A signup app for paid crews as well as volunteers
Zelos coordinates any team, volunteer, contractor or paid, with native apps, push notifications and a chat channel per task.
Free volunteer signup sheets and hour tracking
Fits non-commercial groups and a link you email around.
Open shifts, task dispatch, notice board, and team chat
Built for any team, paid or unpaid.
No credit card · Unlimited members on every plan · Set up in under 5 minutes
How signup works in each app
A sheet you email around
You create a sheet of tasks, get a short link, and send it out. Volunteers click through, pick a task, and sign up without registering.
Open shifts as the whole product
Admins post shifts and tasks; team members browse and claim what fits their skills and schedule.
What VolunteerSignup.org is better at
If your workflow depends on the things below, VolunteerSignup is the right pick.
Free with no catch at all
No ads, no fees, no paid tier, and no upsell waiting at the bottom of the page. They've run it that way since 2011 and say so plainly in their own FAQ. If cost is the constraint, nothing here beats it.
No caps on anything
Create as many sheets as you like with as many rows as you like. They impose no limit on either. Zelos's free plan is generous but does cap concurrent tasks; theirs caps nothing at all.
Volunteers see who else is coming, free
Names of people who've already signed up appear on the sheet by default, which they say motivates others to join, and for a village fete, seeing a neighbour in the list genuinely does. Zelos can show the roster to members too, but it's a manager setting on the paid tier rather than free and on from the start.
Run by volunteers, for volunteers
It's a Canadian project made by volunteers with no commercial motive, no advertising, and no use of your data beyond running the site. By their own count it's been used by over 200,000 groups. That's a kind of trust a funded company can't simply buy.
If these bullet points are non-negotiable, you're a VolunteerSignup user.
What Zelos is sharper at
If VolunteerSignup won't take your organisation, or a sheet isn't holding enough, Zelos is a better fit.
It works for paid teams too
VolunteerSignup is explicitly for non-commercial, volunteer-supported organisations providing social benefit. Zelos asks nothing about your legal status or your funding. Volunteers, contractors, casual staff and paid crews all work the same way.
Built for a team, not a sheet
VolunteerSignup starts blank every time; Zelos keeps the team. Members have profiles, skills, and task history, so the next shift goes to the right people without rebuilding the list from scratch.
Chat and push on every plan
Zelos has native iOS and Android apps, push notifications, and two-way messaging with a channel per task, all on the free plan. VolunteerSignup runs in a browser and reaches people by email.
Visible to your team, not to the internet
Zelos can show who's signed up to the rest of your members, a manager setting on Pro, so you get the same nudge that seeing a familiar name in the list gives. All VolunteerSignup sheets are visible on the Internet, listing first name and last initial beside the shift each person took.
If you're drawn to this kind of simplicity, you should spin up a free project in Zelos right away.
who you can coordinate
VolunteerSignup serves non-commercial groups only. Zelos coordinates volunteers, contractors and paid crews.
What each one actually gives your team
Both are free, so the question is who they'll serve and what they hold.
| What you're checking | Zelos | Zelos Pro | VolunteerSignup* |
|---|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | $99/mo | Free |
| Who can use it | Any organisation | Any organisation | Non-commercial only |
| Member accounts | Unlimited | Unlimited | None, link only |
| Mobile apps | iOS and Android | iOS and Android | Browser only |
| Communication | Push and email | Push and email | |
| Team chat | Yes | Yes | No |
* VolunteerSignup.org details from volunteersignup.org/faq, August 2026. The service is free with no ads and no paid tier, with no limit on sheets or rows, and states it is for non-commercial, volunteer-supported organisations providing social benefit: nonprofits, charities, grassroots groups, sports clubs, neighbourhood groups and PTAs.
If you coordinate volunteers only, their sheets may be all you need. If anyone on the roster gets paid, that's the line. Nonprofits and education teams get additional discounts on Zelos Pro and Enterprise.
Seen enough?
Get started in our self-service.
Start your free project No credit card · Five-minute setup
Teams that pick Zelos over VolunteerSignup.org
Event staffing and festival crews
Event crews mix volunteers with paid staff and contractors, which puts them outside VolunteerSignup's non-commercial scope. Zelos treats everyone as a member who claims work, whether they're paid or not.
Learn more →Contractor pools and gig dispatch
Contractors set their own availability and are paid for the work, so a volunteer-only service isn't an option. Post the job, let the right people claim it, coordinate in the task chat.
Learn more →Cleaning services and field crews
Cleaning companies and field service businesses are commercial by definition. Zelos dispatches jobs to crews who claim what fits their day, with chat attached to each one.
Learn more →Brand ambassadors and street teams
Ambassador programmes are marketing, not social benefit, so they fall outside VolunteerSignup's terms. Zelos gives them self-signup, targeting and built-in chat.
Learn more →Volunteer-led nonprofits with ongoing programmes
Fully eligible for both. The difference is what happens after the event. Zelos keeps volunteer profiles, skills, and task history between events, so you're not starting from a blank sheet each time.
Learn more →Disaster response and mutual aid
When a response scales to thousands in days, a sheet and an email chain stop working. Zelos handles smart targeting by skill and location, with chat attached to each task.
Learn more →From teams who picked Zelos
What teams who picked Zelos say
"It helped us a lot reducing the planning overhead. It is way more motivating for staff to pick their task than just getting assigned!"
Manuel W.
Coordinator, Events Services
Full review → "We were looking for a system to handle our concert staff. Zelos is really easy to access both for the administrator and the users!"
Niels Peter H.
Board member, Music
Full review → "The overall experience has been great, the customer service is amazing and I can't wait for all the new changes coming up in the app!"
Celia D.
Coordinator, Motion Pictures and Film
Full review →Free for teams of any size
No credit card, no trial expiration.
Pro starts at $99/month, never per person.
Nonprofit and education discounts on Pro and Enterprise.
Frequently asked questions
Can my business use VolunteerSignup.org?
Is Zelos free like VolunteerSignup?
Do people need an account to use Zelos?
Does Zelos have a mobile app?
Can my volunteers chat in Zelos?
Which one tracks volunteer hours better?
Who can see who signed up?
Is that a problem?
Is there a limit on how many signups I can take?
Can Zelos target tasks to specific people?
Is VolunteerSignup.org better than Zelos?
Can I use both Zelos and VolunteerSignup.org?
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