(650) 332-8623The 7 Best Workforce Time Clocks for 2026
Looking for a workforce time clock for your construction business? We’ve reviewed 7 of the best workforce tracking apps to help you!
Workforce time clocks play a critical role in construction, where crews move between jobsites, start early, and rarely work from a single location. When hours aren’t captured accurately, the impact shows up fast in payroll errors, job cost overruns, and time disputes that drain both time and trust.
Most contractors adopt a workforce time clock to replace paper timesheets and fixed punch clocks that simply don’t hold up on active jobsites. Modern systems are built for the field, combining mobile clock-ins, location verification, and automated records that follow crews throughout the day.
Below is our breakdown of the best workforce time clocks for construction, grounded in real jobsite needs.
Top Workforce Time Clock Picks at a Glance
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Our score |
9.3 |
7.7 |
7.6 |
Best for |
Best workforce time clock for GPS time tracking |
Designed for workforce management |
Excels in direct payroll integration |
Pricing |
Starts at $6/user/month + $50 monthly base fee |
Contact sales for pricing |
Starts at $38/month (one user) |
What is a workforce time clock?
A workforce time clock is a system that tracks employee work hours digitally instead of using paper timesheets or manual entries.
Workers clock in and out using a mobile app, web portal, kiosk, or physical time clock, similar to an employee time tracking app used by hourly teams. It creates a reliable record of hours worked. Many tools also include location or identity checks to prevent errors.
These systems are widely used by businesses with hourly teams, such as construction, trades, retail, and service companies. A workforce time clock helps ensure accurate payroll, supports labor law compliance, and gives managers better visibility into attendance and labor costs across teams.
How a workforce time clock works
A workforce time clock works by guiding teams through a simple, repeatable flow from setup to payroll-ready results.
An admin starts by creating employee profiles, defining work schedules, and setting basic rules like breaks, overtime, or approved locations. Jobs, cost codes, or departments are assigned so hours land in the right place from the start.
Employees then clock in and out using a mobile app, web browser, kiosk, or physical device. The system tracks time automatically, often verifying location or enforcing schedule rules.
Managers review entries in real time, make quick corrections if needed, and approve timecards.
Once approved, hours sync directly to payroll or accounting software. Reports are generated automatically, giving clear visibility into attendance, labor costs, and compliance.
Benefits of workforce time clocks
- Reduce payroll errors: Hours are captured digitally, eliminating missed punches, manual math, and last-minute fixes before payday.
- Save time on admin work: Timecards, approvals, and reports are generated automatically instead of being tracked across spreadsheets and paper logs.
- Improve labor compliance: Built-in rules for breaks, overtime, and time edits help businesses stay aligned with labor regulations.
- Gain real-time visibility: Managers can see who’s working, who’s late, and where hours are being logged without chasing updates.
- Prevent time theft: Location checks, schedule rules, or identity verification reduce buddy punching and unauthorized clock-ins.
- Control labor costs: Accurate hour tracking makes it easier to spot overruns early and keep labor spending on track.
How much does a workforce time clock cost?
Most workforce time clock software is priced either per user per month or as a flat fee that covers a set number of employees.
In today’s market, costs commonly fall in the range of $5–$15 per user per month, with higher tiers unlocking features like GPS verification, scheduling, job costing, or payroll integrations.
Many providers offer a free trial, while free plans are usually limited to very small teams or basic timesheet software for small business. Beyond the subscription, some businesses should plan for setup and training costs, especially when rolling out kiosks, configuring pay rules, or onboarding larger crews.
Final pricing depends on team size, feature depth, and how tightly the system integrates with payroll or accounting tools.
What to look for in a workforce time clock
When evaluating a workforce time clock, it helps to separate what every system must do from what makes certain tools easier to live with long term. The essentials are what keep time tracking accurate and payroll running smoothly.
- Simple time entry: Employees should be able to clock in and out quickly from mobile devices, web browsers, or shared kiosks without training friction.
- Reliable hour tracking: The system needs to record worked time accurately and flag missed or overlapping punches.
- Approval workflows: Managers should be able to review, adjust, and approve timecards in one place before payroll closes.
- Payroll compatibility: Clean exports or direct integrations are critical to avoid duplicate entry and pay errors.
After confirming those basics, look at features that improve control and visibility across teams. These often become the deciding factor between similar platforms.
- Location or schedule enforcement: Reduces off-site or early clock-ins
- Compliance tools: Helps apply overtime and break rules automatically
- Reporting and dashboards: Gives managers insight into attendance and labor costs
How to Choose the Best Workforce Time Clock
Choosing the best workforce time clock is easier when you follow a clear, step-by-step approach focused on how your team actually tracks time.
- Map your time-tracking workflow: Start by identifying where and how employees clock in, whether through mobile apps, kiosks, web browsers, or physical devices, and whether work happens on jobsites, in the field, or at fixed locations.
- Confirm the essentials: Make sure the system supports accurate clock-ins, manager approvals, and payroll-ready time records. These features are critical for reliable pay and labor compliance.
- Test day-to-day usability: Use free trials or demos, especially when comparing a clock-in clock-out app across teams.
- Check integrations and support: Look for clean connections to payroll or accounting software and responsive customer support.
- Compare cost to real value: Weigh pricing against reduced payroll errors, time saved on admin work, and better visibility into labor hours.
Final Thoughts
If you’re choosing a workforce time clock for construction, the difference shows up in daily use. Many tools handle scheduling, payroll, or compliance well, but fall short once crews start moving between jobsites.
Workyard stands apart by keeping time accurate at the jobsite level while still feeding clean data into payroll and cost tracking. If knowing exactly where hours go matters, Workyard is the most reliable option to build around.
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!
If you’re looking for a truly free workforce time clock, the best options are lightweight tools built for small teams with basic time tracking needs.
Connecteam is one of the strongest free choices. Its free plan supports up to 10 employees and includes a mobile time clock, basic GPS breadcrumbs, and simple timesheets. It works well for frontline teams that need quick setup and straightforward hour tracking, as long as there’s an internet connection.
Homebase is another solid free option, especially for hourly and shift-based teams. Its free tier covers time tracking, scheduling, and basic labor management, making it a good fit for small businesses that want simple clock-in and payroll integrations without upfront cost.
That said, free plans usually come with limits on users, features, or reporting. Once teams need precise GPS location data, clean audit trails, or job-level cost tracking, they often outgrow free tools.
That’s where construction-focused platforms like Workyard come in. While it isn’t free, it’s designed for crews working across multiple jobsites and prioritizes accuracy, compliance, and job costing. These are areas where free workforce time clocks tend to fall short.
This information is not publicly disclosed by Walmart. However, Walmart associates can find information about their time off and attendance benefits, including Paid Time Off (PTO) and Leave of Absence (LOA), on the “My Time & Attendance” page.
What are the most popular workforce time clocks?
- Workyard: This time and attendance software is designed to simplify workforce management for businesses of all sizes, especially those in construction and field services. It offers GPS tracking, automated time logging, and compliance tools. Key features include GPS-verified time tracking, automated clock-ins and clock-outs using geofencing, and real-time attendance monitoring. Workyard integrates with QuickBooks and Gusto.
- Connecteam: An all-in-one online employee time clock that allows you to track your team’s work hours and manage accurate timesheets. It offers a free plan for businesses with up to 10 employees.
- Buddy Punch: Online time clock software with time-tracking and attendance tools, scheduling, timesheet management, and payroll integration. It offers flexible punch options, including 4-digit PINs, QR codes, facial recognition, and passwords.
- Clockify: Time clock software serving various industries, including construction, startups, law firms, accounting, and non-profits. Its time clock tracks employees’ hours across projects and locations, and it can monitor and calculate billable hours and labor costs for payroll.
- Jibble: Time tracking software for various industries, including construction, healthcare, education, hospitality, consulting, and remote teams. It offers tools for monitoring attendance for online and remote teams and automates attendance management, keeping track of overtime and breaks. Jibble is free for unlimited users.
- Homebase: Primarily a general HR and employee management app for small businesses, offering tools for scheduling, time-tracking, attendance, and task management. Its time clock app tracks time across projects and locations via GPS.
Workday is expensive because costs stack across per-user subscriptions, add-on modules, and sizable implementation—especially for large, complex enterprises.
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Subscription model: Per user, per month (e.g., ~$99 for basic HCM), with annual totals often ~$30k–$350k+ depending on users, modules, and terms.
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Modular architecture: Each module (HCM, Payroll, Financials, etc.) adds fees; bundles lower unit cost but not overall spend.
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Implementation/integration: A one-time fee commonly ~100% of the first year’s subscription (e.g., $500k annual → ~$500k implementation), plus customization and integrations (e.g., QuickBooks, Paychex, Sage).
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Scale & complexity: Built for enterprises needing advanced configuration and higher support levels.
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Premium features/support: AI-driven analytics, mobile access, and premium support tiers add to price.
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Competitive positioning: Priced above mid-market options (e.g., UKG Pro, ADP Workforce Now) because it targets comprehensive enterprise needs.