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Best Homebase Alternatives for 2026, Free and Paid

Homebase really is free for one location. The bill starts when you open a second one, because it charges per site rather than per person.

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Why people switch

Why people look for a Homebase alternative

What it is

A Homebase alternative is another scheduling or time tracking tool you move to when Homebase stops fitting your business. Price is rarely the first reason, because the free plan covers one location and up to 10 staff and costs nothing. The trigger is usually growth. Homebase charges per location, from about $24 a site a month, so a second shop roughly doubles the bill while a per-user tool would barely move. Crews that travel between job sites hit the same wall. A smaller group leaves because they never rostered anyone and only wanted to track hours against customers.

Who needs this

A service business that sells its people's time and needs to know, in real time, whether each client project is still making money.

Meet both products

Compare the two products at a glance

TimeTracker and this competitor cover the same job in different ways. Here is what each one includes.

Best fit

TimeTracker

Every task carries operational and financial context together. Tracked time, budget impact, and invoicing live in one connected system, so you know if a project is still profitable before it becomes a problem.

Best for
Agencies and consultancies of 2 to 50 people who bill clients for time and need to see project profit, not just hours.
Pricing
Free for up to 3 people, no credit card needed. Pro is $15 per user a month, or $12 per user a month billed yearly, with a 14-day trial.
  • One-click task timers
  • Timesheet submission and approvals
  • Effective-dated billing and cost rates
  • Live project budgets and profitability
  • Client invoicing and payments
  • Client portal with a cost firewall
  • Reports and dashboards
  • Expense tracking with billable markup
Start tracking free

Homebase

Priced per location instead of per user, and free for one location with up to 10 employees, which makes it the cheapest real option for a single small site.

Best for
Single-site small businesses like cafes and shops that want free scheduling and a time clock for a small crew.
Pricing
Free for 1 location up to 10 employees. Essentials about $24/location/mo annual ($30 monthly), Plus about $56, All-in-One about $96, all per location.
  • Free plan for 1 location, up to 10 staff
  • Scheduling and shift swaps
  • Time clock with breaks
  • PTO and time-off controls
  • Team messaging
  • Hiring and onboarding tools
Full comparison

See how the alternatives stack up

Pricing, best fit, and top strengths for TimeTracker and every tool in this comparison.

Comparison dimensionTimeTrackerBest fitHomebaseWhen I WorkJibbleBuddy Punch
CategoryProject time trackingTime and attendanceTime and attendanceTime and attendanceTime and attendance
Best forAgencies and consultancies of 2 to 50 people who bill.Single-site small businesses like cafes and shops that.Local businesses that want straightforward shift.Small to mid-size teams, especially hourly, field, or.Small and mid-size hourly or field workforces that want an.
Starting price$12/user/monthFree$2.5/user/monthFree$4.99/user/month
Top strengthTies every time entry to a task, so hours and money are.A real free plan that covers scheduling and a time clock.One of the cheapest per-user prices for real scheduling.Free tier is unusually full-featured for unlimited usersRated 4.8/5 on G2 and Capterra for ease of use

Pricing checked 2026-07-31. Confirm current pricing on each vendor's site.

Every option, in full

Each Homebase alternative, and who it suits

Each tool below covers a different kind of team, so this is not a ranking. We list what each one does badly as well as what it does well, with the date we last checked its pricing.

TimeTrackerOurs

Best for

Agencies and consultancies of 2 to 50 people who bill clients for time and need to see project profit, not just hours.

Pricing

Free for up to 3 people, no credit card needed. Pro is $15 per user a month, or $12 per user a month billed yearly, with a 14-day trial.

Checked 13 July 2026

Every task carries operational and financial context together. Tracked time, budget impact, and invoicing live in one connected system, so you know if a project is still profitable before it becomes a problem. A service business that sells its people's time and needs to know, in real time, whether each client project is still making money.

Where it wins

  • Ties every time entry to a task, so hours and money are the same record instead of two systems to reconcile
  • Live budget and profitability rollups instead of a month-end spreadsheet
  • Timesheet approval locks numbers before they hit an invoice, so billed hours cannot silently drift
  • No screenshots, keystroke logging, or GPS tracking, by design

Where it falls short

  • Newer product than long-established time trackers, so its integration marketplace is still small
  • No native payroll run; timesheets export for an external payroll tool instead
  • Built for client-project delivery, not a general work OS, so it will not replace a wiki or a sprint board

Homebase

Best for

Single-site small businesses like cafes and shops that want free scheduling and a time clock for a small crew.

Pricing

Free for 1 location up to 10 employees. Essentials about $24/location/mo annual ($30 monthly), Plus about $56, All-in-One about $96, all per location.

Checked 30 July 2026

Priced per location instead of per user, and free for one location with up to 10 employees, which makes it the cheapest real option for a single small site. A single cafe, shop, or restaurant with under 10 hourly staff that wants a rota and a clock without paying anything.

Where it wins

  • A real free plan that covers scheduling and a time clock for up to 10 staff
  • Per-location pricing is cheap when one site has a lot of part-time people
  • Bundles hiring and messaging, so a small shop needs fewer tools

Where it falls short

  • Per-location pricing gets expensive fast once a business runs several sites
  • Built for hourly shift work, with no client billing or project profitability
  • The free plan stops at one location and 10 employees

When I Work

Best for

Local businesses that want straightforward shift scheduling and attendance in one cheap per-user app.

Pricing

About $2.50/user/mo for the entry plan and $5/user/mo for Pro. Month-to-month or annual, with a free trial.

Checked 30 July 2026

More on When I Work

Focused tightly on scheduling and attendance at a low per-user price, with auto scheduling, shift swapping, and GPS clock-in included on every plan. A restaurant, clinic, or retail team of 10 to 100 hourly staff whose main problem is publishing next week's rota.

Where it wins

  • One of the cheapest per-user prices for real scheduling plus a time clock
  • Every plan includes GPS clock-in, shift swapping, and overtime tracking
  • Well liked for how quickly a manager can build and publish a week

Where it falls short

  • Scheduling and attendance only. No client billing, budgets, or invoicing
  • Reporting is thin next to workforce platforms like Deputy
  • Multiple time zone views and advanced coverage need the Pro plan

Jibble

Best for

Small to mid-size teams, especially hourly, field, or shift workers, who want free attendance tracking.

Pricing

Free for unlimited users, including GPS, kiosk and face recognition. Paid tiers exist for PTO accruals and multilevel approvals, but Jibble no longer publishes their prices.

Checked 31 July 2026

More on Jibble

The most generous free plan in the category: unlimited users, GPS geofencing, and facial recognition to stop buddy punching, all at no cost. Small businesses and hourly or field teams that need reliable, verified clock-in and attendance reporting without a big budget.

Where it wins

  • Free tier is unusually full-featured for unlimited users
  • Strong, hardware-free buddy-punching prevention via facial recognition
  • Easy to set up, and kiosk mode works well for shared-device clock-ins

Where it falls short

  • Paid-tier prices are not published, so budgeting means asking Jibble first
  • PTO accruals, multilevel approvals, and live location need paid tiers
  • Mobile app dashboard is underdeveloped for on-the-go managers

Buddy Punch

Best for

Small and mid-size hourly or field workforces that want an easy time clock with GPS and scheduling.

Pricing

No free plan, 14-day trial only. Billed annually: Starter $4.99, Pro $6.99, Advanced $12.99 per user a month, each plus a $19 monthly base fee. Extras are sold per user on top.

Checked 30 July 2026

More on Buddy Punch

An easy time clock with a lot of ways to prove who punched: GPS on every punch, plus geofencing, PIN and kiosk punching and a webcam photo from the Pro tier up. A 15 to 100 person hourly or field workforce that needs proof of where a punch happened and will pay a base fee for it.

Where it wins

  • Rated 4.8/5 on G2 and Capterra for ease of use
  • Administrator accounts are free and unlimited, so managers do not use up seats
  • More ways to verify a punch than most rivals: GPS, geofence, PIN, kiosk and webcam photo

Where it falls short

  • No free plan at all, unlike Clockify, Jibble, Homebase and TimeCamp
  • The $19 monthly base fee hits small teams hardest. Five people on Starter is $43.95 a month, which is $8.79 each, not $4.99
  • Geofencing, PIN and kiosk punching and webcam photos all need the Pro tier
  • Real-time GPS is a paid add-on unless you are on Advanced, and other extras are priced per user too
  • No client billing or invoicing, so tracked hours cannot become a bill
Why switch

Reasons teams switch

Popular features

Time Tracking

Employee time tracking your team will actually use

One click starts a timer, or people type hours in by hand. Every entry ties to a client, project, and task, so the record stays clean.

Explore Time Tracking→
Timesheets

Timesheets your team submits on time

Hours build into a timecard as people work. Send the week for approval, lock it once it is signed off, and bill from a number that cannot quietly change.

Explore Timesheets→
Billing

Bill for every hour you earn

Mark each entry billable or non-billable while you work. Approved hours roll straight into reports you can bill from.

Explore Billing→
Use cases

Use cases this solves

More comparisons

Compare other tools

FAQ

Frequently asked questions

Is there a free version of Homebase?
Yes, and it is a real free plan rather than a trial. It covers one location with up to 10 employees and includes basic scheduling and a time clock. It also keeps timesheets for only 90 days. Paid tiers start around $24 a location a month billed annually. Every tier and add-on is priced out in our full explainer on Homebase.
Is Homebase free forever?
The free plan has no time limit, so yes, as long as you stay inside its limits. Those limits are one location and 10 employees. Add a second site or an eleventh member of staff and you move to a paid tier. Checked July 2026.
What is the best free employee scheduling app?
Homebase, if you have one location and 10 or fewer staff, because nothing else gives you scheduling plus a time clock free at that size. For unlimited users free, Jibble is the stronger pick, though it tracks attendance rather than building rotas. Checked July 2026.
Why does Homebase get expensive as you grow?
Because it charges per location, not per person. One shop on the free plan costs nothing. A second site starts the meter at roughly $24 a month each, so the bill can double overnight while headcount barely changes. A per-user tool scales more smoothly. Compare the When I Work alternatives for that pricing shape.
Does Homebase do payroll?
Yes, payroll is an add-on on its higher tiers, which is a real advantage over most scheduling tools. TimeTracker does not run payroll at all and has no payroll provider sync. It exports timecards and leave to CSV for whoever does run your payroll.
Does TimeTracker do employee scheduling?
No. There is no rota builder, no shift swapping and no auto scheduling. If publishing a weekly schedule is the job, Homebase or When I Work will serve you better. TimeTracker records and bills the hours people work through timesheets instead.
What works better for crews that move between job sites?
Anything priced per person rather than per location, because a travelling crew is one team working at many addresses and Homebase would bill each one. Tracking the work by customer rather than by site also matches how the job is actually quoted, see time tracking by client.
Can Homebase invoice a customer for the hours?
No. Homebase costs labour and can run payroll, but it does not raise a customer invoice. Neither do When I Work, Jibble or Buddy Punch. If you bill clients for time, that gap is the reason to look at a project time tracker, see how invoicing from tracked time works.
Is switching from Homebase hard?
Staff and hours move quickly. Rotas and any payroll history do not, so plan a fortnight of overlap if you are moving both. Moving to a project time tracker is simpler, because there is no schedule to recreate. Either way, export your data to CSV before you close the account.
Which Homebase alternative is right for my business?
One site and 10 or fewer staff, stay on Homebase free. Several sites or a moving crew, When I Work on per-user pricing. Free for a big team, Jibble. Billing clients for time rather than rostering shifts, TimeTracker, where hours feed project profitability directly.
A professional team working on a laptop at a warm wooden desk in an office.

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