The 13 Best Apps to Track Your Employees

How to track your employees

You’ll likely work with three types of employee tracking apps:

• Time and attendance tracking systems: The best time and attendance systems do more than just record when employees clock in and out. They can also time employee tasks and tag activities with relevant information, including the corresponding project or client, for billing purposes. Additionally, these apps often include shift-planning tools, invoicing features and numerous third-party integrations.
• Geotracking apps: With geotracking apps, you can determine where your employees are stationed for work without personally traveling to their worksites. This tool is critical because supervisors who travel between worksites to check on their employees may lose up to 11 hours per week doing so.
• Employee monitoring apps: Employee monitoring apps help managers keep tabs on various employee activities, including online activities and the devices they plug into company hardware. 

Time and attendance tracking apps

These are some of the best time and attendance tracking apps for small businesses.

1. OnTheClock

OnTheClock is a timeclock app with numerous employee tracking features at a modest price point. As a bonus, its customer reviews are excellent.

Best features:

• Shift scheduling
• Clock-in and clock-out time adjustments
• Automated breaks and reminders
• Automated timesheets
• Billing tools and integrations
• Tip, overtime and payroll reports

Pricing:

• OnTheClock is free for businesses with only one or two employees.
• If you have three or more employees, you’ll pay $3.50 per employee per month at most. If you have more than 400 employees, you must contact OnTheClock for a custom quote.

2. When I Work

When I Work is ideal for businesses that need shift-scheduling tools. Some When I Work plans include additional features like paid time off (PTO) management, photo clock-in (which ensures that on-site employees don’t clock in for absent ones) and overtime alerts.

Best features:

• Schedule builder
• Hours scheduled vs. hours worked
• Labor costing
• Confirmation that employees have viewed their schedules
• Time entry reports
• Overtime alerts
• Unpaid break detection
• Early clock-in prevention
• Photo clock-in
• PTO policy management
• Team messaging

Pricing:

• When I Work’s scheduling and messaging tools start at $2.50 per employee per month. If you add time and attendance software to your scheduling and messaging tools, the starting price increases to $4 per employee per month.
• You can schedule a free demo before committing.

Learn more about this platform via our in-depth When I Work review.

3. TimeClick

TimeClick stands out for its clock-in and clock-out, overtime, and PTO capabilities.

Best features:

• Employee database
• Records of hours worked, including overtime
• PTO and holiday management
• Modifications to time records
• Employee messaging
• Time tracking by client or project
• Numerous report templates

Pricing:

• TimeClick charges a one-time licensing fee. There are no additional bills unless you purchase a support plan. There are four licensing plans to choose from:
  • Prime costs $299 for use on one computer. Ongoing support costs $99 per year.
  • Premium costs $599 for use on up to five devices. Ongoing support costs $169 per year.
  • Plus costs $799 for use on up to 10 devices. Ongoing support costs $219 per year.
  • Platinum costs $1,099 for use on up to 25 devices. Ongoing support costs $289 per year.

4. Clockify

Clockify is ideal for tracking remote employees. Employees can use the tool via a desktop app, mobile app or web browser to track their hours worked by project. Clockify is also well known for its PTO features and integrations with the best CRM software and project management software.

Best features:

• Manual or timed employee tracking by client and project
• Dashboard of employee activities, including time off and breaks
• Time-off tracking with several categories
• Extensive integrations and Zapier API
• Setup checklist for an easy start

Pricing:

• Clockify’s free plan allows unlimited users. It includes time tracking, projects, reports, integrations with third-party apps, an API and support.
• Four paid plans vary in price and features. If you pay annually, the plans range from $3.99 to $11.99 per user per month. If you pay monthly, the cost ranges from $4.99 to $14.99 per user per month.

Learn more about this time and attendance system via our detailed Clockify review.

5. ADP

ADP is best known as a leading payroll provider and professional employer organization (PEO), but it also offers comprehensive time and attendance software. ADP’s time and attendance features allow you to oversee productivity, cost controls, compliance and schedules. Additionally, if you use ADP for your payroll or other HR services, the time and attendance software integrates seamlessly with your other ADP tools. (Learn more about ADP’s payroll services via our in-depth ADP Payroll review.)

Best features:

• Labor reporting compliance
• Time-off tracking, including paid sick leave
• Online schedule management
• Optional facial recognition clock-in and clock-out functionality
• Lateness and absence tracking
• Overtime tracking
• Employee shift swapping
• Skill-based scheduling

Pricing:

• ADP provides custom quotes based on the specific services and tools you need and how many employees you have.

Geotracking apps

These are some of the best geotracking apps for small businesses.

1. QuickBooks Time

QuickBooks Time, previously known as TSheets, is a geotracking solution that employees can use to clock in and out from anywhere through laptops, mobile devices and apps. 

Best features:

• Versatile employee clock-in and clock-out options
• Employee schedule overview, including who else is working
• Time tracking by project
• PTO tracking and management
• Shift planning
• Calendar app integrations
• Standard reports

Pricing:

• QuickBooks Time Premium costs $20 per month and includes access for one administrative user. Each additional user costs $8 per month. This plan includes all the above features.
• QuickBooks Time Elite costs $40 per month and includes access for one administrative user. Each additional user costs $10 per month. It includes all Premium features, plus mileage tracking, geofencing and several other extras.

Learn more via our comprehensive QuickBooks Time review.

2. Hubstaff

Hubstaff is a GPS employee tracking solution with essential features for tracking employees’ time and computer usage. It also includes automatic payment tools, and its Hubstaff Field offering for field service teams resembles the best GPS fleet management systems.

Best features:

• Time tracker with screenshots
• Mouse and keyboard usage tracking
• Mobile GPS tracking
• PTO management, including holidays
• Invoicing
• Client project and budget tools
• Customer support response in as little as two hours

Pricing:

• Free Forever is Hubstaff’s free plan for one user. It lacks GPS tracking features but has basic functions for time and activity tracking, screenshots and pay management.
• Four paid plans vary in price and features. Each requires at least two users; prices range from $4.99 to $25 per user per month.

3. allGeo

allGeo is a field service company that also offers employee geotracking functionality through a real-time location-tracking app and a GPS timeclock app. With both, you can create custom geofences and tracking workflows.

Best features:

• Real-time employee arrival and departure alerts from geofenced areas
• Automatic payroll history reports
• Field-collected pictures, signatures, tasks, notes and custom forms
• Real-time communication between field employees
• If-this-then-that (IFTTT) workflows based on employee, location and time
• Real-time shift planning
• Directions for employee travel and mileage minimization

Pricing:

• allGeo’s location and mileage trackers cost $5 per user per month if billed annually or $7.50 per user per month if billed monthly. They each include visualization dashboards, inactive-employee app alerts, and IVR, QR code and in-app timeclocks.

4. Timeero

Timeero offers GPS time tracking, mileage tracking and scheduling tools. It also includes tools for reporting and geofencing.

Best features:

• Geofencing with clock-in and clock-out reminders
• Time-off management
• Facial recognition
• Payroll and accounting integrations
• Real-time employee work overviews

Pricing:

• Timeero Monthly starts at $4 per user per month.
• Timeero Enterprise is a custom pricing plan for businesses with over 250 employees.

Employee monitoring apps

Below are some of the best employee monitoring software platforms.

1. InterGuard

With InterGuard, you can easily track when your employees are active or idle. You can also prevent employee access to unproductive websites and applications.

Best features:

• Customizable employee behavior rules
• Real-time employee behavior alerts
• Fully customizable dashboard
• Remote employee time and productivity tracking
• Covert tracking software installation
• HR investigations

Pricing:

• InterGuard costs $179 per user per year, with a minimum of five users.
• You can request custom pricing quotes for large teams.

Learn more about this platform via our detailed InterGuard review.

2. Teramind

You can use Teramind to identify instances of your employees improperly using your company devices or data. The platform’s automation features take much of the manual work out of employee tracking.

Best features:

• User activity monitoring
• Content-based and prepackaged behavior rules
• Business intelligence dashboard
• Optical character recognition (OCR)
• Malicious activity blocking
• Security information and event management (SIEM) integrations

Pricing:

• Teramind starts at $11.25 per employee per month for basic activity monitoring and behavior rules.
• There is an enterprise plan for which you must request custom pricing.

Learn more about this platform via our updated Teramind review.

3. ActivTrak

Within ActivTrak, you’ll find powerful tools for tracking your employees’ workload, efficiency, tech usage and productivity. Unlike many employee monitoring tools, ActivTrack can also pinpoint which team members are most at risk of employee burnout and notify you.

Best features:

• Activity dashboard
• Identification of top employee websites and applications
• Reports for productivity and working hours
• Employee activity alerts and notifications
• Team productivity goal and tracking tools
• Customizable business intelligence dashboards

Pricing: 

• ActivTrak offers a free tier with basic activity and reporting features. Paid plans start at $10 per employee per month.
• A custom enterprise plan is also available; you must request a quote.

Learn more via our comprehensive ActivTrak review.

4. Veriato

This longtime leader in the employee monitoring space stands out for its tools for tracking and analyzing psycholinguistics and inappropriate language. You can use it for similarly advanced features or use its more traditional app, email and web browser activity-tracking tools.

Best features:

• Monitoring, reporting and blocking
• Screenshots and screen recording
• Real-time alerts
• AI risk scoring and behavioral analysis
• On-site deployment option
• Enterprise onboarding and setup assistance

Pricing:

• Veriato Vision costs $25 per user per month or $179 per user per year.
• Veriato Cerebral pricing is customized to your exact needs.

Learn more via our in-depth Veriato review.

Why tracking your employees is important

Tracking employees can be beneficial for the following reasons: 

• Ensure employees are working when they should be. Employee tracking apps and time and attendance solutions provide detailed insights into when your employees start and end their shifts daily. Your staff becomes more accountable for their work, and you don’t have to pay employees for time they aren’t working.
• Understand what employees are working on. Many employee tracking apps tell you exactly what your employees are working on. This function is especially important if you bill clients hourly. With automated timesheets that show the number of hours spent on a project you’re billing per hour, you’ll know what to charge your clients and can back up your prices.
• Maintain control over remote employees. Tracking can be crucial when managing a remote workforce. Many employee tracking apps include geotechnology that shows where employees are located, so you can ensure remote team members are where they need to be. Additionally, you can determine how well your employees use their travel time for business – specifically, how much time they might be losing that could be spent working.
• Pinpoint patterns to improve efficiency. When tracking employees’ locations or activities (or both) during work time, you can use the data to observe patterns in your team’s work. For example, you can determine how long a specific task takes and budget appropriately. If an employee takes much longer than this amount of time, work with them to determine where the process can be sped up or if something is hindering them.

Track your employees, but trust them too

It’s fair to worry that your employees might be slacking off during work hours or otherwise misusing your company’s time and money. In reality, though, many HR and management experts advise trusting your employees and giving them independence instead of dictating their every move. 

Yes, tracking your employees has value when it comes to payroll processing and labor costing. But if you use employee monitoring software, ensure it comes second to leading with respect for – and confidence in – your team. After all, employees who feel trusted and safe at work are usually more open to being monitored.