Best Time Tracking and Scheduling Software Compared

Website: https://clockify.me

Best for: Small teams that want free time tracking

Starting price: $3.99 per user/month (billed annually)

Free plan: Yes

Pros: Free plan covers up to 5 users; unlimited projects and tracking on every plan

Cons: Invoicing and approvals need Standard at $5.49; free plan reports cover at most 31 days

Clockify is a timer and timesheet tool from CAKE.com that covers the basics well: one-click timers, manual timesheets, a calendar view, a kiosk mode for shared devices and a desktop auto tracker. Teams log hours against projects and clients, then turn those hours into reports and, on Standard and above, invoices.

The free plan covers up to 5 users with unlimited tracking, which makes it a genuine starting point for a small team rather than a short trial. Basic adds billable rates, exports and private projects at $3.99 per seat per month billed annually. The trade-off is that invoicing, time off and approvals sit on Standard, so a team that bills clients will move up a tier sooner than the headline price suggests.

Website: https://hubstaff.com

Best for: Remote teams that need screenshots and activity data

Starting price: $4.99 per user/month (billed annually)

Free plan: Free trial (14 days)

Pros: Scheduling and attendance on Team; GPS and payroll on higher tiers

Cons: Two-seat minimum on Starter, Grow and Team; screenshots capped at 500 per seat per month on Starter

Hubstaff combines time tracking with activity monitoring, screenshots and app and URL tracking, which suits managers who need proof of work from remote or field teams. Timesheets are automatic, and the Team plan adds scheduling, attendance, time off and payroll and payments.

The Starter plan costs $4.99 per seat per month billed annually, or $7 billed monthly, and every plan carries a two-seat minimum, so a solo user still pays for two seats. Screenshot and app tracking caps on Starter mean heavier monitoring needs a higher tier. Add-ons for Insights, Locations and other features cost extra per seat, so check the total before you budget.

Website: https://toggl.com

Best for: Agencies that bill clients by the hour

Starting price: $9 per user/month (billed annually)

Free plan: Yes

Pros: One-click timers with idle detection; billable rates and project estimates on Starter

Cons: Profitability reports and approvals need Premium at $16; no screenshots or activity monitoring

Toggl Track is built around a simple idea: tracking time should take one click. Timers run on web, desktop and mobile, with idle detection, tags, calendar integration and reports that export for invoicing. The free plan covers up to 3 users with unlimited tracking, and Starter at $9 per user per month billed annually adds billable rates, project estimates and team reports.

Premium at $16 adds profitability analysis, fixed-fee project tracking, scheduled reports and timesheet approvals. The gap between Starter and Premium is wide, so a team that needs approvals should budget for Premium from the start. Toggl Track takes no screenshots, which some teams see as a benefit and others as a missing control.

Website: https://www.deputy.com

Best for: Shift teams that need labor law compliance

Starting price: $5 per user/month (billed annually)

Free plan: Free trial (31 days)

Pros: Shift swaps and leave management on Lite; scheduling, timesheets and time clocking included

Cons: $30 minimum monthly spend on monthly plans; payroll, HR and messaging are add-ons

Deputy is a scheduling tool for shift-based businesses, from single cafes to multi-site franchises. Lite costs $5 per user per month billed annually and covers basic scheduling, timesheets, time clocking, shift swaps, leave management and labor law compliance. Managers publish rosters, staff swap shifts and find replacements, and hours flow into payroll integrations.

Core at $6.50 and Pro at $9 add demand forecasting, auto-scheduling and single sign-on. The limits to watch are the $30 minimum monthly spend on monthly plans, the 12-month commitment on annual plans, and add-on pricing for payroll, HR and messaging, which can lift the real monthly cost above the headline rate.

Website: https://www.joinhomebase.com

Best for: Hourly teams at one location that want free scheduling

Starting price: $24 per location/month (billed annually)

Free plan: Yes

Pros: Free Basic plan for 1 location with up to 10 employees; per-location pricing does not rise with headcount

Cons: Payroll costs $49 per month plus $6 per employee extra; multi-location teams pay per location

Homebase is built for restaurants, retail shops, salons and other hourly teams that schedule by shift. Scheduling, time tracking, team messaging and point of sale connections come in the free Basic plan for one location with up to 10 employees.

Essentials costs $24 per location per month billed annually and adds GPS time tracking and late arrival alerts, while Plus at $56 adds AI-assisted scheduling and time off management. Because Homebase charges per location rather than per user, adding staff does not raise the scheduling bill. Payroll is a separate add-on at $49 per month plus $6 per active employee, and each extra location carries its own fee.

Website: https://connecteam.com

Best for: Deskless teams that want scheduling, chat and training in one app

Starting price: $29 per hub/month (billed annually)

Free plan: Yes

Pros: Free Small Business plan for up to 10 users; flat fee covers the first 30 users per hub

Cons: Each hub is billed separately; extra users beyond 30 cost more per user

Connecteam is an all-in-one app for deskless teams, built around three hubs: Operations, Communications and HR and Skills. The Operations hub holds the time clock, scheduling, checklists and forms, while the other hubs add team chat, training and HR tools.

The Small Business plan is free for up to 10 users, and Basic costs $29 per hub per month billed annually for the first 30 users, with a small charge for each user beyond 30. That flat structure makes Connecteam cheap per user for a team of 20 to 30 people. The catch is that each hub is billed separately, so a team that wants all three hubs pays three times, and costs climb once headcount passes 30.

Website: https://www.wheniwork.com

Best for: Small hourly teams that want simple, cheap scheduling

Starting price: $2.50 per user/month

Free plan: Free trial (14 days)

Pros: Auto-scheduling on every tier; no minimums and unlimited users

Cons: Time tracking is a separate add-on; no free plan and payroll needs a separate provider

When I Work is a scheduling app for hourly teams that keeps the price low and the feature list short. Essentials costs $2.50 per user per month and covers scheduling, messaging and auto-scheduling, with Pro at $5 and Premium at $8 adding scheduling rules, role permissions and API access.

There is no minimum headcount and no per-location fee, so a team of 10 pays $25 a month for scheduling. The headline rate does not include time tracking, which is a separate add-on at about $1.50 per user per month on Essentials, so a team that needs a time clock should budget around $4 per user. Payroll is handled through a separate provider.

Website: https://quickbooks.intuit.com/time-tracking/

Best for: Teams already running QuickBooks Online

Starting price: $20 per month base plus $10 per user/month

Free plan: Free trial (30 days)

Pros: Hours flow into QuickBooks payroll and invoicing; GPS time tracking and scheduling included

Cons: Requires a QuickBooks Online subscription; geofencing only on Elite at $40 base plus $12 per user

QuickBooks Time, formerly TSheets, is Intuit time tracking for hourly and field teams. Staff clock in from a mobile app with GPS, managers build schedules, and hours flow into QuickBooks payroll and invoicing without a separate integration to maintain.

Premium costs $20 per month as a base fee plus $10 per user per month, and Elite costs $40 plus $12 and adds geofencing, mileage and project tracking. The base fee applies even for a single user, and a QuickBooks Online subscription is required on top, so the total is higher than the headline rate suggests. For a team already inside QuickBooks, that single ecosystem can still be worth the premium.

Website: https://www.timedoctor.com

Best for: Managers who need screenshots and activity reports

Starting price: $6.67 per user/month (billed annually)

Free plan: Free trial (14 days)

Pros: Automatic tracking with screenshots and distraction alerts; payroll features on Standard

Cons: No free plan; some features such as Benchmarks AI cost extra on lower tiers

Time Doctor is a monitoring-first time tracker for managed and outsourced teams. It records hours automatically, takes optional screenshots, tracks app and website use and sends distraction alerts when staff visit sites a manager has flagged.

Basic costs $6.67 per user per month billed annually and covers tracking, projects and screenshots, while Standard at $11.67 adds attendance, payroll, schedules and more than 60 integrations. Premium at $16.70 adds video screen recording and AI benchmarking. There is no free plan, only a 14-day trial, and add-ons such as Benchmarks AI cost extra on lower tiers. The monitoring depth is the point, so teams should agree the rules with staff before switching it on.

Website: https://desktime.com

Best for: Office and hybrid teams that want automatic tracking

Starting price: $6.42 per user/month (billed annually)

Free plan: Free trial (14 days)

Pros: Fully automatic background tracking; productivity scores and idle detection included

Cons: No free plan; screenshots and integrations need Premium at $9.17

DeskTime takes the opposite approach to a manual timer: it records the workday automatically from the desktop, sorting apps, websites and document titles into productive and unproductive columns and totalling hours without anyone pressing start.

Pro costs $6.42 per user per month billed annually and covers automatic tracking, productivity scores, idle detection and absence management. Premium at $9.17 adds screenshots, integrations, API access and shift scheduling. Enterprise is custom priced for teams of 200 or more users. There is no free plan, only a 14-day trial, and DeskTime has no built-in invoicing, so teams that bill clients will pair it with another tool.