Checked 22 September 2026
Time tracking compared: fifteen vendors, every figure sourced
We read fifteen vendors’ own pricing pages and worked out what a company of 3, 10, 25 and 50 people pays each month for clocking and holiday together. Every figure carries its vendor and date, including the rows where someone else wins. Nothing is converted between currencies: this market bills in pounds, dollars and euros, and a converted price tells you about the exchange rate, not the product.
Four things almost nobody here does
Priced in euros
The cheapest plan that genuinely includes both clocking and leave, per month for the whole company, excluding VAT. Our price is shown without the annual discount — the more expensive of our own two figures.
| Vendor | 3 employees | 10 employees | 25 employees | 50 employees | Which plan, and on what basis |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| irot Time | free | €19 | €35 | €59 | One price per company-size bracket, not per head. No base fee, no minimum, no setup fee. |
| Planday | €74.90 | €74.90 | €149.75 | €274.50 | Plus €4.99 per user plus a €25 monthly subscription fee, minimum 10 users — so three people pay for ten. Leave management starts at Plus. Paid onboarding, price on request. |
Priced in pounds
A separate table, because comparing a pound price to a euro price would be a comparison of exchange rates. Read this one against itself.
| Vendor | 3 employees | 10 employees | 25 employees | 50 employees | Which plan, and on what basis |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Deputy | £20 | £32.50 | £81.25 | £162.50 | Lite £3.25 per user, monthly billing, subject to a £20 minimum invoice — which is why three people cost £20, not £9.75. |
| QuickBooks Time | £34 | £76 | £166 | £316 | Premium £6.00 per user plus a £16.00 base fee. Not sold on its own: a QuickBooks Online subscription is required on top, and that is not in this figure. |
| Breathe HR | £35 | £35 | £133 | £133 | Priced per company in headcount bands: Core plus the Rota, Time & Attendance add-on, which is what any clocking needs. |
| BrightHR | on request | on request | on request | on request | Core HR "from £16.67 per employee", but their own FAQ says rates start "from £3.00 per person depending on business size". The only published figure is £83.35 for 5 employees, so the rest is price on request. |
All excluding VAT. Deputy’s £20 monthly minimum invoice is why three people cost £20 rather than £9.75. QuickBooks Time is not sold on its own in the UK: a QuickBooks Online subscription is required and is not included in the figure. Retrieved 22 September 2026.
Priced in dollars
| Vendor | 3 employees | 10 employees | 25 employees | 50 employees | Which plan, and on what basis |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Connecteam | free | free | $58 | $84 | Free Small Business plan up to 10 users. Above that, clocking and time off sit in two separately priced hubs, so both are in this figure: Operations Basic plus HR Basic. Real holiday balances need HR Advanced: $78 at 25, $124 at 50. |
| Clockify | $16.47 | $54.90 | $137.25 | $274.50 | Standard $5.49 per seat, annual rate. Leave starts at Standard, scheduling and GPS at Pro. |
| Timetastic | $16.50 | $55 | $137.50 | $275 | Rota & Time Clock $5.50 per user — leave is on every plan, but clocking only on the top one. A GBP rate exists and is not published. |
| Homebase | $30 | $30 | $30 | $30 | Essentials $30 per location with unlimited employees, so the figure is flat. US pricing: no GBP or EUR price is published. Accrual policies need Plus at $70. |
| Toggl Track | $27 | $90 | $225 | $450 | Starter $9 per user, monthly rate. The annual per-user figure is not published as a number, so the monthly one stands here. |
| Hubstaff | $30 | $100 | $250 | $500 | Team $10 per seat, annual rate — time off and scheduling start there. Minimum 2 billable seats. |
Annual rates where the vendor publishes one, monthly where it does not. Homebase prices per location with unlimited employees, so its figure is flat by design. Retrieved 22 September 2026.
No usable figure
- BrightHR — their own FAQ contradicts the headline rate, so any figure at 10, 25 or 50 employees would be invented.
- When I Work — the time & attendance add-on has no published price, and leave is not listed on any plan.
- Harvest — there is no leave or absence management on any plan, so there is nothing to compare like for like.
- Papershift — prices carry a $ sign with continental decimals and no currency selector, so the currency itself is unclear.
- Jibble — no pricing, help or security page was retrievable from their own site.
- Factorial — their UK pages return 404; only a "from $8 per user" figure exists, with clocking and time off as two separate modules.
We would rather leave a gap than print a number we cannot stand behind.
Terms, which decide more than price
A pound either way matters less than a 60-month term or a base fee. This table includes the vendors with no usable price, because their terms are published even where their rates are not.
| Vendor | Free forever | Trial | Money back | Contract | Data location |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| irot Time | up to 3 employees, every feature except the AI assistant | 30 days with everything, AI included | 60 days | monthly | Germany |
| Clockify | 5 users, without leave or scheduling | 7 days, no card | excluded in writing ("non-refundable") | monthly or 12-month term | not published |
| Toggl Track | 3 users | 30 days, no card | none stated | not published | Google Cloud, region not stated |
| Harvest | 1 seat, 2 projects | 30 days, no card | excluded (no refund on non-renewal) | auto-renewing, cancel in the app | Google Cloud, region not stated |
| Deputy | none | 31 days, no card | none stated | monthly, or annual paid upfront and not downgradable | AWS in Australia, the UK or the US |
| When I Work | none | 14 days, no card | none stated | no contract | AWS, region not stated |
| Connecteam | Small Business, up to 10 users | 14 days, no card | none stated | not published | not published |
| Homebase | 1 location, up to 10 employees | 14 days, no card | none stated | not published | not published |
| Hubstaff | none | 14 days | 30 days | monthly, quarterly or annual | United States |
| QuickBooks Time | none | 30 days, no card | none stated | "no commitment" | not published |
| Timetastic | none | 30 days, no card | excluded ("No refunds are available") | rolling monthly, cancel instantly | Microsoft Azure UK South and UK West |
| BrightHR | none | none published, demonstration only | none stated | fixed term of 24, 36 or 60 months | United Kingdom |
| Breathe HR | none | 14 days, no card | none stated | rolling monthly, no cancellation fee | London, United Kingdom |
| Planday | none | 30 days of Plus, no card | none stated | cancel anytime, minimum term not published | not published |
| Papershift | none | 14 days | none stated | annual subscription | not published |
Sources: irot Time (katalog.ts, terms § 3 and § 4a) · Clockify (clockify.me/pricing) · Toggl Track (toggl.com/track/pricing/) · Harvest (getharvest.com/pricing) · Deputy (deputy.com/gb/pricing) · When I Work (wheniwork.com/pricing) · Connecteam (connecteam.com/pricing/) · Homebase (joinhomebase.com/pricing) · Hubstaff (hubstaff.com/faq) · QuickBooks Time (quickbooks.intuit.com/uk/time-tracking/) · Timetastic (timetastic.co.uk) · BrightHR (brighthr.com/pricing/) · Breathe HR (breathehr.com) · Planday (planday.com) · Papershift (papershift.com/en/book-a-plan). All retrieved 22 September 2026.
Where someone else is ahead
- Connecteam and Homebase are free further than we are — up to 10 users and up to 10 employees on one location respectively. We are free up to 3. Worth knowing before you pay anyone, including us.
- Deputy, Timetastic and QuickBooks Time name payroll systems used here: Xero, MYOB, Sage 50, QuickBooks. Our payroll export is built for German accountants.
- Breathe HR, BrightHR and Timetastic hold UK data in the UK. We hold data in Germany, or on your own server — good for GDPR, but not the same as UK residency.
- Hubstaff is the only other vendor with a money-back guarantee. Thirty days against our sixty, but it exists, and most of this market offers nothing.
How we worked it out
- List prices excluding VAT, per month, for the whole company, on whichever billing period is cheapest for the vendor.
- The cheapest plan that really contains both jobs. Leave counts only when it is in the plan; where it is a separate hub, add-on or module, that cost is added in.
- Minimums and base fees are included, because they land on the invoice: Deputy’s £20 floor, QuickBooks Time’s £16 base fee, Planday’s €25 fee and 10-user minimum, Hubstaff’s 2-seat minimum.
- Our own price carries no annual discount, although one exists. We would rather be wrong in the vendor’s favour than ours.
- Whatever a vendor does not publish stays "not published". Nothing is estimated, and a feature missing from a pricing page is not treated as missing from the product.
Questions we get
Which time tracking software is cheapest?
That depends on the currency you are billed in, and anyone who answers it in one number is converting rates to suit themselves. Against the one vendor in this set that publishes euro prices, irot Time is cheaper at every size: free up to 3 employees, €19 at 10, €35 at 25 and €59 at 50 per month for the whole company, against Planday's €74.90, €74.90, €149.75 and €274.50. The pound and dollar tables are here too, each within its own currency. Figures from each vendor's own pricing page, 22 September 2026.
Does anyone give your money back?
Two vendors out of fifteen. Hubstaff publishes a 30-day money-back guarantee; irot Time gives 60 days. Everyone else either says nothing or rules it out in writing: Clockify calls its fees "non-refundable", Timetastic states "No refunds are available", and Harvest gives no refund on non-renewal.
Is there genuinely free time tracking?
Yes, and several free plans reach further than ours in headcount. Connecteam is free for up to 10 users, Homebase for one location with up to 10 employees, Clockify for 5 users and Toggl Track for 3. irot Time is free up to 3 employees, with every feature except the AI assistant, no deadline and no payment details. What the others drop at that price is worth checking: Clockify leaves out leave and scheduling, and Connecteam gives approval flows without real holiday balances until you pay for HR Advanced.
Why are clocking and holiday priced separately so often?
Because they grew out of different products. At Connecteam the time clock sits in the Operations hub and time off in the HR hub, and you buy both. Breathe HR charges Core plus a Rota, Time & Attendance add-on. Timetastic sells leave on every plan but clocking only on the top one. Planday starts leave at Plus. Factorial sells them as two modules. Harvest has no leave management at all. In irot Time both are in the base plan.
How long do these contracts run?
From nothing to five years. BrightHR sells on a fixed term of 24, 36 or 60 months. Deputy bills annual plans upfront and will not let you downgrade them. Breathe HR, Timetastic and irot Time are rolling monthly. Connecteam and Homebase publish no cancellation terms at all — both vendors’ terms-of-service pages returned 404 when we looked.
Where is the data held?
Five vendors say. Breathe HR keeps UK customer data in London and states it does not leave the United Kingdom; BrightHR stores data in the country of subscription; Timetastic uses Azure UK South and UK West; Deputy offers an AWS UK region; Hubstaff states the United States, with no EU or UK option. irot Time runs in Germany under GDPR, or on your own server. The rest name a cloud provider without a country, or say nothing.
Does any of this make us compliant with working time law?
No software does, and we will not claim otherwise. The 2019 Court of Justice ruling (C-55/18) requires employers to run an objective, reliable and accessible system for measuring daily working time, and member states have written that into national law; in the UK the Working Time Regulations apply. What a program does is produce that record and keep it so you can hand it over. Clockify says the same thing on its own page, and it is the honest version. BrightHR makes the strongest claim in this set, tying its Blip app to the Working Time Regulations.
Where does irot Time fall short?
Three places. Connecteam and Homebase are free further up the headcount than we are. Deputy, Timetastic and QuickBooks Time integrate with payroll systems people here actually use — Xero, MYOB, Sage 50, QuickBooks — while our payroll export is built for German accountants, DATEV and LODAS included. And Homebase prices per location with unlimited employees, which beats any per-company bracket if you run one busy site.
Are these prices current?
They are from 22 September 2026, taken from each vendor’s own pricing page. Prices change; we recheck this table quarterly and leave the date on it. If you find a mistake, write to time@irot.com and we will correct it, including when the correction favours them.
Check it yourself
Thirty days with everything included, no card and no automatic renewal. When the trial ends, companies of up to 3 employees keep working for free. And if within 60 days you decide it does not fit, you get your money back.