Time clock software replaces the punch card and the wall machine with phone, kiosk and browser punches that feed timesheets.
This guide ranks twelve products on setup hours in the first ninety days, the monthly bill once payroll or scheduling joins, how data leaves, whether the vendor stands alone, and whether the clock suits an hourly crew.
Vendors can pay for more visibility on this website, for example a higher place in a ranking or more room on a page. Commercial relationships can also affect which products we feature and how prominently. Every vendor link is marked the same, whatever the arrangement behind it. How that works.
In short
What time clock software does
Time clock software records when hourly staff start and finish work through phone, kiosk or browser punches, then turns those punches into timesheets, overtime totals and payroll exports.
Each time clock tool was put through the same five questions, in sequence: how hard is setup, what does it really cost, how does data come back out, can you leave, and who is it for. On top of them sits one rule. The top three places are for challengers, which means vendors outside the big names, where the category has any, and the household brands come in from fourth place. Reasons for the choice of tests, and for skipping a score out of ten, can be read on the how we work page.
Cloud time clock with a free tier for ten employees
Ranked #1 of 12 in Best Time Clock Software in 2026.
Free tierPublished pricingElsewhere
TimeStation earns first place on independence and on the cost of the first ninety days. All five plans include unlimited departments, devices and locations, GPS tagging, data export and email support, so extra sites do not change the bill.
A self-service portal lets staff review and edit entries under manager control. Its weakness is scale: administrators are capped per tier, from two up to five.
What stands out
Free to 10 staff
Offline punches
Cloud only
Where it costs you
Plans are sized by employee count, so a growing crew moves up a tier more often than on flat-fee products.
Companies above 200 employees are sent to a separate pricing page that this review did not read.
Right for
Crews of up to fifty hourly staff wanting a cheap cloud punch clock
Wrong for
Employers above 200 staff needing published pricing today
Not stated by the vendorFree for up to 10 employees; published monthly tiers by headcount; 30-day trial
Per-employee time clock with GPS, geofencing and an optional payroll add-on
Ranked #2 of 12 in Best Time Clock Software in 2026.
Published pricingNorth America
OnTheClock is a straightforward second pick because pricing is a simple sum: per-employee rate, small base fee, and a payroll add-on with its own base fee and unlimited runs.
Biometric and geofenced clock-ins verify where shifts start, and PTO accruals are automated. The risk sits in the extras, since the migration fee and payroll base fee both add to the first invoice. Support staff are described as US-based.
What stands out
Base fee plus per head
Geofenced clock-in
Payroll add-on
Where it costs you
The one-time migration and onboarding fee is not included in the cost the calculator shows.
Businesses with more than 100 employees get no published price, only a Contact Us route.
Right for
Single-site employers under 100 staff who want GPS-verified punches and payroll later
Wrong for
Teams wanting a permanently free plan to start on
United StatesPublished per-employee rate plus monthly base fee; payroll add-on; 30-day trial only
Unlimited-user plan with photo verification at each punch
Ranked #3 of 12 in Best Time Clock Software in 2026.
Free tierPublished pricingElsewhere
Time Clock Wizard sits third because the basic plan removes the licence cost while testing, and every plan has a 14-day trial that gives Pro features. Scheduling, attendance tracking and expense reimbursement requests are included on the site.
The Value tier carries unlimited users at a flat monthly figure. What holds it back is verification: owner and country are not stated, and the hosting description is limited to off-site data protection.
What stands out
Photo at clock-in
Unlimited users
QuickBooks Online sync
Where it costs you
The Pro table lists two unlabelled price sets, so the annual and monthly figures cannot be told apart from the page.
The footer carries no address and no owner, so the legal entity behind the contract is unclear.
Right for
Employers wanting photo-checked punches and an unlimited-user plan to test on
Wrong for
Buyers who must confirm the contracting entity before signing
Not stated by the vendorFree for unlimited users on the basic plan; published monthly plans by headcount; 14-day trial
Per-user time clock built around stopping buddy punching
Ranked #4 of 12 in Best Time Clock Software in 2026.
Published pricingNorth America
Buddy Punch is the verification-first option in this list. Starter allows one group and Pro three, so multi-department businesses may need Advanced for unlimited groups.
Advanced also raises API and MCP limits and adds SAML 2.0 with Okta and OneLogin, while Google sign-in comes on every plan. Break compliance and overtime tracking are built in. Add the payroll module and the per-user cost rises well above the headline plan rate.
What stands out
Webcam photo checks
QR and PIN punches
Base fee plus user
Where it costs you
Real-time GPS is included only on Advanced and costs extra on the lower plans.
The monthly base fee applies before any user is counted, which lifts the cost for very small teams.
Right for
Teams that suspect buddy punching and want photo, QR and PIN checks
Wrong for
Companies wanting a no-cost plan after the trial ends
United StatesPublished per-active-user rates plus monthly base fee; paid add-ons; 14-day trial only
Unlimited-user timer with face recognition and kiosk mode
Ranked #5 of 12 in Best Time Clock Software in 2026.
Free tierPublished pricingEurope
Jibble ranks fifth because the base plan does the most for nothing: face recognition, selfie capture and NFC badge verification sit alongside timesheets, approvals, time off and invoicing.
Offline mode covers sites with poor signal. The trade-off is transparency. Enterprise features such as SSO and 2FA appear without a price, calls to action lead to demo bookings, and the owner is given only as Jibble Group.
What stands out
Face recognition
Kiosk and NFC
Unlimited free users
Where it costs you
Paid tiers show no price on the page read, so the cost of outgrowing the base plan is unknown.
The page states neither a country of establishment nor a hosting model.
Right for
Large casual crews that need face-checked kiosk punches at zero licence cost
Wrong for
Buyers who must budget paid-tier features before a demo
United KingdomFree for unlimited users; paid tiers not priced on the page read
Face-recognition attendance with kiosk and geofencing, priced per active user
Ranked #6 of 12 in Best Time Clock Software in 2026.
Published pricingElsewhere
Truein is aimed at attendance integrity. Beyond face clock-in it lists live tracking, AI Time Guard anomaly detection, leave management and shift scheduling, with Live Tracking and leave priced as add-ons.
Pricing is displayed in both USD per month and INR per year. That is clear on rates, yet the page leaves ownership and location unstated, so an organisation with vendor-checking duties would need a direct answer.
What stands out
Face recognition
Touchless kiosk
Per active user
Where it costs you
No country, imprint address or hosting model appears on the pricing page read.
SSO and custom integrations are listed for Enterprise only, and no third-party integrations are named.
Right for
Site-based teams where face matching should replace cards and PINs
Wrong for
Buyers wanting named payroll integrations on a mid-tier plan
Not stated by the vendorPublished per-active-user rates in tiers; Enterprise by sales; 14-day trial only
Attendance plans that can count door entries as clock-ins
Ranked #7 of 12 in Best Time Clock Software in 2026.
Published pricingElsewhere
TimeClock 365 stands apart by joining time and building access: admins can unlock doors remotely and read a live access log. It is cloud-based with no on-premise server, and Teams, Slack, Jira and Azure AD are named.
Costs build in layers, from the per-user plan through module fees such as Visitor Management to controller quotes. For a team that only needs punches, most of that surface is unused.
What stands out
Door access link
Wallet keys
Add-on pricing
Where it costs you
Door controllers and readers are bought separately, so the door-access plans carry a hardware bill outside the per-user price.
The cheapest plan is limited to personal or demo use, so it does not serve as a production plan.
Right for
Sites where doors and clocks should share one record of who is present
Wrong for
Offices wanting software only, with no door hardware to install
Not stated by the vendorPublished per-user plans with priced add-ons; hardware quoted separately; 14-day trial on Attendance
Mobile and web time clock for employees and contractors
Ranked #8 of 12 in Best Time Clock Software in 2026.
Pricing on requestElsewhere
ezClocker sits mid-table because the evidence is narrower than for most rivals. Its terms make two useful statements for a buyer: employers own the time data entered, and the trial ends in charges unless cancelled.
The sitemap also points to a GPS app, a mobile time clock and a security page. Those pages were not readable, so features beyond the terms are left out and should be checked by hand.
What stands out
Contractor tracking
30-day trial
Employer owns data
Where it costs you
The pricing page could not be read, so plan prices and limits are not confirmed in this review.
No country of establishment or hosting model appears in the pages read.
Right for
Owners tracking a handful of staff and contractors from a phone
Wrong for
Buyers who need confirmed plan prices before a trial starts
Not stated by the vendorPlan prices not read from the vendor page; 30-day trial then charged unless cancelled
Location-based scheduling and time clock for small hourly shops
Ranked #9 of 12 in Best Time Clock Software in 2026.
Free tierPublished pricingNorth America
Homebase is more rota and HR bundle than pure clock, which suits a shop that wants one tool for scheduling, timesheets, onboarding and team messages.
The per-location model keeps a single site cheap regardless of headcount above ten. It ranks ninth for this category because the clock is one part of a wider package, and an API appears only on the All-in-One tier.
What stands out
Per location
Scheduling bundle
Payroll add-on
Where it costs you
Every extra location adds its own monthly subscription, so chains pay more than the headline suggests.
Payroll, Tip Manager and Task Manager are separately priced add-ons rather than part of the plan.
Right for
Single-location shops needing a clock, a rota and hiring tools together
Wrong for
Multi-site businesses worried about paying a subscription for every location
United StatesFree for one location up to 10 employees; published per-location tiers; payroll add-on; 14-day trial
Free scheduling base with time clock features on paid tiers
Ranked #10 of 12 in Best Time Clock Software in 2026.
Free tierPublished pricingNorth America
Sling belongs in this list for the paid tiers: Premium adds mobile time tracking, overtime tracking and timesheets, while Business adds kiosk tracking, payroll reports, PTO management and shift tasks.
Billing counts active users only, which helps seasonal staffing. Weigh it lower than dedicated clocks because the central product is scheduling, and the acquisition by Toast changes the independence test.
What stands out
Free to 30 users
Kiosk on Business
Now part of Toast
Where it costs you
The free plan lacks the time tracking items the page lists under Premium, so punches need a paid tier.
The brand now sits under Toast, so independence from a larger company cannot be assumed.
Right for
Shift-based teams needing a rota first and a clock on a paid tier
Wrong for
Buyers who want clock-in on the free plan
United StatesFree for up to 30 users; published per-active-user tiers; 15-day trial
Hub-based work app with a time clock inside Operations
Ranked #11 of 12 in Best Time Clock Software in 2026.
Free tierPublished pricingMiddle East
Connecteam comes late in the order because the clock is one feature of a broader work app, with pricing split between hubs, tiers and per-user fees.
It does give a real small-team route: ten users free, then a 14-day trial of paid features. Geofence sites are a limit that matters here, rising from ten on Advanced to unlimited on Expert, which is the plan where API access starts.
What stands out
Per-hub pricing
Geofence limits
Free to 10 users
Where it costs you
Time clock and schedule counts are capped on each paid tier, so multi-team employers climb tiers quickly.
Ownership, location and hosting are all left unstated on the pages read.
Right for
Mixed office and field teams that also want forms and checklists
Wrong for
Employers who only need a plain punch clock
IsraelFree for up to 10 users on one plan; published per-hub tiers with per-user fees; 14-day trial
Time tracking sold by an accounting suite, with Workforce add-ons
Ranked #12 of 12 in Best Time Clock Software in 2026.
Published pricingElsewhere
QuickBooks Time is placed last on independence, not on features. The Time Premium and Time Elite plans scale per user, while Workforce Elite adds unlimited HR workflows, expert setup and a higher base price.
Its integration claim, over 50 accounting and payroll apps, is the widest on this page. Remember that the introductory pricing runs for three months, so budget on list prices.
What stands out
Intuit product
Base fee plus user
Time Kiosk
Where it costs you
The 30-day trial covers the monthly base price and not per-employee fees.
Introductory discounts last three months, after which the list base fees apply.
Right for
Businesses already running QuickBooks that want time data close to payroll
Wrong for
Buyers who want to avoid a large suite vendor
Not stated by the vendorPublished per-user rates plus monthly base fee; intro discounts; 30-day trial on base fee only
Time clock software records when hourly staff start and finish work through phone, kiosk or browser punches, then turns those punches into timesheets, overtime totals and payroll exports. Feature lists look alike, so we would settle these points one at a time instead.
01
Decide whether you need a published price
1 vendors on this page sell by quote, while 11 publish a pricing model you can read today: TimeStation, OnTheClock, Time Clock Wizard, Buddy Punch, Jibble, Truein, TimeClock 365, Homebase, Sling, Connecteam, QuickBooks Time.
02
Decide how much the jurisdiction matters
Where a company is established decides which courts and regulators can reach it. Here that means 4 countries: Elsewhere 6, North America 4, Europe 1, Middle East 1.
Time clock software and buddy punching: Time Clock Wizard, Buddy Punch and Truein
The oldest fraud in a time clock is a colleague punching in for someone who is late, and products answer it differently. Time Clock Wizard takes a photo at clock-in. Buddy Punch offers webcam photos, QR codes and kiosk PINs, plus geofencing. Truein matches faces through its app or touchless kiosk mode and raises face spoofing alerts.
Jibble pairs selfie capture with NFC and PIN verification. Each method adds friction somewhere: a kiosk needs a device at the door, a photo needs a camera, and face matching needs staff to accept it. Decide which risk you actually have before you pay for verification, because a team of five who trust each other gains little from it, while a site with a long shift roster gains a lot.
Ask which verification methods sit on the plan you would buy, not the top plan.
Test a punch from the car park to see whether geofencing blocks it.
Check how photos are stored and who can view them.
Reading the real price of time clock software: base fees, add-ons and payroll
Headline rates in this market are rarely the invoice. Buddy Punch and OnTheClock both add a monthly base fee to a per-user rate, and QuickBooks Time does the same with introductory discounts that fall away after three months. Homebase charges per location, so a second shop doubles the subscription, while Connecteam prices by hub and tier and caps time clocks and schedules per tier.
Payroll is the usual surprise: OnTheClock and Buddy Punch each price it as a separate module with its own base fee. Hardware can sit outside the quote entirely, as with TimeClock 365 door controllers. Build a one-year cost for your own headcount and locations, including every module you need, before comparing vendors.
Add base fees, payroll modules and any one-time migration charge to the quote.
Check whether a discount is introductory and note the date it ends.
Count locations and teams, because some plans price by those.
Free plans and trials in time clock software: what each one really covers
Free plans differ more than their labels suggest. TimeStation covers up to ten employees, Homebase one location with up to ten employees, Connecteam up to ten users, Sling up to 30 users, and Time Clock Wizard and Jibble allow unlimited users. Sling, however, lists mobile time tracking under Premium, so its free plan is a rota rather than a clock.
TimeClock 365 offers a zero-cost plan for personal or demo use only. Trials also vary: 14 days at Truein and Buddy Punch, 15 at Sling, 30 at TimeStation, OnTheClock and ezClocker. At QuickBooks Time the trial covers the base fee and not per-employee fees. Read what the free tier omits before building a rollout on it.
List the clock-in features that your free plan actually includes.
Note the user, location or site cap and what it costs to pass it.
Confirm whether the trial waives every fee or only part.
Kiosks, offline punches and data export for time clock software
A clock that fails on a site without signal costs more than any subscription. TimeStation and Truein both list offline modes that sync later, Jibble lists offline mode and a kiosk, and QuickBooks Time offers a Time Kiosk for on-site teams. TimeClock 365 goes further by letting a door entry count as a clock-in, which needs controllers bought separately.
Exit matters as well: TimeStation includes data export on every plan, Jibble names CSV and XLS exports, and ezClocker's terms say employers own the time data they enter. Before choosing, run a week of real punches in a poor-signal area and export the result to see whether your payroll provider accepts the file.
Punch offline on a test device and confirm the entries sync later.
Export a month of test data and open it in your payroll tool.
Ask who owns the hardware and how a kiosk is replaced.
What goes wrong most often when buying time clock software
Choosing on the headline per-user rate and discovering later that the base fee, payroll module and migration charge were not in it.
Buying photo or face verification for a trusted team of five, then paying for friction nobody needed.
Building the rollout on a free plan without checking whether the time clock itself is included on it.
Skipping a trial test of exports, so that payroll finds the timesheet format unusable at the first pay run.
07
Frequently asked questions
6 answers
What is the best time clock software in 2026?
TimeStation leads our ranking of 12. TimeStation is operated by TimeStation, LLC, and no parent company is named. It publishes five plans by headcount, the first free for ten employees and two administrators, and every plan carries a 30-day trial.
Punches keep working offline and sync later. The catch is that tiers climb with employee count, and above 200 employees the page sends you elsewhere for a price.
Which time clock tools publish their pricing?
11 out of 12 state a price model on their own site:
TimeStation: Free for up to 10 employees; published monthly tiers by headcount; 30-day trial.
OnTheClock: Published per-employee rate plus monthly base fee; payroll add-on; 30-day trial only.
Time Clock Wizard: Free for unlimited users on the basic plan; published monthly plans by headcount; 14-day trial.
Buddy Punch: Published per-active-user rates plus monthly base fee; paid add-ons; 14-day trial only.
Jibble: Free for unlimited users; paid tiers not priced on the page read.
Truein: Published per-active-user rates in tiers; Enterprise by sales; 14-day trial only.
TimeClock 365: Published per-user plans with priced add-ons; hardware quoted separately; 14-day trial on Attendance.
Homebase: Free for one location up to 10 employees; published per-location tiers; payroll add-on; 14-day trial.
Sling: Free for up to 30 users; published per-active-user tiers; 15-day trial.
Connecteam: Free for up to 10 users on one plan; published per-hub tiers with per-user fees; 14-day trial.
QuickBooks Time: Published per-user rates plus monthly base fee; intro discounts; 30-day trial on base fee only.
Everything else on the list is priced on request.
Is there a free time clock tool?
TimeStation, Time Clock Wizard, Jibble, Homebase, Sling, Connecteam come with a no-cost entry point, a free plan or a self-hosted edition.
Where are these time clock software vendors established?
Across 4 countries (Elsewhere 6, North America 4, Europe 1, Middle East 1):
TimeStation: Not stated by the vendor.
OnTheClock: United States.
Time Clock Wizard: Not stated by the vendor.
Buddy Punch: United States.
Jibble: United Kingdom.
Truein: Not stated by the vendor.
TimeClock 365: Not stated by the vendor.
ezClocker: Not stated by the vendor.
Homebase: United States.
Sling: United States.
Connecteam: Israel.
QuickBooks Time: Not stated by the vendor.
What should you use instead of TimeStation?
OnTheClock and Time Clock Wizard are the next two on this page. OnTheClock is for Single-site employers under 100 staff who want GPS-verified punches and payroll later; Time Clock Wizard is for Employers wanting photo-checked punches and an unlimited-user plan to test on.
Who should not buy TimeStation?
Employers above 200 staff needing published pricing today. Plans are sized by employee count, so a growing crew moves up a tier more often than on flat-fee products..
Do you make a time clock software product that is not listed here? Describe what it does and who buys it. We decide on inclusion, a listing cannot be bought, and the details are under software advice.
