The 8 Best GPS Time Clock Apps (Compared Side-By-Side)

GPS time clock apps are a must-have for companies with employees who work across multiple locations. They come with mobile apps that let employees clock in and out no matter where they work, and they have features that ensure employees are all in the right place at the right time.

In this post, we’re comparing the eight best GPS time clock apps side-by-side. We’ll take a look at the GPS tracking features each app offers, explain which apps are best for which types of companies, note any unique features, and compare pricing across all of the tools.

Overview of the best GPS time clock apps

Here’s a brief overview of our favorite GPS time clock apps. To learn more about a specific tool, click its link to jump down to our full review.

• Buddy Punch is a great all-around choice due to its user-friendly interface, affordability, and comprehensive features like real-time GPS tracking and customizable geofencing.
• QuickBooks Time is ideal for businesses that need to track vehicle usage, Its standout feature is its ability to automatically calculate mileage traveled by employees while they’re on the clock.
• Connecteam is the best free option for small businesses with 10 or fewer employees, providing core features like time tracking, GPS location logging, and geofencing at no cost.
• Timeero is specifically designed for mobile workforces, particularly in home healthcare, offering specialized features like Electronic Visit Verification (EVV) alongside precise GPS tracking.
• ClockShark is built for construction and field service industries. It offers robust GPS tracking and geofencing features, and it’s available in both English and Spanish.
• BusyBusy is unique for its ability to track the location of both employees and equipment on a map, making it a great tool for construction companies needing to monitor assets.
• Hubstaff is perfect for companies with both field and office employees because it combines GPS location tracking with computer activity monitoring to ensure productivity everywhere.
• Workyard is a comprehensive workforce management tool for construction with highly precise real-time tracking that automates time, project, and mileage capture.

What is a GPS time clock?

A GPS time clock is software that lets employers track their employees’ time and locations. Using a mobile time clock app and the GPS tracking features built into all smartphones, these apps capture and log employees’ locations while they’re on the clock.

GPS time clock apps are ideal for businesses with employees who work on-the-go — field services teams, construction workers, traveling salesmen, truck/delivery drivers, etc. — because they allow employees to clock in and out from the field. Additionally, they let you see where employees are at all times, even when you’re not on site with them.

The benefits of GPS time clock apps

There are five main benefits of using a GPS time clock app:

• Reduce time theft: Since you can see where employees were located while they were punched in, you can identify who’s engaging in time theft acts like clocking in before they arrived at work, clocking out after they left, or running errands while on the clock.
• Decrease labor costs: Reducing time theft leads to lower labor costs for your business since you’re no longer paying employees for time when they weren’t actually working. 
• Simplify mileage tracking: Apps with real-time location tracking tell you exactly how many miles an employee drove while they were traveling for work — no odometer checking required.
• Improve job costing: When you can see exactly when employees arrived at and left a worksite, you can bill for the exact amount of time the employee spent on that job, including time to prepare for the job and complete any paperwork afterward.
• Keep employees safe: In case of an emergency, a manager knows the last recorded location of an employee, which can be critical for dispatching help quickly.

Additionally, because GPS time clocks create and store your employees’ timesheets digitally, they help you track time more accurately and run payroll faster.

Want to keep learning? Read more about the pros and cons of GPS tracking for employers or explore what industries use GPS.

Key features to look for in a GPS time clock app

The features you’ll need to look for in a GPS time clock will depend on what exactly you need to track and what timekeeping problems you’re trying to solve. Here are some of the common features you’ll find in a GPS time clock app:

• Mobile time tracking apps: Mobile time tracking apps can be downloaded to employees’ smartphones to let them clock into and out of work from anywhere.
• GPS on punch: This feature logs an employee’s location to their timesheet when they clock in and when they clock out. Employers and managers can manually review these timestamps to make sure employees were on site when punching in and out.
• Real-time GPS: This feature tracks employees’ locations in real time the whole time they’re on the clock. It will show you where employees are located at any time on a map and provide you with breadcrumb trails of their movements across an entire work day.
• Geofences: Geofences are virtual borders you create around a job site that can prevent employees from clocking in/out when they’re not on site, automatically clock them in/out when entering/exiting the geofence, or send them a reminder to clock in/out when entering/exiting the geofence.
• Mileage tracking: This feature uses real-time GPS tracking and map data to record the number of miles employees drove while they were on the clock. All mileage is added to employees’ timesheets, making it easy to reimburse them for mileage traveled.
• Offline tracking: Teams that work at rural sites that don’t have cell service may also want to look for apps with offline tracking. While the location-tracking features of an app won’t work without cell phone service, these apps will at least continue to capture employees’ start and end times.

Not all apps will have all of the features listed above, so deciding which features you need up front will help you narrow down your list of options to consider more quickly.

The 8 best GPS time clock apps

Below, you’ll find our picks for the eight best GPS time clock apps, including who they’re best for, what features they provide, how much they cost, and what customers think about them.

Platform	Best for	G2 Rating	Starting Price
Buddy Punch	Affordability and ease of use	4.8/5	$4.49/user/month
QuickBooks Time	Mileage tracking	4.5/5	$8/user/month
Connecteam	Small teams needing a free GPS time clock	4.6/5	– Free for up to 10 users – $29/month for 10+ users
Timeero	Home healthcare companies	4.8/5	– $4/user/month for up to 10 users – $8/user/month for 10+ users
ClockShark	Construction companies	4.6/5	$9/user/month
BusyBusy	Equipment location tracking	4.8/5	Free
Hubstaff	Office and field employee monitoring	4.5/5	$13.33/user/month
Workyard	Construction workforce management	4.5/5	$6/user/month

1. Buddy Punch – Best for ease of use and affordability

Buddy Punch is an affordable and easy-to-use GPS time clock app with highly rated customer support. It comes with all of the features you need to keep your field crews accountable: location logging on clock in/out, real-time GPS tracking, customizable geofencing, and mobile clock-in and out apps.

Key GPS tracking features

• Capture employees’ locations when they clock in and out
• Follow employees’ movements across the workday with real-time GPS tracking
• Set up geofences to prevent employees from punching when off-site
• Customize your settings to make GPS tracking required or optional for different employees
• Attach job codes to geofences for simple job costing
• View reports showing all offsite punching attempts

Location identification at clock in/out

Buddy Punch’s GPS on punch feature captures your staff’s GPS coordinates whenever they clock in and out of work. You can review this data on employees’ timecards to see exactly where they were when they punched. Additionally, you can look at all punches on a map within a specified timeframe.

Real-time location tracking and route logging

With real-time location tracking, Buddy Punch records your employees’ locations the whole time they’re on the clock. You can see exactly where everyone is located at any time on a map and follow their travels across the entire day with GPS breadcrumbs.

Customizable GPS tracking

All location tracking features in Buddy Punch are flexible. You can make them required for everyone, make them optional for everyone, turn them on only for specific employees, or disable them entirely.

This all makes it easy to keep track of employees as they move from location to location, never worrying whether or not your staff showed up where they were supposed to be. Verify punches from the administrator dashboard, and use it to keep your team members accountable without any hassle.

Customizable geofencing for remote job sites

Buddy Punch’s geofence time tracking feature lets you create a radius around each of your work sites. If the employee is not inside of a radius they’re assigned to, they’ll be prevented from clocking in or out and will receive an error notification. You can create as many geofences as you’d like on any plan.

Integrated job costing

If your employees work on specific jobs and projects, you can use Buddy Punch’s job costing feature to create job codes and assign them to specific employees. When employees clock in, they’ll either be defaulted to a single job code that’s been assigned to them or, if they’ve been assigned multiple job codes, they’ll select the right one from a dropdown.

This allows you to track the time your employees spend working on different projects, which helps with budgeting, forecasting, and invoicing.

Job codes can also be assigned to geofences to further simplify job costing. If an employee clocks in within a geofence that only has one job code assigned to it, their time will automatically be assigned to that job code. Additionally, if an employee travels to multiple job sites over the course of the day, the geofencing feature can send them a reminder to clock in/out when entering/exiting a geofence.

Clock-in reminders via mobile notifications

In addition to location and time tracking, Buddy Punch gives you a tool for shift scheduling. You can create and distribute work schedules, create repeating shifts, allow employees to submit shift trade and cover requests, and assign employees to specific jobs, departments, and locations.

This not only simplifies the process of shift scheduling, it also allows you to send automated notifications to employees reminding them to clock in and out. The reminders are tied to their schedules and help reduce the number of times you have to edit timesheets because someone forgot to punch in or out.

User-friendly mobile apps for Android and iOS

Buddy Punch’s time tracking app is available on any internet-connected device, including computers, tablets, and mobile phones. Your employees can download its apps for iOS and Android devices to clock in and out using their smartphones from anywhere they’re working. You can also download the app onto a tablet to create a time clock kiosk that everyone can use.

Easy to use payroll integrations and reports

To get your timesheet data to payroll, Buddy Punch provides three options:

• Download time tracking reports that are formatted specifically for your payroll provider.
• Integrate with nearly 20 popular payroll providers like QuickBooks, Gusto, and Paychex to transfer your timesheet data to payroll automatically.
• Use Buddy Punch for payroll processing to pay employees and taxes effortlessly.

Any of these three solutions significantly reduces the amount of time it takes to run payroll.

Customer reviews

Here’s what customers have to say about Buddy Punch’s GPS time tracking features:

• “I like that the employees can clock in and out on their phones since we have construction sites where there isn’t a mobile office. I like that it shows me where employees were when they clocked in. In particular, if they meant to select a different job code and picked one by accident, we can narrow it down by GPS.” Read the full review.
• “I like that I can turn the GPS tracker on and off. I like the ability to track where employees are because prior to using Buddy Punch we had an employee who was being dishonest about where they were, and it cost us money when it came to billing customers.” Read the full review.
• “We love that there is a map feature. This is allowing our employees to create GPS timestamps at our clients homes so there is no disputing where they were when. Game changer!” Read the full review.

Pricing

Buddy Punch’s pricing starts at $4.49/user/month plus a $19/month base fee that covers the cost of all admin users added to your account. The lowest-cost plan includes employee time tracking, GPS on punch, job costing, and its mobile apps.

2. QuickBooks Time – Best for mileage tracking

QuickBooks Time is Intuit’s time clock software. It’s a popular choice among business owners because of its deep integrations with QuickBooks Online and QuickBooks Payroll. In fact, you have to be a QuickBooks Online customer to use QuickBooks Time, so it’s best for teams that are already deeply integrated into the Intuit software ecosystem.

Key GPS tracking features

• Track and record the number of miles employees travel while on the clock
• Set up geofences to remind employees to clock in and out when arriving at/leaving a job site
• Track employees’ locations throughout the day and see then in real-time on a map
• Use QuickBooks Time’s API to quickly create geofences in bulk

Location tracking

QuickBooks Time offers both real-time location tracking and geofencing. Its real-time tracking feature logs employees locations throughout the day while they’re clocked in. You can see where employees are located at any time on a map, and you can also review where they traveled over the course of a day.

QuickBooks Time’s geofencing feature offers some more advanced functionality. Geofences can be set up to automatically clock employees in and out when they arrive at or leave a worksite, or you can use it to send employees notifications when they arrive within or leave a geofence to remind them to clock in/out.

However, keep in mind that because the app only tracks employees while they’re on the clock, this feature won’t work for the first clock-in of the day. It’s designed for employees who travel to different job sites.

You can also assign job codes to geofences and then automatically clock employees in and out of projects when they arrive at/leave specific geofences.

Mileage tracking

The real standout feature of QuickBooks Time is its ability to track mileage. Using real-time tracking, the app automatically calculates the miles employees traveled while they were on the clock, making mileage reimbursements as simple as possible.

Customer reviews

• “It is so simple to accurately manage our employees’ time, both in the field and in the office. It lets us know the employee’s location at the time they clock in, so no more attempts to get paid for time they were not actually on the job site.” Read the full review.
• “Reporting is good, integration with QuickBooks and Gusto (our payroll service) works. GPS geotagging helps prevent techs from stealing time.” Read the full review.
• “It is easy to track employees who are in the field and office as it is GPS enabled on Android and iPhones.It also has benefited us to track employees when offline in areas where there is bad network activities.” Read the full review.

Pricing

QuickBooks Time’s location tracking, geofencing, and mileage tracking features are only available on its Elite plan, which starts at $10/user/month plus a $40/month base fee. The base fee covers the cost of one admin user. Also note that you must be a QuickBooks Online customer to subscribe to QuickBooks Time.

Related: Compare Buddy Punch vs. QuickBooks Time or discover the best time tracking software that integrates with QuickBooks.

3. Connecteam – Best free GPS time clock app

If you have fewer than 10 employees and are looking for a free GPS time tracking app you can use to track employees’ hours and locations, Connecteam might be the right choice for your company. Its free version includes time tracking, GPS location tracking, and geofences for up to 10 users.

Key GPS tracking features

• Track employees’ locations in real-time and view them at any time on a map
• Set up geofences that alert you when employees clock in/out when not on site

Location tracking

Connecteam’s GPS features let you see both your job sites and employee locations on a map at any time. You can look up a single employee to see where they’re located or view a map showing everyone’s locations at once. Additionally, you can view breadcrumb trails showing where employees traveled while working.

Geofences notify you if an employee clocked in/out while offsite. This is great for identifying potential time theft or following up with employees that had offsite punches. However, it’s not as flexible of a feature as some of the apps on this list that block employees from punching while offsite or remind them to clock in/out when arriving at or leaving a job site.

Features for HR teams

Beyond time and location tracking, Connecteam also offers multiple hubs with features for HR teams. Its Communications hub lets you add a team chat feature to your time tracking app, and its HR & Skills hub adds features like PTO tracking, training courses, document storage, quizzes, and org charts.

Free plan users will have access to some features of all of these hubs for the first 10 users, but keep in mind that if you grow out of the free plan (add more than 10 employees), you’ll have to pay a separate monthly fee for each hub you want to keep.

Customer reviews

• “Really enjoy the GPS log-in; it helps keep the guys honest. Time theft is something of the past with this. It makes payroll a lot easier too.” Read the full review.
• “Time clocks and GPS were always an issue at our company until we found Connecteam. Now, our staff’s time is accurate; we instantly see when someone fails to clock in or out, and the GPS tracks our staff who travel to job sites.” Read the full review.
• “All the essentials are in one app, which is perfect for streamlining any business. I love the courses, scheduling, GPS, time clock; I love all of it. My staff love it too. Customer support is quick to handle anything I do not understand.” Read the full review.

Pricing

Connecteam’s free version includes time tracking, location tracking, GPS breadcrumbs, and geofencing for up to 10 users. If you need to add more than 10 users to your account, plans start at $29/month for GPS tracking and $49/month for geofencing (for up to 10 job sites).

Want to learn more? Read our in-depth comparison of Buddy Punch vs. Connecteam or check out our guide to the best Connecteam alternatives.

4. Timeero – Best for home healthcare companies

Timeero is a GPS-first employee time tracking app, meaning it’s specifically designed to be used by businesses with employees who work in the field. As a result, it comes with all of the features you’d expect to see: real-time GPS location tracking, GPS breadcrumbs, and geofencing. You can even replay employees’ routes to watch where they traveled over the course of a workday.

Key GPS tracking features

• Automatically apply the appropriate job code when an employee arrives at a different location
• Set up geofences to prevent employees from clocking in/out while offsite
• Allow employees to override geofence restrictions when needed by writing a reason for the override
• Track employee’s locations in real-time and calculate the mileage traveled
• Remind employees to clock in/out when entering/exiting a geofence

Segmented time tracking

Timeero has a segmented time tracking feature that lets you track work hours on projects without employees having to clock in and out at every worksite. For example, if you operate a plumbing company and have employees visiting multiple customer sites each day, you can set up segmented time tracking to automatically allocate the time they spent at every job site to the specific projects those sites apply to.

Another unique feature is Timeero’s out-of-bounds alerts. If you use geofencing, these alerts let you know if your drivers are not following the appropriate routes.

Electronic visit verification

Timeero is particularly interesting for home healthcare because of its electronic visit verification (EVV) feature. It requires caregivers to document the exact date, time, location of each visit to ensure patients are only billed for the services they received.

You can also use its built-in facial recognition (available on iPhone and iPad devices only) to verify the caregiver’s identity, and caregivers are required to document the types of service they provided during the visit.

Customer reviews

• “Mileage tracking saves employees a lot of time. GPS helps us know if employees are clocking in at work, and it’s easy to see who is at the office if an issue arises.” Read the full review.
• “We use this app daily to track time and mileage. The GPS tracker and breadcrumbs features are helping in holding employees accountable.” Read the full review.
• “I love the ease of use of Timeero and how responsive the support team is. I like that Timeero gives me so many great features, like GPS tracking, employee scheduling, geofencing, and mileage tracking for one low price.” Read the full review.

Pricing

Timeero’s Basic plan starts at $4/user/month and includes GPS and mileage tracking. However, it’s limited to 10 users, so if you have more than 10 employees, you’ll need to upgrade to the Pro plan. The Pro plan starts at $8/user/month, includes everything in the base plan, and also adds in geofencing. 

Prices are not public for the EVV system, so you’ll need to contact Timeero to get a quote for that feature.

Segmented tracking is an add-on product available for an additional $5/user/month.

5. ClockShark – Best for construction companies

ClockShark is a GPS tracking app that’s built specifically for construction and field services teams, and it has lots of features catered to the specific needs of those industries.

Key GPS tracking features

• Use near real-time GPS tracking to get updates on employees’ locations throughout the day
• Set up geofences to remind employees to clock in/out when arriving at/leaving a job site
• Get notifications when employees clock in/out while offsite
• Capture employees’ locations when they clock in/out

Location tracking

GPS tracking in ClockShark works in the same way as the other time card apps on this list. You can capture employees’ locations when they clock in and out, or you can use GPSTrak to track their locations across the entire workday. However, it’s worth noting that GPSTrak isn’t quite real-time — it updates locations every 15-20 minutes.

Geofencing

ClockShark also offers geofencing, and it has a feature that will remind employees to clock in or out when entering or leaving a geofence. Additionally, the app is available in both English and Spanish. Users set their default language when installing the app, and then it will display all text in the language selected.

Integrations

When it comes to integrations, ClockShark only has a limited number of integrations with accounting and payroll systems: QuickBooks Online, ADP, Xero, Paychex, and Gusto. However, it does offer a couple of integrations with construction-specific tools like Sage and Simpro that can help you connect your data across several of the tools you use to run your business.

Customer reviews

• “My favorite feature is the permanent, accurate record of how much time was spent at each location. Honestly, without ClockShark, determining hours per job is either a paperwork nightmare, a guessing game, or a little of both.” Read the full review.
• “Being able to track my field crew’s location is vital to my company. Having my crew clock in and out on their smartphones is very convenient. The ability to review, edit, and print timesheets is a huge time and money saver for me.” Read the full review.
• “I can now see at what time and what location my guys are punching in at. The program has more than paid for itself by having accurate time clock information.” Read the full review.

Pricing

ClockShark’s base plan starts at $9/user/month plus a $40 per month base fee and includes all of the features highlighted above: GPS tracking, geofencing, and Spanish-language support.

Want to learn more? Read our in-depth comparison of Buddy Punch vs. ClockShark.

6. BusyBusy – Best for equipment location tracking

BusyBusy is a construction time card app that offers a generous free version that includes GPS location tracking on clock in/out that’s available for an unlimited number of employees. However, to access geofencing or GPS breadcrumbs (the ability to see employee locations across the day and not just when they clock in or out), you’ll have to upgrade to BusyBusy’s Pro plan, which is $9.99/user/month.

Key GPS tracking features

• Use GPS tracking to identify the locations of your heavy equipment
• Log employees’ locations to their timecards when clocking in and out
• Remind employees to clock in and out by creating geofences
• View breadcrumb trails of employees’ movements with real-time GPS tracking

Equipment location tracking

The unique thing about GPS tracking in BusyBusy is that in addition to tracking employees’ locations, it also lets you track equipment locations. Equipment locations are tracked in real-time, and the locations of all of your equipment can be viewed at any time on a map.

Construction-specific features

BusyBusy’s paid plan also offers a lot of features designed to help construction companies streamline their operations and monitor labor costs, such as project document storage, project progress photos, PTO approvals, payroll automation, and budgeting and scheduling tools.

Customer reviews

• “We were using Exaktime in the past. It had great qualities as well, but this app has more features and a better price point.” Read the full review.
• “We love how user-friendly it is. It makes job costing so much easier. We love the location services. We love everything about it. We haven’t found anything that doesn’t suit our business’s needs.” Read the full review.
• “We needed a GPS location service to ensure that everyone is where they are supposed to be when they clock in. We appreciate being able to set an area that they need to be inside, and love that I can see a detailed map of where someone was when they clocked in or out.” Read the full review.

Pricing

BusyBusy’s free version includes GPS data on punch for unlimited users and equipment location tracking. Its paid plans start at $9.99/user/month and include geofencing and real-time GPS tracking.

7. Hubstaff – Best for office and field employee monitoring

Hubstaff is unique on this list because it offers both location and activity tracking features. This makes it a great option for businesses that have both field and office employees. It provides you with all of the tools you need to prevent time theft of all types — whether employees are working on jobs in the field or working in the office on computers.

Key GPS tracking features

• Track employees’ location in real-time across the workday
• View everyone’s locations on a map at any time
• Remind employees to clock in/out when entering/exiting a geofence
• Automatically clock employees in/out when entering/exiting a geofence

Field employee monitoring

You can use Hubstaff to create geofences and track employees’ locations in real time. Geofences can remind employees to clock in/out when entering or exiting a geofence or to automatically clock them in and out if they were already punched in when arriving at a new job site. You can also upload a spreadsheet to Hubstaff to create geofences in bulk, which can be helpful if you have lots of locations or add new locations often.

Office employee monitoring

Hubstaff also allows you to track employee computer activity to monitor the productivity of office-based or remote employees who do their work on computers. You can see which websites and apps your employees are using while working, detect when employees are idle while on the clock, and capture screenshots of what they’re working on at regular intervals throughout the day.

Customer reviews

• “Whenever my team goes out for field work, this tool provides me with a clear picture about their location. Thus, I can manage the workload by assigning the task to the nearest team member to visit a certain client.” Read the full review.
• “The overall data we receive from Hubstaff gives us great insight into the efficiency of employees and whole departments” Read the full review.
• “Having workers in a remote location, Hubstaff made it super easy to keep track of their work hours. If there’s ever any doubt that they are working on the correct task, looking through the screenshots makes this concern a non-issue.” Read the full review.

Pricing

GPS tracking and geofencing are only available if you are subscribed to Hubstaff’s Team plan ($10/user/month) and purchase the Locations add-on ($3.33/user/month) for a total of $13.33/user/month.

Want to learn more? Read our in-depth Hubstaff review, discover the top Hubstaff alternatives, or compare Buddy Punch vs. Hubstaff.

8. Workyard – Best for construction workforce management

Workyard is fully focused on time tracking for contractors and construction companies. It comes with precise, real-time tracking that tracks your crews’ locations every minute. Because of this, the app can automate many different things: employee time tracking, clocking in and out, project time, and mileage capture. Additionally, smart geofencing detects when employees arrive or leave worksites to send automated clock-in and clock-out reminders.

Key GPS tracking features

• Track everyone’s locations throughout the workday with same-second GPS tracking
• Calculate mileage traveled and add it to employees’ timesheets
• Send employees reminders to clock in/out when entering/exiting a geofence

Features designed for contractors

Workyard has a feature that reports exactly what your project costs are — and lets you see if you’re over or under budget — which can help you create more accurate estimates for future projects.

Another unique feature of Workyard is its AI timesheet analysis: Use AI to analyze your timesheets and alert you to inconsistencies like early clock-outs, unapproved overtime, or time theft.

Employees can attach photos, notes, and reports directly to timesheets, allowing for easy documentation of work progress and worksite conditions.

Customer reviews

• “I can view the workers’ locations at each job site, which is very helpful. If they forget to log their tasks or projects, I am still able to check their location history and enter the time for each project afterward.” Read the full review.
• “The GPS tracking feature is extremely accurate. As a field engineer, I now have a clear view of everyone’s location and timing. Additionally, it helps ensure the crew stays accountable — there are no more disputes about whether someone was actually at the site.” Read the full review.
• “Workyard’s GPS time tracking has truly been a lifesaver for me. I’m able to see precisely who has clocked in, their current location, and the tasks they’re handling, all directly from my phone.” Read the full review.

Pricing

Workyard’s plan that includes GPS and mileage tracking starts at $6/user/month plus a $50/month base fee. To get access to geofencing, you’ll need to be on the $13/user/month Pro plan.

Pricing comparison of the top GPS time tracking apps

Software pricing tends to be confusing, so we built the table below to help you compare what you’ll pay for the specific GPS tracking features you’ll need across our nine favorite GPS time clock apps.

Tool	Pricing for GPS on punch	Pricing for real-time GPS tracking	Pricing for mileage tracking	Pricing for geofencing
Buddy Punch	$4.49/user	$6.49/user	N/A	$5.99/user
QuickBooks Time	N/A	$10/user	$10/user	$10/user
Connecteam	N/A	Free for up to 10 users; $29/month for 10+ users	N/A	Free for up to 10 users; $49/month for 10+ users
Timeero	N/A	$4/user for up to 10 users; $8/month for 10+ users	$4/user for up to 10 users; $8/month for 10+ users	$8/month
ClockShark	$9/user	$9/user	N/A	$9/user
BusyBusy	Free for unlimited users	$9.99/user	N/A	Free for unlimited users
Hubstaff	N/A	$13.33/user	N/A	$13.33/user
Workyard	N/A	$6/user	$6/user	$13/user

How to choose the right GPS time tracking app for your team

The first step to choosing any app is to create a list of must-have and nice-to-have-features. This will help you narrow down your initial list easily: remove any from consideration that don’t offer all of your must-have features.

A good second step is to look at pricing. First, remove any apps from your list that have pricing that exceeds your budget. After that, you can see which apps offer the highest number of your nice-to-have features for the lowest cost. By that time, your list should be down to 2-3 apps.

Next, you’ll want to start free trials of your final contenders. Bring in a couple of employees and managers to help you test the apps. Make sure that the apps are easy to use, don’t require a lot of training, and accurately detect employees’ locations when they’re on the clock. An intuitive app will help with employee adoption, and accurate GPS tracking is the baseline for meeting your needs.

Finally, consider reaching out to each providers’ support team and requesting help. When all other things — pricing, features, ease of use, and functionality — are equal, the ability to get quick, helpful support when you need it can be a dealbreaker. Since payroll is dependent on accurate timesheets, you don’t want to get into a situation where you can’t pay your employees because you’re waiting for support.

Tips on rolling out your new GPS time clock

Choosing a GPS time clock app is just the first step in the process. Once you’ve found the right app for you, you’ll need to roll it out to your team. Here are a few things to keep in mind as you get your new time clock set up and introduce it to your employees.

Legal and compliance considerations

Business owners generally have the right to monitor their employees’ locations as long as they comply with federal and state-specific regulations. There are currently no federal laws in the United States related to employee GPS tracking, but some states have specific regulations.

To make sure you’re compliant, here are some general rules to follow:

• Only track employees during working hours: Make sure the GPS tracking software you use is built for employers. This will ensure that employees’ locations are only tracked while they’re on the clock.
• Only track company-owned vehicles: If you use hardware for GPS tracking on the vehicles your employees use for work, it can only be installed on company-owned vehicles. GPS tracking of employee-owned vehicles is prohibited in some states.
• Notify employees that their locations are being tracked: Some states require employers to notify employees that their locations are being tracked. Create a written GPS tracking policy, and make sure to have all of your employees sign it.

We strongly recommend that you consult with a legal professional to fully understand the laws related to employee GPS tracking in the states where your business operates.

Data security considerations

Employee tracking apps contain a lot of sensitive, personal information. Employee’s names, pay rates, addresses, and locations may all be stored in the app, so you’ll want to talk to any provider you’re considering to find out how they keep your employee data secure. Ideally, you’ll only input data that is absolutely necessary.

You’ll also want to look for employee tracking apps that have detailed permission sets to control who has access to private employee data. Enforcing two-factor authentication or other preventative measures for users with access to sensitive data can also be helpful to minimize the chance of a data breach.

Implementation tips

You may be worried that employees will be opposed to you tracking their locations, but this is rarer than you might expect.

A QuickBooks Time study found that 70% of employees are fine with their employers knowing their locations, and only 6% said they would quit if they were asked to be tracked.

Interestingly, the thing that employees in the study were most concerned about was the app draining their phone batteries or using all of their data. To prepare for these questions, talk to your app provider to get more information you can share with your team to ease their concerns.

The best way to avoid employee pushback when implementing a GPS tracking app is to be very transparent with your employees about the fact that they’re being tracked, when they’ll be tracked, why, and who will have access to their location data. That’s why creating and distributing a GPS tracking policy is crucial.

Finally, when it’s time to roll your new system out, hold a meeting where employees can ask questions and share any concerns they have so they don’t feel like they’re being forced to do something they’re uncomfortable with.