Hubstaff Guide: Features, Pricing, Pros and Cons

Key takeaways

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• Hubstaff suits agencies, staffing firms, and field crews that need proof of hours flowing into payroll and client invoices.

• Plans run from $4.99 (Starter) to $25 (Enterprise) per user per month billed annually, with a 14-day free trial and no free plan.

• Insights (workload and capacity views) and Locations (GPS and geofencing) cost extra on lower tiers.

• Reviewers praise ease of use and reliable background tracking, but flag a dated interface and issues with idle detection thresholds.

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Hubstaff is a time tracking and workforce monitoring platform built for agencies, remote teams, and field-based crews that need proof of hours worked and want those hours to flow into payroll and client invoices. This review covers what the tool does well, where users report friction, and what each pricing tier costs today, based on Hubstaff’s current plans and the pattern of feedback across verified user reviews.

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Reviewers rate it highly for ease of use and reliable background tracking, though some customers complain about an interface that feels dated and idle time detection that can stop timers too aggressively.

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Standout features of Hubstaff

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Hubstaff’s core features, for teams that need detailed time and activity data:

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• Hour tracking: Monitor work hours across projects and tasks on multiple platforms

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• Online timesheets: Detailed breakdowns of employee work hours

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• Payroll and invoicing: Turn approved timesheets into payroll, contractor payments, and client invoices

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• 20+ report types: Granular reporting on time, activity, and payments

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• Monitoring tools: Customizable screenshots, attendance tracking, and employee monitoring

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• Productivity calculation: An activity score based on mouse and keyboard usage frequency; Hubstaff states it does not log keystrokes, only usage frequency

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• Hubstaff Insights: Workload, capacity, and unusual-activity views, using AI to flag bot-like activity; included on Enterprise, 3-month trial included on Team, a paid add-on on Starter and Grow

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• Locations add-on: GPS tracking, geofencing, and job sites for field crews, sold separately on every plan

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• Idle time discard: Remove non-productive time with one click

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User experience (UX)

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Most Capterra reviewers find Hubstaff simple to pick up and rate its integrations with project and payment tools well. The criticism centers on the desktop app, an interface some call dated, and effort spent editing time entries manually.

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Customer support

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Hubstaff offers tiered support:

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• Standard: Available to all customers, including the Help Center, live chat, email support, and scheduled calls

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• VIP Support “Enhanced”: Available for $29/month for organizations with monthly subscriptions between $275 and $400, though no additional details are provided on Hubstaff’s pricing page

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• VIP Support “The Works”: Available for $59/month for organizations with monthly subscriptions above $400, though no additional details are provided on Hubstaff’s pricing page

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Reviews on support are mixed. Users appreciate quick responses and professional agents, though some report subscription cancellation difficulties, delayed responses, and billing issues.

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Hubstaff pricing plans

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Hubstaff runs on four annual per-user plans, with a monthly billing option costing roughly 20 to 40% more per seat, and no free plan beyond the 14-day free trial.

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Starter ($4.99/user/month, billed annually)

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Time and activity tracking, automated timesheets, up to 500 screenshots and app/URL tracking events per user each month, and client invoicing for up to five clients.

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Grow ($7.50/user/month, billed annually)

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Everything in Starter, plus 1,500 screenshots and app/URL tracking events per user monthly, project budgets, expense tracking, one included integration, and unlimited client task management.

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Team ($10/user/month, billed annually)

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Everything in Grow, plus scheduling and attendance tracking, timesheet approvals, automated payroll, unlimited integrations, and team invoicing, with a 3-month initial trial of Hubstaff Insights included.

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Enterprise ($25/user/month, billed annually, or custom pricing for larger deployments)

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Everything in Team, plus single sign-on and SCIM provisioning, HIPAA and SOC 2 Type II compliance, a dedicated account representative, and VIP support.

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New accounts get a 14-day free trial. Add-ons, including Insights on Starter and Grow and Locations for GPS and geofencing, are priced per user on top of the plan.

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Security and compliance

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Hubstaff encrypts data in transit and at rest, enforces strong password and access controls, and logs account activity for audit purposes. Its infrastructure runs on continuous, incremental backups with redundant systems and automatic failover, and the company runs a public bug bounty program alongside automated scanning of open-source dependencies.

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Hubstaff currently holds SOC 2 Type II certification and states compliance with HIPAA, GDPR, LGPD, and CCPA requirements, with a documented policy to issue an initial breach notification within 24 hours of discovering an incident.

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What users like and don’t like about Hubstaff

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Based on Hubstaff reviews on Capterra and G2:

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Users like:

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• Easy to use, with simple per-project timers

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• Reliable background time tracking

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• Good fit for remote teams

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• Payroll and payment integrations (Wise, PayPal) and project-tool integrations (Trello, Asana, Jira, ClickUp)

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• Lower price than many competitors

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Users don’t like:

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• Screenshots and activity monitoring that feel intrusive

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• Idle detection that stops timers too aggressively, and productivity scores that can read low

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• A dated interface and navigation that could be simpler

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• Extra costs for some features

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• Limited report and screenshot customization, and weaker QuickBooks and Salesforce integrations

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• Time entry sometimes requiring manual fixes

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When to consider Insightful

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Hubstaff’s strength is carrying logged hours through to payroll, contractor payments, and client invoices, with GPS tracking and geofencing available through its Locations add-on for crews that work away from a desk.

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Insightful shows how work actually happens, so you can optimize your mix of people, processes, and technology. Workforce Analytics shows where people spend time and how to best utilize time: it records hours automatically from one desktop app and turns them into Timesheets, Productivity Trends, and the AI Adoption Report for remote, hybrid, and in-office teams that work at a computer. The Analytics plan starts at $8 per seat per month.

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People Intelligence builds on the same data to show how people work and suggest opportunities to improve their output.

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For a section-by-section look at features, setup, privacy, and plans, see the Insightful vs. Hubstaff comparison page, or compare a wider set of tools on the Hubstaff alternatives page.

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Final thoughts on Hubstaff

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Hubstaff fits teams that need verifiable proof of hours and want payroll and invoicing to run from the same timesheets: agencies billing clients by the hour, staffing companies paying contractors, and field crews that clock in by GPS through the Locations add-on.

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It fits less well for teams that want to know what those hours produce, not just when and where they were logged. Hubstaff’s reporting centers on hours, activity levels, and screenshots, and its workload and capacity views sit in Insights, which is a paid add-on at lower tiers. Reviewers consistently rate the tracking accuracy and screenshot features highly while flagging interface friction as the tradeoffs to weigh before choosing a plan.

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Frequently asked questions

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What does Hubstaff do?

Hubstaff is a time tracking and workforce monitoring platform that logs work hours, activity levels, and screenshots across desktop, web, and mobile apps, then turns that data into timesheets, reports, payroll, and client invoices.

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Is Hubstaff good for remote or field teams?

Yes, for both, though the strongest case is field and mobile work. Hubstaff’s GPS tracking and geofencing, sold as its Locations add-on, automatically clock workers in and out at job sites, and the same activity and screenshot tracking apply to fully remote, desk-based teams.

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What are the main limitations of Hubstaff?

Reviewer complaints have noted idle detection that stops timers too aggressively, productivity scores that can read low, a dated interface, limited report customization, and extra costs for some features.

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How does Hubstaff pricing compare across plans?

Hubstaff’s four annual plans run from Starter at $4.99 per user per month up to Enterprise at $25 per user per month or custom pricing for larger deployments. Each tier adds tracking volume, integrations, and features such as scheduling, payroll automation, and single sign-on.

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Does Hubstaff have a free plan or free trial?

Hubstaff has no free plan. New accounts get a 14-day free trial with access to all features and no credit card required. After the trial, monthly billing costs about 20 to 40% more per seat than annual billing.

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