When I Work has added pricing tiers, split time clock and scheduling into separate modules, and layered on a standalone payroll product, making the true monthly cost for a small team noticeably higher than the headline number. If you’re looking for When I Work alternatives that bundle GPS, scheduling, and payroll exports into one plan, here are five real options for 2026, including when each competitor actually beats ClockOut for your specific situation.
Why people switch from When I Work
Three complaints come up most often when teams look for When I Work alternatives:
- Module pricing adds up. The entry plan covers scheduling only. Time clock / attendance is a separate add-on, so the combined per-employee cost is often ~$4-5/month before touching payroll.
- Payroll is a separate product.When I Work Payroll is priced and sold apart from the core app, adding another line item for teams that want end-to-end hours → payroll workflow.
- No exception inbox. Late arrivals, no-shows, missed breaks, and unapproved overtime surface in scattered views (the schedule, the time-approval queue, the alerts feed) rather than a single manager-facing queue. For a busy floor manager, that means more tab-switching and more misses.
None of these are dealbreakers for every team. But if any of them ring familiar, one of the five options below is likely a cleaner fit.
1. ClockOut: best for time-clock-first teams
ClockOut is built around the punch, not the schedule. Every plan bundles GPS clock-in/out, geofencing, kiosk mode, and the exception inbox together, there’s no separate attendance module to add on.
- Free plan: up to 2 employees, forever, no credit card required.
- Starter ($3/employee/month): GPS + geofencing, kiosk mode (4-digit PIN on any tablet), exception inbox, open shifts & swaps, PTO & availability, multi-location, push/email alerts, timesheet approvals, recurring schedules, overtime alerts & break compliance.
- Pro ($5/employee/month): everything in Starter plus payroll runs (lock & export), ADP / Gusto / QuickBooks exports, compliance rules engine, scoped roles & departments, PDF payroll reports, monthly attendance view, API access, priority support.
- Offline mode: clock-ins captured when connectivity drops, synced when it returns. Useful for walk-in coolers, basements, and remote sites.
- Setup time: ~60 seconds to sign up and add your first employee.
The caveat: ClockOut is newer than When I Work and Homebase. Integrations and advanced reporting are growing, but if you need a decade-long audit trail or a native POS integration, check the integrations page first.
For more detail, see ClockOut vs When I Work: full comparison.
2. Homebase: best for restaurants and retail
Homebase is a mature platform with scheduling, time tracking, hiring, and HR tools aimed squarely at restaurants and single-location retail. It has GPS + geofencing, kiosk mode, and payroll exports. For a restaurant owner who wants everything (hiring, onboarding, scheduling, time clock) under one roof, Homebase is a natural fit.
- No permanent free plan: 14-day trial only on paid tiers.
- Pro tier runs ~$4.50/employee/month.
- Exception inbox: not available.
- Compliance rules engine: available on higher tiers.
- Payroll exports to ADP, Gusto, and QuickBooks: yes.
Where Homebase loses to ClockOut: no exception inbox, higher per-employee cost, and no permanent free plan. Where it wins: deeper hiring and HR features if you’re running a restaurant and want one platform for the whole employee lifecycle.
For a deeper look, see the ClockOut vs Homebase comparison.
3. Deputy: best for hospitality and shift compliance
Deputy is a solid scheduling-and-time-clock app popular in hospitality, aged care, and retail chains. It has GPS + geofencing, kiosk mode, and open shifts. The UI is polished and the scheduling engine handles complex rotations well.
- No free plan: pricing starts at ~$4/employee/month.
- GPS + geofencing: yes.
- Kiosk mode: yes.
- Open shifts: yes.
- Payroll exports: partial, some integrations require additional configuration.
- Compliance rules engine: limited.
- Exception inbox: not available.
Deputy’s sweet spot is multi-location hospitality with complex rosters. It’s less compelling for small teams that primarily need a reliable GPS time clock and don’t need the enterprise scheduling features. See the ClockOut vs Deputy breakdown for a line-by-line comparison.
4. 7shifts: best for restaurants only
7shifts is purpose-built for the restaurant industry and is excellent at what it does. Scheduling, time tracking, tip pooling, and payroll support are all restaurant-native. If you’re running a full-service or QSR restaurant and everyone on your team is front-of-house or back-of-house, 7shifts deserves a look.
- Pricing is ~tiered by location and features, check their site for current per-employee or per-location rates.
- Time tracking and tip pooling/payroll support included.
- Strong restaurant-specific reporting (labor vs. sales).
The limitation: 7shifts is a restaurant tool. If you’re running a clinic, construction crew, retail store, or any non-restaurant shift operation, you’ll find features you don’t need and miss ones you do. Pick it if your whole team works in a kitchen or on a floor, look elsewhere otherwise.
5. Connecteam: best for field and deskless teams
Connecteam is designed for deskless, distributed workforces: think construction, cleaning services, home health aides, and delivery teams. Beyond scheduling and time tracking, it includes in-app chat, task management, checklists, and operations features that other time clocks don’t touch.
- Business plan runs ~$29/month for up to 30 employees, making it cheap per-head at scale, though pricing changes frequently, verify on their site.
- GPS time tracking and geofencing: yes.
- In-app chat and task management: strong differentiators.
- Exception inbox: not available.
Connecteam is overkill if you just need a time clock and scheduler. It shines when your team is distributed, rarely at a desk, and needs a communication layer alongside time tracking. See ClockOut vs Connecteam for a feature-by-feature breakdown.
Feature comparison
| ClockOut | When I Work | Homebase | Deputy | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Free plan | Up to 2 forever | 14-day trial | 14-day trial | None |
| Entry price (w/ time clock) | $3/employee/mo | ~$4-5/mo (scheduling + attendance) | ~$4.50/employee/mo | ~$4/employee/mo |
| Exception inbox | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ |
| GPS + geofencing | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Kiosk mode | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Compliance rules engine | ✓ | Partial | ✓ | ✗ |
| Payroll exports (ADP/Gusto/QB) | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | Partial |
| Setup time | ~60 sec | 1-2 days | ~30 min | ~20 min |
Competitor pricing is approximate and may have changed, verify on each vendor’s site. When I Work entry price covers scheduling only; adding the time clock module increases the effective per-employee rate.
How to switch without losing data
Moving from When I Work to any of these alternatives is straightforward, but a few steps protect you:
- Export timesheets first. From When I Work, export your timesheet data as CSV before canceling. Keep a copy for at least 3 years for wage-and-hour compliance.
- Export your employee roster. When I Work lets you export a CSV of employee names, roles, and contact info. Most alternatives accept a CSV import to speed up setup.
- Run both apps in parallel for one pay period. Import employees into the new tool, run a week of punches alongside When I Work, and compare the totals before you cut over. One pay-period overlap costs almost nothing and catches configuration issues before they hit payroll.
- Notify employees in advance.A short message, “We’re switching to [new app] on [date], download it and use your PIN to clock in”, cuts confusion on day one.
- Check your geofence radii.Re-enter your location geofences in the new app, and consider running in “flag” mode (rather than “block”) for the first week so edge cases don’t prevent legitimate clock-ins while your team adjusts.
For a broader guide to free options while you evaluate, see the best free time clock apps for small businesses.