Guide · Switching software

The best QGenda alternatives in 2026

QGenda is everywhere in hospital scheduling. Here is what it does well, why so many programs and physician groups still build their schedule by hand inside it, and what the same year looks like when the schedule is built for you.

Jackson Cantrell · October 2026 · 6 min read

Short answerQGenda is a large workforce platform: staff scheduling, time and attendance, credentialing and residency management, sold by quote. It is sold as a schedule generator, but in our conversations with programs and groups that use it, few rely on the generator; most build the schedule by hand and use QGenda to publish it. jacks is built around the part QGenda leaves to you. We set your program up with you, jacks builds the whole year with every rule checked and everyone at their fair share, and it runs the year with you.

What QGenda does well

QGenda was founded in 2006 and has been owned by Hearst Health since 2024. More than 4,500 organizations use it.

Breadth. Physician, nurse and staff scheduling, on-call, time and attendance, credentialing and capacity, from one vendor.
Health-system reach. One place where every department’s schedule is published and seen.
Configurability. Users call it very customizable, if someone has the time to configure it.

Where programs and groups struggle

The generator does not carry the load. QGenda can generate a schedule from configured rules, but the programs and groups we talk to rarely use what it produces. The usual workflow is to build by hand inside QGenda, or to fix a generated draft line by line.
Setup is a project. Reviewers describe several meetings and custom work before the first schedule, and the rules then need someone who knows the system to maintain them.
The price is a quote. There is no public pricing, and recent reviews mention costs that grow as modules are added.
It was built for workforce scheduling. Residency rules, duty-hour limits and call fairness by class become configuration work, usually for a chief resident with a one-year term and a full clinical load.

The same year, in QGenda and in jacks

jacks is a scheduling platform for residency programs and attending groups: call, rotations, OR and clinic. Here is each stage of the year, side by side.

Each stage of the scheduling year in QGenda and in jacks
Stage	In QGenda	With jacks
Setup	Implementation meetings, then your team maintains the rules	We sit down with you, turn how your program runs into rules, and stay until your first schedule is published
Building	Mostly by hand, or a generated draft you fix line by line	jacks builds the whole year, every service and call type together
Rules	Conflicts are often caught by a person	Every draft passes every rule. When a seat can’t be filled, jacks names the rule in the way
Fairness	Reports, after the schedule is made	Everyone balanced against their own target: an even split, by FTE or class, or a number you set
Changes	Edit, then recheck	Tell jacks a new rule in plain words, or drag anything; it rechecks the whole schedule
A call-out in March	Swap and request workflows, worked by a person	The shift goes to whoever is eligible and furthest under target, owed calls are tracked, and everyone affected is told on their phone and calendar

Every rule checked is a big claim, so we tested it. Given a real program’s full year of call, a general-purpose AI broke eight rules. jacks broke none. Read the test, or drag residents around in the live demo on our home page and watch it recheck the schedule.

Before you shortlist anything else: QGenda owns ShiftAdmin (since 2021), OpenTempo (2019) and New Innovations (2025). Moving to one of those keeps you with the same company.

Other QGenda alternatives

QGenda alternatives at a glance

Who actually builds the schedule, and who each option suits.

Option	Who builds the schedule	Good fit
jacks	jacks builds all of it; you make the final calls	Programs and groups that want it built, checked and run all year
Amion	You, in a desktop app	Low cost, and everyone can see who is on
Lightning Bolt	The software, after an enterprise setup	Hospitals and large groups on PerfectServe
SpinFusion	The software, after setup	Physician groups already on symplr
TigerConnect Scheduling	You, next to messaging	Organizations on TigerConnect
MedHub	You; it logs and checks hours	Residency records and duty-hour reporting

A simplification for comparison. Products change; ask each vendor to show you every stage with your own rules.

Amion

The on-call schedule most residents already use, owned by Doximity. It is inexpensive and everyone can see it in a free app, but building happens in a Windows desktop app, one service at a time. More in our Amion alternatives guide.

Lightning Bolt (PerfectServe) and SpinFusion (symplr)

Both generate physician shift schedules and both are enterprise products: Lightning Bolt sold with PerfectServe’s clinical messaging since 2019, SpinFusion part of symplr since 2021. A fit if your organization already runs that vendor; expect the same kind of setup you are leaving QGenda to avoid.

TigerConnect Physician Scheduling and MedHub

TigerConnect pairs the on-call schedule with clinical messaging, so the schedule decides who gets paged; the building is still yours. MedHub runs residency records and duty-hour logging, and flags violations after the hours are worked; programs on it still build call somewhere else.

What to ask before you switch

Getting started

Who builds the schedule, really?Ask to see a full year generated from your rules, untouched, and count what you would have to fix.
How long until our first published schedule?Ask for the date, not the number of implementation calls.
Who does the setup?Someone should turn how your program runs into rules with you, and stay until it is published.
What will the first year cost, in total?Including setup, every module you need, and what changes when you add people.

Running the year

Does every draft pass every rule?Checked while it builds, and when a seat can’t be filled, it names the rule in the way.
Is fair measured against targets?Calls per person against a target for their class, FTE or preference, visible to everyone.
What happens when someone calls out?It should find who can cover, keep everyone near their target, and track who owes a call back.

Comparing more than QGenda? See the best residency scheduling software in 2026.

Questions programs ask

What is the best QGenda alternative for a residency program or physician group?

Look for a tool that builds the schedule for you, not one you have to build in by hand: the whole year from your rules, every rule checked while it builds, everyone balanced against a fair target, and call-outs handled after you publish. jacks does all of that, and sets your program or group up with you.

How much does QGenda cost?

QGenda does not publish prices; it sells by quote, and the total depends on how many providers and which modules you buy. Ask for the full first-year cost, including implementation, and for the cost of each module you may add later.

Is ShiftAdmin owned by QGenda?

Yes. QGenda bought ShiftAdmin in 2021. It also owns OpenTempo (2019) and New Innovations (2025), so moving to one of those is not moving to a different company.

What is the difference between QGenda and Amion?

QGenda is a large workforce platform sold by quote, with scheduling, time and attendance and credentialing. Amion is a low-cost, widely used on-call schedule that everyone can see, built in a Windows desktop app. In both, building a schedule that passes every rule is still mostly a person’s job.

Is QGenda good for residency scheduling?

It is good at publishing a schedule to a whole health system. Building one is harder: QGenda was designed for workforce and shift scheduling, residency rules and call fairness become configuration work, and in our experience most programs end up building by hand inside it.