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Hubstaff Review: Pros, Cons, Features, and Pricing

Hubstaff is a time tracking and expense management software that helps businesses track work hours and monitor employee productivity efficiently. It best serves remote teams and freelancers in tech and creative industries, such as software developers and digital marketers. Hubstaff offers straightforward time tracking and productivity insights for improved resource planning.

Hubstaff addresses the need for accurate time and productivity tracking for payroll teams and remote managers. In this article, I'll cover Hubstaff's features, pros and cons, use cases, pricing, and more so you can decide if it meets your operational needs and goals.

Hubstaff Evaluation Summary

Hubstaff logs receipts and project expenses for tracking, invoicing and billing.
Rating
4.5 /5
Pricing
  • From $4.99/user/month (billed annually)
  • 14-day free trial + free demo available

Why Trust Our Software Reviews

Hubstaff Overview

In my opinion, Hubstaff stands out as a reliable time tracking software, especially for remote teams and freelancers. Its employee timesheets and project cost tracking are intuitive, providing clear oversight. While it excels in user-friendliness and support, onboarding could be smoother. Compared to competitors, Hubstaff offers a solid balance of features and value, making it a good choice for small to medium-sized businesses looking to simplify employee monitoring and time management. It may not suit those needing extensive customization or complex integrations, but for straightforward tracking needs, it's a sound option.

How We Test & Score Tools

We’ve spent years building, refining, and improving our software testing and scoring system. The rubric is designed to capture the nuances of software selection and what makes a tool effective, focusing on critical aspects of the decision-making process.

Below, you can see exactly how our testing and scoring works across seven criteria. It allows us to provide an unbiased evaluation of the software based on core functionality, standout features, ease of use, onboarding, customer support, integrations, customer reviews, and value for money.

Core Functionality (25% of final scoring)

The starting point of our evaluation is always the core functionality of the tool. Does it have the basic features and functions that a user would expect to see? Are any of those core features locked to higher-tiered pricing plans? At its core, we expect a tool to stand up against the baseline capabilities of its competitors.

Standout Features (25% of final scoring)

Next, we evaluate uncommon standout features that go above and beyond the core functionality typically found in tools of its kind. A high score reflects specialized or unique features that make the product faster, more efficient, or offer additional value to the user.

We also evaluate how easy it is to integrate with other tools typically found in the tech stack to expand the functionality and utility of the software. Tools offering plentiful native integrations, 3rd party connections, and API access to build custom integrations score best.

Ease of Use (10% of final scoring)

We consider how quick and easy it is to execute the tasks defined in the core functionality using the tool. High scoring software is well designed, intuitive to use, offers mobile apps, provides templates, and makes relatively complex tasks seem simple.

Onboarding (10% of final scoring)

We know how important rapid team adoption is for a new platform, so we evaluate how easy it is to learn and use a tool with minimal training. We evaluate how quickly a team member can get set up and start using the tool with no experience. High scoring solutions indicate little or no support is required.

Customer Support (10% of final scoring)

We review how quick and easy it is to get unstuck and find help by phone, live chat, or knowledge base. Tools and companies that provide real-time support score best, while chatbots score worst.

Customer Reviews (10% of final scoring)

Beyond our own testing and evaluation, we consider the net promoter score from current and past customers. We review their likelihood, given the option, to choose the tool again for the core functionality. A high scoring software reflects a high net promoter score from current or past customers.

Value for Money (10% of final scoring)

Lastly, in consideration of all the other criteria, we review the average price of entry level plans against the core features and consider the value of the other evaluation criteria. Software that delivers more, for less, will score higher.

Core Features

Time Tracking: The simple interface of the Hubstaff time tracker lets your team log hours accurately. This feature supports project budgeting by providing detailed time reports.

Expense Tracking: You can manage and record expenses efficiently to stay within budget. This helps you organize clear financial records and ensure your pay rates accurately reflect your projects.

Project Management: With Hubstaff, you can assign tasks, set time off policies and monitor progress, keeping your team aligned. It helps you oversee project timelines and deliverables effectively.

Activity Monitoring: Screenshots and other features capture the activity levels of your team members during work hours to give you insights into productivity patterns.

Reporting: Hubstaff provides detailed reports on tracked hours and expenses, helping you analyze project performance. Use these insights to make informed business decisions.

Invoicing: You can generate invoices directly from tracked time and expenses, simplifying your billing process. This makes it easier to bill clients accurately and promptly.

Ease of Use

Hubstaff is user-friendly, with a straightforward interface that makes tracking time and expenses easy for your team. Its clean design ensures you won't get lost navigating features, allowing you to focus on your work. While some users find onboarding a bit challenging, once set up, the simplicity of managing tasks and monitoring productivity shines through. Compared to other software, Hubstaff excels in offering a seamless user experience that supports efficient project management.

Integrations

Hubstaff integrates with Hubstaff Tasks, Asana, ClickUp, Bitwage, PayPal, Monday, Slack, Jira, Salesforce, and Trello.

Hubstaff also offers an API, allowing for custom integrations and connects with third-party integration tools, including Zapier.

Hubstaff Specs

  • 360 Degree Feedback
  • API
  • Attendance Tracking
  • Batch Permissions & Access
  • Budgeting
  • Calendar Management
  • Dashboard
  • Data Export
  • Data Import
  • Data Visualization
  • Employee Database
  • Employee Engagement
  • Employee Onboarding
  • External Integrations
  • Feedback Management
  • Forecasting
  • Multi-User
  • Notifications
  • Project Management
  • Scheduling
  • Timesheets
  • Travel Management
  • Vacation & Absence Calendar

Hubstaff FAQs

Bradley Clifford
By Bradley Clifford

I have 15+ years of experience helping growth-stage companies build finance infrastructure, forecasting tools, and decision-support frameworks. I'm VP of Finance at Black & White Zebra, and previously Senior Director of Finance at Rewind, where I helped cut cash burn from $11M to $2M. I also spent 6 years at Stack Overflow, supporting growth from $20M to $100M through its $1.8B acquisition. I hold an FCCA designation and an MSc in Professional Accountancy.