Whether you’re a small business owner on a tight budget, or an enterprise manager trying to save a few dollars, you’ve probably ran into a free time tracker software. While it’s always good to be cautious when it comes to money, you can only make so many compromises without endangering your company’s security and integrity.
We don’t have anything against free employee time clock software, but you can’t expect to get everything you would with a paid tool. So, let’s see what can you expect to compromise with a free tracker.
1. Scalability
Even the best free time clock apps can’t accommodate big and growing businesses. The first reason is that the majority of them can only track 10 people at the most. You can see how this can be an issue if you have a large team, or if you’re planning to grow within the next year. As you start adding more people, you’ll need to pay for the software upgrade.
The situation is quite similar with projects tracking as well. Free time clock apps can track at most 5 projects. And once again, this is all great if you have a small team, and only a couple of clients. But we’ve never seen a business that doesn’t intend to scale at some point.
2. Support Team
Free employee time clocks either don’t have any kind of support, and you can only rely on the knowledge base and FAQs available on their website; or you get non-priority email support. Non-priority email support means you’ll probably wait a minimum of 24 hours to get a response. Which isn’t as bad, if what’s wrong isn’t urgent.
However, if you’re having an urgent issue, this is in no way convenient.
3. Limited Features
Time tracker software is used to track time on tasks and projects, to measure employees’ productivity, as well as to track attendance. There are basic functionalities and any free online time clock for employees will have them.
But, if you want more advanced features like budget tracking, integrations, payroll management, etc. you’ll definitely need to get a Pro or Premium version of the software.
But, It’s Not All Bad
Free time tracker software does have one major benefit – it’s free. Additionally, it gives you more than enough time to test out all the features and see if the tool is suitable for you. Paid solutions offer free trials which last from 7 to 30 days, but you can maybe get an extension if you ask for it.
Also, if you only need a tracker because your new clients are requesting proof of work, you won’t be using it long anyways.
Wrap Up
As you can see, there are ups and downs to using free time trackers. What’s important is that you select the tool which is good for your company. If you don’t intend on using fancy features like payroll management, why would you pay for a tool that has this system?
You get the gist – evaluate your business goals and what you want to achieve with the tracker. Then go ahead and find a perfect solution.