An honest comparison
Kordis vs spreadsheets and WhatsApp: the true cost of free (2026)
Last updated . Competitor facts checked against the sources at the bottom of this page.
The real incumbent for a 25 to 100 worker staffing agency is not software. It is a spreadsheet, a WhatsApp group, and the owner's phone. It costs nothing per month and runs on pure effort.
The trade is hours and misses: evenings reconciling client timesheets by hand, credentials expiring quietly in a column nobody re-reads, and confirmation rounds that start at 5 a.m. Kordis keeps the tools you like and takes over that manual glue.
What is Spreadsheets + WhatsApp good at?
The spreadsheet-and-group-chat stack deserves respect: it is free, infinitely flexible, and every owner knows it cold. At 10 workers it is genuinely the right tool. The problems arrive with scale: a 1998 University of Hawaii research review found 94% of audited spreadsheets contained at least one error, and a group chat confirms nobody; it just broadcasts.
- Free, and every owner already knows how to use it
- Infinitely flexible: no vendor decides what a column means
- No setup, no sales call, no switching cost to start
- Genuinely sufficient below roughly a dozen workers
How do Kordis and Spreadsheets + WhatsApp compare?
| What matters | Kordis | Spreadsheet + WhatsApp |
|---|---|---|
| Monthly cost | Flat per agency (founding rate, then $499 a month), not per user | Free, plus the owner's evenings |
| Confirmations | Auto Dispatch and Instant Cover: confirmation texts and calls go out on their own; fills and backfills are staged for your OK | Broadcasts; reading receipts are not confirmations |
| Screening | Smart Screening: applicant screening calls with transcripts and scores | The owner's gut and a phone call when there is time |
| Credentials | AutoFile and the Renewal Clock: credential expiry tracking with renewal texts at 90 days, 2 weeks, and 3 days, plus dispatch gating | A date column; expiry noticed when a client asks |
| Payroll | Five-Minute Payroll: hours move from timesheets to your payroll file; your payroll provider stays | Re-typed by hand; a 2019 survey put payroll near 5 hours per period |
| Proof | One-click compliance packs per worker | Assembled from chats and folders under deadline |
The manual stack has no licence cost. The 5-hours-per-pay-period figure is from a 2019 Intuit and Kelton survey of 1,006 US small business owners; the 94% spreadsheet-error figure is from Raymond Panko's 1998 research review at the University of Hawaii.
Pick Spreadsheets + WhatsApp if
- You run a handful of workers and the owner can hold the whole week in their head
- Your crews are so stable that confirmations and credentials rarely change
Pick Kordis if
- The confirmation round eats your early mornings and the quiet ones need chasing
- Credential expiries live in a column nobody re-checks until a client asks
- Payroll evenings mean re-typing client timesheets into your payroll system
- You want proof on file when a client or the ministry asks, without assembling it by hand
Common questions
Why replace something free?
You are not replacing the spreadsheet's cost; you are buying back the hours it consumes. Confirmation rounds, credential checks, and payroll re-typing are the owner's evenings. If those hours are not hurting yet, keep the spreadsheet honestly.
Do I have to give up my spreadsheet?
No. Kordis is set up ON your existing spreadsheet data, and your books and payroll provider stay exactly where they are. What changes is who does the manual glue between them: Kordis works it, and you approve.
Is WhatsApp confirmation really a problem?
A group broadcast tells you who has seen a message, not who is coming. Kordis makes confirmation two-way per worker, calls the ones who go quiet, and stages a replacement for your OK when someone drops.
When is the spreadsheet genuinely fine?
Below roughly a dozen steady workers with stable crews and rare credential churn, the manual stack works and costs nothing. The switch matters when growth turns the owner into the system: usually somewhere between 25 and 40 workers.
Sources
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