What Is Buddy Punch? The App, and the Habit It Is Named After

Two different things share this name. Buddy punching is a kind of time theft. Buddy Punch is the time clock built to stop it. Here is both.

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Prices read off buddypunch.com, 31 July 2026.

The term

First, what buddy punching means

What it is

Buddy punching is when one worker clocks in or out for another one who is not there. Somebody is late, so a friend punches them in. Somebody leaves early, so a friend punches them out. The payroll run then pays for hours nobody worked. It is a form of time theft, and it is the most common one on paper time cards and on any clock that only asks for a name or a number.

Who needs this

It matters most where people share one clock. Building sites, warehouses, kitchens and shop floors, where a whole crew punches on the same tablet by the door. If everyone signs in on their own phone with their own password, buddy punching is much harder to pull off in the first place.

The product

Now, what Buddy Punch the software is

What it is

Buddy Punch is time clock software for hourly teams, made by a company in Appleton, Wisconsin and named after the problem it sets out to fix. Staff punch in from a browser, a phone, or a shared kiosk, and every punch can be checked against a GPS location, a geofence, a PIN, a QR code or a Face ID scan. The hours then feed payroll. There is no free plan, only a 14-day trial.

Who needs this

Teams of roughly 15 to 100 hourly or field staff who need proof of where a punch happened. It is a poor fit if you bill clients, because there is no invoicing, and a poor fit for very small teams, because a $19 monthly base fee lands on top of the per-user price.

The problem

How teams actually stop buddy punching

Buddy Punch is one answer, not the only one. These are the five checks that make a punch hard to fake, roughly from weakest to strongest.

A PIN on a shared device

The weakest check, and the most common. A tablet by the door asks for a four-digit code. It stops nothing, because a code is the easiest thing in the world to text to a friend. Buddy Punch offers PIN and kiosk punching from the Pro tier. TimeTracker has no shared-device mode at all.

GPS on the punch

Record the coordinates where the punch happened. This catches the obvious case, someone punching in from home. It does not catch a friend standing on site punching for two people. Buddy Punch records GPS on every punch. Real-time GPS is a paid add-on unless you are on Advanced.

A geofence that blocks

Draw a boundary around the site and refuse any punch from outside it. This is stronger than recording a location, because a bad punch never gets saved. Buddy Punch calls it Basic Geofencing and gates it behind Pro. TimeTracker does this on its one paid plan, using geofences, IP ranges and accuracy limits together.

A photo or a face scan

Take a webcam photo at punch time, or ask for Face ID. This is the check that actually stops a stand-in, because the person has to be there. Buddy Punch has both. TimeTracker has neither, and we are not going to pretend a geofence is the same thing.

Nobody shares a device

The quiet answer. If every person signs in as themselves on their own phone or laptop, there is no shared clock to abuse. It costs nothing and needs no hardware. It only works if everyone has a device, which rules it out on a lot of sites.

Someone reads the exceptions

None of the above matters if nobody looks. A run of punches within the same minute, sessions nobody closed, or a week that never varies are all worth a question. TimeTracker flags an open session and tells the person to close it, so the data does not quietly drift.

Fact sheet

Buddy Punch and TimeTracker side by side

We make TimeTracker, so read this page knowing that. Every price below came off the vendor's own pricing page.

Buddy Punch

A time clock with more ways to prove who punched than most rivals: GPS, geofence, PIN, kiosk, QR code and Face ID.

Best for: Hourly and field teams who need proof of where a punch happened.
Pricing: No free plan, 14-day trial only. Billed yearly: Starter $4.99, Pro $6.99, Advanced $12.99 per user a month. Every tier adds a $19 monthly base fee. Monthly billing is a dollar more per user.

GPS coordinates on every punch
Geofencing, PIN and kiosk punch (Pro)
Face ID and webcam photo on punch
Schedule builder, $1 per user add-on
PTO accrual, requests and approvals
Direct sync to payroll providers

Compare the alternatives

Best fit

TimeTracker

A stricter record of the hours themselves. Approved periods lock, and rounding never overwrites the real duration.

Best for: Teams whose hours get checked by a client, a payroll run or an auditor.
Pricing: Free for up to 3 people, no credit card needed. Paid is $15 per user a month, or $12 per user a month billed yearly. No base fee and no add-ons.

Location rules with geofence and IP
Preview who a location rule blocks
Approvals that lock the period
Every edit after approval recorded
Rounding keeps the exact duration
Time off with real accrual policies

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Pricing

What Buddy Punch really costs, base fee included

Almost every review of Buddy Punch still quotes a Starter price of $4.49. It is $4.99. Here is what the current plans hold, and what a real bill works out to.

Starter, $4.99 per user a month

Punching from web and mobile, time cards, job tracking, overtime rules and payroll integrations. No geofencing, no PIN or kiosk punch, and no scheduling unless you buy the add-on. Billed yearly. Monthly billing is $5.99.

Pro, $6.99 per user a month

Adds the checks most people came for: basic geofencing, PIN and kiosk punching, and scheduling included rather than bought. This is the tier that matches what Buddy Punch is known for. Monthly billing is $7.99.

Advanced, $12.99 per user a month

Adds advanced reporting with export, manager permissions scoped to employee groups, and the real-time GPS add-on included instead of billed on top. Monthly billing is $13.99. Several reviews still list this tier at $10.99.

The $19 base fee changes the answer

Every tier carries a $19 monthly base fee, so the headline rate is never what a small team pays. Five people on Starter is $43.95 a month, or $8.79 each. Ten people is $68.90, or $6.89 each. Twenty-five people is $143.75, or $5.75 each. The fewer people you have, the worse the deal.

Add-ons are priced per user too

Scheduling is $1 per user a month on Starter. Advanced GPS tracking is $2 per user a month unless you are on Advanced. Face ID, geofences and PIN or kiosk punch each sit in the add-on table as well, so a Starter plan with the checks bolted on can cost more than Pro.

There is no free plan

Only a 14-day trial, which is unusual in this market. Clockify, Jibble, Homebase and TimeCamp all run free tiers, and TimeTracker is free for up to 3 people. If free matters more than punch verification, Buddy Punch is the wrong shortlist.

Head to head

Where Buddy Punch wins and where it does not

Buddy Punch beats us on nearly everything to do with proving a punch. We are not going to hide that, so here is the whole picture.

Comparison dimension	Buddy Punch	TimeTrackerBest fit
Free plan	None, 14-day trial only	Up to 3 people
Cheapest paid plan	$4.99 plus a $19 base fee	$15, no base fee
Face ID or photo at punch	Yes	No, none exists
PIN and kiosk punching	Yes, from Pro	No, everyone signs in
Schedule builder	Yes, add-on or Pro	No
Payroll provider sync	Yes, direct	No, CSV export only
Geofence blocks a punch	Yes, from Pro	Yes, on the one paid plan
Preview who a rule blocks	Not published	Yes, before it goes live
Keeps raw time beside rounded	Not published	Yes, both are stored
Approved period locks	Approvals are an add-on	Yes, every edit logged
Client invoicing	No, none	Yes, from tracked time
Clock in with no connection	Yes	No

Read off buddypunch.com/pricing on 31 July 2026, at the annual rate. Most reviews still quote $4.49 for Starter and $10.99 for the top tier. Both are out of date.

Pros and cons

The real strengths and limits of each

Both write-ups follow the same rule. Strengths and limits carry equal weight, nothing is invented, and every price was read off the vendor's own site on the date shown.

Buddy Punch

Best for

Hourly and field teams who need proof of where a punch happened, and will pay a base fee for it.

Pricing

No free plan. Billed yearly: Starter $4.99, Pro $6.99, Advanced $12.99 per user a month, each plus a $19 monthly base fee. Monthly billing adds about a dollar per user.

Checked 31 July 2026

Where it wins

Face ID and webcam photo at punch time, which is the only check that reliably stops a stand-in
GPS on every punch, plus geofencing, PIN, kiosk and QR code punching
Rated 4.8 out of 5 on both G2 and Capterra for ease of use
Administrator accounts are free and unlimited, so managers do not use up paid seats
Syncs hours straight to payroll providers rather than exporting a file

Where it falls short

No free plan at all, only a 14-day trial, unlike Clockify, Jibble, Homebase and TimeCamp
The $19 monthly base fee hits small teams hardest. Five people on Starter is $8.79 each, not $4.99
Geofencing, PIN and kiosk punching sit behind the Pro tier
Scheduling, advanced GPS and Face ID are priced per user as add-ons on the lower tiers
No client billing or invoicing, so tracked hours cannot become a bill

TimeTrackerOurs

Best for

Teams whose problem is not who punched, but whether the hours hold up afterwards.

Pricing

Free for up to 3 people. Paid is $15 per user a month, or $12 per user a month billed yearly.

Checked 31 July 2026

Where it wins

Location rules combine geofences, IP ranges and accuracy limits, and can block a punch outright, not just log it
Preview who a location rule will block before it goes live, so nobody is locked out on a Monday morning
Rounding to 6, 15 or 30 minutes always keeps the exact raw duration alongside the rounded figure
Approved periods lock against edits, and every later change is recorded
Free for up to 3 people, and no base fee or per-user add-ons on any plan

Where it falls short

No Face ID, no webcam photo and no biometrics, so we cannot prove a person was the one who punched
No PIN or kiosk mode. Everyone signs in as themselves, which rules out a shared tablet by the door
No schedule builder. We compare worked hours against expected hours, and that is all
No direct payroll sync. Timecards and leave export to CSV and you import that file yourself
A clock-in needs a connection, so it will not work where the signal drops out

See all Buddy Punch alternatives

Which to pick

Should you use Buddy Punch or something stricter?

Choose Buddy Punch when…

A crew shares one tablet or terminal to punch in.
Buddy Punch has PIN and kiosk mode. We have neither.
You need to prove a person was there, not just a phone.
Face ID and webcam photo do that. Nothing we have does.
You build the rota as well as tracking the hours.
Buddy Punch schedules. We only compare hours to expected hours.
Hours should land in your payroll provider automatically.
Buddy Punch syncs direct. We export a CSV you import.
People punch in where the signal drops out.
Buddy Punch works offline and syncs later. Ours needs a connection.

Choose TimeTracker when…

Somebody audits your hours, or a client disputes an invoice.
Approved periods lock and every later edit is on the record.See how
You round billable time and need the real figure kept too.
Both the exact duration and the rounded one are stored.See how
You want to know who a location rule will block first.
Preview the affected people before the rule goes live.
The team is 3 people, or a base fee is a deal breaker.
Free for 3, and no base fee or add-ons on any plan.See how
Tracked hours need to become a client bill.
Buddy Punch has no invoicing at all. We do.See how

FAQ

Common questions about Buddy Punch

These are the questions people actually search for, taken from Google's own People Also Ask box, answered straight.

What is a Buddy Punch?: A buddy punch is when one worker clocks in or out on behalf of another worker who is not there. A friend covers for someone running late, and payroll pays for hours nobody worked. Confusingly, Buddy Punch is also the name of a time clock company that exists to stop exactly that. If you searched this phrase, you probably meant one or the other, and this page covers both.
Is Buddy Punch free?: No. Buddy Punch has no free plan at all, only a 14-day trial. That sets it apart from most of the market, where Clockify, Jibble, Homebase and TimeCamp all run free tiers. TimeTracker is free for up to 3 people with no credit card. If a free plan is the deciding factor, start with our Buddy Punch alternatives roundup instead.
How much does Buddy Punch cost?: Billed yearly, Starter is $4.99 per user a month, Pro is $6.99 and Advanced is $12.99. Every tier also carries a $19 monthly base fee, so a five-person team on Starter pays $43.95 a month, which is $8.79 each. Monthly billing adds about a dollar per user. Many published reviews still say $4.49, which was the old rate.
Can Buddy Punch track your location?: Yes. Buddy Punch records GPS coordinates on every punch, so an employer can see where each clock-in happened. Geofencing, which refuses a punch from outside an approved area, needs the Pro tier. Real-time GPS that follows someone through the day is a paid add-on unless you are on Advanced. If that matters to you, ask your employer what is switched on.
Does Buddy Punch have facial recognition?: Yes. Buddy Punch offers Face ID on iOS and a webcam photo captured at punch time, so a manager can see who was standing there. It appears in the add-on table, so check which tier includes it before you budget for it. TimeTracker has no facial recognition, no photo capture and no biometrics of any kind, and we have no plans to add them.
What are the consequences of buddy punching?: The employer pays for hours nobody worked, which is money straight off the bottom line and gets worse at scale. For the workers involved it is usually treated as time theft, so it can mean a written warning or dismissal, and in serious cases it can be handled as fraud. There is a quieter cost too: once the attendance record is wrong, overtime and job costing are wrong as well.
Is buddy punching illegal?: It is not usually a criminal matter, but it is not harmless. Clocking in for someone who is not there means claiming pay for hours nobody worked, so most employers treat it as time theft and a sackable offence under their own policy. Where the amounts are large, it can be pursued as fraud. Check your employee handbook, because the policy is where the real answer sits.
Does Buddy Punch do payroll?: Buddy Punch does not run payroll itself, but it syncs approved hours straight into payroll providers, which is a real advantage over exporting a file. TimeTracker does not do this. We export timecards, leave and balances to CSV and you import that file into your payroll system yourself, so budget a few minutes each pay run for it.
Does Buddy Punch have a mobile app?: Yes, on iPhone and Android, and staff can punch from a browser or a shared kiosk device as well. The mobile app is where GPS, geofencing and Face ID all live. TimeTracker also has iPhone and Android apps plus the web app, though ours has no kiosk mode, so each person signs in as themselves. See our mobile time clock page for what that covers.
What are the best Buddy Punch alternatives?: It depends which part you are replacing. If you need the punch checks, look at Jibble, OnTheClock or QuickBooks Time, which all do GPS and kiosk punching. If the base fee is the problem, a flat per-user price like ours removes it. If you need the hours to survive an audit, that is the gap we built for, and our head-to-head comparison lays it out row by row.

Paying a base fee for a small team?

If the $19 monthly fee on top of every seat is what brought you here, TimeTracker is free for up to 3 people and has no base fee on any plan. Location rules and approvals sit on our one paid plan, never as add-ons on top.

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