The 9 Best Time Tracking Software for Small Businesses
Let’s start simple: make a quick mental list of the types of features you’re looking for in time-tracking software. Based on what we’ve seen from our clients, we wouldn’t be surprised if your concerns included flexibility, ease of use, responsive customer support, and affordability.
These are the core functions that some time-tracking apps just can’t deliver on — especially when it comes to responsive customer support. When you run into issues or just have general questions, you’ll likely get deprioritized behind those coming from their larger customers.
Below, we’re reviewing the nine best time-tracking software for small businesses. These tools are all intuitive to use, affordable, and simple to implement — and they have great customer support when you do run into issues — making them the perfect options for small businesses.
1. Buddy Punch
Kicking off the list is our own software, Buddy Punch. There’s a very specific reason we’re including this: we created it to be easy to use for every type of small business. Buddy Punch achieves this through a mix of flexibility, reliability, and modernity.
- Flexibility: Even though there are a variety of features offered, you can keep Buddy Punch as simple as you want it to be. Team members can easily clock in and out with just a single click.
- Reliability: Buddy Punch is kept up-to-date to avoid incompatibilities with web browsers and iOS or Android changes. And we have a responsive customer support team ready to assist you via live chat any time you do run into issues.
- Modernity: Buddy Punch has an intuitive user interface, integrations with popular payroll software, and cross-platform compatibility (available on Windows, Mac, ChromeOS, and both iOS and Android phones and tablets).
Next, to demonstrate our point, we’re going to go through a few of the features that our small business customers find invaluable.
GPS location tracking
If your employees work in the field and you want to make sure they’re clocking in and out when they’re on the job site, you can use GPS tracking to log their locations when they punch. All location data appears on employee time cards, and you can review it at any time.
If you don’t want to have to review location data to make sure employees are where they’re supposed to be, you can set up geofences. These virtual radiuses surround your job sites, and if employees aren’t in them when they try to punch in/out, the system blocks the action.
Finally, for advanced location tracking, Buddy Punch has a real-time GPS tracking feature that lets you see where employees are at any time on a map and track their movements across the entire workday. This is helpful if you have employees who travel as part of their work.
Automatic breaks
If you want employees to be able to focus on their work and not have to worry about clocking in and out for every break, you can use our automatic breaks feature. It allows you to automatically deduct break times from employees’ timesheets so they can work and take breaks and only have to worry about clocking in and out once a day.
Photos on punch
If you’re worried about buddy punching or time theft at your small business, you can enable our photos on punch feature. This will take a quick picture of an employee when they punch in or punch out, enabling you to verify their identity. This simple feature can help provide a level of security and ensure that no one on your team is taking advantage of your systems.
Manager roles
In addition to admins, Buddy Punch has a managers feature that allows you to elevate an employee to manager status. This lets them approve and edit the time cards of the employees assigned under them.
Additionally, you can use this permission set to let managers do everything they need to do for their teams. They can create schedules for their team members using our drag-and-drop schedule builder, receive and review time off requests from their employees, and even let their teams request shift trades and covers.
Overtime calculations
Most modern time clock solutions come with overtime calculation, and Buddy Punch is no exception. You can choose from a dozen different overtime types, depending on your state and business, to streamline the payroll process.
Notifications
Both administrators and managers can set up notifications to get an instant update when an employee is nearing overtime, when employees clock in and clock out, when someone requests an edit to their time card, and more. This is all done without being too invasive or overwhelming for small business operations.
Likewise, your employees can configure the notification system to send them an alert on their mobile devices when their time card is edited, schedule is changed, or PTO request is approved. This means your team members can focus fully on their work while secure in the knowledge that they’ll be alerted if something important happens.
Payroll integrations
Buddy Punch integrates seamlessly with many popular payroll systems, such as ADP, Quickbooks, Paychex, and more. This allows us to become an end-to-end time clock software. Generating accurate payroll reports and staying compliant with labor laws has never been so simple and easy.
What small businesses love about Buddy Punch
We’ve only just scratched the surface of what brings small business owners to our employee time clock software. Additional features to help you save time and reduce labor costs include:
- Employee scheduling
- Flexible and affordable pricing
- Job codes/project tracking
- Time card approvals
- Multiple punch and login options
- Adding, editing, and deleting punches
- And more (see all of Buddy Punch’s features)
One more asset that makes Buddy Punch stand out to small business owners is its support. Not only do we have an extremely accessible support team, but we also have an entire hub of helpful information to help you make use of our time clock.
Customer reviews
We highly encourage small business owners to research what other people have to say about our software. Just look at our existing customer reviews on Capterra, where Buddy Punch has a rating of 4.8 out of 5 stars across more than 1,000 reviews.
Let’s do a quick dive into what small business owners (with less than 50 employees) had to say about Buddy Punch’s ease of onboarding and impact on their workforce:
“Buddy Punch is easy to use and to train employees to use. There are features we don’t even use that larger companies or ones that do their own payroll processing will find invaluable. We love the accuracy of the employee time and PTO tracking.”
“It’s really easy to use. There’s an app that can be downloaded onto an employee’s phone for ease of use for punching in/out, and it has an option for their location to be recorded so you can see on a map where they punched in and out.”
“This software is incredibly easy to use both by the administrator and by the employees. They make it easy to be compliant with federal and state laws for tracking hourly employee time and breaks. It is easy to control which employees can change their own check-ins/check-outs, and it is incredibly easy to make changes when needed.
“I am very satisfied with Buddy Punch. The software is very user-friendly. If you contact customer service with an issue, they fix it immediately. They’ll even take your suggestions into consideration. I’ve never had an issue with this company. I highly recommend them.”
Want to learn more about Buddy Punch? Start a free trial, request a personalized demo, or take an interactive tour of the app.
2. Homebase
Homebase is a great time-tracking app for retail and restaurant businesses. Homebase integrates with many POS systems, which can be very useful for small businesses utilizing systems like Shopify or Square. Homebase also has a built-in employee communication system that lets employees communicate with you and their coworkers easily.
Some of Homebase’s top features include:
Homebase has an overall 4.6 out of 5-star rating on Capterra out of 1,042 total reviews. Here’s what one customer has to say about their time clock system:
“Even though I have been using this product for a couple of years now, I am constantly learning about new features within Homebase.”
3. TimeTrak
TimeTrak is best for those looking for web-based time-tracking software that’s easy to set up and understand. It has a unique graphical timecard system that makes sure you can understand what you are looking at with just a glance. Simplicity is important for small businesses, so TimeTrak is a great option.
Some of TimeTrak’s top features include:
TimeTrak has an overall 4.7 out of 5-star rating on Capterra out of 131 total reviews. Here’s one customer’s review of the platform:
“TimeTrakGO has been a game changer for our time tracking needs. The simplicity of its graphical timecards makes it easy for our team to log hours accurately, and the mobile access with GPS tracking ensures that even our remote employees can clock in without hassle.”
4. Clockify
Clockify’s online time clock is best for office workers; it excels in its features for employee monitoring and accountability. Clockify’s timer feature allows your employees to directly track the time they spend on each task, so employees who may be working on multiple projects can easily keep track of exactly when they worked on what projects.
Some of Clockify’s top features include:
- Timer
- Activity reports
- Timesheets
- Auto tracker
- Customizable rates
- Team collaboration
- Expense tracking
Clockify has an overall 4.7 out of 5-star rating on Capterra out of 4,914 total reviews. Here’s one customer’s review of the application:
“Clockify’s interface is simple and easy to understand. Being able to automatically track employee hours without manually feeding time data is great. Also, the time reports are detailed and give an accurate view of how I have been spending my time.”
5. Jibble
Jibble is a great all-around option for tracking work hours, but it’s especially ideal for those looking for a free option. Jibble’s free-forever plan doesn’t hold back important features, including its geofencing and biometric features, so even businesses with multiple physical locations can utilize Jibble at no cost.
Some of Jibble’s top features include:
- Offline time tracking
- Geofencing
- Face recognition
- Attendance tracking
- Customizable reports
- Kiosk
- Timesheets
Jibble has an overall 4.9 out of 5-star rating on Capterra out of 1,063 total reviews. Here’s what customers have to say about the app:
“I have found no cons in the Jibble app. It offers smooth functionality and user-friendly features, and it meets all my expectations for attendance and time tracking, making it an efficient tool without any noticeable drawbacks.”
6. OnTheClock
OnTheClock is a great option for businesses that require their employees to use employer-provided work devices. Its device restriction feature gives employers precise control over what devices are and are not allowed to be used to clock into and out of work.
Additionally, there’s a Wi-Fi recognition feature that lets you see and restrict what Wi-Fi connections your employee is using when clocking in. This is helpful for on-site workers who are all using your office’s internet connection.
Some of OnTheClock’s other top features include:
OnTheClock has an overall 4.7 out of 5-star rating on Capterra out of 542 total reviews. Here’s what one reviewer likes about the platform.
“The time card page is what I use most to see how my team is doing. It’s easy to see who’s working and what their hours are for the pay period. It is also easy to see hours for payroll.”
7. Hubstaff
Hubstaff’s punch clock is best for employers who want features that help with computer monitoring. It offers many different features that not only keep track of what your employees are doing but also monitor productivity and keep you up to date on who is being most productive and what is working best.
Some of Hubstaff’s top features include:
- Automated timesheets
- GPS time tracking
- Employee monitoring
- Productivity monitoring
- Insights
- Workforce analytics
Hubstaff has an overall 4.6 out of 5-star rating on Capterra out of 1,491 total reviews. Here’s what one customer thinks about the platform:
“This program gives me a feeling of real-time optimization. By having a clear vision of how time is being used, I can identify areas in which employees could be more efficient and make adjustments to optimize workflows in each task. The price is comfortable, and sometimes you can accumulate invoices for payments for the next month without penalties.”
8. Deputy
Deputy’s employee time clock app is best for businesses that also need a scheduling tool. In addition to helping you track time, it has an automatic scheduling feature. Many of its other features also allow for automation, and the app makes employee scheduling easier with features like wage calculation and skillset scheduling.
Some of Deputy’s top features include:
- Automatic scheduling
- Job costing
- Compliance
- Skillset scheduling
- Wage calculations
- Dynamic reports
- Smartphone apps
Deputy has an overall 4.6 out of 5-star rating on Capterra out of 721 total reviews. Here’s what one customer has to say about it:
“Deputy has an easy-to-use interface that simplifies the process of creating and managing schedules, and I especially highlight the mobile app, which allows our employees to access their schedules and clock in easily. I think Deputy is a solid tool for workforce management, especially for companies that focus on scheduling and timekeeping.”
9. Open Time Clock
Open Time Clock is the best small business time clock if you’re looking for something with a lot of flexibility in how employees clock in and out. It offers 14 different ways for your employees to clock in and has options for both online and on-location work.
Open Time Clock is also a good option if you’re looking for a free plan; its free plan only lacks its PDF and Excel spreadsheet reports.
Some of Open Time Clock’s top features include:
Open Time Clock has an overall 4.5 out of 5-star rating on Capterra out of 22 total reviews. Here’s what one customer likes about the time tracker:
“We use the free version of this software, and it is a wonderful product for our company. Our employees are able to clock in and out from any computer, and I am able to see schedules and track hours with ease. Out of all the office time clock software I’ve used, this is my favorite.”
Choosing the right time-tracking software for your small business
Even though we’ve narrowed the market of time-tracking software down to those that are the best for small businesses, it may still be difficult to choose one based purely on what we’ve written about their features. Luckily, all of these products offer free trials and demos so you can learn more before you make a final decision.