When I Work has been a small-business scheduling staple for years. It works. It also costs more than it used to, charges separate line items for time clock and scheduling on its newer plans, and bundles features most teams under 25 people will never touch. If you run a clinic, café, retail floor, or job site and you want a time clock your team will actually use, here’s an honest, line-by-line comparison of ClockOut and When I Work — pricing, GPS, kiosk, payroll exports, and the small-team realities the marketing pages skip.
At a glance
| ClockOut | When I Work | |
|---|---|---|
| Free plan | Up to 2 employees, forever | 14-day trial |
| Starting paid price | $3 / employee / month | $2.50 / employee / month* |
| Time clock included in entry plan | ✓ | — |
| GPS + geofencing | ✓ | ✓ |
| Kiosk mode (4-digit PIN) | ✓ | ✓ |
| Open shifts & swaps | ✓ | ✓ |
| Exception inbox | ✓ | — |
| Compliance rules engine | ✓ | Partial |
| Payroll export (ADP / Gusto / QB) | ✓ | ✓ |
| Setup time | ~60 seconds | 1–2 days typical |
*When I Work’s entry price covers scheduling. Adding the attendance / time clock module increases the per-employee rate.
Pricing — what you actually pay
Time-clock SaaS pricing is famously sneaky. Headline numbers rarely match what hits your card on day one. Here’s the honest version for both products.
ClockOut pricing
- Free — $0/mo, up to 2 employees. No card required.
- Starter — $3 / active employee / month. Unlimited employees, kiosk mode, geofencing, exception inbox, PTO, multi-location, alerts, timesheet approvals.
- Pro — $5 / active employee / month. Adds payroll runs (lock + export), ADP/Gusto/QuickBooks, compliance engine, scoped roles, API access.
When I Work pricing
- No free plan — only a 14-day trial.
- Scheduling-only entry plan from ~$2.50 / employee / month.
- Time clock / attendance is a separate module priced per employee.
- Payroll is a separate product, priced separately.
Time clock and GPS
Both apps capture GPS on every punch and let admins draw geofences around each location. The differences are in the small moments:
- Out-of-bounds handling. ClockOut lets you block or flag out-of-bounds clock-ins per location. When I Work tends toward block-only on the attendance plan.
- Offline mode. ClockOut captures clock-ins offline and syncs when connectivity returns — useful for basements, walk-in coolers, and remote job sites. When I Work is online-first.
- Kiosk mode. Both support tablet kiosks with PIN entry. ClockOut works as a PWA — no app store install or MDM enrollment required.
The exception inbox (only ClockOut)
Late arrivals, missed breaks, no-shows, unapproved overtime — every shop has them. The question is whether your software catches them or buries them.
ClockOut auto-flags every exception and routes them into a single inbox managers can clear in a few minutes a day. When I Work has alerts and reports but no equivalent unified queue — you piece exceptions together from the schedule view, the time approval view, and the alerts feed.
Payroll exports
Both products export hours to ADP, Gusto, and QuickBooks. ClockOut Pro includes the workflow most owners actually want: preview hours, lock the period, export, then either send to payroll or generate a PDF for records. The export formats are ready-to-import — no spreadsheet remapping.
When I Work’s exports work, but payroll is increasingly positioned as a separate product (When I Work Payroll), which adds another line item to the bill.
Who each tool fits best
Pick ClockOut if…
- You have 2–500 employees and want one bill, not two or three.
- You need geofencing, kiosk, and an exception inbox out of the box.
- You run payroll yourself and want to lock + export in two clicks.
- You want a free plan to actually try it without a sales call.
Pick When I Work if…
- You’re scheduling-only and don’t need a time clock.
- You’re already on When I Work Payroll and want everything in one stack.
- You’re managing 100+ employees with complex labor budgeting workflows.