Homebase is the household name for restaurant and retail scheduling. It does a lot, and on the free plan it does it for one location. Past that, the price ladder gets steep, and the feature breakdown across Essentials, Plus, and All-in-Onecan be confusing if you just want a time clock that works. Here’s an honest comparison of ClockOut and Homebase — what each costs in real dollars, where the kiosk and geofence actually differ, and which one fits a 5–50 person team that runs payroll itself.
At a glance
| ClockOut | Homebase | |
|---|---|---|
| Free plan | Up to 2 employees, all features | 1 location, ≤10 employees, capped features |
| Paid pricing model | $3 / employee / month | Flat per-location, per-month |
| Multi-location on entry paid plan | ✓ | — |
| GPS + geofencing | ✓ | ✓ |
| Kiosk mode | ✓ | ✓ |
| Open shifts & swaps | ✓ | Partial |
| Exception inbox | ✓ | — |
| Compliance rules engine | ✓ | ✓ |
| Payroll export (ADP / Gusto / QB) | ✓ | ✓ |
| Per-employee billing sync | ✓ | — |
Real-dollar pricing
ClockOut
- Free — $0/mo, up to 2 employees.
- Starter — $3 / active employee / month. Unlimited employees, multi-location, kiosk, geofencing, exception inbox, PTO.
- Pro — $5 / active employee / month. Adds payroll runs, ADP/Gusto/QB exports, compliance engine, scoped roles, API.
Homebase
- Basic — Free for 1 location, up to 10 employees.
- Essentials — $24/location/month (annual) or $30/location/month (monthly).
- Plus — $56/location/month (annual) or $70/location/month (monthly).
- All-in-One — $96/location/month (annual) or $120/location/month (monthly).
- Payroll — separate add-on, $39/month base + $6/month per employee paid.
Time clock and GPS
Both apps capture GPS on every punch and let you draw geofences around each location. Differences worth knowing:
- Out-of-bounds policy. ClockOut lets you block or flag per location. Homebase tends to flag for review.
- Offline punches. ClockOut captures punches offline and syncs when connectivity returns. Homebase requires connectivity at the moment of punch.
- Kiosk. Both support tablet kiosks with PIN entry. ClockOut runs as a PWA — no app store install required.
The exception inbox
Homebase surfaces alerts and a labor dashboard. ClockOut consolidates late arrivals, missed breaks, no-shows, and unapproved overtime into one inbox a manager can clear in five minutes. If your weekly bottleneck is reviewing time edits, the inbox model wins; if you live in the labor-cost dashboard, both get you there.
Payroll workflow
Homebase has its own payroll product, which is great if you want everything bundled and don’t already have a payroll provider. ClockOut Pro stays platform-agnostic: preview hours, lock the period, export to ADP, Gusto, or QuickBooks (or generic CSV for anything else). PDF reports are generated for records.
Who each tool fits best
Pick ClockOut if…
- You operate one to many locations and want a single bill that scales with active employees.
- You want geofencing, kiosk, and an exception inbox without paying for the top tier.
- You already use ADP, Gusto, or QuickBooks for payroll and want clean exports.
Pick Homebase if…
- You run a single location with a large team and prefer flat per-location pricing.
- You want bundled HR + payroll + scheduling under one roof.
- You’re already trained on Homebase and the team likes it.