Time & Workforce
The Best Time & Attendance Software of 2026
A shortlist of time and attendance platforms ranked from verified product data, so you can compare punch methods, rule engines and payroll connections instead of vendor claims. Every score traces back to a fact we checked against vendor documentation and public sources.
- platforms ranked
- 17
- verified data points
- 406
- per employee per month
- $2–$13
LeadChange may earn a fee when you request pricing through our site or follow a sponsored link. Rankings are computed without knowing which vendors pay us.
How we make money
LeadChange may earn a fee when you request pricing through our site or follow a sponsored link. Rankings are computed without knowing which vendors pay us.
Our top picks
- Best overall
Highest LeadChange Score here (6.5/10), with 10 of 11 core time and attendance capabilities verified.
- Best for small businesses
Highest score among products that list small businesses as a target segment, with pricing and fit weighted more.
From $5/employee/mo
- Best for enterprises
Highest score among products that list enterprises as a target segment, with security and integrations weighted more.
- Best value
Lowest published list cost at 25 employees ($62.50/mo) among products scoring at or above the median.
From $2.50/employee/mo
Time & Attendance Software ranked by LeadChange Score
Ranked by LeadChange Score from verified facts. Prices are published list prices, each linked to its source.
Buddy Punch
Best for Small businesses with hourly staff across several sites who need GPS and photo punch controls
Buddy Punch is a small-business time clock and scheduling app with public pricing from $19 per month plus per-user rates, a 14-day no-card trial, and a paid add-on structure that gates some controls to Pro and Advanced.
- Pricing model
- Base fee + per employee
Deputy
Best for Shift-based teams in hospitality, retail and healthcare
Deputy suits shift-based businesses, from single locations to enterprises, that want scheduling and time clocking at published per-user prices starting at $5 per month. The main trade-off is that payroll, HR, messaging and analytics are paid add-ons, and SSO and a sandbox are limited to the Pro plan.
Connecteam
Best for Shift-based teams with GPS time clocks
Connecteam is an all-in-one app for deskless and shift-based teams, covering time clock, scheduling, communications and HR, with a free plan for up to 10 users. The trade-off is that pricing is per hub, and API access, SSO and HIPAA registration depend on higher tiers or extra fees.
- Pricing model
- Base fee + per employee
- SOC 2 Type II
- Yes
TCP Humanity
Best for Public-sector, education and healthcare employers needing scheduling plus time tracking
TCP Software offers TimeClock Plus for time and attendance and Humanity Schedule for scheduling, with public Humanity Schedule pricing from $2.75 per employee per month billed annually. SSO, compliance rules and labor budgeting start on the Professional plan.
- Pricing model
- Per employee
- SOC 2 Type II
- Yes
When I Work
Best for Hourly, shift-based teams in restaurants, retail and healthcare
When I Work is a mobile-first scheduling and time-tracking tool for hourly, shift-based teams, priced publicly from $2.50 per user per month with no setup fee or contract. It is focused on scheduling and time, so payroll runs through integrations, and there is no free plan.
Homebase
Best for Small hourly teams in restaurants and retail
Homebase is built for small hourly businesses such as restaurants and retail that want scheduling, time tracking and payroll in one app, starting with a free plan. Pricing is per location, so cost rises with location count and add-ons.
- Pricing model
- Tiered plans
- SOC 2 Type II
- Yes
Sling
Best for Shift-based teams in restaurants and retail
Scheduling, time tracking and team messaging for shift-based small and mid-sized businesses, with a free plan for up to 30 users. Paid tiers are $2 and $4 per user per month, and kiosk time tracking, reports and PTO management sit on the Business tier.
- Pricing model
- Per user
ClockShark
Best for Construction and field service businesses tracking time by job with GPS
ClockShark is a time tracking and scheduling app for construction and field service teams, with public pricing from $42 per month plus $9.50 per user, a 14-day trial and a three-year contract term.
- Pricing model
- Base fee + per employee
QuickBooks Time
Best for Businesses already running QuickBooks Online
Time tracking and scheduling for small and mid-sized businesses, with GPS geofencing, a time kiosk and native QuickBooks sync. The pricing page states plans require QuickBooks Online, and costs rise from $20 plus $10 per user to $40 plus $12 per user for GPS mileage and project tracking.
- Pricing model
- Base fee + per employee
7shifts
Best for Independent restaurants and franchisees
7shifts is an HR platform built for restaurants, from independents to enterprise groups, with a free plan for single locations of up to 15 employees and per-location pricing rather than per-employee fees. Scheduling and time clocking are the core; payroll is US only and billed as a separate add-on.
- Pricing model
- Tiered plans
Find your fit
By price
Compare the top 8 side by side
| Product | Score | Starting price per employee | Pricing model | Free trial | Open API | SOC 2 Type II | Mobile apps |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Buddy Punch | 6.5 | $4.99/employee/mo | Base fee + per employee | Not available | Buddy Punch mobile apps | ||
| Deputy | 6.1 | $5/employee/mo | Per user | IOS, Android | |||
| Connecteam | 5.8 | Not available | Base fee + per employee | Connecteam Team Management App (iOS) | |||
| TCP Humanity | 5.7 | $2.75/employee/mo | Per employee | IOS, Android | |||
| When I Work | 5.0 | $2.50/employee/mo | Per user | IOS, Android | |||
| Homebase | 4.6 | Not available | Tiered plans | Not available | IOS, Android | ||
| Sling | 4.6 | $2/employee/mo | Per user | Not available | IOS, Android | ||
| ClockShark | 4.5 | $9.50/employee/mo | Base fee + per employee | Not available | Not available | ClockShark iOS app, ClockShark Android app |
Pricing at a glance
Monthly list cost from each vendor’s published base and per-employee prices, before discounts.
10 employees
$20–$218/mo
Median $50/mo
Published list prices of 9 products at 10 employees
50 employees
$100–$738/mo
Median $250/mo
Published list prices of 9 products at 50 employees
200 employees
$400–$2,688/mo
Median $1,000/mo
Published list prices of 9 products at 200 employees
- Per user per month
- A monthly fee for each active employee, sometimes with a base fee. This is the dominant model and scales with headcount.
- Base fee + per employee6 of 17 products
- A monthly platform fee plus a per-employee rate. Watch the base fee at small headcounts.
- Tiered plans2 of 17 products
- Packages that gate features such as geofencing, job costing and overtime alerts. Match tiers to your actual rules.
- Hardware plus subscription
- Physical clocks purchased or leased on top of the subscription. Ask about support and replacement.
- Custom quote4 of 17 products
- Enterprise deals priced by user count, modules and implementation scope.
How to choose time & attendance software
Time data feeds pay, so rule accuracy and the payroll connection matter most. Choose for how well the system encodes your pay rules and how little re-keying remains.
Test with a real week of punches that includes a missed punch, a manager edit and an overtime case, then compare results to your payroll register.
Overtime and workweek rules
Federal overtime is owed above 40 hours in a fixed workweek, and hours cannot be averaged across weeks. State and local rules may add daily overtime or other premiums.
Rounding and grace period settings
Federal rules accept rounding to the nearest five minutes, tenth or quarter hour only if it does not systematically underpay employees over time.
Break and meal rules
Short breaks of about 5 to 20 minutes are paid work time under federal law, while bona fide meal periods are not. State rules can differ.
Punch methods and fraud controls
Buddy punching and off-site clock-ins distort hours and cost.
Edit trail and approvals
Records must be complete and accurate, and open to inspection. An edit log protects you in a wage dispute.
Payroll integration
Re-keying hours is a leading source of pay errors.
Red flags
- Rounding cannot be configured or audited.
- Manager edits are not logged by user and reason.
- The vendor cannot explain how the product handles a missed meal period in your state.
- Biometric collection is offered without consent workflows or retention controls.
- Payroll integration is described as available but requires a manual file upload each cycle.
Popular alternatives
Integrations for time & attendance software
Apps with documented integrations across the products ranked on this page.
Most integrated apps
- Gusto7 of 17 products
- Paychex7 of 17 products
- QuickBooks Online7 of 17 products
- Square6 of 17 products
- Lightspeed5 of 17 products
- Zapier5 of 17 products
- ADP Workforce Now4 of 17 products
- Toast4 of 17 products
- Xero4 of 17 products
- ADP3 of 17 products
- BambooHR3 of 17 products
- Clover3 of 17 products
Related categories
- Employee Scheduling Software
Employee scheduling software builds and publishes work schedules, collects availability and time-off requests, handles shift swaps and open shifts, and flags conflicts such as overtime or missing coverage.
13 products
- Payroll Software
Payroll software calculates gross-to-net pay, withholds and deposits payroll taxes, issues pay through direct deposit or checks, and produces the filings and records an employer must keep.
18 products
- Workforce Management Software
Workforce management software coordinates when people work and what that labor costs.
13 products
- HRIS Software
HRIS software, or human resource information system, is the system of record for employee data.
18 products
- Talent Acquisition Software
Talent acquisition software is a suite that manages hiring from attracting candidates to starting them as employees.
9 products
- Applicant Tracking Systems
An applicant tracking system, or ATS, is software that manages hiring from job posting to offer.
14 products
Frequently asked questions
What is time and attendance software?
Time and attendance software records employee work hours, applies pay rules such as overtime and rounding, and sends approved time to payroll. Employees punch in through clocks, mobile apps or computers. It replaces paper timesheets with a searchable record of hours worked.
What is the best time tracking software for small business?
Look for mobile punching, automatic overtime calculation, timecard approval and a direct payroll connection at a low per-user cost. Our small-business ranking weights those factors with verified pricing, so compare the shortlist here against your headcount and payroll system.
How much does time and attendance software cost?
Most vendors charge a monthly per-employee fee, sometimes with a base fee, and charge extra for hardware, advanced features or support. The total depends on headcount and features. Compare complete cost including setup, clocks and integrations rather than the entry price.
Do I have to keep time records for employees?
Yes for covered employers. Federal rules require preserving time cards and wage computation records for two years, and payroll records for three. Records must be open to Department of Labor inspection. No particular form is required, but they must be complete and accurate.
Can I round employee time punches?
Federal rules allow rounding to the nearest five minutes, one-tenth of an hour or quarter hour, as long as it does not result over time in failure to pay employees for all the time they worked. Check state rules and test rounded versus actual time regularly.
Are employee breaks paid?
Under federal law, short breaks of about 5 to 20 minutes are paid work time, while meal periods of 30 minutes or more are generally unpaid. Federal law does not require breaks, but state laws may. Configure break rules in your software to match your state.
What is the difference between time tracking and time and attendance?
Time tracking records hours, often for projects or billing. Time and attendance also applies pay rules, approvals and attendance policies so hours can feed payroll accurately. If you pay hourly employees, you usually need the second, with rules for overtime, breaks and rounding.
Is time and attendance software worth it?
It is worth it when manual timesheets cause pay errors, overtime disputes or payroll re-keying. It is harder to justify for a few salaried employees with no overtime. Estimate the hours spent correcting time data today and compare that to the software cost.
How we research
Products are ranked by the LeadChange Score, computed only from verified facts: capability coverage (30%), pricing transparency and value (20%), integrations and API (15%), security and compliance (15%), fit and support (10%) and data confidence (10%), times a category fit that lowers products built for another job. Payment never changes a score or a position.
- verified data points
- 48
- sources
- 24
Facts, not impressions
Every input is a sourced fact with the date we last checked it.
Missing data scores zero
We never assume a feature; unverified items lower the confidence label.
Independent of revenue
Rankings are computed before and without knowing which vendors pay us.
Sources
DOL Fact Sheet 21: Recordkeeping Requirements under the FLSA
DOL Fact Sheet 43: Child Labor Provisions for Nonagricultural Occupations
Data behind this page
- Buddy Punch pricing page · primary source, checked Oct 5, 2026
- Deputy pricing page · primary source, checked Oct 5, 2026
- When I Work pricing page · primary source, checked Oct 5, 2026
- Deputy website · primary source, checked Oct 5, 2026
- Connecteam pricing page · primary source, checked Oct 5, 2026
- Connecteam website: Overview · primary source, checked Oct 5, 2026
- TimeClock Plus, LLC (TCP Software) pricing page · primary source, checked Oct 5, 2026
- TimeClock Plus, LLC (TCP Software) website: Security · primary source, checked Oct 5, 2026
- When I Work website · primary source, checked Oct 6, 2026
- Homebase pricing page · primary source, checked Oct 5, 2026
- Homebase website · primary source, checked Oct 5, 2026
- Toast pricing page · primary source, checked Oct 5, 2026
- ClockShark, LLC pricing page · primary source, checked Oct 5, 2026
- Intuit pricing page · primary source, checked Oct 5, 2026
- 7shifts pricing page · primary source, checked Oct 5, 2026
- Deputy website: Features · primary source, checked Oct 5, 2026
- Deputy app directory: Integrations · primary source, checked Oct 5, 2026
- Deputy documentation: Getting started with the Deputy API · primary source, checked Oct 5, 2026
- apps.apple.com/us/app/connecteam-team-management-app/id1121613912 · primary source, checked Oct 6, 2026
- When I Work website · primary source, checked Oct 5, 2026
- When I Work website · primary source, checked Oct 5, 2026
- Homebase website · primary source, checked Oct 5, 2026
- Toast website · primary source, checked Oct 5, 2026
- Toast documentation · primary source, checked Oct 6, 2026
Changelog
First published.
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