When it comes to tracking time, hours and minutes worked on projects, Quickbooks Time (previously TSheets) has been many organisations go-to for a while. With new products and features on the market, some report the app has become dated, expensive and lacking support. So we explore the alternatives to Quickbooks Time along with the pros, cons and features available from competitors.

Here's a quick overview of the features on offer across the apps we've explored:

1) TimeKeeper

Best: All-rounder

For: Small - medium businesses, remote working, on site and temporary site workers.

Features: Time tracking, leave and absence management, project/job tracking, facial recognition, rota planner, overtime calculations, payroll integrations.

Pros:

User friendly cloud based app, available for Android and iOS
Accurate time tracking across employees and jobs/projects
Integrates with multiple payroll systems such as Sage50, BrightPay, Xero
Excellent customer support via live chat
Useful add-ons such as Employee Messenger, Working Time Regulation Management and more.

Cons:

Relies on staff clocking in to be successfully implemented
Some limitations with job scheduler UI, filtering complete jobs for example.
Reports aren’t currently customisable.

Pricing:
2 week free trial followed by a tiered subscription model:
£3.50 +VAT per month for the first 50 employees
£3.15 +VAT per month for employees 51-250
£2.80 +VAT per month for employees 251+
Priced per employee, per month.
+ optional add-ons

Average price (June 2024) based on 50 users £175 pcm.

2) ManicTime

Best: Freelance Timekeeping

For: Small - medium businesses, remote workers, freelancers

Features: Automatic timekeeping, overtime calculation, leave tracking, stopwatch, online timesheet, payroll reports.

Pros:

Effective for windows, android and macOS.
You can scan the automatic screenshots to get accurate billing.
The interface is easy to use and navigate.
The timesheet creates only the billable hours which is really effective.

Cons:

Minimal integration options
The free edition has very limited features
The mobile app is reportedly a little bit problematic to use.
Higher priced than some other platforms with similar offerings.

Pricing:
- Free plan with very limited features.
- Pro plan $67 per user per year.

Average price (June 2024) based on 50 users £218.44 pcm.

3) Hubstaff

Best: Project Management

For: Remote and growing workforces

Features: Time tracking and online timesheets, employee scheduling and monitoring/ productivity measurement. GPS location tracker and Geofencing. Integrations, Available for Windows, Android, iOS, web, Linux, and macOS.

Pros:

You can assign projects to corresponding employees by setting time and budget limits.
Multiple reporting options can be exported into different formats.
Complete set of features for time tracking and monitoring workforce productivity, projects and costs.

Cons:

The interface should be more simplified.
The mobile app needs some modifications to be more user friendly.
The scheduling features could be improved with alerts.

Pricing:
- Free for one user.
- Basic $7 per user per month.
- Premium is $10 per user per month.
- Enterprise is $20 per user per month.

Average price (June 2024) based on 50 users £390.97 pcm.

4) Harvest

Best: Resource Planning

For: Enterprise / larger organisations

Features: Multiple ways to track time such as timers, continuous or after the fact. Employees can schedule tasks, get insight to projects including costings and forecasting.

Pros:

Easy to use interface
Option to run timers or input times later accommodates different preferences and enhances productivity.
Team tracking and resource planning.

Cons:

Projects could be more organised - users find it difficult to find specific items.
Accounting limitations outside of project costs and invoicing.
Integration options are limited.
App to Website connection has frequent issues and often disconnects
Customer support could be improved.

Pricing:
- Free: 1 user with a maximum 2 projects (freelancers, solopreneurs)
- Pro: $12 per user per month

Average price (June 2024) based on 50 users £469.45 pcm.

5) Connecteam

Best: Communication

For: larger businesses, across different geographical locations (multi clock/time zone)

Features: Time tracking, GPS, leave and overtime management, facial recognition, messenger function, custom forms and checklist templates, work chat.

Pros:

Range of integration options
World clocks for international teams
One click payroll ability
Employee rewards

Cons:

Poor experience for Android users compared to iOS.
Bugs and glitches reported regularly.
Overcomplicated pricing plans with most relevant and useful features only available at the higher price point.

Pricing:
2 week free trial. The below pricing is per 'hub' (3 hubs available). In order to access all features, you'd need all 3 hubs - so 3 x
- Basic: $35 per month for the first 30 users and $0.60 per user per month for additional users.
Basic clock features.
- Advanced: $59 per month for the first 30 users and $1.80 per user per month for additional users.
Basic + some additional features, but limited reports, clocks and locations
- Expert: $119 per month for the first 30 users and $3.60 per user per month for additional users.
Advanced with less limitations.

Average price (June 2024) based on 50 users £223.31 pcm.

6) Timeero

Best: Mileage Tracking

For: Organisations with field based/site workers

Features: Time tracking, mileage tracking, digital clock in, geofences, shift and rota management

Pros:

Payroll software integrations,
Highly rated mobile app.
Easy to use platform.
Accurate GPS tracking.

Cons:

Basic, limited, features, when compared with competitors.
A lot of the relevant features are only available at the higher price points.

Price:
- Basic: $4 per user per month (max 10 users)
- Pro: $8 per user per month
- Premium: $11 per user per month
- Enterprise: POA

Average price (June 2024) based on 50 users £313.22 pcm.

7) Planday

Best: Shift and Rota Management

For: Small - Medium Hospitality businesses

Features: track time and activity, scheduling, staff management, integrations, shift planning and rota management.

Pros:

Integration with third party payroll softwares, not just Xero
Easy shift swapping and rota management.
Cloud based.
User friendly - clear and uncomplicated UI.

Cons:

Frequent app crashes and bugs reported in mobile app,
Time tracking capability is limited and only really works for shift workers.

Pricing:
- Free trial
- Starter £2.99 per user per month
- Plus £3.99 per user per month
- Custom = poa
Sold in increments of 5 users, plus = min 10 users

Average price (June 2024) based on 50 users £199.55 pcm.

There's no real one size fits all when it comes to Time Management apps. Some organisations may need mileage and GPS tracking, whereas others just need to track billable tasks and time. Whatever requirements your company has, there's bound to be an app that suits your needs.

*Prices correct as of June 2024