Most time tracking tools focus on one thing: recording hours worked. Clockify takes a broader approach by connecting those hours to projects, clients, billable work, and reporting.
Clockify is a time tracking and project management platform built around tracking hours, projects, billable work, and team productivity. With tools for timers, time sheets, reporting, scheduling, kiosks, time off, and project tracking, it aims to give businesses visibility into where time is being spent without heavily emphasizing employee monitoring.
Where some platforms focus on surveillance-style productivity tracking, Clockify leans more toward organization and reporting. The system offers multiple ways to track hours and categorize work through projects, clients, tasks, and tags. For agencies, consultants, and project-based businesses, that level of organization can provide useful insight into costs, productivity, and billable work.
At the same time, flexibility sometimes comes with trade-offs. Features and workflows are spread across multiple screens, and certain tasks require more navigation than expected. While Clockify provides a substantial number of tools, the experience can occasionally feel more focused on data collection than workflow simplicity.
In this honest review, I walk through how Clockify actually performs in practice — from pricing and setup to time tracking, scheduling, payroll workflows, and everyday usability. The goal is straightforward: provide a real-world look at where Clockify performs well, where it creates friction, and whether it fits your business's operating model.
Verdict: Is Clockify Worth It?
Score: 7.0/10
Clockify is a flexible time tracking platform that works particularly well for businesses managing projects, billable work, and client-based workflows. Its biggest strength is the number of ways users can track and organize time without immediately forcing businesses into expensive pricing plans.
Time tracking itself is strong and versatile. Users can record hours using timers, time sheets, calendars, kiosks, and manual entries, while organizing data by projects, tasks, clients, and tags. Reporting is also one of Clockify's stronger areas, offering detailed breakdowns that help businesses better understand where time and resources are being spent.
The employee onboarding process is also relatively painless. Team members can be invited via email and begin tracking time with minimal setup. For smaller teams or businesses transitioning from spreadsheets, getting started is fairly straightforward.
Clockify's biggest weakness isn't missing features; it's workflow efficiency. Important actions often live in separate sections of the platform, requiring users to move between Time Tracker, Reports, Approvals, Invoices, and administrative screens to complete what should sometimes be a simple task. As needs grow, the experience can begin to feel more fragmented.
Payroll is another area where Clockify falls short of a true all-in-one workforce solution. While it can calculate hours, rates, and costs, payroll itself is not built into the platform. Businesses still need to export data or rely on third-party systems to complete the process.
Costs can also climb as teams expand and require additional features. While the free plan is generous, capabilities such as scheduling, advanced reporting, approvals, GPS tracking, and workforce management tools are spread across higher pricing tiers.
Overall, Clockify earns a 7.0/10. It is a strong option for businesses that need flexible, project-based time tracking and reporting without committing to high costs. However, businesses seeking a more unified workforce management system with integrated payroll, simpler workflows, and broader operational tools may find themselves outgrowing it over time.
How Much Does Clockify Cost?
Score: 7.2/10
Clockify offers a free plan along with four paid tiers: Basic, Standard, Pro, and Enterprise. The platform also offers a bundled productivity package through its parent company, Cake.com.
The Free plan costs $0 and includes unlimited users, basic time tracking, time sheets, reports, kiosk functionality, calendar views, and desktop/mobile access. While generous compared to many competitors, several team and management features remain unavailable on the free tier.
The Basic plan starts at $4.99 per user per month and includes administrative tools, such as bulk editing, required fields, project templates, historical rates, and customized exports.
The Standard plan costs $6.99 per user per month. This plan introduces time-off management, invoicing, approvals, attendance and overtime tracking, manager roles, and additional reporting functionality.
The Pro plan costs $9.99 per user per month and includes scheduling, forecasting, expense management, labor cost reporting, budgeting tools, custom fields, GPS tracking, and productivity features.
Finally, the Enterprise plan costs $14.99 per user per month and adds security-focused features like SSO, audit logs, account controls, and enhanced administrative settings.
By comparison, OnTheClock’s pricing model remains considerably more predictable. With OnTheClock, 10 employees cost $45 per month, with core time tracking, scheduling, PTO management, GPS tools, reporting, and workforce management functionality included without moving through multiple pricing tiers.
Clockify’s free plan certainly creates value for freelancers and very small teams. However, many businesses eventually need features such as PTO management, approvals, scheduling, attendance controls, and advanced reporting. Those capabilities begin appearing across the Standard and Pro tiers rather than existing in a single package.
For a 10-person team on Clockify’s Pro plan, the cost is approximately $99.90 per month before any additional tools or bundled products are considered. That is more than double the $45-per-month cost of OnTheClock. While Clockify can be attractive for businesses seeking low-cost project time tracking, growing teams may find themselves climbing pricing tiers faster than expected.
How Do You Get Started on a Web Browser?
Score: 6.5/10
I started by visiting the Clockify website (http://clockify.me) to create an account. The website identified Clockify as “The most popular time tracker for teams,” used by “millions.”
The homepage featured the time tracker dashboard and an 8-minute video hosted by Olga that highlighted the solution’s start/stop tool, timers, custom fields, and more.
Scrolling down the page, I encountered landing pages further describing the tool’s features, including timers, time sheets, calendars, auto tracker, kiosks, and more. Additionally, screenshots highlight the solution across desktop, web, mobile, and kiosk apps.
Pricing is shown near the bottom of the website.
Clicking the Sign Up button led me to a portal that let me sign in with Google, Microsoft, or Apple accounts. Next, I was asked to enter my name and my company’s name. Then, I was congratulated with a bizarre flying bunny.
The setup process encouraged me to identify the number of employees I have, the industry I work in, how I intend to use the solution, and how I heard about Clockify.
Upon completing the process, I was told that my seven-day trial had commenced.
How Do I Get Started on the Mobile App?
Score: 6.8/10
I was able to download the Clockify app from the App Store without issue and was prompted to log in with Google, Microsoft, or Apple.
Upon logging in, I was taken to the Time Tracker screen. The view was pretty basic, showing a placeholder for time entries.
A hamburger menu in the top-left corner offered me access to multiple options, including Calendar, Expenses, Time Off, Reports, and more.
The plus sign in the top-right corner let me add a new time entry. Time entries are noted by date, start and end times, and duration.
I was also able to edit the entry’s description, project tasks, tags, and make the entry billable, if I so chose.
Near the bottom of the screen, I was prompted with quick-tap “What are you working on?” buttons to start a break or punch in with one tap.
Overall, the initial app experience was simple to navigate, albeit a bit basic. The dashboard simply allowed tracking time and viewing basic activity. While many ancillary options are available in the hamburger menu, the dashboard lacked some of the bells and whistles commonly offered by competitive software solutions.
How Do You Add Employees?
Score: 8.5/10
To add an employee, I clicked the Team tab and then clicked Add Full Member.
The pop-up screen encouraged me to enter my employee’s email address to invite them to the solution.
As my employee joined via email, he was asked to input his name, and that’s all. A subsequent email welcomed him to the team and provided shortcut links to help him get started.
Once the employee was added to the team, his name replaced the previous status of (not joined yet). The employee was added to a list of sample employees, which provided a guideline.
Clockify lets admins filter employees by employment status, allowing classification as full- or limited-time workers. The downside: All limited-time workers are confined to a kiosk station.
Once added, team data can be filtered by a number of fields, including billable hours, cost rate, role, group, active/inactive, billable rate, and more.
Adding employees was fairly simple. Approval via email was easy, and everything went smoothly, as planned. The added filters and views were also appreciated. Good work, Clockify!
How Does Scheduling Work?
Score: 7.2/10
After setting up my account and adding employees, I navigated to the Schedule tab.
The scheduling view is set up to track by project. Clicking the project opens each day, including the work scheduled for that day (including R&D and development work).
Clicking the individual work opens a pop-up that allowed me to edit the work to be done, including the task, time period, hours per day, start time, and more. However, I was unable to edit the project name in this view, as all project edits needed to occur in the Projects tab, which was a bit cumbersome.
Clicking within the project matrix and dates allowed me to “add a milestone.” Once the milestone was created, it was added to the schedule.
Clicking the + Member link allowed me to assign an employee to a project. While creating the assignment, I could tag the employee with a task, time period, hours, start time, and more. The task itself could also be repeated weekly, which was a nice touch.
I was also able to filter by published and unpublished schedules or view the respective schedules for specific teams. I could also seek projects or clients using a search bar.
Unfortunately, I was unable to edit the schedule on the app.
In summary, the scheduling tool was fairly basic. That said, a basic schedule works fine for companies seeking simplicity. However, if you’re looking for AI-led scheduling, automation, open shifts, or other advanced features, Clockify may not be the greatest fit.
How Do Timecards Work?
Score: 7.8/10
Timecards are split across several tabs, including time tracker, calendar, and reports.
The Time Tracker tab allows my employees to record their time entries. Punches can be recorded via start/stop. Records are kept below and totaled in the top-right banner of that table.
The Calendar tab showed a record of all entries. Clicking an individual time entry allowed me to edit the description, project, and tags, and to identify whether the project was billable.
The true timecards are found under the Reports tab. Within, I could see the total hours worked, split between billable and non-billable hours. Additionally, the data can be assembled in a number of ways, including team, client, project, task, tag, status, description, kiosk, and more.
Based on the pay rate, the amount is also shown along the top-left banner.
A pie chart in the bottom-right corner showcases how time has been split between projects.
Upon clicking the Reports tab, I was prompted with numerous drop-down options, including summary, detailed, weekly, and shared. Additionally, the team view can be filtered by attendance and assignments.
To approve timecards, I clicked the Approval tab.
Within the approval screen, I was able to view timecards by categories, such as pending, unsubmitted, and archive. Data could also be sorted by date and team. Finally, I was able to set a personal reminder to approve timecards at a later date.
Clockify’s time sheets are multilayered, with many options, views, and filters. They’re chock-full of data and insights that may prove beneficial to companies seeking insights. However, to record, review, and approve data, users have to click multiple tabs (Time Tracker, Reports, Approvals, etc.). Outside of that, the time sheets were quite nice.
Wait, hidden at the bottom of the menu was a time sheets tab. Here, I was able to see my hours worked across numerous days. This tab proved helpful, but I still needed to work across multiple tabs to get here.
What Kind of Customer Support Does Clockify Offer?
Score: 7.2/10
Support is a very important part of any time tracking company. It’s crucially important to have a real person available if/when problems arise.
Clicking the question mark icon in the top-right corner opened the customer support tab.
The initial screen was a help center with a number of help pages and featured articles.
I clicked the Start Chat button and was directed to a virtual chat assistant.
I asked, “When was the last time Clockify raised its prices?” The virtual assistant allowed me to escalate the matter to a human. After entering my name, email address, and issue, I was connected with Tommy nearly instantly.
Unfortunately, Tommy danced around the question, stating that “the last update happened recently,” before directing me to the pricing page.
I refocused my question to ask for a date, but Tommy was unable to provide a specific date.
While the answer wasn’t precise, the quick reply and the human support's attentiveness were exceptional!
Outside of the live chat, Clockify offers an email address, phone number, contact us form, and a separate email address for its sales team. This transparency is appreciated, as many of the time tracking sites I’ve reviewed tend to hide their contact information.
How Does In-App Chat Work?
Score: N/A
Clockify does not have a comprehensive, built-in real-time team chat tool.
How Do You Manage Time Off?
Score: 7.5/10
To implement time off, I clicked the Time Off tab. Before moving forward, I had to establish a new policy. Upon doing so, I was prompted to enter the policy’s name, assignees, time unit, define whether requests require approval, accrual settings, and more.
Once established, I was able to add an initial balance of hours to my employees. Once finalized, the plan appeared under the Policies tab.
In the top-right corner of the page, I clicked Request Time Off. From there, I was able to select the applicable team member, time-off policy, date range, and enter a note.
Once the request was submitted, a manager could approve it via the Requests tab.
Once the PTO request was approved, it appeared on my calendar accordingly. As soon as the request was approved, a push notification was sent to my phone.
Overall, the time off tool was very simple. I was able to set it up and assign time off in just a few minutes.
How Does Payroll Integration Work?
Score: 6.8/10
Clockify does not have direct, native integration that pushes data into payroll systems, but it offers robust export features to facilitate payroll processing. It allows you to track hours, set rates, and export data in CSV, Excel, or PDF format for import into payroll software, such as Gusto, ADP, QuickBooks, Xero, and Paychex.
To start the process, I had to review everything in my Reports tab and ensure everything was accurate.
Before moving forward, I had to review any unsubmitted time sheets and approve them via the Approvals tab.
All approved time sheets are available under the Archive tab.
Finally, after some clicking around, I located the Export button within the Invoices tab. This took some work on my end, and this needs to be remedied, Clockify!
The exports were available as CSV or Excel files.
Honestly, the process was fairly clunky, requiring reviews in the Reports and Approvals tab and a visit to the Invoice tab to export the documents.
For businesses looking for a more unified solution, this can create additional steps and potential points of failure, especially compared to platforms like OnTheClock, where time tracking and payroll can operate within the same system without the need for multiple clicks and navigation.
What Add-Ons Does Clockify Offer?
Score: 6.0/10
Clockify’s parent company, Cake.com, offers several add-ons. To access them, I clicked the puzzle piece and was met with a search engine devoted to add-ons.
The menu was quite overwhelming, with 16 integration categories. There were so many options that a search engine was needed.
The Integrations and add-ons page offered more information on the primary integrations, including Plaky, Jira, Pumble, QuickBooks, and Zapier.
Clockify also offered a YouTube video summarizing all the solution’s time tracking integrations.
I typed “Time Tracking” into the search engine and was met with 20 different options, including a Google Calendar sync, FeatValue, Zapier, TimeTracker X, and more.
I clicked the Invoice Generator add-on, and the landing page provided general information and a price of $9.99 per month.
While these add-ons make Clockify more flexible, they also introduce complexity and can significantly increase the overall cost. The cost for each add-on is hidden in each individual description, making it difficult to gauge what the price would be if you added them all.
How Does Clockify Handle Follow-Ups and Outreach?
Score: 7.2/10
Upon signing up, I immediately received a confirmation and welcome email
I received five subsequent emails that welcomed me, introduced me to Clockify’s features, offered help with time tracking, and more.
The emails were fairly succinct and to the point, though with all the reports, reminders, and notifications, they started to add up quickly. Within three days, I’d received 17 emails from Clockify and a LinkedIn request.
What Are the Pros and Cons of Using Clockify?
Pros
- Powerful Time Tracking and Reporting Features: Clockify offers much more than a simple start/stop timer. Users can track time using timers, manual entries, calendars, kiosks, and timesheets, and generate detailed reports by project, client, tag, billable hours, and team activity. Businesses that rely heavily on reporting and billable-hour tracking will likely appreciate the depth of available data.
- Simple Employee Setup and Onboarding: Adding employees is quick and intuitive. Managers can invite team members by email, and new users can begin tracking time with minimal setup. The onboarding process is straightforward and does not require extensive configuration before teams can get started.
- Generous Free Plan for Small Teams: Clockify’s free plan is one of the most appealing options in the time tracking market. Smaller businesses and freelancers can access core time-tracking tools without committing to a subscription, making it easy to test before upgrading.
- Flexible Project and Billable Time Management: Clockify was clearly designed for project-based work. Users can assign projects, tasks, billable rates, clients, and tags while organizing work across multiple teams and workflows. This flexibility works particularly well for agencies, consultants, and service-based businesses.
- Responsive Human Customer Support: While the support experience may not always provide perfect answers, reaching a real person was quick and straightforward. Clockify also offers multiple support channels, including live chat, email, phone, and a knowledge base, which is more transparent than many competitors.
Cons
- Payroll Requires Exports and Multiple Steps: Clockify does not provide native payroll processing. Instead, users track time, approve hours, review reports, and export files to outside payroll providers. This creates extra steps and increases the likelihood of manual errors compared to platforms with built-in payroll functionality.
- Scheduling Tools Feel Basic: Clockify includes scheduling functionality, but it lacks many advanced workforce management features businesses often want as they grow. Tools such as open shifts, shift swapping, scheduling automation, and AI-assisted scheduling are either limited or unavailable.
- Navigation Can Feel Fragmented: Important workflows are spread across multiple tabs and screens. Time tracking, approvals, reports, payroll exports, and scheduling often require users to bounce between several areas of the platform. For new users, this can create unnecessary friction.
- Add-Ons and Integrations Can Increase Complexity: Clockify offers a large ecosystem of integrations and extensions, but understanding which tools are needed can become overwhelming. Some add-ons carry separate pricing, and costs are not always obvious upfront, making total expenses harder to predict.
- Limited Built-In Communication Tools: Clockify lacks a comprehensive real-time team chat system. Businesses that rely on employee messaging or internal communication may need additional software to keep teams connected.
- Interface Prioritizes Function Over Polish: Clockify delivers a lot of information, but some areas of the interface feel utilitarian rather than streamlined. The dashboard and mobile experience work well enough, but they can feel somewhat basic compared to competitors' more modern, action-oriented dashboards.
What Do Real Users Say About Clockify?
Looking beyond marketing claims, user feedback on Clockify tends to follow a consistent pattern: Users appreciate its flexibility and reporting capabilities, but some feel the experience becomes more complex as needs expand.
Across platforms such as G2, Capterra, Google Play, and the Apple App Store, users frequently praise Clockify for its robust time tracking tools at an affordable price. Many appreciate the variety of ways employees can track time, including timers, time sheets, calendars, kiosks, and project tracking — along with the detailed reporting available for billable hours, projects, clients, and team performance.
Businesses that manage client work or project-based billing also tend to respond positively to Clockify’s reporting and billable-hour features. The ability to categorize time by projects, tasks, tags, and clients gives managers a detailed breakdown of where time is being spent and how work is progressing.
At the same time, reviews surface several recurring pain points. Some users report that important actions are spread across multiple screens and tabs, making workflows less intuitive than expected. Others note that while Clockify offers extensive functionality, navigating reports, approvals, exports, and administrative settings can require more clicking than anticipated. Users also occasionally mention that payroll requires exports and third-party tools rather than functioning as a fully integrated process.
There are also mixed opinions regarding advanced features. While many users appreciate Clockify’s flexibility, some note that scheduling, communication tools, and certain workforce management capabilities feel fairly basic compared to platforms designed around broader workforce operations.
Overall, real users generally agree that Clockify works particularly well for businesses focused on project tracking, billable hours, and detailed reporting. Teams looking for a more streamlined, all-in-one workforce management platform may find that it requires additional steps and tools as operational needs grow.
For example, the most relevant review on G2, where Clockify has a 4.5-star review out of 200-plus ratings, comes from Celeste G., who, on April 30, 2026, wrote, “I like how organized Clockify is. I can find all the details about my different projects and the time it takes. I can also see how long I worked for the day, for the week, for the month, so that's pretty good. It's very easy and very intuitive to set up. Every time I need to look at something to track times or see how long I worked during the month, I know where to look. I know I can download a summary of my hours and how I spent them, which I can send to my supervisors to get paid for the month.”
On Capterra, where Clockify has a 4.8-star rating based on 9,200-plus reviews, Melissa H. writes, on May 6, 2026, “Clockify has proven to be a dependable, long-term tool that’s grown alongside my needs. What started as a simple, free time tracker has evolved into a more complete system for managing client work, tracking billable hours, and supporting operational workflows. It’s not the flashiest tool, but it’s consistent, flexible, and gets the job done without overcomplicating things. For anyone managing multiple clients or projects, it’s a strong, practical choice.”
On Apple, where Clockify has 4.6 stars on 3,400-plus ratings, Payton_19 wrote, on May 2, 2026, “Clockify has been great for tracking my hours since I started my business.”
How Does Clockify Compare to OnTheClock?
To understand where Clockify fits, it helps to compare it to a simpler, all-in-one alternative like OnTheClock.
| Feature | Clockify | OnTheClock |
|---|---|---|
| Mobile Experience | Clockify’s mobile app focuses heavily on core time tracking functionality, allowing users to record hours, edit entries, view calendars, and access reports. While easy to navigate, the dashboard experience is fairly minimal, and some administrative workflows require additional navigation. | The mobile app supports time tracking, scheduling, PTO, and payroll workflows through a streamlined interface. Managers can also access broader team visibility and administrative controls directly from the app. |
| Desktop Clock-Ins | Employees can clock in through the web app or desktop app using timers, manual entries, and time sheets. Desktop functionality is well-rounded and supports project-based workflows. | Fully supported across desktop and laptop devices with built-in admin controls and minimal configuration required. |
| Time Tracking | Clockify offers multiple methods for tracking time, including timers, manual entries, calendars, kiosks, and project-based tracking. Reporting is one of Clockify's biggest strengths, offering highly customizable views across projects, clients, tasks, billable hours, and labor allocation. | Core time tracking includes approvals, edits, reporting, PTO tracking, and user permissions without requiring tier upgrades for essential tools. |
| Payroll Functionality | Clockify does not include built-in payroll processing. Instead, businesses track hours, approve time entries, and export files to payroll systems such as ADP, Gusto, QuickBooks, and others. | Offers integrated payroll as an optional add-on, allowing timecards and payroll data to operate within the same system. It also integrates with major payroll providers, if preferred. |
| User Roles & Permissions | Role-based permissions are available for admins, managers, and team members. Permissions become more customizable as plans increase, though some administrative controls require additional configuration. | Admin, manager, and view-only roles are available without additional tier requirements. |
| Customer Support Access | Clockify offers a help center, live chat, phone, email, and support resources. Response times were generally quick during testing, though support quality may vary depending on the complexity of the issue. | Phone, chat, and email support are available to all subscribers. |
| Time Clock Kiosk | Clockify includes kiosk functionality for shared devices, though limited users are primarily tied to kiosk usage and configuration options are more basic than some workforce management platforms. | A dedicated kiosk mode is designed for shared devices with built-in admin controls. |
| API Access | Clockify offers API access and a large integration ecosystem, allowing businesses to connect external tools and workflows. | API access is available to businesses that need custom workflows or integrations. |
| Pricing Structure | Clockify uses tiered per-user pricing. While the free plan is generous, advanced functionality and certain features become available through higher plans or additional paid tools, which can increase costs as teams grow. | Pricing uses a flat base fee plus a per-employee cost, with core time tracking and scheduling features included without locking key tools behind higher tiers. |
What’s the Final Verdict on Clockify?
Clockify is a flexible but somewhat fragmented platform.
It’s designed for businesses that need more than basic time tracking and want visibility into projects, billable hours, and where work time is being spent. Features such as project tracking, customizable reports, time-off management, kiosks, and multiple time-entry methods make it a strong fit for organizations that manage client work or track labor across multiple projects.
Where Clockify stands out most is its flexibility. Users can organize work through projects, tasks, tags, and clients, and use multiple tracking methods to generate detailed reports that provide meaningful insight into productivity and labor allocation.
But that flexibility comes with trade-offs.
Clockify is not a fully unified workforce management system. Payroll requires exports and third-party tools, several workforce features are distributed across higher-priced tiers, and certain workflows require navigating multiple screens and tabs. As businesses grow, the platform can begin to feel more fragmented than streamlined.
It’s also not built around simplicity. Businesses that simply want an easy way to track time, manage schedules, and process payroll may find themselves clicking through more menus and workflows than expected.
Clockify is best for:
- Teams that bill by project or client
- Agencies, consultants, and service-based businesses
- Businesses that need detailed reporting and project visibility
Clockify is not ideal for:
- Businesses looking for built-in payroll without extra steps
- Teams needing advanced workforce scheduling capabilities
- Companies that want a simple, all-in-one workforce management platform
Bottom line
Clockify is a strong option if project tracking and reporting are your top priorities. If you need flexible time tracking with detailed project insights, Clockify delivers. If you want to track time, run payroll, schedule employees, and manage your workforce without juggling systems or moving between multiple screens, OnTheClock gets you there faster with fewer headaches.
