Homebase vs Puntual

Homebase combines scheduling, time tracking, payroll, hiring, onboarding, HR, compliance, and team communication for hourly teams. It is aimed at small, shift-based businesses such as restaurants, retailers, beauty and wellness providers, medical businesses, and home services. Employees can clock in and out using mobile or tablet time clocks, with PIN, photo, and GPS or geofencing verification. Approved hours flow into payroll, where Homebase says it calculates wages, overtime, tips, and taxes and handles tax filings. The free Basic plan covers one location and up to 10 employees; paid plans are described as allowing unlimited employees per location. Essentials is $30 a month per location, and All-in-One is $120 a month per location. Homebase is available on Android, iOS, and the web, with a 14-day trial listed. Integrations include Square, Toast, Clover, Shopify, ADP, Gusto, and QuickBooks. The company says it uses encryption, two-factor authentication, SSO, password-less login, and role-based access control.

Puntual records employee working hours and applies labor regulations based on the company’s selected country. It runs on Android and the web, with clock-ins that are saved on the device first and synced later, allowing recording without an internet connection. Staff can also use a shared entrance tablet, entering a name and PIN instead of installing the app. Administrators can review daily details, weekly and monthly totals, differences from expected hours, and monthly incidents. PDF and CSV reports include an annex for independent checks of whether records were altered. The maker says clock-ins are chained with cryptographic fingerprints, server timestamps are sealed, and corrections add records rather than changing originals. Optional location records where a clock-in or clock-out occurred, without continuous tracking. Puntual lists labor-rule settings for 23 EU countries and says it works worldwide. Cloud-mode data is hosted in Ireland; local-mode data stays on the device. Local Mode is free for one employee, with no cloud sync. Subscription costs €4.99 a month; One-Time Purchase costs €9.99 as a one-time purchase. A 30-day trial includes the whole staff, web dashboard, verifiable exports, and server timestamps, with no card or automatic charge.