Clockify vs HiveDesk (2026): which should you pick?
As of Nov 13, 2026, we pick Clockify: it is first in our ranking of time tracking apps, and it grades higher too, 3.2 against 2.4.
Checked Oct 5, 2026 and Nov 13, 2026 · graded Oct 10, 2026 and Nov 13, 2026 by ToolGPA
Clockify grades higher on value for money, the free plan, ease of use and platforms. They get the same grade on features.
Price, platforms and features side by side. The table says where each price was read and when.
Clockify
Team time tracker and timesheets with a free plan for 5 users
HiveDesk
Time tracking with screenshots and scheduling for remote teams
Which one is for you
Pick Clockify if
- Fits if you're a team of up to 5 and want a free tracker with no limit on tracked time
- Works for companies that need timesheets, attendance and approvals for payroll
Look elsewhere if
- Tight if you're staying free with a sixth person, or need reports longer than a month or in a format other than PDF
- Skip it if you want invoicing on the cheapest plan, as that starts on Standard at $5.49
- Not for you if you need scheduling, expenses, budgets or GPS tracking below Pro at $7.99 a seat
- Pricey if you only need single sign-on, which sits on Enterprise at $11.99 a seat
- Watch out: Clockify says it gives no refunds and no discount beyond 20% off for annual billing
Pick HiveDesk if
- Fits if you manage remote staff and want screenshots and activity levels
- Works for agencies that invoice from tracked hours
Look elsewhere if
- Skip it if you use Android, as only an iPhone app is listed
- Tight if you want screenshots on a phone, which work only in the desktop app
- Not for you if you need many integrations, since only Asana is listed
- Watch out: the annual per-user price isn't shown
How we grade them
| 3.2GPAClockifyVery good | 2.4GPAHiveDeskFair | |
|---|---|---|
| Value for money | BBasic is $3.99 a seat a month billed annually, $4.99 monthly, which puts it in the cheaper quarter for time trackers rather than out on its own. Pro, with scheduling, expenses and GPS, is $7.99. Don't hold out for a deal: Clockify says 20% off for annual billing is the only one. | C$5 per user a month billed monthly, with 20% off annually. The category's cheaper quarter starts at $4.50, so it sits just above. |
| Free plan and trial | BFree for up to 5 users with no cap on tracked time, and the timer, timesheet, calendar, auto tracker and Pomodoro timer are all in it. A single user can stay on it. The catch is reports: a 1-month range, and PDF export only. | CA 14-day free trial with no card required. |
| Features | BA timer, a weekly timesheet, a calendar and an auto tracker that logs the apps and sites you were in, then a kiosk, invoicing, time off, approvals, scheduling, expenses and GPS as you climb the plans. Nothing in the job is missing, and nothing here is unusual either. | BAutomatic tracking, screenshots and activity levels, schedules and adherence, timesheets, leave, invoicing and cost tracking. |
| Ease of use | B4.6 from about 4,400 App Store ratings. Start a timer, or type your hours into a timesheet. There's not much more to it than that. | CNo store rating on record. There's a desktop app and team set up. |
| Platforms and integrations | AWeb, Mac, Windows, Linux, iPhone, Android and a browser extension. It hooks into Jira, Asana, Trello, QuickBooks, Xero and Zapier, and there's a public API. | BWeb, Windows, Mac, Linux, iPhone and a browser extension. No Android app and only Asana is listed, with API access on request. |
| Best for | free time tracking for a small team | remote teams that want screenshots and activity tracking |
The GPA is the average of the five grades: an A is 4 points, an F is none. The full reasons are on each tool's page: Clockify and HiveDesk. How we grade
Price against what you get
Clockify starts at $3.99 a month for each person and scores 3.3 out of 4 on features, ease of use and platforms. HiveDesk starts at $5 a month for each person and scores 2.7.
Clockify scores higher and starts $1.01 a month lower. Of the other time tracking apps on the chart, none scores higher than Clockify for less, and 8 score higher than HiveDesk for less.
Features, ease of use and platforms, averaged
What paid plans start at, a month (each step along is roughly double) →
- The best score at each price
- Has a free plan
- No free plan
Where they differ
- Clockify also covers Pomodoro timer.
- HiveDesk also covers screenshots, shift scheduling and time off.
At a glance
| Clockify | HiveDesk | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Free plan | Free trial |
| Starts at | $3.99 per seat / month, billed annually | $5 per user / month |
| Free plan | Free for up to 5 users: unlimited tracking, timer, timesheet, calendar, auto tracker, Pomodoro timer and the apps. Reports cover a range of up to 1 month and export as PDF only. | None |
| Free trial | 7-day free trial of all PRO features, no credit card required | 14-day free trial, no credit card required |
| Web | ||
| macOS | ||
| Windows | ||
| Linux | ||
| iOS | ||
| Android | ||
| Browser extension | ||
| Made by | CAKE.com Inc. | HiveDesk |
| Price read from | clockify.me | hivedesk.com |
| Checked | Oct 5, 2026 | Nov 13, 2026 |
Worth knowing
Clockify
- The free plan stops at 5 users, limits reports to a 1-month range and exports as PDF only.
- Invoicing, time off and approvals need Standard; scheduling, expenses, budgets and GPS tracking need Pro.
- Single sign-on, SCIM and the audit log are limited to Enterprise at $11.99 per seat / month.
- Clockify states it offers no discounts beyond 20% off for annual billing, and no refunds.
HiveDesk
- Screenshots work only in the desktop app on Windows, Mac and Linux, not on the iPhone app.
- The mobile app is listed for iPhone only; no Android app is mentioned on the pricing page.
- The integrations page lists only Asana, with API access requested by contacting the vendor.
- The 20% annual saving is shown on a toggle, but the annual per-user price is not displayed.
Key features
Clockify
- Timer, timesheet and calendar
- Start and stop a timer, enter hours by hand, fill in a weekly timesheet or block out time on a calendar that shows Outlook and Google Calendar events.
- Auto tracker
- Records the time you spend in apps, websites and documents on a timeline that only you can see, and lets you turn those records into time entries.
- Reports and rates
- Summary, detailed and weekly reports break down tracked time. Billable rates start on Basic, and labor cost and profit reports need Pro.
- Kiosk
- From Basic, staff can clock in with a PIN on a shared device. QR code sign-in is on Standard and photo capture on Pro. Kiosk-only seats start at $0.79 a month, billed annually.
- Invoicing, time off and approvals
- Standard adds invoices built from tracked time and expenses, time-off policies and balances, and manager approval and locking of timesheets.
- Scheduling and location
- Pro adds a scheduling timeline for assignments and capacity, project forecasting, expense recording and optional GPS tracking of visited job sites.
HiveDesk
- Automatic time tracking
- The desktop app tracks time against projects and tasks, with manual entries and notes allowed, break tracking and a web app or Chrome extension as alternatives.
- Screenshots and activity levels
- Periodic screenshots plus keyboard and mouse activity levels, which the vendor says never record what is typed. Screenshots are not available on mobile.
- Schedules, adherence and shrinkage
- Shift scheduling with overtime slots, plus reports comparing check-ins against the shift and scheduled hours against hours worked.
- Timesheets and approval
- Tracked hours roll up into weekly timesheets by project and task that managers can edit, approve and export to PDF or Excel.
- Leave and attendance
- Leave policies, time-off requests with approval, public holiday lists, attendance tracking and overtime tracking for payroll.
- Invoicing and cost tracking
- Invoices can be generated from timesheet data with custom tax rates, and hourly cost rates give labor cost per task, project and client.
Plans
Clockify
Free$0
Up to 5 users. Unlimited tracking, timer, timesheet, calendar, auto tracker, Pomodoro timer, team activity and reports.
Basic$3.99
per seat / month, billed annually ($4.99 billed monthly)
Adds billable rates, adding time for others, required fields, bulk edit, kiosk, time audit, project templates and customized exports.
Standard$5.49
per seat / month, billed annually ($6.99 billed monthly)
Adds time off, invoicing, timesheet approval and locking, attendance and overtime, the manager role, rounding and the QuickBooks integration.
Pro$7.99
per seat / month, billed annually ($9.99 billed monthly)
Adds scheduling, forecasting, expenses, labor cost and profit, budgets, custom fields, GPS tracking, activity monitoring and a choice of data region.
Enterprise$11.99
per seat / month, billed annually ($14.99 billed monthly)
Adds single sign-on, SCIM provisioning, a custom subdomain, account control and an audit log.
CAKE.com Bundle$12.99
per seat / month, billed annually ($15.99 billed monthly)
Enterprise Clockify together with the Pumble team chat and Plaky project management tools. Excludes Clockify data regions.
HiveDesk
HiveDesk$5
per user / month, billed monthly
The only plan: time tracking, activity monitoring, scheduling, attendance, leave, invoicing, projects, clients and reporting. Annual billing is listed at 20% less.
Ways to pay less
Clockify
- Annual discount
20% off with annual billing
Clockify's pricing page states 20% off all plans when a seat is prepaid for the year: Basic is $3.99 per seat a month annually against $4.99 monthly.
HiveDesk
- Annual discount
20% off with annual billing
The pricing page has a Monthly or Annual toggle labeled as saving 20%; it does not show the per-user annual figure.
Common questions
Which is cheaper, Clockify or HiveDesk?
As of Nov 13, 2026, Clockify is cheaper to start with: $3.99 a month for each person, against $5 a month for each person for HiveDesk. Clockify starts at $3.99 per seat / month, billed annually, and HiveDesk starts at $5 per user / month.
Which has a free plan, Clockify or HiveDesk?
As of Nov 13, 2026, only Clockify has a free plan. HiveDesk does not, though it has a free trial.
Which platforms do Clockify and HiveDesk run on?
As of Nov 13, 2026, only Clockify lists an Android app. Both list a web app, macOS, Windows, Linux and iOS apps and a browser extension. A platform missing from a listing is one its maker's pages did not mention.
More comparisons
How this page was made
- The verdict at the top follows a fixed rule. When both tools are in the same category and either is in our top three for it, the verdict follows that ranking: the higher-placed tool is our pick. The top three weigh who each tool suits as well as its grades, so a pick can go against the GPA. Otherwise the page does not pick one and says which grades higher: the higher GPA first; on a tie, the one with a free plan, then the one that starts cheaper in dollars a month, counted the same way for both; if they are still level, what the choice depends on.
- The grades are our own, from each tool’s review or report card. The GPA is their average.
- Prices, plans and platforms come from each tool’s listing. The table above says where each price was read and when.
- The differences and the answers to the questions are worked out from those listings.