Time tracking is one of those problems that looks simple until you’re actually running a crew. A paper timesheet works fine until someone forgets to fill it out, or a client disputes 4 hours on a T&M job and you have nothing to back it up, or you realize at the end of the week that three guys clocked different hours for the same Tuesday.

I went through G2 reviews, dug into pricing pages, and ran the numbers for a few different crew sizes across all six of these tools. Most time tracking apps were designed for office workers. A few of them weren’t. The difference matters.

Here’s what actually fits a small contractor operation.

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Quick Picks

• QuickBooks Time: Already using QuickBooks and want payroll to just work
• ClockShark: Trades contractor who needs job costing plus GPS in one place
• Connecteam: Small crew under 10 who wants a full-featured free option
• Jibble: Free GPS and face recognition, zero cost
• Clockify: Solo operator or 2-person shop that just needs hours tracked
• Hubstaff: Mixed team with both field workers and remote or office staff

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QuickBooks Time – Best if You’re Already on QuickBooks

If you’re already running QuickBooks for invoicing or payroll, this is probably the right call. Not because it’s the best GPS product in this category (it isn’t) but because the integration with QuickBooks is better than what anyone else offers.

Time entries from the field turn into payroll records automatically. If your crew logs 7 hours on a Thursday, that 7 hours is sitting in QuickBooks on Friday morning without anyone exporting a spreadsheet. For contractors who have been doing that transfer manually every two weeks, that’s a genuine change. One G2 reviewer in an office manager role highlighted how it reduced payroll errors specifically because the accuracy improvement kicked in from the first payroll run after switching.

The mobile app is straightforward. Crew members can figure it out without being walked through it. There’s also a kiosk mode for shared tablets at the job site, which covers workers who don’t carry smartphones.

Pricing: Premium: $20/mo base + $8/user/mo | Elite: $40/mo base + $10/user/mo
QuickBooks is running a 50% off promo for the first 3 months right now, which brings the base to $10/mo and $20/mo respectively. Regular rates are $20 and $40.

For a 5-person crew on Premium: about $60/mo regular price.

Best for: Contractors already using QuickBooks Online who want to eliminate the manual step between field time and payroll. Strong fit for 5 to 50 person crews. Elite plan adds geofencing and mileage logging for crews that need those specifically.

The GPS works, but it’s not the main event. If GPS accountability is your primary concern, ClockShark is built around that in a way QuickBooks Time isn’t.

A few things came up repeatedly in the reviews that are worth knowing. One G2 reviewer found that QuickBooks Time doesn’t automatically tally hours by pay period. They still had to manually enter daily hours into a separate program when payroll ran. Another reviewer flagged compatibility issues between the software and the physical kiosk terminal, with incorrect PTO and sick day accrual calculations when different accrual rules were running at the same time. These aren’t universal problems, but they came up enough in the reviews to mention.

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ClockShark – Best for Trades Contractors Who Need Job Costing

ClockShark was built for construction and field service. The difference shows up in features that don’t exist in generic time tracking tools.

CrewClock lets a crew leader clock in the entire team at once. That matters when workers don’t have smartphones or when getting 8 people to open an app on a busy Monday morning isn’t realistic. One G2 reviewer who manages a field crew said the real time map tracking was the top feature – being able to see which jobs team members were clocked into without having to text anyone.

The job costing setup is genuinely useful. Employees can switch tasks without clocking out, and labor costs get attributed to specific jobs and tasks as the day goes. For T&M jobs, that’s the kind of documentation that ends client disputes before they escalate. There’s also built-in Spanish language support, which matters if you have a mixed language crew.

Mock-location detection is a nice touch – it blocks GPS spoofing apps so employees can’t fake their location when clocking in.

Pricing: Standard: $40/mo base + $9/user/mo | Pro: $60/mo base + $11/user/mo

For a 5-person crew on Standard: $85/mo. Only active users are billed each month, which helps with seasonal fluctuation.

Best for: Trades contractors (HVAC, plumbing, electrical, landscaping, construction) with 5 to 100 employees who need GPS tracking, job costing, and crew management in the same tool.

The cons are real. One G2 reviewer gave it 3 stars and described it as “very buggy” – they were getting persistent alert emails they couldn’t turn off despite multiple contacts with support, while simultaneously not receiving alerts they actually needed. Support acknowledged the issue but it was never resolved. The timesheet adjustment on the back end is also clunky: no quick switch option when fixing a missed task change, which means creating a new timesheet entry manually every time.

The integration limitation is significant: only one third-party integration can be active at a time. If you use QuickBooks plus a project management tool, you have to pick one. ClockShark also has no open API, so custom integrations with internal tools aren’t possible.

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Connecteam – Best Free Option for Small Crews

Connecteam’s free plan covers up to 10 users with GPS clock-in and out, unlimited jobs, payroll integration, scheduling, and digital checklists. That’s a complete set of features at $0, not a stripped down trial.

What makes Connecteam different from the other free options is that it puts time tracking, team communication, scheduling, and task management in one app. One G2 reviewer described it as solving “scattered communication, manual scheduling, and time tracking across different tools” in one place. For a contractor without a dedicated office manager, not having to stitch together three separate tools is worth something.

Setup is easy. Multiple G2 reviewers described it as fitting into daily workflow without creating additional complexity – no month-long onboarding, no configuration consultant needed.

Pricing: Free: $0 forever for up to 10 users | Basic: $29/mo for first 30 users (annual) | Advanced: $49/mo for first 30 users (annual), adds full geofencing | Expert: $99/mo for first 30 users (annual)

Best for: Small contractor businesses under 10 employees who want time tracking, scheduling, and team communication in one app without paying for multiple tools. Also a strong starting point for growing operations that want to test before committing to paid tiers.

Know what you’re getting into on GPS. One G2 reviewer noted that GPS data showed incorrect location information on a recurring daily basis, and the issue hadn’t been resolved by the development team. The free plan’s GPS records a location at clock-in and out, but geofencing and breadcrumb tracking that make GPS accountability meaningful are Advanced plan features. Connecteam is also not construction specific the way ClockShark is – there are no job costing codes, no group clock-in for crews, and the payroll integrations are more general than construction-focused.

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Jibble – Best Free Option if Buddy Punching is Your Problem

Jibble’s free plan includes GPS tracking, face recognition clock-in, NFC and RFID support, geofencing for two sites, automated timesheets, and unlimited users. That’s more fraud prevention than you’d get on most paid plans from other tools.

The face recognition feature is the differentiator. One G2 reviewer called it out specifically as eliminating buddy punching – employees clock in at the right location with their actual face, not someone else’s phone. For job sites where that’s a real concern, Jibble’s free plan solves the problem at zero cost.

The NFC and RFID support is a practical option for kiosk setups where workers tap a card to clock in. Simple, fast, harder to forget than opening an app.

Pricing: Free: $0, unlimited users (GPS, face recognition, 2 geofences, unlimited projects) | Premium: $4.49/user/mo (unlimited geofences, unlimited schedules, multi-level approvals) | Ultimate: $7.99/user/mo (live location tracking, attendance insights)

Best for: Very small contractors (1 to 10 people) who want face recognition and GPS without paying anything, or contractors where buddy punching is a specific problem worth solving.

Jibble is newer and smaller than the other tools here. Some G2 reviewers mention periodic system downtime, which is a real concern when your crew is trying to clock in at 6am on a job site with spotty service. It doesn’t have job costing codes or a group clock-in feature. For a solo operator or a tight team who needs reliable GPS plus fraud prevention, it’s hard to argue against a $0 price. For a 20-person construction crew with complex job costing needs, ClockShark or QuickBooks Time are the better fit.

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Clockify – Best for Solo Operators and Hour-Based Billing

Clockify’s free plan covers unlimited users with time tracking, timesheets, project organization, reporting, mobile and desktop apps, and a basic kiosk mode. No GPS on the free plan – that’s a Pro feature.

For a solo contractor or a 2-person operation that bills clients hourly and needs a clean record of time spent per project, Clockify works. One G2 reviewer highlighted being able to track time by client and generate invoices directly from tracked hours, all in the free version. That’s a complete billing workflow at zero cost.

The timer is simple. Assign a project, start tracking, stop when done. The reports show labor by project in a format that makes billing less of a guessing game at the end of the month.

Pricing: Free: $0, unlimited users (no GPS) | Standard: $5.49/user/mo annual (adds time off, invoicing, QuickBooks integration) | Pro: $7.99/user/mo annual (adds GPS, scheduling, budget vs. actuals)

Best for: Solo contractors or 2-3 person shops that bill by the hour and need clean time records for invoicing. Not the right tool if GPS accountability matters to your operation.

The limitations show up as you grow. Reporting feels thin when you need complex job cost breakdowns. It’s a generic tool – it doesn’t know what a job site is, what a cost code is, or what a disputed T&M hour looks like. Contractors who start with Clockify and grow often end up switching to something more purpose built for field work. That’s not a knock – it’s the right tool for a specific situation, and outgrowing it is a sign your business scaled.

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Hubstaff – Best for Mixed Field and Remote Teams

Hubstaff works well if you have a combination of field workers and office or remote staff, and you want one tool covering both. The screenshot monitoring and keyboard activity tracking are designed for desk workers – for a pure field crew, those features add nothing useful and can create trust issues with employees.

The GPS tracking is not included by default. You need either the Team plan ($10/seat/mo) or a Locations add-on ($3.33/seat/mo on top of a lower tier). If GPS is the main reason you’re looking at time tracking, that adds up compared to tools where GPS is standard.

Pricing: Starter: $4.99/seat/mo (no GPS) | Grow: $7.50/seat/mo (no GPS) | Team: $10/seat/mo (GPS included, scheduling, attendance) | Enterprise: $25/seat/mo

Best for: Contractors with a mix of field workers and remote or office staff who want one tool tracking both. Not suited for field-only crews.

Multiple G2 reviewers flagged the screenshot monitoring as feeling intrusive. For a field crew, that concern is mostly irrelevant since screenshots don’t capture anything useful on a job site – but it’s worth knowing before rolling it out to an office team. The interface has also been described as strict, with limited customization in reporting.

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What Contractors Actually Say

I found a ContractorTalk thread from a contractor starting a 3-month T&M job who asked the forum for recommendations. The top answer was simply “TSheets” (which is now QuickBooks Time). No explanation, just the name. That kind of brand recognition in the trades community doesn’t happen without something behind it.

The more useful response in that thread came from a contractor who pushed back on apps entirely. Their argument: paper tracking is more reliable because app adoption fails, and tracking systems only work if someone processes the data into something actionable. They weren’t wrong. The technology isn’t the hard part. Getting your crew to open the app at 6am every morning is the hard part.

A few patterns show up across forums and review sites consistently enough to be worth noting:

Contractors on T&M jobs care most about GPS. Having a GPS-stamped clock-in record on a disputed invoice ends the conversation. Contractors on fixed-price jobs care a lot less – they mostly need hours tracked for payroll, and GPS is nice to have rather than essential.

The QuickBooks lock-in is real. Contractors already in that ecosystem adopt QuickBooks Time not because it has the best GPS but because it removes the double data entry between field and accounting. That’s a legitimate reason to pick it over technically superior GPS tools.

Per-user pricing is a consistent frustration for contractors with seasonal crews. Paying per seat during slow months when half the crew is laid off is a real cost. Tools with free tiers or flat-rate pricing show up more favorably in those conversations.

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Bottom Line

You’re on QuickBooks: Get QuickBooks Time. The integration justifies it. Premium plan handles most crews – upgrade to Elite only if you need geofencing or mileage logging.

You’re a trades contractor who needs GPS plus job costing: Get ClockShark. It’s the most field-specific tool in this list. Start with Standard and upgrade to Pro if you need PTO management or multi-department controls.

You have under 10 employees and want to start free: Start with Connecteam. The free plan is legitimately complete. See if you outgrow it before paying for anything.

Buddy punching is your specific problem: Jibble. Face recognition and GPS at zero cost. Nothing else in this category gives you both for free.

You bill by the hour and just need hours tracked: Clockify free plan. Clean, simple, works on every device, generates invoices directly. Don’t pay for more tool than you need.

You have both field workers and remote or office staff: Hubstaff. Don’t use it for a field-only crew – the GPS setup is awkward and the monitoring features don’t apply.

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Pricing verified March 2026. QuickBooks Time is running a 50% off promo for first 3 months. G2 ratings: Jibble 4.8/5, ClockShark 4.6/5, Connecteam 4.6/5, Hubstaff 4.5/5, QuickBooks Time 4.5/5, Clockify 4.5/5.