OnTheClock vs uAttend: Full Comparison
OnTheClock bundles GPS, PTO, and scheduling into its base plan. uAttend sells physical clock hardware, like fingerprint and facial recognition clocks.
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Our quick verdict on both tools
Pick OnTheClock if your team clocks in mostly from phones or computers and you want GPS, PTO, and scheduling in one simple plan. Pick uAttend if you need a physical clock on the wall for on-site staff, alongside app-based punching for remote workers.
Start tracking freeWhat this comparison covers
OnTheClock and uAttend are both time tracking tools, compared here side by side so you can see how they differ.
If neither tool fits because you bill clients for project time, not just hourly attendance, TimeTracker is worth a look on our alternatives page.
Compare the two products at a glance
Both tools solve time tracking. Here is what each one includes, side by side.
OnTheClock
GPS tracking, geofencing, and PTO accrual come standard on the base plan, features most rivals gate behind higher tiers.
- Best for
- Small businesses that want a simple time clock with GPS, PTO, and scheduling included at the base tier.
- Pricing
- No free plan, 30-day trial. $4 per employee a month plus a $5 monthly base fee, so 2 employees is $13 a month. Payroll adds $6 per employee plus a $40 base fee, and a one-time $250 onboarding fee.
- GPS tracking and geofencing
- Biometric and IP punch verification
- PTO and leave tracking with accruals
- Drag-and-drop employee scheduling
- Project and job costing
- Tips, bonus, commission tracking
uAttend
Sells its own line of physical time clock hardware (fingerprint, facial recognition, badge) alongside cloud software, priced by employee count.
- Best for
- Businesses that want physical time clock hardware paired with a cloud dashboard.
- Pricing
- Tiered by employee count: about $29/mo (1-9 employees) up to $195/mo (100+). Hardware clocks sold separately from about $139. A plan covers 2 clocks and 1 admin, with extra clocks $12/mo and extra admins $8/mo. Payroll is a separate add-on from $5 a person a month.
- Fingerprint, facial recognition, badge clocks
- Mobile app with GPS on punch in/out
- Cloud dashboard for timesheets and PTO
- Touch-tone phone punching option
- Text and email missed-punch alerts
- Multi-location support
- Shift scheduling, and its own payroll add-on
See how they stack up
Pricing, best fit, and top strengths for both tools, side by side.
Pricing checked 2026-07-31. Confirm current pricing on each vendor's site.
Which one fits your team
Choose OnTheClock when…
You want GPS tracking and geofencing without paying for a higher plan.
GPS and geofencing come standard on OnTheClock's base tier, so you do not need to upgrade just to confirm where staff clocked in.See how
You need to track PTO and leave accruals alongside hours worked.
PTO and leave tracking with accruals are built in, so time off and worked hours live in one report instead of two systems.See how
You want to schedule shifts and see clock-ins against that schedule.
Drag-and-drop scheduling ties into the same dashboard as attendance, so a missed shift is easy to spot.See how
You want a clean dashboard your managers can learn in an afternoon.
Reviewers rate OnTheClock highly for ease of use, with a simple layout that needs little training.See how
You track job costs and want hours tied to a project, not just a shift.
Project and job costing let you see labor cost by job without a separate spreadsheet.See how
You want to avoid buying hardware just to get biometric verification.
Biometric and IP punch verification work through the software, so there is no clock to buy or mount on a wall.See how
Choose uAttend when…
You need a physical time clock on the wall for staff without smartphones.
uAttend sells fingerprint, facial recognition, and badge clocks, so staff without a phone can still punch in reliably.See how
You run more than one location and want clocks that report to one dashboard.
Multi-location support pulls punches from every site into one cloud dashboard, so a manager does not need to check each location by hand.See how
Some staff do not have a smartphone but still need to clock in remotely.
Touch-tone phone punching covers workers without a smartphone, an option OnTheClock does not offer.See how
You want to be alerted right away when someone misses a punch.
Text and email missed-punch alerts flag the problem the same day, not at the end of a pay period.See how
You value responsive customer support when something breaks on a busy shift.
Reviewers frequently praise uAttend's support team as quick to respond, which matters when a clock goes down mid-shift.See how
You want GPS on mobile punches without moving to a higher software tier.
The uAttend mobile app includes GPS on punch in and out at every plan level, tied to the employee count you already pay for.See how
Popular features
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→See where the time really goes
Break hours down by client, project, and team member. Find the work that pays off and the projects that run over.
Explore Reports & Dashboards→Use cases this solves
Leave and PTO Tracking
Track time off and accruals next to the hours your team actually worked.
Explore→Cost Tracking
See labor cost by project or job without a separate spreadsheet.
Explore→Non-Billable Time Tracking
Log internal hours that don't go on a client invoice, cleanly separated from billable work.
Explore→
Frequently asked questions
- Is OnTheClock cheaper than uAttend?
- OnTheClock costs about $4 per employee a month plus a $5 base fee. uAttend is tiered by employee count, from about $29 a month for 1 to 9 employees up to $195 a month for 100 or more, plus hardware if you buy a clock. For a small team, OnTheClock is usually cheaper. See how a project-billing tool prices instead on the billing page.
- Do I need to buy hardware for either tool?
- uAttend sells physical clocks (fingerprint, facial recognition, badge) starting around $139, on top of the software cost. OnTheClock is software only, so staff clock in from a phone, computer, or shared device with no hardware to buy. Both rely on core time tracking to record the punch either way.
- Which tool has better GPS tracking?
- Both track GPS on mobile punches. OnTheClock includes GPS and geofencing standard on its base plan. uAttend's mobile app also tags GPS on punch in and out. See how time tracking covers location data alongside the basic punch record.
- Does either tool handle PTO and leave accruals?
- OnTheClock includes PTO and leave tracking with accruals as part of its core plan. uAttend's cloud dashboard also covers timesheets and PTO. See leave and PTO tracking for what a full accrual policy needs.
- Which tool is better for a business with more than one location?
- uAttend was built with multi-location support in mind, pulling punches from several sites into one dashboard. See how reports and dashboards roll data up across a team. OnTheClock can also run across locations, but its reporting leans simpler than a dedicated multi-site setup.
- Does OnTheClock or uAttend include payroll?
- Neither includes payroll for free. OnTheClock's payroll is a separate add-on at $40 a month plus $6 per employee. uAttend exports timesheets for an external payroll run. If you need hours to flow straight into an invoice instead of a payroll run, see invoicing from tracked time.
- Which tool is easier to learn for a new manager?
- OnTheClock scores well on ease of use, with reviewers pointing to its clean, intuitive dashboard. uAttend is also described as straightforward, with easy sick and vacation reporting. Both are simpler to learn than a full time tracking system built around project budgets.
- Can I track job costs with either tool?
- OnTheClock includes project and job costing as part of its feature set. uAttend focuses more on attendance and punch verification than on job-level cost reporting. If job costing matters most, see cost tracking to check what level of detail you need.
- What happens if someone forgets to clock out?
- uAttend sends text and email alerts on a missed punch, so a manager can fix it the same day. OnTheClock also flags missing punches through its dashboard, though uAttend's alerting is one of its more praised features. Neither tool separates that hour as non-billable time the way a project-billing tool would.
- Neither tool bills clients for project time. What should I use instead?
- OnTheClock and uAttend are both built for attendance and payroll hours, not client billing. If you sell your team's time and need budgets, approvals, and invoices tied to tracked hours, weigh your options on the OnTheClock alternatives page, which covers tools built around billing, not just clocking in.
