12 Best Punch Clock Apps (2024)

ByEric Czerwonka Last UpdatedMarch 1, 2024

8 Best Punch Clock Apps (In-Depth Look)

In this post, we look at the best punch clocks that you and your employees can use to clock in and out for work.

We look at both punch clock apps, and more traditional, physical time clocks.

12 Best Punch Clocks (Apps, Software, and Manual Punch Clocks)

Buddy Punch
Connecteam
OnTheClock
Clockify
Sling
ClockIt
Hubstaff
QuickBooks Time
Amano Time Clocks
Pyramid Time Systems
Acroprint Time Clocks
Lathem Time Clocks

Finding the Best Punch Clocks for Your Business

Choosing a Punch Clock App

When choosing a punch clock app, you should ensure that:

Employees can easily punch in and out through the device of their choice (e.g., via any phone, tablet, or computer).
There are a plethora of features that help increase employee accountability (e.g., by restricting employee punch in to designated locations, having employees take a photo each time they punch in and out, and so on).
There are a plethora of features that save time and increase the accuracy of payroll (e.g., by having the software automatically calculate employee hours, rather than doing so via a manual process that’s susceptible to human error and miscalculations).
The app is easy to use, even for folks who aren’t technically savvy (which reduces the time that business owners and managers need to spend on training).
There’s an exceptional level of customer service (you receive a helpful response in minutes, rather than having to wait for several hours).

In this article, we’ll start by discussing how Buddy Punch (our punch clock app) excels in the above areas.

Finding a Traditional Punch Clock

A traditional punch clock machine or system usually involves your employees taking their timesheet or time card and inserting it into a machine to mark when they started their shift, and then again for any breaks and when they end their shift.

The system can then store that data internally or transmit it into a shared cloud-based database where you can access their time cards. Often, physical time cards are kept for a written record.

If this is the kind of punch clock, you’re looking for, then consider these factors.

Power and battery life: Will your punch clock be plugged in or set up at your job location? And if so, will it run off of battery or electricity? Would it be beneficial for you to have a battery backup in case your power goes out, that way your team can still punch out for their shift?

Do you need a mobile punch clock? For example, we wrote a post on portable time clocks for construction sites. If you want a portable punch clock, make sure its durable, weather-resistant, has a good battery life, and can store data internally (in case it’s not connected to the WiFi).

Do you need a biometric time clock? Biometric time clocks are when your employees need to use a biologically unique identifier to clock in and out, such as fingerprints, eye scans, or a photo of their face. These advanced clock-in features help make sure the right person is tracking their time worked, preventing things like buddy punching (where someone clocks in for someone else).

Next, let’s look at the best punch clocks available, starting punch clocks apps and software.

1. Buddy Punch

Brief Overview: How Our Punch Clock App Works

In this section, we briefly cover how our punch clock app works. Later, we discuss Buddy Punch’s accountability and payroll related features in detail.

1. Employees can easily punch in and out (through an intuitive interface) via phone, tablet, or computer.

Buddy Punch.

2. As employees punch in and out, Buddy Punch automatically tracks and calculates their regular hours, time off, overtime, and more. You can filter by the relevant payroll period and download this information as a PDF or Excel report. This saves valuable time and helps avoid manual errors and miscalculations.

Payroll spreadsheet.

Increase Employee Accountability

Up next, we’ll discuss Buddy Punch’s features that increase employee accountability, prevent time theft, and boost your bottom line.

Note: Please feel free to reach out to us with any questions via live chat. You can also learn more about Buddy Punch via a free trial or one-on-one demo call.

Geofencing

Set geofence coordinates.

When Geofencing is active, employee punches are restricted to a specific location. To designate a geofence, simply:

Enter an address (e.g., 123 Canal Street)
Select a radius (e.g., 300 feet)

Now, employees who attempt to punch in outside this designated geofence will receive an error message and be asked to try again within 300 feet of 123 Canal Street.

Geofence error message.

Note that you’re not just limited to one geofence. If, for example, you have multiple business locations from which employees punch in and out from, then you can set up multiple geofences.

IP Address Locking

IP address lock or unlock.

If employees all use a central Wi-Fi network at work, then with IP Address Locking, you can require employees to punch in and out only from said network.

Moreover, you can use this feature to designate a particular device, such as a central desktop computer or tablet, as the only access point for punching in and out.

Photos on Punch

Photos on punch.

The Photos on Punch feature is particularly useful for preventing buddy punching.

When active, each time an employee punches in or out, they’re required to take a photo of themselves.

Administrators can quickly scan through the photos via our dashboard, and verify the validity of the punches.

Photos in payroll spreadsheet.

Additional Features to Increase Employee Accountability

Buddy Punch’s additional features that restrict employee punches and increase accountability include, but aren’t limited to Facial Recognition Punching, Punch Limiting Rules, PIN Punching, and GPS Tracking.

Note: If you feel that our punch clock software meets your needs, sign up for a free trial and/or request a one-on-one demo call.

Save Time and Increase the Accuracy of Payroll

Many businesses turn to punch clock software because they’re fed up with manual calculations and tediously entering employee hours into Excel (or other traditional payroll methods)

Buddy Punch offers a plethora of features that make the payroll process faster, more efficient, and more accurate.

Buddy Punch Payroll

One of the major benefits of using a punch clock software is that you can (with the right one) have an all-in-one system. This means you can collect timesheets, write schedules, manage paid time off, and run payroll all from one dashboard.

This is something you can do with Buddy Punch, and it saves you time and money because you don’t need to juggle multiple platforms or logins.

When it’s time to run payroll, simply go to your Dashboard and click on “Payroll.” Then import the time period you want to pay out.

You can review everyone’s time reported, and see their pay rate. You can see if there’s any overtime being paid out. You can make last minute edits, such as adding additional earnings, like a bonus, commissions, etc.

Then you just run payroll. Your team can receive their pay either through direct deposit or check.

Here are some other benefits of using Buddy Punch payroll:

You can set up Auto-Payroll.
Buddy Punch handles all taxes.
Your employees get a self-service login.

Payroll Reports on Demand

Payroll spreadsheet.

Again, as employees punch in and out, Buddy Punch automatically tracks and calculates their regular hours, time off, overtime, and more. You can filter by the relevant payroll period and download this information as a PDF or Excel report. This saves valuable time and helps avoid manual errors and miscalculations.

Payroll Provider Integrations

Payroll software integrations.

Increase payroll efficiency by integrating Buddy Punch with:

QuickBooks Online (See setup instructions.)
QuickBooks Desktop (See setup instructions.)
Paychex (See setup instructions.)
SurePayroll (See setup instructions.)
ADP Workforce Now (See setup instructions.)
Paylocity (See setup instructions.)
Workday (See setup instructions.)
Gusto (See setup instructions.)
iSolved (See setup instructions.)
Wagepoint (See setup instructions.)
Justworks (See setup instructions.)
Payment Evolution (See setup instructions.)
And more

If you’d like to learn more about the benefits of setting up a payroll provider integration, click here. In short, this lets you avoid manual data entry work and ensures greater accuracy of work hours.

Buddy Punch Payroll

Auto payroll feature.

With Buddy Punch Payroll, you can handle all your payroll needs in one central place, rather than using 2 different systems (one for payroll and the other for time tracking), which is inefficient.

In brief, here’s how it works:

Step 1: Open Buddy Punch’s payroll dashboard and review payroll-related information, such as employee hours, pay rates, time off, employees’ preferred payment method, gross and net pay, and more.

Payroll summary dashboard.

Step 2: Next, click the “Submit Payroll” button and let us do the rest. Specifically, we’ll help with automatic payroll tax filings and payments, direct deposits to employees, and much more.

Time Off Tracking

PTO summary dashboard.

Buddy Punch offers several different time off tracking features. For example:

Employees can submit time off requests with ease, in just a couple of clicks.
Time off requests can optionally be sent to an administrator, who can then approve or deny them within the app.
All paid and unpaid time off hours are automatically calculated, and a downloadable report is available via Excel or PDF.

Accruals

Customize accrual rules.

With Buddy Punch, you can easily set up (and edit) time off accrual rules. See this video and/or help doc article for more information on this feature.

Complete List of Buddy Punch’s Features

Check out a complete list of all of Buddy Punch’s features, some of which we haven’t covered in this article. For example:

Buddy Punch’s Online Reviews

As of this writing date, our punch clock software has 4.8 out of 5 stars on Capterra (based on over 900 reviews).

Below, we include several reviews that illustrate Buddy Punch’s ease of use and excellent customer support. (Click here to explore all of Buddy Punch’s reviews on Capterra.)

“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.”
Click here to read the full review.

“The area I am most impressed with is with their support — they respond quickly, accurately and offer real solutions.”
Click here to read the full review.

“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.”
Click here to read the full review.

“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”.
Click here to read the full review.

“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!”
Click here to read the full review.

“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.”
Click here to read the full review.

“The software is straightforward and well-run, and was easily understood by our team of 55+ non-technical staff of all ages.”
Click here to read the full review.

Click here to see the full list of Buddy Punch’s Capterra reviews.

Try Buddy Punch for Free and/or Request a 1-on-1 Demo Call

To learn more about Buddy Punch:

2. Connecteam

Connecteam offers a wide number of features and functionalities, such as:

It’s a great punch clock app. As of this writing date, Connecteam has over 300 reviews and 4.8 out of 5 stars on Capterra.

“I have several old-school folks on my team. I tend to get a lot of push back when I introduce a new form of technology. We don’t have a central meeting location therefore I can’t have one time clock for everyone to punch. This app works great.”
Click here to read the full review.

3. OnTheClock

OnTheClock’s time and attendance tracking tool offers a wide number of features and functionalities, such as:

It’s a great time punch clock app. As of the writing date, it has over 530 reviews and 4.7 out of 5 stars on Capterra.

“Overall it was exactly what I needed. The tools are very simple and easy to manage. The reporting is direct and to the point.”
Click here to read the full review.

4. Clockify

Clockify offers a wide number of features and functionalities, such as:

It’s one of the best time punch clock apps. As of this writing date, Clockify has over 4700 reviews and 4.7 out of 5 stars on Capterra.

“We can easily log in, the software always tracks what kind of task we spend time on. We can also create task names and see where we are at in its realization and time we spent on it. It can also be used in groups, as users can be linked in teams. It’s such a powerful tool at the end of day, as it allows us to see how to be more efficient in terms of time/task.”
Click here to read the full review.

5. Sling

Sling offers a wide number of features and functionalities, such as:

It’s a great employee punch clock app. As of the writing date, Sling has over 140 reviews and 4.6 out of 5 stars on Capterra.

“Sling has made tracking hours a lot easier and has helped the payroll department immensely.”
Click here to read the full review.

6. ClockIt

ClockIt offers a wide number of features and functionalities, such as:

It’s a great employee time punch clock app. As of the writing date, ClockIt has over 80 reviews and 4.4 out of 5 stars on Capterra.

“When we started as a small office, we needed a simple solution to keep track of employee time. ClockIt has made employee time keeping easy.”
Click here to read the full review.

7. Hubstaff

Hubstaff offers a wide number of features and functionalities, such as:

It’s a great punch clock software. As of this writing date, Hubstaff has over 1450 reviews and 4.6 out of 5 stars on Capterra.

“It allows us to easily calculate the hours worked by our remote team whilst ensuring the team is focused and easily shows us how much is owed at the end of the month.”
Click here to read the full review.

8. QuickBooks Time

QuickBooks Time (formerly TSheets) offers a wide number of features and functionalities, such as:

It’s a great employee punch clock software. As of this writing date, it has over 6600 reviews and 4.7 out of 5 stars on Capterra.

“We used to track our time on a spreadsheet that was tedious and time consuming, and a bear for our manager to compile and log at the end of each pay period. This saves everyone time and energy, and also allows us all to be more accurate logging our time because it is easier, and we won’t put it off until the end of the week.”
Click here to read all reviews.

9. Amano Time Clocks

Now we’re looking at more traditional time clocks, starting with the Amano.

Amano is an established time clock company, that specializes in providing larger businesses with traditional punch clocks.

They have several different types of time clocks, including:

10. Pyramid Time Systems

Pyramid Systems sells all types of time clocks and time clock accessories, including software based time clocks and manual punch clocks.

For their manual punch clocks, they have options like:

11. Acroprint Punch Card Time Clocks

Acroprint has 4 punch card time clocks you can choose from.

ATR480 Totalizing Time Clock Bundle: This top-loading, automatic print time clocks comes with 200 time cards, 2 ink ribons, and 4 case keys.
ES700 Multi-function Time Recorder: This time recorder works for managing time and attendance, helps figure out job costings, and is designed for easy use (no worrying about not inserting a punch card correctly).
The M150 Automatic Printing Time Clock: This is a heavy-duty, reliable time clocks that comes with 4 different time record configurations.
ES 900 Advanced 3-in-1: This time recorder comes with 300 available print configurations, 13 preset messages, and you can choose from 6 different languages.

12. Lathem Time Clocks

Lathem is a well-established time tracking company that offers both software and traditional punch clocks.

Here are some of their options to consider.

7500E Calculating Employee Atomic Clock. With this time clock, you can calculate time in actual or rounded time. It can handle up to 100 active employees, you can customize automatic break dedication, choose either 12-hour or 24-hour time, and you get unlimited punches per day.
2100HD Heavy Duty Thermal Print Time Clock: This thermal print time clock eliminates the need for time clock ribbons (saving you money and hassle on re-ordering accessories). Plus, this time clock has a perpetual calendar that keeps records even during things like Leap Year or when the power goes out. Finally, it’s encased in heavy-duty steel so it can withstand harsh environments.

Try Buddy Punch for Free and/or Request a 1-on-1 Demo Call

To learn more about Buddy Punch:

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Eric Czerwonka

About the author

As a prior multiple-location business owner, Eric knows all about time collection, scheduling, and everything in-between. From best practices, stories, and business experience, he’ll keep you up to date on the latest trends.