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 at the right place at the right time.

In this post, we’re comparing the seven best GPS time clock apps side-by-side. We’ll take a look at the location-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.

Platform	Summary	G2 Rating	Free Trial	Starting Price for GPS Tracking
Buddy Punch	Best for small businesses in any industry, Buddy Punch is an affordable option for keeping track of deskless employees and preventing time theft.	4.8/5	14 days	$4.49/user/month
Hubstaff	Best for teams with office and field employees, Hubstaff offers features for both employee location tracking and computer activity monitoring.	4.5/5	14 days	$13.33/user/month
QuickBooks Time	Best for larger companies that need mileage tracking, QuickBooks Time calculates mileage automatically and offers real-time GPS and a robust API.	4.5/5	30 days	$8/user/month
Timeero	Best for home healthcare teams, Timeero offers real-time GPS tracking and has an EVV feature for documenting dates, times, locations, and types of services.	4.8/5	14 days	$5/user/month
FieldServicely	Best for route optimization, FieldServicely lets you enter all of the locations an employee will visit in a day and then optimize the routes for time and mileage.	Not rated	10 days	Limited free plan available; paid plans start at $9/user/month
BusyBusy	Best for equipment location tracking, BusyBusy tracks the locations of both your employees and equipment in real-time with map and breadcrumb views.	4.8/5	14 days	Limited free plan available; paid plans start at $9.99/user/month
Workyard	Best for large construction companies, Workyard offers automatic time tracking and job costing and integrates with construction software like Sage.	4.5/5	14 days	$6/user/month

1. Buddy Punch – Best for small businesses in any industry

Buddy Punch is an easy-to-use time tracking app with highly rated, U.S.-based customer support. It comes with all of the features you need to keep your deskless crews accountable: mobile apps for clocking in and out, location logging, real-time GPS tracking, and customizable geofencing. Plus, it’s the most affordable option on this list, offering powerful features at a cost that’s reasonable for small businesses.

If you just want to make sure employees were on site when starting and stopping work, you can use GPS on punch; it captures your employees’ locations when they clock in and out. 

If your employees travel to different job sites over the course of the day, you can turn on real-time GPS tracking. It shows you exactly where everyone is located at any time on a map and gives you breadcrumb trails of all of their travels.

Buddy Punch’s geofencing feature is even more powerful. It 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. Geofences can also be attached to job codes so that when an employee punches from inside of a specific geofence, the time they spend in that geofence is automatically attached to the correct project.

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.

Buddy Punch 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 — or have a supervisor clock everyone on site in and out at once.

Key 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

Pros

• Per-user pricing is much lower than comparable GPS time clocks
• Customizable rules let you set up location tracking only for the employees who need it
• Lack of industry focus makes it a good choice for time tracking in any industry

Cons

• No mileage tracking
• No offline tracking

Pricing

Free trial available. View Buddy Punch’s current pricing.

2. Hubstaff – Best for employers with both office and field employees

Hubstaff is unique on this list because it offers both location tracking and computer monitoring features. This makes it a great option for businesses that have both field and office employees. It provides you with 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 (or at home) on computers.

As far as location-tracking, Hubstaff offers geofences and real-time GPS tracking. Geofences either remind employees to clock in/out or automatically clock them in and out when entering/exiting geofences, but they do not prevent offsite punches. 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.

For real-time GPS tracking, Hubstaff lets you see where all of your clocked-in employees are located at any time on a map, or you can click into individual employees on specific days and see exactly where they traveled while they were on the clock.

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.

Like Buddy Punch, Hubstaff’s monitoring features are fully customizable: you can set up tracking per employee. Additionally, you can set screenshots to be blurred to give employees more privacy. 

Finally, Hubstaff’s AI-powered anomaly detector can be helpful when it comes to identifying potential time theft. It automatically flags unusual patterns and puts them in a report for your managers to review.

Key features

• Track employees’ locations 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
• Monitor computer activity like URLs visited, apps used, and time spent idle
• Capture snapshots of employees’ computer screens to see what they were doing

Pros

• One of the only options on the market that includes both location tracking and computer monitoring
• AI anomaly detection makes it easy to identify time theft without spending hours digging through data

Cons

• The high cost of the app is only worthwhile if you need activity monitoring in addition to location tracking
• Real-time GPS only tracks locations — not mileage

Pricing

Free trial available. View Hubstaff’s current pricing.

3. QuickBooks Time – Best for large businesses that need 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.

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.

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. 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 over the course of a single day. 

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. Your mileage data will automatically sync to QuickBooks Online (and Payroll if you use it), so you’ll be able to reimburse for mileage without having to check odometers.

Key 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 them in real-time on a map
• Use QuickBooks Time’s API to quickly create geofences in bulk

Pros

• Data flows between all Intuit products with no need for separate integrations
• A robust API makes the app a good choice for larger teams with IT resources

Cons

• Geofences do not prevent offsite punches
• A QuickBooks Online subscription is needed to use QuickBooks Time

Pricing

Free trial available. View QuickBooks Time’s current pricing.

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 travel for work. 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.

Timeero is a good fit 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 to verify the caregiver’s identity, and caregivers are required to document the types of service they provide during visits.

Additionally, Timeero offers a segmented tracking feature (sold for an additional per-user cost) 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.

Finally, Timeero also offers mileage tracking like QuickBooks Time, and it also has offline tracking. If your employees work at rural job sites with no internet or phone signal, they can still use Timeero to clock in and out. The app will save the data locally and then sync it with your system once a signal is available.

Key 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

Pros

• Offline tracking lets employees clock in and out even when they don’t have phone service
• One of the few apps offering an EVV module for home healthcare teams

Cons

• Lowest-cost plan is limited to 10 employees; the price for 10+ employees jumps significantly
• Segmented tracking is sold as an add-on, which significantly increases the price

Pricing

Free trial offered. View Timeero’s current pricing.

5. FieldServicely – Best for route optimization

FieldServicely has a similar feature set as Buddy Punch, though its base plan price is more than double the cost. It lets employees clock in and out using mobile apps, tracks their locations in real-time using GPS data, and lets you require employees to take selfies when clocking in and out to prevent buddy punching. However, unlike Buddy Punch, it does offer online tracking for areas with no cell phone signal.

Where FieldServicely stands out from the other apps on this list is with its route optimization feature. If your team travels to multiple job sites over the course of the day, you can simply enter those locations, and the app will automatically find the best possible route for you. It also provides employees with directions — in Google Maps style — so they can easily follow the routes you set up for them.

If a call comes in for an emergency service, you can see all of your employees on a map to determine who’s closest to the location, then you can create a route for them using route optimization so they know the best way to get there. This can save you a significant amount of time and money: more optimal routes get employees to jobs quicker and in fewer miles, saving you on labor costs and vehicle maintenance.

FieldServicely’s scheduling tool is built for field services teams, making it easy to assign technicians to work at multiple job sites throughout the day. It also has a dispatching feature if you have idle crew members; you can send them a new job immediately as soon as a call comes in. You’ll be able to see locations and skills directly in the scheduling and dispatching interfaces to get the right person to the job.

One final interesting feature of FieldServicely is that the application can be self-hosted, which is a great option if you have full-time IT support and want to retain control of all of your employee and client data. Additionally, a free plan is available that includes geofences and historical route data, but it does not include real-time GPS tracking or its route optimization feature.

Key features

• Use route optimization to ensure employees travel the fastest routes between jobs
• Prevent offsite punches with geofences
• Real-time GPS tracking lets you find and dispatch the nearest technical for emergency calls
• Offline tracking syncs data collected when an employee didn’t have a cell phone signal
• Geofences can clock employees in and out when entering or exiting job locations

Pros

• Route optimization lets you develop travel routes that use the least amount of time and mileage
• A free plan is available, though the features you get access to are limited

Cons

• Though you can dictate routes, the platform doesn’t offer mileage tracking
• If you don’t need the route optimization feature, the platform is pricey for the features you get

Pricing

Free plan and trial available. View FieldServicely’s current pricing.

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; it’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.

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

Geofencing is also available to prevent employees from clocking in before they’re on job sites, and location-based reminders will notify employees if they’ve left a job site without clocking out.

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.

Your employees can clock in and clock out using an app on their mobile devices (iOS and Android apps are both available), or you can set up a device as a kiosk for punching in and out. Kiosk mode also allows you to set up facial recognition that will notify an admin if an employee clocks in for someone else.

Key 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

Pros

• Construction focus makes the app a good option for construction companies
• A free plan is available for unlimited employees if you only want basic location tracking

Cons

• While the free plan is a nice option, the paid plans are pricey compared to similar tools
• Construction focus makes the app less ideal for companies in other industries

Pricing

Free plan and trial available. View BusyBusy’s current pricing.

7. Workyard – Best for large construction companies

Workyard is built specifically for 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.

Real-time GPS tracking and geofencing are also built into the app. If your employees move from job site to job site over the course of a day, they only need to clock in and out once. Geofences will automatically log employees into and out of specific job codes when they enter and exit geofences, helping you make sure that all logged hours are correctly attributed to jobs.

Job tracking in Workyard lets you track time toward specific projects, break tracking ensures you stay in compliance with FLSA regulations, and facial recognition helps you prevent buddy punching. 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.

Finally, employees can attach photos, notes, and reports directly to timesheets, allowing for easy documentation of work progress and worksite conditions. Workyard also integrates with several construction software programs, including Foundation Software, ComputerEase, Sage 50, Sage 100 Contractor, Sage 300 CRE, and Sage Intacct.

Key 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

Pros

• Construction focus means everything is tailored to the way construction crews work
• Automatic time tracking makes it easy to track the exact amount of time spent on projects

Cons

• The base plan includes location and mileage tracking but not job costing
• Automatic time tracking is only available on the highest-cost Enterprise plan

Pricing

Free trial available. View Workyard’s current pricing.

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 the seven best 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
Hubstaff	N/A	$13.33/user	N/A	$13.33/user
QuickBooks Time	N/A	$8/user	$10/user	$8/user
Timeero	N/A	$5/user	$5/user	$7.50/user
FieldServicely	Free	$9/user	N/A	Free
BusyBusy	Free	$9.99/user	N/A	$9.99/user
Workyard	N/A	$6/user	$6/user	$13/user

How to choose the right GPS time clock 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.

You might also want to consider what pricing will look like in the future if your team grows or if you need more features. Some apps have free plans that might work while your company is small, but if you need to upgrade later, the price of their paid plans is often a lot more than what you’ll pay for comparable tools. It’s difficult to switch tools later, so make sure you choose something that will work long-term.

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.