QuickBooks Time Review: Features, Benefits, Drawbacks & More
Vesna Mihajlovic
Last update on:
June 1, 2023 3:56 AM
Published on:
Lately, remote and mobile workforces have become standard for many businesses. However, allowing employees to work outside the office comes with particular challenges when tracking their hours.
That’s why companies with mobile workforces need a reliable GPS time clock - a good time-tracking software that also tracks locations and has an easy-to-use mobile app.
QuickBooks Time is one software offering different ways for field workers to clock in and out. It includes a web and mobile app and a place to store client maps and notes. In addition, it features geofencing and GPS tracking to ensure remote workers are clocking in and out from their assigned locations at the right time.
But is QuickBooks Time, a good time-tracking software, and will it work for you?
Like many time-tracking systems, QuickBooks Time comes with benefits and drawbacks. Our QuickBooks Time review can help you decide whether this software is worth considering for your specific business needs or if you’d be better off with a different choice.
Track employee hours, mileage, GPS location and schedules
QuickBooks Time is a cloud-based time-tracking solution meant for teams of all sizes. Many businesses use it to track employee time and schedules. QuickBooks Time is an efficient, time-saving software for sure.
But what is QuickBooks Time exactly used for, and is it any good at it? Let’s look at its key features and drawbacks to find out the answer to this question.
Is QuickBooks Time Any Good?
While QuickBooks Time does offer some pretty attractive features many users find valuable, it also comes with certain drawbacks. For some business owners, these drawbacks may be a deal-breaker, while others are ready to overlook them because they mainly use QuickBooks for bookkeeping and payroll purposes.
Read on to learn more about the pros and cons of this time-tracking solution to see whether it’s a suitable system for you.
QuickBooks Time: Time Clock
QuickBooks Time Review: Key Features
QuickBooks Time web and mobile apps make timekeeping easier than manually using a pen and paper or spreadsheets. It includes several features that allow you to track and manage your employees. For instance, it has many options for
clocking in and out,
Time Kiosk,
scheduling employees,
managing PTO (paid time off),
monitoring employee locations,
tracking jobs and projects.
Below are some of the key features of this software you might find valuable.
Mobile Time Tracking
One of the best QuickBooks Time features is its mobile application, which works on iOS and Android. This app lets you easily track time and GPS locations, view billable vs. non-billable hours, assign schedules, attach photos, and manage your workforce.
Integration with QuickBooks
People choose QuickBooks Time mainly because of its integration with QuickBooks. QuickBooks is a comprehensive accounting software, and this integration only adds to it.
Jobs and Projects Tracking
With QuickBooks Time, you can accurately track time for jobs and projects. In addition, it allows you to track set budgets for various projects. It also notifies you if you’re about to exceed the budget on any project.
This can be useful, especially for companies that must wait days or weeks to see whether their employees exceed allocated hours on budgeted jobs.
PTO Management
You can use QuickBooks Time to set custom PTO policies that suit your employees’ needs and manage your human resources more efficiently. They can use the mobile app or web dashboard to request time off, check PTO balances, and enter time off without approval, that is, if it’s allowed in your company.
And as a plus, you can create customizable notifications. This way, your workforce can see whether their time off has been approved via text or email alerts.
QuickBooks Time Review: The Drawbacks
Although QuickBooks Time is helpful software, it has some drawbacks that may deter some people from using it.
Not So Easy to Use
Is QuickBooks Time easy to learn to use? Not really. Many people have difficulty learning to use this system because QuickBooks Time isn’t a user-friendly program. It isn’t intuitive, and many workers have trouble navigating this software.
The web app is cluttered because of the many floating windows, making it harder to focus on things that matter. In addition, many obvious functionalities are hidden as Add-Ons, making it even more confusing to use.
Expensive
QuickBooks Time has two pricing plans:
Premium
Elite
The premium plan allows you to track time and attendance for your workforce. It includes a mobile application with GPS, job scheduling, and live customer support (more on this below). It costs $20 monthly base fee plus $8 per user per month. The monthly base fee covers account setup, webinars, data storage, and tutorials.
The Elite plan costs a $40 monthly fee plus $10 per user per month. It includes everything from the Premium plan plus mileage tracking, project progress tracking, geofencing, timesheet signatures, and more.
A free trial for both plans lasts 30 days, and you can cancel anytime. No contract, credit card, or signature is required. During the trial, you get help setting up an account and training your employees on how to use it.
While both plans offer some valuable features, they are more expensive than other time-tracking software with the same functions.
Many small businesses run on a tight budget, and QuickBooks Time can get very expensive. There are many affordable QuickBooks-compatible time-tracking apps on the market.
QuickBooks Time Pricing
The App Can Be Too Slow
The QuickBooks Time app is known to be slow to load from time to time. There are many complaints from users regarding its slowness.
Poor Customer Support
Even though QuickBooks Time offers a customer support service, it almost feels non-existent. There are extremely long wait times to actually talk to a human.
Will Time Tracking App QuickBooks Suit You?
QuickBooks Time can benefit some businesses due to its many features. For example, businesses with time-tracking needs that go beyond simple clocking-in and clocking-out can benefit from it. That said, QuickBooks Time may be suitable for:
Companies using QuickBooks or QuickBooks Payroll: QuickBooks Time easily integrates with QuickBooks Accounting and Payroll, streamlining budgeting, payroll, and invoicing.
Businesses with client accounts: QuickBooks makes it easier to assign hours to projects, clients, and sub-projects for job costing and invoicing.
Companies with employees in multiple locations: QuickBooks Time allows workers to clock in from anywhere, making it a good choice for businesses with employees who don’t work from the office.
However, QuickBooks Time likely won’t benefit:
Businesses on a budget: Because QuickBooks Time is one of the more expensive time-tracking platforms, it won’t suit you if you’re on a limited budget. Luckily, there is other impressive time-tracking software at an affordable price, such as Timeero.
Freelancers: QuickBooks Time has too many features freelancers don’t need, which can lead to an overwhelming user experience.
Are There Any Alternatives to QuickBooks Time?
QuickBooks Time is certainly not the only time-tracking software out there, nor is it the best. There are many alternatives to QuickBooks Time with the same features for a more affordable price, such as Timeero. Let’s get into the details.
Timeero Time and Mileage Tracker
Timeero: an Excellent Alternative to QuickBooks Time
Timeero is one of the great alternatives to QuickBooks Time, offering numerous benefits to help you track time, mileage, GPS, and streamline scheduling, to name a few. Let’s see how Timeero differs from QuickBooks Time.
User-Friendly
Timeero is an intuitive, user-friendly platform. You can easily understand both mobile and web-based apps. That said, most users don’t even need help when starting out. This is also one of the main reasons why many people choose Timeero over QuickBooks Time.
Although Timeero is known for its ease of use, we still offer training and demos to ensure you get the best of it.
Easier Clock In and Out with Geofencing
One of the most challenging pain points with time tracking is that employees often forget to clock in and out, and you have to fix the missing timesheets.
That’s why Timeero features clock-in and clock-out reminders once the employees arrive at or leave the geofenced area. This way, you have peace of mind that your employees are clocking in and out when they need to.
You can also use geofencing to restrict employees from clocking in or out when they are off the job site or get alerts when they clock in/out off-site.
Tracks Location and Mileage
With Timeero, you have time and mileage tracking in one place. This means that at any given moment, you can see the locations and routes of your available employees in real-time using the Who's working feature.
Besides using TImeero for accurate timecards, your employees can automatically track miles instead of entering mileage into a box, as with QuickBooks Time.
In addition, you can easily view their time and mileage reports retroactively and export hours and mileage costs to QuickBooks or other payroll software for reimbursements.
To learn more about compensating your employees for business mileage, check out our Mileage Reimbursement Guide.
When assigned a shift, employees get notified through mobile or email notifications, and the schedule creator gets notified if workers accept or decline a shift.
Timeero’s Powerful Scheduling Feature
Affordability
Timeero is more affordable than QuickBooks Time. The Basic Plan starts at $4 per user per month, while the most popular Pro Plan is available at $8 per user per month. You can enjoy all Timeero Premium features at $11 per user per month.
So with Timeero, you get more than with QuickBooks Time for a much lower price. Check QuickBooks Time pricing here to get a better idea of how much it costs.
After reading our QuickBooks Time review, you have a good idea about how this time tracker works, its benefits, and its drawbacks. All in all, QuickBooks Time is a good time-tracking platform. However, you can get much more for that price.
FAQs
Who owns QuickBooks Time?
Intuit is the current owner of QuickBooks Time. It acquired TSheets back in 2017 and renamed it QuickBooks Time.
What is the difference between TSheets and QuickBooks time?
There is no difference. QuickBooks Time was TSheets before it got rebranded in 2017 when Intuit acquired it.
Does QuickBooks do time tracking?
Yes, QuickBooks has time-tracking features.
Does QuickBooks Time track location?
When given permissions, QuickBooks Time can track your location when you’re clocked in.
Does QuickBooks Time work offline?
QuickBooks time can work offline. You can track time on your smartphone and sync it with the server once connected.
Easy-to-use alternative to Quickbooks Time.
Track employee hours, mileage, GPS location, and schedules with Timeero.
Vesna is a psychologist, researcher, and writer with a wide range of interests focused on one goal: utilizing digital solutions to take businesses to the next level. Her expertise in human resources and workforce trends combined with her understanding of software’s role in business optimization is invaluable in helping them stay on top of the curve.
%202.svg)
%202.svg)
