Time Clock Software Guide

Why I chose Buddy Punch

Buddy Punch offers a solid mix of time tracking, attendance controls, and timesheet tools without requiring a full HR platform. Employees can clock in from a browser, mobile app, or shared device, while managers can review job hours, time off, missed punches, and break activity in one place.

It earned the top spot in this guide because it addresses several common timekeeping problems instead of doing one thing well and leaving gaps elsewhere. Businesses can restrict where employees clock in, use a shared kiosk, capture a webcam photo with each punch, and manage meal and rest breaks.

Its break tools are especially useful for businesses that need employees to record waivers or calculate premium pay when a required break is missed. Managers and HR can catch those issues while reviewing timecards instead of discovering them after payroll. 

The main catch is that geofencing, kiosk punches, and break compliance require the Pro plan. Its Starter plan also mainly covers the basics, so compare the cost of Pro before deciding Buddy Punch is the most affordable choice.

What makes Buddy Punch stand out?

• Break waivers and premium pay: With the Pro plan, you can track meal and rest breaks, employee waivers, and automatic premium pay when a break rule is not met.
• QR-code and kiosk punches: Employees can scan a QR code or enter a PIN on a shared device instead of using individual phones.
• Webcam photos with punches: Buddy Punch can capture a photo when an employee clocks in or out, giving managers a record to review when a punch looks questionable.
• Job codes: Employees can assign hours to a job, location, department, or project so managers can separate labor costs before exporting time.
• Automatic alerts: Managers can receive notifications for missed punches, late arrivals, early departures, overtime, and other attendance issues.
• Unlimited free administrators: HR, payroll, and operations managers can access the account without adding paid employee seats.

How is Buddy Punch priced?

Buddy Punch offers three plans:

• Starter: $19 base fee monthly + $5.99 per user, per month
• Pro: $19 base fee monthly + $7.99 per user, per month
• Advanced: $19 base fee monthly + $13.99 per user, per month

You can sign up for a month-to-month subscription or get an annual option, which lets you save up to 18% but requires lump-sum and upfront payment of all fees. The main difference between the three plans is access to additional features, like QR code scanning, kiosk time tracking, webcam on punches, break compliance, manager permissions, geofencing, and advanced reporting. 

Depending on your plan, you can pay extra for features included in higher tiers, such as:

• Real-time GPS: $2 per user, per month; for Starter and Pro plans 
• Scheduling: $1 per user, per month; for Starter plan
• Onboarding and offboarding tasks: $4 per user, per month; for Starter and Pro plans

There’s also a data retention add-on ($2 per user monthly) to store your records for a longer period. If you need a payroll tool, Buddy Punch has a payroll product ($49 base fee + $8 per user monthly) that automates payments, integrates timesheets, handles tax filings, and generates year-end tax forms.

Why I chose Clockify

Clockify works best when a business needs to know what employees worked on, not only when they started and stopped. Employees can record time against clients, projects, and tasks, while managers can compare those hours with budgets, estimates, and billable rates. These features make it a strong choice for agencies, consultants, professional services firms, and internal project teams.

Its private automatic tracker records which apps and websites an employee uses, then lets that employee decide what becomes a time entry. This can help people reconstruct a workday without giving managers a live surveillance feed. 

Clockify also has a free plan, but it’s limited to only five users. You need to upgrade to at least the Standard tier for approvals, time off and overtime tools, and rounding off rules. Businesses focused on scheduled shifts, break rules, or early clock-ins will get more targeted controls from Deputy or Buddy Punch.

What makes Clockify stand out?

• Project estimates and budgets: Managers can compare recorded hours with planned time and budget limits before a project runs over.
• Flexible capture: Users can start a timer, complete a weekly timesheet, use desktop or mobile apps, or track offline.
• Private automatic tracker: The desktop app records app and website activity for the user, who decides which activity becomes a time entry.
• Billable rates and invoicing: Teams can mark work as billable, apply rates, and turn approved hours into invoices.
• Required project details: The Basic plan lets you require a project, task, tag, description, or custom field to be added or filled in before an employee saves time, which reduces uncategorized entries.
• Kiosk seat pricing: Clockify’s kiosk-only option costs considerably less than full paid plans, which can help budget-constrained workplaces that only need a shared clock.

How is

Clockify has five plans:

• Free: $0 for up to 5 users
• Basic: $4.99 per user seat, per month
• Standard: $6.99 per user seat, per month
• Pro: $9.99 per user seat, per month
• Enterprise: $14.99 per user seat, per month

Clockify has a kiosk option if you have employees that only need to access the time clock via a shared kiosk. Monthly fees start at $0.79 per seat, and are charged separately from full users or those with full access to Clockify’s features.

Similar to Buddy Punch, month-to-month and annual subscriptions are available. There’s also a special package, priced at $15.99 per seat monthly, which bundles Clockify’s time tracking capabilities with Cake.com’s team communication and project management tools.

Why I chose Connecteam

Connecteam makes more sense once you look beyond the punch itself. A manager can attach instructions, equipment details, mileage and signature fields, photos, forms, and tasks to a job. Employees can clock into that job, see what needs to be done, and submit the required information from the same app.

That combination is useful for cleaning crews, construction teams, field service technicians, security staff, and home care workers. Their hours stay connected to the job details and paperwork managers need afterward.

However, if you only need employees to punch in and export hours, Connecteam may give you more tools and setup work than you need. You also need to upgrade to higher tiers if you require geofencing or automatic clock-out features.

What makes Connecteam stand out?

• Detailed shift attachments: Managers can add mileage, equipment, photos, and other job details to a shift.
• Job-linked forms and tasks: Employees can clock into a job, complete assigned checklists or forms, and submit information without leaving the app.
• Built-in employee communication: Chat, company updates, and read confirmations can replace separate messaging tools for deskless teams.
• Automatic clock-outs: Connecteam can clock employees out automatically based on configured rules.
• Multiple work schedules: The Expert plan supports up to 12 schedules for businesses managing different teams, locations, or types of work.
• Free Small Business plan: Teams with up to 10 users can access all three hubs without paying a monthly subscription.

How is Connecteam priced?

Connecteam’s pricing gives you plenty of room to customize, although it takes some time to figure out. Instead of offering several plans for its platform, it splits its tools into three hubs, each with five tiers.

Hubs

• Operations: Time clock, job scheduling, forms, and task management
• Communications: Chats, company updates, surveys, events, a directory, and a knowledge base
• HR & Skills: Time off, training, documents, recognition, hiring, and onboarding

Plans for each hub

• Small Business: Free for up to 10 employees
• Basic: $35 per month for the first 30 users, plus $1 per additional user monthly
• Advanced: $59 per month for the first 30 users, plus $3 per additional user monthly
• Expert: $119 per month for the first 30 users, plus $5 per additional user monthly
• Enterprise: Custom pricing

With the Small Business plan, you get full access to Connecteam’s features provided you don’t exceed the 10-employee limit. Once you do, you have to switch to a paid plan, which comes with tiered access to basic and advanced functionalities, including customization and automation tools.

You don’t have to purchase the same tier across all three hubs. You may choose Advanced for Operations if you need stronger time-tracking controls, while keeping Basic access to Communications and HR & Skills. I like the control this gives businesses, especially since Connecteam lets you upgrade or downgrade each hub as your needs change.

Why I chose Jibble

Jibble is the only employee time clock app I reviewed that is free to use. Unlike Clockify or Connecteam’s free plans, it doesn’t have limits so you don’t have to worry about upgrading to a paid plan if you exceed the user cap.

Workers can clock in from a phone, browser, computer, shared kiosk, Slack, or Microsoft Teams, and Jibble turns those entries into digital timesheets. It also uses facial recognition and records GPS data with time punches, which is great for verifying employee identity and checking work locations.

The trade-off is timekeeping controls. Jibble offers the essentials for restricting clock-ins to approved locations and preventing buddy punching, but its compliance tools aren’t as extensive as Deputy’s, which support fair workweek requirements.

What makes Jibble stand out?

• Slack and Microsoft Teams clock-ins: Employees can record time without leaving the collaboration tools they already use.
• Flexible shared kiosks: Teams can clock in using facial recognition, NFC tags, PINs, or Jibble’s touch-free Speed Mode.
• Offline time tracking: Employees can record verified punches and GPS locations even without an internet connection, with entries syncing once they reconnect.
• Project and activity tracking: Employees can assign their hours to specific jobs, clients, or activities for payroll and job-cost reporting.
• Automated timesheets: Jibble calculates recorded hours and organizes them into timesheets for manager review.

How is Jibble priced?

Jibble is free to use. This may change at any time, so I recommend checking the provider’s website for pricing updates.

Why I chose Deputy

What I like about Deputy’s compliance controls is that it follows the shift from scheduling through timesheet approval. Its Fair Workweek tools also provide warnings about late schedule changes, clopening shifts, and situations that require employee consent or predictability pay.

Deputy continues checking those rules after an employee clocks in. Active attestations can ask workers to explain a missed break, late arrival, early departure, or unscheduled work. The system can record break waivers, add applicable premium pay to a timesheet, and preserve schedule changes and employee consent for an audit trail. These controls give managers more context than a basic exception alert.

These features make Deputy a good fit for restaurants, retail shops, healthcare providers, and other businesses where attendance rules start with a scheduled shift. Teams that mainly need billable-hour and project-cost reports should look at Clockify instead.

What makes Deputy stand out?

• Meal and rest break tracking: Managers can schedule breaks within shifts, prompt employees to take them, and flag missed breaks on timesheets.
• Clock-out attestations: Deputy can ask employees to confirm whether they received required breaks or explain late arrivals, early departures, and unscheduled work, creating a record managers can review.
• Overtime and premium-pay rules: The system can calculate overtime, missed-break premiums, and other pay adjustments based on configured wage-and-hour rules.
• Fair workweek controls: Deputy supports fair workweek requirements, such as advance scheduling notice, employee consent for shift changes, predictability pay, right-to-rest rules, and related recordkeeping in covered locations.
• Exception-based timesheet approval: Timesheets within an approved variance can pass automatically, while missed punches, schedule differences, and other exceptions go to managers.

How is Deputy priced?

Deputy has three plans:

• Lite: $5.50 per user, per month
• Core: $7.25 per user, per month
• Pro: $10 per user, per month

You can sign up for a month-to-month subscription, but getting an annual option lets you save up to 10%. However, you need to pay all fees upfront and in a lump sum.

If you want to enhance the platform’s functionality, Deputy offers these add-ons:

• Analytics+: $1.50 per user, per month
• Deputy Payroll enabled by Paycor: $49 base fee monthly + $8 per user, per month
• HR: $2 per user, per month
• Messaging+: $1.95 per user, per month

Why I chose QuickBooks Workforce

QuickBooks Workforce keeps employee time inside the same system many businesses already use for accounting, invoices, and payroll. Workers can clock in through the Workforce app or a shared kiosk, switch between assigned jobs while clocked in, and submit their time online. Approved hours then sync with Intuit’s accounting or payroll modules without the bookkeeper matching job codes across separate files.

That connection makes the time record useful beyond payroll. Hours marked as billable can be added to a customer invoice, while project reports can combine labor time with other income and expenses. QuickBooks users can trace an unexpected payroll total or an over-budget job back to the approved time behind it instead of reconciling reports from two vendors.

However, these functionalities are available in either the Premium or Elite plans. This makes QuickBooks Workforce more expensive than the others on my list, especially if you require project time tracking tools.

What makes QuickBooks Workforce stand out?

• Project estimates versus actuals: Elite plan holders can check whether recorded labor is running above or below the hours estimated for a project.
• Automatic mileage tracking: Employees can record work mileage from the Workforce app while they are on the clock.
• Timesheet signatures: With the Elite plan, you can collect employee signatures for completed work or project sign-offs.
• Project activity feed: Employees and managers can share updates, notes, and progress within a project.
• Photos attached to time: Workers can add job-site photos to their timesheets, giving managers more context for recorded hours.
• Schedules by job or shift: Managers can assign work by customer, job, or shift and notify employees when the schedule changes.

How is QuickBooks Workforce priced?

QuickBooks Workforce offers three plans:

• Workforce Payroll: $50 base fee monthly + $7 per employee, per month 
• Workforce Premium: $88 base fee monthly + $13 per employee, per month
• Workforce Elite: $134 base fee monthly + $17 per employee, per month

Full-service payroll and tax filing services are available in all tiers, including access to benefits plans and employee data management. Higher tiers come with more HR features, such as recruiting, time tracking, PTO management, benefits administration, and performance reviews. These plans also have more customization and automation features than the Workforce Payroll tier.