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Hourbun vs Hubstaff

Looking for a Hubstaff alternative to bill clients for your time, without screenshots? Hourbun turns the time you track into invoices that clients pay online, for one flat price per workspace.

By Fred Wu, maker of Hourbun · Checked · Report a mistake

The short answer

Hourbun turns the time you track into client invoices that clients pay by card or bank debit into your own Stripe account, with no activity monitoring. Hubstaff is built to monitor staff with screenshots and activity levels, and its invoices take payment through a PayPal button. Hubstaff fits teams that want proof of work and payroll.

Why switch

Why teams pick Hourbun over Hubstaff

  • Online payment by card or bank debit, into your own Stripe account: Hubstaff invoices take payment through a PayPal button
  • Expenses with receipts and project budgets in hours or money on every plan: Hubstaff has them from its Grow plan
  • Timesheet approvals for up to 30 people at a flat price on the Team plan: Hubstaff has approvals from its Team plan, at $12 a seat a month
  • No screenshots and no activity monitoring, so each person tracks their own time: Hubstaff records screenshots, activity levels, and apps and URLs
  • One flat price: a team of 25 pays $99 a month on Hourbun and $225 on Hubstaff Grow, which charges per seat with a two-seat minimum

Head to head

At a glance

Hourbun and Hubstaff at a glance
Hourbun Hubstaff
Duo, a month $15 (lower price) Duo $18 Grow
Free plan None One seat, for the owner only, with up to 3 clients, 100 screenshots a month and limited invoices
Free trial 14 days, with no card 14 days, no credit card
Client invoices Yes Yes On every plan; the Starter plan holds 5 clients
Online payment Yes By card or bank debit, into your own Stripe account Partly Through a PayPal button, into your PayPal account
Timesheet approvals Higher plan On the Team plan Higher plan From the Team plan
Desktop or mobile apps No A web app with a layout for phones Yes Mac, Windows, Linux, iOS and Android

Same work, two prices

What you'd pay each month

Hourbun costs less in 2 of 5 examples below.

Hourbun

  • One flat price per workspace
  • Duo up to 2 seats · Team up to 30
  • 14-day free trial, no card

Hubstaff

  • A price per seat a month
  • Two-seat minimum on Starter, Grow and Team
  • Enterprise billed annually only
  • Free plan for one seat, the owner only
What each example pays a month, billed monthly
Hourbun Hubstaff
Solo freelancer 1 person · 5 clients $15 Duo $14 (lower price) Starter $9.98 billed yearly
Duo 2 people · 8 clients $15 (lower price) Duo Save $3 a month $18 Grow $15 billed yearly
Small studio 5 people · 15 clients $99 Team $45 (lower price) Grow $37.50 billed yearly
Agency 10 people · 30 clients $99 Team $90 (lower price) Grow $75 billed yearly
Larger team 25 people · 60 clients $99 (lower price) Team Save $126 a month $225 Grow $187.50 billed yearly
  • USD list prices, billed monthly
  • Before tax and payment fees
  • Highlight = lower price
  • Checked 10 November 2026
Pricing details (7)
  • Billed annually only
  • Hubstaff charges per seat each month, with a two-seat minimum on Starter, Grow and Team.
  • Add-ons (Insights, Tasks, more screenshots, data retention, Locations, Silent app) start at $2 to $4 per seat a month, and some are included on higher plans.
  • VIP support is added to larger bills: $29 a month for a monthly bill of $275 to $400, and $59 a month above $400.
  • The free plan is for the owner alone, with up to 3 clients and a limit of invoices that Hubstaff does not publish, so the prices here do not use it.
  • Small Business Essentials, a special offer that new teams can qualify for at signup, is not in the prices here.
  • The usage of each example: Solo freelancer: 1 person · 5 clients · 6 projects · 5 tasks · 6 invoices and $7.5k invoiced a month. Duo: 2 people · 8 clients · 10 projects · 8 tasks · 10 invoices and $16k invoiced a month. Small studio: 5 people · 15 clients · 20 projects · 10 tasks · 20 invoices and $40k invoiced a month. Agency: 10 people · 30 clients · 40 projects · 15 tasks · 40 invoices and $90k invoiced a month. Larger team: 25 people · 60 clients · 80 projects · 20 tasks · 80 invoices and $220k invoiced a month.

Feature by feature

Features

  • Yes
  • Partly
  • No
  • Only the rows that we could check on a page of Hubstaff
The features of Hourbun and Hubstaff
Hourbun Hubstaff
Time tracking
Timer Yes Yes
Day view Yes Yes
Billable and non-billable time Yes Yes
Hourly rates by client, project, task and person Yes Partly Bill rates by member, for the organization or for one project
Automatic or activity tracking (apps, screenshots, GPS) No Not by design: you track your own time Yes Screenshots, activity levels, and app and URL tracking on every paid plan; GPS from the Team plan with the Locations add-on
Desktop or mobile apps No A web app with a layout for phones Yes Mac, Windows, Linux, iOS and Android
Browser extension No Yes Chrome
Invoicing and payments
Invoices from tracked time Yes Yes On every plan; the Starter plan holds 5 clients
Invoice lines of your own (a fixed fee, a product) Yes Yes
Recurring invoices Yes Yes
Expenses with receipts, billed with a markup Yes Higher plan From the Grow plan, with receipt files
Email reminders of late invoices Yes Partly A setting of automatic invoicing
Online payment of an invoice Yes By card or bank debit, into your own Stripe account Partly Through a PayPal button, into your PayPal account
Projects and reports
Project budgets in hours or money Yes Higher plan From the Grow plan, in hours or cost
Reports with a CSV export Yes Yes
Team
Team roles Yes Member, manager, admin and owner Yes
Timesheet approvals Higher plan On the Team plan Higher plan From the Team plan
Integrations and data
Accounting sync Partly Xero, one way: issued invoices and credit notes, and their payments if you choose Partly Sends tracked time to QuickBooks Online
QuickBooks No Yes Tracked time to QuickBooks Online every hour, or an IIF export for QuickBooks Desktop
A public API No Higher plan From the Team plan, with limits
Project-tool integrations (Asana, Jira and others) No Higher plan One integration on Grow, unlimited from Team
Import from any app by CSV, with past invoices and expenses Yes Time, clients and projects too; a format guide with a prompt for an AI agent Partly Projects, and clients and members in imports of their own

Which one fits

Hourbun or Hubstaff?

Choose Hourbun if

  • You bill clients and want them to pay by card or bank debit into your own Stripe account
  • You want expenses and project budgets on every plan
  • You prefer a tool with no screenshots and no activity monitoring
  • You have a larger team and want one flat price

Where Hubstaff is better

  • Apps for Mac, Windows, Linux, iOS and Android, and a Chrome extension
  • Activity monitoring and payroll: screenshots, activity levels, app and URL tracking, and payroll from tracked time
  • Prices per seat from $7 a month, a free plan for one person, and more than 35 integrations

Switching

Switch from Hubstaff to Hourbun

Hourbun imports a CSV of time entries from any app, and Hubstaff exports its reports as CSV. Upload the file, check the columns and the people that Hourbun proposes, and see a preview of the clients, projects, tasks and time before anything is added. A later CSV adds only the new entries. Your clients, projects, expenses and past invoices can come too: give the Hourbun format guide and your Hubstaff exports to an AI agent, and upload the files that it makes. The 14-day trial of Hourbun needs no card.

Questions

Questions and answers

Is Hourbun cheaper than Hubstaff?

For a team of 25, yes: $99 a month on Hourbun against $225 on Hubstaff Grow. Smaller teams pay less on Hubstaff: a team of 5 pays $45 on Grow against $99 on Hourbun. Hourbun includes expenses, budgets and online payment through Stripe on every plan.

Does Hubstaff take screenshots, and does Hourbun?

Hourbun does not, by design: each person tracks their own time with a timer or a weekly timesheet. Hubstaff can take screenshots and record activity levels and the apps and URLs used, with GPS tracking as an add-on.

Can clients pay invoices online in Hubstaff and in Hourbun?

Hourbun invoices take payment by card or bank debit into your own Stripe account, and Hourbun adds no fee of its own to the fees of Stripe. Hubstaff client invoices can show a PayPal button that pays into your PayPal account.

Does Hubstaff charge per user?

Yes. Hubstaff charges per seat each month, with a two-seat minimum on its Starter, Grow and Team plans, and adds paid VIP support to larger bills. Hourbun charges a flat price per workspace by plan, so the price does not change with each person up to the seats of the plan.

Can I move my data from Hubstaff to Hourbun?

Yes. Hourbun imports a CSV of time entries from any app: export your Hubstaff time as a CSV report, upload it, and check the preview. Hourbun adds the clients, projects, tasks and people of the file.

Sources

  • From the pages of Hubstaff, unless a source says otherwise
  • A feature that we could not check has no row
  • Prices change: check the pricing page of Hubstaff
All sources (15)

Hubstaff is a trademark of Netsoft Holdings, LLC, and Hourbun is not affiliated with it.

Try Hourbun for free.

14 days, no card. Add a client, track your first hour, and send the invoice.