Standard Time® vs Clockify — Manufacturing Software Comparison

The short answer: Clockify is excellent for agencies, consultants, and remote teams that need free or inexpensive time tracking. But it has no barcode scanning, no WIP dashboards, no work order tracking, and no job costing — at any price tier. Standard Time® Pro gives manufacturers all of those for $8.99/user/month, with QuickBooks integration included.

Standard Time® — Best for

Job shops & contract manufacturers
Discrete & process manufacturing
Teams that scan barcodes on the shop floor
Operations tracking work orders and labor costs
Companies that need real job costing
Shops that want QuickBooks integration

Clockify — Better when you need

Free tier with unlimited users
Time tracking for remote or distributed teams
Billing and invoicing for client work
SaaS integrations (Jira, Asana, Trello, etc.)
Simple timesheets for agencies or freelancers
No shop floor or manufacturing requirements

Pricing — Context Matters Here

Clockify's free tier is genuinely free — but it's built for time logging, not shop floors. When you compare paid plans with manufacturing features, Standard Time® is cost-competitive.

Pricing bar chart: Standard Time $8.99/user vs Clockify Basic $3.99 through Enterprise $11.99/user

Plan	Per User / Mo	What's included
Standard Time® Pro	$8.99	All features — barcode scanning, WIP dashboards, job costing, Gantt charts, AI scheduling, QuickBooks integration
Clockify Free	$0	Unlimited users, basic time tracking and timesheets — no barcode scanning, no WIP, no work order tracking
Clockify Basic	$3.99	Adds custom fields, project templates, time rounding — still no shop-floor features
Clockify Standard	$5.49	Adds invoicing, expenses, project budgeting — aimed at client billing, not manufacturing
Clockify Pro	$7.99	Adds forecast reports, labor cost tracking, scheduling — no barcode or work order support
Clockify Enterprise	$11.99	SSO, custom subdomain, dedicated support — enterprise SaaS features, still no manufacturing capability

The real comparison: If you're a 10-person shop, Clockify Free is $0/month and Standard Time® Pro is $89.90/month. But Clockify can't scan a barcode, track a work order, or give you job costing — so you'd still need other software for those capabilities. Standard Time® replaces that entire stack at $8.99/user/month.

Feature Comparison

The manufacturing features that matter on the shop floor — and which product actually has them.

Feature matrix comparing Standard Time and Clockify manufacturing capabilities

Standard Time® Strengths

Barcode Scanning Built In

1D barcodes, QR codes, RFID tap, speech recognition, and camera scanning — out of the box, with no add-on required.

WIP Dashboards on Shop-Floor Screens

Live job status, employee activity, and KPI data displayed on wall-mounted screens. Clockify has no equivalent.

Job Costing & Work Order Tracking

Actual labor cost flows from barcode scans directly into job cost reports — and syncs to QuickBooks automatically.

Task-Level Labor Tracking

Time logs are tied to specific work orders and tasks — not just generic projects. Know exactly where every hour went.

Where Clockify Has Breadth

Genuinely free tier with unlimited users
Strong SaaS integrations (Jira, Asana, Trello, Slack, and 80+)
Client invoicing and billing rate management
Expense tracking and project budgeting
Browser extension for passive time capture
Easy onboarding for non-technical teams
Pomodoro timer and productivity widgets

The tradeoff: Clockify is excellent for agencies, design studios, software teams, and consultants billing by the hour. It has a polished UI and a free tier that scales well. But it was never designed for a shop floor — there's no scan-to-start, no WIP display, no work order structure. Manufacturers using Clockify are still missing the core of what shop-floor time tracking requires.

Scan a Barcode. Start a Timer. No Keyboard Needed.

Point any phone, tablet, or notebook camera at a barcode or QR code — or tap an RFID tag — and the timer starts instantly. This is how Standard Time® works on the shop floor. Clockify has no barcode scanning capability at any price tier.

Starting a job timer by scan

Standard Time scan barcodes screen — timer started for work order 10200, Weld operation

Scan the employee barcode, then the work order — the timer starts immediately. The screen confirms: Started: Work Order 10200, Weld. No typing, no menus, no delays.

Stopping the timer

Standard Time scan barcodes screen — timer stopped for employee Buzz

Scan STOP and the timer stops. The screen confirms Timer stopped for Buzz. The time log is written — ready for job costing and QuickBooks sync.

What Standard Time® Can Scan

Employee ID barcodes (username)
Work order / job number labels
Task labels (Weld, Inspect, Fabricate…)
STOP barcode to end any timer
Inventory items (INV-SUB, INV-ADD, INV-BUILD)
Custom barcodes with Barcode Rules

Camera capture — use the on-board camera on any phone, tablet, or notebook to scan 1D barcodes and QR codes. No dedicated scanner hardware required.

RFID — tap an RFID tag to start or stop a timer. Attach tags to employee badges, work order travelers, or tool stations.

Voice recognition — speak the job number and the scanner hears it.

Clockify Has No Barcode Scanning

Clockify does not support barcode scanner input for time entry at any price tier. Employees must manually:

Open the app on a phone or computer
Type or select a project and task
Tap to start a timer
Repeat for every employee, every job change

On a busy shop floor with 15–30 employees switching jobs throughout the day, manual time entry creates data gaps, delays, and inaccurate job costs.

Time Logs Tied to Work Orders, Not Just Projects

Every barcode scan creates a time log entry tied to a specific work order and task — giving you the data you need for accurate job costing. Clockify tracks time against projects, but has no concept of work orders or manufacturing job cost.

Time logs by work order

Standard Time time logs view showing start/stop times by work order and employee

Every time log shows the work order, task, start time, stop time, actual hours, and employee — grouped by job. Work order 10200 shows Weld and Bending time broken out by day and worker.

Weekly timesheet by project

Standard Time weekly timesheet showing hours per work order and task across the week

The timesheet view breaks down every hour by work order and task across the week. This is exactly what job costing requires — knowing not just how many hours were worked, but where they went.

Clockify vs Standard Time® — the data difference: Clockify shows total hours per employee and per project. Standard Time® shows hours by work order, task, employee, and day — with start/stop timestamps from barcode scans. The difference matters for job costing: knowing "Ray spent 16 hours on Work Order 10200 Weld" gives you the actual labor cost of that specific job.

What You're Operational On After Setup

Both tools set up in hours — the difference is what you can actually do afterward.

Day 1 capabilities: Standard Time full shop floor vs Clockify basic time tracking only

Standard Time® Setup

Sign up and create your account
Add users and print employee barcodes
Create work orders and print job labels
Mount a scan station (tablet or PC)
First scan — timers and job costing are live

Live in under one day. Barcode scanning, WIP dashboards, and QuickBooks sync all running.

Clockify Setup

Create a free account (no credit card needed)
Add workspaces, projects, and team members
Connect integrations (Jira, Slack, etc.)
Employees install browser extension or mobile app
Manual time tracking is live

Setup is very quick — but you're live on manual time entry only. Barcode scanning, WIP dashboards, work order tracking, and job costing aren't available regardless of plan.

Built for Your Shop — Not for Every Business

Standard Time® was designed specifically for manufacturers. Clockify was designed for anyone who needs to log hours.

Standard Time purpose-built for manufacturing vs Clockify general time tracking

Clockify is a well-designed product for its target market: freelancers, agencies, consultants, and remote teams that need to bill clients for hours or manage timesheet compliance. The free tier is genuinely useful, and the SaaS integrations with tools like Jira and Asana are solid.

But manufacturers are running a different operation. You have work orders with multiple operations. You have employees switching tasks throughout the day on the shop floor. You need to know the actual labor cost of Job #10200 — not just that Ray worked 8 hours. You need a barcode scan to start a timer, not an employee opening a browser and typing a job name.

Standard Time® was built for exactly that environment. Barcode scanning, WIP dashboards, and job costing aren't features bolted on later — they're the core reason the software exists. And because it already integrates with QuickBooks Online, you get both time tracking and accounting sync in a single product designed for manufacturing.

Manufacturing shop floor with barcode scanning and real-time dashboards

Which One Should You Choose?

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Choose Standard Time® if you…

Run a job shop, fab shop, or factory
Want barcode scanning on the floor
Need job costing tied to work orders
Want WIP dashboards on big screens
Use QuickBooks and want full integration
Need real labor cost data, not just hours

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Consider Clockify if you…

Have a remote or distributed team
Bill clients by the hour
Need a free tier that scales
Use Jira, Asana, or other SaaS project tools
Don't have a shop floor or work orders
Only need basic timesheets and reports

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