Hubstaff vs Clockify 2024: Simplicity or Functionality For Your Team?

Have you come across the big names in time tracking and trying to decide between Hubstaff vs Clockify for your team’s time tracking needs? To help with your decision, we made a detailed comparison of their key features, reporting, usability, payroll, integrations, and pricing so you can quickly see which time-tracking tool is right for you.

Key Takeaways

• Both Clockify and Hubstaff utilize time tracking features like manual and automatic time tracking. While Clockify has a more intuitive, user-friendly interface, Hubstaff has more timesheet and payroll automation.
• Both Clockify and Hubstaff provide employee monitoring including tracking app usage, websites and activity levels, which is great for managing remote teams. But Hubstaff is more indepth with its analytics software that tracks every detail about your team.
• Both Clockify and Hubstaff include idle time detection and offline tracking, ensuring strong employee productivity even in remote or low-internet environments. But Clockify also has a Pomodoro timer.
• Hubstaff integrates with over 30 other platforms, while Clockify has 80+ integrations, making both highly adaptable to diverse workflows and project management needs.
• Clockify offers a free plan with unlimited users, making it ideal for budget-conscious teams of any size.
• Choosing between Hubstaff and Clockify depends on whether you prioritize advanced monitoring and team oversight (Hubstaff) or a simple, free time-tracking solution (Clockify).

Overview of Hubstaff and Clockify

Let’s face facts; businesses want to make more money! And to achieve this, they want to optimize productivity, ensure accurate billing, and track employee time in the easiest smoothest way possible.

In my opinion, time tracking apps are indispensable for businesses aiming to streamline workflows and gain insights into employee activity.

Hubstaff and Clockify are two prominent players in this space, each offering unique features tailored to different business needs.

Hubstaff caters to small to medium-sized businesses, offering a comprehensive suite of features for time tracking, employee monitoring, and project management. Clockify provides a straightforward approach to time tracking and productivity management, making it accessible and easy to use for teams of all sizes.

What is Hubstaff

Hubstaff is the brain child of Dave Nevogt and Jared Brown. Since the company’s founding in 2012, Hubstaff aims to enhance productivity by offering detailed insights into how employees allocate their time. The platform offers various time tracking formats, allowing users to monitor hours spent on specific tasks and projects. Plus, there are a slew of other features.

Here’s a breakdown of what Hubstaff offers:

• Detailed Time Tracking: Tracks time spent on tasks with automatic and manual time entries.
• Employee Monitoring: Monitors activity levels, app usage, and web browsing with optional screenshots.
• Idle Time Detection: Identifies and alerts when employees are inactive.
• Offline Time Tracking: Captures time even when team members are offline.
• Payroll Integration: Automates payroll processing based on tracked hours.
• Invoicing Capabilities: Generates invoices for clients based on tracked time.
• Project Management: Offers tools for task management, scheduling, and sprint planning.
• Comprehensive Reporting: Provides detailed reports on productivity and time usage.
• Over 30 Integrations: Seamlessly integrates with platforms like Trello, Asana, and QuickBooks.
• GPS Tracking: Tracks the location of mobile teams for on-site work management.

What is Clockify

Clockify – which was founded by Nenad Milanović and launched in 2017 – helps teams log hours and manage projects efficiently. The company’s primary aim at the start was providing a free and user-friendly time tracking solution.

Here is an overview of what Clockify brings to the table:

• Free Plan with Unlimited Users: Supports teams of all sizes at no cost.
• Manual and Automatic Time Tracking: Users can log hours manually or use a timer to track time.
• Pomodoro Timer: Helps manage work intervals and boosts focus with timed sessions.
• Idle Detection: Alerts users when they’ve been inactive for too long.
• Timesheet Management: Provides easy-to-use timesheets for tracking work across projects.
• Custom Task Labels: Allows for organization and tagging of tasks for better tracking.
• Project and Task Management: Users can track time across multiple projects and tasks.
• Flexible Reporting: Generates customizable reports that can be exported in PDF or Excel formats.
• App and URL Tracking: Automatically records app and website usage during work hours.
• Integrations: Works with tools like Jira, Trello, and Asana to sync workflows seamlessly.

Hubstaff vs Clockify: Key Features Comparison

If you need to choose between Hubstaff and Clockify, you need to examine their key features. They both have time tracking capabilities, employee monitoring tools, and project management functionalities, but how do the really stack up against each other?

Time Tracking Capabilities

Both Hubstaff and Clockify excel in time tracking. Both Clockify and Hubstaff offers manual and automatic time tracking that even works offline, making it reliable for remote teams. Both include idle time detection to track inactivity and alert managers when employees are not active.

But they offer different strengths.

Hubstaff lets you:

• Create automated time sheets from every minute of time that is tracked, which means less mistakes come payday.
• The time sheets can also be set to automated approvals for more streamlined payroll.
• Hubstaff also has time sheet reports that help with learning more about how time is spent in your business.

Clockify

• Provides a user-friendly interface with custom task, project, or client labels for easier tracking.
• Includes features like a Pomodoro timer
• Plus, while both tools allow manual time entries, Clockify’s organized interface simplifies the process, making it accessible for users of all technical levels.

Overall, both of these time tracking apps do well in this category, and are solid choices for boosting employee productivity. Which one is best really depends on your priorities.

For small teams, startups with minimum budgets who like the idea of using tasks and projects to track their time, Clockify is a solid choice. But if you’re managing a remote team or larger team like an agency, real estate or consultant firm and need a more granular look at time being spent as well as streamlined tracking and time sheets, Hubstaff is potentially better.

Employee Monitoring Tools

Both Hubstaff and Clockify platforms provide activity tracking features such as:

• Tracking app usage and URL web browsing activity
• Optional screenshot functionality, with Hubstaff taking screenshots every 10 minutes and Clockify offering more frequent captures every 5 minutes if enabled.
• Idle time detection that alerts managers when employees are inactive for extended periods
• Generating detailed reports on employee activity, allowing managers to analyze how time is spent and identify areas for improvement.

In my eyes, these employee monitoring features are great for remote teams lacking direct supervision. Just make sure you use the information wisely, as it can get into micromanaging territory really quick.

When it comes to differences, Hubstaff stands out with more advanced monitoring capabilities, such as capturing mouse movements and keyboard activity to gauge employee engagement during work hours, and even advanced GPS location for mobile teams, making it a powerful tool for remote workforce management.

Clockify, on the other hand, has a high degree of monitoring but not as invasive, focusing on task and activity tracking without looking at mouse and keyboard activity. This makes Clockify more suited for teams that need good monitoring without the extra layers of oversight Hubstaff provides.

Project Management Features

Hubstaff offers a comprehensive overview of tasks and timelines to keep users updated on project progress. Managers can:

• Create teams
• Schedule shifts
• Assign projects
• Manage budgets of each team and project

Also, Hubstaff’s more expensive plans offer advanced project planning and task management features, including a unique sprint planning feature.

Clockify offers similar essential features like:

• Assigning tasks to employees with set time and financial budgets
• Tracking project progress
• Monitoring budgets
• Scheduling shifts

However, Clockify doesn’t offer as many advanced options as you can find with Hubstaff. For businesses that need straightforward and reliable project tracking without advanced customization, Clockify offers a functional and cost-effective solution.

Reporting and Analytics

Effective reporting and analytics are crucial for understanding team performance and making data-driven decisions.

Custom Reports

Hubstaff provides advanced reporting features for tracking employee productivity which includes:

• Real-time reports via advanced analytics software
• Time & Activities report includes activity scores and tracked time, offering detailed insights into employee performance.
• Time off reports

If you’re action-oriented like me, the immediate insights of real time reports are ridiculously useful, ensuring issues don’t linger unnecessarily.

Clockify offers essential reporting capabilities such as:

• Summary time reports
• Detailed time reports
• Weekly timesheet reports
• Automated attendance reports are available to track employee arrival times, breaks, and overtime, too.
• Alerts for budget overruns, ensuring project costs stay within acceptable limits.
• Basic custom reports

Ultimately, Hubstaff is better for custom reports due to its more advanced features and deeper customization options. It provides detailed insights into employee activity, project progress, and even app usage, allowing businesses to generate highly tailored reports.

While Clockify offers basic reporting that’s easy to use and export, it lacks the depth and customization that Hubstaff provides.

Integration with Other Tools

Integrations with other tools enhance the functionality of time tracking software. These integrations enable seamless workflow across platforms, enhancing productivity and efficiency.

Clockify integrates with over 80+ apps including:

• Accounting software like QuickBooks and FreshBooks, simplifying invoice management.
• Google Calendar and Outlook for syncing assignments and events.

Hubstaff integrates with over 30 tools – including Asana, Trello, and more – making it adaptable to various workflows and business needs.

Both platforms’ integrations enhance functionality, making project management and invoicing more efficient. However, Clockify outshines Hubstaff with over 80 platform connections, making it highly adaptable to diverse workflows.

User Experience and Interface

The user experience and interface of a time tracking tool significantly impact its adoption and effectiveness. Both platforms offer unique interfaces catering to different user preferences.

Ease of Use

Clockify is user-friendly, especially for people who are used to using a variety of apps and widget. However, it’s learning curve isn’t exactly short for new users who aren’t tech-savvy. Ultimately, they may need more time or training to really get a grip on Clockify, but for what you gain, it’s potentially worth it.

Hubstaff’s interface allows for a ton of flexibility, and it can be challenging to set up due to its plethora of design options. While I like being able to select from a range of widgets to get exactly what I want, some may find that overwhelming, especially at first.

But once set up, Hubstaff’s well-structured dashboard provides quick access to essential tools through a side panel, making site navigation easy.

Mobile App Functionality

Mobile app functionality is crucial for remote teams, providing flexibility and accessibility. Clockify and Hubstaff’s comprehensive mobile app lets remote teams track time and manage tasks on the go. But Hubstaff also has robust mobile capabilities for remote workers, including geofencing services.

Ultimately, both applications do a great job of enhancing the efficiency and productivity of remote teams with their well-designed mobile functionalities.

Employee Scheduling and Payroll Management

Effective employee scheduling and payroll management optimize workforce utilization and ensure timely compensation. Both Hubstaff and Clockify offer robust scheduling features that include:

• Shift assignments
• Notifications
• User-friendly calendar views

Additionally, their payroll management tools facilitate streamlined payment processes, ensuring accurate and timely compensation for employees.

Scheduling Features

Clockify offers:

• Basic scheduling with an adjustable timeline and a team view feature, allowing managers to publish assignments and inform team members about their work schedules.
• Task assignment feature which enables the creation of assignments with notes, links, hours, and assignees and can be enhanced with paid upgrades.

Hubstaff:

• Utilizes analytics and productivity data to create schedules and track employee hours, enhancing employee management.
• Managers can create teams, schedule shifts, and assign tasks effectively, ensuring that all team members are informed and productive.

Both platforms provide essential scheduling capabilities for managing team shifts and assignments, but Hubstaff’s use of productivity data offers a more comprehensive approach.

Payroll Management

Hubstaff offers:

• Automated payroll and proof of work features that streamline the payment process.
• Automated logged hours into timesheets and reports for payroll fulfillment, simplifying the payment process for employers.
• Integration with various payroll solutions such as PayPal, Payoneer, Wise, Gusto and Bitwage, allowing for direct handling of employee payments through the app.
• Automated payment frequency of your choice

Clockify, meanwhile provides:

• Invoicing for billable hours and expenses
• Payroll integration options with QuickBooks, PayPal, and Payoneer.
• For smaller teams, another option for payroll can be exporting time tracking data as a CSV and uploading it to a third-party payroll tool to process payments.

Between the two, Hubstaff is the stronger payroll option given its automated payment management. Even though Clockify doesn’t provide direct payment capabilities like Hubstaff, its integration with popular payroll tools ensures that businesses can still manage payroll efficiently.

GPS and Location Tracking

GPS and location tracking are vital for businesses with mobile teams or field workers. Both tools offer GPS location tracking but in different strengths.

Hubstaff offers:

• Comprehensive GPS tracking features designed for mobile teams, including geofenced job sites that automatically clock employees in and out
• Mileage tracking capabilities, perfect for ensuring accurate time tracking and enhancing accountability when employees are on the move.

Clockify:

• Provides basic GPS tracking in its premium version
• Has limitations, mainly that it relies on manual clocking in and out to capture the data and it offers no job routing.
• The good news, Clockify does allow you to set up kiosks, or clocking stations on any device in any location you like with an internet connection.

For companies with mobile teams or those needing location tracking, Hubstaff is the better choice, offering strong GPS tracking with geofencing to monitor where employees are during work hours. This feature is especially valuable for businesses managing field teams or on-site workers in health care or construction for example.

Clockify doesn’t provide that level of location tracking, but is still a great option if you don’t have strong location-based needs.

Customer Support and Community

Customer support and community engagement are crucial for users to get the most out of their time tracking tools.

Both Clockify and Hubstaff offer great customer support. Each provides 24/7 customer support. You are able to contact them via email, live chat or phone (whichever is the most convenient).

Clockify, specifically stands out because

• Their customer support is available even to Free members. I was actually able to reach a live agent without even being a customer!
• They have a dedicated forum where users can discuss various topics related to time tracking and share their projects. Users can provide feedback and suggest new features directly through Clockify’s feedback category, which is helpful.
• Clockify encourages users to share tips and workflows in a specific category designed for ideas and how-to discussions.

Hubstaff offers a knowledge base with detailed guides and tutorials. Generally, it’s pretty easy to get help if you’re using Hubstaff, which provides a lot of peace of mind.

Both offer comprehensive assistance, including live chat, email support, and a detailed help center, making it ideal for businesses that need quick, responsive help. But Clockify provides this service even to their free members and sports a strong forum and community. Either will work well but we give the slight nod to Clockify here.

Cost Comparison: Hubstaff vs Clockify

Cost is a significant consideration when choosing a time tracking tool, especially for small businesses with tight budgets. Here’s what you need to know about the available plans.

Free Versions

Clockify’s free version offers unlimited time tracking for an unlimited number of users, which is its primary appeal. This makes it a cost-effective choice for small teams or startups looking to implement time tracking without additional costs. However, the free version lacks premium features, potentially limiting functionality for more complex needs.

In contrast, Hubstaff offers a 14-day free trial instead of a permanent free version. Hubstaff’s free version offers essential time tracking and productivity management features but is limited compared to Clockify’s free offering. Still, it’s a viable way to get a feel for Hubstaff before committing funds, which is hard not to appreciate.

Paid Plans

Hubstaff’s Starter plan costs $4.99 per user per month, offering basic features for small teams. Hubstaff’s Team plan costs $10 per user per month for advanced features, while the Grow plan is a more modest $7.50 per user per month. Hubstaff also offers $25 per user per month pricing for enterprises, an option that’s catering to larger organizations with specific needs.

Clockify’s paid plans start at $3.99 per user per month when billed annually, making it cost-effective for teams needing more than the free features. The Standard plan costs $5.49 per user per month, and the Pro upgrade is $7.99 per user per month, while the Enterprise option is $11.99 per user per month.

Value for Money

Hubstaff is pricier than Clockify but offers automated time tracking, time sheets and payroll with advanced reporting and scheduling features that make it worth the extra cost if your business needs it.

Final Verdict: Which Tool is Right for Your Business?

Choosing the right time tracking tool depends on your business size, type of work, and industry. Hubstaff is more expensive than Clockify but offers advanced analytic features that provide detailed insights into team productivity and streamline payroll processes. It is particularly beneficial for businesses with remote teams or those needing comprehensive employee monitoring and scheduling features.

Clockify, on the other hand, is more cost-effective for small teams and offers many features for free. It is ideal for businesses that require simple but effective time tracking, time sheets, project management, and payroll processing. The customer service is top notch as well.

Also there are a few factors you should think about before a selecting an employee time tracking tool, such as:

• Does your employees operate from a central location or remotely?
• What is the nature of your work? (e.g., site jobs versus asynchronous work)

Think about your specific needs, then make an informed decision that enhances your productivity and project management capabilities without too much hassle.

Summary

In summary, both Hubstaff and Clockify offer robust time tracking solutions, but they cater to different business needs. Hubstaff excels in providing detailed employee monitoring, advanced scheduling, and payroll integration, making it ideal for remote teams and businesses requiring comprehensive productivity insights. Clockify, with its free plan and mainly user-friendly interface, is perfect for small teams needing basic time tracking and project management features without incurring additional costs.

Frequently Asked Questions