Buddy Punch vs. Clockshark
We learned the hard way how tedious it can be to look through different time tracking tools to find the perfect one for your business. We struggled through this ourselves years ago, back when we first realized that manual methods of monitoring employee time were preventing us from optimizing our small business. Finding the best time tracking solution to replace our manual attendance tracking was so difficult that we eventually figured there was no perfect solution for us, so we decided to build our own.
However, we firmly believe business owners shouldn’t have to share in our experience. That’s why we’ve started creating comparison guides to help you quickly compare features and pricings of popular employee management tools to figure out which would be best. Which brings us here: in a head-to-head comparison between Buddy Punch and Clockshark.
Both of these tools are regarded as some of the most effective workforce management options on the market, meaning that choosing between them can make a huge difference on your ability to monitor employee hours and schedule employees.
Before we dive into the comparison, we can sum it up quickly: Buddy Punch is more effective and more affordable than Clockshark. If you’re trying to choose between these two, that’s a quick answer (and you can get a free trial of Buddy Punch here).
But we’ll also go much deeper to fully breakdown how we came to this conclusion, so that you’ll be armed with the knowledge you need to make an informed decision.
Let’s get into the comparison.
Buddy Punch vs. Clockshark Features
As a glance at any Clockshark reviews will reveal, they’ve created a very popular tool that is primarily used in the field service and construction industry. Buddy Punch is in a similar situation, except our tool is used in a variety of different industries (serving over 10,000 businesses at this point) as they track employees throughout the workday. Though both tools share many of the same key features, there are quite a few differences worth highlighting.
Facial Recognition
While Buddy Punch was one of the first software solutions to offer facial recognition, quite a few of our competitors have begun to catch on to how useful this feature is. Clockshark is one of those tools that later added facial recognition. However, their version has a limitation. It can only be used via their Kiosk Clock function, which is when you’ve got ClockShark set up on a single device that all employees use to clock in and out (think a physical time clock). Meanwhile, Buddy Punch’s Facial Recognition via screenshots is available across all devices Buddy Punch functions on (Windows or Mac Desktops, iOS or Android smartphones, tablets).
Drastically cut down on time theft or the chance of buddy punching through this feature on any device, whether it be iPhone or your team members’ computers while they’re working from home.
Locations and GPS
Both programs offer GPS tracking for remote employees. The ability to keep up with GPS locations throughout the day means that all work hours tracked are accurate regardless of what job site your team members are at. Both Buddy Punch and Clockshark also have Geofencing as an option, which is an ease-of-use tool that lets you establish a radius around a job site (known as a Geofence). If an employee attempts to start timekeeping while not at one of these radii, they’ll receive an error message and be denied.
Management
When we refer to management in these tools, we mean the user-friendly ability to elevate employees to monitor each other’s timesheets, tasks, and work hours. This level of delegation is, in our opinion, a key time & project management feature that business owners should always have access to.
That established, 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 of the 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 and is a great way to streamline employee management. Users can get notifications for literally everything, including punch ins and clock outs, overtime hours, and vacation requests. The notification process goes both ways – managers and employees can get notifications when something changes in the schedule. This applies to both software programs.
Overtime, PTO, Sick, Vacation, Breaks
Both programs allow the accrual of paid time off hours 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, PTO, sick, and vacation time. Both tools also have options for calculating automated breaks – with Clockshark letting you automatically deduct lunch breaks while Buddy Punch is much more flexible, letting you create any sort of break rule you want with any number of minutes you want.
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, and tablets. The services have mobile apps that work natively for several kinds of devices, which is useful if you need to manage your team on the go.
Integrations
Both tools come with API integrations for many popular third-party payroll providers to supplement the transferring of your employee schedule data. Many of their payroll processing partners overlap, such as both tools connecting to QuickBooks, ADP, Zapier, Paychex, and more.
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.
Reviews
Looking over on popular software review site Capterra, we can see what the reception of each tool is currently like. As of this post’s writing, both Buddy Punch and Clockshark actually have stellar user reviews, with both of them sitting at a rating of 4.8 out of 5 stars due to their features, customer support, and value for price.
Notable Features Buddy Punch has that Clockshark Lacks
- Built-In Payroll.
While we initially relied on third party payroll providers to manage our work hours, we eventually developed an in-house solution so that you could manage all your billable hours, invoicing, and tax payments in one single tool. Buddy Punch offers a payroll solution that enables:
- Unlimited Payroll Runs
- Integrated Timesheets
- W-2s and 1099s
- Automated Payroll Payments
- Direct Deposit
- Employee Self-onboarding
Learn more about this paid-addon here.
- QR Codes. Buddy Punch allows you and your team members to quickly sign in through the use of scanning QR codes for a rapid way to clock in.
- Punch Limiting. Through this feature you can set up a specific timeframe for employees to clock in or out (cutting down on overtime and early clock-ins.)
- IP Address Locking. This feature lets you set up a specific IP address that employees are allowed to clock in from, which is perfect for maintaining order if you’re managing multiple job sites.
Buddy Punch vs. Tsheets, Clockshark, Zapier & Asana
Ultimately, to find the right desktop time clock software for you and your business needs, you will want to make sure that you research the available options. Follow the link to see comparisons of Buddy Punch with three other popular time tracking tools available in today’s market. Selecting the best software for you will depend on your budget, preferences, and time tracking needs for your business. Just keep in mind that this software is meant to save you time and effort so that you can focus on the bigger picture – making your business as successful as possible.
Choose a time tracking software wisely – it can have a big impact on your business and the effort you expend with time tracking.
