Finding the right employee time clock app requires more than just software with precision. Every business has its own needs, workforce demands, and unique processes or other approaches, all of which can thrive with a perfectly-tailored time clock app or flounder with poorly-suited software.
Whether you’re running a small startup or a large enterprise with hundreds or even thousands of workers, you’ve undoubtedly encountered issues while trying to tally up each minute worked, and not a minute more.
You know the best employee time clock app can significantly enhance both operational efficiency and accuracy – but which app fits the bill for your business?
You’re in the right place. This article offers a deep dive into the best employee time clock apps of 2024, evaluated based on user feedback, adaptability across various work settings, features, and their potential impacts on your operations.
If your goals include:
- Ensuring accurate timesheets for employees
- Gaining better control over project costs
- Managing schedules effectively, regardless of team size
- Complying with labor laws anywhere in the U.S.
- Integrating time-tracking seamlessly with other business apps
- And crucially, providing an easy-to-use interface for everyone
…then keep reading, because you’ll find plenty of details on nine of the top employee time tracking apps available today, which you can use to narrow your options and make a choice everyone can appreciate.
You’ll find quick links to in-depth reviews of each app below, along with their top-level scores (which are explained in more detail for each app).
9.05 / 10
7.75 / 10
8.25 / 10
7.05 / 10
7.85 / 10
7.65 / 10
7.40 / 10
EDITOR’S NOTE: We created Workyard – the first app reviewed here – to address issues we encountered while struggling to track and manage construction payrolls for over 700 workers in over 50 construction businesses. We built the Workyard app from the ground up to support construction companies like yours, with industry-essential features like the industry’s most accurate time clock app with GPS and geofencing, intuitive contractor scheduling, construction cost tracking tools, and more.
Learn more about how Workyard works on our main website, or sign up for a 14-day free trial today to see what Workyard can do for your business.
1
Workyard: 9.05
Workyard: 9.05 / 10
Ease of Use
9
Job Tracking
8
Time Tracking Accuracy
10
Labor Law Compliance
9
Scheduling Features
8
Integrations
7
Customer Support
9
Company
9
Key Features
- Accurate GPS location tracking with geofencing boundary settings
- Straightforward timecards for easy audits
- Streamlined scheduling for multifaceted projects
- Automation of compliance for key labor law (overtime and breaks)
- In-depth task and project progress monitoring
- Automatic calculation of job costs
- Seamless connections with key business apps
Best For
- Construction companies working multiple locations
- Field service businesses with numerous clients
- Specialty contractors (electricians, HVAC, plumbers, etc.)
- Businesses using QuickBooks or Gusto for invoicing and payroll
- Companies managing labor compliance needs in multiple states
- Businesses battling time theft and inaccurate timecards
Potential Pitfalls
- No native integrations for CRM systems (Salesforce, etc.)
- Location-tracking app features sometimes annoy front-line workers
- Phone app can drain battery if used too often
- Training and onboarding may be necessary for adoption
Workyard has emerged as a modern solution in the realm of employee time clock apps, designed specifically to meet the broad spectrum of workforce management requirements with efficiency, precision, and user-friendliness.
A standout feature of Workyard is its central time clock app, powered by one of the most accurate GPS and geofencing tools you’ll find on the market today.
This feature leverages real-time GPS tracking via your employees’ mobile devices, coupled with highly accurate geofencing rules that you and your team can configure within the Project Hub of your Workyard management dashboard.
Workyard’s auto-clock-in and auto-clock-out feature just recently launched in the winter of 2024. The functionality streamlines the process of clocking in and out by automating these tasks based on employees’ real-time locations — a particularly beneficial feature for businesses with employees who frequently move between various job sites.
Let’s take a closer look at Workyard’s key features to discover how each core aspect of this employee time clock app can simplify your management tasks and drive your business towards greater profitability…
Precise (and Automated) GPS Tracking and Geofencing
Workyard’s real-time mobile phone-based GPS tracking, paired with the app’s highly adaptable geofencing rules, guarantees you’ll be paying your workforce only for their actual hours worked, regardless of the location(s) at which they’re working.
This level of accuracy is crucial for monitoring and optimizing employee movements between various job sites. Workyard’s GPS precision also facilitates tracking worker trips to essential locations, such as supply stores or company depots.
Workyard efficiently logs travel distances for work purposes, streamlining mileage reimbursements and aiding in the accurate calculation of project costs.
User-friendly live map views of your team’s locations allows managers, supervisors, or other office personnel to easily oversee your workforce’s whereabouts and work status.
Should an employee travel off-course or miss an important update, it’s easy to reach out directly through the Workyard app to provide immediate corrections or guidance.
With intuitive map-based team views, you can always see where everyone in your workforce is while on the job. If someone’s in the wrong place, it’s a simple thing to ping them through their Workyard mobile app with corrections or updated guidance.
This precision also makes it simple and straightforward to track worker movements from site to site or worksites to other key locations, like construction supply stores or your company’s equipment and storage depots.
Workyard’s GPS tracking system automatically records distances driven while on the job to simplify mileage reimbursement and other project costing considerations.
Transparent and Easy-to-Edit Timecards
Time tracking is ultimately only as valuable as its applications for recordkeeping and reporting.
This principle is central to Workyard’s approach, where the time card system meticulously logs clock-ins and clock-outs, captures real-time employee movements with precise timestamps, and flags any discrepancies in time records for manual review and revisions (if needed).
Managers can use Workyard’s dashboard to efficiently examine individual time cards or adjust time entries for an entire team. Once these time are approved for payroll, processing wage payments becomes straightforward, ensuring timeliness and accuracy in project cost management and worker compensation.
Robust Scheduling for Large Field Workforces
If you’re managing large teams on a high-stakes projects with strict deadlines, or perhaps coordinating widespread field workforce across diverse tasks, you’ll understand how valuable an easy-to-use scheduling tool can be.
Workyard’s contractor scheduling software streamlines the process of scheduling, helping companies like yours eliminate manual methods and rigid systems not designed for modern mobile workforces.
Workyard scheduling features an intuitive interface that allows for both calendar and task-based views, accommodating various management styles. Customizable color-coded labels enable further organization of schedule entries by criteria such as job type, priority, or any other classification relevant to your business.
Workyard scheduling allows for assignments to be made to any employee for any duration, with the ability to track completion status, link to geofencing rules, and even schedule recurring tasks. Once a task is entered into Workyard’s system, it becomes immediately accessible to assigned employees through their mobile app.
The app also facilitates the creation of detailed to-do lists for each task, helping keep employees focused and on track.
Assigned employees can also create notes, which canbe used to upload saved images or new camera shots directly to their tasks, ensuring transparent communication with the management team and maintaining a comprehensive record of work completed, which is invaluable for addressing any potential client concerns.
Streamlined Job and Project Oversight
The job tracking software included with Workyard’s employee time clock app helps organize the constant stream of information from project updates and employee activities into clear, straightforward reports.
Workyard users can uncover meaningful insights into various aspects of their business’ operations, with labor costs, employee locations, travel durations, material purchases, and task progress all meticulously tracked and tallied for supervisory review.
These details are organized into visual dashboards, offering a practical way to monitor each project’s status and ensure they remain on schedule and within budget.
Integrating accurate time tracking with these reports allows for effective oversight of your business’s financial health, employee efficiency, and resource distribution on a per-project basis. This approach not only keeps you informed but also supports more efficient management and planning, contributing to better overall project outcomes.
Real-Time Job Costing
For any business to thrive, it’s crucial to operate profitably. This fundamental truth underscores the importance of effective cost management tools, especially when it comes to tracking project expenses.
Workyard’s employee time clock app addresses this need by consolidating worker timecards and other work entries into a clear, real-time overview of project costs, making Workyard’s construction cost tracking software a critical aspect of its benefits to construction companies.
Through the use of customizable cost codes assigned to different aspects of a project, managers can track exactly where and how budget allocations are being utilized. This granularity allows for an immediate understanding of the financial flow towards labor on each project facet.
The app’s job costing dashboard offers the flexibility to filter costs by code, employee, or date, facilitating a deep dive into the data to uncover and rectify any inefficiencies promptly. This proactive approach means financial reviews can happen continuously, not just at a project’s conclusion, keeping cost management dynamic and responsive.
Labor costs are the key aspect of Workyard’s job-costing functionality. With customizable cost codes for every project, you can easily see how much money flows to workers on each and every aspect of those projects.
The job costing dashboard lets you sort costs by code, employee, or date, so you can drill down into the data to find and address inefficiencies. You won’t have to wait until a project’s done to do a financial post-mortem, because Workyard’s detailed metrics are constantly updated as your workforce goes about its day.
Workyard also aids in converting detailed labor cost data into precise invoices, ensuring clients are accurately charged for the work performed. This feature not only streamlines billing processes but also reinforces the integrity of financial transactions with clients.
Automated Workforce Compliance
Labor law compliance is a critical facet of modern business success, especially since regulations can vary significantly across states and even between local jurisdictions in the same state.
Manually keeping up with these varying requirements can be challenging, particularly if you’re overseeing many workers with varying schedules in varying locations.
Workyard includes built-in automations to help ensure your team’s compliance with labor laws across the United States, with specific and selectable rulesets for breaks, overtime, pay rates, and workers’ compensation in various higher-maintenance locales (such as California or Nevada).
These rules can be set when you add workers to your team, or you can edit worker rules afterwards to change their current ruleset or add a new one – a helpful way to handle employees working in locales with different overtime laws:
For unique requirements not covered by the app’s extensive database, Workyard provides the option to create custom compliance rules, ensuring your business adheres to local laws regardless of location.
Workyard also helps you maintain comprehensive and Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA)-compliant recordkeeping practices.
As we’ve mentioned earlier, Workyard’s meticulous tracking of all employee on-the-job data, including clock-ins and clock-outs, is all available through your admin dashboard. Workyard also log of any modifications to time cards, enabling easy verification and correction of records when necessary.
Integrations with Essential Construction Business Apps
Manually entering all the time-tracking information from Workyard into your payroll software would probably undermine a major reason you wanted to use the app in the first place – to streamline payroll!
Never fear – Workyard offers native integrations with leading payroll and financial management systems, including QuickBooks (supporting both QuickBooks Desktop and QuickBooks Online versions), Gusto, Paychex, ADP, Sage, and others, ensuring compatibility with the payroll tools most construction businesses prefer.
For those who use additional applications and have the development resources, Workyard’s developer API allows for the creation of custom integrations, making it possible to connect with virtually any app or platform that supports it.
You can also export Workyard data an Excel spreadsheet, a near-universally compatible data import option for nearly all modern financial and business applications.
What Users Say About Workyard
You’ve heard from us – let’s see what other users have to say about Workyard. At the time this article was published, Workyard held the following scores across the three major platforms on which we track app reviews:
- 103 ratings and a 4.3 average score on the iOS App Store
- 127 ratings and a 4.2 average score on the Google Play Store
- 57 ratings and a 4.9 average score on Capterra
These numbers are in line with the scores we found when updating our article on the best construction time clock apps available today.
One iOS user offered a short and sweet review on the iOS App Store, praising Workyard for making life easier – at least the parts of their life involving worker time tracking:
Reluctant workforce participant Theodore Resultan isn’t a big fan of work, but at least the Android version of Workyard “makes it suck less,” which is sometimes all you can hope for these days – although he might have preferred to be able to continue padding his timesheets, based on this comment:
Capterra reviews of Workyard typically come exclusively from managers and other administrative personnel, so we sometimes consider these reviews to be the most accurate when you’re trying to assess an app’s value to your company.
Peer Support director Jessica S. works in mental health care rather than construction, but her glowing review grants Workyard five stars across the board for being, simply put, the “best tracking app out there”:
Click the links on each platform’s name in this section to see all user reviews for Workyard!
Workyard in Review (the TL;DR Version)
Looking for more detailed info on Workyard’s key features and functions? Click the links below to see how each feature can help your company:
- The most precise GPS time clock app around
- Construction-focused job tracking
- Easy-to-use visual scheduling tools
- Detailed data for every worker, every project, every day
- Real-time construction cost tracking
- Built-in labor compliance rules and recordkeeping
- Integrations with top payroll and business apps
You might also want to check out this video, which can help you get your team onboarded to Workyard’s mobile app if (or when) you decide to try it:
Want to try Workyard right now? It’s easy and free (for 14 days)! Click here to sign up for a 14-day free trial, no credit card needed.
- Free trial (no credit card needed) for 14 days
- Time Tracking: $6 / mo. per user (annual) or $8 / mo. per user (monthly) + $50 company base fee
- Workforce Management: $13 / mo. per user (annual) or $16 / mo. per user (monthly) + $50 company base fee
Test drive Workyard, no card required.
2
Clockify: 7.75
Clockify: 7.75 / 10
Ease of Use
9
Job Tracking
9
Time Tracking Accuracy
7
Labor Law Compliance
8
Scheduling Features
7
Integrations
6
Customer Support
8
Company
8
Key Features
- Time tracker (mobile app, web-based, and kiosk)
- Reminders, edits, and approval processes for timesheets
- Compatibility with leading payroll and efficiency-enhancing applications
- Insightful visual data dashboards and comprehensive reporting tools
- Location-based tracking of employee activities
- Management and budget oversight for projects
- Scheduling integrated with Outlook and Google Calendar
- Processes for managing expenses and generating invoices
Best For
- Small enterprises seeking an initial, cost-free time tracking solution
- Professional service organizations with main office operations
- Businesses in need of combined expense management and billing solutions
- Entities requiring calendar synchronization (Outlook or Google)
- Organizations prioritizing efficiency in project and productivity management
Potential Pitfalls
- Limited payroll system connections (native only to QuickBooks)
- Potential synchronization issues between desktop and mobile
- Not built for teams spread across multiple states or time zones
- Dependence on user engagement for time tracking accuracy
- Absence of features tailored to specific industries
Clockify consistently emerges as a standout in searches for “free employee time clock apps,” thanks to its genuinely unlimited free version that effectively tracks employee hours.
This absence of initial costs positions Clockify as an ideal option for growing businesses in the early stages of scaling their workforce. It offers a practical period for evaluation, extending over several months, during which its utility and features can be thoroughly tested before possibly moving to a paid subscription.
Clockify’s premium tiers introduce essential functionalities like break monitoring, manual timesheet adjustments, detailed reporting, and, for more advanced plans, GPS tracking and budget management.
Larger enterprises seeking higher levels of precision and customization in an employee time clock app might find Clockify falling short.
A notable limitation is its integration capabilities specifically tailored for broader industry needs. While Clockify integrates smoothly with QuickBooks, its connectivity with other payroll and financial management systems—such as Xero or FreshBooks—requires intermediate technical skills for setup through platforms like Zapier.
Despite offering numerous project management integrations catering to office-based teams—like Jira and Trello—these tools might not align as closely with the operational needs of sectors outside of tech development and marketing organizations.
What Users Say About Clockify
Clockify’s commitment to offering a “free forever” tracking solution has garnered significant appreciation across various major review sites. It not only boasts a higher number of reviews on each platform compared to other apps (with the exception of QuickBooks Time), but its ratings remain impressively strong across the board:
- 2,100+ ratings and a 4.6 average score on the iOS App Store
- 1,970+ ratings and a 4.0 average score on the Google Play Store
- 4,790+ ratings and a 4.7 average score on Capterra
Clockify iOS user Vhoudini praises the app’s value to him as a one-person business, wishing only for a better integration with bookkeeping app Wave:
It’s nearly impossible to find an app with native integrations for all popular financial-management apps – with limited resources, app developers will prioritize integrations with the aps most of their users prefer. Wave isn’t as widely used as apps like QuickBooks or Gusto, which could explain its lack of support in Clockify.
(Click here for more Clockify iOS reviews.)
Max Pierson-Lienard gave Clockify’s Android app three stars because “there’s not a lot of benefit [to the Android app] over using Clockify in the browser” – which is worth considering for businesses with mobile workforces and/or multiple worksites to visit on a given day or week:
(Click here for more Clockify Android reviews.)
Clockify’s free-first approach has earned it it nearly 5,000 user reviews on Capterra, which also results in one of the highest Capterra scores among apps in our list.
However, Clockify’s integration struggles crop up once again here – Capterra reviewer Kristina pointed earlier this year out that Clockify doesn’t natively integrate with QuickBooks Online:
This integration is often the most widely-used among time clock app users, simply because QuickBooks Online is one of the world’s most popular bookkeeping tools. If you need your employee time clock app to play nice with your other business apps, Clockify might not be your best choice.
- Unlimited free trial for basic time tracking
- Basic: $4.99 / mo. per user
- Standard: $6.99 / mo. per user
- Pro: $9.99 / mo. per user
- Enterprise: $14.99 / mo. per user
3
QuickBooks Time (formerly TSheets): 8.25
QuickBooks Time: 8.25 / 10
Ease of Use
8
Job Tracking
8
Time Tracking Accuracy
8
Labor Law Compliance
8
Scheduling Features
9
Integrations
10
Customer Support
7
Company
8
Key Features
Best For
- Businesses that want to connect lots of apps to their time clock
- Companies already using QuickBooks to pay workers and/or suppliers
- Big companies that want an easy start with new software
- Companies that care a lot about keeping data safe
- Businesses that do lots of different things
Potential Pitfalls
- Might miss some special features for certain jobs
- Some updates have caused problems
- Not made just for construction work
- Some people aren't happy with support (according to reviews)
QuickBooks Time is a big deal because it works well with other QuickBooks tools. It’s a popular pick for lots of companies because it’s easy to start using it if you already use QuickBooks for other stuff.
But, QuickBooks Time might not be the best for everyone, especially for construction work. You can’t always figure out job costs well with just QuickBooks Time unless you also use QuickBooks Contractor, which is made just for construction jobs.
But, QuickBooks Time might not be the best for everyone, especially for construction work. You can’t always figure out job costs well with just QuickBooks Time unless you also use QuickBooks Contractor, which is made just for construction jobs.
QuickBooks Time also might not let you set specific rules for when employees can clock in or out.
If your business doesn’t really need these special construction features, QuickBooks Time could work well, especially if you’re already using QuickBooks for your business stuff and your time tracking needs are simple.
What Users Say About QuickBooks Time
QuickBooks Time and its mobile app, QuickBooks Workforce, get good reviews both online and in app stores, which is not always the case for other apps.
- 130,500+ ratings and a 4.6 average score on the iOS App Store
- 33,300+ ratings and a 4.5 average score on the Google Play Store
- 6,700+ ratings and a 4.7 average score on Capterra
Since Intuit, the company behind QuickBooks, is really big, it can spend more money to make its apps work better on phones than other companies can.
But being big doesn’t always mean it’s the best. Still, QuickBooks Time gets really high ratings everywhere, which is good to know if you’re already using QuickBooks for paying people or other money tasks.
Despite this advantage, QuickBooks Workforce has its issues. Many more recent iOS reviews ding Intuit’s weak customer service, which user jpommerville highlights as a major downside to the former TSheets’ incorporation into Intuit’s QuickBooks ecosystem:
(Click here for more QuickBooks Time / Workforce iOS reviews.)
Android user Berkeley Orton also calls out the decline in service since TSheets became QuickBooks Workforce. He gives Intuit’s employee time clock app three stars on the Play Store, saying “everything has been for the worse” since TSheets became a QuickBooks product:
(Click here for more QuickBooks Time / Workforce Android reviews.)
Capterra’s recent QuickBooks Time reviews are more positive, as managers or admins from many different industries have left notes highlighting QuickBooks Time’s ease of use.
Game developer Catherine is pleased with QuickBooks’ ability to “handle all of our [company’s] timekeeping needs,” but would like to be able to customize her experience a bit more:
- Free trial for 30 days
- Premium: $8 / mo. per user + $20 monthly base fee
- Elite: $10 / mo. per user + $40 monthly base fee
4
Homebase: 6.90
Homebase: 6.90 / 10
Ease of Use
7
Job Tracking
0
Time Tracking Accuracy
8
Labor Law Compliance
8
Scheduling Features
9
Integrations
8
Customer Support
7
Company
8
Key Features
- GPS-enabled time tracking
- Free employee scheduling app
- Run and process payroll
- Recruit, hire, and onboard new employees
- Real-time all-in-one team communication app
- Benefits and perks mangement
- HR and compliance management tools
Best For
- Small businesses looking for an all-in-one business management solution
- Growing companies managing time tracking and hiring simultaneously
- Companies with lots of moving parts in a single location
- Companies in highly competitive labor markets
- Small businesses that want simpler operational management
Potential Pitfalls
- May have more features than many small businesses need
- Time tracking is one part of a larger app rather than its focal point
- Focused more on tracking single locations
- Does not seem to have any project- or task-management tools
- Lots of “growing business” tools not useful for sole proprietors
Homebase is a type of app we sometimes call “business in a box” software – it’s trying to tackle as many mission-critical business functions as it can by offering everything from scheduling and employee time tracking to HR and benefits management. Its central offering, though, is employee scheduling:
For many businesses of a certain size and ambition, this approach works perfectly with their goals. A small but fast-growing company in a competitive market can make extensive use of Homebase’s range of hire-manage-grow tools to both oversee current operations and execute big plans for the future.
Ambitious companies in high-turnover industries, such as retail or restaurants (not to mention construction), also seem like the ideal users of Homebase. When you go through dozens of employees a year in the regular course of your business, t’s probably more efficient to manage the entire employee life cycle, from application to termination, in one app.
Being able to run payroll within Homebase is also a great selling point for the same types businesses mentioned earlier. However, it seems a bit odd to include payroll but not offer payment-processing functions.
While payment processing might be harder to implement for high-traffic businesses, it seems like a lot of Homebase’s target customers – like veterinarians, home repairs, caregivers, and creative services – would have both the volume and the transaction size (bigger invoices somewhat less often) to merit needing such a feature. Maybe it’s coming!
What Users Say About Homebase
Homebase is one of the rare employee time clock apps we’ve found that actually seems to have better overall scores for its mobile versions than it does for the desktop interface Capterra reviewers usually grade:
- 51,200+ ratings and a 4.8 average score on the iOS App Store
- 20,000+ ratings and a 4.5 average score on the Google Play Store
- 995 ratings and a 4.6 average score on Capterra
The sheer quantity of reviews on iOS and the Play Store indicate pretty broad approval, with most issues highlighted being relatively minor and not worth a reduced score. For example, iOS user Kthaze gives Homebase five stars despite unwanted forced log-outs after a recent update:
(Click here for more Homebase iOS reviews.)
On Android, Tiffany Shai Edwards has a similar issue with a recent Homebase app update, noting a persistent error keeping her from effectively using an app she’s historically enjoyed:
(Click here for more Homebase Android reviews.)
Desktop user Andrea H. hasn’t run into any Homebase bugs since adopting the app about a month and a half before this article was published. She even notes that Homebase seems better for Mac users than QuickBooks (your mileage may vary):
- Free trial for 1 location (up to 20 employees)
- Essentials: $24.95 / mo. per location (unlimited employees)
- Plus: $59.95 / mo. per location (unlimited employees)
- All-in-one: $99.95 / mo. per location (unlimited employees)
- Payroll: available as an add-on for $39 / mo. + $6 / mo. per employee
5
Connecteam: 7.65 / 10
Connecteam: 7.65 / 10
Ease of Use
8
Job Tracking
8
Time Tracking Accuracy
7
Labor Law Compliance
8
Scheduling Features
8
Integrations
8
Customer Support
7
Company
7
Key Features
Best For
- Field-based businesses looking to streamline operations
- Smaller fast-growing businesses with multiple locations
- Companies needing to manage and track many smaller projects
- Smaller businesses looking to boost employee engagement
Potential Pitfalls
- Lacks payroll or payments functionality
- Target audience is very broad (lack of industry-specific features)
- Focus on HR functions may not be ideal for more stable workforces
Like Homebase, Connecteam has been built to serve as a sort of “all-in-one” business management app, with a similar suite of features spanning both time and schedule management and employee management and engagement.
Where Connecteam diverges from Homebase is its greater focus on task-based progress trackng. Connecteam’s tasks can be created, scheduled, and organized with sub-tasks, to-do lists, file attachments, and other tools providing workers many opportunities to report on their progress or check in to find out what to do next.
The various ways Connecteam allows you to handle tasks through its app should be appreciated by managers or administrators who often have to oversee multiple workplaces – the mobile apps are, by all accounts, just as effective at creating and overseeing tasks as Connecteam’s web app.
The only real drawback Connecteam has, as compared to Homebase, appears to be a lack of built-in payroll or payment processing features. Connecteam does offer integrations with three of the most popular apps for handling both tasks – QuickBooks, Gusto, and Xero – so many businesses shouldn’t have an issue with this absence.
What Users Say About Connecteam
Like Homebase, Connecteam’s mobile apps both appear to be far more popular and more widely-loved than its web app:
- 5,400+ ratings and a 4.8 average score on the iOS App Store
- 3,900+ ratings and a 4.9 average score on the Google Play Store
- 325 ratings and a 4.8 average score on Capterra
Many recent iOS reviews on Connecteam’s app page are overwhelmingly positive, with no highlighted review boasting a score lower than four stars.
User (uh) Sugarbooger71 calls Homebase “incredible” and praises its free tier, which they indicate is free for businesses of up to 10 employees – the app’s pricing page actually says it’s a fixed price for up to 30 users, which ostensibly applies to all price tiers, including its free one:
(Click here for more Connecteam iOS reviews.)
On Android, app user Ashley Herring gave Connecteam five stars a month before this article was published, noting her surprise at “how well [the] app was put together.” As a supervisor for a cleaning business, Ashley appreciates Connecteam’s all-in-one nature, calling out QuickBooks Time / TSheets by comparison and goading Intuit to “step up their game”:
(Click here for more Connecteam Android reviews.)
Connecteam web app user Mark O. highlights a less-common use case for employee time clock apps – managing a local police department. This reviewer didn’t know local government agencies could use B2B apps like Connecteam’s without clearing significant compliance hurdles, so if regulatory compliance is an issue for you, Mark’s testimonial could be insightful:
- All plans include support for up to 30 users
- The Small Business Plan: Free for life
- Basic: $35 / mo. ($0.60 / mo. per add’l user over 30)
- Advanced: $59 / mo. ($1.80 / mo. per add’l user over 30)
- Expert: $119/ mo. ($3.60 / mo. per add’l user over 30)
- Enterprise: must contact sales
3
ClockShark: 7.65
ClockShark: 7.65 / 10
Ease of Use
7
Job Tracking
8
Time Tracking Accuracy
7
Labor Law Compliance
9
Scheduling Features
9
Integrations
6
Customer Support
8
Company
8
Key Features
- GPS time clock and geofencing
- Mobile, web-based, and physical kiosk-based time tracking
- Employee scheduling app
- Track employee vacation and sick leave
- Job management and job costing
- Customer management and recordkeeping
- Built-in quoting, invoicing, and payment processing
- Popular payroll integrations
Best For
- Small and medium companies that work outside a lot
- Businesses with many locations or teams out in the field
- Businesses that want to bill customers and get paid through the app
- Companies that help at homes, like health care or cleaning
- Businesses that want different ways for employees to clock in
Potential Pitfalls
- New updates to the app might mess up where it thinks you are
- You can't always set your own rules for when employees clock in or out
- Sometimes putting in time or info is hard
- There might be trouble connecting on phones
ClockShark is a well-known app that helps construction and service companies keep track of their team’s time. It’s made to solve problems these kinds of companies face.
As it’s grown, ClockShark has added features that are handy for these businesses. It has a simple tool for keeping track of customers that’s not as fancy as full customer tools but helps you keep everything in one place. This makes managing jobs and projects easier.
ClockShark also lets you send bills and get paid right in the app. This is really useful for businesses that do lots of small jobs, like repair work or cleaning. These extras might not mean you can stop using other payroll or money apps completely, but they can make things quicker and help you get paid faster.
What Users Say About ClockShark
ClockShark’s reviews swing in the opposite direction from Homebase’s and Connecteam’s – Capterra web app users are both more numerous and far more effusive in their praise than ClockShark’s iOS and Android users. but the front-line employees more likely to use ClockShark’s mobile app are a bit more divided. Here’s what people say about the ClockShark experience across these three review platforms…
- 242 ratings and a 2.9 average score on the iOS App Store
- 925 ratings and a 3.5 average score on the Google Play Store
- 1,890+ ratings and a 4.8 average score on Capterra
Last year, iOS user ashioke dinged ClockShark for “too much tracking.” To be fair, this is a common complaint among GPS-enabled employee time clock app users on mobile devices, regardless of the app or platform:
These negative reviews could probably be addressed with strong onboarding programs that help managers and admins get front-line employees familiarized and comfortable with their new apps.
Throwing workers into the deep end of tech adoption is often more an end-user issue than a developer issue – but on the same token, Connecteam could address this problem more directly by providing more comprehensive onboarding processes for mobile app users.
(Click here for more ClockShark iOS reviews.)
However, user-adoption friction isn’t the only complaint Connecteam mobile app users have shared. Just last month, Connecteam Android user Elizabeth Incitti vented her frustration with the app’s seeming inability to continue accurately tracking time worked after employees take a lunch break:
This is supposedly a display error, as it doesn’t affect “the actual timesheet.” Still, small inconsistencies can add up to major frustration when people just want apps that’ll work and otherwise leave them alone.
(Click here for more ClockShark Android reviews.)
On Capterra, electrician Ben C. shares his appreciation for ClockShark’s “flexible [Gantt] charts.” This most likely refers to the web app’s visual calendar view based on Ben’s comment about “working to the same time scale,” particularly since this calendar view seems to be the only one in the web dashboard to extensively color-code its entries:
While more colors might be beneficial, nearly every app we’ve tried in recent years that allows you to change the color of various elements will either have a fairly broad range of presets, or will allow you to use an eyedropper tool to select any visible color you want.
- Free trial (no credit card needed) for 14 days
- Standard: $8 / mo. per user + $40 base fee
- Pro: $10 / mo. per user + $60 base fee
7
Hubstaff: 7.40 / 10
Hubstaff: 7.40 / 10
Ease of Use
7
Job Tracking
7
Time Tracking Accuracy
7
Labor Law Compliance
8
Scheduling Features
8
Integrations
9
Customer Support
7
Company
6
Key Features
- Employee time tracking for remote, hybrid, and in-office teams
- GPS and geofenced time clock app
- Timesheets, employee productivity, and overtime tracking
- Workforce management tools
- Workforce analytics, project cost management, and payroll
- Employee experience software for distributed workforces
- Habit tracking and remote employee experience (REX)
Best For
- Distributed teams expecting to work in a variety of locations
- Data-driven decision makers looking to maximize team productivity
- White collar businesses working on a billable-hours basis
- Field-based businesses serving high volumes of clients
- Companies looking to integrate lots of tools with their time tracking
Potential Pitfalls
- Mobile apps seem to be outdated (based on reviews)
- Time tracking may not be the most accurate on mobile
- Support appears to be somewhat lacking (based on reviews)
- Seems better optimized for remote desk teams than field teams
Hubstaff is one of the more popular general-purpose employee time clock apps, with an assortment of additional features placing it somewhere between ClockShark and Homebase in terms of its reach into day-to-day business operations.
Its features lack the industry specificity of ClockShark’s field-service focus, and the overall Hubstaff package doesn’t have quite as many tools as Homebase, but Hubstaff nonetheless provides a fairly diverse range of features on top of its central time-tracking app.
The screenshot below shows Hubstaff’s key features on its web dashboard, focusing on its built-in expense tracker. This particular feature is always helpful for businesses that constantly go through supplies and materials, which accurately describes most field service businesses:
Hubstaff’s mix of features might be perfectly suited to certain businesses, but it seems to lack the granularity of sector-focused apps like Workyard.
Hubstaff gets around these potential deficiencies by offering what seems to be one of the most robust integration capabilities of any app reviewed here, with extensive lists of native integrations for project management tools (Asana, ClickUp, Jira, etc.), financial tools (FreshBooks, PayPal, QuickBooks, etc.), CRMs, and helpdesk apps.
You can also integrate Hubstaff with other apps through Zapier, or inquire directly with the Hubstaff team about a custom connection.
What Users Say About Hubstaff
Hubstaff’s mix of reviews is a bit less straightforward to assess than most other apps we’ve covered in this article. For one thing, it’s the only app with a notable discrepancy between its two main app store scores – iOS users seem to enjoy using Hubstaff, while Android users are more ambivalent:
- 1,500+ ratings and a 4.5 average score on the iOS App Store
- 825 ratings and a 3.2 average score on the Google Play Store
- 1461 ratings and a 4.6 average score on Capterra
Another odd aspect of Hubstaff’s reviews is how old most of them appear to be on its app store pages. Not one highlighted review on the iOS App Store was written after 2019, and while there are written reviews dating to this month (March 2024) on the Play Store, all of them are context-free one-liners.
Quite a few of Hubstaff’s 2023 Play Store reviews are negative as well, and it seems you may have to sort by recency and scroll all the way back to 2020 to find more positive statements than negative ones.
Five years ago, iOS user vannnn gave Hubstaff 4 stars, noting its interface lagged behind TSheets’ at the time. Other App Store reviews are similar, in that they’re largely positive but they’re all five years old:
(Click here for more Hubstaff iOS reviews.)
Over on its Play Store page, Android user Paparaski gave Hubstaff five stars about a year ago – this review is the most recently posted one on the Play Store to offer any substantial context for other potential users. Even so, it highlights an app login issue, which seems like a relatively trivial problem for an established app to still have:
(Click here for more Hubstaff Android reviews.)
Earlier this year, real estate professional Jeff N. slammed Hubstaff as a “miserable” experience due to its billing issues. Apparently, users like Jeff will continue to see charges on their accounts even after they believe they’ve canceled:
This poor experience contributed to Hubstaff’s lower-than-average Company score, as improper billing is a massive red flag for any mission-critical business app.
- Free trial for one user
- Starter: $7 / mo. per user (2 user minimum)
- Grow: $9 / mo. per user (2 user minimum)
- Team: $12 / mo. per user (2 user minimum)
- Enterprise: $25 / mo. per user (billed annually)
- Several add-ons are available at $2+ / mo. per user
FAQs
The best employee time clock apps have features that make it easy to track when and where your team works. They let you see who is working in real-time and make sure everyone gets paid right. Here are some top features:
- GPS Tracking: Know where your team is when they clock in or out.
- Scheduling: Plan who works when and where.
- Time Tracking: Keep track of work hours easily.
- Breaks and Overtime: Manage break times and extra work hours.
- Reports: See work hours and job costs in simple reports.
- Payroll Integration: Connect the app to your payroll system to pay your team.
- Mobile Access: Use the app on phones so your team can clock in from anywhere.
- Alerts: Get alerts for when it’s time to start or stop work, or if there are any issues.
These features help keep things fair and clear for everyone at work.
The best time clock app for small businesses is one that is easy to use, doesn’t cost too much, and has features that match what your business needs. A good choice for many small businesses is QuickBooks Time. It’s popular because:
- It’s Easy: You can start using it fast and it’s simple for your team.
- It Tracks Time Well: It keeps track of work hours and where your team is working.
- It Works with Payroll: You can easily pay your team with the hours tracked in the app.
- It’s Made for Small Businesses: It fits what small businesses need without being too complicated.
QuickBooks Time is well-suited for small businesses looking for a straightforward way to manage time and payroll.
However, small businesses in certain industries may want more tailored features – smaller construction companies still need to track job costs and may need to manage prevailing wage schedules, and QuickBooks Time isn’t optimized for these features. For many construction companies (large and small alike), Workyard’s GPS time clock is ideally-suited, because it was built from the ground up to support the construction industry.
Few construction companies – large or small – publicly share the software they use, which makes it difficult to accurately assess which employee time clock apps are popular in this industry.
However, based on our experience working with construction companies of all sizes, we’ve found that many large organizations with over 500 workers will opt for fairly comprehensive construction management software, of which time-tracking is one of many apps or key features available. Procore, Raken, and Fieldwire are three such apps used by many construction companies – Procore, for example, is a publicly-traded company worth about $10 billion, which we can only assume means it has quite a few large construction companies as clients!
It’s important to keep in mind that what’s good for a big company may not work for smaller organizations. A construction company that doesn’t regularly submit bids and budgets for large projects may not need the multiple features in Procore that appear designed to support the bidding-and-budgeting process for general contractors.
Employee time clock apps like ClockShark and Workyard are designed to use minimal data.
ClockShark typically uses between 5MB to 25MB per month for an employee using the app.On the other hand, Workyard’s GPS tracking feature is efficient in data usage, consuming less than 1 MB per day.
These apps are optimized to minimize data consumption while providing essential time tracking and GPS functionalities for businesses.
Employee time clock apps like ClockShark, Workyard, and OnTheClock are optimized to use minimal battery power on mobile phones.
ClockShark typically uses around 20% of a healthy, fully charged mobile battery during an 8-hour shift. Workyard’s geofence time clock app is designed to minimize battery consumption, typically using 3% or less daily, allowing employees to use it throughout their workday without excessive drain on their devices.
OnTheClock is also optimized for minimal battery usage, ensuring that employees’ phones do not power down in the middle of a shift. These apps prioritize efficiency while providing essential time tracking features for businesses.
Our Scoring System Explained
Our 8-part scoring system was created to help you understand the potential value of any software we review simply and fairly.
We created it after reviewing dozens of software products, which we covered in depth, but without providing a direct and simple way for readers to compare products on their merits – without spending a lot of time looking through our articles for the information they needed to make an informed decision.
Every app we review will include Customer Support and Company scores, which we’ll explain in more detail below. Many of the factors reviewed in this article will also be consistent across most (or all) of our software reviews, with some differences:
The 8 factors assessed and their contribution to a product’s overall score may differ slightly from product to product based on various factors, such as the use case we’re reviewing for, the type of business these products are tailored to, and other considerations. However, all reviews will feature an 8-part score, weighted and combined to calculate each product’s overall score.
You’ll find more detail on our methodology and process in the expandable items below.
All factors in our reviews are scored on a 10-point scale – technically 11 points – from 0-10. However, we only give products a score of 0 if it does not include an essential feature at all, and we try to avoid giving out 0 scores if a product can demonstrate any functionality in line with the specific factor being reviewed.
In general, the 0-10 range translates as:
- 9.0 – 10 – One of the absolute best in its category (amazing).
- 7.5 – 8.9 – Very good, but with some minor issues (very good).
- 6.0 – 7.4 – Mediocre performance with notable shortcomings (average).
- 3.0 – 5.9 – This feature is not ready for prime time (borderline).
- 1.0 – 2.9 – This feature actually makes its product worse (unacceptable).
- 0 – The product doesn’t include this important feature at all.
The 8 factors reviewed are weighted based on an overall total of 100%:
- Ease of Use: 20%
- Time Tracking Accuracy: 20%
- Scheduling Features: 15%
- Job Tracking: 10%
- Labor Law Compliance: 10%
- Integrations: 10%
- Customer Support: 10%
- Company: 5%
Ease of Use
We evaluate a product’s ease of use based on three main considerations:
- How easy is it to set up this app?
- How easy is it for managers to use the backend dashboard?
- How easy is it for frontline workers to use the (mobile) app?
These three considerations cover the main ways you and your team would use the software being reviewed – when you first obtain it, when someone (a manager, executive, team leader, or similar role) needs to use it to manage people, money, data, and other things, and when workers you’re tracking use the app (usually a mobile version of the software designed for frontline and/or field team members) to clock in, clock out, record time worked, or address other day-to-day needs.
Time Tracking Accuracy
Every minute matters when you’re trying to control payroll costs. This factor accounts for various features and common needs in time-tracking apps, such as…
- How accurate or precise is its GPS tracking capability?
- How accurate – and how customizable – is its geofencing feature?
- How accurate is its travel and mileage tracking (if available)?
- Can it automatically clock workers in and out based on the above?
- Can you set and/or restrict rules for clocking in and out?
- Can the app continue tracking workers while offline?
- How easy is its mobile app and/or kiosk for frontline workers?
Scheduling Features
Many construction businesses prefer to manage as many aspects of employee labor activity as possible in a single app, which is why many time-tracking apps also include worker scheduling as a core feature.
When we consider a product’s scheduling features, we look at:
- Its dashboard customizability (daily, weekly, or monthly views).
- Its project-based scheduling and visibility.
- Its real-time updates and notifications for workers.
- Its real-time map views of worker locations for best-fit scheduling.
- Its recurring schedule (copies to subsequent weeks, etc.) functionality.
Job Tracking
This factor helps you understand if the software can also provide insight into specific projects, which is particularly handy when your business deals with many customers or clients who generally need shorter-term work. Effective job tracking typically also includes accurate job costing functionality for construction companies.
We assess several things when calculating a product’s job tracking score:
- Its project-based tracking for multiple projects per day/week/etc.
- Its ability to track multiple / many projects simultaneously.
- Its use of (and your ability to customize) construction cost codes.
- Any built-in job costing views.
- Any integrations for cost coding (QuickBooks etc.).
Labor Law Compliance
The best time-tracking apps go beyond simply recording employee time on the job – they also include one or more features to help ensure your construction company complies with all relevant local, state, and federal labor laws. Compliant time tracking can make a big difference to your bottom line!
Here’s what we look at when assessing a product’s compliance features:
- Is overtime calculated automatically (and accurately)?
- Are breaks tracked and recorded (automatically or otherwise)?
- Are there built-in location-based compliance rules (cities and states)?
- Are there detailed change logs for any manual timesheet edits?
Integrations
No business can operate on a single app, which is why integrations with other apps and tools are such important aspects of modern business software.
To calculate a product’s integration score, we’ll examine:
- How many native integrations (the simplest connection) does it offer?
- How effective and easy-to-use are its integrations with payroll software?
- Does it have robust data import and export features?
Customer Support
Learning how to use a new app can be frustrating, even if it’s meant to be the most user-friendly app around. That’s why great customer support is so essential when considering which time-tracking app to use.
Customer support scores are calculated based on:
- Live support channels available (phone, email, chat, etc.).
- Live support hours (business hours only, 24/7, etc.).
- The strength of the product’s online help center and/or FAQs.
- What other users say about support in online reviews.
Company
A great company with a highly customer-friendly approach can often make up for shortcomings in their software products – at least up to a point.
When assessing this score, we’ll examine:
- Transparency (easy-to-find pricing, etc.)
- Trial period (duration, feature availability, credit card requirements, etc.).
- Subscription flexibility (contracts, required durations, etc.).
- Ease of cancellation or pausing subscriptions.
- Customer perceptions (online product reviews).
- Website (a minor consideration, but great companies tend to have great websites).
Any questions about our scoring system? Have any suggestions on how we could make it even better? Click here to send us your feedback – we’d love to hear from you!
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