Buddy Punch vs Clock Shark

Are you struggling with deciding between the different forms of time tracking apps for your business? Then you’re not alone. With so many options out there, it can be difficult to choose the best tool.

To determine which tool is the best fit for your business, it’s important to check the features and pricing of popular software products on the market. Buddy Punch and Clockshark are two of the top choices in the market, but even choosing between these two can make a huge difference for you and the effectiveness of your business.

There are many reasons why Buddy Punch is more popular than Clockshark. One of those reasons is the variety of features, which will come in handy for you as a business owner. Another reason that appeals to all business owners is affordable pricing. Not to mention, it’s extremely user-friendly, made for employees and managers without requiring them to be tech-savvy.

Let’s take a look and compare those features:

Comparing Clockshark’s Features to Buddy Punch’s Features

If you have read Clockshark user reviews, you already know that it’s a popular tracking tool that companies have been using for quite a while now. Buddy Punch and Clockshark share many features, but they also have some important differences.

Facial Recognition

Buddy Punch is one of the few software solutions that offer facial recognition as part of their employee time tracking app. This feature is an enormous benefit and is one of the top reasons why Buddy Punch has become as popular as it is.

To avoid time theft and employees who punch time for other hourly employees with traditional time trackers, companies can use a facial recognition feature where your employees will look into a camera and their face will be compared against a photo that has been associated with their profile. This will allow Buddy Punch to confirm the identity of the employee, guaranteeing that no one else is trying to punch time for them. This feature isn’t available at ClockShark.

Locations and GPS

Both programs offer GPS tracking for employees. Clockshark is known for their easy-to-use tracking application, largely because of the GPS feature. Both Buddy Punch and Clockshark provide the user with an opportunity to track the GPS location of employees at remote locations or working field service. Additionally, both time trackers enable you to use geofencing to designate entire zones where employees can or can’t clock in.

Management

The management system is somewhat different between Buddy Punch and Clockshark. In Buddy Punch, you can use the application to set managers and assign employees who work for them. Administrators are in charge of all settings within Buddy Punch while both managers and administrators can approve PTO, edit timecards, approve or reject timecards, and much more.

With Clockshark, the scheduling tool is more basic. Users can drag-and-drop the names of employees to a calendar and set their work schedule. This is accompanied by notifications sent to the employee who is assigned a task. Clockshark also enables users to add a supervisor user that will track the clock in or clock out of employees. This person will ensure that everyone has punched in and out when they are expected to.

Notifications

Real-time reporting is available on both systems. Users can get notifications for literally everything, including punch ins and outs, overtime hours, and vacation requests. The notification process goes both ways – managers and employees can automate notifications for when something changes in the schedule. This applies to both software programs.

Overtime, PTO, Sick, Vacation, Breaks

Both programs allow users to streamline hour tracking without having to enter them manually. Team members log in at their desks, on their mobile devices, or in the case of Buddy Punch – even with the facial recognition tool. This also includes calculating overtime, paid time off (PTO), sick leave, and vacation time. Buddy Punch has an extra feature of calculating automated breaks.

Reports

Users can get reports on both Clockshark and Buddy Punch. Buddy Punch has several reports that can be customized to your needs ensuring that you report everything required by your payroll or HR departments.

Apps

Both tools work on desktops, smartphones (Android and iPhone/iOS), and tablets. The services have native mobile apps for several kinds of devices, which is useful if you need to manage your team on the go.

IP Address Locks

This feature is currently only available with Buddy Punch. It goes as follows – administrators can assign an IP address which ensures an employee is only able to punch in or out from a device associated with that IP address. This is a great way to ensure your employees are punching in or out where they’re supposed to be.

Integrations

Both software have integrations with other popular business software, like ADP or Quickbooks, which makes it easier for businesses to switch over to using them without overhauling their existing project management systems.

Affordability of Buddy Punch and Clockshark

Even though they are similarly priced, Clockshark is more expensive than Buddy Punch. The free trial version for Clockshark only lasts 14 days, while Buddy Punch gives a free trial to its users. After the trial period, Clockshark charges a base fee of $25 and a fee of $5 per user per month. If you choose to pay annually, the rates reduce to $20 and $4.17 per user per month respectively.

The billing system for the two is completely different. Buddy Punch is one of the few companies that have set prices based on a number of users, without charging a base price. Therefore, the rate you pay here will depend solely on the number of users. For example, the total quote for using Buddy Punch with 9 users is $29 per month. If you have 99 users on board, the cost is $199 per month. But regardless of how many users you have, the total for Buddy Punch is always cheaper than Clockshark.

Considering the additional features and pricing competitiveness, it is clear why Buddy Punch is the more popular option among business owners for online time tracking.