9 Best Employee Time Clocks for 2023

The best employee time clocks have robust systems that support multiple clock-in/out options, use biometric or facial recognition technology, and include mobile apps with GPS-based clock-ins. Some go beyond clock-ins with scheduling and employee communications. These digital time clocks provide users with better time-tracking flexibility while offering more advanced features, such as customizable reports and project- or task-based time allocation.

The best nine for small businesses are:

• Homebase: Best overall for small businesses with only one location
• OnTheClock: Best for employee communications
• Deputy: Best for seasonal businesses or those with employees on standby
• busybusy: Best for field employees like construction workers
• Buddy Punch: Best for businesses trying to control time theft from buddy-punching or unauthorized overtime
• 7shifts: Best for restaurants
• When I Work: Best for growing and multilocation businesses
• Timelogix: Best for companies needing a wall-mounted biometric time clock
• uAttend DR2000: Best for businesses sharing employees across departments

Employee Time Clocks Compared

Homebase: Best Overall Employee Time Clock

Homebase Pricing

Homebase, like busybusy, 7shifts, OnTheClock, and Deputy, has a free plan. It works for one location and up to 20 employees but includes all features, including scheduling, team messaging, and cash advances, making it the best if you have a limited number of employees. It has three paid plans:

• Essentials ($24.95 per location, unlimited employees): Free plan plus advanced scheduling, advanced time tracking, team communication, payroll add-on capability
• Plus ($59.95 per location, unlimited employees): Essentials plan plus hiring, PTO and time-off controls, departments and permissions, and employee certification and performance notes
• All-in-one ($99.95 per location, unlimited employees): Plus plan plus onboarding, labor cost management, HR & compliance tools

For an additional $39 per month + $6 per employee, you can add Homebase payroll.

Homebase Features

• Feature-rich free option: Homebase’s free plan is packed with features. You can create weekly schedules, capture and monitor employee attendance, store time sheets for 90 days, integrate with POS software, message team members in real time, and provide employees access to up to $400 of earned pay—provided you have only one business location. It’s the best free plan if you have one location and fewer than 20 workers.
• POS integrations: Even Homebase’s free plan integrates with point-of-sale (POS) systems, making it a great choice for retail.
• Efficient time and scheduling tools: Homebase’s online tools can help you streamline time tracking and scheduling processes. Its features include automated time sheets, daily labor reports, administrator alerts for late clock-ins and overtime, and a drag-and-drop schedule builder.
• Multiple job rates: If your employee works different jobs at different rates, Homebase can allocate hours by job and track employee time with multiple roles and wage rates.
• Compliance tools: Homebase can track PTO, send overtime alerts, and track breaks. However, its higher plans also alert you to changing federal and state laws and offer live HR assistance if you have questions. This is a bit like 7shifts, which also has state-specific compliance features.
• Basic HR tools: Homebase alone includes a range of HR tools. At its most basic, it lets you communicate with team members, but it also has onboarding, performance evaluation, certificate tracking, and more.

OnTheClock: Best for Employee Communication

OnTheClock Pricing

Unlike most of the others on our list, OnTheClock offers only one plan with all features, with no minimums or base fees. Pricing is per person monthly, and the per-person price decreases the more employees you have. If you need a plan for just two people, OnTheClock is free. Educational institutions, government agencies, and nonprofits get discounts.

• 1–2 users: $0.00
• 3–10 users: $3.50
• 11–25 users: $3.45
• 26–50 users: $3.40
• 51–100 users: $3.35
• 101–200 users: $3.30
• 201–300 users: $3.25
• 301–400 users: $3.20
• 401 + users: Custom

Fingerprint readers cost about $100, plus an extra 50 cents/employee/month for those using it.

OnTheClock Features

• Clock in by job, location, or position: Like Buddy Punch, you can clock in by job rather than position. It also has geofencing so you can ensure field workers are on-location before they clock in.
• Fingerprint clock-in: Rather than facial recognition, it uses fingerprints or employee numbers or names. This feature requires hardware and an extra fee, but can be applied to only those who use the fingerprint reader for check-in. (Timelogix and uAttend’s scanners are included in the hardware.)
• Communications: Use messaging to communicate with individuals or teams, create surveys to get important feedback, or ensure tasks are completed (like recurring training). You can also attach notes to the schedule, have employees add notes to their shift, and attach photos.
• Compliance checks: Like When I Work, OnTheClock lets you set time limits to prevent early clock-in. It also provides automated breaks and clock-out reminders.
• Job costing and payroll: While Homebase offers job costing in its highest plan, this tool is included with any OnTheClock plan. Even better, it lets you create Billable Reports. It also calculates gross payroll automatically and lets you integrate with several payroll software systems.
• Salaried hours tracking: Salary workers can use OnTheClock as well. This can be helpful for tracking salary-plus-overtime jobs or billable hours.

Deputy: Best for Seasonal Businesses

Deputy Pricing

Deputy has a simple free plan that lets you publish 100 shifts per month and approve 100 time sheets per month. It includes PTO management, a newsfeed, and 24/7 email support. Its paid plans are divided by scheduling, time & attendance, and a combination of the two

• Time & Attendance ($3.50 per user monthly): Free plan with unlimited timesheets, POS integration, tasking, performance, shift journals, custom timesheet fields, and payroll integration. Timeclock includes facial recognition and geofencing.
• Scheduling ($3.50 per user monthly): Free plan with unlimited shifts, auto-scheduling, POS integration, tasking, meal and break planning, SMS notifications, availability management, shift swap, and schedule templates.
• Premium ($4.90 per user monthly): Scheduling and Time & Attendance plans plus reports, shift engagement tracking
• Enterprise (Custom quote): Premium plan with single sign-on, advanced demand planning, advanced reporting, customizations, implementation and dedicated support, training, and department level procedures.
• Flexi Weekly Plan ($2.50 per active user per week + 50 cents per inactive user per week): Premium plan for use when half or more of your employees are off during any given week.

Deputy has a minimum monthly spend of $25 and offers special pricing for charities, nonprofits, and community organizations.

Deputy Features

• Special plan for seasonal or rotating workforce: If you have big seasonal fluxes or a rotating schedule of week(s)-on/week(s)-off, Deputy might be a more cost-effective option. Rather than paying for all employees all the time, you pay only for active members, with the others in archive for easy reactivation. The Flexi plan includes both scheduling and time clock features. It’s unique to any plan we’ve researched.
• Voice-command clock-ins: Deputy allows employees to clock in with voice commands, something we did not find in other employee time clocks on our list.
• Employee communication: In addition to showing expected lunch and short breaks, Deputy also lets you add one-time or recurring task lists for employees to refer to and check off. Unlike Homebase or OnTheJob, however, it does not let you divide hours by task.
• Compliance tools: You can require employees to verify that they took their required breaks. It also lets you set up questions, such as for COVID precautions, in order to keep up with legal and health rules.
• Calculate wages: The time sheets allow you to calculate wages, including overtime and penalties. Most software on our list will require you to put the information into payroll software. Deputy integrates with multiple popular payroll software programs.
• HR tools: Deputy has a new HR product that includes hiring, onboarding, and document management tools. The price is to be determined, but contact Deputy if interested. Homebase, on the other hand, readily offers these tools in its higher plans.
• Multinational: Deputy works in over 90 countries. The mobile app and iPad/tablet kiosk can handle multiple languages. In fact, employees can select their language.

busybusy: Best for Employees in the Field

busybusy Pricing

busybusy has a free plan with GPS time tracking, job costing, equipment tracking, and unlimited users. If you only need time tracking for jobs, it’s a better deal than Homebase, which has limits on people and location. It offers two paid plans, plus the ability to add payroll or integrations for an extra fee—Contact busybusy for the add-on prices.

• Free plan: GPS time tracking, job costing, equipment tracking, unlimited users
• Pro ($11.99 per user monthly): Free plan, plus GPS breadcrumbing, supervisor tools, safety reports, photos and notes, scheduling
• Premium ($17.99 per person monthly): Pro plan plus documents, daily project reports, progress tracking, checklists, team messages, Zapier for integrations

busybusy Features

• GPS breadcrumbing: busybusy goes beyond the others on our list by not only allowing geofencing but by tracking locations of employees throughout the day. This makes it great for moving companies, supply runs, or home servicing companies. Also, while others can tell you who is on duty, busybusy gives you a map of everyone’s location as well.
• Offline mode: Away from Wi-Fi? Busybusy continues to track on the phone and uploads when a connection is available.
• Team clock: Supervisors can clock entire teams in and out, even for breaks and lunches.
• Daily reports: While OnTheClock has employee notes, busybusy allows for full daily construction reports. It automatically adds weather reports, lets you upload photos of progress or trouble areas, track hours and cost codes, list equipment, and record digital signatures.
• Safety reports: busybusy is the only time clock software on our list that also lets you file safety reports. This can include daily sign-offs of safety briefings to reduce liability or reporting injuries that happened on the job.
• Cost codes: While some of the software on our list, like Deputy, lets you create job codes, busybusy goes past that by attaching special instructions for the codes and adding colors for specific jobs to help keep your workers organized. Employees can switch between projects and cost codes.
• Equipment tracking: This is the only time clock software that also tracks equipment and operator time, a vital component of job costing.

Buddy Punch: Best for Preventing Time Theft

Buddy Punch Pricing

All plans start with a $19 base fee, regardless of how many users you have. This can make it more expensive for very small businesses. However, the per-user prices are reasonable, and the software, robust.

• Standard ($3.49 per user monthly + $19 per month base fee): Unlimited administrators, basic GPS, time off tracking, time tracking, reports, alerts and reminders, payroll integrations, job tracking, break planning, multi-channel support.
• Pro ($4.49 per user monthly + $19 per month base fee): Standard plan plus shift trades, schedule templates and notifications, availability management, early/absent/late reporting
• Custom (Custom): Pro features plus API access and single sign-on

Buddy Punch Payroll can be added for $39 per month + $6 per user monthly and includes unlimited pay runs, tax forms, direct deposit, and employee onboarding.

Buddy Punch Features

• QR Code punch-in: Buddy Punch is the only time clock on the list to provide QR-code punch-in capabilities. Employees are given a unique QR code so that you can track them in real time or let them scan it for self-reporting.
• SMS clock-in: For employees who travel or work remotely, you can set up SMS clock-in via Zapier. Employees in the field can clock in by sending a text message to a specific number. Again, this is unique to the products on our list.
• Overtime notifications: If overtime is a concern, Buddy Punch can send email or mobile notifications to managers so that if an employee is nearing overtime for the week, you can adjust your schedule.
• Job codes: Like Homebase, you can assign job codes so that employees can clock in and out by job. Even more, it lets your employee designate their customer, to help with tracking billable hours.
• Multilocation tracking: While several software on our list can manage multiple locations, Buddy Punch lets employees track their locations so that if someone works in multiple offices, they can choose the office for that shift.
• Notifications: Buddy Punch provides notices for employees, managers, and admins that include time card changes, overtime alerts, and PTO requests and approvals.
• Geolocation tracking: Unlike OnTheClock, which has only geofencing, Buddy Punch includes GPS tracking. This is similar to busybusy, so you can track employees on the go.

7shifts: Best for Restaurants

7shifts Pricing

There are several plans from free to $150 per month per location. The prices depend on features, but the free plan and Entree plan have user limits.

• Comp (Free): One location, up to 30 users, includes mobile app, bulk editing, scheduling, shift pools, availability and time off requests, time clock and compliance, employee health checks, hiring tools, POS integration, team chat and announcements, engagement dashboard, reports, chat support
• Entree ($34.99 per location, up to 50 locations): Up to 30 users, includes Comp plan plus unlimited scheduling, shift notes, shift reminders, labor budgeting, time off approval and tracking, time punch editing, tips tracking, break tracking, customized employee health check, wage-based roles, announcement read receipts, phone support
• The Works ($76.99 per location, up to 50 locations): Unlimited employees, includes Entree plan plus scheduled breaks, department-based budgeting, geofencing, advanced time clock compliance, overtime, break, and punch alerts, state-based compliance tools, payroll integration, activity and manager logbooks, shift feedback and performance logs, punch audit reporting
• Gourmet ($150 per location, unlimited locations): Unlimited users, includes The Works plus dedicated account manager, operations overview, task checklists, machine-learning auto scheduler, employee onboarding

If you choose a lower plan than Gourmet but want to add some tools, you can add these:

• Task management (task checklists): $12.99 per location monthly
• Tip pooling: $24.99 per location monthly
• Operations Overview (track labor performance and engagement): $6.99 per location monthly
• Manager log book: $14.99 per location monthly

7shifts Features

• Restaurant-specific tools: Integrations into 25+ POS systems, tip pooling and calculations, and specialized employee health checks make this a top choice for the restaurant industry. 7shifts also offers discounts to franchises.
• Clock-in limits: One unique feature 7shifts has is only allowing people who are scheduled to clock in, which can save you unbudgeted labor hours. It also had facial recognition and geofencing, and early clock-in prevention.
• Labor compliances: While most of the software on our list lets you schedule break reminders and offer overtime alerts, 7shifts goes further by including state compliance rules (with higher plans). This saves you from manually inputting rules. Minors are also flagged so managers can keep this in mind when scheduling.
• Communications: Like OnTheClock, you can contact people through the app, offer empty shifts, enable shift swap, and provide task notes. However, it also has a manager log book that will record tasks completed as well as any important shift notes.
• Alerts: Unlike busybusy, you get alerts for employees approaching overtime, not taking a required break, or missing a punch.

When I Work: Best for Growing Businesses & Multiple Locations

When I Work Pricing

When I Work lacks a free plan. For this, consider Homebase, Deputy, or OnTheClock as its closest competitors. You need to activate time and attendance to the scheduling plan, which increases the basic price. The prices listed here include that option.

• Standard with time and attendance ($4 per user monthly): Team messaging, availability management, time off management, document storage, SMS notifications, auto scheduling, labor planning, multiple schedules and locations, job sites, tags, shift swap and bidding, time sheets, overtime alerts, break management, geofencing, facial recognition, payroll integration, on-demand pay
• Advanced with time and attendance ($8 per user monthly): Standard plan plus advanced scheduling tools like labor sharing, shift reports, API access, absence tracking, custom reports

When I Work Features

• Clock-in tools: These compare well with the others on our list, like Homebase or Deputy, including geofencing and facial recognition. It alerts managers of missed clock-ins, something not found in busybusy, for example, and comes with PTO management.
• Prevent early clock-in: Like OnTheClock, When I Work lets you set rules to prevent early clock-ins.
• Labor costing: You can set different positions for each employee so that you can track hours and pay rates accordingly, making it easier to manage payroll.
• Employee shift communications: In addition to alerts like reminders to clock in or out, you can send team messages through the app or directly to individuals through SMS texting. This includes sending documents, such as training forms.
• Shift swaps: This is a strength for When I Work. While others, like 7shifts, allow employees to swap shifts, When I Work goes further with availability settings and shift bidding. Shift bidding lets multiple users express an interest in picking up a shift so that managers or individuals have a choice of replacements.
• Tasks: Employees can see shift task lists and check them off. Supervisors, meanwhile, can track progress.
• Advances on pay: Like Homebase and uAttend, When I Work has a program that lets employees request and receive advances on pay for hours they’ve already worked.

Timelogix: Best for Wall-mounted Time Clocks

Timelogix Pricing

Physical time clock: Timelogix TL200 costs $299.99; other Timelogix employee clocks range from $199.99 to $499.99. Compare this to the price of a tablet or iPad you might use for a kiosk.

Software: The time and attendance software is priced by the number of employees in groups of 10. Regardless, you get overtime calculations, real-time tracking, scheduling, an employee portal, customized overtime, and unlimited support. It allows for unlimited locations.

• 1–10 employees: $30 per month
• 11–20 employees: $60 per month
• 21–30 employees: $90 per month
• 31–40 employees: $120 per month
• 41–50 employees: $150 per month
• More than 50 employees: Contact Timelogix for a custom quote

Timelogix Features

• Multiple time clocks: Aside from time clock apps with geolocation features that work on iOS and Android devices, Timelogix offers physical time clocks, which can be mounted on walls. We found the Timelogix TL200 a good option for a reasonably-priced clock with smart card, fingerprint biometrics, and PIN code time capture capabilities.
• Offline mode: Its machines have built-in Wi-Fi, touch-screen displays, and an offline mode that saves time entries to its internal memory if the internet goes down and sends all the data to the software once the connection has been restored.
• Secure clock-in/out options: Unlike Homebase, which only accepts PIN code clock-ins/outs, Timelogix’s time clock machines support facial recognition, fingerprint scans, PIN codes, and RFID card taps. None of the cloud-based time clocks allow RFID clock-in.
• Time and attendance management: With Timelogix’s time and attendance software, you can view employee time entries in real time, edit electronic timesheets, set rules for overtime and breaks, and select the devices from which employees can clock in/out.
• Employee scheduling: In addition to creating employee work shifts, you can assign a project, job, or location to a schedule. Timelogix even lets you manage “out of shift” time, allowing you to approve or disapprove extra minutes that your staff worked before and after their scheduled shifts.
• Mobile app: Timelogix also offers a mobile app that integrates with the time clock software. It has geofencing, shift schedules, and timecard renewal.

uAttend DR2000: Best for Companies Sharing Employees Across Departments

uAttend DR2000 Pricing

Physical time clock: The JR2000 costs $199; other uAttend time clocks cost anywhere from $299 to $399

Time and attendance software: The software, like Timelogix, is priced by the number of employees. It includes punch lockouts to enforce breaks, punch rounding, department transfers, overtime alerts, geofencing, PTO management, payroll exports, and scheduling.

• 1–9 employees: $22 per month
• 10–19 employees: $37 per month
• 20–49 employees: $65 per month
• 50–99 employees: $99 per month
• 100 or more employees: $129 per month

Add-ons: Unlike Timelogix, uAttend has some add-ons in case you need more functionality. This includes additional cloud storage, which Timelogix offers unlimited storage for free.

• Cloud account for additional time clocks: $10 per time clock monthly
• Additional administrator seat: $6 per seat monthly
• Data exports in formats other than CSV: $5 per month

uAttend DR2000 Features

• Multiple clock-in/out options: Its JR2000 model supports RFID, fingerprint, and PIN code time entries and connects via Wi-Fi or LAN. uAttend other time clocks support several clock-in/out options—from facial recognition to fingerprint scans.
• Health monitoring: The DR5000 includes a temperature reader and can deny clock-ins to employees running a temperature.
• Department transfers directly from the time clock: If you have employees who work across departments, they can track jobs and request department transfers directly from uAttend JR2000. None of the other employee time clock providers on this list have this functionality.
• PTO monitoring: Unlike Timelogix, uAttend monitors PTO accrual and time-off requests.
• Employee communications: Like several of the time clock apps on our list, uAttend lets employees send you notes or time-off requests from their app.
• EarlyPay: Like Homebase and When I Work, uAttend lets employees get their wages on demand through earlyPAY by Clair.
• Helpful setup wizard: uAttend’s time clock includes a self-guided setup wizard. The guide is intuitive and only requires an internet connection so that you can pair the device with your online uAttend account, set up the time zone, and then start using the time clock. Others on our list have a more complicated setup process, although all provide guides to get started.

How We Evaluated

Aside from pricing and ease of use, we looked for essential features like time capture options, break and PTO tracking, and reporting tools. Then, we rated each based on the following criteria:

How to Choose an Employee Time Clock

Choosing the best time clock for your small business doesn’t have to be difficult. Start by understanding what you want from the time clock software. Consider your business situation and ask these questions:

• Do you have a problem with early clock-ins? Most time clocks for employees can prevent this.
• Do you want to enforce manager approval of overtime? Some notify managers when someone is late clocking out while others ping the employee with a reminder.
• Does your state enforce breaks and lunches? Some time clocks let you set these rules.
• Do your people work outside of the office? Some time clocks have mobile apps with geofencing that lets employees punch in when they are on location.
• How important is it to integrate with your payroll software? The best cloud-based time clocks for small businesses include integrations with popular software, while others create CSV files you can upload. Meanwhile, the best time card machines let you download a file to upload into your payroll software.
• Do your employees need to track time to specific projects? While time tracking software is your better bet, there are some time clock software that include project management features.

Next, consider hardware. Most time clocks for small businesses operate from tablets—usually iPads. However, some require their own hardware. These cost $200–$500, depending on features, which is less than an iPad. However, they usually have less robust software.

Naturally, price is a consideration. Most come with monthly fees, especially if they have cloud-based software or mobile apps. Keep in mind, however, that you are paying for convenience—time clock software is usually more accurate, includes rules and reports that help you with compliance to state break laws, and makes it easier to create time sheets or integrate straight to payroll software.

Employee Time Clock Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

What is the best app for employees to clock in and out?

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Do I need special equipment for a time clock?

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How do you use a time card machine?

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Bottom Line

All of the options we reviewed in this guide are great for helping business owners and their HR teams efficiently manage employees. They track time in and out, allow you to put that information into timecards for payroll, and prevent buddy punching. Some let you enforce breaks, communicate with employees through the clock, and more.

Our top pick for employee time clocks is Homebase, as it provides single-location businesses with a free online time clock to use that includes timekeeping, scheduling, and hiring tools. Start tracking your employees’ work time for free.

Visit Homebase