Best Employee Time Tracking Apps Of 2024 (2024)

Best Employee Time Tracking Apps (2024)

  • Clockify: Best overall
  • QuickBooks Time: Best for QuickBooks users
  • ClockShark: Best for field service and construction industries
  • Paymo: Best for managing complex tracking projects
  • TimeCamp: Best for team productivity tracking
  • Deputy: Best for labor law compliance
  • My Hours: Best for client billing reports
  • Toggl Track: Best free plan

Best Overall

Clockify

5.0

Best Employee Time Tracking Apps Of 2024 (2)

Our ratings take into account a product's cost, features, ease of use, customer service and other category-specific attributes. All ratings are determined solely by our editorial team.

Starting Price

Free; $3.99 per user

per month (billed annually)

Free Trial

Yes, 7 days

Invoicing

Yes

Learn More

Read Forbes' Review

Free; $3.99 per user

per month (billed annually)

Yes, 7 days

Yes

Editor's Take

Clockify is a cloud-based employee time tracking app that has a stellar reputation for being both budget-friendly and easy to use. With Clockify, you can track employee time, attendance and billable hours and get a clear picture of project status in real time.

The free Clockify app includes basic timekeeping, reporting and project and team management tools. Paid plans range from $3.99 to $14.99 per seat, per month, and offer advanced features, such as paid time off (PTO) requests, progress alerts, custom fields, invoicing, variable task rates, GPS tracking, expense tracking and team scheduling. The Clockify Time Clock Kiosk lets you turn any internet-connected device into an employee punch clock.

Clockify has a desktop app for Windows, Mac and Linux and a Web app for Edge, Chrome and Firefox. Android and iOS mobile apps are also available.

Customer support is offered via email, chat and phone. Clockify boasts an uptime of 99.99% and your data is protected by 256-bit secure sockets layer (SSL) encryption. You can extend Clockify’s power by integrating it with more than 80 third-party apps.

Learn more: Read our full Clockify review.

Who should use it:

Clockify offers feature-rich plans that fit any budget and employee time tracking need. Hence, the Clockify app is suitable for small and large businesses alike.

Pros & Cons

  • Free forever plan with unlimited users and unlimited time tracking
  • Low-cost paid plans starting at $3.99 per user, per month
  • Very user-friendly
  • Over 80 integrations
  • Extensive reporting capabilities
  • Great for client project management
  • Somewhat glitchy mobile app
  • Invoicing is not available on free plan

Best for Current QuickBooks Accounting Users

QuickBooks Time

4.8

Best Employee Time Tracking Apps Of 2024 (6)

Our ratings take into account a product's cost, features, ease of use, customer service and other category-specific attributes. All ratings are determined solely by our editorial team.

Starting price

$20 base fee per month

Plus $8 per user, per month

Free trial

30 days

Invoicing

Yes

Learn More

Read Forbes' Review

$20 base fee per month

Plus $8 per user, per month

30 days

Yes

Editor's Take

QuickBooks Time is a popular time-tracking app from the same company that brings you the wildly popular QuickBooks small business accounting software. Not surprisingly, QuickBooks Time integrates seamlessly with other QuickBooks apps, including QuickBooks Online and QuickBooks Payroll.

With QuickBooks Time, you can create employee work schedules, track and manage employee time for payroll and invoice clients based on hours worked. GPS time tracking lets you manage a mobile team while geofencing tracking reminds employees to clock in or out when entering or leaving a job site.

Employees can enter time worked on any internet-connected device. For on-site employees, you can opt to use the QuickBooks Time Kiosk as a punch clock.

Real-time reports allow live-time monitoring of employees who are currently on the job and overtime alerts keep you from going over budget. Track and approve employee timesheets via a mobile or desktop app.

All plans include a monthly base fee plus a monthly per-user fee. QuickBooks Time has a Premium plan that is $20 per month plus $8 per user, per month and an Elite plan with a $40 per-month base fee plus $10 per user, per month. QuickBooks ProAdvisors receive a free QuickBooks Time account as part of their package.

Learn more: Read our full QuickBooks Time review.

Who should use it:

QuickBooks Time is a user-friendly employee time tracking app that’s best for small businesses already using other QuickBooks software.

Pros & Cons

  • Mobile app with GPS
  • Unlimited live customer support
  • QuickBooks integration
  • PTO tracker
  • Time clock kiosk
  • Free for QuickBooks ProAdvisors
  • Fees skyrocket after introductory pricing
  • Project estimates vs. actuals reporting only available in top-tier plan
  • App can be glitchy

Best for Field Service and Construction Industries

ClockShark

Best Employee Time Tracking Apps Of 2024 (9)

4.5

Best Employee Time Tracking Apps Of 2024 (10)

Our ratings take into account a product's cost, features, ease of use, customer service and other category-specific attributes. All ratings are determined solely by our editorial team.

Best Employee Time Tracking Apps Of 2024 (11)

$40 per month plus $8 per user, per month

Yes, 14 days

Yes

Editor's Take

ClockShark is tailor-made for construction and field service businesses, which need to track employee time and client projects. This popular tracking app comes with basic GPS tracking, job and task tracking, timesheet attachments, overtime tracking and job budgeting alerts.

ClockShark features essential employee management tools, including drag-and-drop scheduling and manager roles and approvals. ClockShark also comes with the KioskClock Time Clock with facial recognition and CrewClock Team Time Tracking, which allows crew leaders to track time for their entire crew.

Managing client projects is easy with ClockShark. The app includes several client management features, such as a customer relationship management (CRM) tool, invoicing, quote management, branded reports and the ability to accept payments online.

ClockShark has two plans—the Standard and Pro—and each plan includes a monthly base fee plus a monthly per-user fee. Both plans come with a 50 percent introductory discount on the base fee for the first three months.

The starting monthly base fee for the Standard plan is $10 with introductory pricing and goes up to $20 per month after three months, plus an additional per-user fee of $8 per month. The starting monthly base fee for the Pro plan is $20 that goes to $40 after three months and the monthly per-user fee is $10. Both plans also include one free admin.

Who should use it:

ClockShark is an excellent employee time tracking solution for construction and field service businesses.

Pros & Cons

  • Drag-and-drop scheduling
  • Job budgeting alerts
  • GPS tracking
  • Built-in Spanish language support
  • KioskClock time clock with facial recognition
  • One free admin
  • No free plan
  • Time off management only on Pro plan
  • Reporting could be improved
  • Base fee only includes one free administrator

Best for Managing Complex Tracking Projects

Paymo

Best Employee Time Tracking Apps Of 2024 (12)

4.4

Best Employee Time Tracking Apps Of 2024 (13)

Our ratings take into account a product's cost, features, ease of use, customer service and other category-specific attributes. All ratings are determined solely by our editorial team.

Starting Price

Free for one user; $5.90 per user

per month (billed annually)

Free Trial

Yes, 15 days

Invoicing

Yes

Best Employee Time Tracking Apps Of 2024 (14)

Free for one user; $5.90 per user

per month (billed annually)

Yes, 15 days

Yes

Editor's Take

Paymo offers basic plans for individual users, but its highest-tier Business plan with advanced workflow and project-tracking features is the primary reason the app made this list of the best employee time tracking apps.

Advanced features available with Paymo include financial health indicators for projects, client and team collaboration tools, Gantt charts, Kanban boards, resource capacity monitoring, a customizable dashboard and a multilanguage interface—Paymo is available in 23 languages.

Paymo offers a free plan with basic tools for personal use. The Starter plan costs $5.90 per month (paid annually) for a single user, such as freelancers. It offers slightly more features than the free plan, including up to six clients, up to 300 tasks, project templates, 25GB storage and unlimited estimates and expenses.

The Small Office plan starts at $10.90 per user, per month (paid annually), and includes everything in the Starter plan plus 50GB storage, recurring tasks, unlimited tasks, unlimited time entries and live time reports. The Business plan starts at $16.90 per month, per user (paid annually), and includes all the features in the lower-tier plans plus 500B storage, employee scheduling, employee leave management and priority support.

Who should use it:

Paymo is an ideal solution for those needing an employee time tracking app plus a tool that helps you monitor project workflows and critical timelines.

Pros & Cons

  • Unlimited invoicing
  • Desktop and mobile apps
  • Native in-app time tracking
  • Unlimited time estimates
  • Monthly and annual plans available
  • Free plan is limited
  • Storage limits on all plans
  • Employee scheduling only on Business plan
  • Limited third-party integrations

Best for Team Productivity Tracking

TimeCamp

Best Employee Time Tracking Apps Of 2024 (15)

4.4

Best Employee Time Tracking Apps Of 2024 (16)

Our ratings take into account a product's cost, features, ease of use, customer service and other category-specific attributes. All ratings are determined solely by our editorial team.

Starting Price

Free (unlimited users); $2.99 per user

per month (billed annually)

Free trial

Yes, 14 days

Invoicing

Yes

Best Employee Time Tracking Apps Of 2024 (17)

Free (unlimited users); $2.99 per user

per month (billed annually)

Yes, 14 days

Yes

Editor's Take

TimeCamp is a robust employee time tracking app you can use to improve overall team productivity. The feature-rich platform helps you spot both high- and low-productivity areas within your team while allowing you to monitor both billable and nonbillable hours.

All TimeCamp plans come with ample time tracking tools, including time entries, automatic time tracking, idle time tracking and daily and weekly timesheets. Paid plans include productivity and time-budget reports, unlimited third-party integrations and user role assignments.

TimeCamp offers a forever-free plan with unlimited users, projects and tasks. The Free plan includes basic time-tracking and reporting features but no billing and invoicing capabilities.

The TimeCamp Starter plan starts at $2.99 per user, per month (billed annually), the Basic plan is $7.99 per user, per month (billed annually) while the Pro plan starts at $10.99 per user, per month (billed annually). Enterprise plans are highly customizable for even greater productivity tracking; all Enterprise plans are custom priced.

Who should use it:

If you’re looking for time tracking software that can help you significantly improve team productivity, TimeCamp may be ideal for you.

Pros & Cons

  • Free forever plan with no user limits
  • Unlimited projects and tasks on all plans
  • Team productivity tracking
  • Custom and prebuilt reports
  • Automatic time tracking
  • More than 80 third-party apps
  • No invoicing on Free and Basic plan
  • Timesheet approvals only available on Pro and Enterprise plans
  • No phone support
  • No integrations on Free plan

Best for Labor Law Compliance

Deputy

Best Employee Time Tracking Apps Of 2024 (18)

4.3

Best Employee Time Tracking Apps Of 2024 (19)

Our ratings take into account a product's cost, features, ease of use, customer service and other category-specific attributes. All ratings are determined solely by our editorial team.

Starting Price

Free (up to 100 shifts per month); $6 per user

per month (billed monthly)

Free Trial

Yes, 31 days

Invoicing

No

Best Employee Time Tracking Apps Of 2024 (20)

Free (up to 100 shifts per month); $6 per user

per month (billed monthly)

Yes, 31 days

No

Editor's Take

Deputy is an affordable, user-friendly employee time tracking app that helps you remain compliant with wage and hour laws, helping you minimize legal risks associated with employee management.

This all-in-one time tracking app includes employee break compliance tools that schedule legally mandated breaks and deliver break-prompt messages to team members. The app also creates a clear record of schedule compliance, including late clock-ins, work conducted in unscheduled time blocks and early clock-outs.

Deputy also makes handling mandated premium pay requirements a cinch as it calculates overtime, split-shift and holiday rates for you. The app even alerts you when employees are nearing schedule limits, so you can find other staff to work and avoid costly overtime pay.

The Deputy free plan lets you publish 100 shifts per month and comes with basic PTO and leave management features. It also offers separate Scheduling and Time & Attendance plans, both of which are $4.50 per user, per month (billed monthly).

The Premium plan is the best overall value as it includes all features in both the Scheduling and Time and Attendance plans. The Deputy Premium plan costs $6 per month, per user, when paying month-to-month or $5 per month, per user, when billed annually. There is also an Enterprise plan for larger companies that is custom-priced based on each company’s needs.

Who should use it:

Deputy is an excellent option for small businesses looking for a low-cost employee time tracking app that simplifies wage and hour law compliance.

Pros & Cons

  • Free forever plan for up to 100 shifts per month
  • More than 50 third-party integrations
  • Overtime management
  • Break planning
  • Time clock with biometric and geolocation capture
  • No telephone support
  • No invoicing capabilities

Best for Client Billing Reports

My Hours

Best Employee Time Tracking Apps Of 2024 (21)

4.2

Best Employee Time Tracking Apps Of 2024 (22)

Our ratings take into account a product's cost, features, ease of use, customer service and other category-specific attributes. All ratings are determined solely by our editorial team.

Starting price

Free (unlimited users); $8 per user

per month (billed annually)

Free trial

Yes, 14 days

Invoicing

Yes

Best Employee Time Tracking Apps Of 2024 (23)

Free (unlimited users); $8 per user

per month (billed annually)

Yes, 14 days

Yes

Editor's Take

Need a time-tracking app that lets you track hours worked on projects and also helps you create attractive, thorough billing reports for clients? The My Hours all-in-one tracking software might be the right solution for you.

The My Hours free plan includes unlimited team members and projects and comes with expense tracking, weekly timesheet tracking, daily tracking reminder and the ability to set billable rates per project. Team roles on the free plan include team members and administrators.

The Pro plan starts at $9 per month, per team member ($8 per month when paying annually), and includes advanced features, such as billable rates per task or team member, a profit and loss (P&L) calculator, invoicing, branded reports for clients and custom field tracking. In addition to team administrator and member roles, the Pro plan includes a project manager role.

My Hours has a reputation for relatively good customer service. Support is offered via email for all users and live chat for Pro plan users, but phone support is unavailable. Response time for customer service is typically less than 24 hours.

Who should use it:

If you need an easy way to provide your clients with extensive, accurate, professional billing reports and invoices, then take a close look at My Hours.

Pros & Cons

  • Free forever plan with unlimited users
  • User-friendly navigation
  • Timesheet time tracking
  • Track expenses and add receipts
  • Flexible project billing settings
  • Unlimited team members
  • Client invoicing only on paid plan
  • Mobile apps can be slow to load
  • Minimal billing features on free plan
  • No desktop apps

Best Free Plan

Toggl Track

Best Employee Time Tracking Apps Of 2024 (24)

4.1

Best Employee Time Tracking Apps Of 2024 (25)

Our ratings take into account a product's cost, features, ease of use, customer service and other category-specific attributes. All ratings are determined solely by our editorial team.

Starting Price

Free (up to 5 users); $9 per user

per month (billed annually)

Free Trial

Yes, 30 days

Invoicing

Yes

Best Employee Time Tracking Apps Of 2024 (26)

Free (up to 5 users); $9 per user

per month (billed annually)

Yes, 30 days

Yes

Editor's Take

Toggl Trak is an easy-to-use time tracking app that offers one free plan and three paid plans. We particularly, such as Toggl Track’s free plan because it offers more features than are typically included in a zero-cost employee time tracking app.

All Toggl plans, including the free plan, come with web, mobile and desktop apps, idle time detection, personal time tracking reminders, automated time tracking triggers and team access level management. You can export summary, detailed and weekly reports and import data via a comma-separated values (CSV) file. Better yet, the free plan also lets you manage unlimited projects and clients.

The main downside to Toggl’s free plan is that it only allows up to five users. Still, if you have a small team, you can’t go wrong with the tools in Toggl’s free version.

Toggl Track also offers a Starter plan that costs $9 per user, per month, a Premium plan that starts at $18 per user, per month, and an Enterprise plan that is custom-priced. The main benefits of going with a paid Toggl plan include advanced team management tools, such as team member audits, team tracking reminder emails and advanced reporting features.

Who should use it:

Toggl Trak is an easy-to-use time tracking app that offers a terrific free plan that’s ideal for small businesses that only need to track five or fewer users.

Pros & Cons

  • Free forever plan for up to five users
  • Monthly and annual billing options for paid plans
  • Pomodoro timer
  • Unlimited projects, clients and tags on all plans
  • Idle time detection
  • Project time estimates and alerts
  • Native Jira and Salesforce integrations
  • Five-user limit on free plan
  • Plans get pricey
  • Time tracking audits only on Premium plan

Summary: Best Employee Time Tracking Apps (2024)

CompanyCompany - LogoForbes Advisor RatingForbes Advisor RatingStarting PriceFree TrialInvoicingLearn More CTA textLearn more CTA below textLEARN MORE
ClockifyBest Employee Time Tracking Apps Of 2024 (27)5.0Best Employee Time Tracking Apps Of 2024 (28)Free; $3.99 per user per month (billed annually) Yes, 7 days YesLearn MoreRead Forbes' Review
QuickBooks TimeBest Employee Time Tracking Apps Of 2024 (29)4.8Best Employee Time Tracking Apps Of 2024 (30) $20 base fee per month plus $8 per user, per month30 daysYesLearn MoreRead Forbes' Review
ClockSharkBest Employee Time Tracking Apps Of 2024 (31)4.5Best Employee Time Tracking Apps Of 2024 (32)$40 per month plus $8 per user, per monthYes, 14 daysYesView More
PaymoBest Employee Time Tracking Apps Of 2024 (33)4.4Best Employee Time Tracking Apps Of 2024 (34) Free for one user; $5.90 per user, per month (billed annually) Yes, 15 daysYesView More
TimeCampBest Employee Time Tracking Apps Of 2024 (35)4.4Best Employee Time Tracking Apps Of 2024 (36)Free (unlimited users); $2.99 per user, per month (billed annually) Yes, 14 days YesView More
DeputyBest Employee Time Tracking Apps Of 2024 (37)4.3Best Employee Time Tracking Apps Of 2024 (38)Free (up to 100 shifts per month); $3.50 per user, per month (billed monthly) Yes, 31 daysNoView More
My HoursBest Employee Time Tracking Apps Of 2024 (39)4.2Best Employee Time Tracking Apps Of 2024 (40)Free (unlimited users); $8 per user, per month (billed annually) Yes, 14 daysYesView More
Toggl TrackBest Employee Time Tracking Apps Of 2024 (41)4.1Best Employee Time Tracking Apps Of 2024 (42)Free (up to 5 users); $9 per user, per month (billed annually) Yes, 30 daysYesView More

Methodology

The Forbes Advisor team used a five-star rating system—with five being the highest score—to evaluate dozens of employee time tracking apps. We considered factors most important to users, such as ease of use, features offered, customer support and total costs, including base fees and per-user fees.

Here’s a look at the key criteria used to determine the best employee time tracking apps:

  • Pricing
  • Key features
  • Unique features
  • Extras and inclusions
  • Operating system compatibility
  • Customer support
  • Customer reviews

Bonus points were allotted to solutions that offer advanced features, such as invoicing and billing, Gantt charts, task dependencies and custom reporting. We then prioritized software on one additional metric—positive feedback from customer reviews. In all, hundreds of data points were reviewed to create this list of the best time tracking apps.

How To Choose an Employee Time Tracking App

Not all employee time tracking apps are created equal, which is good news since not all app users require the same features. When choosing a time tracking app for your business, you first want to consider which features are “must haves” and which are “nice to haves.”

Since you’re purchasing an app for tracking employee time, you want to look at the types of time-tracking features offered. The best apps usually include clock-in/clock-out tools, real-time tracking, time tracking reminders, automated time tracking triggers, idle detection time and time sheets.

If you’re managing a team, you want to consider the type of team management tools built into the software. Employee time tracking apps often include scheduling, time-off management, timesheet approval, real-time staff activity views, team collaboration tools, payroll integrations and robust reporting capabilities.

Organizations that need to track client work will find client management tools helpful. For example, many apps come with the ability to track billable hours, set billing rates and invoice clients directly.

One final tip: be sure the software you choose fits within your budget and double-check that you understand the full cost of what you are purchasing. Some providers charge a base fee plus a per-user fee. Other apps start with a deep discount for a limited introductory timeframe and then costs skyrocket when that initial period is over.

Featured Partners

Advertisem*nt

1

Connecteam

Free Users

Up to 10

Time Reports

Available

Geofencing

Yes

1

Connecteam

Best Employee Time Tracking Apps Of 2024 (43)

Best Employee Time Tracking Apps Of 2024 (44)

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On Connecteam's Website

2

Paylocity

Starting Price

Get a Quote

Free Trial

No

Standout Features

Integrated HR & payroll, employee surveys, compliance dashboard, employee social hub

2

Paylocity

Best Employee Time Tracking Apps Of 2024 (45)

Best Employee Time Tracking Apps Of 2024 (46)

Learn More

On Paylocity's Website

3

Homebase

Track hours and run payroll effortlessly

Yes

Minimize time theft and control labor costs

Yes

Free for up to 20 employees (no credit card required)

Yes

3

Homebase

Best Employee Time Tracking Apps Of 2024 (47)

Best Employee Time Tracking Apps Of 2024 (48)

Learn More

On Homebase's Website

Benefits of Employee Time Tracking Apps

Employee time tracking apps come with several significant benefits. Among these are:

  • Improve employee productivity: Time tracking apps help identify opportunities for improving overall productivity and reducing labor costs.
  • Easily schedule staff members: Most tracking apps offer staff scheduling features, so employees understand when they’re expected to be at work.
  • Prioritize project resources: With a tracking app, you can assess when projects are long or short on employee resources and adjust schedules accordingly.
  • Client project reporting and billing: When a tracking app contains built-in client management tools, you can create accurate billable hours reports for client invoices.
  • Labor law compliance: Some state and federal regulations involve mandated breaks, overtime hours, overtime pay and more. Tracking apps can help your organization stay compliant.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

What is better than Clockify?

Forbes Advisor considers Clockify the overall best time tracking software, but the best app for you depends on your specific business needs. For example, ClockShark may be the best time tracking app for you if you’re in the construction industry. If you need to keep track of employees’ time for client billing reasons, My Hours could be the best app for you.

Does Clockify cost money?

Clockify offers a free plan with employee time tracking essentials. To tap into Clockify’s advanced features, such as invoicing, time audits, scheduling and expense tracking, you may want to consider upgrading to a paid plan.

Is there a free app to track employee hours?

There are several free apps for tracking employee hours. Clockify, Toggl Track, My Hours and Deputy all offer basic time tracking functionality for free.

How do I keep track of my employees' time?

The best way to keep track of employees’ time—and ensure staff remains productive—is through an employee time-tracking app. Some of the best time-tracking apps available include Clockify, ClockShark, Paymo and QuickBooks Time.

Best Employee Time Tracking Apps Of 2024 (2024)

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