QuickBooks Time Pricing 2026: Premium, Elite, Per-User Fees and the QuickBooks Online Catch

QuickBooks Time costs $20 a month plus $10 per user on Time Premium and $40 a month plus $12 per user on Time Elite, with the base fee half price for the first 3 months, as printed on Intuit's pricing page on 19 October 2026. A 10-person team pays $120 a month on Premium. Every plan also requires a QuickBooks Online subscription, which is billed separately.

That last condition is the one most price comparisons skip. QuickBooks Time is not a standalone clock: Intuit's pricing page states that a QuickBooks Online account is required, so a business that does its books elsewhere pays for accounting software it may not use. For a company already on QuickBooks Online, the opposite is true, and hours flowing straight into payroll and invoicing are the reason to pay Intuit's per-user rate.

Prices were read on 19 October 2026 on Intuit's QuickBooks Time pricing page, its GPS tracking page and the QuickBooks Online pricing page. Toolradar data: Toolradar, the software directory we run, tracks 109 time tracking tools as of October 19, 2026, and the median cheapest paid plan among the 42 that publish a price is $6.50 a month, and QuickBooks Time's entry plan starts well above that median. Across the team sizes we priced below, QuickBooks Time Elite is the most expensive geofencing time clock in our comparison at every headcount from 10 to 25 users, by our arithmetic on each vendor's printed list price.

QuickBooks Time plans at a glance

The 50% discount applies only to the base fee, not to the per-user fees, so whatever the team size it saves $30 over the three months on Premium and $60 on Elite. Billing is monthly. New QuickBooks Time customers also get a 30-day free trial, after which Intuit asks for a credit card and bills monthly until you cancel.

How much does QuickBooks Time cost per user?

Ten dollars per user on Premium and twelve on Elite, every month, on top of the base fee. Intuit's pricing page says the base fee includes one admin, so the per-user charge applies to each worker who tracks time.

The per-user fee has gone up. Trial terms that Intuit still prints on its GPS tracking page describe each worker as "an additional $[8/10]/month depending on your selection of QuickBooks Time Premium or Elite", while the pricing page now charges two dollars more on each plan. On a 25-person team, that $2 difference adds $50 a month, or $600 a year, by our arithmetic.

What does each plan include?

Time Premium covers attendance for a team that works in one place or reports its own hours. Workers clock in from the QuickBooks Workforce mobile app or a shared time kiosk, attach photos to timesheets, and request time off; managers get alerts and notifications, and approved hours sync to QuickBooks payroll and invoicing. Intuit's GPS page says the app logs each employee's location when they clock in and updates it through the day.

Time Elite is the field-crew plan. It adds geofences that remind workers to clock in or out when they enter or leave a job site, mileage tracking, project tracking with a deadline view, budgeted versus actual hours, a project activity feed and timesheet signatures for client sign-off. If your crews move between job sites or you bill clients by the project, Elite is the plan the features point to.

The higher base fee plus $2 per user decides it. On 10 users Elite costs a third more than Premium each month, which is worth paying only if geofence reminders or project budgets save more than that in disputed hours or underbilled jobs.

What a team actually pays

Our cost table: monthly and annual cost at the standard price (after the 3-month introductory base discount), from Intuit's printed prices on 19 October 2026, our arithmetic.

Per-user fees make up three quarters or more of the bill from 10 users up, which is why QuickBooks Time gets relatively expensive as a team grows. A flat or per-location clock does not.

Add QuickBooks Online if you do not already have it. Simple Start costs $38 a month after a 3-month introductory price of $19, so it adds $399 in the first year and $456 a year after that. A new 10-person team on Time Premium plus Simple Start pays $1,809 in year one and $1,896 a year from then on, by our arithmetic.

Time only, or QuickBooks Workforce?

If you also need payroll, price QuickBooks Workforce instead of stacking products. Intuit's GPS page says Time Premium is included with the Premium payroll tier and Time Elite with the Elite tier, and the pricing page lists time tracking inside Workforce Premium and Elite.

Workforce Premium costs $88 a month plus $13 per employee and Workforce Elite $134 plus $17 per employee, with the base fee half price for 3 months. For 10 employees that is $218 and $304 a month at the standard price, so full-service payroll, tax filing and the HR tools add $98 a month over Time Premium alone on the Premium tier. Our QuickBooks Payroll review and Gusto vs QuickBooks Payroll cover the payroll side.

Is QuickBooks Time cheaper than Buddy Punch, Connecteam or Homebase?

No, at list price it is the most expensive of the four for a 10 or 25 person team, and the gap is largest on Elite. The comparison below uses monthly billing on every product, read on each vendor's pricing page on 19 October 2026.

Sources: Buddy Punch pricing, Connecteam pricing and Homebase pricing. Buddy Punch is cheaper on annual billing, and Connecteam's Operations Basic plan costs $35 a month on monthly billing for the first 30 users, without geofences.

QuickBooks Time earns its price only through the QuickBooks connection: hours land in QuickBooks payroll, invoicing and job costing without an export. If your accounting is not on QuickBooks Online, the alternatives do the clock-in job for less. Our Buddy Punch review, Connecteam pricing guide, Homebase pricing guide and ClockShark review price them in detail, and the free time clock apps guide covers the zero-cost end, including the Jibble review.

Which QuickBooks Time plan should you choose?

Choose Time Premium if you already run QuickBooks Online and your team works at a fixed address. At $120 a month for 10 users it is the cheapest way to get clock-ins, a kiosk and time off into QuickBooks payroll without re-keying hours.

Choose Time Elite if your crews drive between job sites or you bill by the project, because geofence reminders, mileage and estimates versus actuals are Elite-only. Choose QuickBooks Workforce instead of either if you also need payroll, and choose a different clock if you are not on QuickBooks Online, because the required subscription and the per-user fee together make QuickBooks Time the dearest option in its class. For the full field, see the best time clock software and best time tracking software rankings.

How we priced this

We read Intuit's QuickBooks Time pricing page, its GPS tracking page with the trial terms beneath it, and the QuickBooks Online pricing page on 19 October 2026, along with the Buddy Punch, Connecteam and Homebase pricing pages the same day. The cost tables multiply the printed base and per-user fees by headcount and 12 months at the standard price; the introductory discount is shown separately, and tax is excluded. We did not open a QuickBooks account for this page.

FAQ

How much does QuickBooks Time cost in 2026?

QuickBooks Time Premium costs $20 a month plus $10 per user, and Time Elite costs $40 a month plus $12 per user, as printed on Intuit's pricing page on 19 October 2026. The base fee is half price for the first 3 months. A QuickBooks Online subscription is required on top.

Do you need QuickBooks Online to use QuickBooks Time?

Yes. Intuit's pricing page states that a QuickBooks Online account is required. The cheapest plan, Simple Start, costs $38 a month after a 3-month introductory price of $19, which adds $456 a year at the standard price for a business not already on QuickBooks.

Did QuickBooks Time raise its prices?

The per-user fee rose on both plans. Trial terms Intuit still prints on its GPS page quote $8 per worker on Premium and a lower Elite figure than today's pricing page charges. For a 25-person team that is $600 more a year by our arithmetic.

Does QuickBooks Time have a free trial?

Yes, 30 days for new customers. After the trial, Intuit asks for a credit card and bills monthly at the then-current price until you cancel. Intuit lists no free plan for QuickBooks Time.

What is the difference between QuickBooks Time Premium and Elite?

Elite adds geofence reminders, mileage tracking, project tracking, estimates versus actuals, a project activity feed and timesheet signatures. It costs twice the Premium base fee and $2 more per user each month, so $40 more a month for a 10-person team.

Is QuickBooks Time worth it for a small business?

It is worth it for a business already on QuickBooks Online that wants hours to reach payroll and invoicing without exporting. For a business on other accounting software, Buddy Punch, Connecteam or Homebase cost less for the same clock-in job, and the required QuickBooks Online subscription adds to the gap.

Cite this: HRpresso, "QuickBooks Time Pricing 2026: Premium, Elite, Per-User Fees and the QuickBooks Online Catch", November 2026.

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