11 Best Free Time Clock App Choices for Employee Time Tracking

anEvery business with hourly employees needs an easy and efficient way to track work hours to make payroll and prevent time theft. But finding the best free time clock app is no small feat, especially when there are so many options available. We’ll help you out and walk you through the following:

• The most popular best free time clock apps for small businesses
• How a time clock app can help your business
• How to choose the right free time clock app

The right time clock app can help you track employee time and productivity, and keep your business on track for success. Time is money, so without further ado, here are the best free time clock apps for small businesses.

The best free time clock app for small businesses.

All small businesses are unique, so there’s no single best time tracking app. Remember not all free timesheet software for small business will provide the features your team may need, so keep your must-haves and nice-to-haves in mind when looking over our top picks.

1. Homebase

Homebase is the best free time clock app for small businesses and hourly teams. 

But Homebase is more than a great time tracking solution: it’s an all-in-one team management tool. As an all-in-one-tracker, Homebase combines time tracking, scheduling, hiring and onboarding, payroll, team communication, and HR and compliance tools to help you manage your team and their time seamlessly.

With the Homebase time tracking app, your employees can either clock in or out from their mobile devices once they arrive at work, or use a tablet, computer, or POS device that you have set up at work for this purpose. From there, you’ll have everything you need to track their hours, breaks, overtime, and time off.  

Our GPS and geo-fencing capabilities are essential if you have remote or off-site employees. These features give you the peace of mind that everyone’s signing into work at the right place and time.  

Notable features

• Time tracking
• Timesheets
• Alerts, reminders, and notifications 
• Clock in photos
• Employee scheduling 
• Time off tracking
• Built-in integrations like Square and QuickBooks 
• Unique PINs for employee clock ins
• GPS tracking
• Geo-fencing 
• Hiring and onboarding
• Payroll 
• HR and compliance 

Pros and cons

Homebase was made explicitly to meet the needs of small business owners, so it’s the one-stop shop for everything you need to run your business.

Best of all, Homebase’s time tracking app is free for up to 20 employees at one location and also includes scheduling, messaging, and hiring features.

As one of the best time trackers, time clock’s geo-fencing capabilities aren’t as flawlessly accurate as some on-site biometric clock in pads. But using our time clock app versus a biometric time clock provides a better employee experience, helps foster a professional relationship built on mutual trust, and saves you the headache of meeting the legal requirements of biometric time clocks.

Small business owners can easily track employee hours, and save time with the free Homebase time tracking app.

2. Clockify

Clockify is a simple time tracking and timesheet app. This app best suits agencies and freelancers looking to categorize their work by tasks and projects. There’s also a manual GPS tracker to keep employees accountable and alerts reminding them to log their hours. 

Notable features

• Time tracking
• Timesheets
• Employee scheduling
• Alerts, reminders, and notifications 
• Invoicing tool
• Payroll integration
• GPS tracking

Pros and cons

Clockify is easy to use and perfect for people needing time tracking capabilities. It’s available in English and Spanish, making it a good fit for multilingual teams.

However, it’s mainly targeted at agencies and freelancers. Clockify is best suited to project management, so if you’re looking for a free time clock app for small business, you won’t have access to all the employee-related features you need to run your business smoothly.

3. TrackingTime

TrackingTime is an automated time management software that lets you visualize how your team spends their time. You can view time in day, month, week, and even by team calendar views. You can track time, monitor projects, and create branded client reports.

Notable features

• Time tracking
• Timesheets
• Project management
• Branded business reports
• Invoicing and time reporting tool

Pros and cons

TrackingTime is excellent for businesses that want a visual representation of how their team spends their time across multiple projects. You can manually add time entries and create automated ones for repetitive tasks like meetings. 

However, this app doesn’t have scheduling functionality and payroll integration is only available in the paid version. TrackingTime is best suited for full-time employees and wasn’t created with shift and hourly workers in mind.

4. Toggl Track

Toggl Track is often hailed as one of the best free time tracking apps for freelancers. And, for good reason: it’s quick and easy to use.

Toggle Track operates as a plug-in, making it easy for individuals to start tracking task time with a single click. 

Notable features

• Simple time tracking via plug-in
• Idle reminders to stop tracking
• Manual time entry
• Reporting
• Basic project management

Pros and cons

When it comes to ease of use and being free, Toggl Track is one of the best apps for tracking work hours—especially where individuals and freelancers are concerned. The free plan is great for solopreneurs looking to track project time and do little else.

While some consider Toggl Track the best free clock in and out app, its advanced functionality is limited, especially if you’re on the free plan. Businesses needing more detailed reporting or team management functionality will quickly find Toggl Track restricting.

5. Deputy

Deputy is a time clock app that goes above and beyond some of its counterparts, offering biometric-based clock in options. Unlike some time tracking apps, Deputy is made with small businesses in mind, as it features staff scheduling and team management functionality.

Notable features

• Time tracking
• Time sheet management
• Leave management tools
• Various payroll, POS, and HR integrations
• Demand forecasting tools
• Biometric functionality, including facial recognition
• Labor compliance support

Pros and cons

Deputy offers a free plan, making it fairly risk-free for businesses interested in trying it out. With biometric clock ins, labor compliance tools, and timesheet management, Deputy is great for small businesses who need support managing staff.

Deputy does run into limitations with its lower-tiered plans, offering only 100 shifts per-month at the lowest tier. If you have a growing team, you could quickly outgrow this plan and find yourself paying a substantial amount.

6. TimeCamp

TimeCamp is a time tracking app that’s made with small businesses in mind. It mostly focuses on time and project management, offering various visualizations, time sheet management tools, and reporting.

Notable features

• Automated time tracking
• Project profitability analysis tools
• Invoicing and budgeting
• Geofencing
• Paid time off tracking

Pros and cons

TimeCamp offers robust profitability reporting. Coupled with automated time tracking, it’s is great for small businesses looking to maximize profits and keep a close eye on labor.

While TimeCamp offers a free trial and a starter plan that’s $2.99 per-user each month, it’s easy to run into limitations and need a higher-tier plan. This can result in TimeCamp getting rather costly, rather quickly, especially if your business is larger or quickly growing.

7. Findmyshift

Findmyshift is an employee management system that features a free time tracking app. The time clock app allows you to record and report when employees are at work through a web-based time clock station or a mobile app. 

Notable features

• Time tracking
• Timesheets
• Shift management
• Alerts, reminders, and notifications 
• GPS tracking

Pros and cons

FindMyShift has useful scheduling tools, including approving/rejecting employee shift requests and generating timesheets. It also has location tracking that can be turned on or off to help verify employees’ location when they clock in and out.  

However, the free version of Findmyshift only allows you to have five users. While this may be enough for some small businesses, others might need to upgrade to the paid plan. The paid plan will cost a minimum of $25 USD per team monthly. 

8. OnTheClock

OnTheClock allows employees to clock in and out from any device management authorizes. It has geofencing and GPS tracking capabilities, making it easy to keep track of employees’ locations when they are clocked in.

Notable features

• Time tracking
• Alerts, reminders, and notifications 
• GPS tracker
• Geofencing
• Time off tracking
• Employee scheduling

Pros and cons

OnTheClock has a lot of features, including employee scheduling that uses an intuitive drag-drop system that can save time when creating hourly schedules.  

However, the free version of the app is limited to only two users. After two users, the price increases to $10.50 per month, going up from there.

9. Connecteam

Connecteam is a time clock app that works well for teams that work in the field. Employees can clock in and out using smartphones, and their location will automatically be tracked. Managers can monitor who clocks in and out—and from where—in real-time. 

Notable features

• Time tracking
• Timesheets
• Alerts, reminders, and notifications 
• GPS tracker
• Payroll
• Time off tracking
• Employee scheduling

Pros and cons

Connecteam is free for up to ten users, making it affordable for many small businesses. It offers numerous customization options, from custom admin notifications to sub-job tasks and beyond, so you can configure it to work with your needs.

However, there are a lot of upgrades within the app that come at an additional cost. Users also note that the setup can be complicated for teams with little technical expertise.

10. OpenSimSim

OpenSimSim is a free time clock app for small businesses with one location, one department, and ten scheduled employees. It has some interesting features like availability and time off tracking. It works well for businesses in the food service industry. 

Notable features

• Time tracking
• Timesheets
• Alerts, reminders, and notifications 
• Time off tracking
• Availability tracking

Pros and cons

OpenSimSim helps keep overtime costs in check by tracking hours worked, breaks, and overtime.

However, you’ll need to upgrade to the paid version to get more in-depth features like GPS tracking and photo confirmation. After the free version, plans range from $15.99 and beyond, per location, for various features. If you have multiple locations and require in-depth functionality, this makes OpenSimSim rather costly.

11. Time Clock Wizard

Time Clock Wizard is a great basic time tracking app. While the app has a lot of great features, the free version is limited to remote employee time tracking. 

Notable features

• Time tracking

Pros and cons

Time Clock Wizard has phone, chat, and email support available for its free users. It also allows you to have an unlimited number of users.

However, the free version is limited to a simple time tracking app and includes no other features. You’ll need to upgrade to a paid account starting at $34.95 per month to access features like timesheet reports, alerts, and the mobile app.

How can a time clock app help your business? 

Whether you’re looking to upgrade your current time tracking system or exploring time tracking for the first time, time clock apps are the perfect solution. 

Manual time tracking is unreliable, time-consuming for you and your employees, and can negatively impact your business finances. 

Even without knowing what is the best app to track work hours, there are some common benefits. Let’s explore how a free employee clock in app can improve your business.

Reduce instances of time theft.

Time theft happens when employees aren’t working when they’re being paid. Time theft is illegal, and it does impact your bottom line. While not always intentional, time theft and timesheet fraud are issues that you should address with your employees.

Time theft happens for a variety of reasons. Buddy punching—where coworkers clock in or out for each other—is one of the most common types of time theft, with 75% of businesses in the United States reporting losses to this theft. 

With some digital time clock apps, each employee will be assigned a unique ID, and the app takes a picture of whoever is clocking in. This effectively eliminates the ability to buddy punch.

Make record keeping easy and accurate. 

When you rely on traditional paper timesheets, they’re often inaccurate. While this all comes down to human error, you may end up underpaying employees or paying for work that wasn’t completed. 

Digital time clock apps securely store your information on the cloud and keep detailed, error-free records. These accurate reports mean you’ll stay compliant and be able to pay your employees correctly. 

Use automation to simplify repetitive tasks.

Repetitive tasks can become tedious, making everyone’s jobs a little less enjoyable and lowering productivity. Employees spend 40% of their time on repetitive tasks. Imagine what you could do if you reclaimed even 10% of that time.

Time clock apps put a lot of that time back in your pocket by automating repetitive tasks. You get the time back and generally benefit from a reduction in human error introduced to time tracking and payroll.

Stay compliant with local, state, and federal labor laws.

A time tracking system like a time clock app can help to keep you compliant with local, state, and federal labor laws. 

A time clock app should be able to keep track of employee breaks and overtime. This information gives you transparency into how many hours have been worked by an employee. You’ll have a clear picture of when a team member is about to surpass their work hour limits, ensuring you’re not violating labor laws.

How to choose the best free time tracking app.

With so many options, choosing the best free time tracking app isn’t as easy as it used to be. It helps to know what to look for when deciding which free option to use. To make your decision process easier, look for free time clock apps that have some or all of these features:

• Remote time editing: Whether at your business location or on the road, you should be able to view and edit employee time entries easily. 
• Accuracy and buddy punching prevention: Your time clock app should also have measures to avoid buddy punching and ensure the accuracy of time entries. 
• Compliance management: A time clock should help keep you compliant. Look for an app that notifies you when an employee shows up late, approaches overtime, or misses a break. 
• Ease of use: Free time clock software for small business should be easy to use—otherwise it will result in frustration and lost time for you and your employees when using it.
• Time tracking and reporting: Time tracking and reporting will help you look at the big picture, because you’re able to monitor labor costs and usage over time.
• Team management: Even if your business is small right now, you’re likely aiming for growth. When you expand, being able to manage your team, labor usage, and time off will be crucial to delivering a great experience and keeping labor costs in check.
• Integrations: Integrations with popular platforms—both those you’re using and those you may use—can help you streamline operations further and get even more out of your time tracking app.
• Support: Bumps in the road are to be expected. Great customer support can help you get back on track and reduce the amount of time you spend trying to troubleshoot, when you should be focusing on your business.

Additionally, a complete time tracking system should be able to automate tasks like:

• Running payroll
• Approving PTO requests 
• Reminding employees of upcoming shifts 
• Issuing and sending out vital forms and documents like 1099s and W-2s

Time track your way to success.

Time clock apps go beyond simply tracking time. Ultimately the best app for tracking work hours is the one that works for your small business. When you take the time to find the right best free time clock app, you’re also setting a foundation for ongoing success. 

The right free time keeping app will help you track employee time, keep labor costs from hurting your business, and even enable you to deliver a better, more flexible experience for your employees.

The Homebase time clock can help you track employee time, minimize time theft, remotely manage your team via mobile, and even run payroll like a total boss. And best of all, it also offers a host of additional HR support and functionality, from onboarding to team comms to compliance, all of which can help you manage your team and grow your company for years to come.

Try the Homebase time clock for free.