The 11 Best Payroll and Timekeeping Software

When looking for the best payroll and timekeeping software, you want a tool that streamlines time tracking and payroll into one platform.

Combining both payroll and timekeeping into one application helps you avoid common issues, such as:

  • The hassle of exporting timesheets to your payroll provider (no more dealing with Excel and CSV files).
  • Potentially making mistakes in data transfer. When it comes to payroll, keystroke errors can get expensive and can even put you at risk of being non-compliant with state or federal laws.
  • Wasted time and money on fixing timesheets and payroll mistakes.
  • Paying for two different platforms when you could just be using one.

In this post, we dive into how the best payroll and timekeeping software can help you optimize your payroll process by eliminating the time-consuming manual data transfer and toggling between multiple platforms.

Here are the 11 best payroll and timekeeping software to consider in 2025.

1. Buddy Punch

Buddy Punch is software we built to offer payroll and time tracking features in one application. You don’t have to juggle between multiple websites, deal with multiple logins, or transfer data from spreadsheets to your payroll software.

Everything is tracked in Buddy Punch, and you can pay your team from Buddy Punch.

First, let’s look at how Buddy Punch tracks employee hours and time to be paid out.

  • Hourly employees use the Buddy Punch mobile app and web app to easily punch in and out on their preferred devices, such as a smartphone, tablets, or computers. Buddy Punch automatically tracks and records these punches for any payroll need.
  • You can also use Buddy Punch to track time worked by salaried (i.e., non-hourly) employees.
  • You can pick from several advanced clock in and out features (like geofencing) that help ensure your team tracks their time accurately and honestly, which we cover in the sections below.
  • Buddy Punch also tracks paid time off (PTO), which is critical for ensuring your team gets paid appropriately when they take PTO, like their holiday or sick leave.

With Buddy Punch, you can easily edit an employee’s timesheet. This helps you keep your records accurate, which helps with time tracking and reduces the chances of costly payroll errors. 

Easily edit your team’s payroll timesheets

For example, say someone clocks out for lunch but never clocks back in. Or say an employee forgets to clock out for the day. You can access their employee timesheet, make the appropriate edits, and keep your records current. Now they’re only going to get paid for the time they worked.

Finally, when it’s time to run payroll, you run it through Buddy Punch. You don’t need another tool or software. You select the time period you want to run payroll for and review your team’s payroll. 

Pay breakdown.

You can make changes and also add additional earnings, such as someone’s bonus, commission, or reimbursements. Buddy Punch handles all tax calculations and withholdings, and your team can get paid by direct deposit or check.

You can also set up auto-payroll so you don’t have to worry about forgetting to submit payroll on time. Buddy Punch offers both 2-day and 4-day processing.

Auto payroll is on schedule.

And that’s a high-level overview of how Buddy Punch works as an all-in-one payroll timesheet software.

To see how you can simplify your specific time management and payroll needs, you can:

You can also keep reading below, where we further detail key Buddy Punch features.

Increase employee accountability

Buddy Punch offers a variety of time tracking features that help increase employee accountability. You can pick the right ones for your business and employees.

Geofencing

Geofencing.

Using GPS tracking, you can limit where employees can punch in and out by setting up a geofence.

This sets a certain radius (say, 500 feet from your business address) to be the only location where an employee could clock in and out, and if they attempt to punch outside the designated geofence they would be met with an error notification and asked to try again.

Geofencing error.

Geofencing is a great tool to help prevent time theft, ensuring that employees punch in to work when they’re at work.

You can set up multiple geofences based on your particular business needs. For example, if you have multiple job sites and employees travel between more than one location.

IP address locking

IP address lock.

With IP Address Locking, you can limit punches to a particular device or network.

For example, you can require employees to be connected to the company Wi-Fi network before punching in.

Similarly, you can designate a central device such as tablet or computer as a punch station.


Photos on punch

Photo on punch.

You can also keep employees accountable by having them provide a photo every time they punch in or out. This is just one of our features that prevents buddy punching (someone clocking in for someone else on the team).

All pictures can be easily reviewed by an administrator using the dashboard:

Photo on timesheet.

See all of Buddy Punch’s accountability features

Buddy Punch offers several other accountability features that you might find helpful, such as:

You can also set up punch limiting rules. This is a great feature for keeping your payroll in check. By setting punch limiting rules, you control how early someone can clock into their shift and how late someone can clock out. This prevents time clocking padding — where an employee is adding to their paycheck by clocking in early 7 minutes every day.

Tracking time off

PTO summary.

Another key aspect of submitting payroll correctly is making sure your team’s PTO is accurately tracked and accounted for.

Time-off tracking is easily handled through Buddy Punch. Employees put in time off requests through the dashboard as needed. Administrators may optionally review these requests, and all paid and unpaid time off data is automatically tracked and available as downloadable reports in your preferred format.

When you go to run payroll, any paid time off day is accounted for and included on your payroll report.

Accruals

Accrual rules.

Accruals and accrual rules are also easily set up with Buddy Punch. You can customize when and how your team accrues PTO. For example, you can have team members accrue PTO based on hours worked or time with the company. You can customize this for each employee.

By covering all aspects of time tracking — from time worked to PTO — you can confidently use Buddy Punch to run accurate payroll, which we cover next.

Built-in payroll

You can either use Buddy Punch’s built-in payroll service, or integrate Buddy Punch with your current provider (in case you don’t want to switch payroll processes just yet, but still want a better way to track time to be paid out).

Buddy Punch payroll

graphical user interface

Buddy Punch offers hassle-free payroll software built-in with its time tracking tools. As we’ve already discussed, combining your timesheet and payroll applications into one has many benefits and ultimately saves you valuable time and money.

As a refresher, here’s how it works:

First, you can access your payroll information through the Buddy Punch dashboard, where you can review all relevant information (including time worked and hourly rates broken down by each employee) and make any changes as necessary (e.g., reimbursing an employee for a work trip or fixing someone’s time clock error).

Then, when you’re ready to file just hit the “Submit” button and let Buddy Punch handle sending out direct deposits and paystubs, along with filing your state and federal taxes.

Pay breakdown.

Your employees (everyone from full-time members to independent contractors) can log into their Buddy Punch and:

  • Edit/update their bank account information for direct deposit
  • See their pay stub, and see how much they made over the pay period

But we know that changing how you run payroll is a big step — and you may just want to use Buddy Punch’s efficient and accurate time tracking method at first, and keep your current payroll process in place.

If that’s the case, keep reading to learn how you can easily integrate Buddy Punch with 3rd party tools or export payroll reports on demand.

Payroll integrations

Payroll integrations help you share data between multiple platforms while reducing the risk of keystroke errors.

We offer integration support with most popular software, which includes QuickBooks Online, QuickBooks Desktop, Paychex, SurePayroll, ADP Workforce Now, Paylocity, Workday, Gusto, iSolved, Wagepoint, Justworks, Payment Evolution, and more.

Payroll reports

Timesheet spreadsheet.

If you’re not using an integration, you can export your team’s payroll reports. This gives you all the employee timesheet info you need to run payroll in an on-demand, shareable report.  

See all of Buddy Punch’s features

View a complete list of all of our features here, which includes:

Buddy Punch reviews  

At the time of this writing, Buddy Punch boasts a 4.8 star rating on the popular review site Capterra, with 1,025 reviews. Below are several reviews that showcase Buddy Punch’s ease of use and excellent customer service:

“Most folks pick up on it right away. The system is intuitive and those who do have difficulty only need a quick tutorial and they are good to go.”

“Minimal training for end users (employees or managers). The back end (admin) features are just as simple and intuitive. We wanted a product that was simple to use, cost friendly and allowed us to customize — all of these areas were met. Very impressed!”

“The area I am most impressed with is with their support — they respond quickly, accurately and offer real solutions.”

“We signed up for the trial period, and our employees were impressed immediately. They were able to start immediately with zero training or assistance, which was a priority for us. The system is also very easy to use from an administrator end.”

“The team is responsive, and eager to assist. Any questions we’ve had, whether using the free trial, or after we signed up as a customer, have been answered quickly.”

“Their team is knowledgeable about my organization and the way that we use the platform — I have received many helpful suggestions to how we can best leverage the Buddy Punch platform in our sometimes complicated organizational structure. We have had very few issues, but have always received immediate resolutions when anything has come up.”

“The software is straightforward and well-run, and was easily understood by our team of 55+ non-technical staff of all ages.”

Stay on top of time, attendance, PTO, and overtime in real-time.

2. Gusto

Gusto is one of the best options for payroll and timekeeping on the market, being one of the highest-rated services on this list with a large number of reviews. People trust Gusto for a reason, and it is absolutely something to consider for your needs. 

Gusto has many features that you should consider, such as their automatic payroll that also automatically considers taxes as well as files the tax forms necessary every time you run payroll. 

Gusto also has many HR tools that will absolutely serve you well, and their project tracking feature makes sure that everything you need is in one place — it’s all a promise to your business to make sure that it will be a great option no matter what you are. 

Key features

Gusto has an overall rating of 4.6 out of 5 stars on Capterra across 4,015 reviews. Here’s what customers like about the platform:

“As a startup business executive, Gusto has been excellent in simplifying the payroll and HR processes. It has made payroll effortless, handling taxes, benefits, and employee payments in a way that’s easy to manage.”

3. Paychex

Paychex is a great option for any kind of business looking for HR tools that are simple but effective in execution, as Paychex offers a kind of software that is built to make every part of your job easier. 

A great example is their payroll center as well as their visual scheduler, making it so you don’t have to sift through hundreds of tabs and such to do the payroll and timekeeping, but instead just makes sure all of these tools are in easy to understand places that you can understand quickly and work through effectively. 

It has many features that also make sure that HR communication and understanding is happening between you and your employees, so everyone is on the same page. 

Key features

Paychex has an overall rating of 4.2 out of 5 stars on Capterra across 1,668 reviews. Here’s what customers like about the platform:

“It does everything we need for the organization: payroll, time clocks, tracking, coding time, HR benefits, vacation and sick time, organizational forms, etc. We came from another system that was very clunky and difficult to use, so the simplicity of Paychex was a breath of fresh air.”

4. Paylocity

Paylocity is a great option if you need a tool that focuses on the payroll aspect of business — it has other useful HR tools, but Paylocity’s multiple features catered towards payroll make it a powerful tool for making sure that your expenses are in line no matter what kind of business you are. 

Their customizable payroll is the biggest part of this, where you can run payroll as many times as you need in any kind of way you want with this software, and it includes expense management to make sure you know where money is going and when. 

Because of this, Paylocity may also be a good option if you have complex payroll needs, as Paylocity will be able to provide. 

Key features

Paylocity has an overall rating of 4.3 out of 5 stars on Capterra across 902 reviews. Here’s what customers like about the platform:

“Very user-friendly software and multifunctional to use for so much more than just timekeeping and payroll services. It has a multitude of HR functions that not only engage employees but keep everything in one place, making it easier and more convenient for both management and employees.”

5. ADP

ADP is a great option if you are looking for a feature-heavy option that will be able to accommodate your every need — or if you already use other ADP products as these tools will integrate into each other pretty much seamlessly because of their relation. 

But ADP’s HR software Run has many different features useful for any level of business, from small start-ups to multi-company enterprises. ADP will be able to support you no matter who you are. 

Key features

ADP has an overall rating of 4.5 out of 5 stars on Capterra across 784 reviews. Here’s what customers like about the platform:

“Starting my own non-profit, I was looking for ease of use to run payroll and submit taxes. There is so much to figure out when starting up, and taxes and payroll seemed overwhelming to me. However, Run ADP has made this all a 5-minute part of my month. And, I have no stress that I am in compliance.”

6. BambooHR

BambooHR is a great option for those who need these HR tools all in one place that will keep these tools easy to understand and easy to use. 

One great example of this focus on ease of use is the fact that their time tracking and their project tracking features are rolled into one feature that makes it so you are always going to keep proper track of the work that’s getting done, and making sure that progress is getting done at every step of the way. 

All of BambooHR’s tools are made like this to make sure that you can get the work done, it is absolutely something to check out if this description sounds attractive for your workflow. 

Key features

BambooHR has an overall rating of 4.6 out of 5 stars on Capterra across 2,964 reviews. Here’s what customers like about the platform:

“BambooHR has been a huge upgrade to our HR processes here, which were previously paper-based. Our onboarding process is so much smoother due to sending documents for review and signing in advance, having more transparency of personnel files where possible, and seamless tracking of sick, vacation, and bereavement time.”

7. Justworks

Justworks is an option that is built specifically to provide simple HR tools to small businesses, so it’s great if that is exactly what you are and what you need. 

Many of their features are made to be accessible and quick, so you can focus more on getting your other work done but still make sure that you can get people paid on time and properly, as well as know what that time is being spent on to keep your projects neat and tidy. 

Key features

Justworks has an overall rating of 4.6 out of 5 stars on Capterra across 730 reviews. Here’s what customers like about the platform:

“I like the timekeeping and PTO usage. I currently use it and have not had any issues. I like a clean and neat web page and love how easy to follow and how informative it is. Navigation is so easy, and requesting time or calculating hours is a breeze. I know my time and pay and PTO and have zero issues!”

8. QuickBooks

QuickBooks Time is a great option if you need something that can integrate well with other tools pretty much seamlessly, as QuickBooks is a largely well-known company that most other software will be able to easily work with any other tools you may be using. 

Because of this, QuickBooks keeps the feature load simple so that the features can be flexible for your needs, so if you want something that reflects that simple yet flexible feature load, then this will be great for your business. 

Key features

Quickbooks has an overall rating of 4.7 out of 5 stars on Capterra across 6952 reviews. Here’s what customers like about the platform:

“What I like most about QuickBooks Time is its ease of use and flexibility in tracking employee hours. The mobile app is a great feature, allowing workers to clock in and out remotely, which is especially helpful for those in the field. The GPS tracking feature equals accuracy, and integration with payroll makes processing timesheets simple and efficient.”

9. Rippling

Rippling is a great option if you need software that has many different useful features that can be customized for your needs, as Rippling offers so many HR features that it makes the software useful for anyone at any level of business. 

Something interesting about Rippling is their specific features made for safety and security, like the identity and access management features, which allow you to control who can access certain things and see where and how they’re doing so. It’s definitely something to look into, especially if you have data or hacking concerns. 

Key features

Rippling has an overall rating of 4.9 out of 5 stars on Capterra across 3,133 reviews. Here’s what customers like about the platform:

“Rippling offers a very convenient way to manage all our people ops processes in one centralized platform. It streamlines everything from accessing paystubs and handling PTO requests to managing benefits, making it easy to keep track of important employee information and tasks.”

10. Hubstaff

Hubstaff is a great option for those who work remotely, as many of its features are more tailored for time and productivity tracking for remote needs. 

Hubstaff has everything that you would need from payroll and timekeeping software, but with some interesting productivity features that allow you to keep track of what your employees are doing during their work hours so that you can make sure they’re doing the work they need to do and are getting paid appropriately for that work.

Other features such as project cost tracking really allow you to make sure you know where your money is going. 

Key features

Hubstaff has an overall rating of 4.6 out of 5 stars on Capterra across 1,504 reviews. Here’s what customers like about the platform:

“Hubstaff made clocking in super easy with its automatic time tracking so I didn’t have to worry about forgetting to log my hours. The interface is simple and lets me see exactly where my time is going each day. It also tracks breaks, which helps with transparency and staying organized. The mobile app was convenient for clocking in when I wasn’t at my desk.”

11. FactoHR

FactoHR is a great option for those who need a tool that can provide plenty of features in every aspect for HR. It has almost everything you could need for your business, and it makes sure with its flexible rule engine that you can do anything that you could ever need to do within its payroll services. 

This can also be reflected in the many different tools you would be given for managing your employees, pretty much any situation that you need a tool to help manage is here in FactoHR. 

FactoHR is unique in this list with its lower amount of ratings, but also in that it is the only software on this list with a perfect 5 score. So even if it may not be the most popular tool, the people who use it clearly love it, and if that’s something you’re willing to trust, then factoHR may be revolutionary for you and your business. 

Key features

FactoHR has an overall rating of 5 out of 5 stars on Capterra across 8 reviews. Here’s what customers like about the platform:

“HR and payroll can be easily managed using factoHR. The system can be customized as per requirements. Payslips can be easily generated for the workforce. Leaves applied by employees can be approved and tracked. And other HR functions can be easily organized with the software.”

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