Time and attendance software
Track who worked, when they worked, and who signed it off. One attendance record per person per period, with the exceptions already flagged.
Free for up to 3 people. No credit card needed.
What time and attendance software is
Time and attendance software records when people start and stop work, turns those records into a timecard for each pay period, and keeps a trail of who approved it. Time tracking asks what the hours were spent on. Time and attendance asks a narrower question: was this person here, for how long, and can you prove it later.
For managers and owners who have to answer for the hours after the fact, when a paycheck is queried, a shift is disputed, or someone asks for a record months later.
The argument you cannot win from memory
- Someone says they worked the Friday, and nothing says otherwise
- Late starts and short days are noticed at payroll, not on the day
- Overtime shows up on the payslip before anyone agreed to it
- Leave sits in an inbox, so booked days are missing from the record
- The only person who knows what happened has left the company
Every session is stored as it happens, exceptions are flagged while the period is open, and each timecard carries the name of whoever approved it.
See how the record builds →What the record gives you
Problems surface while you can still fix them
Worked hours sit beside the hours you expected, day by day. Overtime, late starts, short days and missing days are worked out from that gap as the period runs. If someone forgets to clock out, the app spots the open session and tells them, so the data does not quietly drift.
See timesheets→Planned time off belongs in the same record
An attendance record with a hole in it is not much use. Leave runs on real policies here, with accrual, opening balances, requests and approvals, so a booked vacation day reads as approved leave rather than as a day somebody skipped.
See time off→How the attendance record is built
Four stages, and the useful part is that the record is complete before payroll runs rather than after it.
People clock in
One button to start and one to stop, from a phone or any browser. Each session is stored with its own start and end.
Hours meet expectations
Sessions are compared against the hours you expect, so overtime, late starts and short days are calculated as they happen.
A manager signs off
Each period builds one timecard per person. It routes to an approver who can approve it, ask for changes, or reopen it.
The period locks
Approved periods lock against edits and every change is recorded, so the number you defend later is the number that was signed.
What you get with attendance tracking
Everything listed here is real and shipping. The honest list of what is missing is in the next section.
Clock in and out
One button to start, one to stop, with a live running total on any session that is still open.
Timecards per period
Worked hours beside scheduled hours, day by day, so payday is a review rather than a reconstruction.
Exceptions calculated
Overtime, late starts, short days and missing days come from the gap between expected and actual hours.
Approvals with a trail
Submit a timecard and it routes to an approver. Approved periods lock, and every edit is recorded.
Leave and balances
Real leave policies with accrual and opening balances, so approved absence sits in the same record.
CSV export
Export timecards, leave and balances whenever you want. The data is yours to take out.
What we do not do
Most time and attendance vendors sell four things we do not have, and this keyword brings people looking for all four. There is no kiosk mode, so you cannot mount a tablet by the door for PIN punches. There are no biometrics and no face check at clock-in, which is how the big systems police buddy punching. There is no shift scheduling, so next week's rota gets built somewhere else. And there is no direct payroll sync: you export a CSV and your payroll system reads it. If any one of those is the reason you are shopping, an enterprise suite is the honest answer and we are not it.
Time and attendance questions
Taken from what people actually search alongside this term, including the awkward ones.
See full pricing→- How does time and attendance software work?
- People clock in and out, each session is stored with a start and end time, and the software adds those sessions into one timecard per pay period. It compares the total against the hours you expected, flags the gaps, and records who approved the final figure.
- What is the software for time and attendance?
- Any tool that records attendance and turns it into approved timecards counts. TimeTracker does that with clock in and out, exception flagging, approvals and CSV export. You can try the browser-based time clock without signing up.
- Is there a free attendance app?
- Yes. There is a free plan with no credit card needed, and the paid plan is $15 per user a month, or $12 billed yearly. Current limits are on the pricing page.
- How much does time and attendance software cost?
- Ours is 15 USD per user a month, or 12 USD billed yearly, with a free plan to start on. Enterprise suites in this category usually quote after a demo call instead of publishing a figure. See our pricing.
- How to make attendance software in Excel?
- You can get a long way with a sheet: one row per person, columns for in and out, and a formula for the total. It breaks when two people edit it at once or when you need proof of who approved what. Our free attendance sheet template is a reasonable starting point.
- Does ADP have time and attendance?
- Yes, ADP sells time and attendance as part of its payroll suite, as do Paychex and Dayforce. If you already run payroll through one of them, their module will sync to payroll directly and ours will not. We export CSV instead.
- Does it stop buddy punching?
- Not the way the big systems do. There is no face check, no fingerprint and no kiosk PIN, so we cannot prove the right person pressed the button. Everyone signs in as themselves, and location rules can decide where a punch counts, which is a weaker control and worth knowing before you buy.
- Does it handle scheduling and shifts?
- No. There is no rota builder, so you cannot draw next week's shifts here. You set the hours you expect from someone and the timecard measures against that. If shift scheduling is the main job, this is the wrong tool.
- Can I get the attendance data out?
- Yes. Timecards, leave and balances all export to CSV whenever you want, including before you cancel. See data ownership for what that covers.
Start the record this period
Run one real pay period through the free plan. Approve a timecard, export the file, and see whether the record holds up before you pay anything.
Start free