Working time and attendance are key for any business, so many companies and entrepreneurs focus on gathering accurate data in this regard. Data is used to comply with labor legislation and for payroll. But more often than not, time and attendance tracking procedures are invasive, opaque, and perceived as a burden by employees. To avoid micromanagement and boost people’s morale and responsibility, go for time and attendance software that addresses their needs, respects their time, and provides transparency. Here are the best options to consider.
That’s why we picked the top 10 time and attendance software from all the tools we reviewed.
Buddy Punch sounds friendly, and it is. It helps you organize shifts and track employees regardless of whether they work in an office, from home, or in the field. Furthermore, all timesheets are automatically sent to payroll without errors or data loss.
And there is more. Buddy Punch acts as a clock-in/clock-out app for your employees. They can easily log in with a 4-digit pin, QR, or facial recognition and punch in or out. They can even add pictures from locations when they work outside the office. You have all data gathered in one place, tracking in real-time who is at work, who is late, who is doing overtime, and who is on leave. Buddy Punch features a GPS timestamp, too, showing you where the employees are when punching in or out.
The same app provides a leave request procedure, a data export procedure, and a custom notification procedure.
Buddy Punch provides:
Timesheet Functionality: Timesheets can be manually reviewed and approved by managers before they are sent to payroll. In addition, the software provides a break time tracker that automatically removes unpaid breaks from timesheets for accurate payments. Timesheets can be exported as PDF, Excel, or CSV files for analytics and other payroll providers.
Pros: User-friendly interface, mobile access, automated attendance tracking, detailed reporting, and payroll integration
Cons: Limited analytics, no built-in invoicing, and paid-only options for small teams
Price: Buddy Punch provides four paid monthly subscription options starting at $4.49/user/month plus $19 base fee per month.
What people say about Buddy Punch:
“I really value how clear and simple the application process is. The transparency throughout makes it easy to understand each step.”
”It can be somewhat challenging to adjust the excess time.”
QuickBooks Time aims to save you up to 4% on payroll based on accurate time and attendance data. It provides real-time tracking, allowing you to see who’s at work and who’s on leave. At the same time, the app provides access to multiple timesheets, allowing you to manage multiple teams.
QuickBooks Time works on desktop and mobile devices and seamlessly integrates with accounting and payroll apps. It also provides collaborative tools that allow you to communicate with your team and make decisions on the go. You can plan shifts, schedule tasks, and create customized reports. You can change your mind and adjust whenever needed, notifying everyone involved. Don’t forget to set up alerts for all the essential stuff, such as overtime, schedule changes, and deadlines.
QuickBooks Time provides:
Timesheet Functionality: The supervisor can edit and approve timesheets online from a desktop or mobile device. With QuickBooks Time Elite, timesheets can also be signed by employees and contractors. The app allows you to set up notifications for timesheet approval deadlines.
Pros: Streamlined payroll with QuickBooks Payroll and integration with other QuickBooks apps
Cons: Expensive for small teams, steep learning curve, and poor customer support
Price: QuickBooks Time provides two paid monthly subscription options starting at $38/user/month for 1 user.
What people say about QuickBooks Time:
“QuickBooks Time is helpful for tracking the number of hours of work done by people. The upsides of using QuickBooks Time is that the information easily imports into QuickBooks accounting software.”
”QuickBooks has fixed options about stuff you can add, so I would like it if the application had more flexibility, or if you could add your own options, and the customer support is not that great.”
When I Work is time and attendance software for scheduling and tracking your employees’ activity. The schedule integrates with payroll and allows you to pay your employees instantly. In addition, When I Work features team messaging tools, leave request procedures, shift scheduling, a customizable clock-in/clock-out functionality, and collaborative planning.
It offers user-friendly desktop and mobile apps that are easy to learn. Your employees can connect quickly, receive notifications when their shifts change, request time off and receive approval. All the data is gathered safely and used to generate reports and spot patterns and trends.
When I Work provides:
Timesheet Functionality: Based on employee clock-in and out, the app builds employee timesheets, which can be manually edited and approved using a desktop or mobile device. Employees can also add notes to their shifts, explaining delays or issues. Timesheets can be exported to payroll.
Pros: Efficient scheduling and shift swapping, built-in employee messaging, reminders, and mobile access
Cons: Not very user-friendly, limited reporting, poor customer support
Price: When I Work provides three paid monthly subscription options starting at $2.5/user/month for a single location.
What people say about When I Work:
“It makes it simple to execute & communicate clearly scheduling/scheduling needs.”
”Not the most user-friendly - takes a minute to figure out.”
Connecteam focuses on remote teams that need to communicate and collaborate without being in the same room. As a result, their time and attendance software features team scheduling, geo-fence, clock-in/clock-out functionality, timesheets, and integrated payroll. After reviewing your employees' attendance data, you can pay them with just one click.
Furthermore, you can customize the procedures, avoiding mistakes and confusion. While your employees can use the kiosk app for fast clock-in and clock-out, you can manually add work hours, sync their schedules, manage absences, and approve time off. Connecteam informs you about overtime and other discrepancies, ensuring you comply with labor legislation.
Connecteam provides:
Timesheet Functionality: The timesheet rules are compliant with labor legislation and force you to set the right break time and pay. The supervisor receives alerts if discrepancies or conflicts appear. Timesheets can be approved individually or in bulk and sent to payroll as Excel or PDF files.
Pros: Accurate time tracking, streamlined communication, AI-powered tools, and a mobile app
Cons: Limited integrations, not very user-friendly, time zone issues, and slow performance
Price: Connecteam provides a free option for up to 10 users and paid monthly subscription options starting at $29/30 users/month.
What people say about Connecteam:
“What I appreciate most about Connecteam is how it truly streamlines my daily HR tasks, making my work feel more organized and connected. Rather than having to manage multiple spreadsheets, messages, and reminders separately, I now have everything I need in a single platform, which significantly reduces my stress.”
”There is a bit of a learning curve, and I’m still discovering some of its features months later, but those are just small quirks that don’t affect how well it works for us overall.”
Deputy helps you monitor labor costs by allowing you to easily schedule staff, monitor attendance, and analyze simple timesheets to spot patterns and trends. The app tracks work hours, breaks, and time off. It integrates with payroll and HR software, providing a complete perspective on people management.
Moreover, the Deputy tool provides labor compliance tools that ensure your business complies with labor legislation in your country. Therefore, you can manage work schedules and offer a fair workweek to your employees. The pay calculations are automatic and based on a secure employee time clock.
Deputy provides:
Timesheet Functionality: The timesheet rules are compliant with labor legislation and force you to set the right break time and pay. The supervisor receives alerts if discrepancies or conflicts appear. Timesheets can be approved individually or in bulk and sent to payroll as Excel or PDF files.
Pros: Accurate time tracking, streamlined communication, on-the-go access, advanced analytics, compliance features, and task and leave management
Cons: Time zone scheduling issues, notification issues, and poor customer support
Price: Deputy provides four paid monthly subscription options starting at $5/user/month.
What people say about Deputy:
“Deputy is a great app. It is easy to see shifts and rosters. It has a great company group chat, and I love how the app is simple and has all the things required to have a great work app.”
”Sometimes the app can be a bit slow to load, especially when checking schedules or swapping shifts. Also, a few features could be more customizable, like notifications or report settings. But overall, these are small issues compared to how much the platform helps with scheduling and team management.”
Clockify is one of the most popular time and attendance software. It features timesheets that let you log time by employee, project, or activity, generate reports, and monitor attendance. Clockify also includes a kiosk app for employees, a calendar for scheduling tasks, and tools for managing time off. It integrates with apps you might already use, such as Jira and Trello.
Alongside time tracking, Clockify provides a few functionalities for people management. For example, you can keep employee, contact, and payroll data on hand. You can also manage and monitor time off, task assignments, and performance.
Clockify provides:
Timesheet Functionality: The user can categorize activities and add details, such as notes, tags, and custom information. The app provides templates and allows the user to copy activities from previous weeks to save time. Timesheets can be locked daily or weekly. Alerts are sent when someone logs the wrong amount of time.
Pros: Free plan forever, good integrations, time off and scheduling features, and good reporting tools
Cons: No project management tools, usability issues, and limited features in the free version
Price: Clockify has a free option with an automatic timer. Paid plans start at $7.99 per user per month (when billed annually)
What people say about Clockify:
“The best thing is how simple and effective it is for tracking time without any unnecessary distractions. It’s super helpful, so whether you’re logging hours for work, personal projects, or just staying on your productivity, it’s easy to use.”
”In my experience, Clockify seems better suited for smaller teams or freelancers, and I think it would be advantageous if its features were expanded to better accommodate larger organizations.”
Rippling is a complex HR software solution with a time and attendance module. It provides automatic work-hour tracking, meaning employees don’t have to enter data and wait for approvals manually. They must use the kiosk app to clock in and out using a mobile or desktop device. Then, everything happens automatically, from approving hours to paychecks.
Furthermore, you can customize the workflows, notification procedures, and approvals. You can monitor the staff’s activity in real-time and make decisions on the go. You can also create customized reports that include costs, locations, teams, and projects. Rippling includes built-in compliance to ensure you respect each employee's federal, state, and local labor laws.
Rippling provides:
Timesheet Functionality: The app sends approved hours directly to payroll. It also sends reminders about the unapproved timesheets or when employees forget to clock in or out. The user can see the timesheets using a desktop or mobile app, all features being available on all types of devices.
Pros: All-in-one platform, IT device management, global compliance features, and seamless integrations
Cons: Steep learning curve, complex interface, and less suitable for small businesses than similar software
Price: Rippling provides a paid monthly subscription starting at $8/user/month.
What people say about Rippling:
“I use Rippling for handling my paystubs and benefits, and I appreciate how it simplifies keeping track of the hours I've worked and the time off I have accrued.”
”Can be hard to find things sometimes, such as files or other employee information.”
DeskTime aims to be a complete time-tracking solution that boosts productivity by up to 30%. Its goals are to avoid burnout, minimize labor costs, and automate team management. DeskTime offers an automatic time tracker that monitors when the employee’s computer is open and shut, as well as work progress monitoring, shift scheduling, attendance tracking, and project management tools.
The app generates reports and exports data for more complex statistics and analytics, provides an admin dashboard and employee calendar, and integrates with many other project and people management tools. You can also customize team parameters, workflows, and time-tracking aspects.
DeskTime provides:
Timesheet Functionality: The app generates timesheets automatically. However, manual time tracking is also available. DeskTime syncs with Outlook Calendars to automatically fill in idle time gaps, monitors web activity, and tracks time on the go via a mobile app. Timesheet approvals are available on request.
Pros: Automatic time tracking, project and task management, flexible work support, and intuitive interface
Cons: Inaccurate tracking, privacy concerns, employee monitoring concerns, and poor reporting
Price: DeskTime offers three paid monthly subscription options starting at $6.42/user/month.
What people say about DeskTime:
“With DeskTime, we have an easy time tracking attendance and time, and it also makes monitoring productivity easy. We have remote and hybrid teams, and DeskTime makes it possible to understand how time is spent, which ensures billing accuracy and also effortless project management.”
”What I don't like as much is that the reports can be a bit confusing and definitely have room for improvement, both visually and statistically.”
Time Doctor offers time and attendance tracking solutions for employees working entirely remotely or both in-office and remotely, as well as for outsourced staff. It helps you comply with labor legislation and keep an eye on labor costs while accurately monitoring work hours, overtime, breaks, and time off. The program features automated time tracking, online and offline time tracking, productivity analytics, reports and data exports, and project management tools. You can grant customized access, monitor real-time activity, and set up reminders and approval procedures.
Furthermore, Time Doctor integrates with over 60 other tools and runs on desktop and mobile devices.
Time Doctor provides:
Price: Time Doctor provides three paid monthly subscription options starting at $5.9/user/month.
Timesheet Functionality: Employee entries, either automatic or manual, are gathered in accurate timesheets, which get sent to payroll. Automatic timesheet approvals can be set up. Timesheets can be exported in various file formats. Batch payments and bulk billing are available.
Pros: Seamless integrations, customizable dashboard, automated payroll, and accurate time tracking
Cons: Employee monitoring concerns, limited features in the mobile version, and no free plan
Price: Time Doctor provides three paid monthly subscription options starting at $6.67/user/month.
What people say about Time Doctor:
“The core features for time tracking are solid and reliable. It does a good job of tracking user activity and providing insights into how time is spent.”
”The only downside is that for us to upgrade to the newer version, we would have to start all over.”
Timely uses the power of AI to deliver automated time tracking. The program can tell how much time an employee spent working and how much of that time was spent working on documents, emails, meetings, video calls, or browsing the internet. In addition, Timely features timesheets and people dashboards, task management, invoicing, and payroll. You can use it to plan tasks and monitor their progress, monitor costs, keep an eye on overtime, and generate reports.
In terms of team management, Timely offers tools that improve the team’s productivity and performance while boosting morale and responsibility at the same time. It also integrates with most of the management tools you already use, such as Jira, calendars, Zoom, and Github.
Timely provides:
Timesheet Functionality: Timely provides an AI Timesheet Assistant that learns your habits and saves you time by auto-populating the timesheet. Of course, the supervisor edits and reviews the timesheets before sending them to payroll. Timesheets are available for each employee and each team. Admins can set up reminders and notifications, audit time entries, and log time for contractors.
Pros: Project and budget tracking, automatic time tracking, business-specific features, and advanced reporting tools
Cons: Inconsistent usability, steep learning curve, poor integrations, and limited AI features
Price: Timely provides three paid monthly subscription options starting at $9/user/month.
What people say about Timely:
“I really enjoy using Timely. It has become an essential tool for me, as I rely on it every day to keep track of my hours for my IT consulting business. I find it straightforward to log time for each project, and the reporting features make it simple to generate the information I need for my QuickBooks invoices.”
”If I had to name one downside, it’s that the invoicing setup can feel a bit clunky. It works, but it’s not as intuitive as the rest of the app, and I wish it were as seamless as the time tracking. Still, that’s a small tradeoff for the mental clarity and accountability this app provides me.”
What is time and attendance software?
Time and attendance software is a program or app that allows you to monitor employees’ work hours and time off. The software's main features to track time and attention include recording regular work hours (e.g., working start time and end time), breaks (e.g., lunch break, mandatory breaks, etc.), overtime, PTO, sick days, maternity leave, etc. However, most time and attendance software provides many other features, such as a kiosk app, location tracking, shift planning, and payroll and project management timesheets.
What are the key benefits of time and attendance software?
Time and attendance software helps you keep accurate records and monitor the activity of your employees. The key benefits are:
How do you choose time and attendance software?
Although many time and attendance tracking programs and apps exist, not all of them are suited for your business. Consider the number of employees and teams and their usual workflow. Employees working remotely have different requirements than people working in offices. The outsourced staff has other requirements as well. At the same time, consider your business requirements and the tools you already use for payroll and project management. You want time and attendance software that provides simple and efficient solutions for your requirements, smoothly integrates with tools you already use, and allows customization.