L1NDA Alternative for Small Hospitality Businesses (2026)
If you're running a restaurant, café, or bar with 15-35 employees and your L1NDA bill keeps climbing every time you hire, you're not imagining it. L1NDA charges €4-5 per scheduled employee per month. That model works until your team grows, and suddenly your scheduling app costs more than your coffee supplier.
This post compares L1NDA with Simple Planning: what each tool does well, what it costs at real team sizes, and who should use which. No spin. Just the numbers.
Quick Comparison: L1NDA vs Simple Planning
| L1NDA | Simple Planning | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing model | Per scheduled employee (€4-5/mo each) | Fixed monthly tiers |
| Cost for 15 staff | €60-75/month | €15/month |
| Cost for 25 staff | €100-125/month | €49/month |
| Cost for 35 staff | €140-175/month | €99/month |
| Free tier | 14-day trial only | Permanent free (1-4 employees) |
| Freelancer marketplace | Yes (YoungOnes, Temper) | No |
| Payroll integration | Yes (Nmbrs, AFAS, Loket) | No |
| Mobile scheduling for managers | Limited (desktop-first admin) | Full mobile-first |
| Setup time | 2-5 days | Same day |
| Best for | 20+ staff needing payroll + flex workers | 5-50 staff needing clean scheduling |
What L1NDA Does Well
L1NDA is the most widely used scheduling platform in Dutch hospitality. Over 3,500 businesses and 110,000 professionals use it daily, and that market position is earned.
The freelancer marketplace is genuinely useful. L1NDA connects to platforms like YoungOnes and Temper, giving you access to 100,000+ verified flex workers. If you regularly need to fill last-minute shifts with freelancers, this feature alone might justify the cost. Simple Planning does not offer this.
Payroll integration is tight. L1NDA connects directly to Nmbrs, AFAS, Loket.nl, and other Dutch payroll systems. Hours flow straight from the schedule into payroll with minimal manual work. If your operation runs the full scheduling-to-payroll chain and you want that automated, L1NDA handles it.
Dutch market knowledge is deep. L1NDA was built in Amsterdam for Dutch hospitality. The interface, support, and feature set reflect years of working specifically with horeca businesses. They understand oproepkrachten, CAO rules, and the realities of the Dutch market.
These strengths are real. If you need them, L1NDA may be the right choice.
Where L1NDA Gets Expensive
The per-employee pricing model is straightforward when your team is small. At 10 employees, you're paying roughly €40-50 per month. That feels reasonable.
The problem shows up when you grow. Or when the seasons change.
The Seasonal Pricing Trap
Most Dutch hospitality businesses run on a seasonal cycle. You have 15 staff in January. By April, terrace season starts and you're at 25. Summer peaks at 35.
Here's what that looks like on L1NDA vs Simple Planning:
| Team size | L1NDA (at €5/employee) | Simple Planning | You save |
|---|---|---|---|
| 10 employees | €50/month | €15/month | €35/month |
| 15 employees | €75/month | €15/month | €60/month |
| 20 employees | €100/month | €49/month | €51/month |
| 25 employees | €125/month | €49/month | €76/month |
| 35 employees | €175/month | €99/month | €76/month |
| 50 employees | €250/month | €99/month | €151/month |
At 25 employees, you save €76 per month. Over a year: €912.
That's not a rounding error. For a café or restaurant watching every cost line, especially with CAO wages rising 2.5% this year (and 25% cumulatively since 2020), €912 buys real things. That's two weekends of extra staff cover, or a month's worth of cleaning supplies.
You Pay for Features You Might Not Need
L1NDA is a full workforce management platform. It includes a freelancer marketplace, payroll integration, clocking systems, and more. If you use all of that, the per-employee cost reflects a broader product.
But if you run a 15-person café and your only goal is to get next week's schedule published without spending 3 hours in Excel, you're paying for functionality that sits unused.
Simple Planning only does scheduling. That's the point. No payroll, no freelancer pool, no contract management. You pay for what you need and nothing you don't.
What Simple Planning Offers Instead
Simple Planning is built for shift-based hospitality teams of 5 to 50 people. Here's what you get:
Same-day setup. No multi-day onboarding process. Import your team, set up your locations and sections (Bar, Kitchen, Floor), and publish your first schedule in under an hour.
Mobile-first for managers, not just staff. Most scheduling tools treat mobile as a view-only experience for employees. Simple Planning lets managers build, edit, and publish schedules from their phone. You're rarely at a desk. Your scheduling tool shouldn't require one.
Copy last week's schedule. Most weeks look similar to the last one. Copy the previous week, adjust for availability changes, and publish. What used to take 2-3 hours in Excel takes 20 minutes.
Availability management built in. Staff set recurring weekly availability and one-off overrides. When you're building the schedule, you see who's available before you assign anyone. No more "I told you I can't work Saturdays" conversations.
Conflict detection. Try to schedule someone who's marked unavailable and Simple Planning flags it. No more double bookings discovered at 4pm on a Friday.
Fixed pricing you can plan around. Four tiers, no surprises:
| Plan | Team size | Monthly cost |
|---|---|---|
| Free | 1-4 employees | €0 (permanently free) |
| Starter | 5-15 employees | €15/month |
| Professional | 16-35 employees | €49/month |
| Business | 35+ employees | €99/month |
No per-employee charges. No setup fees. No credit card for the free tier.
Who Should Stay with L1NDA
L1NDA is the better choice if:
- You rely on freelancers regularly. The marketplace connecting you to YoungOnes and Temper is unique. If you fill 20-30% of your shifts with flex workers, this feature pays for itself.
- You need payroll integration as a must-have. If you use Nmbrs, AFAS, or Loket.nl and want hours to flow automatically from schedule to payroll, L1NDA does this natively. Simple Planning does not.
- You're a large operation (50+ staff) with complex scheduling rules. L1NDA's depth in workforce management serves bigger teams better.
- You're already happy with L1NDA and your team size is stable. If the monthly cost works and the product fits, switching tools creates unnecessary friction.
Who Should Switch to Simple Planning
Simple Planning is the better choice if:
- You have 5-35 employees and just need scheduling. You don't need payroll integration, freelancer access, or clocking. You need next week's roster done fast on your phone.
- Your team size fluctuates seasonally. Going from 15 to 35 staff shouldn't double your software bill. Fixed tiers mean you plan around one number, not a moving target.
- You want to try before committing (without a deadline). L1NDA's 14-day trial creates pressure. Simple Planning's free tier for up to 4 employees is permanent. Start there, add your full team when ready.
- You manage schedules on your phone. Simple Planning's mobile-first approach means the manager experience is designed for phones, not adapted from desktop.
- You're watching every euro. With loonkosten rising faster than revenue for most horeca businesses, saving €50-76 per month on scheduling software is savings you feel.
Frequently Asked Questions
How much does L1NDA cost for a 20-person restaurant?
At €4-5 per scheduled employee per month, a 20-person team costs approximately €80-100/month on L1NDA. Simple Planning's Professional tier covers 16-35 employees for a flat €49/month.
Does Simple Planning have a freelancer marketplace like L1NDA?
No. Simple Planning focuses on scheduling your own team. If you regularly need to fill shifts with external freelancers, L1NDA's integration with YoungOnes and Temper is a genuine advantage.
Can I switch from L1NDA to Simple Planning easily?
Yes. Import your staff list via CSV, set up your locations and availability, and you can publish your first schedule the same day. There's no migration fee or onboarding process.
Is Simple Planning really free?
The free tier supports 1-4 employees with full scheduling features. It's permanent, not a trial. No credit card required. When your team grows past 4, the Starter plan is €15/month.
Does Simple Planning integrate with Dutch payroll systems?
Not currently. Simple Planning focuses on scheduling only. If payroll integration is a hard requirement, L1NDA or Shiftbase may be better fits. If you handle payroll separately (as many small horeca businesses do), this won't matter.
The Bottom Line
L1NDA is a strong product with real advantages: freelancer access, payroll integration, and deep market penetration. If you need those things, it's worth the per-employee price.
But if you're a restaurant, café, or bar with 5-35 employees who just wants fast, mobile-first scheduling without paying for features you don't use, the math favours a fixed-tier model.
At 25 employees, the difference is €76 per month. At 35, still €76. Over a year, that's €912 back in your business.
If you want your schedule done in 20 minutes without paying for a workforce management suite, try Simple Planning free. No credit card, no sales call, no 14-day countdown.