9 Best TrackSmart Alternatives (Personelle) in 2024
TrackSmart, now rebranded as Personelle, is a digital HR solution designed to manage employee time & attendance as well as maintain accurate employee records.
However, it’s far from a one-size-fits-all solution for all employers. For example, as of this post’s writing TrackSmart/Personelle does not have a mobile application for iOS or Android. This can impede the ability for employers to monitor their remote workers.
This is why we’re going to go over 9 of the best TrackSmart Alternatives for business owners looking for other options. In general, we’re going to highlight time clocks with:
- A high level of ease-of-use.
- Features to ensure accurate time tracking for employees (on-site and remote).
- Simplicity when it comes to employee scheduling and the payroll process.
Let’s dive into it.
Best TrackSmart / Personelle Alternatives
1. Buddy Punch
Kicking off our list of TrackSmart alternatives, we have our very own attendance tracking system, Buddy Punch. But it’s not bias that has us listing our tool first, it’s an honest understanding of how comprehensive the functionalities we offer are, and how useful they are for small businesses and enterprises alike. Our goal with designing this tool was to:
- Guarantee time tracking accuracy. Features like Buddy Punch’s Job Codes and GPS Tracking ensure that you know what your employees are doing while they’re on the clock. Additionally, options like Geofencing, Notifications, Overtime Calculations, and Customizable Reports give business owners greater insight into their day-to-day operations.
- Streamline payroll. To achieve this, we have two options: one is our Built-In Payroll Processing, which is available as a paid addon for Buddy Punch and allows you to make use of unlimited payroll runs, automated payroll payments, employee self-onboarding, and more for advanced payroll management. Alternatively, you can use Buddy Punch’s Integrations to connect directly to your favorite payroll provider.
- Simplify employee scheduling. After managing dozens of employees at two different locations, we know well how much of a hassle staff scheduling can be as an administrative task. That’s why we built our employee scheduling software with features such as Drag & Drop Scheduling, Shift Trades & Covers, PTO & leave management, and more.
The benefits of using Buddy Punch don’t just stop at its functions. The little things add up, such as our:
- User-friendly interface. Employees and managers alike can clock in with just one button and access their data from any device with an internet connection. Windows or Mac Desktops, iOS or Android smartphones, any sort of tablet – Buddy Punch is always within reach. In addition, you can access Buddy Punch as either a mobile app or via your web browsers. Buddy Punch’s accessibility and intuitive design is such a strong selling point that it’s frequently mentioned by our customers in reviews:
- Simplified timecard editing. You can grant permissions to managers or employees to allow them to update their timesheets at will on desktop and mobile devices, all to ensure that timecards are accurate come payroll. Making changes is as simple as using the “Edit” option on an employee’s timecard, adjusting the time or adding breaks, then saving the updates.
- Real-time Work Hour & Wage Calculations. Buddy Punch calculates the total wages for each of your employees (overtime included) based on job codes. Plus, you and your managers can look at the data in real-time for an immediate understanding of employee working hours. This, paired with the notifications option to warn staff members when they’re approaching daily or weekly hour limits, empowers business owners to know the minute-by-minute status of their hourly employees. Then it’s as simple as transferring all that data for payroll (through Buddy Punch itself or through connections to Payroll Providers such as ADP, QuickBooks, and Zapier.)
These aspects taken together turn Buddy Punch into an all-in-one employee management tool for business owners, something that’s reflected in the reputation we’re proud to have built over the years.
Note: If Buddy Punch sounds like everything you’ve been looking for in a workforce management tool to replace TrackSmart, we encourage you to get a hands-on feel for our software. Our cloud-based solution has a 14-day free trial available here for anyone and everyone, no credit card required. You can also schedule a comprehensive one-on-one demo call by clicking here.
Next, let’s get a further look at some of the time & attendance management features we highlighted above so you can see how they might drastically improve workflow for you, your managers, and your team members.
Job Codes
Buddy Punch’s Job Codes feature (also known as Department Codes) allows you and your managers to track the amount of time that employees spend on specific jobs or working for particular companies or clients throughout the workday. Simply create a job code and assign it to your employees. When your staff go to clock in, they’ll be able to select a job code to designate what task they’re working on. They can also easily switch between codes throughout the day. Then, whenever you want to view what tasks your team members were working on, you’ll see their jobs and the amount of time they spent on them in the employee timesheets.
GPS Tracking
Our GPS Tracking feature allows business owners to track time for their staff and freelancers, even when they’re working at remote job sites. Whenever employees clock in or clock out, their GPS coordinates are logged on an interactive map in real-time. This means you can view their location on your dashboard or by visiting an individual employee’s time card. Buddy Punch empowers your timekeeping without you having to be physically present.
Geofencing
Buddy Punch’s geofence feature lets you enforce scheduling at remote locations according to your forecasts, while allowing you to save time & effort. You can create a radius (called a geofence) on an interactive map according to your specifications (e.g. a 500 feet radius around 123 Maple Street). If employees attempt to clock in while outside this zone, they’ll receive an error message and be denied. Use automation to make sure your roster is where you need them to be, when you need them to be.
Notifications
Speaking of messages and notifications, no workforce management solution is complete without handy reminders for you and your employees sent as emails or push notifications. Buddy Punch allows for a wide variety of notifications including Overtime Alerts, Time Card Submission & Approval, Punch Changes, Time Off Changes, Shift Start/End Times, and many more. Rest assured that you and your administrators will always know what’s happening in the workplace.
Overtime Calculations
Our overtime calculations feature lets you select from more than a dozen different overtime types to determine how overtime pay is to be calculated in your workplace. Regular, overtime, and double overtime will be automatically calculated and reflected on employee timesheets in real-time, and you can even select different overtime types on a per-employee basis for your salaried employees. If you need a different type of overtime we’ve somehow missed out on, feel free to contact us and we’ll get it added.
Customizable Reports
One of the best parts about Buddy Punch is that it stores all this data it’s gathering in easily accessible and intelligible reports that you can view and export at will. You’ll get a bird’s eye view of everything your team members are doing: hours worked, overtime accumulated, tasks completed, locations, and more. You also have a variety of ways to export this information, such as getting a detailed Excel view as a Payroll Export, seeing all hours worked in an Hours Summary, getting a quick overview of work in the Daily Hours report, and more. These reports can all be exported in Excel CSV or Adobe PDF format.
Built-in Payroll Processing
Buddy Punch’s built-in payroll is more than comprehensive enough to replace your existing payroll methods. Easily manage your payroll in one spot, accessible from anywhere at any time. Take advantage of automatic payroll tax filings and payments, make use of Buddy Punch’s accurate and in-depth data for greater insight into your business, and then send out automated payroll payments via direct deposit. Buddy Punch’s Payroll even helps your human resources team save time & effort with an employee self-service feature for inputting their own details, accessing pay stubs, and viewing their W2s or 1099 forms. Click here to learn why Buddy Punch’s Payroll Processing is worth the price.
Payroll Provider Integrations
For business owners that prefer to stick to habit, Buddy Punch’s API integrates directly with some of the most common Payroll Providers on the market. Names such as QuickBooks, Paychex, Gusto, and more are available for seamless integration with our time & attendance software. Click here to view the full list of eligible software.
Drag & Drop Scheduling
As far as scheduling your team members goes, Buddy Punch keeps it simple. You can streamline shift management in our interface by clicking on an empty cell to create a new shift. Then, just drag and drop schedules as required until you’ve built out your ideal calendar. As an added bonus, once you publish the schedule, all employees will be notified of when they’re working.
Shift Trades & Covers
Buddy Punch’s shift trades & covers feature is a convenient option for managers to ensure that schedules are up-to-date with limited no-shows. This feature allows managers, administrators, or employees (with granted permissions) to initiate a swift swap with another employee. This ensures that shifts are always covered, and your business is always running smoothly.
PTO Management
Use Buddy Punch’s PTO Management feature to overhaul how you handle employee absences. In addition to our software having the most common Paid Leave options by default, you can create custom PTO types at will. But the biggest boon of using this feature is the self-service approach you can enable. With this, employees can request time off for whatever reason (sick leave, maternity leave, etc.) and be automatically approved without your oversight, so long as you’ve decided to enable this feature for trustworthy team members.
And There’s Still More Buddy Punch Offers
Believe it or not, we’re just at the tip of the iceberg when it comes to everything Buddy Punch enables business owners to do, hence why we believe it to be one of the best TrackSmart alternatives on the market. Here’s a quick highlight of some other features you can use as well:
- Facial Recognition
- Timecard Approvals
- Kiosk Functionality
- PTO Accruals
- Single Sign On (SSO)
- IP Address Locking
- Punch Limiting
- And more
As we mentioned above, Buddy Punch works on any device with an internet connection.
What Customers Say About Buddy Punch
Don’t just take our word for our software’s effectiveness. See what our customers had to say about their experience with Buddy Punch.
Buddy Punch has a rating of 4.8 out of 5 stars on the popular software review site Capterra, based on 945 reviews. Keep in mind this is almost a thousand people who have reviewed our software, but over 10,000 businesses have used it in total.
Below are a few excerpts taken from reviews that highlight why our customers love our tool. (Spoiler: a lot of them cite Buddy Punch’s ease of use and intuitive design).
We needed a new solution for timekeeping and Buddy Punch came through! Onboarding and integration was so easy. Once I figured out all the setting options, it’s really easy to customize to exactly what you need. Employees love using it because it’s so straight forward to use.
BuddyPunch makes employee time tracking very easy. Employees just need to be within a geofence (if one is set up) log in and punch in/punch out. They don’t have to jump through endless steps for something that should be straightforward. The user interface is also very user friendly.
The most appreciated aspect of Buddy Punch system is its user-friendly interface, which simplifies the process of recording and tracking attendance effortlessly.
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If you’d like to explore Buddy Punch as a TrackSmart alternative in greater depth, check out your options below:
2. Homebase
Homebase is a popular alternative to TrackSmart for businesses of all sizes, and even has a free plan for small businesses at one location (though with limited features). Homebase’s functions include:
- Scheduling
- Time Clock
- Payroll
- Hiring & Onboarding
- HR & Compliance
- Mobile App
- and more
This tool follows a pricing model that increases the more features you add.
At the time of this post’s writing, Homebase has a 4.6/5 on Capterra, based on 993 reviews.
3. Timely
Timely is an AI-powered automatic time tracker with dynamic visualization of employee work schedules. It’s also a particularly effective option for companies that need to generate invoices for large orders. Timely’s features include:
- Timesheets
- Memory Tracker
- AI Timesheets
- Time Planning
- Billable Rates
- Invoices
Timely’s pricing starts at $9 a month and rises to $22 a month depending on your features desired.
As of this post’s writing, Timely has 698 ratings and an overall score of 4.7 out of 5 stars (see here).
4. OnTheClock
OnTheClock is an employee management software that focuses on time tracking, employee scheduling, and payroll, much like Buddy Punch. Though it doesn’t offer built-in payroll like we do, it has other desirable features such as:
- Online Time Clock
- GPS / Biometric Fingerprint
- PTO Tracking
- Shift Scheduling
- Payroll Integrations
OnTheClock’s pricing varies on a business size basis, but they have a visual calculator to let you know just how much you’re going to have to invest.
OnTheClock has a Capterra rating of 4.7 out of 5 stars, based on 539 reviews.
5. Connecteam
Connecteam is another well-liked option if you’re looking for a time tracker to replace TrackSmart. Connecteam seems to be popular with business owners working in hospitality or construction, and comes with features such as:
- Time Clock
- Operations Management
- Scheduling
- Forms & Checklists
- Task Management
Connecteam’s starting price is $0 if you’re a small business, rising up to $99 per month.
Connecteam’s reputation is still growing, but it has a rating of 4.8/5 on Capterra, based on 325 reviews.
6. Paycor
Paycor is another alternative to TrackSmart, well-liked as a human capital management (HCM) software to help business owners manage their workforce and boost profitability. Paycor comes with several modules:
- HR + Payroll Software
- Talent Acquisition
- Talent Management
- Workforce Management
- Benefits Administration
- Compliance Solutions
As such, it’s a good SaaS tool for business owners that want to replace TrackSmart with a tool focused on maximizing employee engagement (and helping cut down on paperwork). However, it may be a bit complicated and pricey, with plans starting at $99 per month according to Capterra.
Speaking of Capterra, Paycor has a rating of 4.4/5 stars based on 2760 reviews.
7. 7shifts
7Shifts (which, yes, we put at #7 on purpose) is a particularly great option to replace TrackSmart if you’re a restaurant. This was specifically built to simplify restaurant operations for business owners, and comes with useful features such as (but not limited to):
- Onboarding
- Task Management
- Team Communication
- Time Clocking
- Labor Compliance
- Tip Pooling
- Performance Management
You can use the free version at the cost of having its features limited. Otherwise, pricing varies from $29.99 per month to $135.00 a month per location.
7Shifts has a rating of 4.7 out of 5 on Capterra with 1135 reviews (as of this post’s writing date).
8. When I Work
When I Work is an employee shift scheduling app that prides itself on empowering your staff members to build better connections across departments. Its features include:
- Employee Scheduling
- Time Clock
- Team Messaging
- Payroll
Pricing starts at $2.50 per user and rises to $8.00 per user depending on features desires.
As of this post’s writing, When I Work has a rating of 4.5 out of 5 stars on Capterra. This is based on 1072 reviews.
9. Sling
Sling is a popular employee management software that comes with desirable features such as:
- Labor Costs
- Time Clock
- Communication
- Task Management
- Multiple Work Locations
- API Integrations
Pricing starts at free and rises to $3.40 per user per month depending on your features, so long as you’re doing annual billing. Monthly billing is pricier across the board.
Sling has 146 reviews and a rating of 4.6 out of 5 on Capterra (as of this post’s writing).
Buddy Punch is the Best TrackSmart Alternative
Though no tool works perfect for everyone, Buddy Punch’s combination of features, streamlining, and ease-of-use makes a strong replacement for TrackSmart. If you’d like to explore Buddy Punch as an alternative to TrackSmart in greater depths, check out these links:
- Visit the Buddy Punch website
- Start a 14-day free trial
- View a pre-recorded demo video
- Request a live one-on-one demo call
You can also browse through the Buddy Punch Help Doc Center to get a better understanding of all the options you have with our tool. If you have any questions, feel free to reach out to our customer support.
FAQs
What’s the difference between TrackSmart and Personelle?
TrackSmart was rebranded to Personelle, but this change came with quite a few differences:
- Personelle does not (as of this post’s writing) have a mobile application for iOS and Android
- Personelle does not have an option for employees to swap swifts with each other without admin oversight.
These changes came as a trade-off for a new user interface, the ability to add multiple companies, and a proclaimed improvement in security for employee data.
What features does TrackSmart/Personelle still have then?
- Employee Details
- Time & Attendance features such as time off policies, time clock, calendar, and scheduling
Should I stick with TrackSmart/Personelle through the rebrand?
It is entirely up to you, depending on which features you came to rely on. What we’ve noticed is that many business owners tend to say that a rebrand completely changes how it feels to use software they’ve grown accustomed to. Many dislike the changes, leading them to seek out alternatives, or finally go after functions they were desiring but didn’t act on the impulse to find.
Hence why we made this post to make the transition easier for business owners looking to find something to replace TrackSmart. If your goal is to find a software that’s easy for you and your team members to switch to, one that enables you to get an in-depth look at all operations in your business, you really can’t go wrong with Buddy Punch.
