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The 7 Best GPS Time Clock Apps for 2025
Written By Eric Czerwonka
Last Updated January 8, 2025
GPS time clock apps help companies prevent time theft, reduce labor costs, keep track of their employees, track mileage, and improve job costing. To help you find the right option for your company, we researched and tested dozens of apps to put together this list of the seven best GPS time clock apps.
Side-by-side comparison of our top picks
Platform | Best For | Rating | Paid Plans Start At |
---|---|---|---|
Best overall | 4.8/5 | $4.49/user/month | |
Mileage tracking | 4.7/5 | $8/user/month | |
Small businesses | 4.6/5 | $20/location/month | |
Free GPS tracking | 4.7/5 | $29/month (30 users) | |
Home healthcare | 4.4/5 | $4/user/month | |
Multilingual teams | 4.7/5 | $8/user/month | |
Equipment tracking | 4.5/5 | $9.99/user/month |
Why should you use a GPS time clock app?
GPS time clock apps are ideal for businesses with employees who work on-the-go — field services teams, construction workers, traveling salesmen, truck/delivery drivers, etc. — because they allow employees to clock in and out from the field. Additionally, they let you see where employees are at all times, even when you’re not there with them.
There are five main benefits of using a GPS time clock app:
- Reducing time theft: By capturing an employee’s location when they clock in and out — or restricting them from punching in and out when they’re not at a job site — you can reduce the likelihood that employees will bill you for hours when they weren’t working.
- Decreased labor costs: By putting measures into place that prevent time theft, you can lower your labor costs by preventing employees from clocking in before they arrive at work or clocking out after they’re already left.
- Tracking mileage: Real-time GPS tracking can tell you exactly how many miles an employee drove while they were traveling for work, which can be helpful if you reimburse your employees for mileage — or for tracking your own mileage for tax deductions.
- Improved job costing: When you can see exactly when employees arrived at and left a worksite, you can bill for the exact amount of time the employee spent on that job, including time to prepare for the job and complete any paperwork afterward.
- Team oversight: Being able to see exactly where all employees are located at any given moment lets you keep track of your team even when you can’t see them.
Additionally, because GPS time clock apps create and store your employees’ timesheets digitally, they help you track time more accurately and run payroll faster.
What features should you look for in a GPS time clock app?
The features you’ll want to make sure your GPS time clock app has will depend on what you’re trying to accomplish by tracking your employees’ locations:
- GPS on punch: This feature collects location data when employees clock in and out and adds that data to their timecards, helping you identify when employees clocked in/out while not on the job site.
- Real-time GPS tracking: This feature tracks employees’ locations throughout the entire workday. Employees’ locations can be viewed at any time on a map, and location breadcrumb trails are also generated so you can see where they traveled over the day.
- Mileage tracking: Mileage tracking takes location tracking a step further by using real-time GPS data to calculate the total number of miles an employee traveled during work. This is helpful if you reimburse employees for mileage.
- Geofencing: Geofencing lets you place a virtual border around a job site. When an employee tries to clock in and out, the app looks at their location data to see if they’re located within the geofence. If they’re not, they’re prevented from clocking in/out.
- Clock in/out reminders: By combining GPS tracking and geofencing, you can send employees reminders to clock in/out when they arrive at or leave a job site. This is helpful if you find yourself doing a lot of time card editing to fix forgotten punches.
- Employee privacy: In some U.S. states, it’s illegal to track employees’ locations when they’re not on the clock. And even in states where it’s not illegal, it’s not a good practice. Make sure your app only tracks your employees’ locations while they’re clocked in.
- Mobile accessibility: You’ll want to make sure that the app you choose will work on both iPhone and Android smartphones so all of your employees can clock in and out from the field regardless of which type of mobile device they use.
- Payroll reports and integrations: Finally, you’ll want to make sure that the app you choose either has the reports you need for payroll available or integrates with your existing payroll provider to expedite and streamline your payroll process.
In addition to these features, you may want to look for an app that includes employee scheduling (create and distribute schedules for your team via the app) and project/job costing (track the number of hours employees spend working on specific jobs for accurate forecasting, budgeting, and invoicing).
The 7 best GPS time clock apps
Below, you’ll find our list of the seven best GPS time clocks apps, including who they’re best for, what features they provide, how much they cost, and what customers think about them.
- Buddy Punch – Best overall
- QuickBooks Time – Best for mileage tracking
- Homebase – Best for small businesses
- Connecteam – Best free option
- Timeero – Best for home healthcare
- ClockShark – Best for multilingual teams
- Busybusy – Best for equipment tracking
You can also check out our runner-up-apps.
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Buddy Punch is an all-in-one employee time tracking, scheduling, and payroll app that comes with GPS tracking and lots of other features that help you save time and keep employees accountable. We’ll take a look at each of these features below.
GPS tracking
Buddy Punch’s GPS on punch feature captures your staff’s GPS coordinates whenever they clock in and out of work. You can review this data on employees’ timecards to see exactly where they were when they clocked in and out of work. Additionally, you can look at all punches on a map within a specified timeframe.
With real-time GPS tracking, Buddy Punch keeps track of your employees’ locations during their entire shifts. You can see exactly where all employees are located at any time on a map and follow their travels across the entire day with GPS breadcrumbing.
All GPS location tracking features in Buddy Punch are optional. You can make them required for everyone, make them optional for everyone, turn them on only for specific employees, or disable them entirely.
This all makes it easier than ever to keep track of employees as they move from location to location, never worrying whether or not your staff showed up where they were supposed to be. Verify punches from the administrator dashboard, and use it to keep your team members accountable without any hassle.
Finally, Buddy Punch protects your employees’ privacy while tracking their locations. Employees are only tracked via GPS while they’re clocked in — never when they’re off the clock.
Geofencing
Buddy Punch’s geofencing feature allows you to create a specified radius around a location where your employees can clock in and out of work. If the employee is not inside the radius they were assigned, they’ll be prevented from clocking in or out and will receive an error notification. You can create as many geofences as you’d like.
There’s one main distinction between geofencing and GPS tracking: geofencing is a punch limiter, meaning it stops punches outside the radius, while GPS tracking simply tracks where your employees are when they punch in or out.
Job/project costing
If your employees work on specific jobs and projects, you can create job codes in Buddy Punch and assign those codes to specific employees. When employees clock in, they’ll either be defaulted to a single job code that’s been assigned to them or, if they’ve been assigned multiple job codes, they’ll select the right one from a dropdown.
This allows you to track the time your employees spend working on different projects, which helps with budgeting, forecasting, and invoicing.
Scheduling and clock in/out reminders
In addition to tracking time and locations, Buddy Punch gives you features to create and distribute work schedules. You can create repeating shifts, allow employees to submit shift trade and cover requests, and assign employees to specific jobs, departments, and locations.
This not only simplifies the process of creating work schedules, it also allows you to send automated notifications to employees reminding them to clock in and out. The reminders are tied to their schedules and help reduce the number of times you have to edit timesheets because someone forgot to punch in or out.
Mobile accessibility
Buddy Punch is available on any internet-connected device, including computers, tablets, and mobile phones. Your employees can download its apps for iOS and Android devices to clock in and out using their smartphones. You can also download the app onto a tablet to create a time clock kiosk everyone can use.
Payroll reports and integrations
To get your timesheet data to payroll, Buddy Punch provides three options:
- Download your timesheet data as a XLS, CSV, or PDF file to upload to your payroll software.
- Integrate with 20 popular payroll providers like QuickBooks, Gusto, and Paychex to transfer your timesheet data to payroll automatically.
- Use Buddy Punch as your payroll provider to pay employees and taxes effortlessly.
Any of these three solutions significantly reduces the amount of time it takes to run payroll.
Customer reviews
Buddy Punch has an overall rating of 4.8 out of 5 stars across more than 1,000 customer reviews on Capterra. Here’s what customers have to say about its GPS and time clock features:
- “We mainly use Buddy Punch for its time clock feature, and we use the GPS feature to track where our employees clock in and out since they do so at a remote site. The feature is accurate and is easy to use on our employees’ phones.”
- “Very easy for employees and administrators alike to track time and edit if necessary. Provides accountability for our employees with the location settings such as GPS/geofence. Provides our employees with mobility — we can send them to any job site, and they have the ability to punch in/out.”
- “I like that I can turn the GPS tracker on and off. I like the ability to track where employees are because prior to using Buddy Punch we had an employee who was being dishonest about where they were, and it cost us money when it came to billing customers.”
Pricing
Buddy Punch’s pricing starts at $4.49 per user per month plus a $19/month base fee. Administrator users are free. The starter plan includes time tracking, GPS on punch, and its mobile apps. For employee scheduling and geofencing, you’ll need to be on the mid-tier plan that’s $5.99 per user per month.
Real-time GPS tracking is available as an add-on to any plan for $2 per user per month.
Get the #1 GPS time clock app
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QuickBooks Time offers both real-time GPS tracking and geofencing. These features can be used separately or together.
Its real-time GPS tracking features logs employees locations throughout the day while they’re clocked in. You can see where employees are located at any time on a map, and you can also review where they traveled over the course of a day on their timesheets.
QuickBooks Time’s geofencing feature offers some more advanced functionality. Geofences can be set up to automatically clock employees in and out when they arrive at or leave a worksite, or to send them notifications when they arrive within or leave a geofence to remind them to clock in/out.
However, keep in mind that because the app only tracks employees while they’re on the clock, this feature won’t work for the first clock-in of the day. It’s designed for employees who travel to different job sites. You can assign job codes to geofences and then automatically clock employees in and out of projects when they arrive at/leave specific geofences.
But the real standout feature of QuickBooks Time is its ability to track mileage. Using real-time tracking, the app automatically calculates the miles employees traveled while they were on the clock, making mileage reimbursements as simple as possible.
Pros
- Tracks employees’ locations and mileage traveled
- Integrates seamlessly with Intuit’s other related products
Cons
- One of the highest-cost GPS time clock apps on the market
- Must have a QuickBooks Online subscription to use it
Customer reviews
QuickBooks Time has an overall rating of 4.7 out of 5 stars across nearly 7,000 customer reviews on Capterra. Here’s what customers like about it:
- “There are several options for field workers to clock in and out with QuickBooks Time, including a web interface and a mobile app, as well as a location to save client notes and maps. Additionally, the cloud-based system includes GPS monitoring and geofencing.”
- “The GPS tracking system has generally been a positive thing to know the whereabouts of personnel. The system also keeps people honest on actual times of arrival and departure.”
- “Great GPS tracking. Great for job costing and helping employees track their time to jobs accurately as they switch between jobs throughout the day.”
Pricing
QuickBooks Time’s GPS tracking, geofencing, and mileage tracking features are only available on its Elite plan, which starts at $10 per user per month. A $20 per month base fee also applies for the first three months; after that, the base fee jumps to $40 per month. The base fee covers the cost of one admin user.
It’s worth noting that you must be a QuickBooks Online customer to subscribe to QuickBooks Time. If you don’t already subscribe to QuickBooks Online, that can increase the cost of your QuickBooks Time subscription.
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If you run a small business with only one or a handful of locations, Homebase is a good, low-cost GPS time clock app to consider. Its pricing is location-based rather than user-based, so if you have few locations but lots of employees, it can save you a considerable amount of money on monthly fees for your time clock app.
In terms of GPS tracking features, you really just get the basics with Homebase. You can log employees’ GPS coordinates when they clock in and out and view that data on their timecards, and you can set up geofences to prevent them from clocking in and out when off-site. That’s the extent of its GPS features.
However, if you’re simply looking for a low-cost option and don’t need advanced options like real-time GPS tracking or mileage tracking, it’s a great app to consider and may meet your needs perfectly.
Pros
- Location-based pricing makes it one of the lower-cost apps on this list
- Has HR-specific features available in addition to time tracking
Cons
- Only the most basic GPS tracking features are available
- You’re only allowed one geofence per location that you pay for in Homebase, making it less suitable for companies that work on multiple off-site projects
Customer reviews
Homebase has an overall rating of 4.6 out of 5 stars across 1,000+ customer reviews on Capterra. Here’s what customers like about it:
- “Overall we love Homebase. We use it for nine different businesses. Some of them have office staff, some remote/traveling staff that use GPS on clock in/clock out, and some have staff that clock in when they get to work using on-location computers.”
- “The GPS tracking tells me where my employees are working every time they clock in — if they’re inside the project boundaries or clocking in from the parking lot.”
- “User-friendly yet has very advanced settings for those who need more control. Has an option for location tracking, time cards are accurate, and we’re able to track PTO simply.”
Pricing
Homebase’s GPS on punch and geofencing features are available on its Essentials plan, which starts at $20 per location per month. Unlimited employees can be added to the plan; you only pay more for additional locations.
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If you have fewer than 10 employees and are looking for a free time clock app you can use to track employees’ hours and locations, Connecteam might be the right choice for your company. Its free plan includes time tracking, GPS tracking, and geofences for up to 10 users.
Connecteam’s GPS tracking features let you see both your job sites and employee locations on a map at any time. You can look up a single employee to see where they’re located or view a map showing everyone’s locations at once. Additionally, you can view breadcrumb trails showing where employees traveled while working.
Geofences ensure that employees are on-site when they clock in and out. If they try to clock in or out when they’re not on location, they get an error message that asks them to either move to the correct location or clock in/out anyway. If they opt to clock in/out anyway, the admin gets an alert so they can investigate why the employee punched off site.
Pros
- Connecteam’s free plan is a feature-rich option for small businesses
- There are no limits on how many geofences you can create on the free plan
Cons
- If you need to upgrade to a paid plan, Connecteam’s tiered and hub-based pricing can be confusing to understand
- Because Connecteam is such a feature-rich platform, there’s a much higher learning curve to get started with and use the platform
Customer reviews
Connecteam has an overall rating of 4.7 out of 5 stars across 350 customer reviews on Capterra. Here’s what customers like about it:
- “For our business, the GPS is extremely helpful, as is the necessity of seeing the correct times our employees log in so our payroll is accurate.”
- “Workflows are used every single shift to hold employees accountable to what their daily tasks are, and we LOVE the time stamps and GPS location!”
- “We like the GPS tracking as a feature. We have many customers. It also helps us easily calculate time spent on a job based on time punches.”
Pricing
Connecteam’s free plan includes GPS tracking, breadcrumbing, and geofencing for up to 10 users. Paid plans start at $29 per month for up to 30 users.
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Timeero is a GPS-first time clock app, meaning it’s specifically designed to be used by businesses with employees who work in the field. As a result, it comes with all of the features you’d expect to see: real-time GPS tracking, location breadcrumbs, and geofencing. You can even replay employees’ routes to see where they traveled.
Timeero also has a segmented tracking feature that lets you track hours on projects without employees having to clock in and out of every project. For example, if you operate a plumbing company and have employees visiting multiple customer sites each day, you can view their routes to determine how much time they spent on each customer’s project.
Another unique feature is Timeero’s out-of-bounds alerts. If you use geofencing, these alerts let you know if your drivers are not following the appropriate routes.
All of these features make Timeero a great GPS time clock for any business, but it’s particularly interesting for home healthcare because of its electronic visit verification (EVV) feature.
Timeero’s EVV feature requires caregivers to document the exact date, time, location of each visit to ensure patients are only billed for the services they received. You can also use its built-in facial recognition to verify the caregiver’s identity, and caregivers are required to document the types of service they provided during the visit.
Pros
- Timeero is designed specifically for companies with traveling employees
- Includes every GPS tracking feature a company needs
Cons
- Pricing is higher than many other apps on this list with similar features
- Timeero has a smaller set of payroll integrations than other apps on this list
Customer reviews
Timeero has an overall rating of 4.4 out of 5 stars across nearly 74 customer reviews on Capterra. Here’s what customers like about it:
- “The geofencing feature allows us to track progress and employee locations for safety, time management, and tracking mileage. Such a great product!”
- “The GPS tracking and geofencing are what really set this app apart from others we’ve tried. Having traveling technicians, it is critical that we are able to track our employees’ time away from the office to ensure they are compensated appropriately.”
- “Easy to use, straightforward for people to follow, simple layout, GPS location is a plus! Allows me to see where my employees are and if they are in the right location when they say they are. Our business is a hire business so there are always different locations.”
Pricing
Timeero’s Basic plan starts at $4 per user per month and includes GPS and mileage tracking. However, it’s limited to 10 users, so if you have more than 10 employees, you’ll need to upgrade to the Pro plan. The Pro plan starts at $8 per user per month, includes everything in the base plan, and also adds in geofencing.
Timeero’s Premium plan, at $11 per user per month, gets you HIPAA compliance. Prices are not public for the EVV system, so you’ll need to contact Timeero to get a quote for that feature.
Segmented tracking is only available as an add-on for an additional $5 per user.
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ClockShark is the first industry-specific choice on our list. It’s built specifically for construction and field services teams with lots of features catered to the specific needs of those industries.
GPS tracking in ClockShark works in the same way as the other apps on this list. You can capture employees’ locations when they clock in and out, or you can use GPSTrak to track their locations across the entire workday. However, it’s worth noting that this feature isn’t quite real-time — it updates locations every 15-20 minutes.
ClockShark also offers geofencing, and it has a feature that will remind employees to clock in or out when entering or leaving a geofence. This is a great feature for making sure employees are reminded to clock out at the end of their shifts.
But ClockShark’s most unique feature among the apps on this list is that the app is available in both English and Spanish. Users can set their default language when installing the app, and then it will display all fields and labels in the language selected. This makes it a great option if you have Spanish-speaking employees who wouldn’t be able to use an English-only app.
Pros
- The entire app is available in both Spanish and English
- Lots of unique features for construction and field services teams
Cons
- Because it’s designed for field services, it may not work as well for other industries
- Pricing is high compared to other apps on this list with similar features
Customer reviews
ClockShark has an overall rating of 4.7 out of 5 stars across nearly 2,000 customer reviews on Capterra. Here’s what customers like about it:
- “We chose ClockShark because of the ease of employees being able to access the time clock from their own device, and also because the app monitors whether punches were missed and where punches occurred. This has made following up on discrepancies a timely and accurate process.”
- “The software is very reliable and provides accurate employee time data, which is very useful for overtime management, payroll, and project management. In addition, advanced features such as geolocation and team scheduling allow for better resource management and communication.”
- “The program has helped in the management and recording of time for employees on job sites. The best features are the GPS and geofencing — also the ease for employees to change jobs and tasks as they move from one job to another.”
Pricing
ClockShark’s base plan starts at $8 per user per month plus a $40 per month base fee and includes all of the features highlighted above: GPS tracking, geofencing, and Spanish-language support.
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Busybusy offers a generous free plan that includes GPS tracking, and it’s available for unlimited employees. However, it’s worth noting that the app is specifically designed for construction companies, so it’s probably not a good fit for employers in other industries.
The unique thing about the GPS tracking feature in Busybusy is that it lets you track employee and equipment locations. Employees’ location data is added to their timesheets, and employee and equipment locations can be viewed on a map at any time.
This makes it a great option for construction companies that are just looking for an inexpensive way to track employee and equipment locations. However, for some of Busybusy’s more advanced features, you’ll have to upgrade to one of its higher-cost plans.
To access geofencing or GPS breadcrumbing (the ability to see employee locations across the day and not just when they clock in or out), you’ll have to upgrade to Busybusy’s Pro plan, which is $9.99 per user per month — the second-most expensive app on this list.
However, the software’s paid plan offers a lot of features designed to help construction companies streamline their operations and monitor labor costs, such as project document storage, project progress photos, PTO approvals, payroll automation, and budgeting and scheduling tools.
Pros
- Generous free plan that includes GPS on punch for unlimited employees
- One of the few options that includes equipment location tracking
Cons
- If you need to upgrade from the free plan, the paid plans are costly
- Only a viable option for companies in the construction industry
Customer reviews
Busybusy has an overall rating of 4.5 out of 5 stars across nearly 450 customer reviews on Capterra. Here’s what customers like about it:
- “We have construction crews in the field, and it’s great that they can use it wherever they are and we can have real-time data without having to wait for the end of the week for paper timecards. It takes a lot of the burden off of our foremen and frees them up for more important work.”
- “BusyBusy has detailed reports that allow us to quickly and easily see the amount of time spent on a project and that employees were at the correct location. Allowing us to set up a geolocation circle has helped us ensure that the time spent was spent where it was supposed to be.”
- “The ability to enable and disable almost every basic feature makes building out the system easy and quick, allowing you to make it the exact way you want it.”
Pricing
Busybusy’s free plan includes GPS data on punch for unlimited users and equipment location tracking; Its paid plans start at $9.99 per user per month and include geofencing and GPS breadcrumbing.
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Runner-up apps
While the apps below didn’t score high enough to make it into our top picks, there are still things we liked about each of them enough to include them for readers who didn’t find exactly what they were looking for in the options above.
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Tips on rolling out your new GPS time clock
Choosing a GPS time clock app is just the first step in the process. Once you’ve found the right app for you, you’ll need to roll it out to your team. Here are a few things to keep in mind as you get your new time clock set up and introduce it to your employees.
Legal and compliance considerations
Some states have specific regulations around GPS tracking, so before you begin this type of tracking, review the laws in the locations where your business operates or speak to an employment attorney.
Generally speaking, businesses can track employees’ locations during their working hours and when using company-owned (not personal) vehicles. Choosing an app that only tracks employees’ locations while they’re clocked in can ensure you’re compliant with all laws.
Additionally, before you begin tracking employees’ locations, you should write a GPS tracking policy describing how employees will be monitored and how this data will be used. It’s always best to get employees’ consent whether your state requires you to do so or not.
Data security considerations
GPS time clock apps contain a lot of sensitive, personal information. Employee’s names, pay rates, addresses, and locations may all be stored in the app, so you’ll want to talk to any provider you’re considering to find out how they keep your employee data secure. Ideally, you’ll only input data that is absolutely necessary.
You’ll also want to look for apps that have detailed permission sets to control who has access to private employee data. Enforcing two-factor authentication or other preventative measures for users with access to sensitive data can also be helpful to minimize the chance of a data breach.
Implementation tips
You may be worried that employees will be opposed to you tracking their locations, but this is rarer than you might expect. A QuickBooks Time study found that 70% of employees are fine with their employers knowing their locations, and only 6% said they would quit if they were asked to be tracked.
Interestingly, the thing that employees in the study were most concerned about was the app draining their phone batteries or using all of their data. To prepare for these questions, talk to your app provider to get more information you can share with your team to ease their concerns.
The best way to avoid employee pushback when implementing GPS tracking is to be very transparent with your employees about the fact that they’re being tracked, when they’ll be tracked, why, and who will have access to their location data. That’s why creating and distributing a GPS tracking policy is crucial.
Finally, when it’s time to roll your new system out, hold a meeting where employees can ask questions and share any concerns they have so they don’t feel like they’re being forced to do something they’re uncomfortable with.
About the author
Eric has more than 20 years of experience owning, operating, and managing businesses — everything from in-person, multi-location shops to fully remote SaaS companies. He uses what he’s learned along the way to create helpful guides for other business leaders. Learn more on LinkedIn.