The best time tracking software for trades
You are buying this to find out which jobs ate your labor hours. That number is the thing most often locked behind a higher tier. QuickBooks Time puts job costing on Elite only. Homebase costs labor by role or department rather than by job, and only on its top plan. Check that one feature before you compare anything else.
Who wins where
I want the tool that covers the most ground. Ranked by how many of this category's jobs the tool does out of the box. Features that cost extra count for less than ones that are included, and we do not reward a long feature list if half of it is an add-on.
- 1
ClockShark5 of 5 included outright.Our review - 2
QuickBooks Time4 of 5 included outright, 1 sold as add-ons.Our review - 3
Homebase1 of 5 included outright.Our review - –
FreshBooksNot enough researched detail to judge.Our review - –
GustoNot enough researched detail to judge.Our review
What decides it in time tracking
Job costing is the upsell in this category
Hours by job is what lets you price the next one properly. ClockShark shows labor cost by customer, job and task on its Standard plan, with tighter cost controls on Pro. QuickBooks Time keeps job costing and project tracking on Elite, which is $40 a month base plus $12 per user, so Premium at $20 plus $10 will never show it to you. Homebase costs labor by role or department, not by job at all, and only on the $120 All-in-One plan (all as of August 2026). If job costing is why you are shopping, that ordering matters more than the sticker price. The cheapest plan that answers your question is often not the cheapest plan on the page.
A base fee plus a fee per head
Almost everything here is a monthly base fee plus a charge per person, which makes the advertised number misleading. ClockShark Standard is $40 a month base plus $9 per user, so a five-person crew comes to $85 a month. QuickBooks Time Premium is $20 base plus $10 per user, and you carry a QuickBooks Online subscription underneath it, because it will not run without one. Homebase breaks the pattern and charges per location. It is free for 1 location and up to 10 staff, then $30 a month per location on Essentials (all as of August 2026). Keep adding techs at one address and that shape stays cheapest. Before you buy, check what you already pay for. FreshBooks includes unlimited time tracking on every plan, and Gusto builds it into Plus.
Check the contract term, not the monthly price
ClockShark's own pricing page states that a contract term of three years applies to all pricing plans. That is unusual for a tool that costs $85 a month for five people, and it is the first thing to settle with their sales team before you sign anything. The others are month to month. QuickBooks Time lets you cancel any time, but the QuickBooks Online bill stays, and its 30-day trial covers the base fee only, not the per-employee fees. Homebase is month to month, and paying for the year drops the monthly rate by about a fifth. Free trials prove less here than in other categories, because a time clock only shows its worth over a full payroll cycle.
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