The Best Time and Attendance Software of 2024

Expect to pay more for more technologically advanced time clocks, like this one from TimeClock Plus that uses thermal scanning to take employees’ temperatures. (Source: TimeClock Plus)

There are two standard pricing models for time and attendance software: cloud subscriptions and on-premise licenses. You typically pay a monthly fee for cloud-hosted subscription services based on your number of employees (or users). On-premise systems must be downloaded and stored on an office computer and generally have a one-time licensing fee.

Cloud-hosted time and attendance software costs usually range from $2 to $10 per month for each employee. Some providers like Buddy Punch also have a monthly base fee. Add-on charges may include fees for installation or setup. Support fees are commonly included in your monthly subscription price.

If you choose a timekeeping system like Time Doctor that you download to a computer and host on your IT network, pricing traditionally ranges from $100 to $400 per license. You’ll also have to purchase computers and, in some cases, a physical time clock. In general, you’ll also have to pay an annual fee if you need technical support after your installation period ends.

Ensure the time and attendance platform you choose benefits your small business by reviewing your options and understanding your costs. You should be able to calculate your ROI and determine how quickly you can recover your expenses. It is also critical to get your employees behind software or workflow changes by involving them in the selection process.

Here are the steps to take when choosing a time and attendance system:

1. Considering Your Current and Upcoming Needs

Identify the problems that you want time and attendance software to solve. Speak with department managers and influential employees, including people without a title that other workers look to for advice or assistance. Gather information about various data points, such as time theft occurrences and time spent collecting or fixing timecards. If you collect team feedback or suggestions, look for employee requests related to time and attendance, like a desire for transparent PTO accruals or on-demand pay.

2. Building a List of Top-Rated Platforms

Create a spreadsheet to house your time and attendance software research. Include provider contact details, links to information and itemized pricing. Add columns for must-have features or tools and group others into a catch-all box. Remember to share this information with other decision-makers and encourage them to leave comments within the document.

Here’s how to look into various services:

• Read software and mobile app reviews from customers.
• Check out software roundups from industry experts.
• Get pricing estimates for monthly and annual costs.
• Review the terms of service for hidden fees or expenses.
• Consider labor and training costs associated with the product implementation.

3. Taking Services for a Test Drive

Once you’ve narrowed down your choices based on pricing and features, set aside time to use the products. Many time and attendance tools offer a free trial or free version. Others have video demos. Check YouTube to see if other business owners or software reviewers have software walk-throughs.

Go back to your problem list and use the software to solve them. Log into the system on multiple devices and test different roles (administrator, manager and employee) to see how the user experience and functionality change.

Employees using Buddy Punch can clock in via their mobile device and then the time card data is set to a managerial dashboard for timesheet approval. (Source: Buddy Punch)

Time and attendance systems replace outdated wall-mounted time clocks, paper time sheets and confusing spreadsheets. They provide an easy, accurate way for employees to clock in and out. In addition, most time and attendance software solutions offer configurable timesheet reports that you can export to your payroll system and have helpful features such as workflow automation, time-of management, team communications and reminders.

Here is a rundown of the top features we like to see in high-quality time and attendance software.

• Time reporting: Modern timekeeping systems can interface with existing time clocks, or you can let employees clock in and out through a web browser or mobile app. Some platforms allow workers to clock in and out by phone or even via Apple Watch, social media, text message or Slack. Most let you set up rules for when employees can clock in and out and automatically calculate overtime. Some simplify time tracking for teams that always work the same hours.
• Biometrics: To prevent buddy punching, in which someone clocks in on behalf of their colleague, your time and attendance software can require workers to use their fingerprint or scan their face when they clock in or out. This method confirms individuals clocking in are who they say they are. [Learn about biometric time clock laws.]
• GPS tracking: In addition to letting employees clock in and out from their mobile devices, many time and attendance apps include geotechnology. For example, geofencing lets you set specific coordinates from which your employees can punch in and out, ensuring each person is at the correct job site when they sign in. Another option is geolocation, which can either periodically record an employee’s GPS coordinates or capture them at the time they punch in or out. You can review those coordinates to ensure the worker was where they were supposed to be. [Read related article: What is Geofencing?]
• Employee scheduling: Many time and attendance systems have built-in scheduling tools. You can create employee schedules for workdays, hours, appointments and shifts. Many also include drag-and-drop functions and attendance templates that you can reuse weekly.
• PTO policy management: Most time and attendance services log employee accruals for sick leave, vacation time and other types of paid and unpaid time off, like FMLA, jury duty and bereavement. Many also let team members request time off directly within the software; managers can approve or deny those requests via their dashboard.
• Calendars: Some time and attendance software comes with calendar functions that allow users to visualize their daily tasks and locations. You may be able to sync your system with third-party calendars, like Outlook or Google Calendar, to keep all your meetings, projects and jobs aligned on one platform.
• Messaging: Many solutions come with messaging features through which employees and managers can communicate directly within the platform. These tools give your team an easy way to stay in touch on important topics regarding time and attendance.
• Job and project tracking: Some systems record time spent on a specific project or task. This is a valuable function for businesses that bill clients based on project hours.
• Alerts: Time and attendance software can notify you when your staff members have clocked in or out for the day or if they forget to do so. They can also remind employees to clock out and let you know when an employee nears their maximum daily or weekly hours.
• Labor reports: Most systems can generate reports detailing workers’ hours, wages and schedules, and some offer advanced analytics like labor costing.
• Integrations: Ideally, your time and attendance solution integrates with a top payroll service via CSV or a software interface. These integrations save time when you run payroll by ensuring that overtime calculations and time-off deductions match your timekeeping data. Some vendors like Paychex even offer payroll processing as a service within their platforms so you can double up on your HR functions in one system.
• Invoicing: While this is less common, a few time and attendance systems allow you to issue invoices. After the software tracks how much time your employees spend on a project, they can combine that with your hourly rates to automatically send accurate invoices to your clients.
• Dashboards: Some systems include a digital dashboard that gives supervisors an overview of which employees are punched in and out and other critical information, while most feature a self-service dashboard for workers to manage their time and attendance data from a web browser or mobile device.
• Configurations: The best time and attendance systems enable you to set up your own scheduling rules, swap shifts, round up time and enforce meal breaks.

One of the ways software like When I Work helps supervisors save time is by enabling them to manage employee time off while on the go themselves, thanks to feature-packed mobile apps. (Source: When I Work)

A timekeeping system will save your business money if set up and used correctly. When you use modern time and attendance software, employees can no longer round up their hours or punch in for their friends; instead, the software documents their work hours with tools that prevent time fraud.

Here are some other benefits of using time and attendance software.

1. Ensures Accuracy and Compliance

A digital time and attendance system eliminates manual recordkeeping, which reduces errors. In addition, you can more easily demonstrate your business’s compliance with overtime tracking rules and other labor and employment laws thanks to features that help you follow local, state and federal regulations.

2. Saves Your HR Staff Time

Top-rated time and attendance software like BambooHR saves your managers and HR staff time they would have otherwise spent tallying employees’ work hours and transferring the information to a payroll software program. With other features that streamline operations, these solutions free your human resources team and supervisors to focus on other business tasks.

3. Gives Your Employees Scheduling and Attendance Insights

Time and attendance platforms benefit employees who can see their work schedules in advance; they’ll know exactly when they’re supposed to work and can rest assured they’re being paid for time logged. Most time and attendance tools are easy to use, allowing employees to clock in using their computer or mobile device. These systems also show staffers their total hours worked, weekly schedules, time-off accruals and PTO requests so they’re always in the know.

When evaluating time and attendance software, look for user-friendly self-service features like intuitive employee dashboards. This one from BambooHR allows workers to submit their hours and time-off requests on the same screen. (Source: BambooHR)

When purchasing time and attendance software, ensure the platform you choose benefits your small business by reviewing your plan options and understanding your costs. You should be able to calculate your ROI and determine how quickly you can recover your expenses. It is also critical to get your employees behind software or workflow changes by involving them in the selection process.

Here are the steps to take when choosing a time and attendance system.

1. Consider Your Current and Upcoming Needs

Identify the problems you want time and attendance software to solve. Speak with department managers and influential employees, including people without a title that other workers look to for advice or assistance. Gather information about various data points, such as time theft occurrences and time spent collecting or fixing timecards. If you collect team feedback or suggestions, look for employee requests related to time and attendance services, like a desire for transparent PTO accruals or on-demand pay.

Ultimately, you want to identify the problems you want your new time and attendance software to solve.

2. Build a List of Top-Rated Platforms

Create a spreadsheet to house your research for each time and attendance system you’re considering. Include contact details for vendor, links to information about the software and itemized pricing. Add columns for must-have features or tools and group others into a catch-all box. Share this information with other decision-makers and encourage them to leave comments within the document.

Here’s how to look into various services as you compare products.

• Read software and mobile app reviews from customers.
• Check out software roundups from industry experts.
• Get pricing estimates for monthly and annual costs.
• Review the terms of service for hidden fees or expenses.
• Consider labor and training costs associated with the product implementation.

Use the information you collect to identify your top solutions.

3. Take Services for a Test Drive

Once you’ve narrowed down your choices based on pricing and features, set aside time to test the products. Many time and attendance providers offer a free trial or free version you can try. Others have video demos that showcase the platform. Check YouTube to see if other business owners or software reviewers have software walk-throughs.

Go back to your problem list from step one and use the software you’re testing to try to solve them. Log into the system on multiple devices and test different roles (administrator, manager and employee) to see how the user experience and functionality change.

With usability in mind, you can now make your final buying decision. Choose the software that performs best for your company’s needs without breaking your budget.

If our six top picks for time and attendance software above aren’t quite what you’re looking for, compare and contrast these additional options. As our investigations demonstrated, there’s plenty to like in each of them no matter your timekeeping needs.

Clockify

Although Clockify doesn’t include tools for shift planning and won’t integrate with third-party payroll services, we still found it to be a suitable solution for businesses with hybrid teams. With both free and paid plans, your in-office team members can clock in via an on-premise kiosk, while remote workers can use virtual options via their phone, tablet or desktop computer. In-app messaging keeps both groups of staffers in touch. Learn more in our full Clockify review.

Rippling

Rippling’s time and attendance module makes timekeeping extremely efficient. Users can customize dashboards, time-tracking rules and workflows to speed up time and attendance processes for managers and employees alike. With an intuitive cloud-based platform and self-service mobile app, it takes mere minutes to request and approve time off, set up meal break notifications and sync worked hours for payroll processing. Note, however, that this module is only available as an add-on to Rippling Unity, its employee management platform. Find out more in our detailed review of Rippling.

Time Doctor

We love the way Time Doctor goes above and beyond typical time and attendance services to also assist with employee productivity. The platform’s tools for tracking and optimizing user activity can help businesses refine their workflows, identify distractions and even improve work-life balance. The productivity dashboard, employee monitoring functions and behavior reports are great resources for employers interested in more than just when team members clock in and out. See an overview of these features in our Time Doctor review.

QuickBooks Time

For managers and staff on the go, QuickBooks Time is a mobile time and attendance solution that lets users clock in and out via a variety of methods while accessing numerous time management tools from a mobile app. This flexibility is a huge asset for businesses with distributed teams, field workers and hybrid arrangements. Companies with mobile workforces will also like the GPS and mileage trackers. Plus, if you’re already familiar with other QuickBooks products, the learning curve is likely to be minimal. See the plan options and pricing in our QuickBooks Time review.

OnTheClock

The best part of OnTheClock is its affordability. If you have two or fewer employees, this time and attendance software solution is free. As your staff grows, you’ll pay just a couple dollars per employee each month. Not to mention, advanced features like fingerprint clock-ins will only set you back 50 cents per person monthly. Such tools are great for preventing time theft. We also like that the system facilitates team communication with in-app messaging and a function for company announcements, similar to Connecteam.

Paychex

The Paychex Flex platform is ideal for businesses looking for an all-in-one solution encompassing timekeeping tools, HR services, payroll processing, benefits administration and more. While the vendor isn’t upfront about its pricing, we found this to be a robust system with biometric time clocks, schedule templates and valuable analytics. Keep in mind, however, that Paychex doesn’t offer a free trial. Our comprehensive Paychex Flex review shares our experience with the software.

PurelyHR

Putting aside our disappointment that PurelyHR doesn’t offer a mobile app, we love how customizable its system is. You begin with the required employee portal and build upon the platform with only the components you want, such as timesheets and time-off management. This level of customization even extends to incorporating your business logo and branding for a visual display that fits right in with your company and can even take employees to your website.

Justworks

Justworks is a professional employer organization (PEO) that can handle all of your human resources needs, including timekeeping. The vendor’s time-tracking software helps you stay compliant with labor laws and manage your personnel budget. We also love that employees can clock in and out using Slack — an integration we didn’t see in most competitors. If you’d like, hours worked can automatically sync with the platform’s payroll module for a streamlined, user-friendly process. [See all our recommendations for the best PEO service providers.]

At Business News Daily, our team of small business HR experts has been researching and testing time and attendance software for years, comparing some of the leading solutions across more than 30 key metrics. We considered 20 time and attendance services to start and closely reviewed and tested 16 of them before selecting our six best picks above.

Below are the factors we examined when deciding our top recommendations. Each is weighted according to how much the criteria typically influences business owners’ buying decisions.

• Pricing (30%): To determine which vendor provides the most value per dollar, we analyzed not just the base costs of the hardware and software used in each time and attendance system but also the pricing plans available, whether rates were based on the number of employees or number of locations, and if timekeeping and scheduling tools could be purchased separately or only as part of an HR software package.
  
• Features (25%): In particular, we evaluated the variety of clock-in options and tested each system’s time-tracking abilities, scheduling tools, overtime management, PTO management and reporting functionality. We also looked at the integrations available for connecting each program to other popular business software, such as payroll services.
  
• Usability (20%): We paid close attention to the ease with which the hardware and software could be set up, how intuitive we found the platform’s navigation and use of key features, and the training and informational resources available to new users. We also investigated the types of time clocks that could be used and if the software had a responsive mobile app or mobile browser for remote clock-ins.
• Customer Support (15%): We examined the different ways customers could contact the vendor’s customer service team if in need of help. We also reviewed customer feedback to assess how well each company’s customer support representatives meet the needs of existing customers.
• Expert Insight (10%): Our product reviews are conducted by HR software and industry experts who are deeply familiar with time and attendance services. Given their institutional knowledge of different solutions and firsthand experiences using these programs, we took their personal judgment into account when choosing our best picks.

In addition to evaluating each time and attendance software based on these criteria, we also determined the best use-case scenarios for each. No two businesses are exactly alike, so we put ourselves in the shoes of different types of small business owners to identify the best time and attendance solutions for a variety of needs.

To learn more about how we review and test sales technology products and services for small businesses, read about our editorial process. 

In 2024, time and attendance software will be about more than just clocking in and out. These solutions will be designed to facilitate a work environment that’s flexible, data-driven and prioritizes both productivity and employee well-being. For example, popular workplace trends like hybrid and remote work will be seamlessly accommodated by cloud-based timekeeping systems that can track hours worked across multiple geographical boundaries and time zones.

As workforce diversification increases in 2024, we may see a push to cross-train staff to cover understaffed or unfilled shifts at one or more locations. Unlike traditional employment situations, this year will have teams of full- and part-time workers, on-demand freelancers and regular contractors. Time and attendance software will evolve to meet these needs by offering custom job codes and guest or temporary time clock access.

Additionally, as artificial intelligence (AI) makes its way into various aspects of business, we can expect time-tracking systems to increasingly integrate this revolutionary technology. Imagine software that learns employee work patterns and proactively suggests breaks or adjustments to optimize productivity. AI-powered algorithms can analyze timekeeping data to identify potential burnout or overtime risks, nudging employers towards a more human-centric approach.

Finally, sustainability will become a key differentiator. We’ll see systems that track not just time but also energy consumption and carbon footprint. This data can then be used to optimize workflows and promote eco-conscious practices within organizations.