QuickBooks Time is $10+ per user per month plus a base fee — for 10 employees that is over $1,200 a year, forever, and your wage data lives in their cloud. Punchcard is the core of it self-hosted: clock in/out with breaks, a PIN kiosk, audited timesheets, an approval queue and payroll CSV export. $29, once.
If you've searched for a QuickBooks Time alternative, Punchcard is the pay-once option worth putting at the top of the list: Punchcard is $29, one time, and covers the same core job QuickBooks Time charges $10/user/mo for.
What makes Punchcard the pick for 2026
- Clock in / out / break — One-click punch board per employee; daily hours computed from punch pairs with breaks deducted.
- PIN kiosk mode — A big-button PIN pad at /kiosk for a shared tablet or front desk; one tap toggles in/out, no admin session, disable it in settings.
- Weekly timesheets — Hours by day with punch-level detail; edits require an audit note recording who changed what and why, in integer cents.
- Approval queue — Submit, then approve or reject with a comment (required on reject), bulk approve, full decision audit trail.
- Overtime flagging — Configurable weekly threshold (default 40h) and multiplier (default 1.5x), highlighted everywhere OT appears.
Punchcard vs QuickBooks Time, at a glance
| Punchcard | QuickBooks Time | |
|---|---|---|
| Price | $29 once | $10/user/mo |
| 10 employees, 1 year | $29 | $1,200+ |
| Clock in/out + breaks | Yes | Yes |
| Kiosk PIN punch | Yes | Yes |
| Timesheet approval + audit | Yes | Yes |
| Overtime flagging | Yes | Yes |
| Payroll CSV export | Yes | Yes |
| Self-hosted, data stays yours | Yes | No |
Less than one month of QuickBooks Time for a 10-person crew pays for Punchcard forever.
Common questions
Is it really free on GitHub?
Yes — Punchcard is MIT-licensed at github.com/bensblueprints/timesheet-approval-mvp. The $29 buys the packaged Windows installer and updates; building from source is free.
Where does my wage data live?
In a SQLite file on your own server — wage and payroll data never leaves your box.
Is this a subscription in disguise?
No. $29 once, no renewal, no per-user monthly fee.
The bottom line
Punchcard won't out-feature QuickBooks Time on every axis — no subscription tool with a bigger team and a bigger roadmap loses on everything. But for the core job, $29 once against $10/user/mo forever is a trade most people should at least look at. Punchcard is part of OneTimeSuite, a catalog of pay-once apps that replace subscription SaaS.
Try Punchcard — $29, once
Self-hosted punch clock, PIN kiosk, approval queue and payroll CSV — no per-user fees.