales. There is a minimum of 5 staff and a 7-day trial with no card.
Strengths. The entry price is low, and Basic already includes rostering, GPS clock in and out, and AI progress notes. Its SmartMatch tools offer open shifts to suitable carers automatically, and the plan ladder is easy to understand.
Where a growing provider may feel limits. NDIS bulk invoicing and claim file upload sit on Professional. Direct NDIA claims with PRODA, the Family Portal, care plans and eMAR sit on Premium. Add-ons such as HR ($2) and Certifications ($3) are priced per user on top.
BondiByte
BondiByte is an Australian NDIS operations platform built for providers who are growing. Rostering, timesheets and pay, service agreements, invoicing, support coordination and audit readiness run in one system.
Pricing model. A flat monthly plan with a staff allowance, and every feature on every plan. For a team of 10, the Starter plan works out at about $9.90 per staff member a month. There is a 28-day free trial on Starter, Foundation and Growth.
Strengths. Smart Rostering builds a draft roster from your pattern, blocks unsuitable staff first, ranks the rest on eleven factors and shows the reasons behind every recommendation. Evidence is mapped to the NDIS Practice Standards with a live readiness score, and each SIL house can run its own rostering rules.
Where it fits best. Providers who are growing, run SIL or several sites, and want rosters built for them and audit readiness every day, without climbing a pricing ladder to unlock features.
Brevity
Brevity describes itself as an organisation wide platform for NDIS providers. It is an NDIS Digital Partner and also covers aged care, including HCP and CHSP.
Pricing model. It prices per client, excluding GST. On its public pricing page in October 2026, Lite is $44.90 a month ($4.49 per client) and Business is $64.90 a month ($6.49 per client), with a setup fee. Enterprise is on application. Lite has a free trial (length not stated). Business has no trial.
Strengths. Lite includes rostering, a mobile app, invoicing, NDIS bulk claims and incident management. That is a solid base. Business adds group rostering and SIL and plan management modules. A September 2026 Brevity article also describes AI Recommendations that rank eligible workers for unassigned shifts, with the planner making the final call.
Where a growing provider may feel limits. SIL and group rostering sit on the Business plan, which carries a setup fee. Because pricing follows client numbers, your bill moves as your caseload grows.
Astalty
Astalty is Australian-built and offers a dedicated support coordination workflow. It says more than 1,400 NDIS businesses use it and that it is ISO 27001 accredited.
Pricing model. It charges per user per month, GST inclusive: $64 per standard user and $30 per support worker. There is no minimum number of users and no lock-in. On its public pricing page in October 2026 it offers a 14-day trial with no card, plus a 3-month money-back guarantee.
Strengths. The flexibility is real. You can start small, leave when you like, and your support workers cost less than your office users. Its scheduling matches workers to shifts on availability, skills and participant preferences, with best-fit workers shown first.
Where a growing provider may feel limits. Its pages describe matching workers to shifts, not building a whole roster period from a pattern. On AI, Astalty says it is "still researching" and is "not rushing to build anything we're not confident in". Every office user is charged at the higher $64 rate, which adds up as your back office grows.
The gap ShiftCare, Brevity and Astalty share
All three now help you match staff to shifts. ShiftCare offers open shifts to suitable carers and can auto-assign the first applicant. Brevity describes AI Recommendations that rank eligible workers for an unassigned shift. Astalty matches workers to shifts on availability, skills and participant preferences. Each of those helps with one shift at a time.
What we did not find on any of their pages is a whole roster period built from your pattern, checked against hard rules first, ranked with the reasons shown, and handed to you as a draft to review before anything is published.
Shift-by-shift matching is fine at 10 staff. At 40 staff, with a SIL house, a community roster and a stack of leave requests, building the fortnight becomes your biggest weekly job.
This is the gap BondiByte Smart Rostering was built to close. It works in a sensible order:
- Hard blocks first. Critical conflicts are blocked first. Leave, inactive status, double-booking, blocked time and full shifts stop an assignment outright.
- Suitability checks. Availability, required capabilities, site team, hours cap and compliance are checked. Expired evidence does not count.
- Eleven ranking factors. The remaining candidates are ranked on availability, site and shift requirements, team tier, continuity, fatigue, fair spread, weekday and weekend balance, shift interest, preferred hours, cancellation history and, optionally, cost.
By default, about three weeks before a roster period, shifts are created from your roster pattern and a draft roster is generated. A manager reviews it, then publishes.
Smart Rostering is switched on site by site. Review before publish is the default. Auto-publish is off unless you turn it on, and you set it per site. A stable SIL house and a flexible community roster can run different settings. And every recommendation shows the reasons behind it, so you can see why a name was suggested and trust it, or overrule it.
You stay in charge. You just stop doing the matching by hand.
Where BondiByte pulls ahead
Rosters built for you
Smart Rostering takes the weekly matching job off your desk, with the rules and reasons described above. Timesheets are then drafted from the roster, staff submit them, and managers approve them. Pay is payroll-ready by level, with a Xero Payroll connection and MYOB and Employment Hero ready exports.
Audit readiness every day
BondiByte gives you a live readiness score by domain. Evidence is mapped to the NDIS Practice Standards, covering the Core Module and supplementary modules. When auditors arrive, you invite them with scoped access, and samples, findings and corrective actions are tracked in one place. You are not rebuilding a story the week before.
Every feature on every plan
There is no feature gating. Starter, Foundation, Growth and Operations all include the same features. Staff numbers are an allowance, not a cap, so a busy month does not lock anyone out.
Built for SIL
SIL homes have primary, secondary and relief site teams. Sleepover segments arrive in timesheets split into three components. Each site can have its own rostering rules, so a SIL house and a community team do not have to share one setting.
Service agreements and invoicing
The service agreement builder auto-fills more than 30 details and supports e-signature. It uses NDIS catalogue line items, and signed agreements are locked. Invoices are drafted from rostered shifts, with PDF and email, and a bulk payment request CSV in the NDIS layout for claiming. To be clear, BondiByte prepares claim-ready data. It does not lodge claims with the NDIA directly.
Support coordination in the same system
The Support Coordination workspace covers caseload, billable case notes, budget burn, goals, tasks, referrals and reports. Reports, forms and charts are yours to build.
AI that a person always reviews
AI assistance is optional. Your organisation switches it on, and a person always reviews what it produces.
BondiByte Robotics Pty Ltd is an Australian company, and the platform is hosted on Microsoft Azure with Australian data residency.
The comparison at a glance
| Feature | BondiByte | ShiftCare | Brevity | Astalty |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pricing model | Flat monthly plan with a staff allowance | Per user per month, ex GST | Per client per month, ex GST | Per user per month (support worker or standard user), GST inclusive |
| Entry price (as published) | About $9.90 per staff a month (Starter, team of 10) | From $8 per user a month (annual), minimum 5 staff | Lite $44.90 a month ($4.49 per client) | $30 per support worker, $64 per standard user |
| Free trial | 28 days on Starter, Foundation and Growth | 7 days, no card | Lite: yes (length not stated). Business: no trial | 14 days, no card, 3-month money-back guarantee |
| Roster building | A whole roster period drafted from your pattern, reviewed before publishing | Auto-offers open shifts to suitable carers and can auto-assign the first applicant | AI Recommendations rank workers for each unassigned shift | Matches workers to shifts, best fit shown first |
| Explained staff recommendations | Yes, reasons shown for every recommendation | Not covered on the pages we checked | Not covered on the pages we checked | Not covered on the pages we checked |
| NDIS invoicing / claims | Invoice drafts from rostered shifts and a bulk payment request CSV in the NDIS layout. No direct NDIA lodging | Bulk invoicing and claim file upload on Professional. Direct NDIA claims with PRODA on Premium | Invoicing and NDIS bulk claims on Lite | Not covered on the pages we checked |
| Practice Standards audit centre | Yes, with a live readiness score by domain and scoped auditor access | Not covered on the pages we checked | Not covered on the pages we checked | Not covered on the pages we checked |
| SIL tools | Per-site rules, split sleepover segments, primary, secondary and relief teams | SIL rostering listed (plan not stated) | SIL module on Business | Not covered on the pages we checked |
| Features locked behind higher tiers | No, the same features on every plan | Yes, across Basic, Professional and Premium | Yes, SIL and group rostering are on Business | No tiers, priced per user |
What it costs for a 10-staff provider
Pricing models differ, so here is a worked example. All figures come from each vendor's public pricing page in October 2026.
- ShiftCare: NDIS bulk invoicing and claim file upload need Professional, at $13 per user a month billed annually or $15 monthly (ex GST). For 10 staff, that is $130 to $150 a month. Direct NDIA claiming with PRODA needs Premium, at $20 to $25 per user. If you only need Basic, 10 staff cost $80 to $90 a month, but invoicing is not included.
- BondiByte: about $9.90 per staff a month on the Starter plan for a team of 10, with every feature included. No higher tier to unlock invoicing, audit tools or SIL. Tax treatment is confirmed at onboarding.
- Astalty: $30 per support worker plus $64 per standard user a month, GST inclusive. With 10 support workers and 1 office user, that is $364 a month GST inclusive (about $331 ex GST).
- Brevity: priced per client (Lite $4.49 per client, Business $6.49 per client a month, ex GST). Business adds SIL and a setup fee. Your cost depends on how many clients you support.
We will not tell you BondiByte is the cheapest option, because the right comparison depends on which features you need. Our point is simpler: everything included from one plan price. You do not climb a tier ladder to get invoicing, audit tools or SIL, and your bill does not change with client numbers.
Which should you choose?
- Choose BondiByte if you are growing, run SIL or several sites, want rosters built for you, and want to be audit-ready every day rather than once every audit cycle.
- Choose ShiftCare if you are a small provider, want a low per-user entry price, and are comfortable adding invoicing and claiming by moving up plans. If you need direct NDIA claiming with PRODA from inside your software, its Premium plan offers it.
- Choose Brevity if you want pricing by client, you also deliver aged care, or you like a platform described as organisation wide.
- Choose Astalty if support coordination is your core work, or you want no minimum users, no lock-in and a money-back guarantee.
Stop matching shifts by hand
Every provider we have described here can run a roster. The question is who does the thinking. With BondiByte, the system does the matching, shows its reasons, and hands you a draft to review. Your audit evidence builds as you work, so the next audit is a review, not a scramble.
Start your 28-day free trial on the Starter, Foundation or Growth plan and see it with your own roster. Watch the Smart Rostering video on this page to see it in action.
How we compared
Competitor information comes from each vendor's public website and pricing pages, checked on 15 October 2026. Features and prices change, so check each vendor's site before you decide. BondiByte details are from bondibyterobotics.com.au.