WurkNow builds for light industrial. So do we — which makes this the closest comparison in staffing software, and the one worth telling straight. Their side of this page comes from their own site. Ours comes with the prices printed on it. What differs is the bets: where the AI lives, who runs your books, and what a client has to install to reach you.
LI-native platform — sourcing to payroll, with a VMS and the LUNA voice-AI recruiter. Their site, their words.
LI-ready platform — clients on text, AI ranked, humans approving, books in QuickBooks. Prices printed below.
Where AI lives · who runs the books · what clients install. That's the whole page.
Two platforms claim light industrial. This is the honest tiebreak.
Most software comparisons are strangers shouting past each other. Not this one — WurkNow and TempGuru are aimed at the same loading dock, which is exactly why the differences that remain are the ones that matter.
Per their own site, WurkNow runs sourcing, onboarding, scheduling, timekeeping, and payroll in one platform, carries a VMS for sub-supplier work, and fields a voice-AI recruiter called LUNA. That's a real LI toolset, and we're not going to pretend otherwise — everything on their side of this page comes from their site, and everything on ours comes priced.
So the choice isn't “who knows light industrial.” It's three bets. Where should AI live — on recruiting calls, or inside the fill decision with a human approving? Who should run your books — your software vendor, or the QuickBooks file your accountant already owns? And what should a client have to install to reach you — anything at all, or the texting app they've had since their first phone?
Is TempGuru a WurkNow alternative? Yes — the closest one: both build for light industrial. TempGuru Pro is the version where clients run everything by text through Guru, AI ranks the fill and a coordinator approves it, books sync to QuickBooks, and pricing is public: $254–$424/month plus 2–2.5% on billed shifts.
Sub-supplier VMS work is WurkNow's feature, not ours. If a vendor-management layer is core to your desk, weigh that for real — the rest of this page assumes your agency fills with its own W-2 roster.
The 4:47am callout is the whole audition.
Light industrial clients don't churn over features. They churn over the morning the line was short and reaching you was work.
Plenty of platforms let clients approve timecards online — WurkNow's timekeeping does, per their site, and so does ours. That's table stakes. The bet Guru makes is bigger: the entire client relationship fits in a text thread. Callouts, new orders, headcount bumps, who's-confirmed, timecard approvals, invoice questions — one thread, zero logins, zero apps to install, zero passwords for a shift supervisor to forget at 4am.
Read the thread on the panel. That's a real morning: a night-lead callout, a ranked backfill, a Friday headcount change — resolved before the client finished their coffee, without leaving Messages.
In every demo you take, ask the same question: what does my client have to download, install, or remember to do this? Count the steps. Guru's answer is a phone number.
Everyone has AI now. Ask where it lives.
WurkNow's site leads with LUNA, a voice-AI recruiter that works candidate calls. Ours lives somewhere else — inside the fill decision itself.
When an order or a callout lands, Pro's AI scores the raised hands — reliability, history, fit — and puts a ranked list with visible reasoning in front of your coordinator, who approves every assignment. Decision support, not automation. That posture isn't a taste preference; it's the shape regulators are converging on, from NYC's AEDT rule to Colorado's AI Act, and it keeps a human name on every placement your agency makes.
The second difference is what comes with the software. Pro ships with the operator-written AI-for-staffing playbook and a cohort that meets weekly on AI lead generation and AI-built websites — the machine that fills shifts, and the machine that finds the next client. Both demos should show you their AI working a real order. Ours will; hold theirs to the same bar.
What's the difference between LUNA and TempGuru's AI? Per WurkNow's site, LUNA is a voice-AI recruiter for candidate calls. TempGuru's AI works the shift: it ranks interested workers with visible reasoning and flags no-show risk, while a human coordinator approves every assignment.
All-in-one is a claim. Callout-to-cash is a route.
Both platforms say “one platform.” The way to test it isn't a feature grid — it's one real order, walked end to end, while you count the screens.
Here's ours, and it's the panel on the right: the signal arrives (an order, or a 4:47am callout), the standby pool already has its hands up, the ranking lands with reasons, a coordinator signs off, the geofence works the door, the timesheet assembles itself and flags the exceptions, and the invoice leaves the same day with QuickBooks already square. One login owns the whole route.
Bring your messiest order to both demos and trace it. Where does it enter? How many screens does it cross? Who touches it twice? The platform that makes that walk boring is the one your coordinators will still love in year three.
Screens-per-order is the honest metric of “all-in-one.” Demos are where you count them — insist on a live order, not a slide of one.
We don't know their price. You already know ours.
Genuinely — we're not going to characterize WurkNow's pricing, because we don't set it. What we control is ours, and ours is printed: Essentials $254, Pro $424, Scale from $999, per month billed annually, plus a 2–2.5% service fee on billed shifts.
Monthly billing runs $299 and $499. Setup is $0 — roster migration, client setup, and rate configuration come with every plan. Branches are $99. That's the complete fee surface, and it means you can walk into any vendor conversation — theirs included — already holding a real number. Software buying works better when one side of the table can't be surprised.
How much does TempGuru cost for a light industrial agency? $254/mo (Essentials) or $424/mo (Pro) billed annually — $299/$499 monthly — plus a 2–2.5% service fee on billed shifts. No setup fee, migration included, pricing public at tempguru.co.
Payroll inside the platform, or books that stay yours?
This is the cleanest philosophical split on the page, so it deserves clean framing.
WurkNow's platform includes payroll and billing — per their site, that's part of the all-in-one. If you want that whole layer living inside your staffing software, that's a coherent lane and some agencies genuinely want it. Pro's bet is the opposite: your books belong to your accountant, not your vendor. Timecards become invoices the day the shift ends, e-signature closes the paperwork, and every dollar syncs to QuickBooks — the file your CPA already trusts, audits, and can take with you anywhere.
Watch the clock on the panel: shift ends 4:58, missed punch caught at 5:03, client approves by text at 5:11, invoice gone by 5:19. In shift work, the distance between “shift ended” and “invoice sent” is your cash conversion cycle.
Vendor-run payroll or accountant-run books — decide which philosophy fits before either demo, and half your evaluation is already done.
The switch costs attention. We priced the rest at zero.
Whatever platform you're on today — WurkNow, spreadsheets, or a stack of five tools — here's the entire cost of trying ours: the plan price. Nothing else.
No setup fee, on any plan. We migrate your roster, your clients, and your rates with you. Your data stays exportable every day you're a customer — we'd rather be hard to leave because the product is good than because the contract is long. Billing is annual or monthly; both numbers are printed two chapters up.
And the week you're switching to is on the panel: a callout backfilled in eleven minutes, a standby pool that refills itself, a headcount change handled by text, a payroll error caught before it became a payroll correction, invoices out Friday afternoon.
Pick your hardest desk — third shift, worst client, thinnest margin — and make both platforms run it live. Boring wins.
Book both demos. Bring the same morning.
The 4:47am callout from chapter two — take it to WurkNow, take it to us, and watch each platform live it end to end.
Where does the callout land? Who ranks the backfill, and can you see why? Who approves it? What does your client see, and what did they have to install to see it? When does the invoice leave, and where do the dollars land? Two demos, one morning, five questions — that's a complete evaluation, and it beats any comparison table ever written, including this page.
The agencies already running on Pro.
“I've been staffing events for over thirty years, and I've never seen anything like Pro. The software just runs, start to finish. This industry has never had a tool like this.”
“I run a same-day labor company, not a tech company. Pro made AI something my front desk actually uses every morning. We're filling more orders, and we finally show up when people search for labor in Knoxville.”
“We're a specialty shop, so knowing the work and moving fast is the whole game. Pro put AI into our daily operations. My team runs the desk with it now, answers quicker, and we're getting found for the exact roles we staff.”
Asked before switching.
Is TempGuru a good WurkNow alternative?
The closest one — both platforms build for light industrial. TempGuru Pro is the version where clients run everything by text through Guru, AI ranks the fill with a coordinator approving every assignment, books sync to QuickBooks, and pricing is public: $254–$424/month plus a 2–2.5% service fee.
Both are light industrial — what's actually different?
Three bets. AI: theirs leads with LUNA, a voice recruiter for candidate calls (their site); ours lives in the fill decision with visible reasoning and human approval. Books: their platform includes payroll and billing; ours syncs to the QuickBooks file your accountant already owns. Clients: ours never log in — the whole relationship runs in a text thread.
What does switching cost?
The plan price and your attention — nothing else. No setup fee; roster, client, and rate migration are included on every plan. $424/$254 billed annually, $499/$299 monthly.
Does TempGuru have a VMS for sub-suppliers?
No. Sub-supplier vendor management is WurkNow's feature, per their site — if that layer is core to your desk, weigh it honestly. TempGuru is built for agencies filling shifts with their own W-2 roster.
What do my clients have to install?
Nothing. Guru runs in the texting app they already have: callouts, orders, headcount changes, who's-confirmed, timecard approvals, invoice questions. A gray-label Client Hub exists for the ones who want a dashboard anyway.
Does TempGuru have geofence clock-in?
Yes — geofence plus selfie verification in the mobile app, included in the plan price. We don't claim it's unique in the industry; we claim it's not an add-on.
Is my data locked in?
No. Exportable the entire time you're a customer, on annual or monthly billing. The product is the retention strategy.
When is WurkNow the better call?
If sub-supplier VMS work is central to your operation, or you specifically want payroll living inside your staffing platform, they've built for that — per their own site. If you want one platform your clients reach by text with books that stay in QuickBooks, that's us. Run both demos on the same live order.
