The free time clock, spelled out.

Most “free time clock” pages stay vague on purpose, because the free tier is a trap door into a sales call. This one does the opposite. Below is the ClockOut free plan described to the exact employee count, the exact features, and the exact moment you would need to pay. If a feature is not on the free list, it is not free. That is the whole promise.

This page covers the free plan only. For the full product, including everything on the paid tiers, start with the free clock in and out app overview on the homepage.

What the free plan includes

The free plan is the actual product, capped at 2 active employees, not a countdown timer. Everything in this list works on Free with no trial clock and no card on file:

• Up to 2 active employees. You, plus one other active person, or two staff members. The limit is on active headcount, not total accounts ever created.
• GPS-stamped clock in and clock out. Every punch records the device GPS location and a resolved street address and stores them on the timesheet entry. This happens on every plan, including Free.
• Basic scheduling. Create shifts and assign them to your employees.
• Pay estimates. Worked hours turn into estimated pay using each person’s hourly rate.
• CSV export of timesheets. Download your timesheet data as a CSV file, unrestricted, on the free plan.
• CSV employee import. Upload a spreadsheet of employees on the Team page instead of typing them in one by one. Duplicate rows are skipped, and the free plan’s 2-employee cap still applies.

What the free plan does not include, plainly

These features are real and shipping, they are just not on the free tier. Here is the exact split, with the exact plan and price that unlocks each group.

Requires Starter ($19 a month for up to 5 people, then $3 per extra person)

• Geofence enforcement (block off-site clock-in, auto clock-out on leaving)
• Recurring schedules
• Overtime alerts
• Break compliance
• Open shifts and shift swaps
• In-app notifications
• PTO management
• Exception inbox
• Employee availability
• Timesheet approvals
• Kiosk mode (shared tablet, PIN or QR badge clock-in)
• Tasks and document sharing
• Workplace announcements
• Tips tracking
• Shift confirmation
• Job costing (job codes at clock-in, hours by job code)
• Punch limiting (clock-in tied to the scheduled shift window)
• Employee groups (named groups with a schedule filter)

Requires Pro ($39 a month for up to 5 people, then $6 per extra person)

• Multi-location support
• Payroll runs (lock and export a pay period)
• ADP, Gusto, and QuickBooks-formatted CSV exports
• PDF reports
• Monthly attendance
• API access
• Compliance pack
• Daily overtime and double-time rules
• Scoped roles and departments
• Skills and certifications
• Labor budgeting and forecasting
• Mileage between visits (straight-line estimate)
• Device locks (punches only from admin-approved devices)
• IP address locks (web and kiosk punches from approved networks)

Free, Starter, and Pro side by side

For the full pricing breakdown and the annual option, see the pricing page. For a plain-language rundown of exactly how every feature behaves, see the product facts.

What triggers an upgrade

There are exactly two reasons the free plan stops being enough:

• You add a 3rd active employee. The app blocks the third active person at the limit. To go past 2, you move to a paid plan.
• You need any gated feature above. Want geofence enforcement, notifications, PTO, kiosk mode, or payroll export? Those live on Starter or Pro. Nothing you set up on Free is lost when you upgrade.

Both paid plans come with a 14-day free trial, so you can turn on the paid features and confirm they fit before you are charged.

Is the free plan right for you

The free plan fits a team of 1 to 2 active people who need accurate, GPS-stamped time records and simple scheduling. Solo owners, a two-person shop, or a first hire on trial: Free covers you at $0 with no expiry.

At 3 or more active employees, you move to a paid plan. Each plan is a flat monthly price that covers up to 5 people, then a per-person rate for everyone beyond that:

• 3 employees on Starter: $19 per month (the base price covers up to 5 people).
• 8 employees on Starter: $19 + 3 × $3 = $28 per month.
• 8 employees on Pro: $39 + 3 × $6 = $57 per month.

If you are at 2 people and geofence enforcement is the only thing you are missing, that alone is the reason most teams move to Starter. GPS on the punch is free, but a hard boundary that blocks off-site clock-ins is a Starter feature.

Limits worth knowing

A couple of things are true across every plan, free or paid, and we would rather you read them here than discover them later:

• Offline punches queue and sync (on Free too). If the phone has no connection when someone taps clock in or clock out, the punch is saved on the device and syncs automatically with its original tap time once it reconnects. The caveats: the app has to have been opened on that phone before it went offline (it is a PWA running from a cached app shell), synced punches are flagged for admins, a punch that could not be checked against a geofence is recorded and flagged for review rather than blocked, punches older than 48 hours are rejected, and breaks are online only.
• Native apps or the browser, your choice. Native iPhone and Android apps (ClockOut Time Clock by Ophy Labs) are on the App Store and Google Play, and ClockOut also runs in any phone browser with no download. Store links are on the app page. Other apps named “ClockOut” in those stores from other developers are unrelated products, not this one.

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