5 Best Work Hours Log Apps (In-Depth Look)

ByEric Czerwonka Last UpdatedOctober 26, 2022

5 Best Work Hours Log Apps

Tracking employee work hours should be quick and effortless, but traditional time-tracking methods, like paper timesheets and spreadsheets, struggle to achieve this.

In this post, we’ll detail how dedicated software like Buddy Punch (our work hours log app) can help you:

Increase employee accountability. Buddy Punch can help ensure your employees are honest about when and where they are punching in from through features like Geofencing and IP Address Locking (more on these later), which prevent employees from clocking in outside of certain designated areas. Our software also helps to avoid buddy punching through features like Facial Recognition Punching, Photos on Punch (requiring a photo at punch), and more.
Save time on payroll. Buddy punch also saves you valuable time on payroll and helps to eliminate manual errors through features like On-Demand Payroll Reports (employee hours are automatically calculated), Payroll Provider Integrations (helping you bypass manual data entry work), Buddy Punch Payroll (we’ll handle direct deposits to employees, tax filings, etc.), Time Off Tracking (in-app time off requests and time off balance reports), and more.

We also included features and reviews of four other work hours log apps at the end of this article to better inform your research.

Best Work Hours Log Apps

Buddy Punch
Connecteam
Clockify
Hubstaff
OnTheClock

1. Buddy Punch

High-Level Overview: How Our Work Hours Log App Works

Here’s a brief, high-level overview of how Buddy Punch works:

1. Employees can quickly punch in and out on their preferred device, such as a smartphone, tablet, or computer, using our easy-to-use interface.

Buddy Punch works great on nearly any mobile device.

2. Buddy Punch automatically calculates regular hours, time off, overtime, and more. This information is available to be downloaded as a PDF or Excel file on-demand, saving you countless hours every month and helping you avoid miscalculations that could affect employee pay.

Manage hour log and payroll in the same platform.

Increase Employee Accountability

Buddy Punch offers a variety of employee accountability features to meet your needs. All of these features are turned off by default and may be utilized by your company at your discretion.

Note: We’re happy to answer any questions via live chat. You can also test out Buddy Punch via a free trial and request a one-on-one demo call.

Geofencing

Set geofence.

Geofencing is one way in which employee punches can be restricted by location.

A geofence is a preset area (i.e 500 feet within your business address) that prevents employees from punching outside of its radius. If an employee attempts to clock in outside of the designated geofence, they will be met with an error message and asked to try again at the correct location:

Geofence error message.

This is a useful feature that ensures employees are actually punching in when they arrive at the proper location (i.e. versus doing so 10 minutes away).

Our Geofencing feature is flexible to your particular business needs, and allows multiple geofences to be set up if you have several punch locations.

IP Address Locking

Set an approved IP address.

IP Address Locking is another way punches can be restricted by location, particularly via a specific Wi-Fi network or device.

For example, if your business uses one centralized Wi-Fi network, you can set it so employees can only clock in and out when connected to this one.

Similarly, you can limit punches to a particular device at your business location, such as a central desktop computer or tablet.

Photos on Punch

Require photos when punching in or out.

Photos on Punch provides an added layer of accountability for your employees by requiring them to take a photo that clearly shows their face and surrounding background when punching in and out.

As an administrator, you can quickly review the photos via the Buddy Punch dashboard:

See photos with hour logs.

Additional Features to Increase Employee Accountability

Buddy Punch offers several other features that help increase employee accountability. For example: GPS Tracking, Facial Recognition Punching, PIN Punching, Punch Limiting Rules, and more.

Note: If you feel that Buddy Punch matches your needs, we invite you to test it out via a free trial and request a one-on-one demo call.

Save Time on Payroll

In addition to employee accountability, Buddy Punch offers a wide variety of features to make your payroll experience fast, efficient, and accurate.

Payroll Reports on Demand

Export payroll spreadsheets.

As we’ve mentioned, Buddy Punch automatically calculates regular hours, time off, overtime, and more. This information is available to be downloaded as a PDF or Excel file on-demand, saving you countless hours every month and helping you avoid miscalculations that could affect employee pay.

Payroll Provider Integrations

Quick integrations with payroll providers.

This feature eliminates the need for a manual transfer of employee hours to your payroll provider.

Save time on payroll and increase accuracy by setting up an integration 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

Buddy Punch Payroll

Schedule auto payroll.

Buddy Punch eliminates the need for two separate systems (one for time-tracking and the other for payroll). You can now do it all in one central place and increase the efficiency of your payroll process.

Below is a brief, high-level overview of how it works.

Step 1: After opening the payroll dashboard, review all relevant payroll information for your business such as employee hours, time off, preferred payment method, gross and net pay, and more.

Manage payroll from within Buddy Punch.

Step 2: Click on “Submit Payroll” in the top right corner once you’ve reviewed the information, and we will do the rest. In particular, we will:

Provide pay stubs to employees, which they access at any time through a simple self-service process
Send out direct deposits to your staff
Handle everything you need for your state and federal payroll taxes, including filing and payment
And more

For a more in-depth overview of how it all works, visit this page.

Time Off Tracking

Manage PTO from within Buddy Punch.

Employees can easily request time off within the app, which can be optionally reviewed by an administrator and approved or denied. A summary of all paid and unpaid time off hours can also be viewed within Buddy Punch and easily exported via Excel, CSV, or PDF.

Explore Buddy Punch’s additional time off tracking features here.

Accruals

Set custom accrual rules.

If you would like to learn about how you can easily set up time off accrual rules with Buddy Punch, check out this video and/or this help doc article.

See All of Buddy Punch’s Features

Buddy Punch has even more useful features that we did not cover in this article. You can click here to view the complete list, which includes but isn’t limited to:

Online Reviews

As of this writing date, Buddy Punch has 731 reviews and 4.8 out of 5 stars on Capterra, a popular software review site.

Buddy Punch on Capterra.

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.”
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.

“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.

“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 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.

“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 Request a Demo

For more information on Buddy Punch:

2. Connecteam

Connecteam offers a plethora of features and functionality, such as:

It’s one of the best work hours log apps. As of this writing date, Connecteam has 204 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. Clockify

Clockify offers a plethora of features and functionality, such as:

It’s a great work hours log app. As of this writing date, Clockify has 4295 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.

4. Hubstaff

Hubstaff offers a plethora of features and functionality, such as:

It’s a great app to log work hours. As of this writing date, Hubstaff has 1291 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.

5. OnTheClock

OnTheClock offers a plethora of features and functionality, such as:

It’s one of the best apps to log work hours. As of the writing date, OnTheClock has 519 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.

Try Buddy Punch for Free and Request a Demo

For more information on Buddy Punch::

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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.