Hubstaff

What is Hubstaff

Hubstaff is a workforce management platform that offers time tracking, productivity monitoring, and payroll features. It is designed for businesses with remote, hybrid, or in-office teams to help them understand how time is spent on projects and tasks. The core purpose of the tool is to provide transparency and accountability, offering detailed insights through features like optional screenshots, activity levels, and application tracking. Founded in 2012 by Dave Nevogt and Jared Brown, Hubstaff was created to solve the challenges of managing a growing remote team. The company operates as a fully distributed team, reflecting the work style it supports for its clients.

Hubstaff Features

• Time Tracking: Users can track time accurately using desktop, web, and mobile applications. The software also includes GPS tracking for mobile teams, allowing for location-based time clocking.
• Productivity Monitoring: Gain insights into team activity with features like optional screen captures, app and URL tracking, and activity level monitoring based on keyboard and mouse usage.
• Automated Timesheets: The software automatically generates detailed timesheets based on the time tracked by employees. Managers can review, approve, or reject timesheets with ease.
• Project Budgeting: Set time or cost budgets for projects and receive automatic alerts when you are approaching the limits. This helps manage project profitability and prevent overruns.
• Workforce Scheduling: Create and manage employee schedules, set up recurring shifts, and handle time-off requests. The attendance tracking feature shows who is on time, late, or absent.
• Online Invoicing and Payroll: Generate invoices directly from tracked hours and manage payroll for your team. Hubstaff integrates with payment providers like PayPal and Wise to streamline payments.
• Detailed Reporting: Access over 20 customizable reports that provide data on time spent, project progress, team productivity, and budget adherence. These reports help in making informed business decisions.
• Team Management: A central dashboard allows managers to see who is working, what they are working on, and their productivity levels in real-time.

Hubstaff Pricing Plans

Hubstaff offers several pricing tiers to suit different business needs. There is a basic plan for individuals and small teams that includes core time tracking and activity monitoring. A mid-tier plan is designed for growing businesses, adding features like scheduling, invoicing, and more integrations. For larger organizations, there is an enterprise plan that provides advanced features such as higher limits, dedicated account management, and on-premise deployment options. An optional 'Insights' add-on is available for deeper workforce analytics.

Hubstaff Free Plan

Hubstaff offers a free plan for a single user. This plan includes basic time tracking, limited screenshots, and activity level monitoring. It is a good option for freelancers or solo entrepreneurs who need to track their own time. For teams, Hubstaff provides a 14-day free trial for its paid plans, allowing businesses to test all the features before committing to a subscription. No credit card is required for the free trial.

How to use Hubstaff

1. Sign Up: Create an account on the Hubstaff website.
2. Set Up Your Organization: Name your organization and invite your team members via email.
3. Create Projects: Define the projects your team will be working on and assign specific team members to them.
4. Download the App: Team members need to download the Hubstaff desktop or mobile app on their devices.
5. Track Time: To start tracking, users select a project and task from the app and click the 'Start' button. The app runs in the background, recording time and activity.
6. Review Data: Managers can log in to the web dashboard to view real-time data, review timesheets, check productivity metrics, and generate reports.
7. Manage Payroll and Invoicing: Use the approved timesheets to run payroll or create invoices for clients directly within the platform.

Pros and Cons of Hubstaff

Pros:

• Comprehensive set of features covering time tracking, monitoring, and payroll.
• Detailed and customizable reports provide valuable business insights.
• Supports multiple platforms including Windows, Mac, Linux, iOS, and Android.
• Strong features for managing remote and distributed teams.
• Integrates with many popular project management and business tools.

Cons:

• The employee monitoring features, like screenshots, can be perceived as intrusive by some team members.
• The user interface can feel complex for new users due to the large number of features.
• The free plan is very limited and only available for a single user.

Hubstaff integrations

Hubstaff integrates with over 35 popular business applications to streamline workflows. These integrations allow you to sync time tracking data with your existing project management, accounting, and payment systems.

• Project Management: Asana, Trello, Jira, ClickUp, and Basecamp integrations allow you to track time directly on tasks from those platforms.
• Accounting & Invoicing: QuickBooks and FreshBooks integrations help in simplifying client billing and accounting.
• Payment & Payroll: PayPal, Wise, and Deel integrations facilitate easy and direct payments to your team.
• CRM: Salesforce integration helps track time spent on sales-related activities and leads.

Hubstaff Alternatives

• Toggl Track: A simpler time tracking tool that focuses on ease of use. It is less focused on employee monitoring and more on straightforward time logging and reporting.
• Time Doctor: A direct competitor with similar features, including time tracking, screenshots, and website monitoring. It is often chosen by companies that prioritize detailed productivity analysis.
• Harvest: Excellent for businesses that need strong invoicing and expense tracking capabilities integrated with time tracking. It is popular among agencies and consulting firms.
• Clockify: A very popular alternative that offers a generous free plan for teams. It provides robust time tracking, project management, and reporting features without the intense monitoring of Hubstaff.
• RescueTime: Focuses more on individual productivity and time management by automatically tracking time spent on apps and websites, helping users understand and improve their digital habits.

Hubstaff API

Yes, Hubstaff provides a public API that allows developers to build custom integrations and automate workflows. The API gives you access to data such as organizations, projects, users, tasks, time entries, and screenshots. You can use it to pull data into your own applications or create custom reports. To get an API key, you typically need to be on a paid plan. The key can be generated within your Hubstaff account settings under the 'Integrations' section.

Example API call using cURL:

# Get a list of all projects in an organization
curl -X GET \
  https://api.hubstaff.com/v2/organizations/{organization_id}/projects \
  -H 'Authorization: Bearer {your_access_token}' \
  -H 'App-Token: {your_app_token}'

For detailed documentation, visit the Hubstaff developer portal.

Hubstaff Affiliate program

Hubstaff offers an affiliate program for partners who want to promote the software. Affiliates earn a recurring commission for every customer they refer who signs up for a paid plan. The commission is typically a percentage of the subscription fee paid by the referred customer for a specific period. To join, you can apply through the 'Affiliates' page on the Hubstaff website. Once approved, you receive a unique referral link and access to a dashboard to track your clicks, referrals, and earnings. Payments are usually made through platforms like PayPal on a regular schedule, provided you meet the minimum payout threshold.