(650) 332-8623The 7 Best Employee Time Tracking Apps for 2026
Looking for an employee time tracking app for your construction business? We’ve reviewed 7 of the best apps on the market to help you!
Accurate time tracking gets harder when crews move between jobsites. I’ve seen how small errors—missed punches, unclear shift times, or hours that don’t match field activity—drive payroll problems and inflate labor costs.
I tested the leading apps built to fix these issues, focusing on GPS accuracy, mobile usability, job costing clarity, and how well each tool supports day-to-day field work.
This guide covers:
- The best employee time tracking apps for 2026
- Who each option fits
- Pricing snapshots
- The key strengths and weak points you should know
If you manage crews on the move and need clean, reliable time data, these are the apps worth looking at.
Top Employee Time Tracking Apps at a Glance
|
|
|
|
|---|---|---|---|
Our score |
9.2 |
8.1 |
7.7 |
Best for |
GPS-verified time tracking for construction and field crews |
Freelance project time tracking |
Agency client billing reports |
Pricing |
Starting at $6 / mo. per user + $50 / mo. company base fee |
Starting at $10/mo. per user |
Starting at $5/mo. per user |
What is an employee time tracking app?
An employee time tracking app is a simple way for businesses to capture work hours without relying on paper timesheets or guesswork. The app logs when employees start their day, take breaks, switch tasks, or move between jobsites, keeping everything accurate and easy to review. This matters even more for crews working across multiple locations, where hours need to match where the work actually happened.
Managers, payroll teams, and business owners use these tools to run payroll correctly, stay aligned with labor requirements, and understand how time is being spent across crews or projects. The result is clearer visibility, fewer errors, and a more organized workflow.
How employee time tracking apps work
An employee time tracking app guides teams through the workday by capturing hours as they happen. Setup usually starts with managers creating jobs, assigning team members, and defining pay rules or schedules.
Employees then use the mobile app to clock in, switch tasks, record breaks, or confirm when they arrive at a new job site. Many apps automate parts of this process with tools like GPS checks or automatic clock-ins based on location, similar to how a time tracker device verifies activity in real time, which helps tie hours to the right job without relying on memory.
Throughout the day, supervisors get a live view of who’s working and where. Once shifts are complete, managers review and approve entries, and the app pushes everything into payroll or project cost reports. Because the hours already match locations and schedules, this cuts down the back-and-forth that usually shows up during payroll cleanup.
Benefits of employee time tracking apps
- Accurate payroll every time: Automatic time entries replace handwritten logs, reducing discrepancies and last-minute corrections.
- Better oversight for managers: Real-time updates show who’s on the clock, which jobs they’re working on, and how long tasks are taking.
- Fewer missed punches: Built-in reminders and automated clock-ins help crews avoid forgetting to track their hours.
- Simplified scheduling and coordination: Clear time records make it easier to plan staffing needs and prevent coverage gaps.
- Stronger compliance: Breaks, overtime, and shift rules are applied consistently, supporting labor law requirements.
- More reliable job costing: Verified hours ensure labor is allocated to the right projects, keeping budgets on track.
- Improved team accountability: Clear logs reduce disputes and make daily expectations easier to follow.
How much does an employee time tracking app cost?
Employee time tracking apps are typically priced either per user or as a flat monthly rate that includes a limited number of seats. Costs vary depending on how many people you need to track and whether you require features like GPS verification, job costing, or payroll integrations.
Teams with field crews often end up paying more attention to GPS, job costing, and mobile reliability than to base price.
Many platforms offer a free tier for very small teams or a free trial so you can get a feel for the workflow before subscribing. Setup is usually straightforward, though larger teams may need a bit of onboarding or training, which can influence the overall cost.
What to look for in employee time tracking apps
When comparing employee time tracking apps, it helps to start with the essential functions that every jobsite-ready platform should offer. Look for features that ensure accuracy, reduce cleanup during payroll, and make daily time recording easy for both managers and employees.
Must-have capabilities include:
- Reliable time capture: Accurate clock-ins and clock-outs to prevent guesswork or inflated hours
- Clear project or job assignment: Ensures every hour is tied to the right task or cost center
- Break and overtime tracking: Supports compliance and keeps records audit-ready
- Mobile access: Allows teams to log hours from different locations without delay
- Manager approvals: Helps maintain consistency before hours move to payroll
Once the fundamentals are covered, consider the extra features that can elevate the experience, especially for growing or field-based teams.
Helpful differentiators include:
- GPS or geofenced tracking for verifying on-site work
- Scheduling or task management to streamline daily coordination
- Payroll and accounting integrations to reduce manual entry and speed up processing
How to choose the best employee time tracking app
- Map out your time-tracking needs. Are your team members in the field, moving between jobsites, or desk-based? Knowing whether you need mobile clock-ins, GPS verification, or simple timers will narrow down the options quickly.
- Use essential features as your filter. Prioritize tools that reliably capture hours, assign work to the right job or cost code, and track breaks or overtime correctly. These core functions determine whether the app can support accurate payroll and compliance.
- Evaluate day-to-day usability. Try out the mobile app and dashboard. Clocking in, switching tasks, and submitting hours should be intuitive. If your crew struggles early on, adoption becomes tough, which is a common issue even with traditional punch clock apps.
- Check how well it fits your workflow. Look for integrations with your payroll, accounting, or scheduling systems so time data flows without manual entry. Apps that work well with your existing tools reduce friction and admin work.
- Consider long-term value, not just price. Compare plans based on team size, future growth, and which time-tracking features actually save you time. The best employee time tracking app is the one that eliminates your biggest inefficiencies, even if it’s not the cheapest.
The right app is the one that cuts down your biggest sources of bad data, usually missed punches, job switching errors, or location mismatches.
Final Thoughts
The tools in this roundup all have strengths. Some suit freelancers, while others fit simple desk-based tracking. But for anyone who needs an employee time tracking app that can handle field crews, location-based work, and accurate payroll data, Workyard stands out as the most dependable option.
If you need clean, verified hours from crews moving between jobsites, start a free trial with Workyard and see how it handles your workflow.
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.
How We Score Software
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.
How We Calculate Overall Scores
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: 15%
- Integrations: 10%
- Customer Support: 15%
- Company: 5%
Methodology for Each Factor
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.)
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!
Inaccurate time tracking is a costly problem, with 43% of hourly workers admitting to time theft. For businesses still using paper timesheets, these inefficiencies can lead to significant financial losses.
Employee time-tracking apps offer a solution, helping you maintain accuracy and minimize losses. After extensive research and testing, we’ve compiled a list of the best options to help you choose the right tool for your team. Let’s dive in!
You can track employee time on mobile by using a time tracking app that lets workers clock in and out directly from their phones.
Most mobile time tracking apps guide employees through their day with simple actions—starting a shift, recording breaks, switching tasks, or wrapping up at the end of the day. Because everything syncs instantly, managers can see who’s active and where they’re working without relying on texts or check-ins.
Many tools also use GPS or geofencing to confirm job-site attendance, which helps keep hours accurate. After entries are submitted, managers can approve them and send the data straight to payroll or project reports, creating a smooth, end-to-end process.
Good free employee time-tracking apps include tools like Toggl Track, MyHours, and TopTracker, all of which offer basic time logging without upfront cost.
These free options usually cover simple essentials such as starting and stopping timers, organizing hours by project, and exporting basic reports. They work well for freelancers, small teams, or businesses that only need lightweight tracking.
However, most free plans come with limits, such as restricted users, fewer integrations, or no GPS verification, which can be challenging for field crews or growing operations. For teams that need more accuracy, job-site tracking, or payroll-ready records, a paid solution built for mobile workers may be a better long-term fit.
The best employee time tracking apps capture hours accurately, work seamlessly on mobile, and provide clear visibility into who’s working and where. Popular options include platforms like Toggl Track, TrackingTime, MyHours, and Paymo for basic time logging, while more advanced tools support scheduling, job costing, and payroll integrations.
For businesses that rely on field crews or job-site verification, Workyard is one of the strongest choices. Its high-accuracy GPS tracking, geofenced clock-ins, and payroll-ready timesheets make it especially effective for construction, field service, and other mobile teams. The right app ultimately depends on your workflow, but Workyard stands out if accurate hours and real-time oversight are top priorities.
The best construction time tracking apps in the US are the ones built to handle field conditions, job-site movement, and detailed labor reporting. Tools in this category usually offer GPS verification, mobile clock-ins, job cost tracking, and integrations that keep payroll accurate.
Among US construction apps, Workyard distinguishes itself by delivering precise GPS tracking and clear job-level time data. Other platforms handle basic timekeeping but don’t track exact movement between jobsites, which is where most errors happen. Workyard is built around the complexity of field crews, making it a better fit for contractors who need dependable visibility across multiple jobsites.
Employees can cheat time tracking apps in several ways, often making it appear like they are working when they’re not. Common methods include:
- Buddy punching: A coworker clocks in or out for them.
- Idle time tricks: Leaving devices running while away.
- Mouse movers: Devices that simulate activity.
- Red herring windows: Hiding personal apps behind work apps.
- Remote access: Logging into another computer to disguise activity.
- Timesheet edits: Manually inflating reported hours.