What QuickBooks Time Really Costs
The subscription is only 9% of what QuickBooks Time actually costs your team. Here's the full picture.
QuickBooks Time pricing vs total cost of ownership
A 10-person team at QuickBooks Time's published rate of $10/seat/month. The subscription is 9% of the real cost.
Subscription cost
$10/seat x 10 seats x 12 months
$1,200/yr
Labor cost
15 hrs/month x $50/hr loaded rate x 12 months
$9,000/yr
Error & rework cost
$250/month x 12 months
$3,000/yr
Total Cost of Ownership
$13,200/yr
Labor rate based on BLS ECEC June 2025 ($45.65/hr private industry total compensation, rounded to $50). Your actual numbers depend on team size, role mix, and usage. Run it with your own data.
What the invoice doesn't show
The price is two-part: a base fee ($20/mo Premium, $40/mo Elite) plus per-user fees ($10 and $12/user/mo). A 10-person team on Premium pays $120/mo standing — more than double what the '$20/mo' framing suggests.
The 90%-off introductory offer applies only to the monthly base price for 3 months, by Intuit's own offer terms — per-user fees are excluded, and after the intro the base reverts from $2 to $20/mo (+900%) with automatic billing.
QuickBooks Time cannot be bought alone: 'A QuickBooks Online account is required,' so the real floor includes a QBO subscription on top.
Project features live one tier up: mileage tracking, project estimates vs actuals, and timesheet signatures require Elite at $40 base + $12/user.
Why this category is changing
QuickBooks Time is priced as a payroll accessory, not a time tracker — the base-fee-plus-per-user structure mirrors QuickBooks Payroll, and the product's lock-in is the QBO requirement itself. Teams that need payroll-synced timesheets but not Intuit's base fees can get the same QuickBooks sync from Clockify's $5.49 Standard tier.
Clockify
Free; Basic $3.99, Standard $5.49, Pro $7.99, Enterprise $11.99 per seat/mo billed annually
The category's price floor: a free tier that includes the automatic tracker, and a paid ladder from $3.99/seat. Standard ($5.49/seat annual) covers invoicing and QuickBooks payroll/billing sync — the two features that usually justify far pricier incumbents.
Toggl Track
Free; Starter $9/seat/mo; Premium $14 first year then $18/seat/mo
The free plan carries calendar auto-tracking, keyword-triggered tracking, idle detection, and 100+ browser-extension integrations — automation that is rules-based rather than AI, but included at $0. Paid tiers add billable rates and reporting from $9/seat.
Solidtime
Solo free (cloud), Professional EUR 8/user/mo billed annually, self-hosted $0
Open-source time tracking (AGPL) with timers, timesheets, invoicing, and a self-host option that removes the per-seat meter entirely. The tool departing Harvest customers actually name in migration threads. Not AI-automatic — the savings story is open source and no usage fees.
StackCut doesn't sell or recommend any of these tools. We show them for context. The decision is yours.
How we calculate TCO
Total Cost of Ownership includes subscription fees, labor (valued at $50/hr based on BLS ECEC data), and estimated error costs. Error cost is inherently speculative and can be set to $0 for a conservative estimate. All defaults are sourced from published benchmarks and adjustable in our methodology.
Other time tracking cost breakdowns
What Clockify Really Costs
Clockify runs $3.99-$11.99/seat/mo billed annually — the cheapest ladder in time tracking, with monthly billing ~25% higher and SSO parked on Enterprise.
What Everhour Really Costs
Everhour is $8.50/seat/mo billed yearly with a 5-seat minimum — a 2-person team pays $42.50/mo. Integrations are paid-only. See the real TCO.
What Harvest Really Costs
Harvest lists $9-14/seat/mo annual — but 'Flex' usage billing now charges for projects, clients, and invoices above allowances Harvest doesn't publish.
What Hubstaff Really Costs
Hubstaff runs $4.99-$25/seat/mo annual with a 2-seat minimum, add-ons that rebuild the higher tiers, and compliance gated to a $25 Enterprise plan. Full TCO.
What Timely Really Costs
Timely's AI time tracking runs $9-22/user/mo billed yearly, with a hard 5-user cap on Starter and 50 on Premium forcing tier jumps as you hire. Real TCO inside.
What Toggl Track Really Costs
Toggl Track costs $9-18/seat/mo — the advertised $14 Premium is a first-year rate that renews at $18 (+29%), and idle free accounts are deleted after 6 months.
FAQ
QuickBooks Time pricing: quick answers
How much does QuickBooks Time cost per month?
QuickBooks Time lists at $10.00 per user per month. A 10-person team pays $1,200 a year in subscription alone, and an estimated $13,200 a year once the labor and error costs around it are counted.
How much is QuickBooks Time per seat?
$120 per seat per year at list price, or $10.00 per seat per month. Across a 10-person team that is $1,200 a year in QuickBooks Time license fees on their own, and an estimated $13,200 a year in total cost of ownership once the labor and error costs around the tool are included.
How much does QuickBooks Time really cost?
The subscription is only part of it. For a 10-person team, the $1,200/year QuickBooks Time subscription grows to an estimated $13,200/year total cost of ownership once labor and error costs are included. StackCut lets you adjust every assumption to your own numbers.
What are the most common QuickBooks Time complaints?
The price is two-part: a base fee ($20/mo Premium, $40/mo Elite) plus per-user fees ($10 and $12/user/mo). A 10-person team on Premium pays $120/mo standing — more than double what the '$20/mo' framing suggests. The 90%-off introductory offer applies only to the monthly base price for 3 months, by Intuit's own offer terms — per-user fees are excluded, and after the intro the base reverts from $2 to $20/mo (+900%) with automatic billing. QuickBooks Time cannot be bought alone: 'A QuickBooks Online account is required,' so the real floor includes a QBO subscription on top.
What is the best AI alternative to QuickBooks Time?
Teams replacing QuickBooks Time most often look at Clockify, Toggl Track, and Solidtime. StackCut takes no referral fees and recommends no specific tool. It shows the financial case so you can decide.
QuickBooks Time in the tier-cliff study
Introductory period ending takes QuickBooks Time from $2/mo base to $20/mo base, a +900% increase. QuickBooks Time publishes the threshold: The discount applies to the monthly base price for the first 3 months only. See how that compares across 61 vendors.
Find out what QuickBooks Time is really costing you
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