Clock Clerk vs Paymo: an honest comparison
Paymo is a project tool for small agencies and freelancers, with timers, Gantt charts and invoices clients can pay online. Clock Clerk is built around the monthly sign-off, with approval on every plan. Here is where each one wins.
Checked against Paymo's published plans and help pages in November 2026. Plans and prices change, so confirm them on Paymo's own site before you buy.
Side by side, question by question
| Question | Clock Clerk | Paymo |
|---|---|---|
| Timesheet approvals | Every plan, Free included. One reviewer approves each person's calendar month. Approved hours are locked, and a send-back carries its reason. | Yes, in beta, on the higher plans. Administrators approve or reject entries; approved entries are locked. Reports differ on whether it starts on Plus or Pro. |
| Project boards | Every plan. A board per project with your own columns; each card has an hour estimate and its own thread. No Gantt, sprints or dependencies. | Every paid plan. Kanban boards, with Gantt charts and dependencies on Pro. |
| Client collaboration | Starter and up. Clients join a project's threads as guests, at no charge. They do not see boards, hours or invoices in the app. | Free guests. Clients see the projects, tasks, reports and invoices you share with them, and comment on them. |
| Invoices from approved time | Team. A draft takes the client's approved, billable hours at your rates and locks them while the invoice stands. US dollars, one tax rate, no online payment. | Every plan, Free included. Invoices from tracked time and expenses, paid online by card or PayPal; recurring invoices from Plus. |
| Timer and mobile app | Neither. Hours are typed per day and task in the browser, which fits a phone screen. No timer, idle detection or app to install. | Yes. A timer on the web, and a desktop app that tracks automatically and notices when you go idle. |
| Scheduling and time off | No. A holiday calendar lowers targets on public holidays, but there is no capacity plan, leave request or balance. | Pro. Resource scheduling, workload and leave management. |
| Accounting export | Team. Hours, costs and expenses go to QuickBooks Online or Desktop; Enterprise adds other ERPs. Invoices stay in Clock Clerk. | Plus and up. Invoices and payments go to QuickBooks Online. |
| Who is charged | Only the people who log hours that month. Approvers, administrators, finance readers and client guests are free. | Every team member. Client guests are free. |
| Free plan | Up to 3 people, 10 active projects and 20 clients, with approvals, boards and expenses. | One user, with limits on clients and projects. Built for a freelancer. |
| Sign-in and single sign-on | Single sign-on from Starter, at $3 a filer: Okta, Google Workspace, Microsoft 365 or any OpenID Connect provider. Free signs in with a password, with two-step sign-in and passkeys. Provisioning from Okta or Entra ID over SCIM is on Enterprise. | Sign in with Google. People can sign in with a Google account; Paymo's own pages describe no single sign-on through Okta, Microsoft Entra ID or SAML, and no SCIM provisioning. |
What it costs a 15-person company
Fifteen people who all log time, on the cheapest plan of each that has both timesheet approvals and invoicing. Paymo's list prices as published in October 2026; it has offered new accounts a discount for their first months.
| Product and plan | Per person / month | 15 people / month | 15 people / year |
|---|---|---|---|
| Clock Clerk Starter, for up to 15 people who log hours: approvals, boards, expenses and client threads, without invoices | $3 | $45 | $540 |
| Clock Clerk Team: adds invoices, contractors and the QuickBooks export | $6 | $90 | $1,080 |
| Clock Clerk Team, when 3 of the 15 only approve and log no hours | $6 | $72 | $864 |
| Paymo Plus, billed annually | $10.90 | $163.50 | $1,962.00 |
| Paymo Plus, billed monthly | $15.90 | $238.50 | $2,862.00 |
| Paymo Pro, billed annually: adds Gantt, scheduling and leave | $16.90 | $253.50 | $3,042.00 |
Clock Clerk bills each month for the people who logged hours in it. There is no annual plan, so there is no annual discount either. List prices in US dollars, before tax.
Clockify, Paymo, Productive, Scoro, ClickUp and Workday are trademarks of their owners, who have not reviewed or endorsed this page. Their plans and prices are given as published on the date at the top.
When Paymo is the better choice
Paymo covers more of a small agency's project work than Clock Clerk does. Choose it if any of these is what you need.
You invoice on your own
A freelancer can track time and send invoices on Paymo's Free plan. Clock Clerk's invoices start on Team, and its Free plan is for a team of up to three.
Clients pay online
Paymo invoices take card and PayPal payments and can recur. Clock Clerk records payments by hand and has no recurring invoices.
Gantt charts and scheduling
Paymo plans with Gantt charts and dependencies and books people's time ahead. Clock Clerk's boards are columns and cards, and it does not schedule.
A timer and automatic tracking
Paymo's desktop app records what you work on and when you go idle. Clock Clerk has no timer; hours are typed.
When Clock Clerk is the better choice
Clock Clerk is narrower than Paymo, and stricter where it counts: the hours a client is billed for are the hours a manager signed off.
Approval is a real step
Clock Clerk approves each person's month on every plan, Free included. Managers see only the clients and projects they were granted, and approved hours stay locked.
Managers and finance should not cost seats
Paymo charges for every team member. Clock Clerk charges only the people who logged hours that month.
Hours go to accounting as hours
Team exports hours, costs and expenses to QuickBooks Online or Desktop, not only the invoices.
Contractors file monthly
On Team, a contractor's month becomes a protocol that is countersigned, approved by finance and paid from a file for your bank.
Asked while comparing
Can I bring my Paymo history into Clock Clerk?
Not as hours. On Team and Enterprise, Clock Clerk imports tasks from Jira, Azure DevOps, Trello and Notion, but no plan imports time entries from another tracker. Most teams start on the first day of a new month and keep Paymo's reports for the months before it.
Is Clock Clerk cheaper than Paymo?
For 15 people who all log time, yes: Clock Clerk Team costs less per person than Paymo Plus on either billing period. Paymo is cheaper for a freelancer, whose Free plan already sends invoices.
Why does a Clock Clerk page say where the other product is better?
Because a trial would show you the gaps anyway, a week later. These pages are checked against each product's published plans and help pages on the date at the top. If something here is wrong or has changed, write to us and we will correct it.
Try it on a month of your own hours
Thirty days of the Team plan, no credit card required. When the trial ends, your data stays and stays readable. Start with your work email and set a password from the link we send you.