How much does digital time tracking cost? Pricing models, hidden costs and real numbers

Anyone looking into digital time tracking asks about the price early on, and rarely gets a straight answer. Price lists quote an amount "from", stay quiet about minimum terms or tuck a setup fee into the small print. This article sorts out the common pricing models, lists the costs that come on top of the licence and shows, using Jobilino as the example, what time tracking actually costs a company with 10 or 30 employees.

The backdrop is the same across Europe: since the Court of Justice of the European Union ruled in case C-55/18, employers must have a system that records each employee's daily working time. Paper sheets and spreadsheets hold up until an inspection, an overtime dispute or simply the monthly payroll run.

The three pricing models on the market

Per user per month. The most common model for cloud software: every employee who clocks in costs a fixed amount per month. The price grows with the company but stays predictable, and seasonal businesses can adjust the number of users month by month. The decisive question is whether only active employees count or every account ever created.

Per device or terminal. Classic punch clocks are billed per site, usually as a hardware purchase plus a maintenance fee. Cheap for a single location, impractical for crews on construction sites, in cleaning contracts or in field service: the device sits where the team currently is not.

One-off licence or your own server. You pay once for the licence, then add installation, updates, backups and a server someone has to look after. The entry price looks low; the running costs stay with you.

What comes on top of the licence

• Hardware. With app-based tools, employees use their own smartphone or a company phone. NFC tags for clocking in on site cost a few euros each. A wall-mounted terminal is optional and only useful where everyone starts in the same place.
• Setup and training. Some vendors charge an onboarding package or a configuration day. Ask directly: is there a setup fee, and how long until the team is actually clocking in?
• Add-on modules. Project times, leave management, mileage logs or photo documentation are often paid extras. What matters is whether you can add them individually or have to move up a whole package.
• Payroll export. An export for your payroll provider or payroll software saves hours of retyping every month. Check whether it is included and which formats are supported.
• Contract term. A seemingly low monthly price often applies only with a twelve- or 24-month commitment. Cancel monthly means you can leave at any time if the tool is not the right fit.
• Support. With some vendors, phone support is a paid package. Clarify who your team reaches when something does not work on Monday morning.

What Jobilino costs

Jobilino bills per employee per month, with no setup fee and monthly cancellation. There are three packages, and the price drops as the team grows:

All prices per employee per month, excluding VAT. From 2,001 employees you get an individual quote.

• Basic covers clocking in via app, NFC and the web time clock – works offline, calculates breaks and overtime automatically and exports data for evaluation.
• Premium adds the payroll export, project time tracking, location proof via NFC, photo documentation, an approval workflow, leave management and a mileage log.
• Business adds an open API, webhooks, single sign-on (SSO) and a digital project file for companies that connect time tracking to their own systems.

If Basic is enough but you need one Premium feature, you add it as an add-on: project time tracking and the mileage log cost €2.99 each, leave management and photo documentation €1.99 each, SMS notifications €0.99 – each per employee per month.

Two rules worth knowing: small teams pay a flat rate for five employees, so the amounts above also apply to two or three people. And with annual payment, eleven months are billed instead of twelve – one month is free.

Worked example: 10 and 30 employees

A cleaning company with 10 employees pays, on monthly billing:

• Basic: 10 × €5.99 = €59.90 per month
• Premium: 10 × €13.99 = €139.90 per month
• Business: 10 × €18.99 = €189.90 per month

With annual payment, Premium drops to €12.82 per employee, or €128.24 per month.

A construction company with 30 employees moves into the next tier:

• Basic: 30 × €4.99 = €149.70 per month
• Premium: 30 × €12.99 = €389.70 per month
• Business: 30 × €17.99 = €539.70 per month

All amounts excluding VAT. There are no setup, hardware or support costs on top; NFC tags, if you want them, you buy yourself for a few euros.

What paper and spreadsheets cost

Paper and spreadsheets look free, but they generate office hours. A worked example with stated assumptions – not a statistic, but a back-of-the-envelope calculation you can repeat with your own numbers: if it takes three hours a week to collect, decipher and retype the timesheets of 20 employees for payroll, at an assumed fully loaded cost of €30 per office hour that ties up about €90 a week, roughly €390 a month. Premium for 20 employees costs €279.80 – and delivers the data in real time, with proof of who clocked in when and where.

Then there are the items that are hard to put a number on: queries about illegible sheets, corrections after payroll has run, missing records during an inspection or in a dispute with an employee. A complete record is not a convenience feature; it is the basis of every payslip.

How to recognise a fair price list

• The price is published on the website, not revealed only in a quote.
• There is no setup fee and no minimum term.
• You pay only for active employees and can adjust the number every month.
• Volume tiers are stated, not negotiated.
• You can try the software with your team before buying – without a credit card.