Time clock apps accurately track employee work hours which helps improve productivity, determine available capacity, and comply with payroll and labor laws.
But with so many different options available, selecting the right time clock software can be tricky.
This article provides an in-depth review of the best time clock apps for employees, with key features, integrations, pros and cons, and pricing.
Disclaimer: The information below is accurate as of {publish date}.
Best employee time clock apps
- Toggl Track: Best for creative businesses
- Hubstaff: Best for tracking all employee activity
- Harvest: Best for time billing
- Clockify: Best all-in-one time clock solution
- Timely: Best AI time clock
- DeskTime: Best for moderate surveillance
- QuickBooks Time: Best for accounting teams
- Time Doctor: Best mandatory time clock software
- Justworks Hours: Best for small business payroll
- TimeCamp: The most affordable time clock software
1. Toggl Track
Price: Starts at $10/month.
Toggl Track is a time clock app that helps agencies and creative teams track time accurately, generate timesheets for payroll, and improve project profitability.
Since it comes with detailed time reports, Toggl Track also helps managers analyze team productivity and capacity.
What we like
- Toggl Track has online and offline time tracking capabilities and tracks time on the web, desktop, and mobile. Employees can track time remotely or on the go, and you get accurate time reports.
The app automatically generates timesheets from the time tracked and facilitates payroll.
Toggl Track also lets you add labor costs, calculate employee and project profitability, and generate reports on billable hours and project revenue.
What’s missing
- Toggl Track doesn’t have employee surveillance features. And that’s because, it’s a time clock app designed to empower employees and not micromanage them or invade their privacy.
Best for
Toggl Track is best for agencies and creative teams that want a flexible time clock app that tracks time accurately, simplifies their payroll process, and offers detailed time reports and employee profitability insights.
Top features
- Cross-platform time tracking: Track time from your phone (iOS and Android), desktop, or the web, online and offline, for accurate time records. It also has browser extensions to track time from any web application.
- Automatic timesheets: Toggl Track auto generates error-free timesheets from your employee’s time entries. Your time entries are accurate to the second, or if needed, you can also set up time-rounding.
- Profitability insights: Calculate billable hours, add costs per hour and billable rates to analyze employee, project, and client profitability.
- Time reports: Create summary, detailed, and weekly reports to see where your employees spend time and analyze team productivity and capacity. Optimize their workload by comparing billable and non-billable hours.
- Idle time detection: Available in the Toggl Track browser extension and Toggl Track desktop, the idle time detection feature notifies you when the timer runs while you’ve been idle for accurate time records.
Tool integrations
Integrations include Toggl Plan, Google Calendar, and Google Drive. Toggl Track also integrates with other 100+ popular apps for project management, calendar, documentation, communication, and more.
Pricing
Toggl Track offers four pricing plans:
| Plan | Cost | Best for |
|---|---|---|
| Free | $0 | Personal use |
| Starter | $10 per user per month | Teams with basic time-tracking needs |
| Premium | $20 per user per month | Teams who need online and offline functionality for tracking time and profitability |
| Enterprise | Custom pricing | Enterprise teams |
Visit the pricing page for more information.
Top Tip: All Toggl Track plans have a free, 30-day trial of Toggl Track Premium.
2. Hubstaff
Price: Starts at $7/month.
Hubstaff is a time clock app that tracks and records all employee activity.
Managers can monitor employee work and productivity and minimize time theft with employee surveillance features like keyboard and mouse activity levels as well as screenshots.
What we like
- Hubstaff lets you create many types of reports like time and activity, timesheet approval, work breaks, manual time edits, daily totals, and more. These reports are easy to use, filter, and edit based on the information you want to see.
What’s missing
- Hubstaff’s employee surveillance features can feel intrusive and hurt employee morale.
Note: We’ve put Hubstaff shoulder-to-shoulder with Toggl Track and found where each thrives. Get a full picture of Hubstaff vs Toggl here!
Best for
Hubstaff is best for companies that want to track all employee activity with surveillance features like random screenshots, apps, and URL tracking.
Top features
- Multi-platform time tracking: Hubstaff supports desktop, browser, and mobile apps so employees track every working minute.
- Task timer: Track time in Hubstaff tasks to see how much time specific tasks take.
- Employee monitoring: Hubstaff calculates activity levels based on keyboard and mouse strokes, takes screenshots every ten minutes, and tracks the apps and the URLs employees visit.
- Auto discard idle time: Hubstaff automatically deletes idle time to keep your time records accurate.
Tool integrations
Integrations include Hubstaff Tasks, Asana, and Slack. Hubstaff also integrates with 30+ project management, communication, payments, invoicing, CRM, and help desk tools.
Pricing
Hubstaff offers five pricing options:
| Plan | Cost | Best for |
|---|---|---|
| Free | $0 | For individual use |
| Starter | $7 per user/month | Small teams who need a basic time-tracking software solution |
| Grow | $9 per user/month | Teams who need more complex time-tracking and time-management features |
| Team | $12 per user/month | Teams with advanced time-tracking needs |
| Enterprise | Contact Hubstaff for prices, starting at $25 per user/month, billed annually | Enterprise companies |
Visit the pricing page for more information.
3. Harvest
Price: Starts at $12/month
Harvest is a time clock app with time billing features across multiple projects, invoicing, and collecting client payments without leaving the app.
What we like
- Harvest simplifies the billing process.
You track time easily with a timer, turn tracked time into invoices, send them to clients in Excel, CSV, or PDF format, and accept secure online payments from clients through Harvests payment integrations.
What’s missing
- Harvest doesn’t have a task timer, which may limit the tools’ time-tracking capabilities.
Best for
Harvest is best for teams who want an accurate time billing app that tracks employee hours accurately, streamlines invoicing, and facilitates client payments.
Top features
- Billable time tracking: Track every minute spent on paid tasks and projects.
- Expense tracking: Track task and project expenses, add them to your invoices, and bill clients accurately.
- Invoicing: Harvest generates accurate client invoices based on your recorded work time.
- Online payments: Through Harvest’s integrations with payment tools like PayPal and Stripe, clients can pay you directly from Harvest.
- Reports: Create detailed time, expense, invoice, payments received, contractor reports, and more.
Tool integrations
Integrations include Stripe, PayPal, and QuickBooks Online. Harvest also integrates with other 50+ analytics, communication, productivity, and project management tools.
Pricing
Harvest offers two pricing options:
| Plan | Cost | Best for |
|---|---|---|
| Free | $0 | Solo users |
| Pro | $12 per user per month | Small teams |
Visit the pricing page for more information.
4. Clockify
Price: Starts at $4.99/month.
Clockify is an all-in-one time clock solution that tracks billable and non-billable employee hours on project and task levels and generates detailed time and cost reports.
What we like
- In addition to time tracking across platforms, Clockify also offers kiosks to track employee hours at physical locations. It also offers GPS time tracking features to keep track of your on-the-move employees.
What’s missing
- Clockify’s surveillance features, like GPS tracking and screenshots, might make employees uncomfortable.
Best for
Clockify is best for teams who need an all-in-one time clock app that tracks task and project employee time and provides in-depth time insights.
Top features
- Billable and non-billable time tracking: Track and analyze your team’s billable and non-billable activity to understand how it impacts profitability.
- Mobile app and browser extensions: Employees can track every minute worked on the go via the mobile app or browser extensions.
- Idle detection and reminders: Clockify detects idle time and sends time-tracking notifications to keep time records accurate.
- Team dashboard: Team leads and managers can easily see what each employee is working on, their tracked hours, and an individual time breakdown.
Tool integrations
Integrations include Google Calendar, Asana, and Salesforce. Clockify also integrates with other 80+ project management and productivity tools.
Pricing
Clockify offers four pricing options:
| Plan | Cost | Best for |
|---|---|---|
| Basic | $4.99 per user per month | Solo users with basic time-tracking needs |
| Standard | $6.99 per user per month | Small teams with more complex time-tracking and employee scheduling needs |
| Pro | $9.99 per user per month | Teams who need a robust time clock kiosk tool |
| Enterprise | $14.99 per user per month | Teams with complex client projects that require advanced time-tracking features |
Visit the pricing page for more information.
5. Timely
Price: Starts at $11/month
Timely is an AI-powered time clock software for employees that tracks time automatically, converts it into timesheets, and generates insightful time reports.
What we like
- Timely can track time automatically with zero input from your employees and draft accurate timesheets at the end of each day.
All this data tracked is private to each employee, who chooses what information to share.
What’s missing
- Timely’s Starter plan doesn’t include the people dashboard and anomaly detection features, has limited reports, and doesn’t let you create more than 20 projects.
For such capabilities, you must pay for the Premium plan at $20 per user per month.
Best for
Timely is best for teams who want an AI time clock to track employee hours automatically and generate accurate timesheets and detailed time reports.
Top features
- Automatic and manual time tracking: You enter time entries manually or let Timely automatically track all your activity in the background.
- AI timesheets: AI automatically drafts accurate employee timesheets based on their tracked hours.
- Anomaly detection: Timely’s AI tools identify threats and potential issues like employee burnout, weekend time logs, and unbalanced workloads.
- Reports dashboard: Create customized reports with the data you want to see. Choose from billable and non-billable hours, capacity, overtime, undertime, and planned hours reports.
Tool integrations
Integrations include Notion, Google Calendar, and Slack. Timely also integrates with many other project management, communication, and collaboration tools.
Pricing
Timely offers four pricing plans:
| Plan | Cost | Best for |
|---|---|---|
| Starter | $11 per user/ month | Freelancers and small teams who need a simple time tracker |
| Premium | $20 per user/ month | Midsize teams |
| Unlimited | $28 per user/ month | Midsize and large teams |
| Unlimited+ | Contact for more pricing | Large teams |
Visit the pricing page for more information.
6. DeskTime
Price: Starts at $7/month
DeskTime is an automatic clock app with employee monitoring features like app and website activity tracking along with screenshots.
What we like
- Although DeskTime has employee surveillance features, it also has a private time feature, making it less invasive.
Employees can turn private time on, which stops the timer. That way, they can check personal emails or browse social media in privacy.
What’s missing
- DeskTime doesn’t track time without an internet connection. If you want to add offline working hours, you must do it manually.
Best for
DeskTime is best for teams who need an employee clock app with moderate surveillance features.
Top features
- Automatic and manual time tracking: DeskTime can automatically track every working minute, or you can add time entries manually.
- URL and app tracking: DeskTime tracks apps and websites visited by employees so you know exactly where their time goes.
- Screenshots: DeskTime takes random screenshots of employees’ computer screens so you can monitor their activities during work hours.
- Productivity calculation: Mark websites and apps as productive, unproductive, and neutral. Then, get productivity reports to see each employee’s productivity levels and spot distractions.
Tool integrations
Integrations include Google Calendar, Asana, and Jira.
Pricing
DeskTime offers four pricing plans:
| Plan | Cost | Best for |
|---|---|---|
| DeskTime Lite | $0 | Solo users |
| Pro | $7 per user per month | Teams who need a basic time-tracking app |
| Premium | $10 per user per month | Teams who need an online time clock and screenshots |
| Enterprise | $20 per user per month | Enterprise teams |
Visit the pricing page for more information.
7. QuickBooks Time
Price: Starts at $20/month
QuickBooks Time is time clock software that tracks employee time accurately on desktop and mobile devices and facilitates billing and payroll. If you already use QuickBooks for accounting, QuickBooks Time is an automatic choice.
What we like
- QuickBooks Time gives managers real-time visibility of the workforce. This allows you to see who’s on the clock at any time, and what they’re working on so you can plan better.
What’s missing
- QuickBooks Time doesn’t come with employee surveillance features which is a negative for teams that require this.
Also, it can be very expensive, starting at $20 per user per month.
Best for
QuickBooks Time is best for accounting teams who need to track employee time on multiple platforms, simplify payroll, and streamline client invoicing and payments.
Top features
- Multi-platform time tracking: Employees can track time on their desktop or mobile app and record every working minute.
- Reports: Get payroll hours summaries by team members, overtime hour reports, and more.
- Task timer: Track time for specific tasks, see how much each task takes, and create better task estimates.
- Invoice and payments: Accounting managers can quickly create invoices from time tracked, accept client payments, send payment reminders, or create recurring invoices.
Tool integrations
Integrations include Gusto, QuickBooks Online, and ADP.
Pricing
QuickBooks Time offers two pricing options:
| Plan | Cost | Best for |
|---|---|---|
| Premium | $20 per month | Teams with basic time tracking needs who also want payroll reports and invoicing features |
| Elite | $40 per month | Teams who need timesheet signatures and geofencing |
Visit the pricing page for more information.
8. Time Doctor
Price: Starts at $7/month
Time Doctor is a time clock software app with many features for time tracking and reporting employee work hours.
These features include activity tracking, screenshots, productivity ratings, and video screen recording.
What we like
- Time Doctor’s team and user dashboards show insightful time data with daily productivity percentages, attendance, and numbers of hours tracked.
What’s missing
- Time Doctor can feel invasive for employees as it monitors activity with surveillance features. It has a silent app that, when turned on, tracks all computer activity, and it can’t be paused when the computer is on.
Best for
Time Doctor is best for teams who need a time clock app that tracks and monitors employee activity and generates detailed time reports.
Top features
- Online and offline time tracking: Time Doctor tracks employee time even without an internet connection and syncs all tracked data when the connection is back on.
- Multiple devices: Employees can track time accurately via the desktop app, mobile phone, or browser extension.
- Silent tracking: Time Doctor’s silent app records all computer activity while employee computers are on, and it can’t be turned off.
- Detailed reports: Get activity summary, attendance, timeline, web and app usage reports, and more.
Tool integrations
Integrations include ClickUp, PayPal, and Slack. Time Doctor also integrates with other project management, payments, invoicing, help desk, communication, and CRM tools.
Pricing
Time Doctor offers three pricing plans:
| Plan | Cost | Best for |
|---|---|---|
| Basic | $7 per user per month | Teams who need access to unlimited screenshots and basic reporting |
| Standard | $10 per user per month | Teams who need to see productivity ratings and need payroll features |
| Premium | $20 per user per month | Teams who need video screen recording |
Visit the pricing page for more information.
9. Justworks Hours
Price: Starts at $8/month
Justworks Hours is a time clock app for employees that comes as an add-on to Justworks’s professional employer organization (PEO) software.
What we like
- Justworks Hours’ seamless integration with Justworks Payroll means all employee time data goes directly to your payroll app.
This lets you speed up and simplify your payroll process.
What’s missing
- Some users say Justworks Hours sometimes crashes, leading to inaccurate time-tracking data.
Best for
Justworks Hours is best for small teams who want to track employee hours and speed up their payroll process.
Top features
- Multiple reports: Choose from timesheets, payroll, project, expense reports, and more.
- Mobile time tracking: Employees can track time on the go with the Justworks Hours mobile app.
- Payroll syncing: Justworks Hours syncs directly with Justworks PEO and Payroll software to streamline your payroll process.
- Automated meal and rest break reminders: Justworks Hours sends automated reminders for employees to take their breaks and avoid burnout.
Tool integrations
Integrations include QuickBooks Online, Xero, and Greenhouse.
Pricing
You can purchase Justworks Hours as an add-on to Justworks’s PEO software for $8 per user per month.
But first, you need to buy one of Justworks’s PEO plans:
| Plan | Cost | Best for |
|---|---|---|
| Basic | $59 per month per employee | Teams who need payroll and HR tools |
| Plus | $99 per month per employee | Teams who need access to medical insurance |
Visit the pricing page for more information.
10. TimeCamp
Price: Starts at $3.99/month.
TimeCamp is a time clock app that tracks employee hours with monitoring features like random screenshots and app and website tracking.
What we like
- TimeCamp has a generous Starter plan which costs $3.99 per user per month.
With this plan, users can track time on the web, mobile, and desktop apps both online and offline. Other features include idle time detection, weekly timesheets, attendance and overtime tracking, and detailed time reports.
What’s missing
- TimeCamp tracks apps and websites employees visit and takes random screenshots of their computer screens. These surveillance features can feel invasive for some people.
Best for
TimeCamp is best for teams who need an affordable employee time clock app to track time, productivity, and profitability.
Top features
- Automatic time tracking: TimeCamp captures your work hours and organizes your tracked time data into automatic time reports.
- Time reporting: Monitor your team’s performance and work progress with real-time reports. Or create custom reports that show exactly the info you need.
- Timesheet approval: TimeCamp lets you approve your employees’ timesheets and disables timesheet editing once they are approved.
- Multi-platform time tracking: TimeCamp tracks time on desktop, mobile, browser extensions, and Apple watches.
Tool integrations
Integrations include Google Docs, Microsoft Teams, and Google Calendar. TimeCamp also integrates with other 80+ project management, helpdesk, collaboration, development, accounting, and CRM tools.
Pricing
TimeCamp offers five pricing options:
| Plan | Cost | Best for |
|---|---|---|
| Free | $0 | Individual users with minimal time tracking needs |
| Starter | $3.99 per user per month | Teams with more complex time-tracking needs |
| Premium | $6.99 per user per month | Large teams that need advanced time-tracking features |
| Ultimate | $10.99 per user per month | Multiple teams |
| Enterprise | Contact TimeCamp | Enterprise teams |
Visit the pricing page for more information.
Best employee time clock apps: A quick comparison
Here’s a quick overview of our top 10 time clock apps for employees:
| Tool | G2 | Best for | Price |
|---|---|---|---|
| Toggl Track | 4.6 | Accurate time tracking, powerful reporting, and profitability analysis | From $10/user/month |
| Hubstaff | 4.3 | Monitoring remote employees | From $7/user/month |
| Harvest | 4.3 | Invoicing and payments | From $12/user/month |
| Clockify | 4.5 | Simple and powerful invoicing | From $4.99/user/month |
| Timely | 4.8 | Automatic and non-invasive time tracking | From $11/user/month |
| DeskTime | 4.6 | Automatic time tracking and employee monitoring | From $7/user/month |
| QuickBooks Time | 4.5 | Simple time tracking, invoicing, and payroll | From $20/month |
| Time Doctor | 4.4 | Time tracking and employee surveillance | From $7/user/month |
| Justworks Hours | 4.6 | Easy-to-use mobile time tracking | From $8/user/month add-on requiring purchase of Justwork Basic ($59) or Plus ($99) subscriptions |
| TimeCamp | 4.7 | Affordable time tracking with screenshots and website tracking | From $3.99/user/month |
How do I choose the best time clock app for my employees?
Here are some general criteria for choosing a time clock app for employees. But remember that you should also consider your specific business needs.
- Ease of use: Look for a tool that’s easy to use. Your employees should be able to easily clock in and clock out without confusion. A user-friendly interface minimizes training time and speeds up user adoption.
- Accurate time tracking: Your new tool should be able to track time online and offline, on multiple devices, the web, and detect idle time.
- Time reports: Detailed reports with employee time-tracked data can give you key insights into how your team works. You can spot productivity gaps and schedule future projects more accurately.
- Third-party integrations: Your time clock app is most probably not the only tool your team uses. For accurate time tracking, you need a time clock app that integrates seamlessly with project management, calendar apps, or other tools your team uses daily.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
Here are some common questions people ask about time clock apps for employees.
What is the best app for clocking time?
The best app for clocking time depends on the specific needs of each team.
Generally speaking, good clock apps have accurate time tracking online, offline, and on the go. They are intuitive, generate insightful time reports, and can track paid time.
Is there a free time clock app?
Most tools in our list have freemium plans or free trials.
Toggl Track, for example, has a free plan for up to five users, unlimited multi-platform time tracking, projects, clients, exportable reports, and 100+ integrations.
What are the benefits of time-tracking apps?
The benefits of time-tracking apps depend on the features it has, the app’s interface, and how familiar you are with the tool.
Some common benefits of time-tracking apps are increased productivity, better time management, and more efficiency.
How to choose an employee time tracking app
To get a clear idea of the kind of time tracking tool you need, you should ask yourself some key questions like:
- What specific features do I need in the app? Do I need surveillance features or billable time tracking?
- What is my budget?
- Is the app user-friendly and easy to use for my team?
- Does the app integrate seamlessly with my existing tools?
- Is there a trial period or free plan available?
- Is the app scalable as my business grows?
In the meantime, you can give Toggl Track a try and see how it can help you track employee time effortlessly by signing up for a free Toggl Track account.
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