Fareclock

Fareclock is a workforce platform for tracking time, monitoring attendance, scheduling shifts, coordinating staff across sites, and automating payroll. Employees can clock in by smartphone or kiosk, with verification options that include facial recognition, PIN, QR code, and NFC tags. GPS tracking and geofencing let administrators set where clock-ins are allowed; Premium adds live GPS and route history. The payroll calculator covers standard and overtime hours, pay rates, and job-based pay. Administrators can also create jobs and cost codes to connect time with projects or phases, then review labor, job, and overtime reports. Fareclock supports time-off tracking, break tracking, timesheet approvals, and offline mobile clock-ins that sync after a device reconnects. Integrations listed include QuickBooks, Xero, an API, and custom payroll-file export. It runs on Android, iOS, Linux, macOS, web, and Windows. Pricing starts at $1.38/user/mo (annual), and a 30-day trial is listed; there is no free plan.

Fareclock brings attendance, scheduling, payroll calculations, and job costing into one workforce tool. Its paid plans and feature tiers are worth reviewing against the team’s location-tracking and reporting needs.

Fareclock suits employers coordinating hourly work across locations, especially in industries such as construction, manufacturing, retail, and logistics. It may also fit teams that need job costing, shift scheduling, or payroll reports.

Fareclock combines timekeeping with scheduling, job costing and payroll calculations for employers managing hourly staff across locations or projects. It is a stronger fit for operations that need location controls and labor-cost reporting than for small teams looking for a simple clock-in tool.

Its mix of clock verification, offline capture and payroll-oriented reporting is compelling, but the base fee matters: compare the full monthly cost with the controls your team will actually use.

Overview

Fareclock brings attendance monitoring, scheduling and payroll calculations into one workforce platform. Employees can clock in by smartphone or kiosk, with facial recognition, PIN, QR code and NFC verification also supported. This range accommodates different work settings, while GPS tracking and geofencing can limit where employees clock in. Facial recognition is designed to deter buddy punching, not merely to offer another login option.

Mobile apps can record clock-ins and clock-outs offline, then sync the data after reconnecting. That is valuable for teams working in places with unreliable connectivity. The payroll calculator handles standard and overtime hours, pay rates and job-based pay; administrators can use jobs and cost codes to track labor against projects or phases and review the results in reports.

Key features

Shift scheduling includes pay-rate adjustments and overtime-rule support. Timesheet approvals, break tracking and attendance reports help connect scheduled work to recorded hours. Reports can cover employee hours, overtime, job costing and labor costs, making the product more useful to managers who need to understand where labor is going, rather than simply record punches.

GPS tracking and geofencing provide location controls for clock-ins. Premium adds live GPS and breadcrumb history, which gives managers a more detailed view of movement than basic location checks. That extra visibility may matter for mobile teams, but organizations should weigh it against their need for that level of tracking.

Integrations include API, QuickBooks, Xero and custom payroll file export. Fareclock also says it maintains GDPR and Data Privacy Framework compliance, is self-certified under the EU-U.S. Data Privacy Framework, and undergoes external penetration tests and security audits. It provides 24-hour support, while Pro explicitly includes email and phone support.

Pricing

Fareclock offers a 30-day trial and no ongoing free plan. Its pricing has a base charge as well as a per-user charge, so the per-user rate alone does not show the full cost. The published plans break down as follows:

Pro is the practical starting point for teams that need scheduling, job costing and integrations without Premium’s expanded monitoring and compliance tools. Premium is aimed at employers that need live location history, alerts or personnel-document and credentialing features. The yearly-billing selector costs less per month than monthly billing on both paid tiers, but the listed prices still include base charges that small teams should account for. Basic’s five-user ceiling and absence of a published price make it difficult to assess as a long-term option; the separate free offer lasts only 30 days.

Platforms

Fareclock supports Android, iOS, Linux, macOS, web and Windows. Its breadth suits teams mixing mobile devices with desktop access, while the mobile apps’ offline clocking is particularly relevant to field work.

Who it's for

Fareclock is best suited to employers with field, multi-site or project-based teams that need location-aware time capture and labor reporting. Its highlighted industries include construction, engineering, manufacturing and warehousing, staffing and professional services, retail, and logistics and transport. Job and cost-code tracking is especially useful when managers need to separate labor by project or phase.

It is less compelling for a very small operation that needs only a basic time clock: the paid plans have base fees, and Basic is capped at five users. Teams that do not need geofencing, payroll calculations or job costing may be paying for controls they will not use.

Pros and cons

• Pros: Multiple clock-in methods, including facial recognition and PIN, give employers options for verifying attendance across different work settings.
• Pros: Offline clocking with automatic sync helps preserve time records when mobile connectivity drops.
• Pros: Scheduling, payroll calculations and job-cost reports connect attendance to labor planning and project costs.
• Pros: Pro includes integrations and email and phone support; Premium adds live GPS history and operational controls for teams that need them.
• Cons: Base fees make the total price higher than the per-user rate alone suggests, particularly for small teams.
• Cons: There is no ongoing free plan, and Basic is limited to five users.
• Cons: Live GPS and breadcrumb history sit in Premium, so teams needing those controls must move beyond Pro.

Alternatives

BusyBusy is worth considering when a free plan for unlimited users is the priority; its Pro plan lists GPS breadcrumbing, supervisor tools, daily sign-offs, photos and notes, and scheduling.

Miter Job Costing uses custom pricing based on company size, headcount and products used, so it is an option for buyers prepared to request a tailored quote.

Rhumbix is another paid option, with Essential covering timekeeping and production tracking and Advanced adding Data Explorer and enterprise features.

mJob may suit teams seeking flexible field time entry, GPS geofencing, labor-law compliance, time automation, ERP integrations and offline mode; it also offers a free trial.

QuickBooks Time is a paid alternative with Premium and Elite plans, each including one admin.

CausewayOne Attendance is another paid attendance option.

eBacon is another paid option for Android, iOS and web.

Workyard offers a free trial and a Starter plan listed at $6.00 per month billed annually; monthly billing is also available.

For category comparisons, browse Construction Time Tracking Software or Time Clock Software.

Verdict

Choose Fareclock if your workforce needs more than attendance records: its combination of location-aware clock-ins, scheduling, job costing and payroll calculations is aimed at employers coordinating labor across sites and projects. The main reason to look elsewhere is cost for small teams, especially if the base fee and Premium’s added expense buy controls your operation does not need.