Best Time Tracking Software for Hourly Employees

Website: https://clockify.me/

Best for: Small teams that want low cost tracking

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

Free plan: Yes

Pros: Free plan covers up to 5 users; kiosk mode on Basic

Cons: Free plan report history covers only one month; invoicing needs Standard

Clockify is a timer and timesheet tool that suits hourly teams who want simple tracking without a large monthly bill. Staff can start a timer, fill in a timesheet or clock in through a kiosk, and managers can review hours in one place before payroll. The free plan covers up to 5 users with unlimited tracking, timers, timesheets and reports.

The Basic plan at $3.99 per user per month billed annually adds billable rates, kiosk mode, adding time for others, bulk editing and CSV and Excel exports. Activity monitoring and GPS tracking sit on the higher Pro plan, so teams that need location proof should check that tier before they choose.

Website: https://hubstaff.com/

Best for: Remote teams that need activity records

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

Free plan: Free trial (14 days)

Pros: Screenshots and activity levels on Starter; payroll and scheduling on Team

Cons: Two seat minimum on every subscription plan; GPS locations need an add-on or Enterprise

Hubstaff combines time tracking with activity monitoring, screenshots and app and website tracking, which makes it a strong fit for hourly staff who work away from a central office. Managers can see timesheets, activity levels and idle time, and the Team plan adds scheduling, attendance tracking, time off management and payroll and contractor payments.

The Starter plan costs $4.99 per user per month billed annually, with a two seat minimum, so the lowest monthly total is $9.98 before tax. Starter includes 500 screenshots and 500 app and website entries per user each month. Location tracking is an add-on on Team and is included on Enterprise, so field teams should price that extra cost before they sign up.

Website: https://buddypunch.com/

Best for: Stopping buddy punching at the door

Starting price: $4.99 per user/month (billed annually) plus $19 base fee per month

Free plan: Free trial (14 days)

Pros: GPS stamps on every punch; administrators are free and unlimited

Cons: $19 monthly base fee on every plan; no free plan after the trial

Buddy Punch is built around one problem: making sure the person who clocks in is the person who is actually at work. It offers facial recognition, photo capture at punch time, QR code and PIN kiosk punching, GPS stamps and geofencing, plus job tracking and time off management. Those checks give hourly employers a clear record for each shift, and the mobile apps work well for staff who move between sites during the day.

Starter costs $4.99 per user per month billed annually plus a $19 monthly base fee, and administrators do not count toward the per-user charge. Pro at $6.99 adds offline mode, basic geofencing, webcam photos and scheduling, while Advanced at $12.99 adds single sign-on and advanced reporting. The base fee makes Buddy Punch costly for a team of three, but the per-head cost falls once the team reaches 20 or more.

Website: https://www.joinhomebase.com/

Best for: Single location hourly teams

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

Free plan: Yes

Pros: Free Basic plan for one location with up to 10 employees; pricing per location, not per head

Cons: Payroll is a separate add-on at $49 per month plus $6 per employee; hiring tools need Plus

Homebase is an all-in-one app for hourly teams at a physical location, covering scheduling, time tracking, team messaging and point of sale connections in one place. The free Basic plan covers one location with up to 10 employees, which makes it a genuine no-cost start for a small cafe, salon, shop or restaurant. Staff clock in and out from a phone or a shared device, and managers build rotas around the same roster.

Essentials costs $24 per location per month billed annually, or $30 billed monthly, and adds GPS clock-ins, late arrival alerts and better scheduling tools, with unlimited employees at that location. Plus at $56 billed annually adds auto-scheduling, labour cost forecasting and time off management. Payroll is never included and costs $49 per month plus $6 per employee.

Website: https://www.deputy.com/

Best for: Shift teams that need compliance controls

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

Free plan: Free trial (31 days)

Pros: Labour law compliance tools on Lite; shift swap and find replacement included

Cons: $30 minimum monthly spend on monthly plans; payroll, HR and analytics cost extra

Deputy is a workforce management platform for shift-based teams in hospitality, retail, healthcare and services. It covers scheduling, timesheets, time clocking, leave management and labour law compliance, with shift swap and find replacement on the Lite plan. Managers can publish rotas, track who worked each shift and export hours for payroll, while staff can swap shifts and manage availability from a mobile app.

Lite costs $5 per user per month billed annually, or $5.50 billed monthly, and every user counts, including owners, administrators and supervisors. Core at $6.50 adds auto-scheduling, timesheet auto approval and biometric time clocking, while Pro at $9 adds single sign-on and advanced timesheets. Monthly plans carry a $30 minimum spend per invoice.

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

Best for: Teams already running QuickBooks

Starting price: $20 per month plus $10 per user/month (Premium)

Free plan: Free trial (30 days)

Pros: Hours flow straight into QuickBooks payroll; GPS tracking and scheduling on Premium

Cons: A QuickBooks Online account is required; no free plan after the trial

QuickBooks Time, formerly TSheets, is the time tracking app for teams that already run QuickBooks Online. Staff clock in from a mobile app, a web browser or a time kiosk, and managers can track GPS location, build schedules, manage time off and send hours straight into QuickBooks Payroll and invoicing. That direct link removes manual retyping of hours, which is where many payroll errors start for hourly teams.

Premium costs $20 per month plus $10 per user per month, and the base fee includes one administrator. Elite at $40 plus $12 per user adds geofencing, mileage tracking, project tracking and timesheet signatures. There is no free plan, only a 30-day trial, and the QuickBooks Online subscription is a separate cost on top.

Website: https://connecteam.com/

Best for: Deskless teams that want 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

Cons: Each hub is sold separately; payroll integration is not on the free plan

Connecteam is an all-in-one app for deskless teams, with a time clock, scheduling, team chat, training, forms and HR tools across three hubs: Operations, Communications, and HR and Skills. The Small Business plan is free for life for up to 10 users and includes all hubs and features, with limits of one time clock and one job schedule. That makes it a strong free start for a small hourly team that also needs chat and training.

The first subscription plan, Basic, costs $29 per hub per month billed annually, or $35 billed monthly, and covers the first 30 users. Advanced at $49 adds geofencing, auto clock-out and time off policies, while Expert at $99 adds more training and reporting depth. Because each hub is sold separately, a team that wants all three hubs pays three times.

Website: https://www.jibble.io/

Best for: Teams that want a free time clock

Starting price: $4.49 per user/month (billed annually)

Free plan: Yes

Pros: Free plan covers unlimited users; facial recognition and GPS on the free plan

Cons: Live location tracking needs Ultimate; screenshot storage is limited on the free plan

Jibble is a time and attendance app with one of the most generous free plans in this list: unlimited users, automated timesheets, GPS time tracking, break tracking, overtime tracking, project tracking, biometric verification and facial recognition at no cost. Staff can clock in from mobile, web, desktop or a kiosk, and managers get timesheets ready for payroll without entering hours by hand. For an hourly team on a tight budget, that free tier is hard to beat.

Premium costs $4.49 per user per month billed annually and adds group management, unlimited geofences, unlimited work schedules, leave accruals, overtime rules and multi-level approvals. Ultimate at $7.99 adds custom individual permissions, live location tracking and priority support. Jibble uses regional pricing in some countries, so confirm the exact figure for your location before you budget.

Website: https://www.ontheclock.com/

Best for: Small businesses that want simple pricing

Starting price: $4 per employee/month plus $5 base fee per month

Free plan: Free trial (30 days)

Pros: One plan with all core features; GPS and geofencing included at no extra cost

Cons: No free plan after the trial; full-service payroll costs extra

OnTheClock is a time clock app for small businesses, with GPS clock-ins, geofencing, scheduling, job and project tracking, time off management and payroll-ready exports in a single plan. There are no tiers to decode: every core time tracking feature is included from day one, which keeps the buying decision simple for an owner who wants to set up a clock and move on. A 10-person team pays $45 per month, which is $5 plus $4 for each employee.

The 30-day free trial needs no credit card at sign-up, so a team can test it across a full pay period before spending anything. Optional full-service payroll costs $40 per month plus $6 per employee, with a one-time $250 implementation fee, and teams with more than 100 employees move to Enterprise pricing.

Website: https://www.timedoctor.com/

Best for: Distributed teams that need proof of work

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

Free plan: Free trial (14 days)

Pros: Screenshots and activity monitoring on Basic; 60 plus integrations on Standard

Cons: No free plan after the trial; monitoring features need a careful team conversation

Time Doctor is built for managers who need proof of work from remote and hybrid hourly teams. It tracks time, tasks and projects, takes optional screenshots, records app and website use and shows activity levels, so a manager can see what happened during each tracked hour. Standard adds attendance tracking, payroll and more than 60 integrations, while Premium adds video screen recording and AI benchmarks for productivity.

Basic costs $6.67 per user per month billed annually, or $8 billed monthly, and covers time tracking, screenshots and activity monitoring. Standard at $11.67 adds web and app usage reports, attendance and payroll, and Premium at $16.70 adds the full analytics set. New accounts get a 14-day trial of Premium with no credit card required.