Buddy Punch vs. Hubstaff

Buddy Punch vs. Hubstaff: Side-By-Side Comparison

Buddy Punch vs. Hubstaff: Detailed Comparison

While Buddy Punch and Hubstaff are both employee time tracking apps, the two platforms are built for very different use cases. Read on to determine which option is right for your company.

Buddy Punch is a lower-cost option for field teams

• You can log employees’ locations on clock in and out for as low as $4.49/user per month.
• You can create geofences to prevent off-site punching for as low as $5.99/user per month.
• You can track employees’ locations in real-time for as low as $6.49/user per month.

On the other hand, Hubstaff’s plans that include real-time GPS tracking and geofencing start at $14/seat per month ($10/seat per month for the Team plan plus $4/seat per month for the Locations add-on).

Hubstaff is the better option for computer activity monitoring

If your primary goal is to monitor what your employees are doing on their computers while they’re on the clock, Hubstaff is the right choice.

With features like screenshots (automatically capture snapshots of employees’ screens at regular intervals), idle time detection (identify when employees are clocked in but not doing anything), and app/URL tracking (see which sites and apps employees are using while working), you can easily identify when employees are stealing time.

Given that Buddy Punch doesn’t have these features, Hubstaff is the clear choice if computer activity monitoring is an important use case for your organization.

On the other hand, if you don’t need the computer activity monitoring features and just want to track employees’ hours, Buddy Punch is a much easier to use and more affordable choice.

Buddy Punch stands out for its ease of use and customer support

Hubstaff is designed for knowledge workers, making it less intuitive to use for less tech-savvy employees. Additionally, the level of customer support you get from Hubstaff depends on the price you’re paying for the app. Lower-priced plans get email support only, with published response times of two days for the lowest-tier plan and one day for the second-tier plan.

Buddy Punch is much simpler to use for less tech-savvy companies and offers live chat support to customers on all plans. As one customer says:

The difference between the two platforms can be seen in their customer reviews, with Buddy Punch having a Capterra rating of 4.8 out of 5 for both ease of use and customer support, versus Hubstaff’s 4.4/5 Capterra rating for ease of use and 4.5/5 rating for customer service.

Hubstaff is the better choice for activity monitoring for blended teams

While Buddy Punch is the better choice for field teams, if you have some employees who work on computers and some who work in the field and want to monitor activity for both types, Hubstaff is the better choice.

Hubstaff has screenshots, URL tracking, and idle detection for computer employees, as well as GPS tracking and geofencing for field employees. Buddy Punch, on the other hand, does not have computer monitoring features.

While you’ll pay more for Hubstaff, it’s a more flexible option for activity and location monitoring if you want to track what both types of employees are doing while they work.

Buddy Punch offers more accessibility; Hubstaff offers more desktop apps

With Buddy Punch, employees can clock in and out in a variety of ways. They can do it using the web app on their computers or the mobile apps for iOS and Android, or you can set Buddy Punch up on a shared computer or tablet to create a central time clock kiosk.

Additionally, employees don’t need unique email addresses for an admin to create accounts for them in Buddy Punch. A single admin email address can be used to create accounts for all employees.

Finally, employees can clock in and out in multiple ways in Buddy Punch. They can use a username and password, scan a QR code, enter a unique PIN, use facial recognition, send a text message, or use single sign-on through Google, Okta, Apple, or OneLogin. A supervisor or foreman can also clock all employees in and out at the same time using group punch.

Hubstaff, on the other hand, only allows employees to access the system using a username and password, and all employees must have a unique email address for accounts to be created for them. However, Hubstaff does offer a wider variety of apps than Buddy Punch, with downloadable apps available for Windows, Mac, and Linux machines.

Who Hubstaff is right for vs. who Buddy Punch is right for

If computer activity monitoring is a must-have feature for your company, Hubstaff is the clear winner. If it’s not, you’re better off with Buddy Punch.

Buddy Punch is the much more affordable option for basic time tracking or location monitoring, with more features included in its plans, lower cost plans overall, better customer support, and a simpler and more flexible system.