TimeTracker vs When I Work: Full Comparison
When I Work builds next week's schedule for hourly staff. TimeTracker tracks hours against clients and projects, then proves the numbers.
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The short answer, before you read on
These two do not compete. When I Work is a scheduling app for hourly teams and it is about six times cheaper per seat. TimeTracker has no rota builder at all. If your weekly problem is covering shifts, buy When I Work. If it is proving what the hours were, and turning them into a client invoice, that is us.
Start tracking freeWhat this comparison covers
TimeTracker and When I Work are both time tracking tools, compared here side by side so you can see how they differ.
Anyone deciding between TimeTracker and When I Work 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
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.
- 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.
- Auto scheduling and shift templates
- Shift swapping and open shifts
- GPS clock-in
- Time-off and availability
- Overtime and break tracking
- Multiple time zone support
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 have to prove later what the hours were, not just that someone showed up.
Approved periods lock, and every edit after approval is kept as a record you can show an auditor or a client.See how
Someone signs off the hours before anyone gets billed or paid for them.
A timecard routes to an approver who can approve it, ask for changes, or reopen it, then the period locks.See how
You round billable time and a client may ask what the real figure was.
Round to 6, 15 or 30 minutes and the exact raw duration is still stored beside the rounded one.See how
Those hours have to become a client invoice, not a payroll line.
Approved time turns into an invoice with the right rate, so what you bill matches what was tracked.See how
You want to block a clock-in from the wrong place, not just record it.
Location rules combine a geofence, IP ranges and an accuracy limit, and you preview who a rule will restrict before it goes live.See how
You need to know if a project is still making money while it runs.
Cost and price update as hours land, so a project going under shows up in week two, not at invoice time.See how
Hours have to break down by client, project and task, not by shift.
Every entry carries a client, project and task, so a report can answer where the week actually went.See how
Choose When I Work when…
Your real job each week is working out who covers which shift.
When I Work builds the week, publishes it to phones, and handles swaps, open shifts and availability. We have none of that.See how
Staff need to trade shifts between themselves without calling a manager.
When I Work lets one person hand a shift to another and tells the manager, which cuts most of the phone calls.See how
Price per head is the deciding factor and the team is large.
When I Work is about $2.50 a user a month against our $15, so at 60 hourly staff the gap is real money.See how
You want GPS on the punch without paying for a higher tier.
When I Work includes GPS clock-in on every plan, where our location rules sit on the paid plan.See how
The team needs to message each other about cover inside the same app.
When I Work has team messaging built in, so a request for cover does not end up in a group chat nobody reads.See how
Nobody is billed for these hours, they only feed payroll.
When I Work records attendance, overtime and breaks for hourly pay, and skips the client billing you would not use.See how
Your staff are on the floor, not at a desk, and setup has to be quick.
Managers say a When I Work week can be built and published fast, which matters when you do it every Friday.See how
Popular features
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→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→Invoicing software that bills from tracked hours
Approved time turns into itemised invoice lines with tax and multiple currencies handled for you. Check it over, then send it.
Explore Invoicing→Use cases this solves
Compare other tools
Frequently asked questions
- Does TimeTracker build staff schedules like When I Work?
- No. TimeTracker has no rota builder, no shift swaps and no availability, and When I Work does all three. If that is your weekly problem, buy When I Work. Our side starts once the hours exist, with timesheet approvals.
- Which one is cheaper, TimeTracker or When I Work?
- When I Work, by a wide margin. It is about $2.50 a user a month, where TimeTracker is $15, or $12 billed yearly. You are paying for different things, so read what When I Work is before you compare the two prices side by side.
- Does When I Work still have a free plan?
- No. The old free plan covered up to 75 staff and has been retired, so any review still promising it is out of date. There is a free trial instead. The plan table on our When I Work explainer sets out what each tier costs now.
- Can either tool send an invoice to a client?
- Only TimeTracker. When I Work is built for scheduling and payroll hours, so it does not bill customers at all. Ours goes from approved hours to a sent invoice, see invoicing from tracked time.
- What happens to hours after a manager approves them?
- In TimeTracker the period locks, and any change made after that is kept as a record with who made it and when. That is the point of an audit trail. Approvals and locking are on the paid plan, not the free one.
- Do both tools round time the same way?
- TimeTracker rounds to 6, 15 or 30 minutes and keeps the exact raw duration beside the rounded figure, so you can always show a client what really happened. See billable hours tracking for how that reads on a bill.
- Which one is better at stopping a clock-in from the wrong place?
- When I Work puts GPS on every plan. TimeTracker goes further on the paid plan: a rule can combine a geofence, IP ranges and an accuracy limit, and block the punch outright. You can preview who it will restrict first, see time tracking.
- Can I use both together, one for shifts and one for billing?
- Some teams do. When I Work covers the schedule, TimeTracker covers the hours that get billed. There is no direct link between them, so you would export from one and work from reports in the other.
- Does TimeTracker handle overtime for hourly staff?
- Yes. Overtime, late starts and short days come from the gap between expected hours and real hours on a timecard. See overtime tracking. When I Work covers overtime too, tied to the shifts it already knows about.
- What if I want a scheduler and neither of these fits?
- Plenty of tools sit between the two, from Homebase to Deputy, and each trades price against depth. The rundown is on our When I Work alternatives page, with prices checked in July 2026.
Need the hours to hold up later?
Set up a client and a project in minutes. Track the hours, get them approved, and keep a record you can show anyone who asks.
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