Standalone GPS time tracking built for field crews — geofencing included at the base tier, no accounting subscription required.
ClockShark launched in 2013 as a family business in California with a straightforward premise: build time tracking that works the way construction and field service crews actually work. Not an office time clock repurposed for the field, not an ERP add-on with GPS as an afterthought — a tool designed around crews that move between job sites, clock in by project, and need supervisors to know where people are without calling around.
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That focus shows in the feature set. Geofencing lives in the Standard plan, not locked behind a premium upgrade. Mock location detection — catching workers who spoof their GPS to clock in from home — is explicitly built into the platform. Payroll integrations span QuickBooks, ADP, Gusto, Xero, Sage, and more, which matters when your office stack is not one-size-fits-all.
This review covers what ClockShark does well, where it falls short, and exactly what it costs for a real crew. If you are comparing it against QuickBooks Time, the full head-to-head comparison covers that decision in more depth.
Third-Party Rating: Capterra users rate ClockShark 4.7 out of 5 based on 1,910+ reviews. On G2, the score is 4.5/5 based on 300+ reviews. Both platforms show ClockShark as one of the highest-rated dedicated time tracking tools in the construction and field service category, with consistent praise for ease of use and GPS features. We use Capterra as the primary reference because its review base is larger and more representative for the small-to-mid business contractor audience.
The core feature that sets ClockShark apart from office-focused time trackers is its GPS layer. When a worker clocks in, the system records their location with a timestamp and a map pin. Managers see a “Who’s Working Now” view that shows every clocked-in employee’s current location on a live map.
This is useful in practice because it answers the questions that come up on every field job: did the crew actually arrive at the site, how long did travel take, and which workers are close enough to reassign to a nearby job. The GPS stamp serves as a record if a client disputes labor hours on a T&M invoice.
The catch: GPS tracking runs in the background while workers are clocked in, and it drains battery noticeably on older phones. Workers on long shifts (10+ hours) may need to keep a charger accessible. The GPS sync issues that appear in user reviews — location data lagging or syncing incorrectly — are worth testing on your specific devices before committing.
Geofencing lets you draw a virtual radius around each job site. When a worker enters or leaves that zone, ClockShark can prompt them to clock in or out automatically. This feature is included in the Standard plan.
The competitive significance: QuickBooks Time only offers geofencing on its Elite plan ($40/month base + $10/user, plus the mandatory QBO subscription). ClockShark includes it at $40/month base + $9/user with no additional software requirement. For a contractor whose main reason for buying time tracking is geofenced reminders at job sites, ClockShark reaches that feature at a lower total cost.
ClockShark also includes mock location detection, which flags GPS spoofing attempts. If a worker uses a location-spoofing app to clock in from home while appearing to be at a job site, ClockShark detects the inconsistency and flags it for review. This is not something most time tracking tools address explicitly, and it matters for operations where GPS trust is an ongoing issue.
Job costing on ClockShark lives on the Pro plan. It connects time entries, labor costs, and materials to specific jobs, then shows you whether each project is profitable. The Pro plan also includes custom reporting, PTO accrual, and shift wrap-up forms that workers fill out when they clock out of a shift.
For a general contractor managing 5–15 active jobs at once, the job costing feature answers the question that determines whether the business is actually making money: did this job come in under or over the estimate on labor? Without it, you are guessing.
The Pro plan adds $60/month base + $11/user — a 5-person crew pays $104/month. Compare that to QuickBooks Time Elite at $40 + $10/user + the required QBO subscription ($38+/mo) = $118/month for 5 users, and ClockShark Pro costs less while requiring fewer vendor relationships.
ClockShark connects to QuickBooks Online, QuickBooks Desktop, ADP (RUN Powered by ADP and ADP Workforce Now), Gusto, Xero, Sage 100 Contractor, Paychex, Paylocity, MYOB, and Simpro. It also supports Zapier, which opens connections to 1,000+ additional apps.
This breadth matters because most contractors do not run their entire business on one platform. A roofing company might use Sage for accounting and ADP for payroll. A landscaping operation might run Gusto for payroll and a separate CRM for customer management. ClockShark does not require you to consolidate your tech stack into one ecosystem to use its time tracking.
The tradeoff: ClockShark’s QuickBooks integration is good but not as native as QuickBooks Time’s, which lives inside the Intuit ecosystem and feeds timesheet data directly into QBO payroll, invoices, and job costing without any export step. If your entire accounting and payroll stack is QuickBooks, QB Time’s sync depth is a real advantage.
The single most common surprise when contractors compare ClockShark to QuickBooks Time: the feature they actually want — geofenced clock-in prompts at job sites — requires an upgrade on QB Time but is standard on ClockShark. This is not a niche feature. It is the reason many field contractors buy time tracking in the first place. ClockShark pricing it into the Standard plan means the comparison is not just about base price but about what you actually get for that price.
ClockShark is standalone. No QuickBooks Online subscription required. No accounting ecosystem to buy into. For contractors who use ADP, Gusto, or Sage, or who want the flexibility to switch accounting platforms later, this removes a structural cost that is invisible on competitors’ pricing cards. A 5-person crew on ClockShark Standard pays $76/month total. A comparable setup on QuickBooks Time Premium costs $90/month once you add the required QBO Simple Start — $14/month more for less field-specific functionality.
ClockShark bills only for active users and prorates charges for days users were active. If you run a landscaping crew that scales from 5 people in winter to 20 in summer, you do not pay for idle accounts during the off-season. This is a meaningful cost advantage over flat per-seat pricing models and reflects a design decision that understands how construction and field service businesses actually operate.
ClockShark holds a 4.7/5 on Capterra across 1,910+ reviews and a 4.5/5 on G2. The consistency across both platforms is unusual — most field service tools show wider variance between the two. Reviewers consistently cite ease of use for field workers, accurate job-by-job time tracking, responsive customer support, and GPS features that work as advertised.
This is the most frequently cited limitation and the hardest to work around. ClockShark requires an internet connection to clock in and out. If your crews work in building basements, rural job sites without cell service, or underground utility projects, they cannot record time while onsite. QuickBooks Time has the same limitation, so this is not a unique competitive gap — but it is a real operational constraint for the teams most likely to need a field-focused time tracker. If offline capability is a requirement, evaluate alternatives that offer flexible connectivity before committing.
Continuous GPS tracking draws power. Workers on older phones running 8–10 hour shifts report significant battery drain, sometimes needing to recharge mid-day. The GPS sync issues that appear in reviews — location not updating correctly, timestamps lagging — create the kind of friction that damages trust in the system. These are not dealbreakers for most operations, but they are consistent enough across review platforms to treat as real operational considerations. Test ClockShark on a few devices for a week before rolling it out company-wide.
ClockShark’s scheduling module works for straightforward shift assignments — drag a worker onto a shift, set a time, assign a job. Where it falls short: no shift templates, limited recurrence options, and scheduling notifications that users describe as inflexible. If you manage complex rotating shifts across multiple crews with different start times per day, ClockShark’s scheduling will feel like a limitation compared to purpose-built scheduling tools like Jobber or Homebase.
For a 1–2 person operation, $40/month before adding per-user costs is a meaningful expense. Free alternatives like Connecteam (up to 10 users) or low-cost tools like Buddy Punch (~$4.49/user/month) cover basic GPS time tracking at fractions of the cost. ClockShark is priced for established crews, not solopreneurs.
Standard plan pricing at $9/user/month means a 20-person crew pays an additional $171/month after the base fee. The Pro plan at $11/user/month makes a 20-person team cost $60 + $209 = $269/month. This is competitive with other field-grade tools in the category, but it is worth modeling your actual crew size before committing. Larger operations should ask about custom pricing, which ClockShark offers for enterprise accounts.
| Plan | Base/mo | Per User/mo | 5 Users | 10 Users | 20 Users |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Standard | $40 | +$9 | $76 | $121 | $202 |
| Pro | $60 | +$11 | $104 | $159 | $269 |
ClockShark offers a 14-day free trial with no credit card required. The trial includes Pro plan features, so you can test job costing and PTO management alongside the Standard feature set. For larger teams, custom pricing is available.
The real cost advantage shows up when you compare against QuickBooks Time. A 5-person crew on ClockShark Standard costs $76/month. A comparable setup on QuickBooks Time Premium requires the QBO Simple Start subscription ($38/month) on top of the $20/month base + $8/user — totaling $90/month. ClockShark is cheaper and includes geofencing that QB Time requires a plan upgrade to unlock.
For a 10-person construction crew on ClockShark Pro, the total is $159/month. The same crew on QB Time Elite with QBO Simple Start would pay $168/month — and still not have the breadth of payroll integrations ClockShark offers out of the box.
Capterra rates ClockShark 4.7/5 from 1,910+ reviews. G2 rates it 4.5/5 from 300+ reviews. The consistency across platforms is strong for a field service tool.
Positive themes:
Critical themes:
| Feature | ClockShark | QuickBooks Time | Buddy Punch |
|---|---|---|---|
| Target customer | Field crews, 5–100 users | QBO users, office-based | Small teams, all sizes |
| Pricing model | $40/mo base + $9/user | $20/mo base + $8/user (+ QBO $38+) | ~$4.49/user/mo |
| Geofencing | Standard plan (included) | Elite only | Available |
| Standalone | Yes — no accounting software required | No — requires QBO subscription | Yes |
| Offline mode | No | No | Yes |
| Payroll integrations | QB, ADP, Gusto, Xero, Sage, Paychex, Paylocity | Native QBO only | QB, ADP, Gusto |
| Zapier | Yes (1,000+ apps) | No — proprietary marketplace | Yes |
| Capterra rating | 4.7/5 (1,910+ reviews) | ~4.3/5 | 4.8/5 (1,115 reviews) |
| Best for | Construction field crews needing GPS + geofencing | Existing QBO users wanting native sync | Budget-conscious small teams |
ClockShark earns its place as the default pick for construction and field service crews that need GPS time tracking without buying into an accounting ecosystem. The geofencing inclusion at the Standard tier is the structural advantage — it means the feature most contractors actually buy time tracking for is available at the entry price, not locked behind a premium upgrade.
The limitations are real and worth testing before committing: no offline mode, GPS battery drain, and scheduling that stops short of what purpose-built tools deliver. But for a 5–100 person crew running jobs across multiple sites, ClockShark at $76–159/month (depending on plan and headcount) is a straightforward value proposition — especially compared to QuickBooks Time’s hidden QBO subscription.
Start the free trial to test GPS accuracy on your devices and see whether the scheduling depth meets your needs for recurring shift patterns.
Best for: Construction crews, trade contractors (electrical, HVAC, roofing, landscaping, painting), and field service teams of 5–100 employees who need GPS time tracking, geofencing, and payroll integration without tying time tracking to a specific accounting platform.
A strong field service pick for small service operations if the higher-tier workflow limits fit.
Read review →A strong entry point for residential home service contractors.
Read review →Great flat-rate value for larger iOS-heavy crews; a risky fit for Android-majority teams or small crews under 10.
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