Timesheet to payroll software: how hours become pay

This is the oldest handoff and still the most common. The time tracker produces a file at the end of the period, and someone uploads it to the payroll tool. It works with almost any pair of products, which is why it survives. The cost is the step itself: a person has to do it every period, names have to match in both systems, and a late correction means doing it again.

If you are on this path today, the question to ask is how often the two totals disagree. Once a quarter is tolerable. Every pay period means the handoff is costing you more than a different tool would.

Here the time clock and the payroll run are separate products, often from the same vendor, and approved hours flow across without a file. QuickBooks Time into QuickBooks Payroll is the clearest case, because Intuit owns both. Buddy Punch and OnTheClock each sell a time clock with their own payroll add-on, and Gusto includes time tracking from its Plus plan up.

These are the tools to pick when hours have to become a taxed paycheck. They calculate hourly pay, file payroll taxes, and pay by direct deposit. You pay for two things, though: on September 2026 list prices, OnTheClock is $4 per employee plus a $5 base for time, then $6 per paid employee plus a $40 base for payroll. Buddy Punch is $4.99 to $12.99 per user plus a $19 base, then $8 per user plus a $49 base for payroll.

The third way removes the handoff. Attendance and pay live on the same employee record, so the pay run reads the hours directly. This is how Wrkbase payroll works: for an hourly person, the pay line is their rate times the hours they were signed in for attendance in the period, and the hours stay visible and editable on that line while the run is a draft. Salaried lines come from the salary. Both take bonuses, commission, and deductions, then go through an approval step and produce payslips.

What it does not do matters just as much. Wrkbase applies daily overtime at one multiplier but no weekly or state overtime rules, it does not file taxes, and it does not move money. Its weekly timesheets fill in from the attendance clock and are approved by a manager before they reach a pay run. Payment goes through your bank or payroll processor and is marked paid in Wrkbase. If you need taxes filed from hourly timesheets, way 2 is the honest answer.

Using each vendor's own list prices from September 2026, for a team of 10: Wrkbase Team is $8 per member, so $80 a month, with attendance, time tracking, leave, HR, and payroll tracking included. OnTheClock is $45 for time plus $100 for payroll, so $145. Buddy Punch on its lowest plan is $68.90 for time plus $129 for payroll, so $197.90. Gusto Plus is $80 plus $12 per person, so $200. The three higher figures include tax filing and direct deposit; the Wrkbase figure does not. Confirm current prices on each vendor's page before deciding.

Start with how people are paid. Hourly staff with weekly or state overtime rules and tax filing in scope: pick a synced pair from way 2. A salaried team, or hourly staff with simple daily overtime where your accountant or processor already handles tax: one record is simpler and cheaper, and it is what Wrkbase is built for. Whichever you pick, check your own totals for one period by hand first. Our free time card calculator adds up a week of hours and breaks, which makes a quick reference figure. For teams that punch in at a clock, see payroll and time clock software.

Software that carries the hours a person worked into the pay calculation for the period, so nobody retypes them. Some tools do it with an export file, some sync two products, and some keep hours and pay on one employee record.

Yes, on Team and Enterprise. Each week's timesheet fills in from attendance sign-in and sign-off, a person can correct a day by giving a reason, and a manager approves the week or sends it back. Approved hours, with daily overtime split out, are what an hourly pay line pays.

On September 2026 list prices: Wrkbase Team is $80 a month and tracks payroll but does not file taxes. With tax filing, OnTheClock with its payroll add-on is $145 a month, Buddy Punch with payroll is $197.90, and Gusto Plus is $200.