Employee in/out board comparison
Both are capable employee in/out boards. Staff Glance emphasizes configurable organization-wide visibility, department scope, and optional Microsoft 365 synchronization. Simple In/Out offers more dedicated applications, physical-location and device automation, notifications, and time-oriented reporting.
| Capability | Staff Glance | Simple In/Out |
|---|---|---|
| Shared employee board | Yes Realtime authenticated board with permission-scoped roster visibility. | Yes Web and app boards; the regular web board is documented to refresh every three minutes. |
| Manual status changes | Yes Employees update themselves; authorized roles can update others within scope. | Yes One-button updates from the board and supported apps. |
| Public read-only board | No The board requires an authenticated account. | Yes Public Links can expose a read-only board to anyone holding the URL. |
| Contact details | Yes Employee profiles can include contact and job information. | Yes User details are available from the board. |
| Capability | Staff Glance | Simple In/Out |
|---|---|---|
| Built-in and custom statuses | Yes Built-ins plus an optional company catalog with custom names, icons, colors, and order. | Yes Quick Picks and company-wide Quick Picks support reusable status updates. |
| Status comments | No No distinct status-comment field; custom status text is a status label, not a comment. | Yes Optional comments add context to an update. |
| Expected return time | No No dedicated expected-return field. | Partial / Different approach Official board materials emphasize status/comment context; return-time behavior was not used as a comparison claim. |
| Protected status | Yes An optional admin-controlled lock restricts employee and Manager changes; authorized admins and documented policy automation remain distinct. | Not publicly verified No equivalent lock was established from the reviewed official pages. |
| Capability | Staff Glance | Simple In/Out |
|---|---|---|
| Teams presence | Yes Optional Graph polling maps Teams presence after administrator setup. | Yes Official Teams integration sends Teams presence information to the board. |
| Teams work location | Yes Optional synchronization, subject to Teams configuration and precedence rules. | Not publicly verified The reviewed official material did not establish equivalent work-location sync. |
| Geofence, Wi-Fi, beacon | No Custom Locations are labels, not physical tracking or automation. | Yes Native apps support geofences, Networks (Wi-Fi), and Bluetooth beacons. |
| Desktop activity | No No desktop agent changes status from computer activity. | Yes Windows/Mac Desktop Presence can check users in or out based on activity. |
| Scheduled/calendar-triggered status | Partial / Different approach Calendar Snapshot itself is display-only. Separately, when Teams Sense is configured, calendar meetings and Microsoft Out-of-Office events can influence Teams presence/OOO signals that indirectly update Staff Glance status. | Yes Scheduled Statuses and iCalendar feeds can apply future updates directly. |
| Capability | Staff Glance | Simple In/Out |
|---|---|---|
| Teams application | Yes Personal tab for the hosted Staff Glance app; installing it does not configure other integrations. | Yes AppSource tab supports board viewing and status changes. |
| Entra ID SSO | Yes Optional company configuration requiring tenant setup and consent. | Yes Available on Enterprise and used across its apps and integrations. |
| User/group provisioning | Yes Admins select one or more supported Entra groups, preview changes, and can enable scheduled sync. | Partial / Different approach Enterprise SSO automatically provisions users and groups. This is not the same workflow as selected-group sync. |
| Profile attribute mapping | Yes Optional office location, first business phone, department, and job title sync. Department matches an existing unique name; Custom Locations overrides office-location sync. | Not publicly verified Equivalent field-level mapping was not established in reviewed official documentation. |
| Calendar | Partial / Different approach Calendar Snapshot and a combined, read-only Department Calendar provide availability views for employees the viewer is authorized to see; they display names and availability types only, never meeting subjects or details. Neither directly changes status. With Teams Sense configured, meeting and Microsoft Out-of-Office signals can indirectly update status through Teams presence. | Yes Microsoft tabs and calendar feeds support directly scheduled statuses. |
| Capability | Staff Glance | Simple In/Out |
|---|---|---|
| Organization structure | Yes Department tree, multiple memberships, one primary department, and bulk membership tools. | Yes Groups organize users and can restrict boards and reports. |
| Visibility and management scope | Yes Optional Department Visibility limits roster and delegated authority by assigned branches. | Not publicly verified The reviewed group documentation does not establish an equivalent hierarchy/scoped-role model. |
| Custom locations | Yes Optional managed location catalog; it does not automate arrival. | Partial / Different approach Official automation uses physical geofences, Wi-Fi, and beacons; do not infer absence of other location organization. |
| Capability | Staff Glance | Simple In/Out |
|---|---|---|
| Layouts and columns | Yes Card, Table, and Pill; selectable/resizable table columns. | Yes Configurable displayed fields, multi-column sorting, list/grid choices in Desktop. |
| Find and organize | Yes Search, favorites, status/department/location filters, grouping, and order controls. | Yes Search, groups, Quick Pick favorites, and multiple-column sorting. Quick Pick favorites are not favorite employees. |
| Wall display | Yes Display Mode hides controls for a cleaner monitor view. | Yes Full Screen controls font and presentation colors; separate TV product is also available. |
| Capability | Staff Glance | Simple In/Out |
|---|---|---|
| Availability/check-in reports | Yes Optional admin-only Here, Daily Log, and Status History with filters, sources, 60-day retention, CSV/PDF. Collection starts after enablement. | Yes Timeline and Activity reports show status history and duration. |
| Time cards/payroll orientation | No Does not calculate payroll hours or replace a time clock. | Yes Time Card and total-time exports are documented for timekeeping/payroll workflows. |
| Scheduled/reporting API | No No scheduled reports or public reporting API. | Yes Scheduled email reports, CSV/PDF export, and a reporting API are documented. |
| Channel | Staff Glance | Simple In/Out |
|---|---|---|
| Web/mobile | Yes Responsive web and installable PWA on supported desktop, iOS/iPadOS, and Android browsers; not a native app. | Yes Responsive web plus native iPhone and Android apps. |
| Desktop/TV/kiosk | Partial / Different approach Desktop-installed PWA and browser Display Mode. | Yes Windows/Mac apps, FrontDesk, TimeClock, and TV products. |
| Capability | Staff Glance | Simple In/Out |
|---|---|---|
| Communication | Partial / Different approach Direct in-app coworker messaging. | Yes Pro notifications for followed users, reminders, announcements, and safety conditions. |
| Slack/API/webhooks | No No published Slack integration, customer API, or webhooks. | Yes Slack, API, webhooks, and reporting API are documented. |
| Employees | Staff Glance | Simple In/Out |
|---|---|---|
| 5 | $0 Free, up to 5 | $9.99 Basic 10; $14.99 Pro 10; $17.99 Enterprise 10 when Entra SSO is required |
| 20 | $10 Starter, up to 20 | $19.99 Basic 25; $29.99 Pro 50; $35.99 Enterprise 50 when Entra SSO is required |
| 50 | $20 Small, up to 50 | $29.99 Pro 50; $35.99 Enterprise 50 when Entra SSO is required |
| 100 | $30 Medium, up to 125 | $49.99 Pro 100; $59.99 Enterprise 100 when Entra SSO is required |
| 300 | $50 Large, up to 350 | $99.99 Pro 350; $119.99 Enterprise 350 when Entra SSO is required |
Both publish fixed company-tier prices rather than per-user multiplication. For five employees, Basic 10 is the cheapest published option; Pro 10 and Enterprise 10 are also shown because plan features differ. At 20 employees, Basic 25 is cheapest, while Pro 50 and Enterprise 50 provide different feature sets. At 100 and 300 employees, the published options are Pro and Enterprise tiers. Entra SSO requires Enterprise. Staff Glance has a permanent free plan for up to five users and a 30-day paid-plan trial with up to 50 trial users and no card required. Simple In/Out publishes a 45-day no-card trial and no permanent free plan on the reviewed pricing page.
Consider Staff Glance for low fixed-tier pricing, a permanent five-user free plan, department hierarchy and scoped visibility, configurable Card/Table/Pill boards, basic first-check-in reporting, and Microsoft selected-group plus profile-attribute synchronization.
Consider Simple In/Out when native phone/desktop apps, geofence/Wi-Fi/beacon automation, desktop activity, public board links, TV/kiosk products, proactive notifications, Slack/API/webhooks, or time-card reporting are important.
Information is based on publicly available product documentation reviewed October 25, 2026. Features and pricing may change. Please verify current details with each provider.