The 7 Best Employee Scheduling and Time Tracking Software

Employee scheduling and time tracking software is a digital tool that helps businesses plan employee work shifts, track hours worked, and manage attendance. Designed to improve team coordination, it allows managers and employees to view schedules, log time worked, request changes, and communicate availability — all from a centralized platform.

Drawing on our years of experience managing employees, we’ve selected seven tools that simplify the scheduling and time tracking process for small business owners. The best employee scheduling and time tracking software below were selected because of the features that they include, how flexible they are for addressing a variety of needs, and the reviews and testimonials of their users.

1. Buddy Punch – Best for small businesses

If you’re looking for an app to help you create schedules and track time for employees at your small business, Buddy Punch is our top pick. It’s a combined employee scheduling and time tracking app that’s user-friendly, has high customer satisfaction ratings, and helps you create schedules quickly and track time easily.

Shift scheduling features

Buddy Punch’s scheduling tool displays all of your employees in one column and the days you’re creating a schedule for in subsequent columns. To create a shift, simply click in an open area, specify the shift’s start and end times, and add any employees you want to work that shift.

Repeat this for all of the days your schedule covers, then publish your schedule. Your employees will receive notifications that the schedule is live, and they can view their schedule at any time in the Buddy Punch app, which is available on the web and has mobile apps for both iOS and Android devices.

If your scheduling is simple, that’s all you’ll ever need to do. But if your scheduling is more complex, Buddy Punch also has lots of advanced features, too.

Repeating shifts

Buddy Punch lets you use automation to make scheduling easier. Specifically, you can set up repeating shifts rather than re-creating schedules from scratch each time.

For example: Linda’s shift will repeat every weekday from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., Bob’s shift will repeat once a week on Monday from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., Jordan’s shift will repeat on the first Tuesday of each month from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., and so on.

This means at the start of a new week, a good chunk of your schedule is already written for you.

Employee availability

Your employees can specify their availability in Buddy Punch. Then, times when employees can’t be scheduled show up on your calendar view, making sure that you never schedule employees when they’re unavailable. 

Plus, if you try to schedule an employee when they’re unavailable, the system will give you an error message and stop you from publishing the schedule.

Shift trade and cover requests

If an employee can’t make a shift they’re scheduled to work, Buddy Punch makes it easy for for them to initiate a trade or cover with another employee. They can make a request in the system and send it to one or more employees. If someone accepts the trade/cover, it can be sent to an admin or manager for approval. If it’s approved, the schedule changes automatically.

Locations

If you have multiple locations that you create schedules for, Buddy Punch makes that easier, too. You can filter your schedule by location to build schedules per location individually, and you can assign locations to shifts so employees know not only when they’re working but also where. 

Different locations can also be assigned different colors on the schedule so you can quickly see where everyone will be working at a glance.

Departments

If you have team members working in different roles — such as host and server — you can create those different roles as departments in Buddy Punch. After that, you can assign the appropriate department to shifts so employees know when they’re working, where they’re working, and what position they’ve been assigned.

Features to track work hours

In addition to employee scheduling, Buddy Punch is also a feature-rich time tracking tool. Employees can clock in and out from anywhere using Buddy Punch’s web and mobile apps (available for Android and iOS devices). You can also set up Buddy Punch on a central computer or tablet to create a time clock kiosk that all employees can clock into and out of.

As far as time tracking goes, Buddy Punch has all of the features you might need.

Basic time tracking features

With Buddy Punch, your employees clock in and out on a computer, mobile phone, or tablet. That data is automatically compiled into timesheets for you with regular hours, overtime hours, and pay automatically calculated.

With overtime tracking, you can set up your specific overtime policies in the system, and Buddy Punch will automatically identify overtime hours for you.

You can also set up break tracking to ensure employees take breaks when they’re required to by law, and you can automatically remove unpaid breaks from employees’ timesheets so they don’t have to worry about clocking out and back in for lunch, which reduces the likelihood of missed punches.

If you’d like, you can set it up so an admin or manager has to approve employees’ timesheets before you run payroll to ensure that all time cards are accurate before you pay employees. And timesheets can be easily edited when needed by an admin or manager, or you can let employees submit edit requests in the system that you then review and approve/deny.

Finally, Buddy Punch also has PTO tracking. You can set up PTO accrual rules, and the system will automatically calculate earned time-off hours for you. Employees can see how much time off they have in Buddy Punch and submit time off requests that are sent to managers for approval. Approved time off is also automatically added to schedules and timesheets.

Features to control labor costs

Buddy Punch has a number of optional features you can turn on that help you reduce labor costs by preventing both time theft and the accrual of unexpected hours:

• GPS tracking: Log employees’ locations when they clock in and out to make sure they were on-site, or use real-time location tracking to follow their movements across the entire workday.
• Photo clock-ins: Have employees take a picture of themselves when clocking in and out. You can review those photos on their timecards to make sure no one was buddy punching.
• Geofencing: Prevent off-site punching by setting up location-based radiuses around your job sites that block punches when employees aren’t within the specified area.
• IP address locking: Prevent off-site punching by requiring employees to be on your office Wi-Fi in order to clock in and out.
• Punch limiting: Prevent employees from clocking in before they’re scheduled to work.
• Automatic clock-outs: Automatically clock employees out at the end of their shifts.
• Overtime alerts: Get an email or push notification when an employee is nearing overtime hours so you can shift their schedule around to avoid having to pay overtime rates.

Features to expedite payroll

Because Buddy Punch automatically calculates hours, overtime, and pay for you, running payroll is much faster and more accurate than before. When it’s time to run payroll, Buddy Punch has three options. 

You can use Buddy Punch as your payroll provider. This means you don’t need separate software for writing your schedule, tracking time worked, and issuing payroll. You can do it all from Buddy Punch.

If you already have a payroll provider, you can export an Excel, CSV, or PDF file with each employee’s regular hours, time off, overtime, and more. Buddy Punch offers a number of reports that are specifically formatted for different payroll providers.

If you don’t want to bother with downloading and uploading reports, you can use one of Buddy Punch’s payroll integrations. Set up integrations with QuickBooks, Workday, Paychex, and more to send your time data to payroll in seconds.

Customer reviews

Buddy Punch has an overall score of 4.8 out of 5 stars on Capterra across more than 1,000 customer reviews. Here’s what customers love about it:

“The time tracking part of the app is easy to use and was integrated fairly rapidly for staff. I especially like the report system which includes detailed reports breaking down time to the minute for full transparency. Time card approvals, tracking PTO, and scheduling are all clear and easy to do. This system has made payroll so much easier overall.”

Pricing

Buddy Punch’s plans that include its employee scheduling app start at $5.99/user per month plus a $19/month base fee that covers the cost of all admin users.

2. When I Work – Best for team messaging

When I Work’s time tracking and employee scheduling software allows users to easily create schedules, track time, and message team members on the same platform. In addition to scheduling solutions like shift trading and schedule sharing, it also offers labor forecasting to improve budgeting. 

Where this app really shines is allowing your team to communicate. It facilitates group chats, one-on-one, and whole-team messaging, all while preserving privacy by keeping your phone numbers hidden. The messaging system also includes read receipts, meaning you’ll always know who’s received the necessary information and who still needs to be brought up to speed.

Key features

• Employee scheduling: When I Work drastically simplifies scheduling with tools like auto scheduling, task assignment, schedule templates, and locations.
• Time tracking: When I Work ensures accurate time tracking with GPS tracking for remote workers, labor cost management, absenteeism monitoring, timesheet editing, and more.
• Team communication: When I Work lets you bring team messaging under one private and secure roof, allowing you to improve team member collaboration through options such as one-on-one communication, broadcast messaging, group messaging, and notifications.
• Integrations: When I Work has many third-party integrations — from payroll, to point of sale, to on-demand pay — working perfectly with payroll software like Gusto, Square, ADP, and more.

Customer reviews

When I Work has an overall rating of 4.5 out of 5 stars on Capterra. Here’s what customers like about its employee scheduling software:

“I find that When I Work is a seamless way to schedule shifts. There are a lot of great features to assist with scheduling numerous part-time workers. I also like that I can sync my shifts with my digital calendar.”

Pricing

When I Work’s time tracking and employee scheduling software starts at $2.50/user per month.

3. Connecteam – Best for workforce management

Connecteam includes employee scheduling, time tracking, task management, and real-time reporting features. It also provides ways for people to connect within and between departments. Finally, its HR hub includes ways to manage documentation, time off, rewards, and training. 

Of our top picks, this one has the most extensive options specifically designed for human resources departments. It facilitates the onboarding process by allowing you to share training, important documents, and updates, ensuring employees can hit the ground running when they arrive for their first shift.

It also lets you track employee documentation, including aspects like whether their certifications are getting ready to expire. It even lets you make custom rewards that are automatically delivered to employees who hit important milestones.

Key features

• Time tracking: Connecteam lets you accurately track employee work hours and submit timesheets for payroll in a click. You can also monitor attendance in real-time with notifications and enhanced dashboard visibility. 
• Employee scheduling: Connecteam makes it easy to optimize your scheduling process. You can view employee availability, qualifications, and preferences while you’re setting up schedules. Then, quickly build them with templates and duplicates, or let auto-scheduling take control. 
• Task management: Connecteam makes it easy to track employee task completion from your mobile device. You can set up one-time tasks with due dates or establish recurring tasks in order to automate task creation and assigning. 
• Forms and checklists: Connecteam has a fairly unique feature with its digital forms, which allow you to create forms and checklists for employees to fill out. These provide digestible breakdowns of tasks for team members to complete in order to boost their productivity.

Customer reviews

Connecteam has an overall rating of 4.7 out of 5 stars on Capterra. Here’s what customers like about its scheduling and time tracking software:

“Connecteam helps me validate the work that each employee does without having to be next to that person. We can communicate as a more united team in the work chat and be able to keep an improved order of the tasks that are pending to be done. This software helps me maintain perfect order and a production with better results.”

Pricing

Connecteam has a free plan for up to 10 users that includes all of its workforce management features: time tracking, scheduling, and HR. Its paid plans start at $29/hub/month.

4. 7shifts – Best for restaurant team management

Designed for restaurants, 7shifts is more than just scheduling and time tracking software: it also addresses industry-specific pain points like tip pooling and payouts. The resources section of its site offers multiple ways for people to educate themselves on the industry, including free online courses, videos, and podcasts. 

In addition to being a boon to restaurants, 7shifts offers robust tools for hiring and recruiting fresh talent. It lets you post jobs online, get notified when you receive new applications, and track candidates by application status. 

Once you’ve selected a candidate, you can quickly add them to the schedule and save the applications of runner-ups for future job openings.

Key features

• Employee scheduling: Drag and drop to create work schedules in minutes, allow staff to trade shifts and submit their availability, and make adjustments either on desktop or the mobile app.
• Time tracking: Enforce attendance with geofencing to ensure employees are present at your restaurant. Make use of overtime and break alerts to control labor costs and ensure compliance.
• Tip management: Automate tip calculations and distribution to your staff members. You can share tips within or between teams and set unlimited tip rules.
• Turnover reduction: Use 7Shifts to call for shift feedback to monitor engagement or any issues noticed by staff while on shift.
• Task management: Create daily, weekly, or one-time tasks based on shifts. Establish task timeframes, ask for proof of completion, and duplicate tasks automatically.
• Manager log book: Document and share shift notes and assign tasks with ease. Log weather, staff wins and losses, and maintenance records to optimize based on operating data.

Customer reviews

7shifts has an overall rating of 4.7 out of 5 stars on Capterra. Here’s what customers like about its employee scheduling app:

“From the ease of publishing weekly schedules, to employees being responsible for covering their own shifts when needed, to employees scheduling their own time off: it’s a game changer. No more manual processes.”

Pricing

7shifts has a free plan that can be used for a single location and up to 20 employees. Paid plans for its time tracking and employee scheduling app start at $29.99/location per month.

5. DeskTime – Best for knowledge workers

With automatic time tracking, DeskTime eliminates the need for manual entries. It captures start and end times, app usage, and even idle time with precision. This creates transparency across the board and supports better decision-making for both team leads and HR professionals.

One unique feature of DeskTime is its ability to integrate scheduling with real-time productivity data. Managers can plan shifts or working hours while also seeing how employees spend their time, helping them identify overworked staff, detect bottlenecks, or spot inefficiencies.

DeskTime is especially well-suited for remote teams, hybrid offices, and project-based companies like agencies, IT firms, or creative studios. Its automatic tracking and detailed reports give managers the insight they need without constant check-ins.

Key features

• Time tracking: Make use of both automatic and manual time tracking to get a comprehensive view of how time is spent while employees are on the clock.
• Performance evaluation: Track URLs and apps, productivity, projects, and even document titles to ensure everyone’s working on their assignments.
• Reporting: Understand how your team’s performance ebbs and flows over time, and export the data to create physical records that you can use to create benchmarks and exceed in the future.
• Employee scheduling: Streamline your team management through the use of DeskTime’s features to organize work hours and oversee staff absences. Make use of shift scheduling and an absence calendar to exert greater control over employee attendance.

Customer reviews

Desktime has a score of 4.5/5 on Capterra. Here’s what customers like about its team management app:

“Attendance and productivity are typically managed by managers along with HR, but processes are usually manual and take a lot of time. This allowed management and HR to have a tool to monitor and inspect productivity and attendance more effectively.”

Pricing

DeskTime’s time tracking and employee scheduling software starts at $9.17/user per month. A free plan is also available for one user only, making it a good option for freelancers.

6. Deputy – Best for retail and hospitality businesses

Deputy is a great employee scheduling app for retail and hospitality businesses for several reasons. First, it’s one of the few time tracking apps that offers integrations with point-of-sale (POS) systems like Clover, Square, and Revel. This makes it easy to create a time clock kiosk for your team: you just use your existing POS for employees to clock in and out.

Deputy also offers a robust employee scheduling tool that’s perfect for businesses with unpredictable customer volumes. Its demand scheduling feature looks at historical sales volumes to let you know exactly how many employees you need on the schedule at different times of the day and days of the week, helping you control labor costs while ensuring proper coverage.

As far as its time tracking features, Deputy is pretty basic, but it has everything you’ll need for a single shop or restaurant. It will automatically identify overtime hours and calculate overtime pay for you, remove unpaid breaks from employees timesheets, and give you an at-a-glance view of who’s working, who’s on break, and who’s running late at any given moment.

Key features

• Labor forecasting: Lower labor costs and optimize schedule coverage. Identify trends relating to labor and demand. View business performance on a day-to-day basis or over a period of time.
• Labor compliance: Streamline compliance with wage and labor laws. Easily manage fair workweek rules and create a record of compliance to ensure smooth business operations. Use Deputy’s compliance hub to remain updated on the latest labor law changes.
• Smart scheduling: Use AI to gain visibility into team efficiency. Automatically schedule your best team members at the best time with real-time sales graphs. Forecast and scale schedules based on anticipated sales.
• Meal and rest breaks: Plan breaks and coverage to maintain quality service. Schedule paid or unpaid breaks or different break types within the same shift. Flag any missed breaks.
• Leave management: Let employees track their own PTO balances and submit time off requests directly through Deputy. Allow managers to review and approve time off requests in just a few clicks. Manage different leave types, view remaining balances, and see booked time off.

Customer reviews

Deputy has an overall rating of 4.6 out of 5 stars on Capterra. Here’s what customers love about its employee scheduling app:

“I absolutely love the online time clock and schedule feature. It also helps me keep track of a large team across multiple locations. My labor has never been more accurate. This is a great product with fair pricing.”

Pricing

You can buy Deputy solely for scheduling or time tracking for $4.50/user per month or get all the tools together for $6/user per month.

7. Hubstaff – Best for blended workforces

Hubstaff makes it easy to track employee hours, manage schedules, and control labor costs no matter where or how your employees work. Whether you have people working in the field or on computers in an office or at home, Hubstaff gives you options for tracking their productivity and reducing your labor costs.

For computer-based employees, Hubstaff has features like idle detection, automatic screenshots, and URL tracking that help you identify when employees are billing time but not actually working. This can help you identify employees who are committing time theft by working on personal projects during work hours.

For field-based employees, Hubstaff has features like real-time GPS tracking and geofencing. Geofencing makes it easier to track employee hours by project: you can clock them in and out automatically when they arrive at a job site. GPS tracking can help you reduce labor costs by seeing when employees are just sitting at a job site or running errands while on the clock.

Key features

• Track employee hours: Hubstaff’s built-in time clock app makes time tracking easy for business owners. Your employees can clock in and out from any mobile device or computer, you can set and track budgets in line with your forecasting, and all client information is centralized.
• Employee timesheets: Hubstaff’s digital timesheet options make it easy to process payroll, invoice clients, and get a clear understanding of your costs. With exact time entries, billable and non-billable hours, and automated approval workflows, you can completely ditch paper timesheets.
• Reduce labor costs: With features like idle detection, automatic screenshots, URL tracking, geofencing, and location tracking, you can identify time theft no matter where your employees work. Geofencing also makes it easy to track work hours by project.
• Employee productivity reports: Hubstaff allows you to go much deeper into data than just looking at screenshots. They offer numerous detailed reports showing productivity metrics overall and by employee, labor budgets, payments, invoicing, time off, scheduling efficiency, and more. 

Customer reviews

Hubstaff is rated 4.6 out of 5 stars on Capterra. Here’s what one reviewer had to say about its employee time tracking and staff scheduling software:

“Using Hubstaff has been exceptionally easy across the board. It is an asset for our company to see project profitability, team member hours, and manage time off for a fully remote company. The customer service with Hubstaff is superb. Highly recommend the app!”

Pricing

Hubstaff’s plans that include employee time tracking, team schedules, attendance tracking, and computer productivity monitoring start at $10/seat per month. Location tracking and geofencing are available as an add-on for an additional $4/seat per month.

Choosing the right time tracking and employee scheduling app for your business

Even though we’ve drastically narrowed down your options, you may still be wondering which of these tools might be the best fit for you.

The best way to truly determine which app is going to work best for your team is to start free trials and use them to make schedules and track employee hours. Actually using the app to do the work you need it to do will provide a lot more insight than reading about it.

At the end of the day, so long as you’re open to trying the tools and pivoting if one proves too complicated or too lacking in the features you need, your perfect time tracking and scheduling software is likely on this list.