TimeTracker vs OnTheClock: Full Comparison
OnTheClock is a simple time clock for hourly staff, with GPS and PTO from the base plan. TimeTracker adds budgets, approvals, and invoicing for the same hours.
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Our quick verdict on both tools
Pick OnTheClock if you run an hourly workforce and need a clean punch clock with GPS, geofencing, and PTO built in at a low price. Pick TimeTracker if you bill clients for time and need project budgets, timesheet approvals, and invoicing to run off the same hours you track.
Start tracking freeWhat this comparison covers
TimeTracker and OnTheClock are both time tracking tools, compared here side by side so you can see how they differ.
Anyone deciding between TimeTracker and OnTheClock for time tracking should start with the quick verdict above.
Compare the two products at a glance
Both tools solve time tracking. Here is what each one includes, side by side.
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
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
See how they stack up
Pricing, best fit, and top strengths for both tools, side by side.
Pricing checked 2026-07-30. Confirm current pricing on each vendor's site.
Which one fits your team
Choose TimeTracker when…
You bill clients by the hour and want invoices to match tracked time exactly.
Approved hours flow straight into an invoice, so what you bill always matches what was tracked.See how
You need to see if a client project is still profitable while it is still running.
Live budgets compare cost to price as the team logs hours, so a losing project shows up early, not at invoice time.See how
You want a manager to approve a timesheet before it turns into a bill.
Timesheets lock after approval, so nobody bills a client for hours no one signed off on.See how
Your rates change by client or by person and old invoices need to stay correct.
Rate changes are effective dated, so past invoices keep the rate that was active at the time.See how
You need to track time down to the task, not just clock hours for payroll.
Every entry ties to a client, project, and task in one record, so reports can be sliced any way a client asks for.See how
You want to see where a project's budget went, hour by hour.
Estimate vs actual reporting shows planned hours against real hours per task, so scope creep gets caught early.See how
You track expenses alongside billable hours on the same project.
An expense can be marked billable, get a markup, and land on the same invoice as the tracked time.See how
You want reports broken down by client to see which ones are worth keeping.
Profitability by client rolls up cost and price per client, so you can see which clients pay off and which do not.See how
Choose OnTheClock when…
You run an hourly workforce and just need a clean punch clock with GPS.
GPS tracking and geofencing come standard on OnTheClock's base plan, so you know where staff clocked in without paying for a higher tier.See how
You need PTO and leave tracking with accruals included from day one.
PTO accrual is part of the base plan, so you do not need a separate leave system for hourly staff.See how
You want a dead simple dashboard your hourly staff can use with no training.
OnTheClock's dashboard is clean and intuitive, and it holds strong review scores (4.7/5 on Capterra, 4.5/5 on G2) for ease of use.See how
You need biometric or IP-based punch verification to stop buddy punching.
Built-in biometric and IP checks confirm the right person clocked in, which a plain timer app does not offer.See how
You want drag-and-drop shift scheduling in the same tool as the time clock.
Scheduling sits next to the punch clock, so shifts and actual hours worked live in one place.See how
You track tips, bonuses, or commissions on top of hourly wages.
Tips, bonus, and commission tracking are built in, which suits retail and hospitality payroll needs.See how
You want the lowest possible cost for a straightforward attendance system.
At about $4 per employee a month plus a small base fee, OnTheClock costs less than most billing-focused time trackers.See how
You do not bill clients and just need clean payroll exports.
Job costing and payroll exports cover internal cost tracking without needing client invoicing at all.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→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→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
Frequently asked questions
- Is TimeTracker more expensive than OnTheClock?
- Yes, on sticker price. OnTheClock runs about $4 per employee a month plus a small base fee. TimeTracker starts at $15 a user a month, or $12 if you pay yearly, and adds billing, budgets, and invoicing that OnTheClock does not offer. See the full list on the billing page.
- Which tool shows project profitability better?
- TimeTracker shows cost against price live as hours are logged, so you can see project profit before the project ends. OnTheClock is built for attendance and payroll, not client project profitability, so it has no equivalent.
- Does OnTheClock have GPS tracking?
- Yes, and this is a real strength. GPS tracking and geofencing come standard on OnTheClock's base plan, useful for field or on-site hourly staff. TimeTracker focuses on time tracking by task for billing instead of location verification. For the full feature list, read what OnTheClock is and what it costs.
- How do the two tools handle timesheets and approvals?
- TimeTracker locks a week's hours once a manager signs off, see how timesheet approvals work. OnTheClock also supports timesheet review for payroll, but its approvals are built around attendance, not turning hours into a client bill.
- Can either tool send invoices to clients?
- TimeTracker turns approved hours straight into an invoice, see how invoicing from tracked time works. OnTheClock has no client invoicing feature at all. It focuses on internal attendance and payroll exports.
- Does OnTheClock include payroll?
- Not by default. Payroll is a separate paid add-on on OnTheClock, at about $40 a month plus $6 per employee. TimeTracker also has no built-in payroll run. Instead it exports approved hours for an external payroll tool, similar to how timesheet approvals work.
- Which tool is easier to learn for a new team?
- OnTheClock is genuinely easy to learn, with strong review scores (4.7/5 on Capterra, 4.5/5 on G2) for its clean dashboard. TimeTracker takes a bit more setup because it ties time tracking to budgets and billing from the start, but most teams are tracking real hours within a day.
- Can I set different bill rates for different clients in TimeTracker?
- Yes. Rates can be set per client and per person, and old rates stay attached to invoices you already sent. See rate management for the full picture. OnTheClock has no client billing rates, since it is not built for client billing.
- Is OnTheClock enough for a small business with hourly staff and no client billing?
- Often, yes. If you just need attendance, GPS punch verification, and PTO tracking for hourly staff, OnTheClock covers that well at a low price. TimeTracker adds more once client billing matters, see non-billable time tracking for that middle ground.
- Which one should an agency billing clients by the hour pick?
- An agency billing by the hour usually gets more from TimeTracker, since tracked time, budgets, and invoices live in one place. OnTheClock is built for hourly attendance and payroll, not client billing. If you want a broader list of options to weigh, our see all OnTheClock alternatives page covers more ground than this one page.
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