What Is the Best Timesheet System for Small Businesses?

All 3 options in one table

What will the crew pay each month, and what is the price based on?

Connecteam starts at $35 a month, Swept at $150 a month and Workyard at $6 a seat a month, billed annually, and each one counts something different.

Connecteam’s hub plans are a flat monthly price for up to 30 users, then a per-user monthly charge for every user from the 31st. Swept charges by the number of cleaning locations, in bands of up to 15, 25, 30 and 50, with unlimited users on every plan. Workyard states its entry price for each user each month and bills it annually.

Can you start free or try it before paying?

Connecteam lets you start free, as 1 of the 3 with a free plan and the one that fully answers this need: teams of up to 10 users get it for life.

Larger Connecteam teams get a 14-day trial without a card, and Workyard offers a 14-day trial without a credit card. Swept has no free trial or free plan, and it says most customers start with a three-month paid pilot at a few locations.

Does the timesheet show where each tech clocked in?

Connecteam and Workyard, 2 of the 3, show live locations for staff on the clock.

Connecteam includes clock-in location from the Basic plan, with a live dashboard of where staff are while on the clock. Workyard’s team map shows live locations and statuses for clocked-in workers, included from the Starter plan. Swept checks location at clock-in and clock-out on every plan at no extra cost, and does not track cleaners’ positions during the shift.

Will it keep logging hours on a job site with no signal?

Workyard will, as 1 of the 3 that fully works without signal.

Workyard workers clock in and submit time with no internet, and the app syncs by itself once back online. Swept’s inspection tools keep working without a signal and sync after reconnecting. Connecteam’s mobile app, kiosk and desktop all need an internet connection.

Where do the hours go after the timesheet: payroll, invoices or your books?

The hours leave each app before a customer is billed: Swept and Workyard do not issue invoices, and Connecteam’s guide has you pull hours and job data out to bill clients.

Connecteam sends employee hours to QuickBooks Online and Xero for payroll, with a timesheet export template for QuickBooks Desktop, and connects through Zapier, with direct connections from the Operations Expert plan. Swept’s work orders produce billable totals and reports to invoice elsewhere, and Workyard feeds billable hours into a separate system such as QuickBooks invoicing. Connecteam, Swept and Workyard each have an API.

Can you sign up yourself, or does a plan need a sales call?

You can sign up yourself at Connecteam, Swept and Workyard, and the larger plans carry no printed price.

Connecteam and Swept each keep one top plan without a printed price: Connecteam’s Enterprise is a business-specific plan, and Swept’s Accelerate, for operators past the 50-location bands, is sold after a sales consultation. Workyard prints a price only for Starter, sells Enterprise only through sales and says Pro pricing needs a sales conversation.

The tools that stand out

Connecteam

Best for small crews starting free: Crews of up to 10 users get the Small Business Plan free for life with Expert-level features, so the owner pays nothing for the time clock and schedule until the team grows.

Price Free, then $35 a month

Connecteam puts the time clock, the job schedule, field forms and team chat in one app for crews out on jobs. Techs clock in with their location from the Basic plan, and a live dashboard shows where each one is while on the clock. Field forms capture photos and signatures as proof of the service call.

Teams of up to 10 users get the Small Business Plan free for life. Bigger crews get a 14-day trial without a card, and paid plans start at $35 a month, priced in US dollars only.

Connecteam does not build quotes or estimates, so bids need separate software. Its own invoicing guide has you pull hours and job data out to bill clients elsewhere. Workyard keeps taking time entries without signal and Connecteam does not.

What it does well

• Free for life for teams of up to 10 users, with Expert-level features.
• Location at clock-in from the Basic plan, plus a live dashboard of where staff are on the clock.
• Digital forms, photos and signatures capture proof of service on the job.
• Live chat support runs 24 hours, with email beside it.

Where it falls short

• No quotes or estimates, so bids need separate software.
• No phone line on the support contact page; help comes by chat and email.
• Clock-ins need signal, since Connecteam does not work offline.

• Free plan: yes
• Who it’s for: A crew of up to 10 users that needs a time clock, a job schedule and proof of service in one app, and wants to pay nothing to start.
• Skip it if: Your techs clock in where phones lose signal, since Connecteam does not work offline.

Swept

Best for cleaning companies with several sites: Swept prices by cleaning location with unlimited users on its published plans, so a company running cleaners across many buildings pays for sites rather than heads, from $150 a month.

Price From $150 a month

Swept is janitorial software built around proof of work at each cleaning location. Cleaners complete location checklists and photo inspections on their phones, with one optional photo per task and result reports. Cleaners and supervisors get schedule details, addresses, parking and security notes and change alerts in the mobile app.

Plans start at $150 a month and are priced by location bands, with no per-user charge for adding employees. The Optimize and Scale plans can be bought online without a demo, and operators past the 50-location bands move to the Accelerate plan on custom pricing. Most customers start with a three-month paid pilot at a few locations.

The app checks location at clock-in and clock-out on every plan but does not track cleaners during the shift. Swept does not issue invoices: work orders produce billable totals and reports for you to invoice elsewhere.

What it does well

• Unlimited users on every published plan, with the price set by the number of locations.
• Location checklists and photo inspections with a result report for each site.
• Chat, email and toll-free phone support on every plan, weekdays 9am to 5pm Eastern.
• Clock-in and clock-out location checks through geofences on every plan.

Where it falls short

• No free plan or trial; most customers start with a three-month paid pilot.
• Swept does not issue invoices, so billable totals go out as reports to bill elsewhere.
• No live map during the shift, since location is checked at clock-in and clock-out.

• Free plan: no
• Who it’s for: A commercial cleaning company with crews at several sites that needs checklists and photo proof at each location.
• Skip it if: You want to try before paying, since there is no free trial or free plan and most customers start with a three-month paid pilot.

Workyard

Best for contractors working out of signal: Workyard lets workers clock in and submit time with no internet and syncs by itself once back online, so contractors on remote sites still get every hour logged.

Price From $6 a seat a month billed annually

Workyard tracks crew time with location checks, schedules crews and costs labor by job for US contractors. A team map shows live locations and statuses for clocked-in workers from the Starter plan. Workers keep clocking in and submitting time without signal, and the app syncs once back online.

Plans start at $6 a seat a month, billed annually. Monthly billing exists, but its regular price is not printed on the pricing page. Each added worker is one more paid user, charged pro-rated, and users count from the moment the invite is sent. A 14-day trial needs no credit card.

Workyard does no estimating or bidding, so there are no customer quotes. It feeds billable hours into a separate system such as QuickBooks invoicing. US-based staff answer by phone and online in English and Spanish.

What it does well

• Clock-ins and time entries keep working offline and sync by themselves.
• A live crew map comes with the Starter plan, included in the price.
• Phone and online support from US-based staff in English and Spanish.
• Billable hours feed into QuickBooks invoicing.

Where it falls short

• Every invited worker adds a paid user, counted from the moment the invite goes out.
• The $6 a seat a month rate is billed annually, and the monthly-billing price is not printed.
• No estimating or bidding, so quotes need another tool.

“Plans start at $6 per user / month — billed annually. Monthly billing also available.”

• Who it’s for: A construction contractor whose crews work where phones lose signal and who wants their hours tied to labor costs by job.
• Skip it if: You want a standing free plan, since Workyard offers a 14-day trial rather than a documented free plan.

How we compared

We compared 3 tools on price, free plan and 30 questions about what they do, reading each vendor’s pricing page and product pages between 29 October 2026 and 3 November 2026. We did not sign up for or run any of them.

Numbers taken on 3 November 2026 from 3 tools. The working is in how we price a crew and each price change we’ve seen.